Left work earlyish – not as early as I intended, but one of my idiot colleagues pushed back a meeting by half an hour then cancelled it at the last minute. Anyway I did get out of there at about 15:45.
I’m hoping to do all the neighbouring counties of
Leicestershire again this year as usual and last night, I had a look
through the tracks I’ve already done in 2020 to see which ones I’d
ticked off already. Only Derbyshire and Nottingham, as it happens.
Frustratingly I stopped a couple of hundred metres short of the
Staffordshire border before turning back on my trip out west on
Thursday. Anyway I noticed that I could take in a bit of Warwickshire by
extending a Twycrosser to the west a bit, so that’s what I did today.
Turned off the main road down to Twycross to go through Norton, Orton
and Warton. I wasn’t 100% sure I’d been into Warwickshire until I
encountered a ‘Leicestershire’ sign on the way back in. Why can’t all
public roads have signs to tell you when you’re entering a different
county?
A few minutes after I set off I noticed a helicopter crossing overhead, then about ten minutes later I saw it sitting in a farmer’s field, not far from the road! I stopped to take pics. The pilot appeared to be consulting a map, and he took off again not long after I stopped.
Absolutely beautiful out there in the open on the quiet road between Norton and Orton. Noticed the orange light from the setting sun ahead of me reflecting beautifully off the shiny patches on the road, so I stopped to take a pic:
That’s pretty much untouched apart from being resized; straight off the phone.
Dark
not long after that of course but I had highly adequate lighting. And I
wore a helmet, again. Good that I’m getting back into that habit, I
must admit.
Roads mainly dry. Not too cold. A bit windy.
Back
on 31.72 miles. The old bike computer I put back on the Boardman
behaved properly. Hopefully cleaning the contacts has fixed it.
I
must do that extension more often; it extends a Twycrosser nicely
(non-Twycrosser might be more accurate, it actually bypasses Twycross by
about a mile). And it’s a nice, quiet stretch with nice landscape
visible for miles.
I woke up unusually early this morning – excited, to be honest, about the UK no longer being in the EU. By about 05:30 I was wide awake so I decided to get up there and then. Had coffee and toast. Donned my cycling clothing and withdrew Neil from the garage at about 06:45.
I was pressured last night by ‘er indoors into wearing a helmet today, for a change. I wore a thin cycling hijab underneath it and a helmet cover on top and it was warm enough. Perhaps I’ll do that more often. This was the first time I’d worn a helmet for a couple of months, if not longer. A woolly hat is preferable for cold weather cycling really, but not necessarily for smooth marital relations. Of course I do appreciate the concern.
Dark out there an hour before sunrise, but
delightfully quiet. I’m on call at the moment so pursued my usual
strategy of trying to stay reasonably close to base. I decided to head
up toward Donington, taking a left to Melbourne then over Swarkestone
Bridge, then turn left to go west for a few miles along the long, flat
stretch north of the Trent. After that I’d come back south passing close
to base, and noodle around southerly parts for a while. But I didn’t
have a definite route in mind.
Very windy out there with powerful
40+ mph gusts forecast for a couple of hours around noon. I knew I’d
have a headwind going west, but the tailwind on the way back would make
up for it a bit. As it turned out the headwind, at least at that time of
the morning, wasn’t too severe.
Turned into Donington Park on a whim on the way there, to have a look just after dawn.
I
was genuinely thoroughly thrilled to be taking in the sights of an
independent country, no longer in the EU. The air smelled sweeter. More
British. The countryside seemed more precious, and more noble.
Got
as far as Hilton – a bit out of my comfort zone for receiving calls
from work; the quickest way back from there is probably about 18 miles –
and turned around. I definitely felt the tailwind after that. Rather
than coming back down Swarkestone Bridge though I decided to keep going,
and keep the tailwind, as far as the town of Donington itself. I
stopped at either Weston or Aston for a sandwich and a packet of Skips
from a shop there. Hadn’t been along that road before, at least in that
direction, and I took a wrong turn out of Aston, but ended up going
through Shardlow and over Cavendish Bridge as intended anyway. I hadn’t
actually realised that I’d done that until I looked at the uploaded
route on Strava.
Back
down through Isley Walton and Breedon then to Coleorton through
Worthington and Newbold, which I haven’t done for years. I was pretty
much busking it at this point but had a rough idea to go over to
Packington and tack on most of a Twycrosser. And I did that until I got
to Snarestone, having done 60 miles. I was pretty much running on empty
by this time, not having had a great deal of sleep last night. But I
decided to refuel at the Alpaca Farm caff, then either just make my way
directly home from there or turn back to the road down to Twycross and
keep going.
I
sat outside and had a scone, clotted cream, jam, coffee and a can of 7
Up. And the little biscuit that came with the coffee. Even after
ingesting all this I decided to head straight home, but after pedalling a
mile or two noticed that I now had a lot more energy and mojo. A rest
and refuel stop makes a big difference. I’d come a bit far now to turn
back down to Twycross, but I continued to Heather and from there crossed
over to Ibstock, from where I thought I’d do a bit of the standard
route down south. And I did do that but by the time I got to Barlestone
Road, out in the open again and a bit more exposed, the wind had become
fierce – just staying on the bike was becoming a bit of a drama. So I
came back home the shortest way from there.
Home on 78.56 miles. Nice to have done the February Fondo on the first day.
Almost spring-like weather when the sun came out. But it rained lightly a couple of times, not for long though.
Still no sign of the squeak from Neil’s rear and even the secondary rear disk lever is working properly now – still feels a little sticky but doesn’t jam the brake.
My
knees are sore now. But I’m encouraged to have done that distance
without hurting them too much; the longest ride since I buggered them in
April 2018, though only by a couple of miles. With a more carefully
planned (flatter) route, lighter clothing / bike and no headwind I feel
fairly confident I could do 100 or a bit more.
For (probably) the last gasp of January, I wanted to do 27 or a bit
more, to get the monthly total to the 350 mile mark. I’m entertaining
the vague idea that it might be nice to aim for 350 as a minimum for
every month.
Left work at about 3:30pm, having started early and
missed a lunch break. Took the hybrid, since I wasn’t going far. Nice to
get a bit more use out of it, I thought. I was going to do a
Twycrosser, but after about 6 miles, instead of taking the turn down to
Snarestone and Twycross I decided to keep on to Measham, then head out
west. The wind was blowing from that direction, so I’d have a bit of a
tailwind on the way back. As it happened I didn’t particularly notice
the headwind, or the tailwind.
I made my way out past Netherseal
and through Coton and eventually to Walton on Trent, a bit further than I
intended. Really nice out there after dark in the open; so atmospheric.
And not that cold either; unseasonally mild. I haven’t quite got that
route memorised yet so navigating my way back by remembering the turns
I’d taken was fun.
I
trialled a new front light (LED torch really) that I acquired as a sale
item from Tesco. It came as part of a set with 5 AAA batteries and a
rear light, for £3! The batteries alone would have cost a couple of quid
and I do use them, so – rude not to. And while the front light isn’t
quite a tarmac melter, it’s thoroughly adequate. Quite nicely made as
well, with a polished aluminium body.
I think that was the most
enjoyable ride of 2020 so far. I may go out that way again at the
weekend, although I’ll be on call. Really looking forward to the long,
warm days now.
Went out to the garage at lunchtime, and did a bit of prep on the
Tricross – fitted a handlebar extender so I’d have a bit of space for
lights, bike computer, eTrex mount and whatnot, gave both shifters a
good squirt with GT85, gave the top right brake lever the same
treatment. Put some lights on, ready for a run out after work.
So
3:30pm came around and having togged myself up in full winter cycling
gear, prepared an oat bar and a bidon and all that, I walked out to the
garage. It started to rain. I decided I wasn’t having it so I went back
in the house. But half an hour later I glanced out of the window and not
only wasn’t it raining, but the sun had come out! Fortunately I hadn’t
bothered to change so I got the Tricross out and did a medium-short
length Twycrosser. Interestingly the roads were dry-ish only two miles
from home.
Cold out there but an enjoyable run out under the
stars. Nice crescent Moon clearly visible and an unusually bright Venus
tonight.
The brake lever does feel a bit rough still and you can
still get it to jam up the rear disk if you pull hard enough, but you
can unjam it by pushing the lever the other way! So there’s that. In
practice though I just won’t use it.
More positively, the left
gear shifter behaved properly throughout so it looks like the GT85
treatment has cleared the fault. I suppose I should spray a proper
solvent cleaner up there first. I’ll give it a few more goes to make
sure it’s flushed out the gunk and dirt properly anyway. Still no sign
of the squeak from the rear so I think that’s cured now, must definitely
have been the brake pad rubbing. And the bike computer is calibrated
nicely now. Recorded the 23.40 GPS-recorded distance as 23.38. Good
enough.
Anyway .. 323 this month which is over target and 145 more than this time last year.
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.
I left work early, harbouring thoughts of doing 30 or 40. No rain for a
couple of days now but the roads are still fairly wet – possibly from
thawed frost? I took the Boardman.
I set off at about 3:15,
thinking of doing a Twycross. But I changed my mind after the first few
yards, and decided to head south instead. Had to go through Hugglescote
rather than Donny Le Heath to avoid a closed road, which meant an
annoying wait at traffic lights. Down through Ellistown, Bagworth,
Newbold Verdon as usual. As I neared Newbold I realised I hadn’t brought
a phone with me, which meant I’d be somewhat stuffed in the event of a
mechanical failure. It was also getting a bit cold. So I decided I’d
keep it down to 20 miles or so.
Rather than taking the right along Kirkby Lane I continued on to Desford, and turned back from there.
Quite
a beautiful sunset. The only bummer apart from starting to feel a bit
icy was the rush hour traffic at Ibstock on the way back. Overall quite a
pleasant run out.
Was surprised to see some frost on the pavements at Ibstock; didn’t think it was quite that cold.
While
half-heartedly clearing up in the garage at the weekend I came across
the old Cateye Velo 5 bike computer that I’d removed from the Boardman,
because it had developed an occasional habit of cutting out for the odd
couple of miles. I decided to give it another chance and put it back on,
after cleaning the contacts. And it did behave itself on this ride.
Very accurate too; agreed with the GPS to within 0.01 miles over 21.71.
I
put some titanium stem bolts on too; the steel ones I’d put on there
only a few months ago had already started to develop a bit of surface
rust. Annoyingly, one of the six bolts in the set I bought had been
machined differently somehow, with a small round hole instead of a
hex-shaped socket for an Allen key! I was only going to use four of
them, but I’ve contacted the supplier anyway.
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.
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.
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.
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).
