Author: james

No rain today, although it rained quite a bit yesterday and the roads were wet. I took the Prof out again, partly because I wanted to reassure myself that the squeak from the rear wheel had definitely disappeared, and partly because I’d re-angled the handlebars yesterday and wanted to test the new configuration. I also replaced the steel stem bolts with titanium ones, though I was fairly sure they were secure.

Left the house just before 1000. The general idea, since a wind was blowing from the west, was to pedal up toward Donington, take the sharp left to Melbourne and from there continue on to Shardlow and head east toward Derby. I’d only hatched this plan shortly after leaving the house, it wasn’t properly prepared and as it turned out, it was nonsense. I was sure you could get get onto the road from Shardlow from that road and thought I’d done so before, but looking at the map now – clearly, I hadn’t. I must have gone through Donington to do that.

Thus I found myself at the northern end of Swarkestone Bridge having a What Now? moment, but decided to take a left, west along the long, flat road that goes to Willington. Not been along there for a month or two and it’s a pleasant run, despite being an A road. I decided I’d go as far as Hilton, which I’ve only done once before. So I did that. Very pleasant out there in the sunshine, and not as cold as I’d expected. I’d decided on a two sock strategy without overshoes as I haven’t adjusted the pedals on the Prof yet and the overshoes would have made clipping in a bit tricky.

I must get some new ones. I did have a splurge of retail therapy on Amazon yesterday and bought a couple of inner tubes (didn’t have any spares for the new bike so I’ve been taking a bit of a punt going out on it), a supposedly lightweight cycling backpack that isn’t particularly lightweight, a pair of new ultra light and inexpensive bottle cages and a new, simple bike computer (a Cateye Velo 7 – tried and trusted). And some more titanium bolts.

Anyway – I arrived at Hilton and spotted a pub on a little retail park on a roundabout. I had a quick lunch there, sausages and mash and a half lager. Not a particularly inviting place, with a view of a Tesco Metro and a roundabout, but the staff were friendly and the food was fine. Took a bit of a chance leaving the bike outside – I couldn’t find anything suitable to fasten it to! My lightweight bike lock was too short to tether it to the table or bench. But I only left it unattended while I was ordering the food and got away with it.

Had a look at Google Maps on my phone as I finished off my Carlsberg Export, and decided to head back as far as Willington then come back through Repton and Hartshorne, to Ashby – I’d had an idea to try that route months ago but never got round to it.

Annoyingly, the bloody rear wheel squeak made a reappearance shortly after I set off.

Repton is a very picturesque little town and home to a prestigious public school. But I don’t think I’ll do that route between Willington and Ashby again, or at least not between Willington and Hartshorne. It’s very rural and quiet and almost reminiscent of the lake district, being lined by hills. But it’s too climby.

At Hartshorne I stopped at a bench and examined the rear wheel closely. I prodded it a bit and tugged gently at the spokes and after that, the squeak vanished again. I have a theory that it’s the rear disk fouling one of the disk pads. It does disappear for a few seconds after braking. From peering intently down the gap between the pads, it looked like that might be the case. Why it doesn’t do this for the first 20-odd miles, and never when I don’t have my weight on the saddle I have no idea. But I’ll adjust it anyway. Apart from that I’m very happy with the Tricross – it is a little bit more sluggish than the Boardman but it’s comfortable and feels very dependable. It definitely absorbs road bumps and buzz better.

Ended up on 39.17 miles. Should have come back the way I’d gone; I’d have done another few miles and they’d mostly have been considerably flatter. But an enjoyable run out nonetheless, and something a bit different.

I used the Garmin Edge 25 that I bought a couple of months ago to track the ride. I’d never got round to trying it. it sits nicely on the stem and works well except that I couldn’t get it to pair with my phone for some reason. But it shows up as a mass storage device when you hook it up to a computer so it’s easy enough to get the track off that way.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3022255916/

231 this month.

No rain today. The roads were a bit puddly from yesterday’s precipitation but since I hadn’t been out on two wheels since Saturday, I wanted to get 20 miles in or so.

I was also keen to reassess the rear wheel squeak situation on The Professor. I did take it for a 50-60 yard spin to check it out on Monday and was surprised to find that the squeak had gone. I did a bit of Google research at the weekend, which suggested that spoke rub can cause it – so I carefully applied a small squirt of GT-85 to the points where the spokes are in contact with each other on the wheel, before setting off.

Whether that was what did the trick, or whether it’s just one of those things that disappears of its own accord, I don’t know. But I didn’t get the squeak at all over 20.18 miles. Very happy about that because it was loud, persistent and bloody annoying. I’ll check that none of the spokes are loose next time I’m in the garage; I do have a spoke wrench somewhere.

Quite a cold day and I didn’t bother with overshoes. My feet did suffer slightly but not enough to bother me. I need to get some new overshoes anyway; the ones I have can interfere with clipping in and out. Speaking of which, the new pedals are a bit too tight, I’ll have to adjust them. Bikes, eh! You’re never short of something to do.

Got back a good 15 minutes after sunset and didn’t need to attach a front light, although I had one in my backpack. So I made good use of the additional half hour of afternoon daylight since the nadir in December.

192 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3013810535

A bit blowy but no brutal headwinds to contend with this time.

So – I had a vague plan to do a Fondo today. The weather looked alright-ish, with a strong wind blowing from the south according to the BBC weather site – so I thought a trip out east would work quite well. I was keen to try out my new winter bike, having set it up with new pedals on Friday (Shimano PR-R540s, white ones since they were cheaper).

I got up at about 0800, made breakfast, visited Facebook and found the awful news that Neil Peart had died. Since I was due to ride the Tricross for the first time about half an hour later, I decided I’d name it Neil. Or The Professor. Or both. I decided to do 67 miles in his honour.

So having consumed adequate toast and coffee, I removed Neil from the garage and set off at about 0835. I hadn’t tried or adjusted the pedals. I just hoped they’d work OK. They clip in a bit tight, but they’re fine. I took an Allen key with me in case I wanted to make a saddle height adjustment and I did do that, after about 4 miles, in Thringstone. I decided my legs weren’t extending properly on a downstroke, so I raised it a few mm. Seemed fine after that.

First impressions : it rides very much like a road bike. Certainly, it doesn’t have the zing or zip of the Cannondale or the S Works, but it rolls along comparably to the Boardman. Maybe a shade more sluggish. I’m not sure. It does feel different – the bigger tyres (32Cs) give a more cushioned ride, and it feels sturdier somehow.

Strangely, the right brake lever operates the rear brake, rather than the front.

I’m not a fan of the secondary brake levers on the top of the bars, but I’ll just leave them. They remind me of a similar arrangement on my old Raleigh Routier 30 years ago, although they were physically joined to the levers out front. These are separate, although they share the same cables. Quite a clever design. The gears (Sora) are changing very smoothly and positively. Feels a bit more refined than the Boardman’s Claris groupset and quite honestly not much different than the 105 groupset on the Cannondale.

Had a very pleasant run out east. I was pleased to see that the standing water on the football pitch at Normanton on Soar has drained away now, though there’s still water running across the road at the usual wet spot near Cotes. One thing I really like about the Tricross design is that the cables that would normally run under the bottom tube are housed within the frame, so they don’t pick up splashes.

Got to Eastwell, where I took this pic, after about 31.5 miles. I continued on until I’d done nearly 33, then turned back – my reasoning being that if I came back through Coleorton rather than Thringstone on the last few miles, I’d add about a mile. I was wrong about that, as it happens.

Shortly after I turned for home came the Oh Fuck moment as I found myself riding into a bastard of a headwind. I really had to struggle to get home. I was actually only one up from the granny gear on a longish downhill stretch at one point, and tempted to change down. The other highly annoying thing was that about ten miles from Eastwell, when I turned 5 Live off on the DAB, I noticed that the rear wheel had a pronounced and constant squeak. Dry bearings, perhaps. I’ll take it back to the bike shop and have them sort it.

I decided a Rush album would be an appropriate listening choice on the way home, for a period of reflection. I chose 2112, which although not my absolute favourite record best represents the Rush I fell in love with aged 16. After that, I listened to United vs Norwich on 5 Live.

I did get a bit of respite from the headwind here in there in parts of the route well sheltered by trees, or when the route meandered in a different direction for a stretch – but mostly I had to push hard to get back, sometimes battling fiercely for a few yards. I was absolutely bollocksed after about ten miles of it. Not unsurprisingly this took its toll on my knees as well, which became fairly sore and feel a bit beaten up now. Not a setback though, I don’t think. I’ll just have to rest them for a couple of days.

To top it all, over the last ten miles I had to put up with a gloomy cold drizzle as well as a headwind. Grim.

I’d been thinking of stopping at the Greyhound on the way back, but didn’t. I stopped at a bench a few hundred yards further on instead and had a pork pie.

As I got to Coleorton and pedalled past the Kings Arms pub I realised that I’d be about half a mile short of 67 miles on arriving home. So I did a sort of short circuit of nearby roads to push my distance up.

Very much a game of two halves, that one. I can’t say I enjoyed it overall.

Anyway 67.63 miles and that takes me to a fairly decent 172 miles in January, only about 6 less than I did in the whole of January 2019.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3002328732

Rain due this evening but I took an extended lunch and deployed the hybrid on a moderate Twycrosser at about 2pm. Not too windy, or too cold. A bit damp. Puddles here and there. Back before sunset which is now a slightly more tolerable 16:09.

I used my ageing Garmin 310XT for a change and for some reason the ANT+ app that transfers data from it has stopped working properly. I resorted to starting up my Windows laptop to get it onto Strava but that didn’t work either. However the watch says 21.68 miles and I’ll knock off 0.01 for getting off the bike at a wee stop.

I’ll just stick to the Bluetooth watches or the phone, what a faff. The 310XT probably needs a reset.

Anyway 104 miles this month, well ahead of where I was this time last year (60 miles).

Seemed a bit cold out there, but I wrapped up warm and took the Boardman out, hoping to do 40 or 50. On call again alas, so once again I applied my usual strategy of doing an elongated route, with home roughly in the centre. I planned to go south first, then up north, possibly over Swarkestone Bridge and over Derby way, then back home.

I planned to go down through Ibstock, Ellistown, Bagworth – but I absent-mindedly missed by turn at Ibstock. Rather than turn back in Ibstock I decided I’d busk it and find my way to Ellistown without backtracking. But I got lost and ended up back on the A447, so I went that way instead. No matter.

I went down as far as Kirkby Mallory then turned across for Sutton Cheney, with the intention of coming back up along the Twycross route the “wrong way”. Pretty much like I did a week ago, except that I went the right way at the junction with the A447 this time and didn’t take a detour to Stapleton.

Started to feel very cold suddenly though, cycling west along Fenn Lanes – probably because I was cycling into a headwind. Definitely the coldest I’d felt on a bike for months, and at this point I started to harbour thoughts of heading straight home and having a cosy Saturday afternoon in. However once I turned north for Twycross I seemed to warm up slightly and the Sun even came out briefly – so I decided to press on. I realised that the road I was on would take me to Measham in a few miles, so I decided that I’d head west from there for a bit, rather than going up all the way up over Swarkestone Bridge. I thought I’d go to Coton in the Elms and back.

However a few miles from Coton I saw a signpost to Lullington, so – since I was only going to go a few more miles before turning back – I thought I’d go there instead. I did. The last half mile or so to Lullington was obscenely muddy though, so I decided to try to come back a slightly different way to avoid it. I followed a sign to Coton, intending to return the usual way from there – but came unstuck at a junction when I took a wrong turn. This took me to unfamiliar territory – Linton, High Cross Bank and a village called Castle Gresley. At this point I thought I’d better consult Google Maps, which suggested that my best bet was to come straight down the A444, turn off for Moira then come home through Ashby. So I did that.

Really a thoroughly enjoyable run out, with the challenge of attempting to navigate home from unfamiliar surroundings giving it a nice, adventurous twist.

Near Kirkby Mallory I saw two crows (I assume – largish corvids anyway) pestering a buzzard, which was sitting on a post. The buzzard didn’t seem that bothered but the crows were swooping around it and dive bombing it. I assumed they were trying to get it to go away and I’ve just googled this behaviour – “mobbing”, apparently.

https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/ask-an-expert/previous/mobbing.aspx

No rain and the roads were mostly dry. But a lot of the fields still look waterlogged, with big shallow ponds that wouldn’t normally be there.

Anyway – I did 51.98 miles which takes me to 82 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2981867250

One day in early January 2015 a friend called Rob (aka ‘Moving Target’) started a thread on the old (now sadly defunct) Counterparts message board for Rush fans, suggesting a sort of Counterparts “cycling club”. I think I said I’d aim to do 500 miles in 2015.

I only had the hybrid at that time and although I’d used it for the odd 7 or 8 mile run out in previous years, I hadn’t used it for over a year – possibly two. I went for my first cycle ride of 2015 on January 7th, took a wrong turn onto a farm and got bitten by a dog. But I wasn’t deterred. I found the practice of recording my distances on a spreadsheet and sharing my experiences with like-minded people quite motivating. I bought a proper road bike and ended up doing 2702 miles that year and 5775 the next, increasing my distances gradually.

And since I set off on that cold day in January 2015, I’ve now cycled a total of 20,001 miles. Here’s to the next 20,000.

Didn’t entirely feel like cycling today but since conditions were decent-ish, I though I’d get the cycling year off the ground with a Twycross. Since my strategy for this year is partly to try and stay ahead of my year-younger self, I wanted to do at least 25 to build up a bit of a lead (this time last year, I’d done 22 miles on my first ride of 2019).

I left work at about 3:30pm and set off not long after. Only half an hour before sunset and it was already getting dim as I withdrew the Boardman from the garage, but I had excellent lights with me. I wore a decently powerful head torch, but had a handlebar-mounted torch as well. Both work quite well but the head torch is excellent for checking a GPS watch.

Definitely cold and very blowy on the early part of the ride, facing into the wind coming from the south. Nice to have a bit of a tailwind on the way back.

Really dark out there in the country after sunset. Pitch black. Very atmospheric.

Did a typical Twycross route of moderate distance; 30.16 miles. A decent start to the cycling year, and to the January campaign.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2976564387

Hoping I can do a Fondo on Saturday – according to the forecast the wind will be blowing from the west, so I’ll think about a route over in that direction.

I juggled about with the monthly weightings on my spreadsheet based on likely weather and holiday commitments, and it’s given me a target for this month of 303 miles.

Downed tools early yesterday afternoon and withdrew the Boardman from the garage at about 14:50. For my 133rd and final ride of 2019 I wanted to do at least 24 miles, which would see my yearly and monthly distance figures edge up above 4300 and 400 miles, respectively. I also wanted to go over to Markfield, where I bought a house with my then-partner Sara in December 1989. It’s become something of a sentimental Christmas holiday tradition to cycle over there, this last couple of years.

I well remember returning here in the early hours of January 1st 1990, thirty years ago exactly. It wasn’t a Happy New Year and by the following December I was lodging with a submarine engineer in Derby but that, as they say, is a whole ‘nother story.

A dry, cold day but very little wind and the roads were mostly dry. I went out through Ibstock, Ellistown, Bagworth then over to Markfield from Thornton.

Came back a slightly different way and when I got back to Bagworth, I turned south to do a bit of the southbound route that goes down to Stoney Stanton, though I didn’t go nearly that far. Wasn’t sure exactly how far south I needed to go to get my distance up over 24 miles so I pressed on until I reached the turn for Kirkby Lane in Newbould Verdon which from memory I knew to be 10 miles from home by the route I intended. At that point I’d done about 18 miles.

Back on 28.52 miles. And that was a wrap for December (403 miles), and for 2019 (4304.55).

https://www.strava.com/activities/2971085937

For 2020 I’ll aim to do the same distance, I think. A simple strategy would be to try to stay ahead of my 2019 distance total for the same point in the year. Should be easy to get out in front early on as my knees were in a worse state than they are now and I was doing substantially shorter distances in the first half of the year.

But my main ambition for next year is to do a few 100+ mile rides. Didn’t manage any this year; my greatest distance was 76 miles.

I went bike shopping this morning, at Halfords. A few post-Christmas bargains there, but I didn’t buy one. I was quite tempted by a Voodoo Limba, a budget “gravel bike” that I thought would do quite nicely as an additional winter road bike. But in the end even at £288 I didn’t think it was worth it. This particular one was in the clearance sale – possibly because it had a broken bell (which I’d have taken off anyway) and a missing bar end plug (which I’d have replaced with a mirror). Normally they’re upwards of £400.

Halfords advertise a “free bike build” on their website, as if you’d normally walk into a bike shop and come out with boxes of parts. But the quality of their bike building leaves something to be desired – whoever had put the stem on this one had managed to get the handlebars crooked, so that you’d have to ride with your right hand a few mm further back to keep the front wheel straight. Any easy fix of course and I’d probably have flipped the stem anyway, but it does show how shoddy they are.

In the end it was the wheels that put me off. They looked a bit cheap, and having front and rear disk brakes, presumably not that easy to replace. Disk brakes are, for me personally, a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. They add unnecessary complication (and indeed weight) for no discernible advantage with respect to my own cycling behaviour.

Anyway I came home empty-handed and an hour or two later, decided I’d have another run out. I assessed that the roads were dry enough today to allow a run out on the Planet X, which made me feel a bit better about my limited winter bike options. I withdrew it from the garage at about 1:25pm.

Didn’t take a proper front light with me but I only wanted to do about 30, a medium-long Twycrosser. And it was a pretty standard Twycross run through Sheepy and Ratcliffe until I got to the turn off for Upton on the A444. I took that, then a right onto Stoke Rd to reach Fenn Lanes. Haven’t done that for a long time.

Conditions were starting to get a bit dim by the time I reached Cadeby and I didn’t fancy doing the often-muddy stretch along Sutton Lane on the X, so I kept going until I came to the A477, which runs parallel northwards to the road I’d normally take through Bosworth and up through the villages. Although I had a few options to take a left from the A477 and onto the usual route, I didn’t take any of them. I decided the better-surfaced A road would be a better option to get home quicker after sunset on a bike only equipped with flashy blinkers. I’ve never done that before; come home all the way past Bosworth on 9 miles of A477. Not a lot of fun but it wasn’t too scary and I was confident my rear light would keep me visible from behind.

Back just in time, I’d say. Dark by the time I was rolling the bike into the garage.

34.77 miles, and that’s 375 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2965880559

A gloomy and cold day in NW Leics, and the roads were wet. But at least it wasn’t raining. I’d pondered doing a longer ride today but since the conditions weren’t great and I had a not-inconsiderable Laphroaig-induced hangover, I decided not to. I thought I’d do 40 or so though and, mindful again of a need not to overwork the Boardman during the winter months, I took the hybrid.

I set off without a clear plan, but found myself heading out down Standard Hill and Donington Le Heath. Not often I go that way. Reached Ellistown and decided that I’d do at least part of my route south, in the direction of Stoney Stanton. I got as far as Kirkby Mallory where I saw a road sign to Sutton Cheney, which is at the extremity of a longer version of the Twycross route. So I thought I’d go to Sutton and do the first half of the Twycross route backwards from there, which (I estimated) would give me about 35-40 miles in total. So – I followed the road to Sutton. This brought me to a junction with the A447, but it wasn’t clear whether I should turn left or right there. I wasn’t sure which part of the A447 I was on.

I chose to turn left and by the time I reached Stapleton, I’d realised that this was the wrong choice. The turn-off for Sutton was quite some way behind me. No matter – I turned off the A447 there, and thought I’d see if I could navigate home from an unfamiliar location. Fun! And a bit of an adventure. I followed a road to Dadlington and from there, saw a sign to Sutton. That brought me to Fenn Lanes and comfortable familiarity. I set off on the Twycross route backwards from there.

I decided to do the smaller Orton detour from Sheepy. I hadn’t done it backwards before. But I missed a turn and ended up doing the longer detour that bypasses Twycross altogether. Again though – makes it a bit more interesting to have to work out the route home. Back home through Snarestone, Swepstone, Heather.

Saw a huge bird of prey sitting on the hedgerow as I passed, along Sheepy Lane. I pulled up alongside it in the hope of getting a photo, but as I reached for the phone in my pocket it decided it wasn’t having it, and took to flight. A buzzard I think. I also saw a large white bird in a group of pheasants near Ratcliffe Culey – apart from its pure white plumage, it looked just like a pheasant, with the same long tail feathers. An albino pheasant?

Really a fun run out. Nice to do a few miles of unfamiliar road. I realised after about 10 miles that I’d left the house without any breakfast, but I seemed to be doing OK. A stollen slice (in festive lieu of an oat bar) and a small pork pie kept me going. Actually felt a bit better after my ride than when I started it. Fresh air and a bit of exercise won’t actually defeat a hangover, but they do help.

Back well before sunset which round these parts is still the unfortunate side of 4pm. But not for long.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2962928790

39.26 miles; 340 this month – a decent working majority.

Still pondering whether to get a cheap second winter road bike, to take the strain off the Boardman. I do have too many summer bikes, but I don’t want to demote one of them to a winter bike. Perhaps I shouldn’t have taken the other Boardman to my mum’s house where it only gets used once in a blue moon.

Not at work today. The roads were wet from overnight precipitation as usual but it wasn’t due to rain today, so I thought I’d do 30 or 40 on the Boardman. A moderate wind was coming from the west and I wanted to do something different for a change so I headed westward, through Measham, Netherseal, Coton in the Elms. I don’t go over that way often so it was a nice change.

I hadn’t bothered to bring the eTrex so I was navigating from memory but didn’t take any wrong turns. By the time I got to Walton on Trent I was weighing up the feasibility of pressing on all the way to Stafford Bingley Hall for a sentimental pilgrimage, but I decided against that firstly because I didn’t have a debit card or cash on me so my refuelling options were limited to a mini pork pie and oat bar, secondly because I assessed that it would be considerably colder after sunset – and thirdly, because I’d have to navigate using my phone.

Conditions were intermittently sunny and relatively mild. Had to pedal through a few shallow rivers running across the road. The route between Coton and Walton is quite muddy and gritty at the moment. I’ll go through Rosliston next time.

Got as far as a roundabout south-west of Yoxall. Went straight over it but the road there degenerated into a very crappy little track quite quickly, so I turned around. Had a bit of a look further up into Yoxall then came back homeward the same way.

I’d done my best to memorise the turns on the way out and this strategy worked quite well; no mistakes. Once back east of Measham and on familiar territory I took a different way home through Packington and along Alton Hill.

Very nice run out. Only 44.56 miles but it felt like a bit of an adventure. I always feel a bit out of my comfort zone a bit when I go out west, not sure why really. Perhaps it’s just familiarity but I feel a lot further from home 20 miles west of where I live than 20 miles south. Something to do with territorial psychology.

My right knee felt a bit sore after I got back but nothing overly concerning. It had done 110 miles over the previous 54 hours and I’m happy with the way it coped. The knee situation does seem to be improving, still. I wouldn’t say I’ve turned a corner but I’m on a long bend.

Anyway – that’s 301 this month and 4202 this year. Would be really nice if I could do another 184 before the end of the month because that would take me to 20,000 miles over the last five years exactly. But I doubt that family commitments and weather conditions in the rest of 2019 will allow that.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2951498508