Commuting woes

My cars ill (again), my road bike has 3 punctures, yep 3. There's two pieces of bottle stuck in the rear tyre and my front tyre is also flat making it 3. So today I was forced to take the MTB to work, in the rain.

I was in a terrible mood when I set off to work. I very nearly phoned up work to tell them I wouldn't be coming in. The trouble is I expected them to ask why; and the best answer I could think of was "I fancy a duvet day" which i'm sure wouldn't have gone down well.

As I rode in, splashing through the puddles and slip sliding in the mud my mood started to improve. Slowly but surly this smile started to emerge accross my face.

Up to now, when i've got to the spot in the above photograph i've always hopped off the bike, carried the bike down that step, then lifted the bike over the railway lines. Today on the MTB I decided to ride it. I'm on a MTB, why not!

I slowly approach the step, off the front brake, weight over the back wheel. Wooosh.

For someone who hates drops I was quite pleased to get down this one, even if it is only a tiddler.

I lifted the front wheel and it lightly skipped over the track landing avoiding the horrendously slippy sleepers. Unfortunately the line was slightly too high for my chainrings to clear. BANG, The bike stopped dead. There was no damage and somehow I avoided coming off. However, it does mean that this section, for me, is still unridable. - drat.

By the time I pulled into work and I was actually in a good mood. I went to get changed out of my rather wet and muddy clothes only to find my bag wasn't as waterproof as I had hoped. There was about an inch of muddy water in the bottom of my bag. My nice once white shirt was now looking like rather un-white and rather crumpled, and my trousers were rather soggy. Thank heavens I keep spare clothes in my desk draw. That could have really spoilt my newly acquired good mood.

If i'm going to keep commuting off-road i'm going to need one seriously heavy duty washing machine!

The Gadget show

On the Gadget show last night there were two challanges that might intrest some.



Suzi was on a climbing wall

Otis used an electric bike to race a pro rider up Holme moss.

Ades Birthday Ride

Sunday was Leek cycles club run to Audlem and Ades Birthday ride. I was rather worried about not being able to keep up. I've never done a ride on the single speed that involves high speed sections, I haven't cycled for weeks and i'm not fully over my cold.

We set off up Ladderage, a Big mile-ish bank with a gradient of up to 10%. I put some effort in at the bottom of the bank. I was expecting everyone to come flying past me; but to my surprise this didn't happen. We rolled through Newcastle and onto a short 15-20% climb. I was expecting to be walking up here but somehow I went up without too much trouble. Maybe I would keep up after all!

Then came the first of the 'quick' sections. The speed of the group went up 20mph, 25mph 30mph. It was no good. I couldn't pedal quick enough. I was pedalling as quick as I could but the group was just flying off up the road without me, so much for keeping up!

I caught up on the next climb (they were waiting for me) but the damage to my legs had been done, I was shattered! Now came the part of the ride I has been worried about, 3 or 4 miles downhill to the cafe. There is often a sprint to the cafe, and being downhill it's always quick. Within yards the pace was well over my 25mph max speed. I gave up trying to keep up almost straight away and settled for a more sedate ride in, arriving at the cafe last by a LONG way.

I kept up most of the way back. In the last 10miles I decided to kick off the sprint back home by flying past everyone on one of the short climbs. My legs instantly went from feeling fine to feeling like lead weights. I was suddenly struggling to breath and going nowhere quick. Everyone came flying back past me, I couldn't keep up. Everyone was flying off up the road without me. I had no choice bit to ease up and let my legs come back. I had just about caught the group again when the sprint for home kicked off full bore. I didn't stand a chance. Within seconds they were out of sight.

So it seem that I can keep up 'normaly' on a single speed bike but the moment everyone put the hammer down down a hill I haven't got a chance.

Ice Skating

Saturday saw me taking a trip to the ice skating rink at Trentham gardens with Laura. I nearly didn't get there thanks to the police for clossing several roads due to high winds / accident.

I got on the ice and nearly went straight on my bum. I quickly managed to grab the railings just in time. It was a good 10minuites before I was willing to let go of the support railings. Eventually I started to get the hang of it, well just about. I was skating around without having to hold onto anything but I certainly wasn't making it look easy.

Ater skating it was a walk around the Christmas village and lunch. Award winning pies and hot chocolate.

Humbug!

I'm feeling broke so i've decided to post a few 'free' things.

30% off a bike at Trendz. (www.trendz.co.uk) BC8051, Anyone fancy a new bike for Christmas?
10% off anything at Trendz: RC8052
£5 off wiggle: c6485-bedbd

Free Toblerone http://tobelle.co.uk/form1.php

Free Cup of Tea, Yorkshire tea are giving away free cups of tea. Perfect thing to have after a ride!

Free chocolate from Milka UK website. (just play the game)

Free bread from Hovis, perfect for a bacon, ham and cheese or whatever sandwichs during a ride.

Free motorcycle lessons for when you're too tired to pedal http://www.geton.co.uk/

Too tired to ride

Last night thanks to a series of punctures I ended up pushing the bike back from work. I didn't care much for walking along the unlit cyclepaths in the dark so I ended up taking the road way back making it a lovely 8miles. I wanted to run it but my legs had other ideas. It just didn't have the energy. I arrived at home completely shattered and extremely disgruntled at having walked nearly all of it. I also have some lovely blisters thanks to not having the right footware.

This morning I overslept.

I ran down the stairs and jumped on the bike. I was coughing and sneezing almost continously. Within yards I was pouring with sweat and red hot. I was slow. I was never going to get to work on time like this. I tried putting more effort in but I just got even more out of breath and slowed down even more. When I had to stop to catch my breath I realised it was time to admit defeat and go home for the car.

It looks like i'm full of cold. So much for starting riding again this week. It looks like i'm going to be forced to have yet another week off the bike.

Mechanicals

I noticed while cleaning the bike the other night that my new bottom bracket felt stiff at just one point. Having gone through 3 bottom brackets in 3 months (No, I haven't fitted any of them) I decided that I was going to get the frame faced and this one fitted correctly.

The store (who shall remain nameless) even kindly fitted my cranks for me. So last night, after collecting the bike I drove over to Hanchurch woods to go MTBing with Stoke MTB club. Half way up the first hill my gears started playing the fool. The chain kept falling off the middle ring and into the granny ring. I thought nothing off this, putting it down to my indexing. All through the ride I was having gear trouble. I was cursing my decision to go from single speed to gears.

Then, thankfully virtually at the end of the ride, disaster struck. My crank arm fell off. I put it back on as best as I could but it wasn't for staying on. It only took a few pedal strokes and off it came again. Blast!

Now, as luck would have it this was the end of my mechanical woes. This morning taking the road bike to work I got yet another puncture. As i'm averaging about 2 a week this isn't really a surprise. Gatorskin tyres just cannot cope with all the crap you seem to get in cyclelanes. I was already late for work so I changed the inner tube as quickly as I could and set off on my way. I got 100yrds down the road before the same tyre was flat again. I obviously hadn't removed whatever had caused the first flat from the tyre. Having not got any more spare tubes I ended up pushing the bike the last 3/4 miles into work arriving 15mins late. I've now got to spend this lunch time trying to superglue a patch on one of the tubes. I just hope superglue holds long enough to get me home!

As i've got no pictures of the night ride (I can't figure out how to take a picture at night) I thought I would post up a nice cheery picture of one of the numerous houses on my commute that already have their Christmas decorations up. I'm going to ignore the fact it's still the start of November!