your daily bicycle log

get in quick and you can ride to Whitstable with us ;)

Night riding is a peversion, like fixed wheels or tricycles.

night rides on my fixie trike, yyyyeeeeeeeeeeeaaaahhhh

I'm sort of tempted to take the fixie to Whitstable this time, but I'm sure I'll wise up at some point.

There is an upright trike doing the run apparently (and 110 people on the list!)

110 people! That's how it ends up being 8 hours, Tom :)

I think I am looking forward to the bacon sarnies most of all.

Today, 17 miles around the chilterns, mostly off-road but with some fearsome long and steep road climbs thrown in. A fair bit of mud-slogging, and a handful of disturbingly fast farm-track downhills with rocks or mud or slidy chalk or gullies or all four.

Did my last race of the season this morning, so when I got home it was time for the Grand Swapping Over Of The Bikes. The lightweight racer has been consigned to the back stairs, it's time to bring out THE HEAVY BIKE for winter.

Sodding rear derailleur lever (I think) has broken/jammed on my MTB. It could be a tiny tweak, or, well, I dunno, as I don't understand MTB-style levers at all.

Take it to a shop. Under no circumstances try to fix it yourself. Down that path lies madness.

bring out THE HEAVY BIKE

Training kick?

(and yes, I shall. Or get ledge to fix it)

ha! maybe i know a thing or two... but i've also destroyed a thing or two. wouldn't know where to begin with a jamemd lever either. best leave this one to the professionals.

i discovered yesterday my mtb wheels seem to be somewhat egg-shaped. i guess this happened in the alps, although i didn't notice when i took it out last week. i think it only became apparent when i was riding on the road.

50mi from hastings to red wing.

so so beautiful.

i remember riding northfield to red wing to trempeleau, wi, and that was some gorgeous shit.

it was really great, and basically qualifies as my first "real" road ride (i've done long-ish rides around mpls but they've never exceeded ~20 miles, and the longest alleycats i've done have been in the mid 30s). this clocked at ~50mi total, which is def the longest i've ever done (my gps said 46 but it ran out of batteries about 13 minutes from the finish). i'm tired but not cashed, which is pretty encouraging, tbh.

http://j.mp/bOjdB9

highlight was jammin down the cannon valley trail, which was technically closed (there's been flooding there recently, and there was a 10 feet gap in the pavement where it had totally washed out. easy to scamper across.) we had the whole thing to ourselves, cruising in early evening light, along a river, no road for miles, totally radical.

and my bro only had two diabetic emergencies, so that's cool

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/5049272046_54f5ab4635.jpg

gbx is cannon valley trail the one with the loooongass tunnel, or is that in wisc? i rode cannon valley, but also one a day or so later in wisc.

hit the feared 14% yarra st yesterday afternoon. did it twice, that was enough for one day. max hr 203bpm! o_O

The raddest guy sat in with our group ride today. He was mid 20's and looked like was in really good shape (tall, thin) and was riding a pretty o.k. Allez. BUT he was wearing a primal jersey made to look like a pinstripe tuxedo jacket with tie and he had a full camelback with the tube going directly into his mouth. He also had some really wierd euro looking sunglasses, that looked like those big gucci ones girls on the Jersey Shore show wear. At the bottom of every incline he would go sprinting off the front and then spectacularly blow up within 200 meters and end up at the very very back of the pack. Mind you, this is the first day of our structured winter training ride and we're all supposed to be riding at 70% HR max. What an exclusive club I'm a part of...

Also I nearly got backed into by a horse that got spooked while we were passing it quickly on a downhill over pretty bad pavement.

Down to Dorset this weekend. We were promised unseasonal sun and a mini-heatwave for the weekend so I packed my shorts and headed off to further west than usual for a ride around the area near Cerne Abbas (home of the priapic giant). Strangely the sun didn't materialise and the whole area was shrouded in mist with a powerful wind from east-to-west. I'd brought my camera with me for some cozen-style shots of the hills, but visibility was rubbish so I didn't use it.

It's really hilly round there. Within the first quarter of a mile I began a 90m (vertically) climb with 13% sections. I'd climbed more than 200m before going descending 115m in a short and very steep (17%) section into Cerne Abbas. Then it was straight back up another brute (95m, max 18%) and then down another on the other side. My average speed was hopelessly slow, because the climbs were really slow and the descents weren't fast: the roads are just too narrow and twisting (and at this time of year too gritty / muddy / covered in leaves) to descend at speed. Instead I normally have my brakes on all the way down. As the road straightened out a bit I freewheeled up to about 30mph only to encounter a ford about three inches deep in water at the bottom. And then it was straight back up another hill (117m, 17%).

I'd already done 415 metres (1,361 feet) of climbing (and over 200m of descending), much of it at crazy gradients, in less than 10 miles. Then I went round a ridge, then did another huge and steep descent (-190m, touching 14%), this time with a section where I could open up and enjoy it so I got up to 43.4mph. Then a sharp right and up the final nasty climb (155m, 14%), before a relatively modest descent (only 8%), but on a straight road with a white line down the middle separating the two directions, so I gave it everything and set a new PB for top speed (46.0 mph). I got hit by a powerful gust from the crosswind and wobbled, but fortunately didn't come off (although my heart nearly stopped).

Only a 27-mile ride, but there was 696 metres (2,283 feet) of climbing so a pretty good workout. The sun finally broke through about an hour after the ride.

I joined a team (P1/2&M1/2/3) for next year and today was our first "getting to know you~" 65 mile group ride. I had my bike in the shop yesterday while everybody else was out doing 60-100 mile tempo/gran fondo/climbing rides so I knew I had a shot to put in a decent showing. When the road turned up an incline I'd take the front 1-3 wheels but otherwise I was just trying to get to know the people riding next to me. Not much to report to y'all about but there was a little sprint at the midpoint of the ride and I don't have a sprint but what do you know, I found myself at (aka hijacked) the back of a lead out train and much to the surprise of the P1 sprinter that was being led out, I managed to go around him and nip him and the town limit sign. Not sure how good of form that was but I'll take it. Some pretty strong 60 second numbers for me, esp as I've really cut down on the miles/effort late:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5068883015_a3a1048ea0_b.jpg

it's national 'ride 2 work' day here. i always ride to work (in regular clothing, on singlespeed) so to make it a bit more special i PRD'd it up on the good bike w/ full kit including shoe covers!

shasta it looks like you coasted there a coupla times.

just kidding, thats completely mental wattage! dont waste your fitness go hammer some ppl in cx.

thats completely mental wattage!

dude for real

First ride on the new frame this morning after the trials of getting the final components. Unfortunately glow in the dark bar tape is not as awesome as I had hoped (is anything glow in the dark ever, cf. glow in the dark frisbees. I am loving the investment in under tape gel strips on the drops.

Nice ride though, i put the levers a little too far forward I think but flipping the stem should fix that.

no biking for this guy lately, since I gotta be in st Paul by 0600 every morning. tempted to try biking once tho, but can't decide if it would be rad or stupid (sleep is important)

pics ed

i havent done a proper ride i.e non commute, in weeks. once marathon is done, i plan to ride a few times for real if the weather holds.

since we got passes for eldora lols this year, i'll have unlimited xc skiing, so im looking forward to that this year. i suppose this is where people in mpls remark 'who would _pay_ to xc ski?'

I ran into the back of a minicab last night, thankfully at walking pace, though I still endo-d and ended up very gracefully collapsing against the car and onto the ground. Luckily there was no more than a rubber mark on the bumper - was all my fault, I'd been distracted by a motorbike while moving slowly through traffic. Bit shaken up afterwards, though - I sometimes wonder if these minor scares are a good thing that keep you honest rather than cocky on the road?

u are so lucky. this just recently happened to a friend of mine with a brand new, super expensive bike)

quoted from here http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/2010/09/when_the_wheels_come_off_the_w.html

http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/fpssmashedvanilla.jpg

http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/fpssmashedcab.jpg

Here's some images from my accident yesterday. I'm so fortunate that I'm able to type this note to you today. You often advocate wearing a helmet when you ride each and every time you get on your bike. If I had not worn my Giro helmet the outcome could have been much worse.

In short as I was finishing a road ride out to Point Reyes Station with Skinny Bee, Fashion Dave and Scott who was flying AHTBM colors when taxi cab preformed a 3 point turn into a blind driveway ahead of me and reversed right out into the middle of the road leaving me with the following images. I was launched from my road bike through the rear window of the taxicab head first.

I am a very lucky man to come away from this accident with only an index finger that looks like it was visited with repeated blows of a hammer. In addition to wearing my helmet I had cycling glassed on and one of Sacha's unicorn hats. Perhaps the unspoken magic of the unicorn saw me through this event.

Ouch. That must have been terrifying.

ouchie.

So Mark and I set out for a ride round town today, about a mile from home and we're freewheeling down a pretty steep hill. Mark is in front and has a car in front of him, speed around 10 mph, maybe 14 or so at most. I tell Mark to watch out as the hill can be a bit dodgy, do a shoulder check and then look round to see Mark piling in to the back of the car he was following who had stopped suddenly. I tried to go down the gap between car and pavement while slamming on the anchors, unfortunately Mark is in the way.......

I hit him and next thing I know I'm bouncing along the road on my front and smacking my chin into the ground.

Sum total of damages we've found so far:

Mark
swollen knee
road rash on arm and an abrasion on hip
dodgy muscle on right leg
rip in jersey
not sure of any damage to bike as yet.

Me
really sore knee and hamstring (right)
very sore jaw (no chipped teeth fortunately)
picked some gravel out of my elbow's road rash
sprained thumb
both wheels out of true - chunk out of rear rim
rear gear cable is bollocksed
couple of chunks out of the saddle

and finally and most importantly
DIRTY GREAT CRACK IN HELMET - WEAR A HELMET PEOPLE!

oh, and a couple of whopping great holes in my lovely rapha merino long sleeved jersey, bollocks

Ouch again. You want to be careful riding with Mark, it seems he habitually rides into cars.

I did 34 miles today. It poured with rain, but only for about 15 minutes, and the next hour was like being in a big cold hair dryer so I dried off.

It must be going around (crashing, that is). It was damp this morning (no real rain, but wet roads) and a guy in front and to the left of me rode onto the painted center line on a downhill left turn and lost all traction and slid out. The dude + bike made it all the way across the lane and off the shoulder of the road (no curbs, dirt/leaves), the guy sliding face down on the left side of his helmet the whole time. Amazingly, he got no scrapes on his face at all, I guess he rode out the slide on his helmet the whole way. I had to lock up and ride in the dirt on the side of the road to avoid him. Pretty exciting.

BTW, Mark/'Porkpie', I don't know if you ever look at ILM nowadays, but you might want to vote in this poll:
VOTING THREAD for ILM's Alltime Best Shoegaze / Dream Pop / Post-rock TRACKS poll

looking at different kind of pedals now

Thank you Jamie, I have voted (Sundays "Skin & Bones" came top).

Am sore today, pretty much all over. Ribs are most annoying, not broken this time though. And having a shitty cold really helps.

Lovely ride yesterday, perfect autumn sunshine. Good route, too, 50km with 700m of climbing mainly in short sharp 100m shocks. Not sure if it did my ribs any favours, kept waking myself up last night, rolling onto the bad side.

tried decathlon btwin 2 over the weekend. need to read up more, but it seemed good value. made the mistake of going on a saturday afternoon though, and the guy advising me was clearly a rock climber or a skateboarder or something.

will likely by something second hand at about this price after thesis submission/post-submission party/travels/christmas. excited about this.

Did the Evan Ride-it sportive thing from Gatwick today. They had a 'fun' route of 13 miles, a short route of 33 miles, a medium route of 62 miles, and a long route of 85 miles. My plan was to do the medium route, but I fucked that up almost instantly. We were set off in groups of about 15 at a few minutes' intervals. The group lasted for about ten seconds then just disintegrated - I just kind of glided off the front, but at a fairly gentle pace, to be honest. Another guy came up to me and then came past to share the work. We'd only been going for 3 miles when we came to a big crossroads with no signage whatsover - this was a bit worrying, as they'd said that absolutely every junction was signed. Shortly after that we turned onto another road and found the signs again, so that was reassuring. Except then we turned right, which I was pretty sure meant we were heading south, despite the fact we were supposed to be heading on a 20-mile loop to the north. I was almost certain something had gone wrong, and had it confirmed when I found myself going up the first major climb of the day to Turner's Hill after just 7 miles (when it should have been at about the 25-mile mark). Somehow we'd missed a left turn after just 2.5 miles and then taken a short-cut through to the southbound leg of the first loop, missing out about 18 miles.

By the time I realised what had happened it was too late. I didn't want to ride back 5 miles to the missed turning. But there was no one around - I'd left the other 3 or 4 rider who'd gone the wrong way far behind, but the earliest riders to set off on the proper route had been about 35 minutes ahead of me and there was no way on earth they could have covered 18 miles in 35 minutes so if I'd waited for them to catch me up I'd have got very cold and bored.

I rode on for a bit on my own, feeling it was a bit futile: I'd paid £13.50 for the pleasure of riding around on my own. I wouldn't get an official time, because I'd gone some strange route of my own, so there was no reason to push the pace. When I got to the first feed station (long before they were expecting to see anyone) I hung around to see if anyone turned up, and after maybe 5 or 10 minutes another rider who'd missed the turning came along. I rode with him for the next 25 miles - I dropped him on all the climbs, but waited for him because it would have been pretty boring on my own.

After the second feed station he headed back to the finish, but that would have meant we only rode about 43 miles, so I headed off on the long route. There was still no sign of anyone else and this loop passed about half a mile from my parents' house, so I took another diversion to go and see them briefly. Then I set off again and rejoined the route. Still there was nobody around. I stopped to get a gel out and suddenly two riders whooshed past me, so without opening the gel I quickly got back on and spent a mile chasing my way back up to them. We went up a never-ending hill and I tried to rip open the gel while riding, only to rip the whole thing lengthways and get gel over everything. There was still about 15 miles to go and I had to ride the rest of the way with my fingers superglued together.

I left them behind on another climb, then stopped later on to try to lick my fingers clean and had them whoosh past me again. I was feeling pretty empty but again tried to chase them down. They were about 100m ahead, then suddenly they had disappeared completely. Yes, I'd missed yet another turning. I found myself lost in Crawley and once again all alone and without signs. I had to retrieve a map from my pocket which was stuck together with gel in order to find my way to the finish. I ended up doing 68 miles in 4 hours 16 mins of riding time (plus about 45 minutes of stoppages) and had to explain to the organisers that they should ignore my time because I hadn't followed any of the designated routes.

Oh dude, that is a tragicomedy and a half! You sounds SO frustrated, but it's still kind of funny, sorry!

awesome report! hahahaha. gels can double for high-strength epoxy resin in a pitch, right?

Think I've had my first (in recent memory) alcohol related cycling mishap (non-serious). Had a couple of pints, was heading towards the madness that is Bishopsgate, slightly wet conditions, and there was a guy walking between two parked cars, and down the road. He wasn't looking behind him at all and somewhat veering out, but I was completely cogniscant of him, and slowing down and giving him room and ringing my bell, and maybe too much of all that at once, especially the steering and braking, as suddenly I was on the ground. People on the pavement gasped 'my god are you ok?', and yeah I was fine, and I got right back up and on the bike, and the guy who had turned around by this point asked if I was ok and I said yes I was and just to make sure he watched where he was going in the future, and went on my way. No harm done (although will check for bruises tomorrow).

Got a rear wheel puncture about a mile from home (towards the end of a ride, not the start) and discovered that the rims on the wheels on my winter bike are slightly too deep for the valves on the spare inner tubes I had. So it was impossible to pump up the tube. A bit frustrating, but it could have been a lot worse - I'm glad I didn't discover that 30 miles from home.

We did 8-man Italian pursuit races at the track last night. After each lap the front rider pulls off until there is only one rider left. First team back to their line wins. It's really really fun because we had the teams really well balanced, and even people who aren't close to fastest overall can contribute to the team by just giving everything they have on their turn to lead. I rode 7th man and our team won 2 out of 4 races. Fun as heck.

<3 it! my goal for next year is to get in a few days at the track for pursuit and kilo.

Racing on the track is awesome. It simultaneously incredibly competitive and supportive. A really great vibe and great way to improve your cycling. If you have a velodrome near you I can't recommend taking the chance to ride on it. Also, nice track bikes are cheap as hell, relative to nice road or mountain bikes.