Medway big ride

a medal for taking part…
Today I completed the 80mile Medway ride, this event was organised by the Medway council and involved a few of Kent’s hills and lots of stunning countryside.

The day started at 6am with a large bowl of porridge (yuck) and honey (yum). Then a quick ride to the registration point to meet the RCC and start the ride.

We started the ride as one group but after 5 miles the group had split, the front set was rising quickly to the front of the pack where as the rear group held a steady pace and met us at the finish.

I started strong and was cruising nicely in the clean air of the faster riders but soon felt the cardio burn in my calfs and realised I couldn’t maintain this pace. At some traffic lights I nipped off for the toilet and when I returned I discovered the light had just returned to red. I would never catch the pack I was in back up and we had dropped all followers so I was plunged back into the wind and riding alone.

I maintained a fast pace but riding fixed into the wind the acid burn soon returned and my speed dropped slightly meaning that during one of the hill climbs the leaders of the next pack caught me. This worked greatly to my advantage and skipping the next water stop I slowed my speed and recovered my legs waiting for them to pass me.

This time fully recovered I joined their pack and we covered good ground, on the hills I pulled forward taking point and held the position until the down hills, where I resisted sprinting after them instead maintaining speed, this put me back in my comfort zone and my speed returned.

Upon finishing the event I found an ice cream van and free massage tent, this was a good way to wind down before riding home and having a bath. In all it was a good day and I look forward to getting back on the bike next week.

foggy from a fast ride so will correct this tomorrow

2 weeks off

Today I return to work having had 2 weeks off (ish).

The Friday announcing the start of my holiday was conveniently the last Friday of the month, which was also conveniently the 20th anniversary of Critical Mass London. Critical mass is a cycle event hosted the last Friday of each month (go figure) and is free to all with a bike. Hundreds of people showed up and invaded London grid locking traffic and causing (light hearted) chaos, interested?? http://www.londoncriticalmass.org/

So finishing work at 1 I rode to London, and enjoyed an evening of party atmosphere and obscurities. before returning home tired and sweaty but altogether rather satisfied.

The next week was a graduate development course, which work sent me on. This consisted of visiting a school, (playing games with kids and basically acting as role models, saying engineers can be cool) and a whole load of team building activities. The course was run in the Lake District so like a good trooper for the cause, I took my Fixie.

**Bike in room **

On the first morning I managed (for the last time) to get out and cycle around lake Windermere, I enjoyed an early morning sunrise as it burn threw the valley fog and was re-inspired…

For the last 3 months I have found getting on my bike difficult, I still loved riding and would, no matter what the weather conditions, yet I would have to force myself to start and often failed to get the motivation. I fear I may have been suffering a mild form of depression, with the job I had worked towards for years not being what I hoped for, my friends and family were all over the country and I just felt that my actions were an effort and more of a show for observers than self satisfying.

 …the feeling that tingled that morning kept me energetic and happy for days to come and the memory of this feeling has given me a renewed focus and an awareness that everything will work out in the end. Why wouldn’t it when all you need is a bike and a good view!?

Talking of which (large photo dump text continues after)…

The rest of the week was a blur of team building exercises and minimal sleep, so I was relieved when Friday came about and I could enjoy the social week of my holiday. For the next couple of days I helped my sister with a few tasks around her new home, more a token efforts than real help because I was still shattered from my training week and so I just did what I could, before visiting friends. I met Jess, of course, I cant visit Blackpool and not, she is as best a best friend as I could ask for and I try to be the same in return. I finished the week off with a few old faces and I’m not too proud to say I enjoyed reminiscing and embarrassing them in front of there girlfriends.

Finally(Friday again) I returned home, and within minutes of putting my bags down I was on a TT ride with my house mate and planning my weekend (badly it turns out). Saturday morning I woke up drained to the bone and just watched old TV in bed all day, except a small outing to the shop to get supplies, which wasn’t to plan and left me restless all evening. Later I got an email asking if I was interested in a 100 mile ride focusing on hill climbs and I jumped at the chance to shake off this dreariness.

…Sunday morning, the weather was overcast but no actual rain so I packed light but ready for showers, then rode to the start point of the 100 mile ride. Being the strongest rider in the group I would take point during strong headwinds and sit at the tail during fast paced sections and the group (3 in total) ran smoothly and efficiently.

The first event of note was 3 miles into the ride when the route setter hit a pot hole whilst signalling, lost control and stacked it in the middle of a roundabout. Luckily, the other rider avoided him and I had ample time to block the road while he recovered his parts and got clear.

Later in the middle of yet another roundabout the other guy jettisoned his water bottle which was promptly destroyed by a following car.  This time we pulled up and ensured the route had plenty of water stops available, it did, with the route passing the same pub 4 times we made this an unofficial base camp.

The first and third loop were the same consisting of a long fast down hill (almost as bad as a long climb, when chasing/sprinting after roadies, on a fixie) followed by a long up hill (500ft) but the gradient was comfortable and I managed to climb fast. The second loop was slow and shallow but with a 25 mph head wind for the entire length my fixie was making it a little more challenging, still being the stronger rider I assumed point and acted as a wind break for the others for the most part.

I keep referring to myself as the stronger rider but this isn’t ego, I have been riding for years where as the people with me were weekend/ sunny-day riders and therefore their inability isn’t their skill but there stamina and this is mere fact and being aware of this made it possible for me to aid them.

After the third loop we had a pub lunch (refreshing change from packed lunches when I ride solo) then returned home having successfully completed a century.

Regards

Mule

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I worry this post seems rather dry so be honest with any comments as I endeavour to improve my writing style

Good weather!

Today has been a blessing beautiful weather and good views.
The day didn’t start well, after leaving for work I arrive to discover I had a puncture. This isn’t a big issue except my pump is broken so I was to be stranded (ish, I live close to work and a short walk would have got me the track pump but nvm that) luckily a friend from the RCC arrived at that time and lent me his in the promise that I place it back in his bike when I’m done. A fair request.

The puncture was annoying, as I have recently made my tubes self sealing with some dr sludge, so when I got to my desk and stripped the wheel down I was pleased to find no puncture but also no repairs. Sadly this meant that the valve was leaking, a blast of air at 9 Bar to clear any grit and straightening the valve pin seemed to solve this but it was a nuisance and not a god start to the day.

I don’t really wish to post about my work as good things never come from blogging about your professions and though the day went well it did drag.

After work was the RCC club ride, for such beautiful weather I was shocked and disappointed to discover that there were only 2 of us riding. Still this makes for more flexible rides and less hassle.


my shadow


others shadow

Figured as I missed last weeks post that I would saturate this post with pictures, I’m not very good at photography but I’m not much at writing stories either.

The ride was a pleasant one and with a few small traffic events aside it was a good day, we took a route I had never been on so this made the ride adventurous and the joy of getting out there really brought home my desire to travel and thus making the 2 year wait seen like an eternity .

An aside and not much of a reflection of today’s events as I have had a good day but a feeling I have been having the last week still remains…

I have to report a change, in the last week or so I have noticed a definite increase in drivers forcing me off the road or cutting me up, and more so in the amount that will shout abuse whilst I’m changing position on the road. Now I don’t pretend to be the model cyclist I make mistakes and get frustrated but for the most part I follow the rules and never take risks that endanger others (just myself). I feel this rise in these events has twinned itself with the shift from vans to sporty cars (usually low end boy racer things) being the culprits. Needless to say with road conditions at there worst this time of year, and this up shift in aggression, I have been feeling less comfortable on the roads these past few days.

The worst of these events was a car choosing to overtake me on a blind corner, then pulling into me to avoid the head on collision. The oncoming car sounded it’s horn and slammed on whilst I veered off the road into driveway. That’s it. After that both cars drove on and I was left to carry on.

Not a big issue to a third party but from my point of view I swerved and narrowly avoided being side swiped by tones of metal traveling at 30 mph (assuming the car had returned to the speed limit I hesitate to believe it was doing prior to this), which could have killed me, yet I doubt the event made the evenings stories or was cast much more than a second thought..

Mule

Strava

A half day of work yesterday and 6 hours of good weather meant only one thing, Gran fondo. For people who don’t know, the service provided by Strava includes challenges. The Grand fondo is a 130km ride each month which the rider can complete when ever they choose.

I chose to complete my ride by riding to London and back (and maybe do a little bumper surfing whilst there). I ride to London quite often and so know the way well, but what surprised me was how different the route could be in reverse, I found myself second guessing every corner.
Nothing majorly eventful happened on my ride there a couple attempted left hooks and a few near misses but nothing major; on the way back however, I did start to become a bit hypoglycaemic, tingling lips, numb extremities etc, but nothing a few sweets and a pasta bolognese wouldn’t solve. So I swung into a shop and grabbed a bottle of lucozade before finishing my ride.

Now I’m aware that this is not a healthy position to be in and in future I will have to take more than just a few biscuit bars. The problem with hypoglycaemia is that it takes along time to restore what is lost from reserves and this down time far out weighs the benefit of that extra push. Had I had more time in London I would have stopped for a meal and the whole ride would have been beneficial but we live and learn.

Still when I got home and had a epic meal XD

Rule 9

I have decided that to write everyday will make posts dry and uninteresting. However, I hope to still make multiple posts each week month but only when there is a story to be told.

Todays weather is mild gales and heavy rain, pretty standard British winter weather. So after work, still feeling sore from the rest of the weeks rides, I got on my bike and set off the long way home.

I live 1.8km from work, my current commute is 40km. So as I’m riding along, drenched to the bone, feet cold, aching as well as being tired from work I realised this was the highlight of my day, and each battle with the wind (cross wind, head wind, sudden absence of crosswind) made me beam from ear to ear; the awful British roads that turn pot holes into a slalom course made me ecstatic like a child on a playground, life was good.

Today was a prime reminder that what a bike means to me.

I keep meaning to take pictures but without a dedicated camera the conditions today were to poor to be whipping my phone out.

Mule

Good day, good weather, good times.

As you can extrapolate from the title today was a good day! Had a lie in (7.30am) then met the RCC and WigmoreCC guys.

It was a pleasant change to be riding under blue skies and in relative warmth. Well most of us…

Due to the wet weather over the last few weeks one of the roads was flooded. So, we ploughed through regardless. All but one that is, he chose to walk his bike along the bank and mount up later on, sadly part way across his path was blocked meaning he had to try and rejoin us in the water. Well pot holes and lack of momentum produced the very predictable outcome of him lying on his back submerged up to his neck. Needless to say the next ten miles were a mixture of teasing and laughing at the trail of water being left.

Later after the group had thinned a little we went to Boxley hill, now it’s important to note I ride 48/16 or 80.3 GI fixie and that Boxley hill is 1.7 miles of 17% climb. Therefore, on the back of a 50 mile ride I was not up for this, 3/4 of the way I lost momentum and had to put a foot down then from there it was a slow crawl of power and pulling through the bar… still I have a nice new target and look forward to trying it when fresh.

EU Pics

                        

Preston

Cycled to Preston today to inquire about bikes, Paul Hewitt offer some nice frames so going back tomorrow to get sized up when Paul is there, a bit concerned by the growing price of restarting this trip and need to find an additional supply of funds over the next few weeks or at least guarantee work  for when i return.

Really looking for courier work, or a bike shop job, whilst I look into PHD options.

Once I’m on the road funds will be available and food is cheep in the USA so I’m not worried but i just don’t like not having a safety net.

Deiced i cant afford the trip so going to get a fixie and build bikes up over the next year whilst i get ready for next trip

Still 60 miles today, hopefully more tomorrow. some city riding in the evening I think.

Regards

Looking ahead.

Not always a good thing, I was in my own little worlds, riding down the prom, then, side swiped from the left (seaside) on approach to a crossing. This is when I realized that the side road i ignored, like the 20 others because there just slip ways to the beach, was actually a cross road and the crossing, i was casually rolling toward, was actually the far side of this cross road.

Because i was rolling slow and the car had seen me I got a slight bumb and balanced it out, it will teach me to pay attention a little more on familiar roads. oh well.

So looking ahead, gonna sort a Halifax clarity card out this week and a new bike thess where the things playing on my mind as this happened and as plans develop I’m looking more and more toward setting off on my next trip.

On a side note since i lost my helmet (literally, think i left it in London) no one nods or acknowledges me as a comrade of 2 wheels they all just blindly ride on. That said the majority of bikes out today were polished new roadies and riders in the best lycra, out for the sun not for the bike. I think this may be a bigger factor.

Going to Preston tomorrow to look for a new touring bike so that i cn get back out there ASAP and not worry about a dip in fitness.

Regards