Week 7.8.9.10 & 11 my cycling drought ends

Due mainly to going on holiday cycling ceased for 4 weeks !!!!

Week 7 was mostly spent searching for my daughters passport, diplomacy and panic meant that cycling of any description would have been a bad move.

Week 8 was spent basking in the sun in Malaga, exercise came mostly in the form of Table tennis, pool and swimming :-)

Week 9 oh the unpacking and the getting back into work mode grrrrr

Week 10 consumed by work, morning, noon and night, still no cycling

Week 11 Back in the saddle........

Monday started great with a commute to work, i was absolutely buzzing the night before whilst i made preparations, although i thought i was going to struggle, having not cycled in 4 weeks so i set my alarm 5 minutes earlier than normal.

My single speed cross bike is my weapon of choice for commuting these days and it is pretty much perfect.

Due to the flooding in my area i wasn't sure if pedaling along the Thames tow path to Windsor was going to be an option, fortunately for me my gamble paid off and the path was clear and very dry as it happens. Next decision was whether to chance going through Windsor Great Park. The rule is that you can only enter from dawn till dusk, i pedaled on and into the park, initially there is a hill as you proceed through Rangers Gate, then you round a corner and can see across the long walk and Windsor castle, as i did so, i was greeted by the most beautiful tequila sunrise. I reckoned that confirmed that i could legitimately say it was dawn. The rest of the ride was uneventful all be it refreshing (read, pretty chilly) and it was great to be back on the bike.

For my commute home i made a change to my usual routine which is to get ready a bit before i should so i can sprint to the earliest train i can. This always causes me a little stress, as i get to the cycle path 1/2 a mile from the train station i am always met by a legion of students, if i was of a different disposition i would find it hilarious, particularly when its dark, riding up behind these youf's and scaring the living day lights out of them, however they often jump six feet in the air or have to be told repeatidly by their mates to move, bla bla bla, therefore after that long winded explanation, the change i made was to just get the later train. It was bliss no traffic outside the schools and no critical mass of students.

I knew it would be bright enough to go the Windsor Great Park which i did. overall it was a billiant commute, arriving home famished and overjoyed about how great it was to be pedalling again.

Tuesday, wow where do i start.......i was working from home...this was particularly useful as

I had been invited to participate in a focus group for Cyclist magazine, whereby i had been asked, along with other equally awesome cyclists to talk about cycling and cycling magazines. For my expert views and opinions i would be rewarded with a heart stopping ride through London from the train station to the venue, free sandwiches, juice and Beer with a £50 note to take away. This was all performed hipster style with my single speed and my jeans turned up, oh yer baby, i blended right in.

It was a great evening, really interesting. Most of the others were preferring a publication called Cycling Active and thought Cyclist was a bit elitist, i disagreed. Strangely i had only just started reading the issues of Cyclist which i had purchased as part of a free offer some months ago. I have to say i think it is a brilliant magazine with beautiful photography, i will certainly be seeking it out more in the future or reading it in the library (WHSmiths), other publications are available, indeed Cycling Active is quite good for the beginner and Cycling Plus is better still for someone who knows a bit more...in my opinion.

Ah but before i got to go to go and do the above i discovered something amazing. BTW i am still excited which is why i am rambling on.

From previous blog entries you may or may not be aware that i have an entry for Eroica Britannia , a retro cycling event and festival which makes it's British debut this year. This event is in association with L'Eroica which is in Tuscany where the riders cycle on the now protected white gravel roads of the area. Getting an entry to L'Eroica is pretty tricky, it is by ballot, unless your a journalist, it is also limited greatly if you are a non national. I thought it might work like the marathon ballot.....apply, don't get in but then you stand a better chance the following year and so on and so forth. Well it doesn't. The Mayor of Gaiole in Chianti drawers the application numbers out of a hat.

Guess what happened....go on guess....oh alright then...i'm in........ WOOHOo

I don't believe it

My euphoria ebbed and rose frequently as i fought in my own mind, the practicalities of actually going. Moving from flirting with the attitude of "i simply must go" to "but i haven't got any money and the Mrs will kill me".

Wednesday there was a plan, it involved getting up early, working from home, pedaling a stolen route at lunchtime then carry on working........this didn't go according to plan...... i overslept a little, i worked, i got distracted, i didn't cycle, instead i looked up flights to Tuscany, i carried on working.

The wife came home, with a heavy heart i spilled the beans on my entry to L'Eroica, she said....."i've always wanted to go to Italy, is this bike ride of yours in a nice bit?" "Tuscany" i say "is one of the most beautiful places in the world let alone in italy, yes it is a nice bit" she says "why don't we all go and make a family holiday of it" i nearly crap myself with excitement and say "ok"....................double Woohoo...........she was partly persuaded by the fact that my accumulation of airmiles means we can get there cheap as chips.........the kids are home so i refrain from doing a stupid dance around the kitchen and just play it cool whilst inside i am woohooing big time.

That night i stayed up late looking at pictures and videos of past L'Eroica's which meant i was too tired to get up early and cycle to work Thursday

Friday was rock and roll to work day again, the fog was unbelievable, poor visibility it certainly was. Based on Monday being dawn as i went through Windsor great park i ignored the fact that due to the fog is was really dark and proceeded through it anyway.

it was a lovely and uneventful commute both to and from work, the beautiful sunshine of the journey home was a great reward to what had been a polarising week of happiness and deep concentration on work stuff. 

Despite other plans to raid the local trails and roads on 2 wheels over the weekend, the sunshine called me to the garden for home improvement.

total distance for the week 112.4K

total distance for the year 919.7K

Week 6 The Phoenix has risen......

.....well i have got my DIY frame back anyway

The week got off to a cracking start, with the weather forecast looking favourable for Monday and Tuesday, i got my gear together to follow suite.

Monday commute was lovely, fast and smooth, proto phone managed to record leg 1 & 2 but failed on leg's 3 & 4, slightly irritating but the ride was good and yet again i was able to get through Windsor Great Park and yet again i needed a "comfort" break

This was all well and good but the really great thing about Monday was the phone call i received to tell me my bike frames were ready to be posted back me repaired, namely this was my DIY custom disc brake road bike and my Orange Evo2 mountain bike.

As good as this was, it was 3 weeks early, which meant it was also before payday! However i should have sufficient time to get the Genesis cyclocross stripped down and and the frame on eBay with enough time to get rid and some money in the back before pay day.

Tuesday provided another fine commute, this time a little slower as i seemed to have contracted a throat infection in the previous 24hrs, providing me with less than wonderful nights sleep. 

But the best thing about Tuesday was my frames arrived. My road bike looked as good as i could have hoped really, funds didn't allow for a repaint so i need to make the best of a bad job and tidy the edges up where the paint is filed down and burnt at the edges, i think i can make it look presentable enough, the lacquer looks to have crazed a bit on the graphics, which is a shame but only noticeable close up. All in all it will look a bit odd but that fits i reckon, i don't think there has ever been anything in my life  that hasn't been dis functional and less than perfect in some ways, that's just the way i roll i guess :-)

Much working from home this week, so my commute didn't extend beyond walking to the dining room so no cycle commuting.

Having checked the weather forecast it appeared that wednesday and thursday's rain would dry up on Friday and indeed it did. Game on for a pedal after work time i reckoned.

Friday 4:30 I was out the door on a new adventure, i had stolen a route off bikely.com which went from near my house over towards dorney and onto knowl hill, using a combination of cycle network routes and bridleways.
To say i didn't start well would be an understatement, i was dead chuffed to be out on my mountain bike, although i quickly realised that i had forgotten to adjust the pitch of the saddle but it wasn't that bad. I live by a stream, this stream is adjacent to a common, the common has got pretty water logged in places, the start of my route would take me along the edge of the stream and common up to the jubilee river to pick up the stolen trail. I could see in the distance swans paddling and some moor hens where the stream and the "pond" on the common have joined, this i had not taken into account, i carried on regardless, thinking it couldn't get that deep, this was largely true, i was a little concerned by the proximity to a swan that was making no effort to paddle away as i approached, this would turn out to be a mistake on the part of the swan. looking back i do remember registering that just where the swan was doing whatever a swan does, the water was flowing fast from the left towards the stream, it became apparent why as i tried to cycle past the swan. 
Either by some bizarre profile of bank errosion or by some thames water official, there was a trench, just over 2 foot accross and about 2 foot deep, i know this because it is about mountain bike wheel size. Wheel in up to the fork crown, bike straight over and me with it, over the handlebars into the water. Tell you what, that Swan didn't 'alf move quickly. I laughed, the swan didn't, good start to my ride, not a hundred yards from my house. There is a slightly serious element to this though. Thames water sewage works is up stream and is overflowing into the aforementioned stream and have contaminated it to an extent where they are oxygenating the water day and night, as i picked myself up i did noticed that there were a lot of bits in the water but i didn't notice any Andrex, so we'll assume its OK.

Onwards I went all be it a little damp and pretty filthy but my senses were sharpened and no more would i take a puddle for granted.

It was a beautiful evening, not much cloud, those that could be seen made pretty patterns in the sky, although i had to keep an eye on my gps, i quickly slipped into day dream mode, it was great to be out and pedaling carefree.
Due to my poor navigation skills i ended up doing the route the opposite way round, there are 2 points where it crosses over itself, given that if I wasn't trying to go a specific wy, my chances would be 50/50, it is quite incredible that I ended up choosing incorrectly both times, as it happens it didn't matter as the route is mainly flat.
The ground under wheel seemed largely firm for quite some time, this was to change as the daylight faded.
They puddles and boggyness seemed to get progressively worse, to add to the mood, about half way, it started to sort of rain, maybe sleet or snow, I wasn't bothered. Down the bridleways i saw wildlife a plenty, unfortunately it was always running away, rabbits, squirrels and a couple of deers, this was a cracking route for being away from the busy roads.
Many times I considered this to be a great route for my single speed cyclocross, specially with the boggy mud doing its best to clog up my gears, my scottoiler kept the shifting perfectly smooth, although it was just on empty when i got home.
2/3rd's round the loop and both my lights starting to fade, the weather was now serious rain and I had to dip the bar light and the head light would dim now and again to let me know I was on borrowed time, this lead me to cut a corner off which looked muddy. I had my glasses pirched on the end of my nose so i could see, I thought it best to get home as quick as possible, unfortunately i didn't have a scooby doo where i was so i kept to the route and kept the pedals turning.
It's fair to say i have ridden in the rain a lot and, to be honest, on this occasion i didn't really notice it, this was helped by the surprisingly good job my cheapo Dare2Be jacket was doing to keep the water out, my legs were soaked through and my shoes full of water from wading through loads deep puddles and fords. The rain now, was full on and i noticed on one section of road that it was coming up through the drains like fountains.
Not wanting to repeat the incident at the start of my ride, I opted for the road route back to my house from Dorney rowing lake, home after 2 1/2 hours it was a great ride, i loved every minute of it, despite the trials and tribulations, next time I'll charge my lights up properly and go single speed, maybe even the right way round. 

Truth be known i probably shouldn't have gone for a pedal on friday and i probably shouldn't have commuted on Tuesday as i wasn't feeling my best, well i got worse, no more cycling this week, doctors appointment awaits on Monday morning :-(

Other news....

The latest copy of Arrivee magazine arrived (The Audax UK publication) this week, for a changed in contained lots of articles which i found interesting, more interesting than the articles though was the photo on the inside of the back cover. Taken on the LEL Prologue ride (the 30 mile ride before the start of the 1400K London-Edinburgh-London) it serves a great where's wally image. I've helped you out though an shown you where wally is, highlighted by a blue arrow.

total distance this week 122.6K
total for the year so far 807.3K

Week 5 First Ride......

........on my sweet new build

Monday was at last an executed opportunity to ride the mountain bike i built back in November.

After selling my single speed frame i set about building a geared mountain bike as although it was lots of fun, it was limiting in terms of the routes i could do.

So my new build was based around a Genesis Altitude, constructed from Reynolds 853 tubing. The geometry was again similar to my Orange Evo2 but a bit longer like the Genesis IOID but is designed for a 130mm fork where the others weren't although my Fox Talas 32's have 130mm.

That said, the opportunity was lunchtime blast on my old faithful route at the back of where i work.

Being the first time i have been out on a mountain bike in ages, despite riding my road bike a fair bit, it was a bit of a struggle. Fortunately the bike was an absolute flyer, it felt really quick and nimble, great rear wheel steering on the sloppy trails, the balance was perfect, the bike was certrainly willing even if the body was knackered.

It wasn't a fast lap but i did get up the offroad section of Beacon hill, always a good measure of fitness and skill of course ;-)

At the end of my blast, i came to 2 conclusions, the bike is nigh on perfect and my phone had crashed, losing my strava track. A bitter sweet ride.

Tuesday promised a good weather day and it didn't disappoint, lovely ride in the morning with a little aimless day dreaming, journey home was dampened a little by a spell of rain but not much. The clouds cleared quite soon after getting off the train revealing just enough daylight for me to chance going through Windsor great park (not allowed in there after dark) I got through uninhibited and after a "comfort" break i was back on track and splashing through muddy puddles carefree. The only down side was that due to temperatures being below 10 degrees i am using my cyclocross with my continental winter tyres on, which BTW, are still awesomely grippy, missing my single speed already but better to stay safe i reckon.

This was the sum total of my cycling this week

Other news....

Still excited about getting my entry into L'Eroica Britannia, so excited in fact that that i have entered the ballot for L'Eroica Italia. I feel it unlikely that i get it, i have entered on the assumption that i wont get in this year, my entry for next year may be considered more favorably. However if i do get in, some serious grovelling might be required on the home front as there is no way i would want to miss such an event.

Have been doing some tidying up on my blog deleting old links and refreshing the links to events i would like to have a go at and have set up planning pages for the Easter Arrow, this will be the furthest i have ridden (if i make it) so much capitulating must be done.

This week i took delivery of an 'ickle project bike frame, lovely design of frame in shocking condition for me to turn into something fabulous, darling.

Peter Kay's for this week 63.4

Total distance this year 684.7K

Easter Arrow 400K Audax 2014

Easter Arrow

Control distances are:
 

Leg                                                 Leg Dist.      Accrued distance

Studley to Alcester                          6.7km

Alcester to Rugby                           50.7km         (57.4)

Rugby to Great Easton                   46.6km         (104km)

Great Easton to St Ives                  60km            (164km)

St Ives to Kirton                              83.3km         (247.3km)

Kirton to Market Rasen                  68.8km          (316.1km) 

Market Rasen to Pocklington         84.1km         (400.2km) 

Pocklington to York (YO24 1AU)    22.5km         (422.7km)

AUK link to the event here

Planned route is here 

Logistics:

Start from Tim's house on Good Friday before 7:00am

24hrs later  arrive in York at the Punchbowl Wetherspoons pub

Train back to Redditch via Birmingham

Cost approx £22

Controls:

STUDLEY

ALCESTER

RUGBY

GREAT EASTON

ST IVES (PE27 6RR)

KIRTON

MARKET RASEN

POCKLINGTON

YORK (YO24 1AU)

Official Google route to satisfy AUK rules is here

Rules:

EASTER & SUMMER ARROWS TO YORK

NB This ride the Easter Arrow may be substitituted for the FLECHE VELOCIO in FRANCE WHEN CLAIMING FROM A.C.P your FREE Brevet 5000 medal

1. TEAMS of 3 to 5 riders [Tandems counting as one unit].

2. DISTANCES/ TIMES  - MINIMUM of 360 kms in 24 hours, though you are strongly advised to plan a higher mileage. At the finish, distances of 15% above or 20% below the one stated before you set off, cannot be validated .

3.ROUTES must be the shortest distance between control points, calculated in Kms, from OS AUTOROUTE or similar maps. The itinerary cannot use the same stretch or road twice. In the event of a diversion {roadworks or the like} , a stamp must be obtained at the furthest point. Routes can be circular and in any direction but eventually heading for YORK. *We have a route already, I planned controls and Chris turned this into GPX.

4. DISQUALIFICATION will result for the failure to have night time good lighting or the acceptance of help from anyone outside the team or from an undeclared support car. Teams who need this support must declare the number of the vehicle and the location(s) of contact.

5. PROCEDURE FOR ENTRY : forward to the organiser the proposed route. The captain will receive back a copy of the itinerary with possibly suggested modifications . Riders to complete the standard AUK entry forms. *Have not officially forwarded proposed route yet, not sure what the standard AUK entry form is

6. DEPARTURE: each rider is to write on the card places and times agreed with the organiser. Team may leave any time between Thursday PM and Saturday noon. *We leave Friday breakfast time

7.CONTROLS : A stamp, receipt or ATM print-out with time of passage must be obtained and the start time and place adhered to.

8. ON THE ROAD: no deviation from the chosen route except in an emergency. Riders must carry their own card. Passing time at the controls must be written besides the stamps obtained .

9.   22ND HOUR: of the ride; the team must obtain  a stamp etc and write on the card the nearest point reached, wherever it may be.

10.   A MINIMUM DISTANCE :  of 25 kms MUST separate the place traversed between the hours of 22 & 24.

11.   ARRIVAL. A stamp is to be obtained at the nearest place reached at or after the 24th hour.     This does not have to be YORK. Add the place , time & distance covered.

12.   VALIDATION;  will be awarded to a team of 3 riders [minimum} who complete an identical distance. Lone riders who comply with the regs may claim AUK but not ACP validation

13.    ENTRY FEE  of £10 per team is to be sent to the organiser [cheques payable to him please. *was actually £12 and have paid already