A few months ago I bought a Blackburn Piston 3 track pump because it has a huge dial which I really liked. When it turned up, the big dial was brilliant but the head that you attach to the valve was really awful. Whilst I was chilling with a glass of wine one evening, I happened upon an article on the Velominati website extolling the virtues of the Hirame pump head. As I'd had a few, I bit the bullet and ordered one from Track Supermarket in Osaka in Japan. It was just over £60 delivered but not being entirely sober helped (this is a recommended strategy in the Velominati article!). Anyhow, it finally arrived after paying a customs demand for another £22 (Grrr..).
I sliced the head off the Blackburn and pushed the spigot of the Hirame head into the tube where it was a nice, tight fit and tried it out. When you first use it, you tighten or loosen the collar so that when the lever is closed, it clamps onto the valve with just the right force. I did that and let some air out of a tire and tried it out. verdict? Absolutely superb! Valve cap off, unscrew core doodad, drop head onto valve, close lever, pump up tyre, open lever and lift off the head and the job's a goodun'. No drama, no fiddling, no fuss. Yes, £80 is a lot of money for a pump head but that's only the cost of a couple of tyres and this thing should last a lifetime.
3rd June: Summer at last! It was hot today but more overcast than it has been recently so the Strael got another outing. There was nothing much to report on this ride other than I saw more cyclists on the farm path than I normally do including a family of five which was unusual but it's always nice to see people out on bikes. A fairly sweaty ride and another 25.4 miles to kick June off.
9th June: It was another hot day today with a few clouds in the sky but mostly very sunny. I took the Strael out to do the usual but before I left I fitted a Miche Primato Light 12-30 cassette I bought recently because of the big climbs I encountered on a couple of recent sportives. The cassette fit well but the lock ring was junk. The threads were too shallow and, because it was aluminium, it stripped before it was even close to tight. Anyhow, the Shimano lock ring fit perfectly so we headed out. The new cassette was great and shifted perfectly and had one interesting side effect.
When I replaced the Brooks saddle with charge Scoop from Amazon a few rides ago, the bike developed a constant creak that stopped when I stopped pedalling. Since fitting the Miche, the creak has gone. I've never had, or heard of, a creaking cassette before but maybe I had one?! There wasn't much wind, for a change, so it was quite a nice ride overall. There were a lot of cyclists on the farm track so I did two ups and downs and then the road than goes cross country to Holt Green and back where I took a pic of a strange abandoned building. The new cassette shifted perfectly and I know I'm going to appreciate the lower gearing on my next sportive. 27.7 more miles.
13th June: It was an odd day today for June, still fairly warm but very overcast and windy so I dragged the Strael out for a ride after work. I did the usual and, despite fairly strong wind, I was able to maintain fairly decent speeds even into the wind. The only thing I can attribute this to is that I'd eaten a Nine salted caramel seed bar before I left the house (I'm doing another sportive on Saturday and I spied them in the kitchen when I was peckish). It wasn't amazingly nice but it seems to have had a positive effect as I averaged 17.3 mph despite the wind. A cooler than usual ride and another 25.1 miles.
19th June: It was another warm and mostly sunny today but also very, very windy. I took the Strael out to do the usual and going up the track was hard work into a howling wind. Coming back down the path was a lot more fun it was weird having that much wind when it's otherwise sunny and warm. One cool thing I saw as I was flying back down the path was a young buzzard facing into the wind and hovering maybe 20 feet above the path, I nearly got a crick in my neck looking up at it as I cycled past.
As I was heading back along Coach Road I was passed by a couple of the local TT'ers and then was just happily cycling along Ben Lane a couple of minutes later when I was passed by a guy on a rather nice carbon Cervelo who said in a loud voice "Well that was quite an unwelcome headwind, eh?" just as he came past me which pulled me out of my reverie somewhat! Anyhow, I averaged 17.2 mph which was very good for such a windy ride and another 25.0 miles on the clock.
23rd June: Before today's ride, I decided to swap the front and rear tyres on the Strael. I know they say you never do that but I think that refers to fitting a worn, flattened tyre on the front. The Strael tyres only have 800 miles on them and the rear doesn't have a flat profile yet so by swapping them, I gain 800 miles on the life of the pair. Anyhow, I ticked a ride off my ride on my cycling bucket list today. It was to ride a section of the Wirral Circular Trail and back. I drove through the Queensway tunnel to Wallasey, parked at the Perch Rock car park (which is free!) and headed off. The first few miles as you head south along the beach road are quite bumpy as the path is made from cast concrete sections but it wasn't too bad on 28 mm tyres. Towards the end of this first section, there was a section of rough gravel track a few hundred yards long but again, not too much of a challenge of 28s.
As you get towards the southern tip of the peninsular, you hit the trail proper. The ground was hard packed smooth earth with very fine gravel on it so was really nice to ride, very smooth and quite fast with usual caveats of slowing down when passing other people and groups because pedestrians have priority on shared use paths. The view was amazing as well, all the way along you could see right across the water to North Wales. Although I had the wind in my face on the southbound leg, it was a pretty good ride overall although the Strael was so dusty when I got back you'd think I'd just done the Dirty Kanza. The weather was hot and sunny so I think if I go for another ride tomorrow I'd better slather on the factor 50 to avoid turning up at work on Monday looking like a cooked lobster! Anyhow, another 34.2 miles.
24th June: It was another hot day today, around 24 °C, so I took the very dusty Strael out for a ride. Standing in my back yard getting ready there was no wind but, as usual, as soon as I got out onto the cycle path along the bypass it was actually fairly windy. Bradley Wiggins, who lives fairly nearby, said in a recent interview that it's always windy on the Lancashire plain and I guess he's not wrong. Anyhow, it was pretty uneventful ride and very hot, I covered my arms, face and neck in factor 50 before I set off because I got plenty of sun yesterday on the ride in Wallasey. One interesting thing I saw on the path that I hadn't seen before was thousands of little glints of light in the surface of the path where the tar was melting between the stones. I didn't get any tar on my tyres but it shows how warm the sun was. I added on the path to the horse place on so another 25.8 miles.
29th June: We're in the middle of a heatwave right now and have had temperatures up to 29 °C over the last few days. It was a mere 27 °C today and I'm short of miles for the month so I took the Strael out to do the usual. I covered myself in factor 50 and headed out. All I can say is "Damn, it was hot!". It was absolutely roasting, whenever I had to stop it was like standing in commercial bread oven, my 700 ml of electrolyte drink was gone in about half an hour. At some point on the ride where the tarmac was black because of the lack of chippings, my tyres made an unpeeling sound as I cycled along so the road must have been hot.
Because it was so hot, I decided I could afford to do just two ups and downs for around twenty miles so long as I do the same tomorrow, I've got a sportive on Sunday so I want to keep the mileage down if I can. One absolutely bizarre thing happened as I was cycling along the bypass. I heard what sounded like a helicopter flying overhead and when I looked up, I'm 99% sure it was a grey Russian Hind Mil Mi-24 helicopter flying over (I'm quite into military aviation so I'm sure it wasn't a Sikorsky or any other large helicopter), I've absolutely no idea why although it is the Southport air show next weekend! Anyhow, 20.1 very hot miles.
30th June: Another baking hot day today although a degree cooler than yesterday at a mere 26 °C so, once again, I took the Strael out for a spin. Nothing to report today, no weird sightings of Russian helicopters or anything like that, other than a few other roadies out riding in the hot weather. I did a rather uneventful two ups and down of the farm path to finish June on 202.7 miles and I've got a 56 mile sportive tomorrow, which will be a first for the Strael, to kick July off.
