When nearly every ride entails stripping off in the back porch afterwards and putting everything in the washing machine, riding becomes something of a chore.
To that end, much as I find them a pain in the ass, I've bought and fitted mudguards. I went for SKS Chromoplastics in the end as they get good reviews. I've read a couple of reviews where people have said they take a few hours to fit but I had them fitted in a round an hour although I did use an angle grinder to trim the wire arms to length which helped a bit!
After my family decided my Roux Menthe was called 'Minty', I decided I urgently needed an alternative name before it stuck... One of the many random thoughts that went through my head on the night ride from Manchester to Blackpool was of my favourite Southpark episode where Cartman disguises himself as a robot called AWESOM-O to try and find an embarrassing video tape of himself that Butters had made.
Anyhow, when I discovered I'd done the ride in under three hours, I decided that AWESOM-O was a cool name - I realise these stickers are supposed to be for the rider's name but I'm not a pro so I think having the bike's name on the sticker is way cooler. A quick Google found Flandria Bikes who claim their bike name stickers are Muc-off, GT85 and WD-40 proof so one order later and he's officially called AWESOM-O!
5th October: Took the bike for it's first decent ride with the Conti 4 Season tyres on this afternoon and did the local 18 with the industrial estate. The tyres roll very nicely although they're definitely smaller than a standard 25, more like 24mm really.
It was a bit chilly and quite windy but not bad overall. As a slight aside, I definitely had a cycling first as I cycled through industrial end of Kirkby - a hedgehog in the road! It was just sitting quite happily in the road by the kerb, there was undergrowth on the other side of the fence on the pavement so I picked it up and put it by the fence hoping it would trot through the slats and back into the undergrowth. Odd but 22.0 miles to start October off.
9th October: Did the same ride as above this evening. The wind was horrible for the first ten miles or so but I managed to get my average back up to 16.5 mph by the end so not too bad and 22.0 more miles. As a plus, there were no squashed hedgehogs in the road near where I rescued the hedgehog so I think it's ok!
12th October: Did the same again today. It wasn't warm but it was one of those crisp sunny autumn days that compensate somewhat for the lack of warmth. Nipped into the village do a bit of shopping on the way back so 22.7 more miles.
14th October: Aaaaand again... Did it in the dark for the first time this autumn which was interesting, the off road bit through the fields was fun with the 200+ lumens from my Hope 1 providing just enough light to see where I was going. I've decided to treat myself for autumn however and have ordered an Exposure Strada light - 800 lumens for three hours and multiple combinations there of. I can't wait to try it! Anyhow, 22.0 more miles.
17th October: Did the same ride again tonight with my new Exposure Strada light. I run it in mode 3 which alternates between 3 hours / fullpower and 10 hours / third power.
Full power is fantastic, the 3 miles that runs through the fields with no lighting at all was amazing, the light lights up a good 60 to 80 yards ahead while the 10 hour mode is more than adequate back on the road when you have street lighting as well. Very impressed and another 22.0 miles.
19th October: Did a beast of a ride with James today. Distance wise it was fine but the weather was wet and windy and there were two killer climbs, the type that leaves your legs feeling useless for hours afterwards.
It was so windy coming down off the moors north of Rochdale that we were struggling to maintain 15 miles an hour down a hill you can normally do 30 plus miles an hour down! An interesting ride and another 35.9 for October.
22nd October: Did the local 22.0 mile ride again. The weather was quite wintery, breezy with a fair bit of rain but surprisingly quite an enjoyable ride even though the bike needed a good hosing down when I got back to get all the road muck off it.
26th October: I was so stuck for inspiration today that I nearly called it off and suggested to James that we both just do our locals. Then I remembered a ride I'd seen on the Sky ride website ages ago that sounded quite intriguing, it was a short one but we could always do a multiple laps.
We met up in the car park at Wythenshawe Civic Centre and headed off. The route basically goes around the whole perimeter of Manchester Airport. It's not a brilliant route, there are a lot of gates that really slow your progress and about a mile and a half of the route is off road on compacted limestone paths that mean slow progress on a road bike but there are some really cool bits. One part of the off road section goes right along the edge of one of the runways so you can watch planes take off from barely 100 yards away which is LOUD but cool. Also, there are two tunnels (with a seperate tunnel for ped's / cyclists) that go right under both runways which is fun, very smooth and obviously no wind. We ran short of time but managed 3 laps for 24.9 miles.
29th October: Did the local 22 miler tonight to end the month. It was cool and windy but not cold so quite a nice ride, in a way I was hoping for rain to test my new mudguards but I guess you can't have everything! Another 22.0 miles and 215.5 for October.
