Black Anodized cheese…

Well that really didn’t go as planned.

Saturday Night: sort out bike and kit, newly purchased water bottles (without black mould), energy drink at the ready.

Sunday Morning: drive to start of Audax, put bike together, tighten up seatclamp. Thread strips out of seatclamp. Seatclamp appears to be made of some sort of black anodized cheese. Swear. A lot. Drive Home. Eat bacon sandwich. Steal clamp off wife’s bike. Ride 39 angry miles.

I can feel a strongly worded email to Specialized UK coming on.

In better news I now have a permanent job - woo hoo! I can actually start thinking about getting my favourite old frame built up again… I would be lying if I said I didn't have a spreadsheet for the build already...

Monster post! Frosty trails! Crap Hubs!

Woo yay!

Winter is here, out last night for our normal Tuesday nightride and the trails varied from chocolate slush puppy to rock hard frozen loveliness. A thin layer of frost covered most of the trails in Leicestershire biggest deer related tourist attraction which didn’t effect traction when climbing but as soon as you braked you pretty much guarantee’d locking up your rear wheel – mental fun!

However our favourite singletrack descent through the woods has now got a big tree over it which I can’t see getting moved anytime soon, though I’m sure a line around it will become apparent.

We had a covering of snow overnight and if it looks like it’s going to hang around until tonight I can see me heading out for some snowbound night ride action, but it’ll probably be gone by this evening dammit [12 midday and its gone boo!].

In further “isn’t bike kit crap news”…
I need to service my rear hub, the freehubs making bad bad noises and now the cones need adjusting as there is a bit of play. Luckily I have the exact same hub to use for spares and I have robbed a 10mm allen key from Ian, why do I not have a 10mm one? More to the point why do I continue to punish myself by buying cheap crappy hubs? Since I bought my Marin (now there was a decision based on too much thinking and not enough gut trusting),where my current front wheel originates from, I have got through the following rear wheels:

1x XT Hub with Mavic XM321 rim supplied by my local LBS – cause of death the hub internals died when the free hub body started to ream out the threads it was mounted on, however the I had to keep on adjusting the cones and the build quality was less than stellar.

1x Deore Hub with Mavic XM321 rim supplied by Chain Reaction Cycles, had to adjust the cones a bit but it was fine until I got to Morzine where everything went a bit wrong and I starting breaking spokes. But that could be due to the huge amount of (ab)use on the back of a the Prince Albert (a hardtail for the uninitiated) with Big-ish forks over the summer. Getting a couple of high speed pinch flats probably didn’t help matters either.

1 x Deore Hub with Mavic XM321 rim supplied by a robbing Frenchman in Morzine. The current wheel, still nice and true but the freehub hasn’t been great since day 1 and now the cones need adjusting. It will get the full strip down, swear at it, chase the bearings from under the fridge and put it back together with loads of grease and a healthy freehub.

However I have sworn never to buy a frickin Shimano hub again as they have rubbish seals however getting a cartridge bearing hub for under 75quid seems to be a bit of a task except for the DMR revolvers which are generic Taiwanese jobs. But that’s what I shall be buying next when this one finally dies.

Also note to self when lifting bike over fences to access trails of the cheeky sort hand bike over the fence to your mate with the non computer sensor side facing him otherwise you’ll not get any mileage collected for the rest of the ride. Grrrrrr

In mileage news, I’ll pass the 200 road miles mark the next time I head out on the roadbike which was sort of my aim for the month with just about a week to spare.

I’m a lazy lazy boy...

Events* conspired against to keep my riding minimal this weekend. No MTB rides, no big Road Miles and to make matters worse Ian dropped by on his way back to his house in the midst of a 40 mile ride.

I did get out however and do a 17 mile speed ride which saw me dying on my bottom in the last mile or so going into an evil headwind. The new wheels I fitted seem nice enough, especially having cost relatively little money (55quid for a pair of wheels can’t be bad even if they last one season)

Lots of riding planned for this week with good cold clear weather moving in, so unless the snow shows up (highly unlikely) it’ll be a solid 70 miles during the week. I might well need my new thermal headwear though.

* New wheels to fit, lack of light and choosing funky new eyewear.

Coming soon - like later today if I'm bored - Other Peoples Bikes...

Road miles, broken wheels, fancy handlebar mounted wizardry, strange bars and mud.

Well…road training is going quite well. After this weekend I should be well over 200miles on the road for the month to date. That is assuming the new wheels I ordered to replace the spoke snappingly (rear) shite and spoke looseningly (front) shocking wheelset that came as standard on my Specialized Allez, show up [ohhh hang on they are at my loacl post office - woo].
They are cheap as chips Vuelta’s, hopefully they will do the job. I don’t ask much from a wheelset as long as they stay true and go round I’m not bothered about flashness or weight.

Last weekend I did 68 miles on the road which was nice as I didn’t cramp really and felt loads better than the 50, I did the other weekend. However I wouldn’t recommend riding with the following in your stomach. 2 rashers of bacon, 2 sausage, 2 egg (fried), 2 hashbrowns, beans, 2 toast, grilled tomato. It sat a bit heavy to say the least.

If the wheels don’t show up, then I’m going to take in some gnarly bridleway action on the singlespeed, best wear my best waiders then [Thats that muddy bullet dodged then...].

Only 2 MTB rides in the last 2 weeks due to lots of road miles but what mtb riding I’ve done has been shite and muddy anyway as it’s not been a cold crisp winter, more of a biblical flood winter. But I have now got a cordless computer on the MTB, so I’ll have loads of data from MTB rides assuming I can remember to wake it up after whisky stops on nightrides. It seems to go to sleep after 5 mins of inactivity (a bit like me), I’m sure I’ll forget occasionally but hey ho, it’s better than snapping wires. How the data gets from the sensor to the computer I have no idea, I think it must be witch craft*.
I’m also currently trying a set of mary bars by Norths favourite dealer of inbreds, on-one, lent to me by Ian. Initial thoughts, they are odd and I’m not sure if I like them yet. I’ll give them another couple of rides or so and then decide.

*radio waves

Can't be arsed...

Can't be arsed to ride for some reason. I'm motivationally deficient. I'm lacklustre.

Not sure why, haven't done a night ride offroad for 2 weeks, not ridden offroad come to think of it for 2 weeks. That's a bit rubbish.
Done a couple of commutes (45 mins each way - 9.5 miles) on the roadbike last week, will probably do the same this week but couldn't be arsed yesterday. Popped out on the roadbike for a quick spin on Saturday.

Maybe its the weather? Its proper cold and windy but not really wet. Not bad for the time of year then, so can't be that.

The bikes are fine seem to be working pretty well with only a couple of minor niggles, but we'll gloss over them.

Went for a hike at the weekend in the Peak District over the weekend, it was ace. Maybe that's it, maybe its the relatively shite terrain around here that's to blame.
Maybe I'll stop bloody whinging and make the best of it.

Nightride it is then! And I'll commute tomorrow too, hopefully.

Really want to get back into the mountains though...on foot.

too wet

it was too wet for pictures on saturday.
sunday was a missed opportunity!

We're all off...

to Coed-y-Brenin! We're all excited apart from those who have the lurgy and can't come.

We're going to spend the whole weekend riding bikes (woo!), drinking beer(woo!) and eating (double woo!)

Stand by for photos and report on Monday.

If you're in Coed-y-Brenin this weekend we are very sorry, I'm not quite sure what for yet but its always best to get apologies in, in advance.

Roadtrip Rules...

We're heading to the newly renovated Coed-y-Brenin trail centre this weekend.
Now as much as I like weekends away biking with mates there are a few rules that if followed makes life so much pleasurable for everyone involved. The following have been gleaned by bitter experience.

1. Lycra is not to be worn as an outer layer before midday. If you have a hangover you really don't need to see that sort of thing. Any outer Lycra is frowned upon.
2. Chill out. If there is a big group, you'll be covering ground slower than normal. Just chill out.
3. Be self sufficient. By all means share tools with a mate but no one like a tube/pump/tool/snack scab. Having said that next time I'm taking a couple of 99p Decathlon tubes and charging people 10 quid for when they inevitably flat. That'll pay for some cake.
4. Don't be stinky. No one likes a stinker.
5. Take of your fullface helmet in the cafe/car. You look like a retard. No really you do. Yes you, you window licker.
6. Stop whinging. Or the abuse will worsen.
7. Breakfast foods must not include tuna. Or pasta. This wrong on so many levels. Just the thought makes me wretch.
8. No patching of tubes whilst on the trail. Bung in a new one, don't make your mates hang around for you. Unless you've run out of spare tubes, in that case see Point 3, much cheapness.
9. Don't bring a daft bike. 40lb freeride bike on an allday epic XC ride? Don't be daft. Singlespeeds are fine as long as you have the leg power/speed to get up most hills and keep up on the flat bits. I may be flouting this rule this weekend but I managed to get round the Skyline Trail at Afan Argoed on the one speed without too much hassles despite the daft grips.
10. Don't be a faffer*.