May 2022

2nd May: It was a double first for me today, it was the first ride with my new Wahoo Elemnt Bolt v2 and the first ride with with my new Stages Ultegra 8000 power meter. I bought the new Bolt because I'm planning a couple of cycling holidays and I wanted a device that could recalculate routes properly, not just show a breadcrumb trail. I bought the power meter because of Zwift. Having power data becomes second nature with Zwift because it is provided by your smart trainer so I wanted it for my 'real life' rides as well.

I did a ride today that I know well but I drew it out in Ride with GPS because I wanted to see how the new Bolt did. It was impressive, even if you're on the metrics screen, rather that the map screen, it pops up at the bottom of the screen and tells you the road name to turn into and the distance so I was very pleased with that. The weather was perfect, grey and overcast with a bit of a breeze so quite a fun ride. I think my post-covid symptoms are starting to fade. The long uphill drag along the East Lancs that I struggled with last ride was a breeze, I shot up it so that's a relief. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, the front tyre I re-taped recently didn't lose a single PSI over three days so I'm calling that a win! 26.0 miles.

14th May: It's bonus month at work so I treated the Strael to something I wanted for ages, a set of aero wheels. I chose a set of Scribe Aero Wide+ 50D, they're even lighter than my Hunt Carbon Aero Disc 30 wheels at 1,449 grams and feature a 50 mm naca profile carbon rim with Pillar Wing 20 aero spokes. The wheels come with rim tape fitted so I transferred my tyres over and, amazingly, fitted them with no tyre levers AND they stayed up perfectly from the moment I fitted them with Muc-Off No Puncture Hassle sealant 😀.

It was a gorgeous sunny day so I set off and did some of my usual routes. The field with the nine ammunition storage building was dry and covered with stubble so I cycled over to take a look and took a pic of my bike. The wheels felt fast and smooth with no twitching at all front wheel despite the breeze which was reassuring. I wasn't feeling massively fit so I didn't stay out for too long so another 20.5 miles.