First time using lights this year - booo!

We went for a meal at the Indian on the by-pass last night for my brother's birthday. I had to take the bike to free up room in the car and I had to use my front light on the way back which sucked, the nights are drawing in...

Which thread direction for bottom brackets?

Unless you're a professional spanner, you're probably like me and get confused which way certain threads loosen and tighten on your bike. The pedals and bottom bracket each have a side that threads in in reverse ie tightens anti-clockwise and loosens clockwise. To make it even more confusing, pedals threads and bottom brackets threads each have a different 'wrong way' thread!

I was inspired to create this post when I came across a statement on the internet that suddenly make it easy to remember which way English threaded bottom brackets thread in and loosen - each side tightens towards the rear of the bike - simple!

The drive-side of the bottom bracket tightens towards the rear of the bike which makes it the unconventional thread:

The non-drive side tightens towards the rear of the bike which makes it the conventional thread:

It's easy when you know how! It's now easy to remember which way pedals thread into the cranks - they tighten towards the front of the bike ie the drive side has a conventional thread while the non-drive side has the unconventional thread.

August 2014.

2nd August: Not a promising start to August, it's absolutely chucking it down! BBC Weather shows it looking a lot better later on this evening so I may charge my AAs and go out tonight...

3rd August: Well I didn't get out last night as it rained in an absolutely biblical fashion, I was surprised there weren't frogs everywhere afterwards! However, it was overcast but dry today so I went out this afternoon and did the Alec's hill ride but did a lap of one of the industrial estates in Kirby.

Although the sun came out half way around the route it was extremely windy all the way around. The industrial estate was curiously cool as it was deserted so a bit like bombing around a race track! A fun ride and 22.9 to start August off.

9th August: Did the above route again today minus the Alec's hill bit. Extremely warm and very windy but 21.1 more miles in the bag.

15th August: Did the above route again today. Fairly warm and very windy but 21.1 more miles.

16th August: Did a fairly short ride today as James hasn't been on his bike much over the last month for various reasons. It was a route I found on Cycle Routes and turned out to be a nice flat ride through farmland and small villages.

The weather was distinctly autumnal with a fairly strong wind all the way around which miffed James somewhat and seven miles from the car the rear of my bike started feeling very bouncy - puncture. Yay. Given that at least 3/4 of the entire route was lined with freshly flailed hawthorn hedges it was no huge surprise and my new Lezyne pump meant a new tube tube was fitted and ready to go in no time. Anyhow, 26.0 more miles.

24th August: Revisited the route I got from Alix's dad that we did back in March. The traffic was worse than I remembered and the roads are often appalling, especially coming into Todmorden, but it is still a beautifully scenic ride.

The weather was hot but with a cold breeze which made for very pleasant cycling conditions and I think I finally becoming a roadie, the second half of the ride has a couple of very long climbs and I really enjoyed them both! Another 33.6 miles in the bag for August.

25th August: The weather's very meh today but I wanted to get out the house so I decided to do the old Coach road route on the road bike as a bit of an experiment. By concentrating constantly, trying to stick to 8-10 mph, avoiding the big cracks and off-camber bits because the algae makes it very slippery, I managed to survive and it's 14.7 more miles for the month.

26th August: Did the local 18 with the industrial estate tacked on. It was hot but extremely windy all the way around but I managed an average of 17mph so not too bad.

Quite hard work with the wind but another 21.1 for August. 

28th August: I need alot of miles to complete August so when mum suggested taking my niece and nephew, Adam and Daisy (and Adam's friend Ethan), to Farmer Teds for the day, I decided to ride there.

The weather on the ride there was glorious August summer sun, the sky then went black and it rained for a couple of hours which didn't bode well for the ride back. However, by the time we left the sky was pure blue and sunny again so a very pleasant ride back too! Another 27.2 for August. 

31st August: Did a ride with James today that we first did in early March. The weather was spot on, hot and sunny but with a cold wind, which is ideal for cycling.  

The route is heavily trafficed in quite a few parts but we both really enjoyed it, even the long climb up the Blackrod by-pass! The route was 27.0 miles and after a busy last few days, August goes out with 214.7 miles on the clock.

Some much needed new pedals for the Roux.

The only spare pedals I had when I bought the Roux were some extremely cheap platforms that I think I got from ebay. As well as being big and heavy, the bearings in these pedals have gone very notchy and graunchy so they have to go to the great recycling bin in the sky.

Both my Dave Yates and the Whyte have Shimano Saint pedals but I thought these were a bit heavy and chunky for a road bike. After a bit of research, I decided on V12 Mag's by DMR Bikes. They're 150g a pair lighter than the Saints and have buttery smooth bearings so I'm very pleased so far.

I'm just really not looking to the first time my foot slips off one and the cranks spin round and smashes it into my shin...

New wheels for the Roux!

A quick trip up to Ribble Cycles this morning and the bike has new wheels - Mavic Aksium S wheels to be exact. Unlike conventional wheels, they have 20 spokes each rather than 32 and each spoke is flattened so it slices through the air. To make them even stiffer and more aerodynamic, the front wheel and the non-drive side of the rear wheel are radially laced. Every cycling expert on the entire internet says a wheel upgrade is the best first upgrade to make on a bike. With a wheel, you're expending energy to turn the wheel and energy to move it along in space so in effect you get double the weight saving over a heavier wheel.

Overall the wheels should be faster and more efficient to ride and at less that £200 I reckon they make a great first upgrade for a budget bike, too.

I'm going for a ride later so the Garmin will reveal the truth...

Update: These wheels are amazing! The first 3.7 miles of my local 18 route is slightly uphill all the way and I tend to average about 15-16 miles per hour. This afternoon I was somewhat surprised to see it was 18 miles an hour! The downside is that they are a lot stiffer and more jarring than normal 3-cross wheels but it's a fair trade-off for the extra speed I reckon.

Review: Planet X titanium quick release skewers.

One of the things I don't like on my Roux road bike is the quick releases, they're chunky and heavy and not particularly good looking. A quick Google later and despairing of finding reasonably priced titanium road skewers I discovered Planet X. Made of carbon fibre and aluminium with titanium shafts they're extremely light and beautifully made - a big WIN!

Here's the front one...

...and the rear one

I have to say I'm very pleased and they're definitely a lot lighter than the ones the bike came with, definitely recommended.

July 2014.

3rd July: Had the day off work today but we had a family night out for a curry last night with rather a lot of lager so not feeling up to anything huge today. In the end I decided to do the local 18 with Alec's hill chucked in at the end then back through the village.

The weather was overcast and fairly windy but nice and warm so a quite pleasant 19.7 to start July off.

5th July: It's time to reveal my dirty little secret... I already own a road bike! Nearly a year ago, when I hadn't been back on my bike long, I bought a bike through the cycle to work scheme. The bike is a Roux Menthe and is what's called an Audax style bike ie a road bike with slightly relaxed angles designed for all day riding.

The gears were incredibly badly setup when I picked it up and it seemed to resist shifting properly whatever I did so I did a couple of 20 milers on it and it's leaned against the radiator in the living room ever since. Given that I'm vaguely thinking of buying a road bike, I thought I'd sort out the Roux and have another go. I fitted a new PC-971 last night and got the gears working this morning and I've just been out and done the route above again for 19.7. To be honest, I really enjoyed it! The carbon fork and cromoly frame really absorb road buzz and shocks and it's definitely no light weight but the skinny tyres definitely make it feel faster on inclines than the Whyte or the Dave Yates.

6th July: Took the Roux out again today and did the Alec's hill route but instead of heading back down from Crank, I carried on and came back via Crawford.

Yesterdays ride and todays were both a bit dodgy in a sense as I was out without any spare tubes in my kit although I do have a repair kit... From experience though, when skinny tyres at 100 psi let go they don't just go down, they explode off the rim leaving two tattered ends on the inner tube. I guess I was lucky though and I have a couple of Conti tubes on their way from Amazon. Anyhow, it's another 23.4 miles in the bag.

8th July: Just got back from Merlin Cycles with some new tyres for the Roux - Conti Grandprix GT. They were, like the Conti MTB tyres, a pig to get on and required metal tyre levers and a lot of swearing! The final tally was two destroyed inner tubes but 3rd time evidently is lucky - why are Conti tyres so bloody tight? If I get a puncture on a ride, I've got very little chance of successfully repairing the wheel!

I chose Grand Prix GT because they have the extra wide PolyX anti puncture strip inside and are made from Conti's latest uber-rubber which they call Black Chili. It's supposed to have lower rolling resistance, better grip and better wear than standard compounds. I guess time will tell! 

Just been out and done 19.2 miles on the new tyres and I'm very impressed so far. Compared to the cheapy Chinese tyres that were on the bike, the rolling resistance is noticeably lower which is always a good thing!

10th July: Did a version of Alec's hill tonight for 19.7. Very hot and sunny but still loving the Grand Prix tyres - they are SO smooth!

13th July: Just got in from a brill ride with James. We loved the last ride up near Blackpool so we tried one generated by Map my Ride's 'Route genius' feature. It was fantastic but, true to form, there were a couple of weird bits. At one point we were directed into the garden of an agricultural college and ended up going along this path through a wood that came out onto a gravelled road about half a mile long - interesting on 700c x 25 tyres!

I definitely need to get up to speed with these skinny tyres though. When I arrived at the car park at Kirkham, I found that rear tyre had somehow blown itself of the rim wrecking the inner tube in the process. I only had one spare so it was another ride with no spares... Strangely though, I was able to get the tyre back on just using my thumbs so maybe folding tyre beads do stretch a bit once they've been on a while?

Here's a random pic of our bikes outside Londis in Stake Pool where we stopped for a 'lots of mini cheddars' break. A great ride with another 37.9 miles in the bag.

14th July: Did the local 18 on the Roux tonight ending up at my dad's house for 18.0 miles exactly. It was extremely warm but with a strong head wind for about two thirds of the ride so I was very pleased to average 17.4 miles an hour.

16th July: Did the local 18 but back via Crawford like I did on the 6th but with the new Aksium wheels fitted. I averaged 17.6 miles per hour instead of 16.1 - an increase of 1.5 miles per hour which was awesome and another 23.3 miles for July.

As a slight aside, I managed to time this ride perfectly and ended up cycling through torrential rain. The roads must've been greasy because it hasn't rained for so long but I didn't have a single squirrelly moment on the Grand Prix tyres - I guess the black chili compound works as claimed!

18th July: Just done the local 18 in one hour dead for an average of 17.9 mph. A great average but I nearly suffered death by sweating when I got back! 17.9 more miles in the bag. 

22nd July: Did the Alec's hill route this evening but starting and finishing at my folks house for a decent 19.5 miles. It was a nice ride but absolutely roasting again!

25th July: Did the local 18 in 59 minutes, my best ever time. I hope this hot weather breaks soon though, I'm getting bored of being a dripping mess when I get in. Anyhow, that's more 17.9 miles. 

26th July: I needed some new pedals for the Roux as the cheap ebay ones on it are getting seriously graunchy so I cycled up to Leisure Lakes in Tarleton and bought some DMR V12 Mag pedals. Very hot ride but another 32.6 miles. 

27th July: Did a massive 2.6 miles around the village today! I needed this rather short ride to get my Map my Ride 250 mile badge.

 This was quite a fun idea, the aim being to do as much mileage as possible in the 22 days of the TdF and virtual badges were awarded for 100, 250, 500, half a tour and the full tour. I hit 100 quite easily so decided to go for the 250 which explains my higher than average mileage this month.

Finally: I've got a bad dose of the 'can't be arseds' tonight so as a penance I decided to give the Roux a much needed clean: a full deep clean for the chain, a good t-shirting for the cassette, the drive side crank and rings off for a thorough clean and a de-crudding of the jockey wheels so at least I've achieved something this evening! The final total for the month is a very good 271.4.