your daily bicycle log

oh ha, sorry, was being dumb

in other news, I did fkn squats on thursday and the muscles just above my knees on the front are still fkn killing me today

i haven't fully recovered from my thursday gym work either...

Hey cozwn, what kind of average speed do you ride at? Just wondering if maybe we could organise a Glasgow ILX FABR (Fancy A Bike Ride)...

I'm probably around 15mph, ball park, depending on the distance. Seen you've been riding some of my usual routes you see.

my arms/neck are still sore from slackline ragdoll maneuvers on thursday, and swimming pretty much all week

swimming rules, btw

I ride about 14mph average but I'm blaming the bike and its non-narrow tires : (

maybe rain check till I get my new bike? we can def fabr then

No problem. I'm nowhere near intimidatingly fast - I'm always on fixed and lugging a great big bag and don't don lycra, so not too scary, hopefully. Give me a shout whenever you want. I'm usually free on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the day.

no worries, will do. I'm stupidly competitive so I'm sure tht instinct wd keep me honest on the current bike but I'm done riding tht thing now for more than an hour unless I can't help it

had good ride on saturday - beach rd to black rock and back again, then past casino to docklands, then footscray, then williamstown, then retrace to footscray and head to flemington, then home. the beach rd run was fairly intense, but much of the rest was just brisk cruising along on bike paths. also two coffee stops and lunch!

altho on the absolute last climb of the day (up the incline to the apartment) the bike spat the chain off during a gear change and ran rough all the way to work this morning. twisted link, sez the chap at the bike shop!

I did an century today, tried to take it easy in Heart Rate Zone 3 (130-158bpm), even harder when you throw a massive moutain in the mix:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3532/4003316045_4fe497d167_o.png

Felt really good but I overhydrated at one pointwhich meant having to take a nature break every 20-30 minutes for miles 60-80 (up the mountain, where I was averaging ~10 min/mile).

err ~10mph

(krakow, did you see that decathlon are opening a bike in glasgow next month?)

No, I didn't. Up at the Fort I see now though. What are Decathlon shops like?

they are a lot of fun to hang out in and try out sports equipment you will never use

i spent an afternoon in the sheffield one, mostly practicing my forward defensive stroke with 300 quid bats

(wow guys vdb is dead at 34. man did his star burn bright for like 2 seconds.)

im now like the people magazine of pro racing.

vanderbroucke is dead?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vandenbroucke-dies

yup.

thurs night - coming home from pub, had flower bomb thrown at me by high school students on 'muck-up day'! arseholes. i saw a bunch of private schoolers got suspended from final exams for that sort of shit though, hahahaha.

today - went and watched herald sun tour final stage - crit near where i work. b. wiggins never in doubt. should've checked twitter tho, rapha condor team getting rid of full dura ace-d condors for $3k and a bit :0

i should've taken the camera, there was hott bikes everywhere - had a good look at one of those specialized TT bikes, some of the nice local brands like baum and teschner, good selection of bianchis, etc etc. also: sram make good muffins!

At least it wasn't a flour bomb.

Up early today and joined a couple of clubmates for a 60-mile ride - home by midday. It's getting a bit cold out there - might even be time for proper gloves and overshoes.

oh god, it WAS a flour bomb. man alive, my spelling lately!

lol yeah i was wondering what a flower bomb could be

it sounds delightful.

unless the flowerpot was included, that'd hurt.

supposed to be torrential rains here so i did my first 3 hour indoor roller session of the off-season

...and it didn't even rain

fuck this imo

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2680/4020612524_e59b9df41e.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2736/4019855475_786008c9c5.jpg

oh snap

rode through clouds today :D

FUCK THE FINTRY HILL THO

did the crow road loop in reverse; the views and descent from the top of the fintry hill were worth ALL of the pain of getting up there
http://img.skitch.com/20091018-rf5qp5udsgb1x8e1rpu247ahd9.jpg

(clouds not actually pictured)

Impressive.

I fell off on the way back from the pub, now I have bruises.

big snow in the forecast for this evening's ride home.

tried out my potential new commute today did it in under an hr, 17mph ave., broke my old top speed too

had to jump a train back tho cs it ws morbidly cold and wet and I'd foolishly forgot gloves :/

does the speedo calculate only rolling average, or inclusive of stops for lights, etc? 17mph in town inclusive of stops is pretty fast.

ive never put a speedo on my commuter, maybe i'll try. i try to avoid the bar clutter because i already have a bell and then need to affix lights.

it's only a couple of miles to get out of town but nope the speedo stops when I stop.

Had epic w/end in Wales. Rode The Raven at Brechfa, Penhydd and The Wall at Afan, and White's Level at Glyncorrwg ponds. Took a while to find my downhill form but my new Trek is amazing at climbing, it just floats uphill. Had a few tumbles including two spectacular over-the-bars jobs. No major injuries. Videos to come.

did a little over 30 miles in a little under 2 hours today and climbed gleniffer road to, notorious dogging hotspot, the "car park in the sky"
http://img.skitch.com/20091029-bg89g7wbn45iin9du38w6gsfss.jpg

krakow - next time we get a forecast for decent sunday weather, fancy doing a crow road loop? or glasgow -> crow road -> tak ma doon -> glasgow

we ended up with 25 inches of snow this am, so i busted out snow bike and rode down to light rail, about 5 miles. actually rode with just front studded tire because i didnt want to mount the rear one. they are the hardest tires ive ever mounted.

coz, I'd love to, but unfortunately I work Sundays. :-(

My days off are usually Tuesdays and Thursdays. Are you a weekday worker or might those be any good at some point?

Just had a week's break from work and managed to fit in 130-odd miles of riding: three rides in Dorset and one in Sussex. I got caught out by the freakishly mild late October weather - I only had my full-on winter clothes with me. Did a couple of nasty climbs in preparation for an end-of-season hill cimb race I'm doing next weekend. Will upload them coz-style once I've worked out how to.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2492/4061549489_aec9d1888a_o.jpg
The Bostal, Steyning (Sussex)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2608/4062294690_c342132c75_o.jpg
Bulbarrow Hill, Dorset

Hmmmm....that didn't really work. One more try:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/captainzep/4061549489/sizes/o/

My saga with tyre continues.

So I have durano plus 700x25 on my salsa delgados and when I got into work the tyre flatted with the bike sitting next to my desk because the tube had lifted the tyre off the rim. New tube installed, levae it 5 minutes and the same thing happened with a more dramatic bang. I think the stiffness off the kevlar prevents the bead from bedding correctly in the rim by not allowing the tyre to assume the best shape.

Pain in the arse and now I need to get a bigger tyre I think. Gbx, you have these rims, any recommends,

Ed, when you've fit the tube but before pumping, push the valve right into the tyre so that it's not at all trapped by the bead. This does work, I promise you.

I do this, having learnt from bitter experience the folly of not doing so. Not the cause of the problem, the whole tyre is being pushed off the rim and then trapping the tube between rim and bead.

Ed: the only tire i've used on my delgado (rear wheel only, fwiw) has been soma everwear (700x26). i've replaced one, will probably have to replace the replacement soon-ish, maybe.

they're heavy, and v rubbery, but i never, ever worry about getting flats, ever