HOPE: Fantastic customer service.

On Thursday evening this week, planning to do the local 18, I took 4 ni-cads out of my charger and fitted them to my Hope One light. 10 minutes later, I picked it up and the whole thing was extremely hot. Panicking slightly, I ran through to the bathroom and ran it under the cold tap and was relieved to get the batteries out in their holder without them exploding or leaking toxic gunk. The batteries were so hot that the labels were peeling off and the wires in the battery carrier has melted through the plastic rendering it useless. Arse...

I did a quick Google and found ordinary holders don't work because the Hope one doesn't have terminals on it so I emailed Hope asking if they could suggest anything and went to bed. When I arrived at work the next morning there was an email on my phone from a guy called Johnny at Hope in Barnoldswick saying that if I gave him my address, he'd chuck one in the post for me and, hey presto, it arrived at my dad's this morning!

You can't ask for better customer service than that! The light's awesome too, bright and waterproof and makes road cycling at night in the winter safe and enjoyable.

Time for new tyres.

Whilst I was sitting in the car in Whalley on Saturday waiting for James I noticed that the side walls on my tyres were looking distinctly crumbly and the reinforcing strings were visible - oops (although I've put 1,830+ miles on them in the last 9 months, they're actually about 6 years old)... 

A quick Google revealed Halfords sold my beloved Continental Travelcontacts so I nipped in, there was only one on the shelf but they found two more in the stock room so that was good. They were labelled on the rack as being £29.99 each (ouch!) but they price matched their own web price so £19.71 each - WIN!

The one thing that irks me about these tyres is the name - Travelcontact?! They were designed in conjunction with famous bike tourer Tilmann Waldthaler, a guy who's world cycle touring currently exceeds 300,000 miles, who describes them as "The best thing I’ve ever had on a bike". Why not call them Continental 'Around the World', Continental 'End-to-End' or Continental 'Epic Adventure'? If you have any suggestions, comment below.

(Btw, if Continental read this and decide to re-christen the tyres, I'll happily settle for one free pair a year as my fee :-) ). 

New saddle, a Charge Spoon!

I've been getting increasingly fed up with my current saddle for a while now. It's not particularly comfortable and it's starting to look very tatty after ~3,000 miles. I was browsing the net yesterday and kept seeing rave reviews of the Charge Spoon saddle from British bike company Charge, so...

...I was at Leisure Lakes in Tarleton this morning when they opened and it's out with the old Specialized saddle and in with the Spoon*! I went for brown because it looks really cool with the blue retronesss of my Dave Yates:

This is how it looks on the bike, pretty cool I'm sure you'll agree. The eagle eyed among you will notice I've swapped out the X-lite Clickon seatpost for the stripped Ritchey one. The X-lite was poorly designed. The clamp had to be tightened to the max and still slipped as the post itself was anodised so smooth it was impossible to clamp properly in it's shim.

It was supposed to get it's inaugral outing with James today on a 30.4 miler but he's having to collect and install his 29" Conti Travelcontact tyres so we'll go tomorrow. Full report to follow!

Update: I think I still need to tilt the saddle up a couple of degrees but it's looking very promising. It's one of those saddles you perch your sit bones on the back of rather than sit 'in' but as I said, very promising...

Update no. 2: I tilted it back a degree or two before todays 30.7 mile ride and hey presto! It's awesomely comfortable - WIN :D.

*For some reason I don't pretend to understand, Charge name all their products after things you'd find in a kitchen - Cooker, Spoon, Scoop, Knife etc !

Meet my bike

For all you fellow bike geeks out there, this post is a chance to see a bit more about my bike. 

The frame is a custom sized fillet-brazed steel frame made by geordie frame building legend Dave Yates, it is constructed from Columbus Cromor steel tubing and was made for me some time in 1991 if I remember correctly, when I was at university.

I have to confess at this point that I am a real 'steel is real' believer, I find aluminium bikes feel dead and harsh to ride; steel is definitely smoother. I actually have my eye on a steel Charge Cooker 3 as soon as my Cycle scheme bike is paid off, my Dave Yates has massive sentimental value to me but parts are getting expensive and hard to find and doing 2,400+ miles a year means bits wear out quickly!

Forks: Pace RC-35AB. The forks on the bike are period correct Pace RC-35AB. They were made about 10 years ago from a combination of slightly damaged forks from ebay and a few, expensive, new parts from Pace themselves. To be honest, they only really work properly for a few miles after a full strip down and clean out but I had the same forks at Uni and these are one of my absolutely favourite possessions!

Brake levers: Since I decided to run 1x9, I had to find seperate brake levers rather than an STI setup. I can't honestly remember what I ran before but I recently replaced them with Shimano M770.

 Brakes: Front and rear brakes are Avid Arch Rivals, again from the early noughties. I really can't fault Arch Rivals, they're quiet and powerful and just sit there and do their job extremely well.

Rear mech: The rear mech is a Shimano M750 series (long cage I think...). Like most Shimano stuff, it works extremely well. The jockey wheels are starting to look a bit worn but they've probably got ~3,000 odd miles on them so I guess that's understandable!

Shifters: The shifters on my bike were actually only purchased a few weeks ago. The previous shifter was a Shimano Saint 9-speed SL-M800 which was great but had a tiny release lever so you really had to reach round to go up a gear. I spotted the M770 shifter in the new year sales for less than half price so I swapped out the Saint shifter. The beauty of the new shifter is that you can go up and down gears using your thumb as the release lever works whichever way you push it.

Front chainring: The front chainring is one of my favourite components on the bike. It is from Manchester company Renthal who are a legend in the motorbike world. It is made from 7075-T6 alloy for long life and has a sort of I-beam cross section under the teeth making it extremely strong and stiff. The current ring is a 38T which gives a gear range of approx. 30-90 gear inches but I think a 36T would be a better match to the 11-32 rear cassette.

Cranks: The cranks are early noughties Shimano FC-M751 and run on a Shimano BB-ES71 Octalink bottom bracket. Together they make an extremely stiff and durable crankset.

Chain: The chain is a SRAM PC-971. My chains only last about a 1,000 miles and at a tenner a piece now, they're a no brainer. 

Handlebars: The handlebars are X-Lite cross-country, again from the early noughties. I'd like to replace these with a carbon bar for some buzz absorption but the world has moved on to a larger clamp size now - grrr :@.

Stem: Believe it or not, the stem on my bike came from a bargain bin at Halfords. The previous stem was a 150mm Salsa item that was way too long but hey, that was the early nineties for you!

Front hub: The front hub is a Hope from the early noughties, I don't know the model name but I remember it was the cheapest one they did at the time! The rims are Mavic X517 laced to the hubs with double-butted spokes.

Rear hub: The rear hub is a Shimano FH-M750 ball bearing hub. I've rebuilt it a few times and it currently has Finish Line grease and ultra high grade bearings.

Pedals: Pedals are Shimano Saint PD-MX80 models. I bought them because my previous platforms were cheapy ebay jobs and were getting very graunchy. They are heavy but they were all Evans had in at the time I needed them and they ought to be pretty bomb-proof.

Tyres: These Continental Travelcontacts are my joint favourite part of my bike. They have a smooth centre tread across the middle for low rolling resistance on the road and knobblies around the edges for when the going gets a bit tougher. From the moors around Rochdale to mud so slutchy I could actually wheel spin sitting in the saddle to many, many miles on the road these tyres have gotten me through, I LOVE them. They have two seperate puncture protection systems and even have tear resistant sidewalls, I've had one puncture in ~1,850 miles whereas James has had several!

The bling: I must have been feeling flush in the early noughties because the skewers on my bike are Hope with titanium rods. I confess I still love them...

And there you have it, my bike!

March 2014.

With no visiting friends on the cards and a full 31 days to play with, March should be a fairly simple month to complete. 

5th March: Well, I started March with the local 18 for 17.9 miles. Very boring but I did it at an average of 16mph - my best ever - so a promising start to the month. 

9th March: Finally, sunny weather! I met James near Aspull today and we did a ride I found on cycle routes. There were some long hills, especially near the end of the ride but overall this was a very rural route that we both really enjoyed and it's another 27.1 towards the monthly total. We averaged 15.9mph as well which obviously proves that sunshine makes you ride faster!

11th March: Had a random day off today because we're all trying to use up annual leave at work before the end of March. The weather was fantastic so I did a route I'd been promising I'd do for ages. It was a visit to Leisure Lakes bikes in Tarleton taking a longer route home. I didn't actually go in because it's too tempting and too far from payday but hey ho... The ride was good with a decent average of 15.9 mph but I think I need to eat more on longer rides as I was feeling a bit 'out of fuel' for the last few miles. Still, another 33.8 for the month!

16th March: It was grey and overcast today but I met James in Longton near Preston and we did the following route, again inspired by Cycle Routes. We both agreed it was quite a good route, a real mix of north Lancastrian villages, countryside, farm land, town cycling and an unexpected two thirds of a mile through an extremely muddy sheep pasture and worth a nice 30.9 by the end. Our average speed was only 13.4 but we had a strong wind in our faces for the last 10 miles which didn't help.

22nd March: Oops, had a bit of a lazy week this week but hey ho. Met James today in Whalley for yet another ride I found on Cycle Routes. The ride starts very near where he lives; we both spend a ridiculous amount on diesel so we try to average out how far we have to drive to a meet up. Anyhow, the route... We both wildly mis-guessed the weather and ended up soaking wet, freezing and miserable, especially over the last 10 miles or so but both agreed this would be an absolutely cracking ride when the weather's nicer. It's a real mix of scenic countryside, small villages and towns and some pretty decent climbs, about 2,000 feet in total. The distance was another 30.7 miles towards the monthly total.

26th March: Did the local 18 after work tonight for 17.9 miles. It was quite  windy on some stretches but I averaged 16mph which was cool. 

30th March: I met James in Dunnockshaw today to do a ride called the 3 counties which was suggested by a new colleague at work, Alix. Her dad is a cyclist and he sent me the route via Alix and I converted it into a .GPX file for my Garmin. James and I were both a bit wary of this route as Map my Ride makes it look very hilly but we both ended up really enjoying it! The weather was warmish and bright but hazy and the hills weren't as bad as we'd feared totalling around 1,900 feet which wasn't too bad. The ride was worth another 34.5 towards the monthly total.

31st March: After a hard day at work and being a bit hungover, I decided to do my previous 'go to' route. It's called the Old Coach Road and is almost the same as my current go to but instead of heading over to Kirby, it cuts cross country down a four mile length of tree lined, horribly heaved up tarmac laid sometime around the second world war that runs through farm land.

Very, very jarring but worth 14.9 miles for a March total of 207.7 miles!