So as you’ll have read if you saw my previous update, I had a wobbly front wheel on the Boardman. I consulted a bike mechanic of my acquaintance about this and had the following reply:
Fortunately it turned out to be an easy fix and I did it myself. Encouraged by the words “might just need the hub tightening”, I googled an article online about adjusting Fulcrum hubs. Took the wheel off, loosened a collar, turned it clockwise until all the wobble went out of the hub, tightened it up again. Just needed an Allen key.
There’s a sweet spot where the hub’s tight enough so that there’s no rattle in it, but not so tight that there’s resistance (and therefore excess wear) in the bearings, so it was a case of trial and error.
Very satisfying to put the wheel back on the bike and spin it round without the wobble. Nice and tight.
I’ve binned the old tyres. I ordered a new pair last night (Schwalbe Luganos) but I found a Fincci in the garage, so I’ve put that on. Still plenty of meat left on it. I think I took it off the Cannondale after I bought the new Campy wheels for it. I wanted to put brand new tyres on them, but the Fincci hasn’t had much use.
The plan for today was to do the Dad’s Army route, but to take a road down toward a village called Filongley after Kingsbury. I was determined to do 100km.
I fitted a new inner tube to the Boardman on Thursday in Halfords’ car park, as attentive readers may remember. Since I’d relubed it and fitted a new cage bolt yesterday, I thought I’d use it for today’s ride. Just to give myself that warm, fuzzy feeling that it’s in roadworthy condition again.
As I wheeled it out of the garage, I noticed a very slight wobble in the front wheel – about 3mm of lateral movement. I checked it was secured properly in the forks. It was. Must be the hub. But it seemed rock steady with weight on it, so I decided to take it anyway. It seemed to handle properly so I put it out of my mind after a few km.
I missed the left turn off the A5 meaning that I had to negotiate the roundabout that meets the M42, but I didn’t mind that so much on the outward leg, because I took the first exit off it. I made a mental note to avoid it at all costs on the return leg.
Well, everything went very well until about 2km south of Kingsbury, when I suffered another front flat tyre. I was (at a guess) about 33km from home by the shortest route, so that wasn’t good. I did at least have tyre levers with me this time, as well as a thoroughly serviceable pump and two spare inner tubes. But I thought I’d see how far I’d get by just pumping up the flat. Might be a slow puncture, I optimistically reasoned. Naturally I decided to head back homeward from this point.
I didn’t get very far, as it turned out. About 2km. So I upturned the bike on a grass verge, swapped in a new inner tube and pumped it up, or tried to. The new inner tube didn’t even manage a metre. It wouldn’t take any pressure at all. I examined it carefully when I removed it – couldn’t see any damage to the tube. I wonder if it was a faulty valve?
I had one more card up my sleeve, a super-lightweight ‘Tubolito’ inner tube made from bright orange thermoplastic polymer. It cost me £27 from Amazon, but clearly now was the time. It wasn’t hard to fit. It behaved a little oddly though in that the tyre was still a little loose on it even when it was inflated fairly firm. The polymer it’s made from is less elastic than butyl. But it took up the slack with a few more strokes of the pump.
The valve shaft on the Tubolito is made of plastic, which doesn’t really inspire confidence. The mini-pump nozzle slipped off it before it was inflated to quite the pressure I wanted, but I decided to quit while I was ahead rather than push it back on and risk losing all the pressure. I crossed my fingers and set off again.
Thankfully, the new inner tube seemed to be working nicely. It rolled along quite satisfactorily. By the time I got to Sheepy Magna, 18km later, I was much more relaxed. I was close enough to home now that if I had to call out the other half to rescue me, her retaliation would be moderate. I stopped to pump a bit more air into the tyre.
I was doing my best to take the shortest route home, but looking at the route I see that I didn’t. After Twycross I came down the main road, then turned left along Gibbet Lane and headed back through Congerstone and Shackerstone. However about 5km from home, I realised that the front tyre was flat again. I managed to make it home by stopping every km or so to pump it up, although I must admit that I was running the tyre very nearly flat for some of the way. But at least I avoided having to walk the bike home.
So: the Boardman has eaten three new front inner tubes since Thursday. I’m satisfied that one of them, the first one I fitted today, was faulty. It failed before I’d put the wheel back on the bike. As for the others, I will admit that the tyre is a bit worn down, but I couldn’t see any sign of a puncture or sharp foreign object. I checked the inner surface of the rim and the tyre interior surface carefully each time before applying a new tube, on Thursday and today. Nice and smooth, nothing sharp.
Is it something to do with the slight wobble in the front wheel? Doesn’t seem plausible. Might be the other way round, come to think of it. Maybe running the wheel on a flat tyre has buggered the hub.
I will definitely acquire a new tyre, anyway. I’m not sure whether it’s worth having the wheel repaired (new hub bearings probably). It’s done about 26,000km. Then again I don’t ride aggressively, it doesn’t rattle down hills that much and I’m not heavy. I definitely don’t brake aggressively, the braking surfaces are fine. Actually the bike is still on its first pair of front brake pads.
It’s a decent wheel, a Fulcrum 4. Not the El Cheapo Mavic that the bike came with. I could probably get another 15,000km out of it if I have it repaired. Maybe I could have a go myself. Maybe something just needs to be tightened up.
Or I could treat the Planet X to a carbon wheelset and hand down its old wheels, or one of them, to the Boardman.
I’m not going to buy another super-lightweight inner tube.
Listened to footy on 5 Live, and Boris Johnson’s wonderful memoir, Unleashed.
Back on 75.05 km and given the circumstances, I’m calling that a win. 428 done this month and that’s decent enough ten days in.
Usually I don’t ride on consecutive days but I wanted to make amends for yesterday’s failure, so I thought I’d do at least 50km this afternoon. Decided to basically do the eastbound route, but with a long detour to the north to take in Top Brand, Diseworth and Long Whatton.
Even at 1430 the traffic along Rempstone Road going through Zouch was annoying busy, and the roadworks with traffic lights didn’t help. After 27km I took a left for East Leake. There was a ROAD CLOSED sign but I just ignored it. In fact there was about 2km of roadworks along there, but at no point was the whole width of the road closed. So I just sailed past.
My idea had been to loop back to Sutton Bonington; instead after another 5km I found myself a bit further west on the same road I’d taken the left turn from. I must rehearse that loop back on Street View. Anyway I decided to take a right turn and head back anyway. But I couldn’t find an adequate gap to turn right in the dual-directional river of traffic. So I turned left. This time, about two klicks further east, I took a right to Stanford on Soar – a familiar point on the (usual) eastbound route. Came back the usual way from there except that I did the same detour through Long Whatton and down Top Brand. Mainly to avoid traffic along Ashby Road.
There’s a timber merchant on the outskirts of Long Whatton called Harlow Bros. It seems really incongruous somehow, at the edge of a small village but it has a traditional, elegant brick office building that looks like it belongs in the ’50s or ’60s. At this time of year if you pass it at dusk, you can see the office interiors through the windows; wood panelling, traditional desks, wall clocks. Sometimes I daydream about getting a part time job there as an IT guru. I spent the last 12 years of my career working from home predominantly, and I’ve missed that sort of environment for a long time. Oh to be 30 again, dressed in a sharp shirt and tie and prowling the corridors of Rolls-Royce and Associates.
It was cold for the first few km and I thought I was going to have to cut the ride short. But I warmed up a bit. Listened to 5 Live.
A murky, cold day but having performed a rather short ride on Tuesday, I wanted to do at least 60km today. The wind was coming from the south-east. I thought I’d do a bit of the Eastbound Route. Maybe Six Hills and back.
Well, I’d done a bit less than 20 km when I noticed that I was feeling the road surface a bit more intimately through the handlebars than I’d prefer. Stopped, fondled the front tyre – it was flat. Not completely, but very soft.
I upturned the bike on the grass verge. Had a look in my backpack and in the frame pack – two spare inner tubes. A mini pump. A CO2 inflator and two cylinders. But no tyre levers. I never got round to putting the saddle bag back on after the last time the Boardman was cleaned, and that’s where I kept them.
I did have a half-hearted go at getting the tyre off with an Allen key, but that was hopeless. I was more likely to damage the rim and the new inner tube than to wrestle a tyre off and on again with a bit of hexagonal-shaped metal. Plan B was to hope the puncture was slow enough to stay inflated for a few km at a time. So I pumped it up and tentatively set off. Homeward, of course.
I got about 2km before it was clear I was going to have to pump it up again, and since I was about 17km from home, that wasn’t good news. This time I used the CO2 inflator. That got the tyre very well inflated – nice and firm – very quickly. I set off again, this time I got a bit further. I tried the CO2 inflator again but it was empty – must have used the whole charge on the first go. So I reverted to the mini pump. I made a bit of progress by stopping to pump the tyre another two or three times. When I stopped at Belton, I noticed that the bottle cage was hanging loose. One of the cage bolts had gone missing. Then when I came to mount the bike again, my Garmin watch fell off my left wrist. One of the spring bars had failed. Obviously not my lucky day.
About 6km from home, I went into the petrol station at Thringstone to see if they had a tyre lever or something similar. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t.
This time I used the second CO2 cylinder to get the leaky inner tube up to pressure. I was only about 6km from home now. The tyre went nice and firm, but the nozzle stuck on the valve! I unscrewed it carefully. The valve core came right out, along with all of the pressure in the inner tube, of course. I realised later that the inflator nozzle was probably frozen on. If I’d just left it another minute or so, I’m sure I’d have got it off easily. I did try screwing it back in finger-tight once it had thawed out, but it didn’t protect the pressure in the inner tube for more than a minute.
So I set off to walk home. About 3km later though I passed the Coalville branch of Halfords. I went in, bought a pack of three yellow nylon tyre levers (£3.50) then swapped in a new inner tube in the car park. Only took about seven minutes. I was back home 15 minutes later.
I’ve only uploaded the first part of the ride to Strava, up to where I started walking. Adding on the stretch from Halfords – home, the ride comes to a very unsatisfying 36.46km. I suppose I’ll do a fondo at the weekend. But I’ve done 290km this month now, and seven days in, that’s OK.
Anyway – useful lessons learned. The CO2 inflator is only good for one shot per cylinder so for a new inner tube it could be useful, but not to keep a leaky one going. My mini-pump works really well. Finally: I’m an idiot. But I’ll try to remember always to take tyre levers in future.
As of this morning, 16 of my most recent 20 rides had been fondos. However, I wasn’t tempted to do one today. For one thing, the weather was a little bit cold and gloomy. Dry enough, and unusually low winds, but not really long bike ride conditions. And for another, because it’s US election day, I’ll inevitably be staying up until at least 0300. And I didn’t want to tire myself out.
I thought I’d do something a bit different. I went up to Melbourne then across to Ticknall. Then down to Ashby via Bastard Hill, which I hadn’t done for months. Pleased to report that it wasn’t that bad an ordeal.
Not the best day for a ride up the hill between Melbourne and Ticknall. On a clear day there’s a fantastic view from the top into Derbyshire, but not today. I did find a portable toilet up there. It wasn’t locked. But I used the hedge.
Because I’d only done about 30km by the time I got to Ashby, I tacked a sort of sub-Twycrosser onto the ride. Down through Packington toward Twycross, but only as far as Snarestone. Usual way home from there through Swepstone and Heather. I did take a slight detour through Ibstock.
Back on 50.38km which does seem a bit rubbish. But it looks like there’s enough dry weather in the rest of the month to get the December kilometre count up to 650 easily, and that’ll do.
Listened to US election fever on various 5 Live programmes.
Another dry day and with the wind coming from the east again, another chance to do my favourite fondo ride, the Eastbound Route.
My usual route outwards through Coalville was blocked by a ROAD CLOSED sign and some pretty serious-looking roadworks, so I took a detour along Whitwick Road. I last did that in early 2020. I know this because I recall listening to a piece on Adrian Chiles’ 5 Live show about a cruise ship that had been quarantined due to the outbreak of a virus among the passengers and crew. At that time there was no suggestion that we were at the outset of a global crisis.
Anyway – I pedalled eastward in the usual manner, through Stanford and Burton on the Wolds, where I stopped at the petrol station to buy some food. I stopped and turned back after 49km. I was going to come back a slightly longer way over the last few km.
However – on a whim I decided to take a different route home, via a (roughly) parallel route to the north. I haven’t been that way for years, just thought it would make a change. I took a wrong turn almost immediately, to a village called Hose where I checked Google Maps and backtracked.
Quite nice to do the alternative route again, though I was reminded why I don’t really do it now. A bit climby and the road surfaces aren’t great.
Came back down Top Brand a few km from home and I reckoned I’d be home on more than 102km if I came back the usual way from there, so just for a change I came through Swannington rather than Coleorton. Saves a km or so but involves a long uphill slog. I hadn’t done it for at least a year. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered (it never is).
Listened to more of Boris Johnson’s thoughtful, insightful and wonderfully engaging memoir, Unleashed. Also football coverage on 5 Live and the first 45 mins or so of Bob Harris’ first Sounds of the Seventies on R2.
Back on 101.35k, happy to have got November off to a good start. 203k, three days in.
I got up yesterday with the firm intention of doing my 10th fondo of October. I had my cycling clothes ready to go; my cheese and onion rolls prepacked. But the weather was so cold and damp that I decided not to bother. Consequently, there will probably never be a decuple fondo month. Not in my spreadsheet anyway.
However – I did do one today. With a light wind coming from the south-west, I decided to do my Lower Westbound route. Hadn’t done it for a while.
I forgot to take the right turn for Measham after 10km. I went down Gallows Lane on autopilot, as if doing a Twycrosser. No matter, I took a right for Measham two km further down. Unfortunately because I’d approached Measham from an unusal direction, I took the wrong turn from the crossroads and ended up going west through No Man’s Heath and Clifton Campville. But that was fine. Hadn’t been that way for a while.
I stopped just short of Abbots Bromley after 52km, and turned back. I calculated that I’d have done 100km by the time I got back by the sensible route. But I realised by the time I got to Lullington that I wouldn’t, quite. So I took a detour up to Ashby after Measham.
That was an enjoyable run out, mild enough and a nice dry day albeit rather overcast. I listened to 5 Live and the Yes live album Yessongs, once a “triple album”.
Back on 101.81k. Thoroughly decent start to the November campaign.
At the moment I’m 319km ahead of 2023. That was my record year (10,321km) but I’ll be happy with 10,000 this year. Having said that – I did formulate an ambition earlier in the year to do a minimum of 400 miles in each month of this year, which would be a first – and if I do that over the last two months of 2024, I’ll end up on 10,152km. I’ll just aim for 650k for both November and December.
Unusually, the wind came from the north-east today. While casually perusing maps over a slice of toast this morning, I had the idea of going up into Nottinghamshire, to visit some old haunts. So I went up through Coleorton to Castle Donington, but rather than hanging a left to Shardlow as I normally would, I kept on keepin’ on to Long Eaton, then to Beeston.
In the noughties, by an odd coincidence I had two consecutive jobs within a kilometre of each other there; the first at a web hosting firm, the second at Nottingham University. I went right through Beeston and into the Uni. Took a pic of the bike against the Psychology Building, where I worked as a technology staffer. Good times. Really hadn’t changed much, though it was odd to think that some of the bright young things I saw walking around the campus would only just have been born when I started work there. Meanwhile the kids who were there back then are in their mid or late thirties now. Odd thought. It doesn’t seem long ago.
Anyway I didn’t stay there long. Once or twice when I worked at the Uni I cycled all the way home to Derby, so I decided to repeat that experience. I only ever did this four or five times. Mainly I’d wrestle the bike onto a train at Beeston station, then get off again at Spondon station. I only ever rode a bike all the way home when there was some sort of problem with the trains.
It really seems bizarre to me now that I would endure the hassle of taking (and paying for) a train between Nottingham Uni and Derby, with a bike, to avoid a 21km ride home. Years later I would regularly do a 50 or 60km ride after work just for the fun of it. But 21km, or 13 miles as I knew it at the time, seemed like a lot back then.
I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t remember the way out of Beeston toward Long Eaton, and I did a lot of faffing around in heavy traffic trying to find my way. I was glad to go there again but it’s very urban, not a lot of fun.
Anyway with the help of Google Maps I did find my way back to Long Eaton and from there through Draycott, Borrowash and into Derby, just like old times. I went up through Spondon, up to Oakwood where I used to live, then back down Acorn Way to the main road and back to Borrowash. Thankfully the “ASDA roundabout” was quiet. From Borrowash, down to Swarkestone Bridge through Aston and Weston – I was thankful to be on nice quiet country roads again – and back home the usual way through Melbourne and Coleorton.
Listened to 5 Live mainly, and the Ned Doheny album Hard Candy – a bit of a blue-eyed soul classic from 1976.
As I sat on a bench near Draycott, an old bloke in pink trousers and a woolly hat, out for a walk with his other half, wanted to talk about my bike. “That’s a name I haven’t heard for a long time”, he said, pointing to the Boardman brand on the frame. So we had a brief chat about Chris Boardman. I’m not sure how much of it he took in, or whether he was particularly interested. Sweet old man.
Dark by the time I got back, on 105.38km, which makes October a nonuple (yes) fondo month. My previous record is 6, in September 2023. I’ve also done 1172km this month, which is the highest distance score in any month since 2016. But I was a manic cyclist back then. I actually did 37 rides in July that year, which seems excessive to me now. To be fair though they were typically much shorter than I’d bother with now.
Looking at the weather forecast I probably will ride a bike on Thursday, which will be the last day of the month. Maybe even a fondo! But maybe not.
Today’s mission was to perform a fondo, by any means possible. Nice day – very sunny, though not very warm. A mild southerly breeze. I did the southbound route again. Given that the clocks went back an hour last night I hoped I’d have set off by 0930 but nope, 1024. That’s 1124, body clock time. Unaccountable really.
Since a defiantly dry day was promised, I took the Cannondale. Only its fourth run out this year. Didn’t get round to changing the chain and giving it the setup it needed until July.
Once again I went down via Odstone, Barton and Bosworth to avoid the roadworks near Bagworth. Went down as far as Station Road then turned back. I was going to come back the same way this time, but I decided to give myself an orienteering test, and I took a left towards Lutterworth rather than the right toward Broughton Astley. Found a sign to Ashby Parva, and from there I found my way back to Broughton via Frolesworth. My impromptu detour looked familiar, actually. I think I must have done that before.
After Kirkby Mallory I came home directly up the A477. Not really that pleasant, but I reasoned that the traffic would be lighter on a Sunday. By this time I was looking forward to a coffee and a warm bath. The temperature had dropped a little. And I’d added a few km on my detour.
Back about a minute after sunset, which today occurred at 1644.
I listened to Johnnie Walker’s last ever radio programme. I well remember listening to his chart show at school on my little blue transistor radio over 50 years ago. The new chart was announced on a Tuesday in those days. And I listened to football coverage on 5 Live, and another hour or two of Boris Johnson’s brilliant memoir, Unleashed.
Back on 105.39 km, and that’s my eighth fondo this month – a new personal record. Octuple Fondo October, if you will. It was also my 39th fondo this year which is also a personal best (I managed 38 last year).
Today’s plan, again, was to do a fondo. I must have a think about whether I want to spend every available dry day cycling. But anyway today, that’s what I did.
The wind was coming from the south so I set off at about 1010 on a remix of the southbound route. Last time I went down that way, on Monday, I had to contend with extended roadworks and traffic lights near Bagworth. I don’t mind waiting at the lights so much, but the road was covered in dust and mud. So this time I went down through Heather and the various villages to Bosworth, before joining the usual route at Kirkby Mallory, via Cadeby.
I went down as far as the end of Station Road, a couple of km north of Welford and the Northamptonshire border. I decided to come back up via the old route through Husbands Bosworth and Shearsby, with the twist that I would cut across west to the new route from Foston – to avoid the nasty traffic at the bottom of Leicester. I’ve tried this once before and made a mess of it. This time I managed to take the route I intended and yep, it works pretty well. After rejoining the main route at Broughton, I mostly came back the same way.
Back on 110.45km and that was October’s 7th fondo, a new monthly record. It’s quite likely that I’ll get another one in before November, as well.
Pretty gloomy when I set off, and cold. But the sun emerged in the afternoon and in the end, it was a very nice day. I did get a couple of minutes of drizzle near Foston, though. Seemed very incongruous, so much so that I thought I was being sprayed by a badly aligned windscreen washer at first.
I listened to Bowie’s Hunky Dory and 5 Live (mostly politics coverage).
