I’d hoped to a bit more than 50 today, to meet the January monthly target of 303 miles. Maybe even another January Fondo. But after getting up reasonably early this morning I looked out of the bedroom window, then took a few tentative steps outside the front door, to gauge conditions – and decided I wasn’t having it. Just too dank. The ground was uniformly wet, and a thin mist clung to the cold air.
A couple of hours later though – I took a long, hard look at myself in the mirror. And after reassuring myself that the trademark firm jawline and penetrating hazel eyes had lost none of their magic, I bullied myself into going out. What, I asked myself, was the point of having three mediocre weather bikes if I wasn’t prepared to be a mediocre weather cyclist? I had no answer to that of course so I pulled the Tricross out of the garage at about 11:15, with the idea of doing at least 30 or so.
I chose the Tricross over the Boardman because I’d just fitted a magnet-driven bike computer yesterday (another trusty Cateye Cyclo 7) and wanted to calibrate it. I also wanted to reassure myself that the adjustment I’d made to the rear disk brake (I backed one of the pads out a touch using the handy thumbwheel) had made the squeak go away.
Set off intending to do a Twycross but it didn’t seem so bad out there by this time so I headed south, which had been the original intention – since the wind was coming from that direction and didn’t want a headwind on the way back. I took pretty much the usual route down to Stoney Stanton then continued on to Sutton in the Elms and Broughton Astley. I’d thought to go at least as far as Gilmorton, but encountered a Road Closed sign after Broughton, with no useful detour. So I took a side road and looped back the way I’d come. I’d only done about 21 miles at this point but I thought I’d probably find a sign to some unknown village on the way back, and go exploring for a few miles. As it turned out I didn’t, though I did take a turn to Desford through Peckleton from Kirkby Mallory which added a mile or two. I also took a different turn out of Desford than I normally would, in the hope of adding some randomness. But I ended back on the same road after only about half a mile.
Got to Newbold Verdon and took a left turn there, to have a look round the village. But again, that looped back onto the usual route before long.
Back home on 46.78 miles, which brings my 2019 total so far to 299.
I’m pleased to say that adjusting the rear brake does appear to have made the squeak go away; there was no sign of it over the whole ride. However – not long after setting off, I tested that it was still working properly using the top-mounted lever, and this actually jammed the brake closed! I came to an abrupt and wobbly dead stop, and had to uncleat sharpish to avoid coming a cropper. Fortunately, it’s only the top lever that does this – the one I normally use on the front works fine. I will give it a good hose out with GT85 tomorrow and if that doesn’t fix it, I just won’t use it. I don’t have a top-mounted lever on any other bike so it’s not a habit.
The left shifter, for the front derailleur, doesn’t catch on the down-change sometimes – it’s infrequent but it did happen three or four times, though it was always fine on the following attempt. Just Googled this and it seems that old grease or gunk can cause this. Again, GT85 may come to the rescue tomorrow.
I was also slightly irritated that I’d left the bike computer set to km instead of miles. I thought it had gone a bit mad at first. It measured the ride at 74.20km = 46.10 miles. I’ll do the maths and recalibrate it later.