I cleaned up the Hunt wheels and fitted the Conti Grandprix GT tyres with inner tubes, I've given up on tubeless for the time being but the Hunts are a lot lighter than the Giant wheels so it makes sense to start using them again.
The rear brake has long felt like it wasn't contributing much so I decided to change the inner cable. It turned out to be quite easy, I cut through the inner by the caliper and then peeled the front of the hood back and tied the lever against the handlebar. This reveals the little cast end on the cable so you just give the cut end a push to give you something to grab and pull the old cable out. It turned out the end ten or eleven inches of inner was fairly orange and mucky which explains the lack of rear braking. I lubed the new inner with Purple Extreme and fitted it pretty easily.
The other issue was the right brifter. It was very loose and rattly so I suspected that some kind of return spring had fallen out so I took a closer look. I spotted that the caliper didn't moved as I pulled the lever so I started by winding out the barrel adjuster on the caliper. By the time I'd unwound the adjuster about 6 mm, the caliper hadn't moved and the slack was gone - fixed! I don't know how but the inner cable had mysteriously lengthened itself. Anyhow, I'll wind the adjuster back in and fit a new cable tomorrow to permanently fix the issue.
The ride started cloudy with some blue spots and finished fairly sunny. It was breezy rather than windy so quite a pleasant ride overall; rear braking restored, rattle gone and and it was 27.3 miles to kick August off.
6th August: I can't remember a lot about this ride as I did it last Saturday and I've been too lazy to write it up until now... Anyway, I did the local 27 and I do remember it was hot. It was one of the rare rides where arms and legs were sweating when I got back in which doesn't happen very often. I'm also guessing it was very windy because my average was only 16.1 but that's nothing new this year. A sweaty 27.1 miles.
13th August: I've not been out since last weekend because of the weird weather we've been having; It was almost as if a week from last November has been spliced into this August. It's been cool, overcast, rainy and windy which is quite bizarre at this time of year. Anyhow, today was better, blue skies full of white clouds and fairly warm although still very windy. It was quite an enjoyable ride, while I was waiting to turn left at Windle island the wind dropped and it was actually pretty hot so a good ride for the tan and 27.2 more miles for August.
14th August: Well today's ride turned out to be embarrassingly short... I kept getting distracted and then, just before I finally did set off, dad texted saying we were eating at 5 which is pretty early. Anyhow, I did the ride where I get half way up the bypass, cut down Dairy Farm road, do the half of the Old Coach Road between there and the East Lancs and then head back via Alec's hill. I felt pretty strong up Alec's hill but Map my Ride said I've done it 28 seconds faster before, go figure?! Anyhow, it was a paltry 10.6 miles.
17th August: The weather's been absolutely gorgeous for the last couple of days so I headed out after work tonight and did the local 21. I normally drink Old Brown Java coffee from Whittard but I've been lazy recently and bought Lavazza red beans from Asda the last couple of times I've run out, it's ok but very average flavour-wise.
I finally bought half a kilo of Whittard's Old Brown Java beans and had a mug before I set out. I don't know whether it's the high mileage I did in July or the coffee but my legs felt amazing. Even though I came down the shared use path which is quite slow, and stopped at the chippy for curry and chips, I did it at an average of 17.2 mph, which was very good. 21.8 caffeine fuelled miles for August!
20th August: It was a real slice of autumn today, it was grey, overcast and very windy with a lot of rain predicted. Strangely, despite the weather, my legs felt awesome and it was one of the most enjoyable rides I've done for ages. Having seen the weather forecast I'd just fitted a set of SKS Chromoplastic Longboards to Awesome-O so he got his first outing of the summer. As it turned out, there was barely any rain but the Longboards kept me dry blasting through the puddles. 21.5 more miles.
21st August: Cycling is weird. The weather today was much like it was yesterday except perhaps even windier. Yesterday's ride was awesome but today's felt like an absolute chore. What's even weirder is that despite one ride being awesome and one being a pain, my average speed for both rides was the same, 16.4 mph, go figure... Anyhow, 22.3 more miles.
24th August: After a hard day at work I necked a mug of Old Brown Java and headed out to do the local 27 on the Giant. It was overcast and warm but best of all, hardly any wind!
Like Saturday's ride, my legs felt very strong all the way around and I ended up with a 16.8 average which is always good, especially for an after work ride. Best of all, I saw the hare again. He was sitting in the stubble and when he saw me, he ran about 100 yards away from me and then jinked left and ran another 100 yards before he was out of site. There's something very mystical about hares and I'm glad he looked to be fit and healthy.
26th August: Another ride I didn't type up at the time... Anyway, I did the local 27 and it was sunny with clouds but drizzled a bit right at the end. The wind was fairly light though which is always a bonus and it was 27.1 more miles for the month.
29th August: Well that was an eventful ride! It was hot and sunny with clear blue skies but fairly windy so I set out to do the local 27. First of all, something got in my helmet and either stung or bit me on the head which really hurt. Secondly, I saw a helicopter hovering in the distance and that one side of the M58 was solid cars and a quick Google when I got in revealed there's been a fatal car crash on the M58. Thirdly, there had just been a bad crash at Windle island as I crossed it with a black BMW smashed into one of the islands and police just arriving. To cap the ride off, there was a large ginger cat lying dead on the side of the by-pass which is always sad. On the plus side, my legs felt great from the minute I left the house, I'm beginning to think doing 400 miles in July has really brought me on a level fitness-wise. Anyhow, it was 27.4 more miles for August.
Well, after having no central heating for the last two winters, I'm finally getting my boiler replaced in eight days time. This has lead to operation 'Try and get my house looking like it hasn't been occupied by squatters for the last couple of years' and a lot of cleaning and tidying. Because of this, I didn't get a final ride in for August but it still goes out with a fairly respectable 239.5 miles on the clock. The overdraft for the year is down to 29.3 miles which is about a tenth of what it was earlier in the year so here's hoping for an Indian summer this autumn!
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