Cycling 2024

[Slim]

No cycling today, but: I did finally get round to sorting out the Planet X. New hanger, rear mech, chain and gear cable fitted. Only took about half an hour.

Annoyingly, the KMC 11 speed chain I'd bought was too short! So I made up the length with an unused bit of chain from the last KMC 11 speed chain I bought. They aren't actually exactly the same - the new chain is shiny metal with black centre links, whereas the spare links are uniformly dull steel coloured.

I only had one quick link so I had to join them using a chain tool. I knew hoarding spare bits of chain would come in handy one day.

I was going to leave setting it up for another day but I went ahead and finished the job. The chain seems to be going round smoothly enough and doing all the changes properly on the stand, but I dare say it'll need tweaking after a ride.

[Slim]

A pretty nice cycling day today, but I'm on call. Also, I was keen to try out my Planet X following its maintenance yesterday, which involved furnishing it with a new rear mech, hanger, gear cable and chain. Not wise to stray too far from home in those circumstances but I was keen to clock up a decent distance, so last night I planned a route that would take me down south-east to Kirby Muxloe, then west right across to Warton, taking in Fenn Lanes, then north-east back homeward. A decently interesting ride, without straying too far from base. I hoped.

I didn't actually plot it out on a route planner, so I didn't know the exact distance. I was going to improvise a bit, anyway.

I set off at about 0845. Yesterday's forecast had threatened rain in the late afternoon, but I was pleased to see this morning that the meteorologists had changed their mind about that. Just as I set off, a gentleman with a striking resemblance to Boris Johnson strolled past and wished me a good morning. Surely a good omen.

Very happy to find that the bike was running very nicely - I'd half-expected the chain to skip for the first few miles, where I'd joined two lengths of chain. But all the gear changes were nice and smooth. I didn't try any of the stupid combinations, smaller ring at the front and smallest cog at the back for example. But I try to avoid those anyway. I'm sure they wouldn't have caused a disaster. I did regret choosing a route with a few steep climbs, not really what you want with an untested chain. But everything was fine.



The ride didn't go exactly as I'd mentally sketched out, but I did roughly what I'd intended. I found myself at Ratby at one point which wasn't part of the plan, but I visited the Co-op there and acquired a sandwich and some freshly baked cheese & onion rolls. Nice.

After Kirkby Mallory I took the wrong turn on the A444 and ended up at Stapleton instead of Sutton Cheney. But I followed a sign to Dadlington. I knew I'd find Fenn Lanes from there. This took me along a country lane that was a bit stony and ill-maintained, but it wasn't too bad. I took the pic at Dadlington.

From Fenn Lanes I did a sort of reverse Bypasser with some deliberate meandering to clock up some extra miles. I was determined to do a fondo by this time. This involved coming along the fast road from Ashby for a couple of miles which was a bit hairy, but at least it was mostly downhill.

Back on 62.84 miles.

Mostly nice weather, cloudy in the morning but sunny later. I removed my new cycling tights at about 1100 and a fleece about 90 minutes later. My legs were a bit hairy and I was slightly embarrassed every time I glanced down, but I've given them a good seeing to with a razor in the bath since I got back.

Listened mostly to 5 Live which annoyingly was largely devoted to golf coverage, but there was a very good interview with Mark Knopfler on Patrick Kielty's show. And I listened to the Prefab Sprout album From Langley Park to Memphis.

That was a really nice run out. Very happy to have the green bike available for use again.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11173148147

[Nickslikk2112]

And out again with no troubles today, apart from a rather strong wind which was a bit fresh up on the tops. Nice to see a bit of hazy sunshine too. Been in short sleeves and shorts for a week now and the tanlines are starting to pick up already, which is nice. Thankfully they hadn't quite disappeared over Winter. I do tan quite well, but not as much as my brother, who's a dead ringer for Sadiq Khan -in my fevered brain.

Third consecutive 30 miler, be nice to get another one in tomorrow, but not too bothered if I don't as I'm half way to 500 miles for April, but hopefully some miles will be covered - after watching the Amstel Gold Race. Going to be a bit cooler though, hope I can cope with so much uncovered skin.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11173857126

[Nickslikk2112]

And I made it four days out in a row and over 30 miles each ride. It gave me my climbingest week of the year, not the one with the most distance, but with the greatest time spent in the saddle.

I was a bit late getting out because of watching the Amstel Gold Race and because Tom Pidcock had won I watched the podium ceremony. Then watched the women's podium ceremony from earlier as they switched to the men's race before it. I had hoped Lorena Wiebes wouldn't come put for it, but she'd stopped crying after throwing the race away.

Because my brother had run the Manchester Marathon today, I had thought about just doing 26 miles 385 yards for my own Marathon, but decided to make it 30 miles for roundness sake.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11182664529/

[Nickslikk2112]

Today was a get pissed off with cycling day. Well, not pissed off with cycling, but pissed off with bicycles day.

I thought things didn't seem quite right on my ride and a quick look down at the seatpost revealed it had dropped a bit. I was hoping that it would stick, but no, it kept on dropping lower and lower, so much as I don't like stopping I stopped and raised it hoping that I didn't over torque the bolt. No need to worry about that as the gradual decline started again. So that was one thing to sort out when I got home.

Another was the sound of front disc pads rubbing against the disc rotor and giving a bit of a metal on metal sound when I braked. Yes, I could see that I should have put in new pads a couple of weeks ago but inertia had led me to ignoring it. Yes, I did have some pads in stock. Could I undo the retaining bolt to the pads though? Could I heck as like, it had seized up and with it only having a flat head screw it soon got stripped. Arse. Best case I might find a way to get it out. Worst case new disc caliper.

It was a nice ride though, if a bit of a shame to be back in bib tights and a long sleeved top. No rain though.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11194275156

[Slim]

The forecast was for showers in the late afternoon but since it's been such a thin cycling month due to the weather, I thought I'd just take the Tricross and accept the conditions. Actually the weather was rather nice when I set off, sunny and mild.

A couple of miles later I noticed that I had a lot more lateral movement in my right shoe than I ought to. I tried to remove the shoe from the pedal, but couldn't! The cleat was securely attached to the pedal, but clearly it wasn't properly attached to the shoe. It wasn't actually giving me any trouble though so I pressed on, hoping I wouldn't need to release my right foot until I had a chance to stop and have a better look, which I did near Twycross.

The front cleat bolt was missing altogether and the two rear bolts were loose. I probably had an Allen key in the saddle bag though. Did I? I still don't know, the zipper was corroded onto the zip and wouldn't budge.

So: I decided my best bet was to remove the cleat (it was easy enough to unscrew the bolts with my fingers) so I wouldn't lose it - and attempt to operate the right pedal like a conventional bike pedal. A mistake, probably. I'd been doing fine with the cleat loosely attached apart from the fear of not being able to unfasten my right foot. But without the cleat, my foot kept slipping off the pedal. It was just about workable though so I kept going but cut across via Little Twycross and Bilstone to keep it short.

Half an hour later, the rain came down. I'd expected showers, but this was 15 minutes of persistent cold rain. Naturally this made the right cycling shoe even more slippery on the pedal.

Only 23.53 miles, but I wouldn't have gone out at all if I'd know it was going to rain like that. I've done 222 this month which I suppose is acceptable. And 1592 this year. This time last year I'd done 1800. Actually I've just noticed that I did a 120 mile ride a year ago today. It was the day I got two punctures near Bourne, a lovely warm day. How can that be a year ago already?

https://www.strava.com/activities/11204052764

[Nickslikk2112]

Whilst I'm pondering the best way to attack the removal of my stuck disc pad retaining screw - I really don't want to get a Bike Shop involved as I don't want them to see how the front brake was down almost to metal on metal (my fault, I knew it wanted doing, but kept putting it off) - I got the Gravel bike out again for the first time since January. I need to put a new rear tyre on it, I've had one since December, but you know, I'll do it tomorrow...

Then again I'm only riding it on roads, so a minimal tread pattern will do. Had a nice ride on it, as fast an average speed as yesterday, faster even, but less climbing was involved.

I tightened my cleat bolts on Saturday, I'd been getting clicking from the cleats when walking so thought they might be loose. They were. Tightened up there's still a click. Arse. Maybe it's the bottom bracket...

31 miles done today, 345 for March and 1,926 for the year.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11201919219

[Nickslikk2112]

Still pondering and still on the gravel bike. Quite like the gravel bike, it's a bit more of relaxed geometry which is now nice at my age. Probably needs a new saddle, gets a bit hard feeling after 20 miles or so, might just shift it back a bit though, might help.

Strava tells me that I've ridden today's ride five times, all have been on the gravel bike, it goes up one bit of road which is probably best ridden on a gravel bike. I have been up on a road bike, but the state it's in now is atrocious. What I did like was the fact that today was the fastest I've ridden it, gives the old morale a bit of a boost.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11209190681

[Nickslikk2112]

At long last, I've managed to get a 50 mile road ride in this year I was beginning to think I hadn't got it in me - and now I'm back I'm not sure that I have...

Didn't want it to be too taxing so I only took in one serious climb, then spent the rest of it up on the Moors. I thought I'd taken in some roads I'd not done before, but no and yes, some of them I had done before back in 2018, I noticed that Xandro Meurisse had one of the best segment times on the road, he was completing in the Fleche Wallone on Wednesday. Dylan van Baarle's name was up there too. from the tour of Britain back in 2015. Xandro turns up on quite a few local segments, presumably because he used to race for the An Post team.

Got to see - and hear - my first Curlew of the year up on Beeley Moor. I was beginning to think they hadn't returned this year, but I think the local farmers are doing different things in their fields this year.

I moved the saddle back on the gravel bike and it was much more comfortable, but I ended up with intense pain in my right foot when I got home. I'll bring it forward a couple of mm, but it could be that when I re-tightened my cleat bolts the cleat moved out of position. Another thing to check *sigh* still I;m over 2,000 miles for the year now

https://www.strava.com/activities/11225626574/

[Slim]

A beautiful dry day, and we haven't had many of those this year. Since I got up earlier than I expected I thought I'd do Buckminster and back, about 80 miles.

I went the "old" way through Rempstone since it's a bit shorter and I wanted to make sure I arrived at Buckminster's village shop before it closed at 1300. I got there at 1235, good timing. Had a bit of a feast on the bench outside - a cheese & onion slice, a packet of crisps and a Magnum ice-cream lolly.

On the way back just to make it more interesting I took a right turn at the crossroads at Waltham - to give myself an orienteering task. But I very soon found myself back on the usual path. Basically a three mile detour, partly consisting of a single-track lane.

Came back along Narrow Lane and through Wymeswold (where I took the pic) and Hoton on the way back, for a change. I have quite a few variations of the eastbound route now.  Noticed a number of tiny fish in the stream (the River Mantle apparently) at Wymeswold. Minnows?



Listened to the first couple of hours of the next Reacher novel, Worth Dying For. Very good so far, classic Reacher. Flowing along nicely and so far not tripping over its own plot, as they sometimes tend to do. Reuses plot elements from Killing Floor and Echo Burning. Then I listened to football, including a highly entertaining FA Cup competition between Man United and Coventry at Wembley. As I was putting the bike away in the garage Coventry scored what I thought was a consolation goal to make it 3-1 to United, but later I discovered they'd pulled it back to 3-3!

Conditions seemed warmer than the advertised 11C in the afternoon. Mostly sunny, as well. I took off my overtrousers with about 13 miles to go. I was definitely too hot with about 4 to go but didn't bother to stop and part-unclothe.

Back on 80.69. Very enjoyable run out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11233367980

[Nickslikk2112]

Well I was up for just a gentle 25 miler today and that's just what I did. Got me over 170 miles for the week for the first time this year, which will do. I had thought about just doing 20 laps round Calow, but Calow's not the sort of place you want to draw attention to yourself and I don't want to end up as a pie filling in Wigan, so I bailed out after three.

Certainly felt warmer than 11C though, could have gotten away with shorts, but hey-ho.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11233604656

[Nickslikk2112]

I don't want to moan about the weather - too much - but this year has seemed like it's been stuck in early March since day one. Mainly cool, wet and windy.

I had thought today was going to be a dry day, but there was a lot of drizzle early on. It had stopped when I set out with the intention of doing 40 miles, but after about 12 miles it picked up again and I thought it might only be 20. But after turning off it stopped and climbing up a bit I could see where it was coming from and managed to zig-zag around it.

So I got back on 31 miles, which will do. Wish I'd put my long fingered gloves on though, but glad I'd put on my winter merino socks. Of course once I'd got home the clouds parted and the sun came out. Such is life.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11245393705

[Slim]

A sunny, dry day but cool, with the wind coming from the north. So as soon as I could get out of work, I decided to go up toward Derby. I went up Top Brand, up through Castle Donington, west across Cavendish Bridge, through Shardlow, up to Borrowash and west again towards Derby. I stopped when I got to Spondon and picked up some food at a petrol station - which was very welcome as I'd brought none with me. I couldn't find anything suitable in the fridge before I set off, must go to Tesco tomorrow.

I came back the same way until the turn for Aston. I'd intended to come back down via Swarkestone and Melbourne, but ridiculously, and I think I've done this before, I missed the turn for Weston and just looped back onto the main road at Shardlow. So I came back pretty much exactly the same way and ended up doing 41.47 miles rather than the 37 or so I was aiming for. But that puts me within two easy rides or a fondo of 400 this month. Unfortunately there's rain in the forecast every day until May 6th, after tomorrow. I'm starting to take it personally.



Nice to come back that way in bright sunlight, the last time I did that ride or a close variation of it it was properly dark on the way back, at about the same time of day.

Listened to 5 Live and another hour or two of the Reacher novel. Unfolding nicely.

There's an inviting little coffee shop along Shardlow Road now; unfortunately it's always closed by the time I pedal past it after work. Makes me think that it would be nice not to have to work every day, so I could set off a bit earlier.

Nice out there, I overclothed and was a bit too warm.

[Nickslikk2112]

Didn't get to achieve 40 miles today either. But I did get to wear my new Cycling glasses, I've treated myself to a pair of Oakley photochromic ones to replace the £2.50 pair Mrs S bought me from Wilkos, the rubber nose piece keeps coming off and they slip down my nose. I would bin them, but you need a reserve pair.

So I was a bit late out waiting for the Oakleys to come, but got to 32 miles for the day. Gets me over 500 miles for April thankfully. Be nice to get to 600 but the weather may not play ball and I don't play out in wet weather.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11253160918

[Nickslikk2112]

Weather hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, so have been out the last couple of days. Not done much, but it's something in the bag.

Yesterday just 21 miles, didn't want to stray too far from home as for once I'd hung out the washing for Mrs S. It kept threatening rain, but none really came. It did once I got home and I didn't notice, ho-hum...

Today just did 24 miles, but tried putting some effort in. Garmin said the tanks were empty after 18 miles, so I made it back on fumes. Up to 561 miles for April now.