More Podcast plugging

PG Holyfield creator of the fantastic Murder At Avedon Hill podcast has said he will give us a plug in the latest episode due to drop on 23rd April or there abouts. If you haven't tried Murder At Avedon Hill I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is a Murder Mystery set in the fantasy world of Caern. There are vampires, moonbeasts and allsorts thrown into the mix. The podcast is beautifully crafted with a fantastic cast of voice actors and music from Shira Kammen to give it a truly classy feel. You can find out more here.

I would also like to thank Chris Lester of the Metamor City podcast for giving us further pluggage in his last episode. Thanks Chris that was very kind of you. I wax lyrical about Metamor City here

6lbs in 24 hrs

Well this weekend did not go as planned. I was going out for an 80 miler on Saturday then I was going to be cycling into work on Sunday night. Instead I managed 10 miles on Saturday before it became apparent that if I didn't find a loo pretty quick my shorts would be in trouble. From then on it was 24 hrs between the bedroom and the lav. On the bright side as you can see from my skinnyr graph on the right somewhere I lost 6lbs! Of course that is just fluid but it is nice to see the scales saying something less offensive to me. Hopefully I will pile on a few miles this week as I am working nights all week so I hope to get in 180 - 200 miles. We will see.

Activity | Road Biking | Whitestone, United Kingdom | MotionBased Dashboard

Activity Road Biking Whitestone, United Kingdom MotionBased Dashboard
Despite the dodgy weather managed to put in a very wet 30 miles on Saturday. Almost had a total wipeout as a car came around some parked cars on my side of the road and seemed oblivious to the fact that i was just about to bounce off her bonnet, i can only apologise to anyone who lives in Dawlish and heard me swearing loudly. Im sure your a nice person really, but please look out for cyclists!!
Had a drier ride today and did a steady 40ish miles, with the emphasis on keeping the heart rate down, and trying not to sprint too many hills. (Click on the title for workout download.)
Have to say it felt a bit easier today, hopefully the training is starting to pay off a bit, always nice when you can knock out a steady ride and feel comfortable at the end.
All the accomodation is now booked, and i have started to think about the exact route we will take. I thought we might go through Runcorn instead of Liverpool, as it means not having to negotiate a major city, and it would be nice to avoid some of the A roads as well. (If you have checked our route and could give us advice, please let us know).
Well its that time of the day when the only training left to do is open a cold beer...........

Bad habits link to Alzheimer's

Interesting article from the BBC news today;
'Bad habits' link to Alzheimer's

Around 700,000 people currently suffer from dementia in the UK
Heavy drinkers and smokers develop Alzheimer's disease six to seven years earlier than those who do not smoke or drink, US researchers claim.
A study of 900 people aged over 60 found early onset was most likely in those who also had a high-risk gene.
A second US study found people with high cholesterol in their early 40s are one and a half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's.
The research was presented at an American Academy of Neurology meeting.
It has been estimated that a delay in the onset of Alzheimer's disease by five years would lead to a 50% drop in the number of cases.
It's possible that if we can reduce or eliminate heavy smoking and drinking, we could substantially delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease for people and reduce the number of people who have Alzheimer's at any point in time
Dr Ranjan Duara
The researchers said their findings showed heavy drinking and smoking were two of the most important preventable risk factors for the condition.
Those taking part in the study had been diagnosed with possible or probable Alzheimer's disease and smoking and drinking history was obtained from family members.
Risk factors
Heavy drinking, defined as more than two drinks a day was found to lead to an almost five-year earlier onset of Alzheimer's.
And those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day developed the disease two years sooner.
People with a specific gene - APOE variant 4 - developed Alzheimer's disease three years earlier than those without the gene variant.
All three risk factors together were associated with onset of the disease 8.5 years earlier than those with none of the risk factors.
Study leader, Dr Ranjan Duara, from Mount Sinai Medical Center in Florida said: "It's possible that if we can reduce or eliminate heavy smoking and drinking, we could substantially delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease for people and reduce the number of people who have Alzheimer's at any point in time."
In the second study, 9,700 men and women were followed from the age of 40.
Those with cholesterol levels higher than around six millimols per litre (mmol/L) had a one and a half times higher risk of developing Alzheimer's than those with low cholesterol.
"High mid-life cholesterol increased the risk of Alzheimer's disease regardless of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and late-life stroke," said researcher Alina Solomon.
Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society said the research added to the weight of evidence on drinking and smoking habits and the risk of developing dementia.
"The best way to reduce your risk is to eat a balanced diet rich in antioxidants and vitamins and to exercise regularly.
"Not smoking, drinking only in moderation and getting your blood pressure and cholesterol checked regularly throughout life are also important ways people can reduce their risk of dementia."

Joglers are like Buses

Practically all my training has been done solo, all on my lonesome, then this past week I have been out cycling with 2 Joglers on separate occasions. Just like buses as I said.

Last Friday (the 11th) Dr Stephen was down visiting from Scotland so we arranged to meet up for a quick tour of the local Cotswold Hills. We had a fine little ride of 32 miles, based on a route in a recent cycling plus. Our route is here if you care to look. Stephen was, as usual, quicker than me up the hills, weighing about 3 stone as he does, even at his 6ft4ish height. Even so I didn't get tearful and just pretended I was taking it easy before the HONC. I think Steve knew better but is too much of a gent to say so.

Due to the actual riding of the JOGLE starting a day later Dr Stephen is now able to join us for an extra day so we should have more bodies to cut through those Scottish winds.

On Sunday it was HONC or Hell Of The North Cotswolds day. Dave came up for the ride with his rather lovely Specialized Hardtail. He also came bearing gifts courtesy of Pete at Iron Bridge Runner in Exeter who had given Dave a load of Science in Sport goodies at very low prices to help the JOGLERS. (Pete is a top bloke who has also offered to supply goodies for the actual event and drive us to John O'Groats from Inverness Airport. Cheers Pete.)

We started off right near the back of the 1000 strong pack since we were out for a days riding rather than setting any records. This can be mildly frustrating as the sheer volume of riders cause bottlenecks at the narrower points and we came to a complete standstill on several occasions. This was not really a problem though as the atmosphere and organisation were as usual great. Everyone happy to chat and throw about cheesy one liners about men in shorts etc. All good fun. The ride itself was great for the most part and gave my Focus Cross Disc a chance to show its true colours. I can truly say that it excelled. I was really chuffed with it's performance. There was a lot of gloopy mud and many mountain bikers were having to stop to clear the mud from their frame but my skinny little steed kept on riding. There was not really any point during the ride were I felt at a disadvantage to the Mountain Bikers and I was finally glad to have taken the disc option on the bike.

With about 20 miles to go Dave's saddle started to slip slide all over the place in his seat post to the point that it became unridable (as detailed below by Dave). So after 10 miles of struggling we decided to abort. This did not feel like a let down to me though as we had covered 50 miles of pretty tough on/off road terrain and had a really good work out. Even better I felt pretty fresh which bodes well for the JOGLE. Here is our shortened route. Pics to follow when these guys upload them.

Busted saddles and sore legs

Well finished the HONC, kind of, in a roundabout way. Due to recurrent saddle problems, the bolt for my saddle gave up the ghost at about 40 miles, so had to miss the last 10 miles of the ride due to being unable to sit on the saddle. At least i got in a good 50 mile ride, and given that it was off road it was a reasonable training ride.
Not pleased that i didn't finish but happy with the distance.
Would definitely recommend this ride to anyone who fancies a challenging off road ride.
Hoping to capitilse on the improved weather and get some evening rides in this week.
Have virtually booked all our accomodation for the ride now, need to start fine tuning some of the route. Hopefully we will avoid as many A roads as possible.
Only eight weeks to go.

Honc Honced

The live updates were abit of a flop due to very patchy 3g coverage. Ah well at least the ride went injury free. To the riders at least. I am going to bed. Night.

Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer's

IN BRIEF

• The number of Alzheimer's patients is expected to increase dramatically in coming years, straining the health care system
• Scientists have not discovered the cause nor devised effective treatments
• Even diagnosis is difficult
• In the absence of therapies, attention has turned to teaching the skills necessary to cope with demented patients
• Increasingly caregivers are encouraged to validate the feelings and perceptions of the person with Alzheimer's

Check out the New York Times article here

'I would rather die of cancer than have my living self stripped away a bit at a time,' says Terry Pratchett

From the Daily Mail:

The day that fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett announced he had Alzheimer's, he received an incredible 60,000 responses from fans on his website within just a few hours.

"Some were from wellwishers, others had advice for me," he says.

"It was all so diverse - I wouldn't have a clue whether they were things I should take on board or not.

"We talk to one another on the internet and compare regimes. Part of me lives in a world of new age remedies and some of the science is a little like voodoo.

"But science was never an exact science, and personally I'd eat the a*** out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance.

"Some of those who got in touch wanted to sell me snake oil and I'm not necessarily going to dismiss all of these, as I have never found a rusty snake.

"But I'm not reading any of the medical books about it. I don't want to follow guidelines.

"You can't out-run the train but you can run and, who knows, if you can keep running for long enough, someone might find a way of blowing up the train."

Read full the article here

The Wonder of Tractors

I rode into work again a few times this past week. It is helping with piling on the miles but the return journey can be somewhat of a bore. Usually into a head wind and just wanting to be in bed I struggle to get my heart rate up and plod along at an average of 14mph or so. On the flat on a road bike.

Sometimes there is a treat on the journey, something to motivate me and get my heart pumping and the speed up. It could be music, another cyclist, the local time trial on my route or one of many things. I especially like overtaking spotty teenagers on their 50cc mopeds. The treat on my journey home yesterday was a stinky tractor flicking mud in my face. I had just crested a gentle rise and was struggling to push the pedals around, just grinding slowly along at about 15mph when this muck spattered machine came rumbling past. I was instantly out of the saddle and sprinting to get a slipstream tow from it. What an amazing difference it makes! For the next few miles I averaged 25mph and it felt so easy. I had to keep backing off so I didn't roll into the back of the tractor. I wonder if we could persuade someone to drive one all the way down in the jogle. Reckon we could do it in half the time then. It is a little bit dangerous though (incase PC Regie is reading) because you can't see what is in front of the tractor and if he hit the brakes..... ouch. At that time of the morning though I am willing to take the risk to get me home.

If you feel nerdy all the stats of that particular ride are here

The JOGLERS

Sport and oh,oh...Politics

Good to see Steve making a few notes on the blog. I wasn't aware he could write, so quite an achievement.
Managed an hour and a half on the stumpy tonight, still a bit muddy for decent riding but it was good to get re-acquainted with nobblies again. Hopefully the weather will be good for the HONC and i won't bonk before 50 miles!!
Thought i should make a comment about world affairs, seeing as how this blog is a medium for all things good and proper.
I have always been an advocate for world peace, and given that we are undertaking a sporting event in the Olympic year i thought it only right to suggest that we boycott watching the Olympics, given China's intrusion in Tibet, maybe a small token but if enough people did it....who knows. Having travelled in Nepal and India i can only comment on how friendly and welcoming Tibetan refugees were to me. Comments please.

Corrupt Mr Sylvester here

Right, Mr Sylvester here. I've been brought into the team to add some leadership to the proceedings. See I am a manager and Dave and Nick are nurses, get my drift. Dave's not relied for his navigation skills (viva la France) and Nick ends up doing his own thing, he’s not used to peoples company. I need to beat these two losers in to some form of shape. Really joking aside it will be great to do the ride for the Alzheimer’s Society a very deserving fund. Back to the insults. It dawned on me the other day that this indeed could be the last ever ride with Dave and Nick. Come on, as you know times not been favourable for Dave, every day he looks more and more like Keith Richards from the Stones. As for Mr Robinson, his impression of Augustus Glupe from Charlie and the Chocolate factory is quite uncanny, and he’ll soon be sucked up some chocolate pipe. As for me I am finely tuned riding machine, currently being protected by a specialist insulation layer (otherwise know as fat!)

I've just taken out another mortgage getting the bikes services (thanks Rich!) and the training has started (now me tum tum is better) 35ish miles on the mountain bike on Saturday, run this AM, a spin class this evening, wow it was great and so it goes on. I'm in the states next week so no riding, but there is a gym at the hotel and trainers on me feet, so all out effort when back. Oh....assoss cream rules..

Ps Gears sorted on the MTB, sweet

The HONC is looming

This Sunday it is The Hell Of The North Cotswolds .This is a very popular and fairly tough reliability ride in and around the Cotswold town of Winchcombe. About 1000 riders take on either the 50K or 100K courses which are a mix of about 50/50 on and offroad. It is one of the few events that us JOGLERS have had a regular presence at over the years. This will be my 5th time at the event and Daves 2nd. Dr Stephen did it in 2004 and Steve in 2006.

I have tackled it on a singlespeed, a full sus mountain bike, a tandem, a hardtail mountain bike and this year it will be done on my cyclo cross bike. Dave is riding his hard tail and Steve will be washing the dishes at home. Girl. I may however have frightened Steve off, as the last time he rode it was on the back of the tandem. Unfortunately my confidence outweighed my talent on that day and we had a fairly spectacular wipe out when I tried to squeeze into a narrowing gap between two other riders on a descent. Fortunately the other riders were restrained enough to avoid punching me on the nose, which is probably what I deserved. I am pretty sure I ruined their day as well as Steve's. Sorry out there whoever you are. For Steve's part he was suprisingly restrained, didn't even swear. Considering he could hardly use his arm for a month after that was quite impressive.
Last year, due to a general lack of riding and fitness we took the short route but we did at least get around without any dramas. This year Dave and I are planning on doing the 100k hopefully without any faceplants or broken bones.

The pics are At the Top: Nick and Dr Stephen at the start of the 2004 event. on the right: us again on a descent later on the same day and the last pic is Dave with Nick on the left.

2006 Route 100k shortened after Tandem Wipout
2007 50k Route

2008 routes are here: Short Long
The Memory Map and Tracklogs versions are here

Activity | Road Biking | Whitestone, United Kingdom | MotionBased Dashboard

Activity Road Biking Whitestone, United Kingdom MotionBased Dashboard

Managed some decent training this weekend despite my wife being on nights, a tree hitting me in the face (i continued to cut down trees in the back garden and a branch hit me in the face, stop laughing, i now have a nice black eye) and the blizzards!
I went out today in full thermal get up and rode the last 15 miles into a northerly wind which was bitingly cold. I grovelled up the hills, the very same ones i used to ride on a 42/52 chainset with 12-23 on the back, im now using a compact chainset and a massive 28 on the back, it can only get better. At least there is no such thing as a flat ride in Devon so i should be prepared for the hills.
Hopefully now with evenings getting getting lighter i may get out midweek a bit more, its trying to manage it all around work, pregnant wife and daughter, throw into that lot a few odd jobs around the house, cleaning bike(s), updating blog! and watching Champions League on the telly, (yes Nick, Steve, football is important) and you end up with little time left for quality training.
As you have probably noticed i have a new toy, Garmin 305 GPS, (Click on the title) great fun and excellent way to look at training stats (how sad), hopefully as i get fitter?? it will be a good way to observe overall improvements, i am convincing myself there will be improvements!! It was good to see that even though i was struggling towards the end the average speed stayed around 14mph. The peak in the heart rate was big ringing it around the Penn Inn roundabout, not a pleasant place, and the only safe way to negotiate it is at the same speed as the traffic. More stats to come soon.

Metamor City Mention!

I was super excited to see the latest episode of Chris Lester's Metamor City podcast downloading this morning. My excitement shot up a notch further when I realised Chris had given us a plug! If you are not familiar with it The Metamor City Podcast is a sci-fi/fantasy audio fiction series that is distributed for free through Chris's website. It features a mixture of short stories and full-length novels, all taking place in one large world with an overarching story arc. Combining the narration of audiobooks with the music, sound effects and full vocal cast of a serial radio drama, The Metamor City Podcast provides an immersive audio experience of a world like no other.

If you have found us through Metamor City, we are two psychiatric nurses who have both been touched in different ways by Alzheimer's. We are cycling the length of the British Isles to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society and awareness of this cruel disease. We are doing this over 9 days now, after initially planning to do it in 7. We also now have health service manager Steve joining us for the ride and Stephen, a web guru and MRI expert, joining us for some of Scotland.

Donations can be made through our Just Giving site which is linked to on the right, or if you prefer, through the paypal donate button. If you are unable to donate, any comments on the blog or plugs on other blogs would be very much appreciated. Until then, keep it on the bright side!

Night Shift Rogate Ramblings

My training has been going very well this week. I have cycled the 30 mile journey into work two days in succession now and plan to again on Sunday. My knees are starting to complain a bit though so I figure I will play that one by ear.

Like most cyclists I have bits of kit I particularly like so I thought I would review the odd one here or there. So here goes:

Last month I bought a DHB Rogate top from Wiggle on offer (They always clobber me with their email offers and my weak will). It has really surprised me how versatile it is. I have been wearing it with a string vest type base layer under it and it keeps me nice and snug at 0deg C right up to 10deg without getting all boil in a bag. If things do start hotting up there is a full length zip to give maximum ventilation. It is also extremely comfortable, all fleecy inside, with a windproof front, a silicone gripper at the base of the back to prevent ride up and a zip up pocket in addition to the usual 3 rear pockets. One of the nicest design features for me has been that it has a chest pocket designed for mp3 players with a little hole to route the headphones inside. It just has room for my iPod Touch so should fit most players just fine. It really is fantastic quality for the money. It retails at £44 but was £30 on offer and is one of those tops that will be worn from October through to April. I love it!

Time Trialing to Work

Cyling into work this evening was great, the sun was shining and I was able to just wear shorts and top for the first time this year. I even added a few miles to the trip to make it a 32 mile inward ride. What made the ride was discovering myself in the middle of the local bike clubs evening time trial. Just as I turned onto the A38 a guy flew past me all tucked down and really going for it. Not long after another guy came by but going at a more sensible pace averaging about 22-23mph. I was able to grab his back wheel and got a nice tow for the next 5 miles or so Mega! After he turned off it was me and the wind again but I managed to keep up a better pace than of late and consequently had the time to add a few extra miles.

I am still riding the cyclo cross bike with knobblies on so hopefully I should see a pick up in pace when I get around to sticking the slicks on.

Resistance Training With the Family

Since the sun has been out the past couple of days everyone wants to get on the bike. We decided to take the two boys, Noah, 3 and J, 1 out in the Chariot. this would be the first time for them to share it on a decent length bike ride. I was concerned that it would be all elbows and bitter disputes over territory however I need not have worried. The trailer seems to send the boys into some sort of trance and they sat there staring at my back wheel.

Well untill Noah started singing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and asking me to fly. I was not able to oblige unfortunately. The harmony continued and a jolly time was had by all. Even old Dad got a good work out. That is quite a lump to haul around the Cotswolds.

Nick Gets a Taste of the Truth

If You Like Sci/fi Horror Watch this.

Another 70 Miler

I was bereft of imagination today so when given 4 hours to spend on my bike I just rode the same old loop down to Chepstow and back. Here are the details for my training free Joglers to admire.

Signed Jack Wakes Up arrives

Following on from Seth Harwoods run on the Amazon charts in which he grabbed No 1 on the Mystery/crime section. My signed copy arrived. Not only that but Seth included a page of the manuscript with his alterations hand written on it. Nice! Should be worth a mint when Seth becomes world famous. More info on this relentless Noir Crime novel and the free podcast version here

My legs hurt

Managed a two and a half hour ride today in glorious weather. About 30ish miles, out to Dawlish then back over Mamhead, for those who don't know this is a vicious little climb that should only be attempted when fit, (and not after 3 hours on a singlespeed the day before) needless to say i hurt all the way up, probably exactly how it will feel after the 3rd day of JOGLE. Have then spent the afternoon cutting down trees, to make up for the fact that i have spent most of the weekend on my bike, so know i hurt all over. Dave.

Get You Free PDF of Infected Here! Till Monday

Free PDF of Infected! (available through monday)

Click here to download the free PDF of INFECTED
"Crown Publishing is letting me give away the PDF of INFECTED from March 27 through March 31, leading up to the hardcover in-store release on April 1. So download it! Feel free to email the link to anyone you know."
--Scott Sigler

Download a copy of this scary as heck book for yourselves and email the link to people who might like the book. Please email the link not the PDF so Crown can see just how popular the Future Dark Overlord has become.

Another very, very wet ride.

Managed a decent 3 hours on the singlespeed mtb today. My original plan was to get out early and do 40ish road miles, however by the time i got wife/daughter sorted out it was 10am and raining very persistently. Not good for road riding, as you become even more invisible to certain car drivers who's aim in life appears to be to run you off the road.
So took the singlespeed out, first time since Jan, and rode on the back lanes to Woodbury Common where i managed 50 mins in the mud. Woodbury is a great place to ride, when the wind and rain are not pummeling you from all directions and the sand/water/mud is not corroding every part of your bike, especially brakes. Just reminded me i should clean it and put a bit of lube on or it may never work again! Anyway on returning home i was freezing cold and soaked to the skin, unable to undo my shoes and praying that June is not like this.
Now, after a very hot bath and much refreshment i feel very smug, especially as having spoken to Nick and he said he had not ridden due to the weather (lightweight). Hopefully tomorrow will be drier.
Looks like we might be joined by Steve on our little trek in June, providing he sorts those gears out, the thought of Steve cursing every slipped gear and then having to ride in the big ring everywhere is not pleasurable! Dave.

I will start training soon

I was beginning to get concerned that my training is not going to plan, ie i haven't been on the bike for 10 days, yikes. Then i realised that Nick needs to train more than i do!!! Sorry mate, please don't make me suffer on the HONC. Poor weather, lack of time, work commitments, you name it i have an excuse for not training. I did go out on Easter Monday but 5 miles down the road from my in-laws in N. Cornwall the chain snapped (no comments about my mechanics), my mobile wasn't charged and i had an hour and a halfs walk home. On the plus side i have got back into my running after a long injury lay off, so hopefully there is some aerobic capacity somewhere in my body. The plan is some big riding this weekend, aided by my new Garmin 305, sadly in the post office until Sat. morning. Hopefully it will inspire me to ride a bit more. Thanks for all the donations coming in, nice one Steve. Should also mention Claires cousin Shaun, running London Marathon for help for heroes, check out justgiving.com/shaunpascoe. Thanks Dave.

Focus Cross Disc Review

This is the bike I am going to JOGLE on. I have had it about 6 weeks now and thought it was time for a mini review. I cannot compare it to other cross bikes as I have never ridden any others. This is just my impressions of the bike in comparison to the rest of my stable.

The Jogle was a good excuse to get a new bike as my Pinarello has a good frame but the kit on it is mostly about 11 years old and a reliable shift is something of a rarity. As I had fancied getting a cyclo cross bike after seeing the Kona Jake The Snake at the HONC a few years ago I thought this might be just the right excuse to get one. Cyclo Cross Bikes are not too dissimilar in geometry to tourers so it did make some kind of sense. I narrowed my search down to Focus bikes as I own and love a Focus Raven MTB and had seen stellar reviews of their cross bikes. It also helps that they are amazing value. In the end I went for the cross disc despite its hefty weight of 23.6lbs because of the disc brakes. I fancied disc brakes in the hope that my rims might last a bit longer than I am used too. Usually I get though a set each winter due to the brakes wearing through. Obviously this is not an issue with the discs.

My first impression of the bike was that it felt very stiff after being used to a whippy steel road bike, this did not make for an uncomfortable ride at all though, just awesome acceleration! The bike gives a really "direct" feel in a way I can only compare to my rigid single speed MTB. It just goes, no flex or fuss. On the road it handles fine although requires a bit more confidence on the fast descents, not quite tucking in like my Pinarello Sestriere. This may feel different with road tyres on though. At the moment all my riding on and off road has been with the Racing Ralph Cross tyres. Off road I was surprised by the bikes ability, the narrow tyres provide an amazing amount of traction, far more than I anticipated, time and again on a steep climb or a muddy trail I would expect the back to slip or step out but it remained true. Very impressive. The bike cannot get near to a mountain bike off road but still it copes far better than I had imagined. The one area there is a clear deficit to the the mountain bike is on fast, steep, loose descents. The bike just does not have the stability to handle these (at least with me riding) at any great speed. There is also a fear of pinch punctures with the relatively narrow tyres.

The finishing kit is all good stuff for the price although I have changed the saddle for a Charge Spoon, upgraded the chain (which was one of those bottom of the line sucktastic shimano jobbies) to a decent KMC one and fitted my MTB's USE SUMO suspension post.

All in all I am chuffed to bits with it. The only downside for me is the brakes. They are ok, they stop the bike and they will protect the rims but the stopping power is quite disappointing. Definitely no better than 105 calipers in addition to this they have a difficult to remove and often embarrassing squeal.

Reviews usually finish with pros and cons so I won't buck that trend:

Pros :
Stiff and quick
Very versatile
Comfortable
Amazing value
Disc Brakes ease wear on rims

Cons :
Disc Brakes squeal and are underwhelming
Weight

So my marks out of ten would be 8/10. Go for the non disc version!

Wascally Weasel is Jogleing right now

Why not visit his blog and give him some encouragement. He is updating daily whilst on the road.

Malverns Day in the sun

I had a cracking ride today, a bit of on and off road - just the ticket for the cross bike. Below is the elevation profile. It didn't really feel quite as dramatic as it looks, the gradients on the road were pretty easy going. The scenery was mega though, I had a butchers at Eastnor Castle before winding up the West side of the Malverns. I didn't go to the highest bit due to time constraints but Upper Wyche was high enough for me! I then rode along the ridge of the hill, offroad, back down to the A449. Stopping to take in the view and eat for a while at the best bits. The ride home was plain sailing with a tail wind and a friendly roady (Hi Jim) who took it in turns with me to ride on the front back to Gloucester. 66.6 miles (yikes!) and 3800ft of climbing. That belly will be shrivelling to nothing at this rate. Ride details are at Bikely here and at Motionbased here.

Bank Holiday Masochism

Today I decided to just follow my nose. Unfortunately my nose is a sadist. I followed it up 3000ft of climbing in 24 miles. Fortunately, to go with my nose and its sadistic tendancy I appear to be a masochist - cos I loved it! There is little to beat the feeling of grinding up a hill with your heartrate up around 170bpm, the sweat rolling down your face and your legs relentlessly pumping. Endorphintastic!


Now if I can just get rid of the extra 2 stone around my middle I might be able to go a bit quicker.

The Pro's and Con's of Night Shifts

I work nights, just nights and they suck. In a lot of ways anyway - I never get more than 5 hours kip, usually about 4, so I am grumpy, I am less productive, always hungry and will probably die young. Ok not that young I am already a grey paunchy middle aged man but you know what I mean. On the plus side - often the nights are (touch wood) quieter, meaning I can catch up on stuff like studying etc in work time. Also the shifts are longer 10 - 12 hours which means a 3 day week almost makes full time hours giving me much more time to do other stuff. Best of all work is 30 miles away making the commute excellent Jogle training.

This week I decided that I would cycle the 60 mile round trip 3 days in succession. This, for me at least, is quite ambitious. Cycling into work is usually ok but facing 30 miles after a night shift is often not a pleasant thing. Anyway as I am writing this I have failed but with a B+ for effort. The first night was great, I took it easy going in listening to the Fantastic "Murder At Avedon Hill" podcast and the journey flew buy as I absorbed the world created by PG Holyfield. It was a real disappointment to get to work and have to stop listening. This repeated itself on the way home only I ran out of Murder half way home so I put on my "Go man Go!" play list. This certainly works as my average speed went up from 15 mph to 21! I think perhaps I should listen to this play list more often. Unfortunately I was so hyped up from the blast home that I couldn't sleep and after finally getting a solid 2 hours sleep decided to take the car for my second night. Light weight. Fat but light weight.

Update: I am writing this having cycled in for my 3rd night shift and am not looking forward at all to the ride home as I will be riding into a 25mph head wind all the way. Still it is good training for those "the JOGLE is a stupid idea" moments.

This is the elevation profile of my ride to work:

Route to Bristol is here

Route back is here

Further update: I have just got back from my ride home. I was pathetic! It took an hour longer than usual with the headwind, I am surprised I didn't topple over I was going so slow. Off to bed now.

Think you pay attention? Take The Test

My mate Lance.

Anyone want to hear my Lance Armstrong story? I met him in a shop in Tenerife, he was with Sheryl Crow buying chocolate biscuits and coffee. Once i got over my shock and stalked him round the shop to make sure it wasn't a double i managed to get his autograph and have a brief word. The following year he won his 6th Tour. I can give you all the training tips i gave him if you sponsor us! Bargain.

Waffle

Thought i'd throw in a quick update. My bike is in pieces at the moment as a very, very wet ride on Saturday meant that rust was creeping in on Sunday so had to strip it down and do some greasing. Problem is i now have to put it back together again, never my strong point. I have been doing my fair share of turbo training and blasting my head with some natty sounds on the i pod, would highly recommend The Clash, Happy Mondays, Spear of Destiny, Nick Cave (new cd is superb) if spending time frantically spinning nowhere while staring at a wall. Nick unfortunately has a poor taste in music, perhaps i can educate him while we are meandering down through the country.
Thanks to Alison for her input, i did suggest my wife had her say, but she doesn't do anything related to cycling without including strong language so perhaps best if she stays away. Last expletives issued re my bike is when she came in from work to find bits of bike lying on the kitchen floor, which of course was properly protected, my response of it's to cold in the garage didn't go down well. Perhaps i won't push for having my Stumpjumper mounted in the lounge (between rides) as a piece of art.
Read a good article in this months What MTB mag, how many bikes is enough? n+1 (n being infinity). Made me think about buying another bike, do fancy a nice bit of titanium......Mmmmm.
Dave.

We have the support of Beta Clone #000!

Author of the Über successful podcast Novel trilogy 7th Son , JC Hutchins, has also agreed to give us a plug in his next podcast!

7th Son chronicles the story of seven strangers who are assembled after the assassination of the U.S. president. They quickly discover they all appear to be the same man ... with identical childhood memories.

Unwitting participants in a human cloning experiment, these "John Michael Smiths" have been assembled to catch the man who murdered the president. Their target? The man they were cloned from; the original John Michael Smith, code-named John Alpha. Check out the promo below.

JC is also podcasting his Ultracreatives Interview series where he interviews some of the most talented and influential people in new media. JC used to be a journalist and has a great interviewing style, really pulling the most out of his subjects. Well worth a listen.

Todays Little Bimble

My legs were feeling a bit weary today and I have also been conscious of my troublesome right knee just whispering to me that it might be a good idea to back off a bit. With this in mind I set of into the Cotswold rain for a gentle "leg flushing" ride. A mighty fine one it was too, after a few easy miles my legs felt good so I decided to explore around the back of Painswick.

I have been trying to "spin" a bit more instead of indulging my tendancy to push big gears. This tendancy of mine is probably the cause of my knee probs. The downside off my planned route was that as almost every hill going up into Painswick seemed to be about 25% - not really so good for "spinning". Never mind - no tendons or ligaments snapped and I think I survived. My ego tends to get in the way of my health when faced with hills like this, especially if there are people looking on. I will not get off and push - it just doesn't seem right, not with all the lycra on and dressed like a funky chicken with my clippy clop shoes etc. Hopefully I will grow out of this macho bravado one day.

The route is here and this is the elevation profile:

Click to see full size

by Alison

The benefits of being a cycling widow

As Nick's cycling training intensifies, we may be seeing less of him around the house, but that's ok. What I get out of it way outweighs the negatives.
In exchange for Nick's 4 hour bike ride today, I got:
*a lie in til 7.30am - a mega treat as our youngest is up from 5am!
*peace and quiet while Nick was out cycling (Noah was at playgroup and Jonah had a nap back home) - time for a lovely cuppa and feet up!
*a happy, chirpy healthy Nick on return
*and once he'd had a cup of tea, I left for a guilt-free 3 hour child-free shopping trip while he spent some quality time playing with the kids.
BARGAIN!

I now need to think of something mega I can have as a trade for the 9 whole days (and nights!) I'm left with the kids on my own while he and Dave merrily peddle their way through the beautiful countryside, gentle breeze blowing through their hair, sun on their faces, waving to the sheep and cows as they roll down the hills with their feet in the air.

Any ideas, on a postcard please...

But, on a serious note - good luck to them both - it is very commendable and can only be encouraged, especially as for such a good cause.

A clip From Todays 67 miler

A quick clip to demonstrate my double chin and prove that I do actually go out in public dressed in lycra.


Severn Bridge from Nick on Vimeo.

The route can be found here as if you cared...... and here is the elevation profile:

Alarmingly it says I am under sea level as I cross the Severn Bridge!

Quality Cycle Lanes

Here are a couple of examples of how councils across the land are bending over backwards to encourage people to cycle by providing safe, convenient and easy to negotiate cycle lanes.

Pics found at warrington cycle campaign under facility of the month

Stephen Joins The Jogle

Click to Enlarge

Dave's Big Idea

Click to enlarge

The Dark Overlord Blesses Us

Scott Sigler, No1 best selling author of Earthcore, Ancestor, Infected, The Rookie, Nocturnal and The Bloodcast fame has agreed to give us a mention on his ALWAYS on time podcast. For those not familiar with his work Scott provides a FULL ON experience for his Junkies. That is what he calls his listeners after we all became so hooked on his first weekly podcast book Earthcore. The book became dubbed Earthcrack and we the faithfull became Siglers Junkies, always Jonesing for the next fix. Nothing has changed there. Currently Scott is podcasting 2 novels simultaneously. Nocturnal a Monster/Gangster/Sci-fi story set in San Francisco is on episode 17 and he has just started podcasting the new version of his soon to be released in hardback Infected. Scott made a run on the Amazon charts last year by promoting his book Ancestor and asking Junkies and regular folk alike to buy the book on April 1st. This worked brilliantly pushing the book to No 2 on the Amazon charts bettered only by Harry Potter. It also made No1 in Horror and No1 in Sci-Fi. Scott is aiming to do a similar thing this time with the hardcover release of Infected. The difference this time is that you can pre-order. If you are a Junkie or just want some fantastic horror/scifi fiction get Scott's hardcover debut Infected. You can download the promo and podcast for free at http://www.scottsigler.com/ to check it out. You will be in for a helluva ride!




INFECTED:
- US & Canada: Ships April 1, 2008.
- UK (paperback): Ships July 10, 2008

Sore....everything

Have finally started some decent training, 40 (very hilly) miles on saturday and 32 today. The results of this, we have no bannanas left in our house, my bum hurts, will be purchasing some of the Assos cream sounds nice! and i have large deposits of lactic acid in my legs. Fun fun fun.
I would certainly recommend the tri-cross comp for steady rides, with decent road tyres its quite nimble, although cornering at high speed in the wet needs lots of concentration.
I would probably have ridden better today if i hadn't consumed large quantities of red wine last night (thanks Simon) but i thought it would mope up some of those free radicals that are coursing around my body.
As for nicks comments on shorts i would have to go for Assos everytime, you pay serious dosh but they feel so soft next to your skin, as they say in the ads, they look good (really important) and they keep all the flabby bits in place, i haven't got as much as nick and no we havent been comparing, but flab is flab. Seriously, they are top qaulity shorts. Dave.

Metamor City Here We Come!

I just had an email from Chris Lester of the fantastic Metamor City podcast series. He has agreed to mention our JOGLE efforts in the March 23rd episode of Metamor City - Making The Cut. This podcast really is something special. Below is copied from the www.Metamorcity.com Do check this out. You will not be disappointed!

Blessed By Divinity. Cursed By Darkness. Marked By Destiny.

The Metamor City Podcast is an audio fiction series that is distributed for free through this website. It will feature a mixture of short stories and full-length novels, all taking place in one large world with an overarching story arc. Combining the narration of audiobooks with the music, sound effects and full vocal cast of a serial radio drama, The Metamor City Podcast provides an immersive audio experience of a world like no other.

The stories of The Metamor City Podcast take place in a high-magic, high-technology setting, an epic fantasy world projected into the near future. The action focuses primarily on the inhabitants of Metamor City, a mega-metropolis that is also the capital of the world’s largest superpower, the Empire of Metamor. The empire covers most of the continent called Galendor; click here to see a map of the continent. A terrain map of the planet (with certain parts as-yet undefined) can be found here.

Click on the sub-page links below to learn more about the world of Metamor City. For more information on podcasts and how to subscribe to them, please click here. For information about the cast members, please see the Cast Page; for information about the characters, check out the Character Guide.

Shorts

Here I am at work working hard again. The good news is I have managed a 150 mile week. Or at least when I get home tomorrow I will have. It has been a few years since I have done that!

One of my major worries about increasing the mileage in preparation for the JOGLE has been my bum. I know it looks big in lycra - that is not the issue. I don't want to be struggling due to a sore bot when otherwise fit. To that end I have been asking advice from various folk. The general suggestion has been get some Assos F1 shorts. VERY pricey. Also ASSOS Chamois Crème has been recommended to me. I have splashed out on both of these all be it the cheapest Assos F1 shorts - the £70 Unos. My impressions have been mixed.

Firstly the ASSOS Chamois Crème. This was new to me and I felt a bit of a charlie rubbing it on the chamois and er.... other places. The good news though is that it is fantastic. It causes a strange cooling sensation where applied which is not the best when starting a ride at -3deg! However the cooling sensation soon goes and the cream feels great. I could definately ride for longer whatever the shorts with the cream applied. I would heartily recommend it to any one looking to cycle long distances.

Now the shorts. I have done a mini group test of the shorts I use:
Assos F1 Uno about £70
Briko Katana about £50
DHB Earnley Bib Shorts about £30

Firstly I have my trusty Briko Katana Viper Bib shorts. They are about £50. I have been using these for the past year and am very pleased with them.

The lycra feels high quality and shows no sign of wear after this time. They also fit beautifully. No ripples or loose bits. The chamois is a one piece formed synthetic thingy. It works superbly especially with the ASSOS Chamois Crème applied. Of all my shorts these are the ones that provide me with the most comfort. I have riden 5 hrs without an issue.

They have a low front which is great for calls of nature and a mesh back for moisture transfer. The only minor niggle is the reflective Briko Logo is starting to lift in places.

Next Up are the Assos shorts. They Ooze quality, the workmanship is clear and it is easy to see why the cost a bit more. When first pulling them on they feel like a high quality piece of kit and again the fit is superb. The chamois is a multi layered affair and is said to be the secret to Assos legendary comfort. Unfortunately for me I was very underwhelmed by their comfort. I suffered aching bum bones after 2- 3 hours in the saddle. You will know what I mean if you ride bikes! The shorts just dont measure up to the cheaper Brikos. At least for me. I will keep trying them and see if breaking them in a bit more helps.

These shorts, similar to the Brikos have a low front and mesh back. They look superb, I certainly felt quicker wearing them. Shame it wasn't true.

Lastly are the much cheaper DHB Earnley Shorts. Whilst their build quality is understandably not a match for the Assos shorts it is not far off the Brikos and they really do have an excellent feel and fit for such budget shorts.

The Chamois is a one piece synthetic affair similar to the Briko's but not quite as effective. In terms of pure comfort these do not match the Brikos but very suprisingly do, for me at least, match the Assos shorts. DHB somehow work wonders at such low prices.

I have also tried their padded bib tights and they too are fantastic at very low prices.

My conclusion from all of this is that I will probably Buy another pair of Briko shorts before the Jogle but for everyday riding the DHB shorts will do me just fine. I will not be splashing on Assos again in a hurry but they will get my hard earned for their Chamois Crème. It may be that my large wobbly bottom is different to other folk because I am aware that my conclusions are at odds with other reviews out there. However I don't think you can go far wrong with the DHB offerings no matter the shape of your rump.

Back In The Saddle again.

It is great to be over my "bug " and in the saddle again. I was getting a little stressed at missing a week of riding if only because the unlistened to podcasts were piling up. I have found podcasts to be the best training aid I have ever used. The 2 hour ride to work this evening just flew by. Here is my playlist for the ride in:
1 Scott Sigler's Nocturnal
2 The Daily Mayo
3 Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff's Transistor Rodeo
4 Twit's Jumping Monkey's

On the way home I have lined up:
3 episodes of The Daily Giz Wiz and 3 Episodes of Buzzout Loud Then I may resort to some music to give me the kick for the last 10 miles home.

It still amazes me that this stuff is all free. There are some amazing news and entertainment podcasts out there. Twit.tv does a wide range of tech related podcasts, Free audio Novels can be found at Podiobooks and if short stories are your thing checkout Pseudopod or Escape Pod. There is always something to listen to. Absolute favourites of mine are The Metamor City Podcast , Mark Kermodes Film Reviews which includes hilarious rants and bickering between Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo(The reviews are pretty spot on too In my opinion) , anything Mike Bennett puts out and of course JC Hutchins , Scott Sigler and Mur Lafferty

If you get saddle sore, aching legs and generally fed up with training I prescribe podcasts. I have found myself riding an extra few miles many times just to finish the podcast before I get home. I suppose I should point out though that many may feel that wearing earphones whilst cycling is not condusive to safety and I guess there is a point to this. However I find that so long as the earphones are not noise cancelling I hear traffic just fine.

Anyway coffee break over - back to work.

Petition for Cycle Routes on Google Maps

I saw on the wiggle blog that an very interesting online petition is taking place to try and get cycle routes featured on Google Maps. Started in America the benefits of this would easily spread across the globe. This could be very useful if well implemented for us JOGLER's. If interested sign the petition here

Nick is a Very Fat Boy

Hello my name is Nick and I am fat. There I have said it now.

Obviously that is no good for long distance cycling so I am going to have to shed some pounds. The humiliation of having the reality of my tubbyness on the net might provide some motivation to put the dough nuts down hence this fairly painful post. On the bottom right there is a Skinnyr graph where you can see if I am loosing or gaining or whatever. Please feel free to leave a comment and insult me if I am not loosing. I will deserve it.

Currently I am a very wobbly 204lbs and want to get back down to my 2005 weight (pre children) of 158lbs. That is probably not achievable before the JOGLE but I hope to be well on my way by then.
Here are some fairly disturbing images to illustrate the extent of my fall from slimness:





This is what having children does to you!

Good intentions....

Well February was shaping up quite nicely in terms of training for me. I had been achieving my modest targets for this stage of my training. Things were going to take off this week with an 80 mile ride followed by commuting to work for the next 2 night shifts (60 mile round trip). What did I achieve? 0 miles is what! I have been struck down with tonsilitis.

Hopefully March will fare better. I am aiming to do a 600 mile month with one 4+ hour ride a week. A lot of this is going to have to be after the childrens bedtime so I am ever more grateful for my amazing exposure enduro maxx light. The thing is fantastic, to get such brightness and long burn times from such a small package is astounding. You can see it perched proudly on the bars of my bike below.