your daily bicycle log

keep going hard on the downhill, no coasting? i dunno, even when im ok fit i get that dead leg feeling at the start of climbs after descents.

haha, the beater i thought was stolen upthread? i found it parked outside my work. i have no memory of that. tires are flat but otherwise fine.

took the nu bike for a spin round melbourne, 40km or so, did it eeeeeeasy. so much lighter than the old one!

36 miles on the fixie around Essex. Not sure I've even ever been to Essex before. Was good, especially when the wind was following (not often), probably be less good somewhere with more hills, up or down.

Where in Essex, ledge? I know western Essex pretty well.

I did 74 miles today: the London-Cambridge ride plus riding home from Kings Cross. I was tempted to join my clubmate on his 120 mile odyssey, but I've been ill since Wednesday so that didn't seem like a good idea.

Leigh on sea to Shoeburyness, then oop into the country and along to Battlesbridge.

Ah, don't know that part of the world at all. Southern and Eastern Essex be full of dragons.

So Thursday through sunday I was riding DC to Cumberland. Thursday almost turned into a disaster, I got two flats in the car park where we unloaded the van and I discovered my rim tape had ricked up. I rode on a rapidly deflating rear wheel to a local bike shop that fixed stuff for me and we set off into an absolute deluge. I lost the canal trail in the rain (I ended up crossing over and heading up hill), when I discovered my error I tried to press on and work out how to get back. Ended up riding on wet roads and headed down a likely downhill. I lost my rear wheel on the wet tarmac and ended up sliding across the road with a chunk missing from my helmet.

Almost gave up then and there but a nice guy in a club jersey and a subaru pointed me in the right direction. Glad I did, its a lovely ride although somewhat punishing as it is rough track most of the way, some bits are pretty well maintained some bits are all tree roots and potholes. good trip though although this is the last time I tour with shopping baskets rather than panniers.

are you biking the appalachian trail or is it something different?

The C&O canal, the rest were going on all the way to pittsburgh via the great allegheny passage, I had to come back for a meeting.

very cloudy>drizzle>deluge on the way home, 53 degrees. nothing like 45 minutes in the rain to awaken the senses, then brutally snuff them out. and wow, fall came on fast.

I gotta learn to take it easy cycling in London. I charge off at top speed and then get angry at every red light. That adds up to a lot of anger.

I'm surprised you don't just sail through them, Tom ;)

But of all the things to get angry with, I'm surprised you blame red lights. What about road surfaces, taxis, van drivers, other cyclists, pedestrians, weather, roadworks, headwinds, slippy metalwork and painted lines, lorries, hills, punctures, clicky drivetrains, sweating, bonking, sidewinds, motorbikes etc. etc? They all come higher up my list!

road surfaces

suck it up!

taxis

yeah i hate them

van drivers

generally not a prob i find

other cyclists

eat my dust

pedestrians

no mercy

weather

suck it up!

roadworks

eh

headwinds

oh yeah they make me angry. shout at the wind!

slippy metalwork and painted lines

i corner like a girl anyway

lorries

respectful fear, not anger

hills

/pain /gain

punctures

can't remember the last time i had one!

clicky drivetrains

yeah mine is pretty noisy tbh, need to try changing the cog

sweating

mmm nice

bonking

hardly an issue for short rides across town

sidewinds

fun!

motorbikes

get outta my box!

yeah it really is the endless stopping and starting caused by traffic lights that winds me up the most. cruising is fun. having to slam on the brakes and then struggle away from the line every minute is not.

other cyclists

eat my dust

pedestrians

no mercy

weather

suck it up!

putting this on a sticker on my stem somehow

Get it embroidered on the lid of your bag.

yeah, i can call back the helpful person at carradice and get it on my next set, custom. although, my bike bureau show no signs of wearing out despite the fact that it has had some serious use.

so how are your (now not quite so) new wheels holding up to the punishment? i suppose well as no negative reports? riding over tree roots with baskets sounds brave.

Really really good in the end, I thought after all that I'd need to get them trued but they seem to be as straight as anything, front and back. I can highly recommend prowheelbuilder.com, they seem to have done a bang up job on them.

I will never tour with baskets again.

Got a bit out of practice in the latter half of July, so 35 miles today beat me into shape pretty quick (with an emphasis on beat. Much of this was done on paved bike paths through dark woods w/ a new headlight I bought today. Spooky but exhilarating!

..time 4 beer.

immensely satisfying burn up royal parade last night in peak-hour - rounded up every bike in front of me and only got passed once! (and that dude was flyin'.)

chain locked up on a pretty standard gear change this morning though, dunno what that was about o_O

cycled to cinema. watched 'moon'. left cinema. found out some fucktard had locked their bike to mine.

I hope you cycled both off together.

I cycled nowhere, I had to bus home and am still waiting for the asshat to ring me.

took a short 15-miler yesterday, including st. paul's infamous ramsey hill (down) (scary!). the long loop around on the river, mostly uphill, had me wishing i had gears, a little.

needed to stretch the legs after dinner and movie, so did backstreet run out to scenic road a few kms from the city proper and did short hillclimb three times. spooky - only one car, no roadside lighting, but great view of burbs at the top of the hill.

kefalonia was tough. only managed one day riding then gave up. steep climb -> steep descent. repeat. not at all used to climbing like that. had to get off a couple of times. still, a good learning experience. hydration was the main challenge, it hit 40 degrees a few times while i was there. too hot to move, let alone cycle anywhere.

started middle left where that stripe is (the airport). went from there to where the cloud on the left hand side is. can't just ride along the coast, there's like one main road that goes round the island via every little village.

http://www.wkistler.de/more3/739-33a65_Kefalonia.jpg

after a couple of weeks eating badly, boozing and smoking i went out for a 20 miler yesterday and it was a lot harder than usual. time for a detox.

rode up my local climb at a very leisurely pace--slow enough to keep my head way up, and to really see the sights. the climb is a canyon, and unless you try, you never see far from the road, because the hillsides rise steeply from each side of the road.

i realized that i know the right side of the climb far less well than the left, because that's the side of the road that i ride on. its a relatively quiet road, so i switched sides and rode on the left side of the road for a while. it was great, like being someplace i'd never been before. fences, houses and driveways that i have never seen before, despite the fact that i've ridden the canyon hundreds and hundreds of times.

how do you make your routine ride feel new?

200 miles this week: Su - 35; Mo - 5 (flat tire); Tu - 20; Wd - 35; Th - 45; Fr - 25; Sa - 35

Initially, my goal was to put in 600 by the end of August, but, at this rate, it seems I may surpass that by a considerable margin.

Lately, I've taken to riding at night on well-lit streets. There is almost no traffic, the temperature & humidity level are ideal (usually) & without having to stop all the time (cruising thru the blinking yellows), I have been able to significantly increase & maintain my average speed.

^^ was also doing some night running earlier. tried to plot out route to see how far i went but google maps is having difficulties >:(

Needed to get out of the house, went and did the park loop once, then ran errands. Pretty sure that in the 3m loop, I was lapped by the same fancy-pants pack no fewer than 3 times.

Wanted to take a 45+ mile loop to a distant wildlife preserve (w/ paved bike trails!) this weekend, but have thusfar been prevented from doing so by rain (yesterday) & today it is currently 92 degrees w/ 64% humidity. Ugh.. I could go, anyway, I suppose. I just don't want to get heatstroke or something.

last night's trip ended up just under 25km once i worked it out.

A 56-miler yesterday, pretty gentle pace as it was organised as a ride for slow people, even though no-one was really slow (and having done London-Paris I am very aware of what "slow" means). A lovely Sunday pootle in the countryside with a lengthy pub stop halfway. Pretty much what biking was invented for. Combined with Friday night and Saturday's rides I managed over 100 miles for the weekend, which always feels good.

I managed about 25 miles around town, going places I formerly would have bussed or tubed to. Crystal Palace to Waterloo at night was a blast, downhill all the way and pretty lucky with the lights too. I'm trying to become less aggressive in my cycling, I think it will be better for my health in all sorts of ways.

I did 85 miles by 2pm today (had to be home by half past two, so set off really early) - the furthest I've ever cycled. I headed out of London, deep into the Essex countryside, and got to Finchingfield 40 miles later in just 2 hours 10 mins of riding (at over 18mph). Then I went across to Thaxted then headed back towards London. At this point the sun disappeared and turned into thick grey cloud and the pleasant (but gentle) tailwind turned into an aggressive headwind. The 45-mile return leg became a bit of a grind - I was on my own, so there was no shelter at any stage. I eventually finished after 5 hours 9 mins (average speed down to 16.4mph, so the return must have been *much* slower).
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3808035329_fe95421dc2_m.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3808034583_f61510733c_m.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2626/3808849000_f6dacdb718_m.jpg

Woah - that looks like a ghost house!

(nice work on the ride)

first flat last night, awww

did 9km of straight w/ a mild climb last night due to lack of good tv options. invigorating in the night air! curious as to the speed i'm getting up when at full tilt, might have to invest in a computer soon.

commute was rather foggy in the morn'.

Computers are brilliant, haitch - you'll find yourself increasing speed and fitness exponentially as the competitive urge takes hold :)

I got my first flat in 4000 miles last Thursday. Ah well.

Gears have been playing up all week, so I just decided to try and sort them out, and the cable's snapped at the front shifter. Woe. Had been thinking about a SS conversion for a while anyway.. anyone done one?

― j.o.n.a, Saturday, 4 July 2009 16:35 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes. it is well easy.

― last night i dreamt somebody shoved me (ledge), Saturday, 4 July 2009 17:48 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

So it is, it's only taken me 3 weeks to sort out. I suck. Nice to cycle to work again though.

jet lag had me up at 5am this morning, so after some putzing, i had my first ride in weeks to a cafe across town. yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

god i need to get back in shape

230 miles planned for the next 3 days... *whimper*

cowboy up, wakeboarder

So today I managed to burst a tube as I was putting it in. Anyone got any tips for getting a really tight tire back on?

smoke a doob together, be gentle, communication is important

gbx otm. I've burst a couple of tubes while putting them on, so I figured out I wasn't making sure the tube where the valve is was fully inside the tyre, rather than the tyre effectively resting on the tube. So when I put the tube in the tyre now, I push the valve up into the tyre while it's uninflated, and this solves the problem.

No tips on actually fitting a really tight tyre, though, sorry.

if you don't have tire levers some flathead screwdrivers would probably work

i always shy away from using levers to put tires back on....the last time i did it, i gave myself three flats in the span of fifteen minutes