Mileage Update

My mileage for this year currently stands at 2851.  This is nearly a 1000 more than last year and double or more than the year before.  What has been responsible for this transformation?

Certainly not mountain biking.  The last mountain bike ride I did was over a year ago, just before the Olympics in fact, a short evening jaunt around Leigh Woods in Bristol.

Nor was it tandem riding.  we've got our Swallow back on the road now, but only for the last month, and we did very little on the KHS.

Having my Hewitt has certainly helped.  I've done a fair few 50-80 mile rides since I got it, plus lots of shorter rides.  I've also ridden to work every chance I had, helped by the economic downturn which has cut down work travel quite a lot.

Probably the main reason is that the boys are growing up and calming down.  We don't go out expecting the house to be trashed when we get back anymore.  So we feel happier going out further and for longer.  Jayne and I have regularly done an hour in the evening or a couple of hours on the weekend. 

It has all added up to a decent total.  I set myself a target of 2000 miles for this year, seeing as I failed to get that last year.  Then quickly revised it upwards after the first 1000 were done.  My revised target of 2500 was met a month or two ago and I've revised it up again to 3000.  Only 149 miles to do.  If I really wanted I could do all of that next weekend!

Should I revise up again to 3500?

Cheers

Tim

Thursday Night Bike Ride

All through summer we've been doing a regular ride out to the Plough on a Thursday night.  A quick pint or two and a hot garlic chicken sandwich then home.

For me it is about 20 miles, Karl and Alison just over 25.  Now that the nights are drawing in and due to work pressures, we haven't been out for about 3 weeks.  So this Thursday, armed with new lights for Karl, we set out.  It was a really mild evening, but cloudy and no moonlight, so once we were away from the town and out in the country lanes, it was pitch black.  We really needed the decent lights.  We went the quick way as we had set off late due to fitting Karl's light.  But it was well worth it.

This is the view when we got to the pub...

Envy me!

Cheers

Tim

Tandem Ride

Jayne and I were finally feeling well enough to go out on the rebuilt tandem.  Karl, Alison, Joe and Ian called round this morning and we set off on a gentle 12-15 mile out to Barton Grange.  The pace was very leisurely.  Too much so for Joe, I think, but plenty fast enough for Jayne and I.

It was great being back on 'our' tandem.  There is something about custom built that just seems better than even a stock frame with a suitable fitting kit.  I took quite a few miles to get used to it again, particularly from a steering and cornering perspective.  I have a Panasela 1.5" front tyre on and even pumped up to 100lbs it still squirms a bit in the corners.  Maybe I need to push it up to 120lbs, but it is only rated to 8o, I think.

Anyway, it was a nice ride out in nice company.  Karl and Ian have been my "core team" for over 15 years and it is always a pleasure to ride with them.  Ian is a natural raconteur and piss taker, and is always entertaining company.

We stopped at Barton Grange for a bacon barm and a cup of tea, sat out in what was mostly sunshine, but a bit cool.  It is October though, so any sitting outside to eat is a bonus.  Alison, Ian and mile monster Joe went to do a loop round Beacon Fell or the Trough afterwards.  Jayne and I, together with Karl, headed home.

The pace was more gentle than if I'd been on my solo, but faster than Jayne and I would have been with her on her solo.  All in all, quite pleased.

Brake cables stretched horribly during the ride, to the point where I could hold the back brake on full, without and discernable effect.  When we got home, I tightened them up and have made some slight adjustments to the saddles.  At some point I must have bashed the bars because, even with the stem straight, the right hand side is nearer than the left.  Karl has some Midge (or possibly Mungo) bars off of his Pompino that I might try instead.  I might also get some Dia Compe 287V brake levers as they pull a bit more cable.

Later on we went for a quick pint at the Villa.  The back wheel seems to have developed some sort of rattle.  Not sure if it is just the rear mech out of alignment or what.  Will need to check it out.

All in all, a good day out.

Cheers

Tim

Pretty Much Done

Just a few minor thins to sort.  I need handlebar tape and a couple of bottle cages.  I thought I'd go for black cloth tape and maybe the Cuiso silver bottle cages.  Just two for starters, but I have bosses for six.

I have sorted Jayne's saddle position and pedals.  I have to sort the angle of the rack when I have suitable bolts.  The rack has been on the other tandem for a while with a bodged bolt on, which I don't think will survive being loosened and re-tightened.  I have to cut the mud guard stays and put the little end caps on.

The original plan was to run the bike with just the front canti and the rear disc operated from the front.  Unfortunately the old road levers don't pull enough cable to operate the disc, so I've reverted to what we had before, ie the front and rear canti's off the front and the disc operated by a friction thumb shifter from the rear.

Other bits and bobs: Klick Fix mount for the handlebar camera bag, bike computer (off the old tandem), a frame pump.

Cheers

Tim

The built goes on...

Got the chains and mud guards today.  Still off sick, so I can only spend 10 or 15 minutes at a time before I have to sit down or start to make more serious mistakes.  I still make the same silly mistakes regardless.

More pics...

Tandem Build

We took the tandem back to the bike shop yesterday and they faced the disc brake bracket.  Seems to have done the trick.

So I spend some time today doing more build up.

Some pics...

I've got chains and cable ferrules coming from St John's Street Cycles and mudguards from Wiggle.  Can't do much more without them.  Should be on the road for the weekend.

Cheers

Tim

What a Week!

Well my final total for the week is 254 miles!  My best week of riding probably for about 12 years.  I don't think I've been up in that areas since before we had the boys.

After my 3 days off, I was back at work on Thursday, but still got 20+ miles in, including 10 or so with Jayne in the evening.  After my two 60+ mile the previous two days, I was pleased with how little it hurt.  Friday was just straight to work and back (via the Villa).

Yesterday, we did a few miles in the morning before setting out in the afternoon to get the tandem. Yes it was finally ready.  The price was a bit higher than expected, £420 for the metal work and £330 for the paint job, but they did an all in price of £710, so about £100 more than expected.  But it looked fantastic.  Metallic purple with silver Swallow stickers.  It looks very pretty.

The above one is a bit colour mis-matched due to the camera flash, but shows the Swallow logo better than the non-flash shots I took.

Now for the bad news....

First of all, I dropped the forks getting the frame out the back of the car, resulting in a small chip in the paint.  Doh!

Then, I couldn't get the cartridge bottom bracket in all the way.  So I took it out and thought that the BB shell threads weren't cut deep enough to take the cartridge BB I had.  But the old fashioned ball and axle style BB's I had must have come out of it in the first place, so must fit.  I spent ages trying to get the fixed cup side screwed in.  In the process managed to ping the adjustable spanner (the only spanner I have big enough to fit the BB cup) off and into the seat tube, chipping off another chunk of paint.  But I could not get the adjustable cup side in tight enough, eventually snapping the pin head off my pin spanner trying.  So I undid it by getting a set of very aggressively toothed pipe grips on the thread side and winding it out.  I then had to take the fixed side out as well.  Fortunately, screwing in the fixed cup had set enough thread to now fit the cartridge BB with not too much difficulty. 

The eccentric tandem BB shell, which I had real doubts about because I'd stretched the rubber o-ring seals, slipped in with no trouble.  The headset and forks went in easily as well.  As did the Hope mechanical disc calliper.  Things were looking up. I thought I'd just check the alignment with the wheel.  Disaster!  The wheel wont go round smoothly, the disc rubs fairly firmly against the inner brake pad, which is at its most inward setting.  It seems the frame builder either measured wrongly or set the calliper wrongly , maybe without the floating sleeves installed, which off set things by about 1.3mm, not enough to be right, but workable.  I reckon it is about 3mm out.  and unusable.  I have to give then a ring tomorrow.

In order to cheer myself up, I went out with Karl and Alison today.  We decided to drive 20 miles up the road and explore a different area to our usual haunts.  We parked up at Over Kellert and rode north.  The plan was to stop at a pub or cafe in one of the small towns/villages on the way to Kendall.  In practice, they all turned out to be real one horse towns, with no cafe or pub.  We ended up at Killington Lake motorway services on the M6, accessed via some back roads.  After a quick bite to eat and a cup of tea we set off from there to Kirby Lonsdale.  The roads were very up and down, very steep, very narrow, but virtually no traffic.  I think on the 15 miles from Killington to Kirby Lonsdale we must have been passed by fewer than 5 cars.  At Kirby Lonsdale we had a cup of tea, bacon and egg buttie and a toasted tea cake, sat in the sunshine.  Then 10 fairly leisurely miles back to the car and home.

Got home to hear that Jayne's Dad is still not very well.  Its one of these situations where if his temperature comes down everything is fine, if not it might be pancreatic cancer, kidney infection or just a bit of a virus. The mildest of these are serious for a 78 year old. 

Hope you and yours are well

Cheers

Tim