Not being a huge fan of road bike rim brakes so far I decided to give them another chance. I've heard fantastic things about Shimano R650 calipers recently so I decided to upgrade my crappy Tektros.
At the time I ordered, Wiggle only had the front brakes in so I ordered one and decided to order the rear at a later date. One thing I noticed when taking the B650 out of the box was how typically Shimano-like it felt. Squeezing the pads together, the caliper was silky smooth and springy. In contrast, when I removed the Tektro it was weird, they obviously have a stronger spring than the Shimanos but the pads felt far less 'springy' when you squeezed then together - I guess the Shimano calipers have much better bearings and pivots in them.
Anyhow, I've just popped around to the 'rents to pick a package and the new front brake is really impressive. Perfect modulation but a huge increase in usable power. I just need to get my finger out and order a rear one now!
2nd November: Nothing exciting today. James is having water problems at his house so he's stuck trying to get that sorted out. I dragged myself out the house and did the usual 22. it was very windy but dry so not a bad ride and 22.0 in the bag.
7th November: Did the 22 tonight after a long day at work. It was breezy and cold and the roads were wet but it's another 22.0 for November. I must say it was nice having mudguards on knowing that every puddle I went through wasn't soaking my back and covering my rucksack in road grime!
9th November: Did a route with James today that I found on a rather good new bike route website http://www.plotaroute.com/. It starts out in Withington before dropping down out of Manchester, does a loop around the Cheshire countryside and then heads back up through Manchester into Withington.
The route was a lot more urban than I'd assumed when I first saw it but the few miles between Wilmslow and Hale was perfect British countryside. I doubt we'll do this ride again because of some of the extremely heavily trafficed areas it goes through and some of the roads in Manchester are in staggeringly bad condition but it was 32.0 more miles for November.
16th November: I created a brilliant 32 miler this weekend and emailed it to James only to find out that he thinks he's broken a finger while out on the lash on Friday. Oh well, I did the local 22 instead. I'm off on Wednesday so I may test the 32 miler then. 22.0 for the weekend it is then!
22nd November: I've had the lurgy for the last few days so I was beginning to worry about getting November's mileage done. Anyhow, still bunged up but with the cold on the wain, I decided to at least do the Old Coach Road ride today. As it turned out, I was feeling ok so decided to try the two miles of cycles lane the council have just re-surfaced that runs from Windle island to the junction at Carr Mill Dam.
As it turns out, the newly surfaced bike path was awesome, like cycling on black silk - very luxurious compared with the rubbish state of most of the roads us cyclists have to endure! From Carr Mill, I climbed the hill into Billinge then through Crank and back into the village. The weather was overcast with a bit of a breeze so quite pleasant really and another (much needed!) 20.1 miles for November.
23rd November: James's brother is off to Germany for 3 years with the Army soon so he's stuck with a family dinner today so I did the local 22, somehow managing to miss off some of the industrial park... It was pretty windy in places but the air was crisp and clear with that gorgeous bright, golden light you only get at this time of year. Anyhow, 21.6 more miles and I'm starting to feel more confident about the month, it's my dad's 80th next weekend and an all weekend celebration is on the cards but I should be able to get out with James on the Saturday.
25th November: It was freezing tonight (ok, well about 4 degrees maybe) but I desperately need the mileage this month so I dug out last year's Aldi long cycling pants and got changed. I had a t-shirt on covered by my Nike running top and a thin fleece along with some cheap fleece gloves. It felt cold for the first few miles but I soon warmed up and felt great. Despite it chucking it down for the second half of the ride (thankyou mudguards!) I actually really enjoyed the ride and it was 22.0 much needed miles.
27th November: Did the local 22 again tonight. It was dry and not as cold as Tuesday so quite a nice ride although my legs felt really wooden in places. I walked into my desk at work a couple of days ago and have a large bruise on my left thigh which probably didn't help! Anyhow, 22.0 more miles.
30th November: Well, dad's 80th proved to be a fairly drunken weekend so I missed the 200 for November. The final total was 183.8 so a 'must try harder' for December...
