@nthony

A faithful companion was delivered back to me on Friday. After a small amount of song and dance the arrival was not only welcome, it was full of oooo and ahhhh in a seasonal manner; my winter bike is back from the paint shop.

After much deliberation, I chose the respray over the cheap winter frame route. This bike and I have been through a fair amount to be fair. It was initially a deep metallic blue with art in airbrushed stars and the like. The Columbus SL beauty - more commonplace back in the day, with its ornate lugs and lovingly hand built by Ron Cooper (now part retired) then of Bexley (found behind Omega Cycles before they moved to Brighton). [ READ MORE ]

Ahhhh its a wonder what a bit of healthy competition can do for you.

However in this case it ended up with an odd result, times two, and not exactly the one I was looking for.

Having adopted the school of eat the same ride more, and when I do ride hard - this paid off for what should have been a weight gain week. Eating and drinking loads more than usual the week 36 and 37 saw me lose 1.6Kg. This last week I rode even more, and at an even higher level, and I lost... well I didnt... I gained 100g.

This pill was made only marginally sweeter by the news that my benchmark and buddy Justin had put on exactly the same amount. [ READ MORE ]

I have been off the bike properly for three weeks now. There are a bunch of excuses, but no reasons as such - mainly revolving around being lots busy at work at the moment, and whether that was related or not, a head cold, and then more 'man flu' and then the birthday surprise - one way or another it has meant that I have been missing out on / not supporting my clubs evening time trials.

Having had an RSS feed prompt that my club at home has now finished its points competition - it was pretty clear the end of the season was upon us. SO I took myself direct from work this last Thursday off to Denbigh and the D9/1 and put in a 24:20 - which I was more than pleased with considering I dont really deserve that time after so much time off (yeah sure I ride to and from work, but less, and certainly not at a pace that is going to benefit my performance (it is - incidentally - a pleasure to have company on the way in at the moment)). [ READ MORE ]

Aero bars and I have always had a love hate relationship. I pull up on them you see, quite hard. This has two results 1) the armrests get bent down if not snapped off 2) I pull them off where they should be while riding, and then upon tightening them to prevent this, eventually they thread the alloy they are tightening into. Arse.

I took an ebay bid seriously and set after a set of ITM Dual bars – an integrated set of wing section bars with bars on the end, and a set of aero bars that also form the stem, if you follow, a picture would make it more obvious what I mean (will add if I get around to it). I won. Yay. Thank you ebay.... I like ebay for those things they no longer make, and those high end things that I cannot justify buying new and full price – this is yet another example of the latter. [ READ MORE ]

Fixed ambition. I am cannot help but keep wondering what it would be like to ride a fixed gear? I think it would be great in the winter – two breaks mind – none of this 'use your legs' game. Nice and low geared, as long as I get there, and all that? Work on my suplesse, and maybe even crank up the gearing for a TT in the summer? I like the idea of it, but the reallity – well thats another matter altogether. I am keeping them peeled on eBay.

Anyone heard of a disc wheel failure? I think the fibres are tyering in mine? After some pretty viscious torgue as I headed for the finish on Thursday last (no, still not under 24 on that course), it is now making a tinkling I can only describe as – wheel related. Thats what I get for fixing the freewheel isnt it? [ READ MORE ]

Riding. What is it with this weather? Maybe its people with holidays, or people thinking “ahhh must go do x y z with family today... but in the summer Sunday rides just dont seem to get all that many people on them? Andy Justin and I, headed out to Abergele and then the sea path to Llanudno and riding around the Orme. Headwind all the way up there, which was, strangely enough, quite welcome. One cuppa and a slice of Bara Breith and we were off to Conwy, and then down the west side of the river to cross at Llanwryst. Having realised what lay ahead we took as easy as you ever can when riding with Andy, and up Llanwryst hill – which for those who have never heard of it is about a mile, a little flat bit, then another two miles of climbing. Joy, joy, joy, and the new joy, of being in a dip, where the breeze cannot get to you. I was quoted as saying to the Justin (suffering from a weeks 'training' in the south of france as he reached the top “you look hot” - should this quote escape to public knowledge it was for his choice of black for hat jersey and shorts today... appearing at the apex like a man who'd spent a little too long in the sauna, full length zip or no. [ READ MORE ]

Oh dear. I have for you hear a tale of woe, where the point has been missed.

A while back I was looking for a pair of cycling shorts. Moving as you do from season to season it was apparent that my long loved Assos Prosline shorts had worn two holes in the rear where my sit bones... well sit I guess – its not a look I am loving, and neither is riding around in another clubs shorts – so – bargain shorts please – how bad can cheaper ones be.

What WAS I saying?

I got a pair of Performance Bib Shorts from a reputable online dealer who had them on special – reduced from thirty to twenty something pounds. The choice of cut was very good, the fabrics, good, although a little too stretchy if anything – but the padding – the meat and two veg of what makes good shorts good – were laughable; I had shorts I had ridden in for 4 years with thicker padding, and whats more – to borrow a phrase from Justin “you could see my religion” - not the most sizeable pad either! [ READ MORE ]

A while back the world changed from threaded 1” steerers and screw down headsets to a design known as 'aheadset'. Why this happened is a bit of a mistery to me – seeing as the main issue with the bearing that sits on the head tube (and allows your handle bars to turn) is that as with most it has the wrong kind of bearings taking loads in directions not in relation to their setup. I have three bikes with 1” headsets, and more than that – I have three bikes with racing low profile headsets. Chances of calling up a shop / online and finding a replacement – slim to none... until the other day I had a browse over eBay and found me a bloke selling not one unused, but forty odd. I took two for good measure. [ READ MORE ]

My first time trial over 25 miles up here in the north had quite the suprising outcome.

The Q25/8 in Kent was my only real previous experience over the distance, and having ridden it a fair few times - mainly those early early Sunday mornings start and end of season, starting with a downhill, a rough surfaced road with repeating undulations with a climb to the finish. Faster, and with my PB on is the more rarely used A299 course to Manston and back of 1 hour 3 minutes.

Having had my last 9 mile TT with one arm rest, having snapped off one - my good friend Dan had cut, machined, and buffed me a new pair of arm rests for my aero bars - this was to be their first outing. [ READ MORE ]