Being very happy with how the new, longer stem has improved the feel and handling of the Giant I decided to lower the stem a bit more. I didn't want to go ridiculously low so I ordered two 5 mm spacers from eBay.
I ordered two because most Bike companies recommend having a spacer between the top of the stem and the top cap which I guess reduces the stress on the steerer tube compared to clamping it right at the end. I'd already tried it with the lower stem, and it was awesome, so I trimmed the steerer tube and put it back together and I think it looks pretty awesome!
At nearly 3,600 miles the jockey wheels on the Giant are looking a bit shabby and the shifting isn't as crisp as it was so I decided to replace the jockey wheels. I chose the basic stainless steel jockey wheels from BBB because they were a sensible price (~£9) and got pretty decent reviews. These jockey wheels are universal in size and use plastic adaptors to fit different derailleur models properly so I chose the 'Shimano 11 speed' adaptors and fitted them.
Shimano jockey wheels use bushings rather than bearings and the upper wheel has about 1.5mm of side by side float whereas these wheels use cartridge bearings and have no float so I was interested to see how the bike shifted. I took the Giant out for a spin and was very impressed. There's definitely more noise from the cassette area sometimes when shifting, I suspect the float in the upper jockey on the Shimano wheel helps negate that, but the shifting is extremely slick, much Like I imagine Di2 must feel - very impressed!
4th May: I got out after work today and took the Giant out for a spin. It was hot and sunny but with quite a strong wind so I knew it might be quite tough. I was going to do the usual, the farm, track and two loops, but the horsists were out so I ended up doing the farm track, one loop and then the farm track again. Despite the wind, I took my jacket off halfway around so I just had my new Altura top on. It was a bit chilly when I was out of the sun but quite an enjoyable ride really despite the wind. On a side note, the saddle needs tilting up a bit more as I still felt I was having to push myself back on the saddle; I'll do it before the next ride. 24.6 miles to get May started.
6th May: I don't know if it's the Brooks not sitting as far back as the scoop or if it's the slightly shorter endurance geometry of the Giant's frame but I've felt myself wanting to get a bit more stretched out recently. To this end I decided to replace the Giant's 110 mm stem with a 120 mm version. I chose the Cinelli Vai because it has very understated graphics and was pretty cheap at around £20 plus delivery. Anyhow, I fitted it (it was 18 g lighter than the shorter Giant stem!) and headed out for a spin.
It was hot and sunny but very windy today so I was interested to see how the ride would go. As it turned out, the word 'awesomely' turned out to be the answer. Despite the wind, I constantly felt like I just wanted to ride harder and faster. I guess what cyclists would call my 'core' must be doing alright because I still felt I could support myself in position if the handlebars suddenly disappeared despite the longer stem. I think I've got the new saddle nailed now as well. An app on my phone told me I had it pointing 1 degree up so I changed it to 3.2 degrees up and it felt a lot better. Not a long ride but a fun one at 21.5 miles.
10th May: I had another of my 'book a random day off and really drop on with the weather' days today. The BBC were predicting nice and warm and not much wind so I took the Giant out to do the local 27 maybe tacking Billinge on to make it 32. The weather was windy but otherwise pretty warm and sunny so the ride started off pretty well, the bike still feels awesome with the longer stem. It wasn't all roses though, as I was heading over the last roundabout in Kirby I had my first encounter with a motorist! I was crossing, fairly banked over and had just banked over to the left to leave the roundabout when a man who looked about 100 who'd been watching me approach decided to pull out in front of me. He ended up stopping briefly as I gave him an absolute bollocking about being a massive knob. He drove off eventually and, to be honest, I wasn't that bothered because it was such a beautiful day. I've nothing again older people, obviously, but there comes a time in everyone's life where they ought to think about their own safety and other peoples when it comes to driving. I then crossed over Windle Island and headed up the new cycle path but decided I couldn't be bothered doing Billlinge so I headed back and went to explore St Helens cemetery, something I've drive past thousands of times but have never actually seen. It turned out to be pretty awesome, beautifully maintained and absolutely huge. Anyhow, a very enjoyable ride overall and another 30.3 miles.
13th May: This weekend was looking a bit sketchy with some rain predicted. As it turned out, the rain stopped this morning and the sun came out so I took the Giant out for a spin. I did a bit of a hybrid ride taking in some roads I haven't cycled for long time.
It was OK but I got a couple of dodgy passes; major single carriageway A roads are probably my least favourite kind of road for this reason but they're fairly easy to avoid. I also did two of my loops which was horse free for a change. The weather was fantastic, mainly sunny and really warm even in the shade so a nice reminder that summer's on the way. 21.9 more miles.
14th May: By pure fluke I managed to get a great ride in today. Normally on a Sunday morning I take my niece Daisy and her three mates Ella, Freya and Liv for a walk to a nearby farm centre where they can run around and stroke goats, miniature ponies and a sheep and a donkey who share a paddock together. Anyhow, my sister in law Kerry Whatsapp'd me this morning to say one of them wasn't well and could we put it off? Ok, bike ride on! The weather was gorgeous, hot and sunny with just a few clouds so I did the farm track and a couple of loops. You can tell summer is on the way, I've never seen so many cyclists out, I even passed a mini-peloton of around 20 riders out for a group ride.
One thing I did manage to do at around the part I saw the mini-peloton is take a pic of a house I've often wondered about. It's in good shape, although run down, but it clearly isn't lived in. There's a static caravan on the site and some other large buildings and junk cars but I wonder why the farm house is abandoned? Anyhow, on a different note, as an attempt to be a bit more social I was making an effort to wave to as many fellow cyclists as I could and in return got a nod, a wave and a hello from a girl on a road bike which was cool. To top it off, when I got back in I found it had been my fastest local ride ever with an average of 17.2 mph which was awesome. Another 22.1 miles.
18th March: I had today booked off because the car's in for it's MOT so it seems like an excellent day for a ride. It was overcast but bright when I set off so I had the Aldi long sleeved top on over my Altura top. I soon warmed up and the weather started to brighten so at about mile six I took the long sleeved top off. I did the farm track and two loops and as the ride progressed it became a lot sunnier so it was actually quite a good ride. One weird thing did happen though, as I was cycling along I thought the saddle felt a bit low. I assumed it was the Brooks bedding in and decided I'd raise it a bit when I got home. When I did get home I looked and found it had actually gone down a good inch! I've reset it and tightened the wedge to 5.8 nm (it says 6.0 max.) so here's hoping it stays up. If it doesn't I might try a bit of Loctite 242 on the bolt threads. Anyhow, a mainly enjoyable 22.3 miles.
20th May: It turned out to be a very rule #9 ride today. It was chucking it down so I took Awesom-O off his wall hanger and took him out for a spin because he has mudguards and I hate getting a mucky stripe up my back and rucksack. I wore my bib shorts but had my Aldi jacket over my new Altura top and as it wasn't particularly warm I actually wore my fleece gloves which I didn't think I'd need until autumn. Anyhow, it proved to be quite a fun ride, the rain slowed down after the first half hour and it brightened up a bit and got quite warm. Awesom-O is fab, I always forget how well he fits me and his new 105 groupset shifts brilliantly. A wet but fun ride and another 22.2 miles.
21st May: It was warm but cloudy this afternoon so I took the Giant out to do the farm track and a couple of loops. I soon realised the seat was a quarter of an inch low after putting it back up when it went down the other day so I stopped at Sidings Lane and raised it slightly. After it went down recently I'm not using the torque wrench this time, I'm going to rely on my engineer's spidey sense instead. Anyhow, it got even brighter and warmer as the ride progressed so it was good for my rapidly reappearing cyclist's tan and it was another 22.2 more miles.
23rd May: In an effort to get into an even racier position on the Giant I decided to try slamming the stem so I ordered two 5 mm carbon fibre spacers and fitted them to the bike. In case I didn't like it, I didn't cut the steerer and placed the existing lower spacer on top of the stem so I could tighten it down. It was an absolutely gorgeous day today, hot and sunny, so a perfect day for a test spin after work. I got halfway up the bypass and still couldn't help feel the saddle was a bit low.
I
stopped in Sidings Lane again and raised it another quarter of an inch
and it was perfect! My riding position feels exactly like Awesom-O and I
could really get the power down. As I approached the farm track I noticed a local cycling club setting up so I decided to do my original 21 miler which I haven't done for ages. Aside from the gorgeous hot weather it was an uneventful ride but I was amazed to find I'd smashed my own recently set 'local ride' average speed record with 17.6 mph over 20.8 miles and I'll get the steerer cut before the next ride.
25th May: I was by far the hottest day of the year so far today so I was dying to get out after work and take the Giant for a spin. As it turned out it was hot, very hot! I did the farm track and two loops. One rather strange thing was that as I was doing the loops I encountered a group of about twenty cyclists hanging around on the corner of Hall Lane and intake Lane. As I came back around the group had grown to at least forty riders - maybe a local club I haven't encountered before? Anyhow a fun ride but very hot, when I got in I felt like I had heat stroke, it was about forty minutes before I stopped sweating and felt vaguely human again. Anyhow, 22.2 more miles.
27th May: I accidentally had one of the most Zen rides I've had for ages today. I took the Giant out intending to do the farm track and a couple of loops. As it turned out, the local time trial club were setting up on the loop so I decided to do something else instead. It was extremely windy but blowing across the farm track and quite overcast with an interesting ghost busters sky. Anyhow, it was warm so I was happy just cycling up and down the farm track alone with my thoughts. I ended up doing three end to ends and then back through the village for a very enjoyable 27.0 miles.
29th May: It was quite wet and overcast this morning but it brightened up a bit so I took Awesom-O out for a ride. Interestingly, for the second time in my cycling hobby I had a plate of fish fingers for breakfast and my legs felt really amazing on the ride - definitely something for British Cycling, or Team Sky, to investigate I think? I did have a funny animal encounter on the ride which was a first. There's a paddock with three horses in it on the farm path which was full of buttercups so I stopped to take a pic. The horses had been at the far end of the paddock when I stopped but as I was putting my phone away I noticed they were walking towards me in single file. When they arrived, the dominant brown horse stretched out over the fence towards me so I said "Sorry pal, I haven't got any polos on me". At this he gave a loud harrumph, walked over to the white one and bit it on the arse, funny but odd! Anyhow, it was windy but fairly warm so I did two ups and downs of the farm track and two loops and it brightened up a lot so overall a very enjoyable ride and another 27.8 miles.
30th May: I had a few miles to do today to reach a particular number but the weather wasn't promising with rain most of the morning. Luckily, as I was driving home the weather cleared with a cloudy blue sky and sunshine so it was looking promising. I put Awesom-O back on the wall and checked the tyres on the Giant and got changed looking forward to a good ride. However, more or less as I left the house the clouds rolled in and it started chucking it down! Unwilling to swap the bikes back around I set off on the Giant. It was a fairly unpleasant ride but I meandered around until I'd bagged the miles I needed. Interestingly, despite the weather the local TT club were out. It's odd cruising along the road at 22 mph in the pouring rain and having a skinsuited guy on a TT bike cruise past at 30-ish! A wet ride that involved stripping off completely in the back porch and putting everything bar my shoes straight in the wash but a very healthy total for May of 300.5 miles.
