Cycling 2022

[Slim]

It was a dismal day until 4pm or so, when the rain dried up and the sun came out. It was cold though and a moderate wind was blowing from the north.

I set off in the direction of Swarkestone Bridge, thinking of doing a bit of the Beloved A Road, then coming back through Ticknall - however after Swarkestone I decided I'd go east to Donington through Weston, Aston and Shardlow.



I wrapped up warm and it was actually quite nice out there, especially when I wasn't pedalling into the wind. As I passed the airport it occurred to me that I very rarely see aircraft take off and land there when I'm going past. Just unlucky, perhaps.

My GPS bike computer ran out of juice after 20 miles so I had to use a GPS logger app on my phone to record the rest of the ride. I stitched the tracks together before uploading to Strava.

Properly dark by the time I got back. But of course, I'd brought lights. 33.51 miles. 241 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7871698645

[Nickslikk2112]

Not yet at 800 for the month. Today's 42 miles gets me to within 8 miles. So, barring bad weather or other such things I ought to get there.

"Nice" to be able to do the Froggatt climb again today, not done it since the 7^th of May due to it being closed since then. Closed for what I don't know, as all I could see was a very short stretch of new Tarmac.

Wasn't quite as cold as I thought it would be either. Perfectly fine on the legs in bib shorts and a long-sleeved Roubaix jersey was marginally too warm on the climbs.

[Slim]

I stopped and examined it and the freehub was freely spinning both ways. I did manage to get it working briefly - but only very briefly; I got another half or mile or so out of it. So of course I called 'er indoors and she came out to collect me. I walked the bike some of the way back, and even managed to roll down a couple of descents on it.

This has given rise to a plan.

Instead of replacing the freehub body on the Cannondale rear wheel, I'm going to upgrade the Cannondale wheelset instead.

Then I'll upgrade Boardman II with the present Cannondale wheels - using the freehub body that was on the original Boardman I wheels, which I've been keeping as spares for years.

Just have to think about which new wheels to get .. the ones on there now are Fulcrum Racing 5s.

[Slim]

I bought these:

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/campagnolo-zonda-c17-wheelset



Nothing fancy but a bit of an upgrade from the Fulcrum 5s, I think.

Should arrive tomorrow.

[Slim]

A dry afternoon, didn't leave work quite as early as I'd have liked but I thought I'd get another 30 or so in. For a change I thought I'd do 15 miles or so along the route to Wales, then come back the same way - a bit of the "lower westbound" route, in other words.

That all went very well until I found myself approaching Coton in the Elms, at which point I realised I must have missed a turn. But I'd already done 12 miles at this point so I wasn't bothered really. I just followed a road sign to Walton, and kept on keepin' on.



The thought did occur to me that I was in entirely new territory here, on a road that I'd never done before. I got as far as a queue of traffic for the narrow bridge over the Trent at Walton, then I decided to come back rather than wait to cross the bridge. I thought that trying to find the same way back by remembering the turns might be a bit of a challenge but it wasn't, and I realised that I hadn't been on a new bit of road at all.

Beautiful out there in the early evening sunshine. Glorious. I should do that route more often. For some reason I only really go that way on much longer rides, usually. It just feels out of my comfort zone, out of my sense of territory to go over that way. Daft really.

Anyway - back on 32.03 miles, which brings this month's total to 273 miles, and that's probably it for September. My target was 350 miles, and this is the first time ever that I've failed to hit a monthly target.

A cruel and unusual set of circumstances combined to defeat me. A holiday to Portugal and Spain at the beginning of the month. A dose of COVID took me out for a few days. A kidney stone wrote off one weekend. I had to go to visit relatives last weekend. And finally, it's a 30-day month. I reckon that the absence of any one of these five factors would have seen me scrape through to 350 miles, but anyway as a damage limitation exercise, I'm pretty happy to have managed 78% of the target. 4130 done this year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7881759025

[Nickslikk2112]

I got up to my 800 miles for September today, but only 17 further. Had just gone past my furthest point from home when there was a BANG! I'm falling out of love with tubeless tyres. Whatever had punctured the tyre led to a catastrophic deflation, the sealant had no time to do its job as it all seemed to have shot out in one go. I could have tried to stick a tube in, but being as it took two of us two hours to get the tyre on when it was last changed I thought calling out the cavalry was the best option - especially as I had a house valuation at three - although Mrs S, even though she has lived in the Chesterfield area all of her 60 years didn't know how to get to Beeley Moor.

I think I walked about three miles before my rescuer arrived, several cyclists stopped to offer help, but on hearing my predicament they thought I was doing the right thing. For road tubeless to be a success you need the hole to be small and at an angle, or, for the puncturing item to remain embedded in the tyre, big holes are too much.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7879578595

[Nickslikk2112]

And another 42 miles today gets me to 862 miles for September with 63,100ft of elevation gain. Now up to 5,558 miles for the year.

Fed up of all the roadworks which keep springing up. Always in places where you don't want them. Hey-ho. No punctures though today, back on the Bianchi. The hole in the tyre from yesterday has about sealed itself though now. I can get it to 40psi before the hole goes again, but if it had done that yesterday I'd have been able to limp home. Ho-hum.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7884521742

[Fishy]

A nice 34 miler yesterday... weather very pleasant with a slight breeze... hit 41 mph freewheeling off the Carrick Hills....and the new CatEye BM45 mirror is just great....

[Slim]

Very decent weather today apart from a stiff wind coming from the west. I'm on call at the moment but it's been very quiet, and I thought I'd risk a fondo.

I decided to go up onto the Beloved A Road south of Derby and go west. But I did make a concession to being on call by going NE through Donington to Cavendish Bridge rather than over Swarkestone Bridge, to minimise my distance from base at the point I'd need to turn back.

Got as far as Sudbury after about 35 miles, then turned back. When I got to my '20 miles to go' point in Hilton (a hairdresser's called The Salon) I realised I'd have to stretch the ride a bit if I came home the usual way over Swarkestone Bridge. So I detoured via Ticknall, rather than coming down through Melbourne and Coleorton.

I did think I should probably give Bastard Hill a try, to see how I got on since I haven't done it for a long time - but I decided to leave that to a day when I had a lighter bike with me and took a further detour through Hartshorne to give it a miss.



Nice out there, especially with a tailwind on the way back. I did get spotted with rain for 15 minutes, but it was very light. And the sun came out later on.

I listened to 6 Music early on. Radcliffe and Maconie had an interview with Lenny Kaye about psychedelic music that was really good, what an interesting guy. They played an Electric Prunes tune that was a ringer for the old Nancy Sinatra / Lee Hazelwood tune Summer Wine. Later Huey played a Megadeth tune that was clearly a ripoff of the old TPOH song I'm An Adult Now.

Later I listened to the footy on 5 Live, Liverpool vs Brighton. The south coast side got my hopes up by bagging two goals in the first eighteen minutes, but I wasn't surprised when, just as I was arriving home, Salah had made it 3-2 to Liverpool. I must admit I was surprised to find out, later, that Brighton had equalised and nabbed a point.

Along Manchester Lane near Hartshorne, I witnessed an altercation between a hawk of some sort and a pigeon on the road in front of me. The hawk was definitely on top, figuratively and literally. Feathers were flying. It had its victim in its claws. As I drew close though the hawk retreated and the slightly distressed-looking pigeon flew off. Unless the hawk caught up with it later, I saved its life there.

Back on 64.04 miles. After a disappointing September, nice to have got the October fondo in at the first time of asking.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7895220011

[Nickslikk2112]

Thought today was supposed to be a decent day - westerly winds excepted - and it was until about half an hour before I went out when it started to tiddle it down. Rainfall radar suggested it would continue for a while and then stop. It did so out I went.

Fifteen minutes into the ride and rain appeared. Heavy rain. Yet in my field of view all I could see was blue sky. Most dispiriting.

I was wet, but it dried up, so on I pressed, up Far Lane for only the second time this year, once on the tops the roads were dry. Dropped down to Cutthorpe roads were wet. Back to the tops, roads were dry. Went over to take the A619 back to town it was piss wet again. Wet up through Old Brampton and back to dryness again.

Then back home to wet roads again, a decent 46 miles got in, more than I thought.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7895840851

[Nickslikk2112]

Dragged myself out again to do 50 miles. Didn't need much dragging to get me out, but it felt like a drag at times even though I did less climbing per mile than yesterday and the headwind was lighter.

Couldn't even average as high a speed as yesterday, but I only got in one decent descent as opposed to three yesterday. Got more people in cars shouting shit at me today too. I got passed in a 50 limit by a bloke in a Porsche doing at least 60. I saw him a bit later parked at the side of the road taking photographs of his motor "It's Shit" I told him. He came by not long after most probably over the limit again. Pratt.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7901423706

[Slim]

Quite a nice late afternoon, dry and almost warm with a light wind coming from the south. Hadn't been down the southbound route for a while and I thought I'd do at least 36 miles, to get the October tally up to 100.

Got as far as Stoney Stanton (after 18 miles) then turned for home. After Earl Shilton though I decided I'd keep going along Leicester Road rather than turn off for Kirkby Mallory - just to give myself a navigating challenge. I have done this before and (as I'd forgotten) it's not that pleasant during the rush hour. But I took a turn left for Desford after about a mile.

Thought I'd be able to navigate home from Desford easily enough but no, I took the wrong turn at the T junction there. I ended up taking a route through Desford that I hadn't done for about five years but I found my way out easily enough.

Dark by the time I got home. I quite like this time of year in that you can combine daytime and nighttime cycling on the same ride after work. I came home through Hugglescote for a change, something I do rarely.

Leaned down to switch off the rear light when I got back to the garage, only to find that it was already off. In fact the rear lens and two AA batteries were absent. They must have popped off when I went over a bump. Still - it only cost about £3.

Lots of ladies out in tight jogging pants.

Listened mostly to coverage from the Conservative Party conference on 5 Live, none of it very sympathetic of course.

Back on 37.92 miles. Happy to have got 102 miles in over the first three days of the month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7906525075

[Fishy]

A 33 miler yesterday pretty much same route as last time with a couple of changes..... really strong head wind throughout which made it fairly unpleasant..Strava has my max speed as 46 mph which again must have been coming off the Carrick Hills  on the homeward bound stretch....
Looks like rain for rest of the week so hopefully get out again as the daylight decreases daily...

[Nickslikk2112]

Bit blowy round here today. Blustery and swirly, which wasn't too bad actually as most windy days this year have been a constant strength in a constant direction, not good as a headwind, at least today it would relent - and then come in from the side. That's why I only just topped 41 mph on a bit of road where 50 is possible with a tailwind, it was just too swirly today, I wanted to stay safe.

Thought I was being attacked by baby Rovers at one point. Riding uphill there were about 25 apples rolling down towards me. Most strangeish. Although lots of roads round here have lots of squashed apples to the edges.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7909539106

[Slim]

Rather than tackle the sticky freehub on the X myself I've taken it for a proper service this morning, should have it back later this afternoon. Includes the following, not bad for £80. The guy lives 6 miles away so pretty handy and he's very well reviewed.

I don't like to chicken out of doing it myself but I may well get him to swap the freehub off the old Boardman rear wheel onto the old Cannondale Fulcrum 5.

I still have to put the cassette from the Fulcrum 5 onto the new Campag wheel. I've given it a bit of a clean, it was filthy.

Bike safe snowfoam jet wash
Frame inspected for wear & damage
Suspension bearings inspected for wear & play
Bottom bracket bearings checked
Headset bearings checked
Wheel bearings checked
Wheels trued
Brakes bled and aligned
Brake pads checked for wear
Drivetrain components removed, degreased & checked for wear
Jockey wheels checked for wear & play
Inner cables replaced
Forks & shocks checked for wear and play
Complete re assembly, lube & tuning
All bolts and fittings torqued
Silicon finish applied to frame to help prevent dirt sticking (and make it smell nice )