One of the things I've always suffered from cycling in the winter is cold hands and toes, I guess I just have poor circulation. Cold hands are pretty easy to deal with and I now have various types of gloves to use when cycling, depending on the weather. The thing I always suffer from, wet weather or dry, is frozen toes. I've come back from long, wet winter rides before where it's taken 20 minutes in a hot bath for my toes to turn back from grey to pink and regain any sensation at all.
I knew overshoes existed of course but some weird, stubborn part of my mind always thought they were a bit too roadie for me (especially when you see people wearing them in the height of summer!) so I ignored them. Anyhow, I bit the bullet and bought a pair from Wiggle for the princely sum of £19. Fitting the size smalls over my old size 7 Shimano MTB shoes was a struggle but they fit very well in the end so I headed out to do the Old Coach Road tonight, in 8c weather, to test them really hoping they'd work. The result? warm feet! My feet weren't hot and sweaty but they were 'normal', no sense of feeling cold at all. I'm a convert !
Clothing sizing can vary enormously between brands, especially where cycling clothing is concerned. It isn't just between brands either, it can be even more evident between different countries; if you've ever ordered what you thought was your size from an Italian brand of clothing you may be in for quite a surprise when you try it on.
With this in mind can I just ask that if you leave a product review for the item you bought, please give the size you ordered and your own measurements and how the garment fitted? For example:
"I bought these shorts last autumn and they're fantastic!"
doesn't really help other people trying to decide what to order. A review along the lines of:
"I'm a skinny 5' 11" with a 32" inside leg and I ordered the medium. They were pretty tight so I took them back and got the large which fitted perfectly"
gives people browsing the web a lot more useful information to base their purchasing choice on.
Just a passing thought!
1st October: It rained most of the morning today so I got a fair bit of maintenance done. I took the cranksets off both bikes to give them a good clean because muck does tend to build up between the cranks and the bottom bracket. I also took the rings off Awesom-O and found a solid black crust on the inside of the rings that I suspect is the residue from Muc-Off's vegetable oil based chain lube that I no longer use. I deep cleaned Awesom-O's chain last week before the Manchester to Blackpool and after I gave it the second application of Purple Extreme I noticed the rollers between the outer plates looked really wobbly so I checked the chain and found the .75% end dropped right through! The chain only had 916 miles on it but I whipped it off and fitted a new one so with his clean rings and chain, Awesom-O was looking pretty smart. Anyhow, the sun came out in the afternoon so I did the local 27 on him. It was overcast but a bit sunny and there wasn't much wind which was refreshing. I also had a first on the way back in. I was doing 18.1 mph (I'd just glanced down at the Garmin) along the shared use path when a grey squirrel shot out in front of me. He instantly span round and shot back into the undergrowth in a perfect V-shaped path. I know my heart missed a beat and I'm pretty sure his missed a few too! Anyhow, 27.2 miles to kick October off.
2nd October: It was an absolutely gorgeous autumn day today, without much wind, so I hopped on the Giant and headed off up the bypass. As I occasionally do, I was suddenly hit with a sense of boredom with my usual route so I decided to go wandering instead.
I stayed out for a good hour exploring places I haven't been for a while, including a lap around the fishing pond at Sidings Lane which got the Giant rather muddy. My legs felt very strong so it was pretty enjoyable ride overall and it was another 17.9 autumnal miles.
4th October: Not a perfect ride tonight, I must admit. The weather was looking promising so I headed out at 6 o'clock planning to do the local 21. I had the new See.Sense Icon on the back of the bike and a coin-cell blinking white light on the front because the evening are definitely drawing in. Anyhow, the ride was going great and my legs felt really strong coming back down the East Lancs when I turned around and saw my back light had turned off! I managed to get back in the pitch dark in one piece by staying on minor roads away from the traffic for the last few miles but I was not impressed. It was lucky I'd taken the front blinky light as well because cycling down the shared use path in the pitch dark was an interesting experience, at least I could make out the vague outline of where the path was! A sketchy 21.5 miles.
8th October: It was another gorgeous, sunny autumn day today with barely any wind so I headed out on the Giant to do the local 27. Before I went however, I decided to replace the front brake pads. They've got around 3,000 miles on them and, although not particularly worn, they were looking a bit tatty. Pads changed, I headed out for the ride. It was chilly but warm when out of the wind so it was a pretty enjoyable ride, my legs felt very strong and I ended up with a decent average of 16.9 mph which was good. The front brake was fairly poor as the pads need to bed in still but they should be back to normal after a couple of more rides. Anyhow, another 27.2 miles for October.
15th October: It was a beautiful autumn day today so I took the Giant out to do the local 27. It was fairly windy but actually pretty warm when I managed to get out of the wind. Apart from a couple of dickheads close passing me around the back of Kirkby it was a pretty good ride. I was wearing my new Planet X winter bib longs and my Aldi Pro cycling top to so I ended up virtually cooking myself so I guess I'll leave the longs until winter really kicks in. Anyhow, 27.2 more miles.
19th October: I managed to get out for a late ride after work this evening and it was a first for two reasons. Firstly, it was the first fully dark ride of the year and secondly, it was the first ride with Awesom-O's new wheels! I've never really been happy with the back wheel since I smashed it into a pothole last winter so when I noticed Hunt did a rim brake wheelset specifically designed for winter riding for £229 I bit the bullet and ordered a set.
It was a very enjoyable ride, my legs felt great and I didn't get as hot as I did last Saturday. It was about 8c and I was wearing my new Planet X long bibs and the Aldi jacket over a t-shirt and I was sweaty when I got in but I didn't feel boiled. The new wheels are awesome, super smooth and stiff but really comfortable. It's hard to explain why but I've always found the Aksiums quite harsh, the Hunts definitely feel comfier somehow. Anyhow, an extremely enjoyable ride and 21.5 more miles for October.
25th October: I took Awesom-O out tonight to do the Old Coach Road to do two things. Firstly, I wanted to see how the new Hunt wheels were on the extremely poor surface and secondly to see how warm the new dhb overshoes kept my feet. It turned out to be an extremely pleasant ride. The new wheels were definitely a bit smoother than the Aksiums and I got home with 'normal' feet. It was barely 8c and the mesh panels in my Shimano MTB shoes meant my feet would normally be pretty icy when I got in but they were absolutely fine - result! Another 15.5 miles for October.
27th October: It was quite a fun ride tonight except for one annoying incident. It's been dry for a few days so I took the Giant out to do the local 27, we're having a warm spell at the moment so I left the overshoes at home. As I was heading along Sineacre lane past a row of a few houses my front wheel hit a pothole with a very loud noise I can only describe as sounding like someone belting a wall with a carbon fibre pipe. I fully expected the tyre to go down but miraculously it didn't which was strange so I carried on. When I got home there wasn't a speck of damage to the bike or the wheel so I guess carbon fibre bikes are tougher than some people say! Anyhow, quite an enjoyable ride and 27.2 more miles.
29th October: It rained all morning today but stopped in the afternoon so I took Awesom-O out for a spin. I wanted to do 25 miles so I planned to do the local 27 but stop a mile short of the end of the farm track. It was an odd ride, there was no wind but it was very overcast and what the Scots call 'dreich', damp and grey. On most rides I want to ride as hard as possible but on this one I was strangely content to just ride at my own pace and take things as they came. One real high point was that I saw the hare again! As I was halfway down Hall Lane, he popped out of the hedge, hopped across the road and down the pavement a bit and then disappeared through a gap in the hedge. He's absolutely huge and I'm really pleased he's well. I ended up diverting down the farm track to try and take a decent pic of Awesom-O (seemingly impossible, the Celeste-like green paint throws the auto white balance of any camera out of whack it seems) so it ended up as 25.9 miles.
Well, I was going to squeeze in one more ride for October to finally banish the 2016 overdraft but I didn't so the month goes out with a respectable enough 211.1 miles on the clock. The overdraft is down to a miniscule 0.7 miles so, winter weather permitting, that shouldn't be too much of a chore.
I nipped over to Halfords across the road from work the other day to buy a new multitool as my current one (a Topeak x-tool) is rather rusty and corroded. In the end, I decided on a Topeak Mini 9. Let me start by saying, this thing is cute! It's tiny and comes with a small neoprene case for it which I don't use as I suspect it will act as a moisture trap and rust the tool prematurely.
It has all the tools you might need for a road bike: 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 mm Allen keys, a T25 Torx driver and a Philips screwdriver. A flat bladed screwdriver is largely redundant on modern bikes so it's absence isn't an issue. I've mic'd the Allen keys and they're all a microscopic 0.02 or 0.03 mm under spec which is very good indeed. All in all? Awesome value for a little over a tenner!
