An awkward cycling ailment.

For the last couple of months I've had a miscoloured patch right at the top of my left thigh. It was a sort of yellowy pink colour with quite distinct darker pink edges. It didn't hurt at all but did itch slightly occasionally. I googled it and found it was quite common among people who do a lot of sport and is known in the UK as Dhobi itch and as Jock itch by the Americans. It's caused by a fungus that lives in the skin and it's very easy to treat.

Any kind of fungicidal ointment from the chemist or supermarket will shift it quite easily. I bought Canesten (which actually says on the back of the box that it's for treating Jock itch) but you could use Daktarin or an own brand, the key ingredient is the anti-fungal agent clotrimazole. Just apply two or three times a day, don't share towels and always wash your bib shorts after every ride and it should dissappear in a couple of weeks.

July 2017.

2nd July: I'm very pleased to be able to say that I kicked July off this year with a new milestone in my cycling career, I've finally done a metric century! I've decided to try and do a sportive a month while the weather holds and the only one in my neck of the woods was the 'Hoy 100' hosted by Evans Cycles. There were two routes on the day with riders able to choose from either a 100 km or a 100 mile route with Sir Chris Hoy himself joining the longer ride. Naturally, being a wuss, I signed up for the 100 km route and showed up at Arley Hall near Lymm at about eight in the morning. I signed in and zip tied my number to the bike and headed for the start line. It was pretty well organised and we were let out in batches from about 8:45 so we were soon on our way.

Apart from some appallingly potholed and broken up roads around Altrincham it was a pretty enjoyable ride. It was mainly sunny blue skies with a few clouds and pleasantly warm rather hot. I was worried about running out of energy later in the ride but I was fine, I'd had some chicken breast and brown rice for breakfast and had a few Soreen mini bars with me along with my usual 750 ml bidon of squash and I only ended up eating three of the Soreen mini bars. I was feeling a bit flat over the last few miles but I reckon if I'd have eaten the last two bars I'd have flown in. The end was very well organised as well, we were given an event casquette, a finishers medal and a voucher for a free burger or hotdog as we got back in which was very good, freshly barbecued with lots of salad. Also, given the slight coincidence of the Giant passing the 4,000 mile mark on my first ever sportive, I passed the '10,000 miles since I started cycling again' on this, my second sportive with a current total of 10,003.5 miles. A satisfying ride and 106.2 km to start July off.

5th July: I took the Giant out after work this evening planning a relaxed ride to loosen my legs up again after the weekend's sportive. It was fairly warm and sunny without much wind so I took the shortcut to the farm track and did three up and downs before heading back. It was a gorgeous evening and I saw a lot of other cyclists about and ended up having an amusing encounter on the way back in. I saw a rider on a road back up ahead of me and decided to reel him in. As I got closer I spotted that he was on the same bike as mine, a 2015 Giant Defy Advanced 2 so as I passed him I turned and said "Nice bike!". I'm not sure he'd spotted that we were on the same bikes because he replied, in a slightly bemused tone of voice, "Thank you!" in a surprising rich Scottish burr. Anyhow, a very pleasant ride and another 25.1 miles.

8th July: Todays ride was well though out and planned but actually turned out to be something of a bungle tour. I'd planned a nice 42 mile route in Ride with GPS that headed towards Leisure Lakes but then skirted Southport via a quiet cross country route and then met up with the end of the farm path for home. It was fairly warm and sunny without much wind so I was enjoying the ride towards Leisure Lakes until I got to the first part of the 'new' route. It was a private farm track! As is often the case drawing your own routes, it can be very hard to see what kind of roads you're including in your route. I'd drawn the route with Ride with GPS set to satellite, it would be more sensible to have it set on Map to  distinguish which tracks are actually roads and which ones aren't. Anyhow, I turned around and carried on and ended up having a quick wander round at Leisure Lakes before heading back the way I'd come. 32.6 miles.

12th July: I really dropped on with the weather tonight; we've had a lot of rain recently but today was hot and sunny without much wind so I took the Giant out for a spin after work. I took a shortcut to the farm track and did three up and downs and I clearly wasn't the only person enjoying the sun as I can't remember the last time I saw so many cyclists out. My legs were struggling for a while to start with but kicked in eventually and I averaged 17.0 mph on the ride which is pretty good and another 25.1 miles.

15th July: It rained this morning so I knew it was going to be wet out there so Awesom-O got a rare summer ride. It was overcast but warm without much wind and my legs felt great from the start so a pretty enjoyable ride. I took the shortcut to the farm track and then did three up and downs as it gradually got brighter but windier. One thing that was very noticeable was the sheer number of birds I saw, they were everywhere, I even saw a goldfinch and a crow drinking from the same puddle which was odd. I think the crows are this years young because I regularly see four hanging about together and they're not as cautious as the parents are when I cycle past. Anyhow, a fun ride and another 25.6 miles.

18th July: Another pleasant and fairly sunny today so I took the Giant out for a spin after work. I took the shortcut to the farm track and did three up and down and then came back a slightly longer way. The wind was fairly strong so it was a case of flying along the track on the way out and then battling the headwind on the way back in which was hard work. It wasn't all bad though as I somehow managed to average 17.2 mph which was pretty good. A hard ride but another 25.2 miles in the bag.

24th July: I had the day off work today so I was really hoping the weather would be nice as we've had a lot of rain recently. As it turned out it was a glorious day, hot and sunny with big fluffy clouds in the sky and hardly any wind so I took the Giant out for a spin. I'd intended to do the usual, three ups and downs of the farm track, but unforeseen circumstances put paid to that plan. I was heading outwards on my second 'up' when I found a couple of Transit vans delivering a small digger had blocked the track so headed back and went exploring.

I ended up taking a very scenic back road into Aughton before turning around and finishing the ride with a loop. Because I hadn't been out for six days my legs felt great and it was a very enjoyable ride over all and possibly one of my last on the Giant. I can't say too much at the minute but this picture of the quick release temporarily adorning the Giant is a clue... A very enjoyable 25.7 miles.

29th July: Well, the rain finally stopped at around mid-morning so I was glad to be able to take the Giant out for a ride. It was actually quite a nice day with little wind and big white clouds suspended in a blue sky so I ended up exploring a bit.

I did a length of the farm track and back and then got bored with that so I ended up heading into Aughton the back way again which is very scenic and did some exploring there. Unfortunately the road ended up at a dual carriageway at both ends so I didn't get far but at least I know that now. I then came back the long way around the loop and rode up and down Church Road to add a bit of distance. A fun ride and another 26.4 miles towards a total of 251.7 for July, it would have been nice to reach 300 again but it's been quite a wet month and there's always August to look forward to.

Lost your quick-link pliers? Here's a workaround to get you up and running.

I don't know about you but I am always losing my quick-link pliers which is incredibly annoying if you want to whip your chain off for a re-lube. I can't claim to have invented this particular fix but I use it regularly with 100% success.

You simply take an old (or new if you keep a lot of spares) gear inner cable and feed it down one side of the quick-link and back up through the other side of it. Now cross the ends of cable over and pull. The links should pop straight open with very little effort. Thank you internet.

Finally, the correct screwdriver for adjusting the screws on Shimano derailleurs.

I can't be the only home mechanic who's wondered why adjusting the stop screws on Shimano rear derailleurs is such a fiddle. I came across the answer recently browsing bike websites and have finally got the answer. Shimano are a Japanese company and, despite probably exporting 90% of their products outside of Japan, have used Japanese standard screws.

 

In this case the standard is JIS (standing for Japanese Industrial Standard, funnily enough) and the size is +2. This is a trick owners of Japanese motorbikes have been aware of for years although it seems to be taking longer for the cycling community to catch on. Anyhow, I found this screwdriver on Amazon, although a quick Google suggests it's available from many different vendors now, and I can confirm it fits the derailleur screws perfectly!

Protecting your Brooks saddle from the rain and spray.

One downside to owning a Brooks saddle is that they are made of leather and thus vulnerable to getting wet. Getting wet on it's own isn't a huge problem but Brooks do say never to ride on a wet saddle as the water softens the leather which can permanently deform it with the rider's weight on it.

Various companies, including Brooks, sell fancy covers but I decided on a more red neck approach. If you put a carrier bag over the saddle and then twist each handle around the seat post in the opposite direction and tie the ends together, it creates a rather handy free saddle cover!

June 2017.

1st June: It's finally summer, huzzah! It was overcast and breezy after work tonight so I took the Giant out for a ride. I was going to do the farm track and a couple of loops but as I started the second loop I saw a horsist further down the road so I turned around and ended the second loop the wrong way around. For the second time recently I saw about twenty cyclists hanging around on the corner of Hall Lane and Intake Lane and then I passed a peloton of about another twenty as I carried on down the road. I've had a quick Google and think it might have been St. Helens Cycle Racing Club. Anyhow, a fun ride and 22.4 miles to kick summer off.

4th June: Today's ride was something of an experiment. I've heard how, back in the early days of cycling, a popular way to lubricate your chain was to submerge it in molten wax. The benefit of this is that the wax stays in the rollers providing lubrication but flakes off the outside of the chain leaving bare metal so there's nothing for dirt to stick to. There's been a bit of a buzz recently in the cycling world after velolabs did a test that paraffin wax was by far the best lube in terms of efficiency and longevity. With that information, and the promise of a cleaner drive train, I decided to give it a go. I ordered some graphite powder and wax from eBay and managed to find a crockpot on Gumtree for less than a tenner and set to work.

I degreased an FSA Team chain and melted 500 g of wax along with a couple of teaspoons of graphite powder and a small block of beeswax (which makes the wax a bit more tenacious) and soaked the chain in it until I couldn't see any more tiny air bubbles appearing (the bubbles appear as the wax gets into each roller displacing the air) and then hung the chain up outside until it cooled down. Threading the chain back on the bike is a pain as you have effectively turned it into a stick and getting the quick link closed is something of a challenge as well but I got there in the end. I took the Giant out and did the farm track and a loop with the newly waxed chain. It was quite sunny but with a fresh breeze so quite a nice ride. The chain was super smooth and quiet although you can hear the chain riding onto the front chainring as you ride along which is novel. The great thing about wax is that if it runs out or gets contaminated, you just chuck it back in the crockpot and start again. Anyhow, I'll persevere with it and report back how I get on. 18.8 oil-free miles.

7th June: Despite the weather today looking a bit sketchy I was determined to get out for a quick ride after work. Before setting off however I decided to wax the chain one more time because I'd noticed the shed wax coming out of the chain was black signifying that it was removing muck from within the links. I gave it a ten minute soak but I didn't hang the chain outside this time. Instead I just let it finish dripping and installed it whilst it was still warm which was way easier than letting it harden into a stick! I'm testing a new app at the moment called 'Rain Today' that a mate of work put me onto and it turned out to be scarily accurate.

The BBC weather website showed it being overcast and dry so I was happy to take the Giant out. As I was leaving however, the app told me it would start raining in 24 minutes. I set off to do the farm track and a loop and, hey presto, after about 25 minutes it started raining! It wasn't heavy, the sort of rain that gets you wet but doesn't seem to wet the road much, so I didn't end up soaked and it was pleasant enough ride overall. Anyhow, another 20.2 miles.

9th June: We've had a lot of rain recently so when it dried up this evening I took the Giant out for a spin. It was overcast and chilly when I set out but I soon warmed up. I did two runs of the farm track which was really cool because I saw another hare. They must be able to run fast because I startled it and it ran off along the path away from me. I was rolling at 13-14 mph but it got a long way ahead very quickly before jinking left into a field. It was smaller than the one I've seen in the field before so there's probably a family of them which is awesome. Anyhow, I followed it with a loop and headed home for 24.6 miles.

11th June: I had quite a weird ride today. My new app, RainToday, said no rain predicted and the BBC weather website said overcast but dry so I took the Giant our for a spin. It was windy but warm so the ride proceeded normally enough. I wasn't far into the ride however when it started drizzling. It eventually stopped but it started and stopped at least another six times on the ride, the last time heavily enough to give me a light soaking and make the brakes on the Giant yowl. On a different note, there was some kind of organised bike ride on today. There were fluorescent directions signs on various lamp posts and groups of riders on the farm track; I Googled it when I got in but I haven't managed to find out what the ride was. Anyhow, two lengths of the farm track and a loop for another 24.6 miles.

13th June: It started off overcast, warm and calm this evening and ended up the perfect summer evening with blue skies and warm sun. I took the Giant out to do the usual ride and ended in detente with the horsists! I was heading down the farm track and I saw two girls on horses up ahead. I slowed right down until I saw that both horses had glanced around and knew I was there, about 10 yards back, and I was just about to ride past when one of the girls smiled and shouted "You should've just shouted, we'd have moved out of the way for you!". I thanked her and carried on not thinking any more of it. About forty minutes later (I'd done farm path, loop, farm path for a change) I was riding up the path again and they were coming towards me this time. I smiled and waved at the same girl and got a very giggly "Hello again!" back. A fun ride and another 24.7 miles.

17th June: It was an absolutely boiling hot day today but I wanted to get out to test my new GPS computer, a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt. I'd given up ever getting useful navigation from a Garmin but I've heard so many good things about Wahoo's devices that I decided to give one a try. I won't go into any details, there are tons of reviews on the internet, but I'm very pleased with it. I've got my first sportive tomorrow so I re-waxed the chain and headed out to do the farm track and a loop. It was a pleasant enough ride and I discovered a skill I never knew I had as I was cycling back along the bypass - I can ride no handed! I only did about 50 yards because I was paranoid about hitting something and being flung off but it was fun. As I said, it was very hot but a fun ride and another 18.9 miles.

18th June: It was the hottest day of the year so far, around 28c, and I did my first official Sportive today. It was called the West Coast Classic and, as is usually the case, it had different routes of varying mileage. I opted for the 54 mile route because my left knee's still a bit twingey. I turned up at Preston college at about 8 o'clock, got the bike together and we on the road by 8:50. The ride went great, I ended up following a young girl in a black and white top riding a Canyon as she seemed to be setting a pace I was happy with (a quick check of the results page revealed she was called Amy Twigge, cool name!). The ride was HOT and quite fun, we stopped for 10 minutes in Lytham for refreshments where I topped up my water bottle with Powerbar energy drink (sticky!) and had a tray of chips and then it was back on the road for the last 20 miles back to the college.

The bike was great, the Wahoo Elemnt navigated perfectly, my knee was fine, the waxed chain was great and we were soon back at the college where we were given a medal, a t-shirt and, a Powerbar Protein Plus Sports Milk drink and a Meridian almond bar. It wasn't a perfect ride, some of the roads are terrible, I thought I'd lost a front tooth at one point as I hit some unidentified bit of road damage, so I probably won't do it again but it was an enjoyable experience over all and great for the tan. The final tally was 53.8 miles done in a not too shabby moving time of 3 hrs 02 mins with an average of 17.7 mph and coincidentally this was the ride that took the Giant past the 4,000 mile mark.

20th June: It was another boiling hot day today but I managed to get out on the Giant after work. It was hot and sunny but very windy. I was averaging over eighteen miles an hour by the time I'd done the nine miles to the end of the farm track but that quickly dropped to seventeen by the time I'd ridden into the wind back to the start. Anyhow, I did two lengths of the track and then headed back through the village for a fairly sweaty 21.7 miles.

22nd June: The tyres on the Giant have around 3,600 miles on them and the rear one is seriously flat across the central section so I replaced them with the same tyres, Continental Grand Prix GT, but in the larger 28 mm size. The roads on the sportive last weekend, plus the latest thinking about bigger tyres being faster rolling, led me to size up and buy these. I fitted them (with no levers, amazingly!), inflated them to 10 psi less than the 25's, and headed out and did the farm track, a loop and a quick length of Sineacre Lane to add a bit of distance. It was very windy so hard to detect any change in rolling resistance but the new tyres definitely protect you better when you hit a section of really rough tarmac. I won't top them off before the next ride and see if they're any faster or comfier. Anyhow, 20.7 miles.

24th June: It was overcast and a bit fresh today but I took the Giant out for a spin anyway. My initial plan had been to take a shortcut to the farm track and then do three lengths to get some decent mileage in but there were quite a few cyclists on there, including a guy I got stuck behind for a while who was running 23 mm tyres which was brave.

At this point I decided to do what would be the rest of the local twenty seven miler as a real test of the new bigger tyres because some of the roads are terrible. Pretty soon after, the sun came out and it warmed up a bit and the tyres really helped absorb some of the worst of the road surface so it turned into a pretty fun ride. Another 24.7 miles.

27th June: It rained all morning today so getting out for a ride wasn't looking promising. Luckily it stopped mid-afternoon and it had dried up quite nicely by the time I got in so I managed to get out for a ride. I'm experimenting with the new 28 mm tyres at the moment trying to find the optimum pressure so I let them down and then inflated them 65F / 70R and headed out. I took a shortcut via Dairy Farm Road and the OCR to the farm track and did two up and downs followed by a blat up and down Sineacre Road. The tyres did feel a little soft occasionally but otherwise they were brilliant; very fast but very smooth as well. I think hitting anything sharp risks causing a snakebite at these pressures but otherwise I think I'm pretty much spot on. I've got another big sportive on Sunday so I might pump them up to 68F / 73R beforehand as a precaution but it's looking good so far. Anyhow, another 20.9 miles.

30th June: I ended up having quite a bitty ride today. I'd taken a shortcut to the end of the farm track and was planning to do three lengths but for some reason, there was a class 2 wagon and a van on the path that were tricky to get around and more cars than usual so I ended up doing just one length and then added a couple of loops. I ran the tyres at 68F / 73R and they weren't as smooth as before but felt better able to survive Britain's lovely roads so I'll leave them as they are for tomorrow's sportive. Anyhow, another 20.5 miles for a good monthly total of 316.5.

Full stem slammage on the Giant.

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!