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.

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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.

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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