Monday 11 February 2013

Week 6 2013...singled out

Single speed

Having ridden so little last week I was determined to get back on it this week with a vengeance
Don’t know why but I had no interest in getting on my road bike, the idea just repulsed me, so on Monday morning I loaded my single speed in the mota’ with the intention of a lunchtime blast.
What a blast it was, I am lovin’ riding my single speed, so much so that I racked up 4 lunchtime rides and a night ride on Thursday with a chap from work, all in the woods behind my office, added excitement was to be had by all the army bods on exercises, so much gunfire was to be heard and land rovers to dodge, such fun!
It certainly is a work out and even in such a short space of time I seem to be developing muscles in my arms which look decidedly odd, I was thinking Van-Damme biceps and triceps but no, muscles popping out the sides of my arms, just lucky I guess
I was getting faster and faster on the usual single track bits, spending less time in the saddle and more out of the saddle, peddling hard. 

The down side to this was the realisation that as much as I might like to kid myself that old skool V brakes are still good enough, after all it used to be, they are not, single digit braking afforded by nice hydraulics means I can hold on better and just feather the brakes if need be. Brakes were kind of on or off and after a weeks use, the brake blocks were seriously worn down again, v brakes were going to be an expensive option if keep wearing them out this quick. I must concede therefore that the Avid Juicy 7’s which were going to find their way onto eBay are going to find their way back on to the evo.
Another discovery of “retro” riding was that rigid forks are quite scary but lots of fun, again there is a downside which I will have to keep an eye on, I have limited use of some of my fingers on my right hand, this I have experienced many times in the past from riding old “vibey” motorcycles, i don’t know why it happens only that it is caused by excessive vibration. Moderation may be required in the deployment of the single speed, I’ll be gutted if I have to put suspension forks back on as well, which of course I do have cos I haven’t gotten around to putting my Fox Talas 32’s on ebay either.

I guess it wouldn’t be the first time that I have gone on a crusade to prove that progression had been made for the sake of progression, I really am seeing the benefit of these developments, but I’m hanging on to the single speed drive train, that’s as cool as 10 dead bears

That was the working week…

Plan for Saturday was get up early and do another secret ride based on the routes which the bloke gave me who is writing a book, well Saturday started with getting up later than I wanted but I went anyway.

 












Scotty the Cyclocross was dragged out for this one.
To start the route first I had to get to the start, the route though goes almost past my house so it meant doing the first 8 miles in reverse to get to the start, this was really nice, followed the jubilee river until hooking up with a cycle network route and then back onto some tow paths before getting to the start, which was a secret train station, of course it’s only secret to you cos I aint tellin’ ya which one it was. On arrival I then turned round and cycled back again, as I got nearer to the vicinity of my home I can almost hear the kettle boiling and tastes the digestives being dunked in my tea….the nearer I got the more rain fell and guess what happened….i bailed, went home and had a cuppa, it was a nice cup of tea and although we didn’t have any digestives I could remember the taste of my virtual one, half hour previous.


I had planned to pick up this ride again on Sunday but it was really naff weather so I didn’t bother, not that I am a fair weather rider but I had done alright this week so reckoned I deserved a day off

The week was finished off with a visit to my cycling buddy Tim to see his new baby "Lunar" and what a little sweety she was too.

Target for the week: 90K
Total distance achieved : 92.3K


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