Wednesday 27 March 2013

#? Orange Clockwork (1993)

Retro Mountain Bike Project
Purchased March 2013
Image from ebay purchase punt:



Frame: 1993 Clockwork Orange (A305****) with additional headtube gusset!!!!
Forks: Look correct but have GT decals on them
Headset: ?
Stem: 3TTT (similar to Attacco)
Bars: ?
Bar ends: ?
Bottom Bracket: ?
Chainset: Shimano Deore XT FC-M730(1993)
Left crank: Shimano Deore DX FC-MT60 (1993)
Levers: Shimano Alivio gear/brake shifters
Brakes: Shimano Alivio cantilever
Front mech:Shimano Altus A10 FC-AT11 (1993)
Rear Mech: Shimano STX FC-RD32 (1995)
Seatpost: ?
Saddle: Selle Italia ?
Front Rim: Ambrosio CX22
From Hub: ?
Front Tyre: ?
Front QR: ?
Rear Rim: Ambrosio CX22
Rear Hub: Acera-X
Rear cassette: ?
Rear Tyre: ?
Rear QR: ?
Chain:
Bottle cage: ?
Condition is generally poor but recoverable. Rusty where previousley scratched. Insulation tape wrapped around chain stay.and stem. All mechanical  parts covered in oxidization and/or grease. No manufacturers graphics but various period stickers including a Pace one which may indicate previous componentry.
Plan is to restore and use.

Sunday 24 March 2013

Week 12 "Nil Points"

Well if last week wasn't cold enough, this week surely was.

I started the week planning on  couple of early week commutes and to then save myself for "The Dean" 300k audax

Plan to commute quickly went to pot and never happened, but that's OK cos I'll get my mileage up doing "The Dean"
I was quite apprehensive about this audax as it was to be my first 300K, the furthest i have cycled in one day prior to this was 257K which was supposed to have been 200K.
The Dean is also reputed to be a particularly tough ride due to the climbing of over 4000m earning it 4AAA hilly points.
As the week progressed murmurs were heard from various people about the forthcoming weather, by Wednesday i was glued to the weather channels, i had 3 different apps installed on my phone and i was constantly checking Metcheck, BBC weather and the MetOffice websites.
I constantly teased my cycling buddy Tim about the weather hoping he would bail, but secretly knowing he was too stubborn for that.
An ebay purchase of a potential road bike for my lad had me travelling to middle England on Thursday, it snowed all the way home, this gave me further material for teasing as it was after popping in to see Tim that the snow started.

Alas as we got closer to the weekend it looked certain to be heavy snow particularly over the whole area of the proposed bike ride, starting in Oxford and going towards Gloucester and back, we would be right in the middle of it.
The call was made after some chatter seen on the world wide web chat forums, people were dropping out in their droves, so we jumped on the band wagon and bailed too.


I thought of lots of alternative rides to do instead but did diddly squat instead....a week off as it turned out.

Target for the week: 100k
Total distance achieved: 0k

Friday 22 March 2013

Sunday 17 March 2013

Week 11 "Sunday Best" comes out to play

Brrrrr what a cold week
My plan to commute 2 days a week went out the window, with lots going on at work and after work, not to mention the freezing whether, although i had all my clothes sorted for a Monday commute home on my single speed and then back in again on Tuesday, i lacked enthusiasm, so it didn't happen
Wednesday......
....... presented an opportunity for a lunch time ride, single speed still in my car, i thought i would have another go at riding to Odiham Castle along the Basingstoke canal.
The weather was kind, a little too kind, i was sweating like a P.I.G. and i had forgotten to take a water bottle with me :-( but it was great to be out and the there was a hint of spring with various plant life starting to come to life.
As usual i didn't see many people despite it being ideal for dog walking. Having progressed further than i had before i knew i was near the castle but didn't know if it was right on the canal or near-bye, a dog walker approached, assuming her to be a local, i asked the obvious question, "Is Odiham Castle near bye" she replied "ODIHAM Castle, mmmmm" seeing from her expression that she was searching her memory for reference to an Odiham Castle, i helped her out further by saying "The Ruin" so she then says "Oh you mean St John's Castle! it's just up there (pointing) you're very close, you can't miss it" so sure enough after about 100 yards, there it was with a bl**dy great sign saying Odiham Castle...St John's, bearing in mind this is only a couple of miles, if that, as the crow flies from odiham high street i thought her confusion over my titling St Johns castle as Odiham castle a little odd. I wondered if the castle was somehow in an area "posher" than Odiham and she didn't want it to be associated with Odiham in the same way that nobody ever lives in Slough, always an area outside of it, though even this is a bit of a struggle as Odiham is pretty posh, BTW i don't live in slough despite my SL postcode.
The castle has quite clearly been preserved as it is now, a ruin but it looks to have been "pointed" so as not to decay any further and was quite pretty, looking like it was made out of small stones rather than bricks.
I checked the time and realised i was low on it, so had to get a wriggle on to get back before the end of lunch, which i did, just with a couple of minutes to spare only to realise i had forgotten something else....a towel...grrrr
Looking at my calendar for some reason i was reminded that in a little over a week and a half i was to enter my very first 300K, "The Dean", which apparently is a really tough one too, my cycling buddy Tim had told me many times how tough it was in a way as to suggest that it was too difficult for me so don't even think about entering.....he then subsequently asked quite a few times if i would enter but only after his other cycling buddy Ron had blown him out :-) Fear in my bones, more rides were necessary!
After my commute home last week off road via Minley Manor i had consulted the on line OS maps and found a nice route off road from work, dug out my old GPS laps from "Torq in your sleep" and plan was formed to go for an after work ride to ride to Minley manor, do a lap, then ride back.
For this ride a figured that my single speed was ideal as it could be a quite a hard route so for the first time since October's Bear Bones 200 my "Sunday Best" Orange elite came out to play.
The chain was initially a bit stiff so copious amount of GT85 (other lubricants available) following by some Finishing Line Wet Lube (other lubricants available) the chain seemed smooth again.

Thursday
Setting off, it felt strange to be back on it, i remembered it with a little disdain, possibly because Bear Bones was such an unpleasant event in so many ways, i also harboured feelings that i had perhaps wasted my money building it and should have stuck with my Evo.
But it wasn't as i remembered it, initially i wasn't changing gear, being used to not doing so, but the terrain under foot was being smoothed out like butter by the plush Roch Shox forks and the rotund free riding tyres, it was light and responsive, the wide bars and long distance grips i had fitted made it feel like i was riding a Ferrari with bull bars and land rover wheels, remembering the gears, they changed with finesse, selecting the correct ratio's giving an extra edge of urgency, this was brilliant, totally different to how i remembered, there was however a fly in the ointment, i had forgotten that the seatpost was poo and gave me trouble on Torq and Bear bones and this day would be no exception....message to self...bin the seatpost and put a new one on!
Route to Minley was good, nice fast rolling fire road type terrain and well trodden dog walkers paths, once i got to the race lap it all went a little wrong, went the wrong direction, couldn't decide what was clockwise, so it was difficult for me to recognise the terrain. I made a right hash of following the route on my gps and with the light failing and the pub calling to bid farewell to a chap from work i cut the lap short and got on my way back. Defo want to have another go at this.

I formed in my minds eye a series of rides i could do to achieve a blast of training miles in a short space of time.
thought i could go for a lunchtime ride Friday, this was thwarted by a conference at work Grrr but then i thought, a day off riding and then do a DIY audax on Saturday followed by a 100k off road ride on Sunday after church.
The 200k audax route i have at the ready is stolen from an event held in 2009 that goes past my house
The 100k off road route follows the 3 castles path route i have mapped from Windsor to Odiham castle and then back off road using my cross country commute route.

Friday night it chucked it down, no way was i going out in that, it is supposed to be fun, after all. This further cemented my cycling buddies opinion of me being "Hydrophobic".
The forecast looked favourable for an afternoon ride and with discovery that Fleet half marathon was on Sunday which would make it difficult to do my off road ride, it was game on for my 100k off road on Saturday afternoon.
Swapped old seat post for a new FSA one which i had "in stock" had a quick play at setting the bike up according to the fit on my other bikes. Sorted.

Saturday  
I set off at about 1:30pm expecting the ride to take about 5~6 hours. Initially using part of my commute route to join the "3 Castles path" somewhere in Windsor Great Park, this was easy enough, though i was a little perturbed by the shear volume of water that was laying around, the wearing of waterproof trousers and 2 pairs of overshoes wasn't likely to be excessive. Just before leaving the Park my GPS gave me a sign from OS that i was going the right way. It was showing me the muddy single track path i was about to get on as soon as i left the smooth tarmac of the Park, the real adventure was about to be begin.

 

First obstacle following my route was some fancy looking gates which lead down to Ascot race course, quick look at the GPS revealed a road which runs adjacent to the preferred path, no drama but it did leave me wondering what this wide, partly paved road/path was used for, perhaps it is just there for historic reasons.



Another part of the path appeared to be missing or at least access to, when i got to Ascot Racecourse. I expected this a little but hoped that these two incidents in such close succession were not the shape of things to come. I got into the racecourse, i knew this was available for dog walkers so i knew there would be a way in and across the racecourse, this i managed roughly following the GPS route. It was obvious that in the redevelopment they had left certain "paths" of grass which must be to preserve the "3 Castles Path" maybe not by choice but preserved none the less.
On exiting the Racecourse i ambled through a housing estate, possibly a little disparaging as all of the houses were clearly million + homes with gated entry. A few moments of confusion as i kept deviating off my course but couldn't see the turning, having gone up and down one particular road, i was giving up and about to conclude that one of the affluent residents had incorporated the path into their grounds, but then i saw it, tucked in between 2 houses and set back from the road, back on track. It was fair to say i was really enjoying the investigative part of this adventure.

Progression was good. I cut across Ascot and found myself near Lavender Park golf course and then into Swinley Forest and onto the forestry commission roads. I made quick work of this, having been on previously ridden some of these routes and before i knew it i was up by Coral Reef and "The Lookout" which is the main start point for mountain biking in Swinley Forest. Apparently short listed for the Olympic Mountain bike venue it is currently being redeveloped extensively to turn it into a proper trail centre. The constant vehicles accessing the site for this work had really churned up the ground and the ruts n holes were quite happy to store up the rainfall to catch out unsuspecting riders. It was tough going, quite boggy and i was getting incredibly filthy.

 
No time to explore the fantastic single track, i exited the main park area and ended up on more single track, boggy, pathways, more evidence of the preservation of the 3 Castles path, there were also little path markers, the same as i have seen marking the South Downs way, except these ones had 3 C P marked on them with permanent pen......come on...Royal Borough, surely you can do better than that!!!! Along one such path there were quite a few sty's and kissing gates, unfortunately these were really tight and meant i had to lift my bike of the barriers which was unpleasant as the bike was covered in filth. At one such gate i decided to take a piccy of "Sunday Best" whilst i took the picture a lady walked up and we struck up a conversation about the weather and tranquility of the area, it was a welcome interlude on an otherwise lonely trip.

For the most part i had followed trails and paths that i had not been on before but i had a rough idea where i was, this comfort had now gone, i was following the route blind as i went from woodland area to fields and paths, along the odd bit of road, even over a railway. I have been over an unmanned crossing before but this still shocked me. I wondered if this was kept open again as a hark back to the ancient path i was trying to follow.


Wasn't long before i really ended up in the middle of nowhere, through a housing estate down a narrow path then a small bridge, just as i was thinking and actually saying out loud what a dirty trick it was to put a really tight kissing gate at the end of a narrow bridge, BANG! bike was over and in the water and I was scrabbling to grab hold of the hand rail. The bridge was like ice, a film of algae or something else green, it was incredibly slippery, obviously not frequently used.


I was to find out why this bridge wasn't used frequently, after slowly slogging through a fairly water logged field over another bridge then a decision had to be made. The water ahead looked pretty deep, i was not even half way and the thought of wading and then having soaking feet wasn't desirable, tried to get through but after consulting the GPS i could see that by going back i would be back on track  in a only a few minutes, defeated, i headed back, this time i was very careful over the algae bridge!


Nice tracks were just around the corner, still clueless as to where i was, some of the views were quite pretty, but the skies were getting greyer and the sun on its way down, it was plainly obvious i was massively behind schedule, i hadn't got to Odiham Castle yet and it was some 3 or 4 hours since setting off. A plan change was required. :-(


I was near Hartley Wintney, this was indeed a way off of my "Half Way" destination and the rain started to pour. It had rained on and off all day but this was the first time it really felt like i should be at home in front of the telly. I stopped and fitted my crash helmet lights and consulted the GPS. It was a shame but it was 5 o'clock ish (the time i wanted to be back home) and i knew i had at least 3 hours of riding ahead of me....Odiham Castle was not going to happen.
I took to the roads, which were so flooded that there was no avoiding the tidal waves of water from the cars. and riding through the puddles myself, soaked through in no time. 
I was on roads i knew from driving home from work different ways and as i got closer to Fleet i recognised place names from lunchtime rides.
6 o'clock i was one road away from my work, originally my plan was to go to Odiham castle then ride back along the towpaths as i have at lunchtime, then connect this with my cross country route home, thereby staying off the roads. Having abandoned going to Odiham castle i just wanted to get home so i just went the fastest route i knew, which meant i could get home in about 2 hours rather than at least 2 1/2 hours for the off road ride.
I ate the miles up well, i had deliberated whether to use some of the off road route but once i had decided to stick with the roads i pretty much zoned out and kept the pedals turning.
Alone with my thoughts i reflected on the tough training schedule and the prospect of "The Dean" 300k in a weeks time and then of course "London Edinburgh London" 1400K that this was all building to. I talked myself in and out of the whole thing several times, with the raining throwing it down.
10 miles from home the idea of Fish and chips popped in my head, this kept me going, i assumed the family to be at the in-laws and for them to already have eaten so fish and chips it was, i had my emergency £10 note in my pocket.
Part way through "Windsor Great Park" whilst in a lull of rain a Warden spotted me, the park is closed from dusk till dawn. He had me bang to rights and i had talked my way in to the park a couple of times previously when it was getting dark, but this was pitch black, top chap, he pitied my plight and let me continue and told me not to do it again, I agreed and continued. Note to self, don't take the mick again!
After the park i cut across Windsor, massive puddles but i was beyond caring, i was so close I could almost smell the salt and vinegar. 8:10 mission accomplished Eton Wick chip shop, like an oasis in the desert. At first they didn't recognise me, the owner looked initially in horror and then said "Is that Chris" having grown a beard and head to foot in mud, i am not surprised she didn't recognise me.


Paid my money cycled home and it hailed on me in the last 500 metres but i didn't care, i was home. checked the distance....100k exactly

No more cycling this week which means i fell short of the target :-(

Target for the week: 200K
Total distance achieved: 156.8K

Tuesday 12 March 2013

#6 Elswick Mistral (1978)

Project single speed/Paint job
 
One of the jobs i wanted to do on my "Hand built by me" bike was to paint it myself, hoping to do everything last thing on it myself.
Well i didn't want the first attempt at painting bikes to be on my very special audax machine
so it was destined to go to a professional and I needed an alternative to experiment on.
 
Various searching techniques deployed on eBay for frames and i found this little beauty
 
 
The advert read.......
"Stripped for painting this now has surface rust ( but not severe ) measures 21 inches from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat tube, sakae bottom brackets and one crank. weighs 8 1/2 lbs. Pump pegs broken off. No numbers"
 
 
I had no idea what it was and only a rough idea of size, which seemed approximately the right size for me assuming the seller had measured it correctly, but i couldn't be sure but as i am a farely average 5' 11" ish i could almost cope with any size and as the plan was for it to be a painting exercise it didn't really matter
 
I had initally decided that it really didn't matter what bike it was as i could then put my own graphics on it and it could be potentially another anonomous single speed town trendy bike that looks way flasher than it actually is.
 
On arrival of my £10+P&P frame and forks curiousity got the better of me and i quickly became obsessed with pursuit of knowledge, was it exotic?, was it rubbish? the advert quoted a weight which wasn't too shabby so my hopes were high.
 
It was a real pain to find out, the paint had been stripped but remnants were still apparent in the nooks and crannys, a rather lurid metallic purple, that should narrow it down!
 
The forks had a very distinctive looking crown to them but it did appear to be of cheap manufacture. Not a casting but a stamping with a couple of slugs to fill the void where the blades were inserted.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Additionally it came with one crank fitted, a "Silstar" on the non drive side. A common brand of the 70's and 80's but distinguishable by the text being prominant on the outside of the arm. It also had some castings markings on the inside of the arm.
It turned out that the casting marks meant January 1978. It was Japanese in origin from SR, this was a good thing as it meant that it wasn't french, not that i have anything against the french but this era was a changeover time for french bikes when threads would transfer from their own sizes to the more globally adopted english threads, meaning i wouldn't have to seek out peculiar old french parts which were no longer made.
A crank of this type was generally fitted from new to reasonable quality bikes of the 1970's and 80's, so it was likely that the crank was original rather than fitted as an "upgrade"
 
So...info check.....Metallic purple, 1978 ish, maybe 1979, probably english, unlikely to be french, fitted with a Silstar chainset with a distinctive fork crown and the noteable broken off pump mounts would also be a clue as the position of these varied from manufacture to manufacture and model to model.
 
After extensive what seemed like laborious research, scouring the internet i'd cracked it. I must confess, i love all this research, i know it's sad but it's a mystery challenge and the chance to discover a little bit of history and to perhaps restore a little bit of history, so although it was both painful and stressful, deep down i was loving the frustration.
 
So what was it
 
"Elswick Mistral" of unknown vintage
 
Elswick, who are still tradding today harked from the very beginnings of cycling, founded in 1880, as with many old british bicycle companies they when through many different phases management and production. By 1978 they had become a mass producing middle of the range comglomarit by other cycle firms they had previous involvement in such as Falcon cycles and then like others started badge engineering, whcih is the era of my Elswick Mistral. Not worthy it seems of its own serial number it is no doubt the same as many other generic middle of the road "racers" of the 70's hoping that it's lurid metallic purple paint and majestic head badge would make it stand out from the crowd. As i said it appears to be middle of the road, average, not the type of bike that that people go crazy for these days but more of the first "half decent" bike they had the ones that were built in their masses in the boom time of the British cycling industry, perhaps the "Specialized Allez" of its time.
 
I have copied the info here in case the link goes dead:
  • Some evidence to suggest that it was at least made from 1978 to 1981
  • Could be Reynolds 531 if 1981, 27.2 seat tube is suggestive of reynolds which mine is but could also be Reynolds 453 High Titanium Manganese Butted tubing.
  • Mafac Brakes (Racers)
  • Shimano derailleurs (400)
  • Shimano shifters
  • Wheels rims are Alloy Weinmann 27 1/4
  • Wheel Hubs are Normandy Alloy high flange
  • Cranks Sakae Silstar square taper
  • Could be the same as a Coventry Eagle Commodore but with different brakes
 
 
 
Silstar Chainset


















Mafac "Racer" brakes


















Shimano Gears











 













The most exciting bit about this frameset though is the actual size, it almost matches my bespoke hand built by me frameset, the main difference is a lower head tube height which would make sense as mine is built for audax rides it has a high headtube for extra comfort.
 
Initially i am very excited by this arrival, several evenings have already been wasted selecting and mulling over potential component selection...should i restore, should i go retro upgrade, what about modern trendy. whatever i end up doing, single speed it needs to be.
 
Paint job wise, i am currently inspired by some "Paul Smith" combinations i have always liked, from a T-shirt i own and from his signature "Stripe". He is one of my favourite designers and was at one time destined to be a professional cyclist.
But hey, it's early days we'll see.
 
More info to be added here as it progresses.

Sunday 10 March 2013

Week 10....Variety is the spice of life


With the onset of march i decided that i would up my regular commuting distance from 1 to 2 days, as the distance for training increases this is an easy way, mentally of ensuring i do enough miles. This does not happen without a certain amount of faffing though, Sunday night preparation of packing all my clothes to take to work for when i cycle in, not wanting to carry anything more than i need, checking both bikes over, rationing out my food stores and making sure i had the necessary equipment on board in case of breakdowns.
 
The plan was to cycle home cross country on my single speed on Monday evening and then cycle back in on scotty Tuesday, home again and then to work again on scotty Wednesday, car was almost out of fuel so it saved me filling up for a couple of days too.
First i thought, i should take my single speed for a quick blast on Monday lunchtime to make sure the newly refitted brakes were all OK.
This i did and all was good. just my usual lunchtime lap which was a good test and a chance to bed new brake pads in.
 
The ride home was stunning, much drier than the last time i did this route, it was a clear evening but the lack of cloud cover meant it was pretty cold too, following my GPS and remembering some of the hitches i encountered last time, i whipped along quite well, hardly seeing anyone, did see a big hairy cow at one point which completely ignored me. 
I arrived at Windsor Great Park with the light being quite "dimpsy" (a south western term i am lead to believe meaning getting dark, but in between light and dark) a Warden flagged me down who thought the light was certainly nearer dark than light but he was kind enough to let me progress so long as i got a move on. This i did and I made it home in a longer time than i had expected at 2 1/2 hours but felt really good, and my muscles all felt pretty good, I'm attributing this to the bike set up changes i made at the weekend rather than my cycling fitness.
 
With the morning came some pretty intense fog, at times visibility down to a couple of car lengths, i altered my usual route a little and went cross country to the great park, i have become tired of the run into Windsor and from the town centre to the great park, it always feels cold and lonely, whereas the route following the cycle network chops and changes and feels a bit more urgent, and gets me going better, oh and less hilly too so whilst i still have chunky monkey tyres on scotty i may continue to do this. Leaving the rest of the route to my usual commute, i got to work feeling pretty good, strong and legs, i felt, would be good for the commute home.
 
For some time i have been toying with the idea of riding the "3 Castles Path" which i think i have mentioned before, is a path (marked on OS maps) which starts at Windsor Castle and goes to Winchester Castle via Odiham Castle (now a ruin). Last week i stumbled upon someones entry onto Bikely.com which was a cycling version of this ancient path, well in the absence of doing a reconnaissance of my own route i thought i would give it a go (only half obviously)
Overall verdict was a thumbs down, too many busy roads, battling it out with car commuters but with the occasional interlude of total remoteness either in the woods or down little roads. Part of the route went through Minley Manor, whereupon i noticed what looked like proper mountain bike tracks, it felt like a trail centre, committing this to memory i checked some of my old routes (not knowing at the time of riding that it was Minley Manor and Spors-tracker confirmed that this was where i had competed in the Torq in your sleep 12Hr event, this would surely have to be revisited on a more suitable machine.
The route also put me through Lookout at Bracknell which is actually be turned into a trail centre at the moment ahead of the summer.
all in all i was certainly glad to have tried the route but it is unlikely i will repeat as it is.
 
Wednesday morning, i needed to beat the rain which was forecast for 8ish onwards, i didn't oversleep so this seemed achievable. I again went cross country to the great park and continued as usual until i got to the top of Red Road in lightwater (a pretty steep hill that feels like a test every time) instead of turning left and going through Deepcut (famous in the news years ago for the barracks...not in a positive way) i went straight on, i thought this would bring me out by the Lakeside complex (famous for the Darts world championships) well it didn't!
Having a history of appalling sense of direction i can say with some confidence that this has improved (ignoring the previous paragraph), i went what i thought was roughly the right direction, checking occasionally on the GPS, and then started hitting roads i recognised, another unexpected achievement as my memory is rubbish too. This detour missed out a couple of "gutty" bits which i don't care for and replaced them with different rubbish bits, but it was different so i didn't mind.
Got to work, threw the bike in the back of the car just as spots of rain appeared on the windows...mission accomplished :-)
 
I had planned to do a 200K permanent audax on Saturday but i had fallen behind on my frame preparation which was getting to me loads, i was even more intolerable at home than usual!
So i binned this idea which given the terrible forecast i wasn't so disappointed although i missed out cycling wiv my buddies Tim and Aid, hope they didn't get too wet.
Evenings and all day Saturday (on and off) was spent filing and polishing of my frame and the most exciting thing happened...the postman brought me my graphics too. Frame got finished, new forks modified. All that was left was to pack it up ready to post it Monday morning for paint. Big milestone achieved.

Additionally i took on another project this week (you can never have too many projects) A skill i want to learn is painting, of the bicycle frame kind. Not wanting my bespoke frame to be the guinea pig, i purchased an old school road bike and forks off eBay for a tenner +P&P with the idea of it not being terribly important whether i make a hash of it or not. It turns out the frame size is perfect, almost matching my bespoke frame.

With no markings and just the faintest residue of it's original colour i discovered that it is a 1978/79 Elswick Mistral, nothing special, not rubbish but not exotic either, perfect. this will become a single speed project also for short road training, but for now it will sit in the corner of the shed and do nothing...much...probably...for a while (piccy of what i should look like)
 
Target for the week: 150K
Total distance achieved: 189.2K

Friday 8 March 2013

Week 9 .....The bare minimum

Not quite!

Another slow week in terms of quantities of rides.....
My commonly used machines at the mo were looking pretty sorry, single speed had worn out brakes and was covered in filth, scotty the cyclocross was looking pretty manky as well, partly due to removing the mudguards, had I mentioned before that I hate mudguards!
I had fallen behind on my frame build so the shed beckoned me in the evenings for some filing and rubbing down, lots to do but very satisfying.

This didn’t permit me to shirk my training though so a quick fix was to commute home from work on Thursday and back in on Friday. This trip went well enough, dull and uneventful, it felt like a means to an end, as of course it was.

"Trouble and Strifes" birthday rained off play on Saturday leaving Sunday for early morning ride of the 3 bridges route
Sunday morning’s feeling of being behind on cycle maintenance put pay to the 3 bridges ride and was instead was substituted for cleaning and maintaining my bikes.
Time had come for the evo single speed to be re-upgraded back to disc brakes…I had ordered a fresh set of Avid pads and an olive to bleed and setup the rear, this was not to go as well and swiftly as anticipated, the front needing bleeding as well but all was installed with only the time taken being the pain. (BTW check out the rotor, pimp or what!)

Sunday also yielded time for frame building work to continue, namely  I needed to work out some of the geometry for fitting me so I could take advantage of a bargain at Planet-X on stems. This was unfortunately going to prove to be a dark day in the history of my new audax machine.
I unpacked my new spangly wheels, whipped off a saddle and seat post off one of my other bikes, unpacked spangly carbon bars and scavenged around for the stem that I took off scotty after the bike fit and assembled said components to frame and forks.
Armed with a tape measure and spirit level and scotty for reference as well as the data provided from the bike fit I set about adjusting and positioning things to understand the stem length required. This turned out to be a 90mm, funnily enough as it stated on the bikefit info which I didn’t realise till afterwards but at least it all tallied.
As I had everything together I thought I would offer up some disc brakes I had to see how the position looked on the bike for both the caliper and hose guides, rear looked ok, a bit of tweaking would be required as the mount had “curled” a little at point of welding but that was all fixable. Front however was a different story…….offering up the caliper revealed that the mount was too close to the spokes so wit ordinary mounting the caliper would be jammed into the wheel….Grrrr…special mount I thought….OK I could design something in CAD (computer aided design for those that don’t know) get it machined, no doubt at great expense but it could be done……perhaps, it hought, I’ll just put discs on the wheels, just to check everything…..%&?* the disc hits the forks!!!!!!!!! They are essentially scrap at least for this machine, my hand crafted disc road forks were useless, the fork crown was a narrow road one which put the leg angles at such an acute angle that there wasn’t clearance for the disc to rotate…..gutted!!!!

Unusually for me, I didn’t sulk about this, something in the back of my mind didn’t mind, remembering the trouble we had on the course getting the legs to align correctly, I think I had it in my head that there was something wrong with them anyway irrespective of the disc fiasco, this error would be put down to experience and the cost would be considered a training course fee alone, at least i know what to look out for when fitting discs to aroad bike!
 
After an hour or 2 on the internet I found the perfect replacement, a steel fork of similar weight with the same looking fork crown, matching fork ends, similar disc mount but with curved blades which is what I wanted originally anyway, the only downside was it was American, Surly to the rescue, I have Surly forks on my single speed and they seem pretty good and a pretty cool brand with fresh ideas to all types of cycling, credit card to the rescue and the trigger pulled…money can buy happiness ….sometimes


Overall, not much cycling, but in some form or another bicycles had occupied virtually every spare thought in my head.

Target for the week: 100K
Total distance achieved: 87.1K