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.
At both of the recent sportives I've done, Carlisle and County Durham, the finisher's pack included a Wilkinson Sword Hydro 5 Sense razor (you have to love the randomness of the gifts you get in these finishing pacs!). I tried it on my face and it was good but the large amount of real estate around the actual blades meant it wasn't ideal for shaving around a beard line or the little area right under your nose.
Not wanting to give up or waste it, I tried it on my legs and it was an absolute revealtion! No matter how slowly and carefully I shave my legs normally, I always manage to cut myself at least once. But not with this razor, I've done my legs a few times and this thing is a revelation - smooth legs and no irritating nicks or cuts. I'm keeping it!
5th May: It was a gorgeous start to the the May bank holiday weekend, really warm with largely blue skies, so I took the Strael out for a spin. I'm hoping to really get my tan started this weekend so I wore my Lusso shorts and Altura top. It's supposed to be hot and sunny until at least next Tuesday so I'm hoping to get out tomorrow and Monday as well. On a side note, I did something on today's ride that I've wanted to do for ages.
If you look across the fields to the left cycling down Outlet Lane, you can see nine single-storey brick buildings arranged in a perfect 3x3x3 grid. The field between the buildings and the path is just covered in last years stubble and was baked dry so I cycled 200 very bumpy yards over to one of the buildings and took a pic. I'm not sure what the buildings were built for but I do know there were a lot of internment and prisoner of war camps in this part of the country during world war two. Anyhow, I did four ups and downs for 30.9 miles.
6th May: Another gorgeous hot day today so the Strael got another outing. I did the usual and was going to do four ups and downs like I did yesterday but it was too hot so I stuck to three (I had red sunburned D-shaped patches on the backs of my hands from my gloves when I got in). My mum's friend Mavis came up with a great suggestion over lunch as to what the nine brick buildings might be - ammunition storage bunkers from world war two. I know there was a lot of munitions manufacturing around here and the fact that they're spaced so far apart suggests a deliberately designed safety feature, if one bunker exploded for any reason it wouldn't set off the others. One of my neighbours is a local historian so I'll run the theory past him the next time I see him. Anyhow, 25.3 more miles.
7th May: Yet another gorgeous day today so I took the Strael for another spin. Because I've been out in the sun two days on the trot I was getting rather pink so this time I slathered myself in factor 50 everywhere and headed out. It was a fairly uneventful ride but very hot so rather pleasant over all. I did three ups and downs for 25.0 miles in the end because I was boiling but a great ride for the tan!
13th May: Well, the day has finally arrived, my second sportive of the year. The event was the Wiggle County Durham Dynamo and, rather foolhardily, I'd signed up for the middle distance - 75 miles. I stayed in a budget hotel a few miles away so it was up early for a full English breakfast and I was signing in at 7:50. By 8:05 I was on the start line waiting to set off. The BBC weather website had predicted rain all day so I took every bit of cycling clothing with me on the trip and it's a good job I did. It was overcast initially so I wore my Stolen Goat over my Altura jersey which was perfect. By the first feed stop at 28 miles it was brightening up a lot so I changed the Stolen Goat for my Castelli jacket. It continued getting warmer and sunnier so at a t-junction just before the second feed stop I took the Castelli off and rode in my short sleeved jersey.
I stopped at the second feed stop and then carried on into what turned out to be a horrible climb and because of the dire weather predictions I'd taken Awesom-O on the ride so not the best bike for the job. It was hard work and I had to stop and take a breather half way up but made it eventually but by the top my legs were absolutely fragged which didn't help because there were plenty more smaller hills to follow. Looking back, we could see that we'd been at the bottom of a valley and were now up on the moors so no wonder it was tough! Anyhow, we carried on and got to the end for a total of 76.0 miles. A very hard ride but one I'm glad I conquered.
17th May: Today's ride was something of a wasted opportunity. The BBC weather website said it would be around 11-12 °C so I wore my Lusso shorts and Castelli jacket to take the Strael out to do the usual. As it turned out, it was sunny and pretty warm so I could have worn my short sleeved jersey and topped up my tan but hey ho. There wasn't much wind for a change so it was a fairly pleasant ride and I'm not sure if the secret of the farm track is getting out or not but I saw at lease half a dozen road cyclists which I suppose is a good thing. Anyhow, another 25.0 miles.
19th May: It was a gorgeous hot sunny day today so I took the Strael out to do the usual. I'm fed up with my Altura Peloton jersey because all the decals peeled off after a couple of washes and the 'yellow' bits are neither green or yellow but a weird sort of mixture. I was going to buy a La Passione jersey but their website is messed up so I bought a stolen goat top I've been drooling over for ages.
I wore it for today's ride and I'm extremely pleased with it, it's gorgeous quality and fits absolutely perfectly. The photo on their website doesn't really do it justice, the colours really pop on the real thing. Anyhow, it was warm and not too windy so a pretty good ride overall with a lot of other cyclists out and about and another 25.0 miles in the bag.
21st May: I had today booked off today because it was my mum's birthday yesterday so I took the Strael out to clear my head a bit. It was another hot and sunny day so I went out and did the usual. A very pleasant ride with nothing much to report and another 25.0 miles in the bag.
24th May: It was another hot and sunny day so after another boring day at work I manfully necked a mug of Tesco's Finest Sumatra Mandheling coffee and took the Strael out for a spin. I did the usual but finally remembered to explore a side path I've cycled past hundreds of times. The road had obviously been re-laid because it was black and as smooth as a race track and zig-zagged for about half a mile and came out at what looked like some kind of horse farm. The new road surface also explains some of the patched up potholes on the farm track, they'd obviously has some left over tarmac and been asked to use it up. Anyhow, it was an enjoyable enough ride except for the wind which was quartering behind me going up the track but quite hard work coming back down it. Coincidentally, and quite coolly, this proved to be the ride that finally got rid of my annual mileage deficit and took me over the 12,000 miles since I started again barrier. A decent ride and 25.7 more miles.
27th May: It was boiling hot day today, the BBC weather site said 24 °C but it felt hotter, so I took the Strael out for a spin. I was looking forward to this ride because, since reading an article on road.cc, I'd replaced my inner tubes with Vittoria latex ones and was dying to try them out. Although latex tubes need topping off before every ride because they're more porous they are supposed to have much lower rolling resistance than butyl tubes. Anyhow, I set off and headed for the farm track.
Bizarrely, despite being hot and sunny, it was incredibly windy. Heading up the track was great fun but it was a real chore heading back in the other direction. The tubes however were brilliant however, much faster and more supple than butyl. There are several sections of really sharp black tarmac on the track that normally really shake you up but they were much more pleasant on the latex tubes. I'm definitely not going back to butyl! 26.2 very sweaty miles.
28th May: It was a bit of an odd ride today. It was hot and sunny again so I took the Strael out to do the usual. It started off normally enough with no issues other than there being a lot of kids out walking dogs from the animal shelter which means slowing down a bit and generally trying not to startle anyone or the dogs. I then carried on and came across half a dozen youngsters with huge backpacks on who I suspect may have been cadets or something similar; they moved to one side of the path to let me pass but at this point in the ride I decided the path was too much hassle and decided to do the local 27 instead. Because it was so hot I didn't want to do the full distance so I took the long road that bypasses the industrial park and came home via the East Lancs. I stopped at the Co-op in the village on the way back and the sweat was pouring out of the back of my hands which doesn't happen very often unless it's very hot. The ride was shorter than I thought it would be so another 23.0 miles in the bag.
31st May: It was hot and muggy this afternoon after work so I took the Strael out for a spin. It started off bright but cloudy but around half way through the ride it started getting quite dark and a lot cloudier and threatened to start raining. It then did briefly rain for a few minutes which I enjoyed but it never really got going at which point it occurred to me that summer storms are associated with lightning and getting struck by lightning is not a good way to start summer!
On a side note, I did the short road up to the horse farm again to add a bit of distance and took this photo of a what turned out to be a funnel cloud. You can see the spiralling winds pulling a section of clouds downwards and the rain falling to the ground from the end of it - pretty cool! I was also quite peckish by this point so I ended up doing two ups and downs of the track and heading home via the kebab shop for 20.9 miles.
It's been a great May for cycling this year with lots of hot and sunny weather so I ended the month with a not too shabby total of 328.0 miles which is great because I've got rid of the mileage overdraft. Long may the sunny weather continue!
5th April: The weather's been really poor recently, constant heavy rain and wind but there's an area of high pressure over the UK at the moment and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous for the next few days. It's been a gorgeous warmish sunny day today so I decided to risk taking the Strael out to do the usual. I wasn't sure if the two big puddles would have had time to dry up so I was pleasantly surprised to see the first on had almost dried up and carried on up the path. I was less pleased however to see that the second puddle was a good twenty feet long and a couple of inches deep still but I guess I can always give him a good wash tomorrow. I've finally decided that the Brooks saddle isn't really suited to the Strael. The back bit under my bum is very comfortable but the nose is too wide and presses into the top of my thighs in quite an uncomfortable way. A couple of weeks ago I found a guy on Amazon UK selling tan Charge Scoop saddles for a very good price so I bought one for my spares box. I'll get it fitted over the weekend. 25.0 miles to start April off.
8th April: It rained most of yesterday but today was a beautiful day so, to clear my head after a rather nice pub lunch with the 'rents, I took Awesom-O out to do the usual. It was fairly sunny with little wind and maybe 12 °C so, for the first time this year, I wore my Lusso shorts instead of my Castelli longs!
It was a very pleasant ride, the sound of birdsong really heralds the arrival of warmer weather. There were loads of gold finches flying around the hedgerows and I lost count of the number of male blackbirds I got shouted at by. Awesom-O was running well with his new chain and the Pedro's syn Lube so quite enjoyable ride overall and another 25.0 miles in the bag.
14th April: I've had a weird cold for the last week, all the symptoms of a cold, in the correct order, but only about a quarter of the normal intensity, very strange! Anyhow, it was an absolutely gorgeous day today, blue sky with a few clouds and around 16 °C according to the BBC weather website. It's rained a bit recently so I took Awesom-O out because of the two huge puddles and I didn't want to get the Strael filthy. As it turned out, the puddles were both more or less gone so I could have taken the Strael after all. I debated just wearing a short sleeved jersey but took the Castelli Alpha instead. It was so warm in the sun I was actually too hot so I should have stuck with short sleeves after all. Anyway, it was quite windy but still a fun ride over all and another 25.1 miles.
21st April: It was unseasonally hot and sunny today so I took Awesom-O out to do the usual. I was on the first 'down of the path when I came around the corner and was confronted by a group of about thirty elderly people out for a group walk - definitely another first! Anyhow, at that point I decided to go exploring. I ended getting slightly lost and ended up going though Aughton and on towards Formby when I decided to turn around and make my way back as I was worried about getting sun burned. I eventually ended up in Ormskirk and got home via Edge Hill college along the dreaded Ormskirk road, or close-pass highway as it ought to be called. Anyhow, 27.3 miles and I did get slightly sun burned...
25th April: Today was a day of typical April weather! It 'd been grey and overcast all day at work with the odd light shower and as I was driving home the rain on the M62 became so heavy everyone put their headlights on (OK, except for a few Ford drivers...) and slowed down. Ten minutes and a few miles later it was warm and sunny with largely blue skies, very odd indeed. Anyhow, I'm very short of mileage for the month so I took Awesom-0 out to do the usual. I soon regretted it though as it was extremely windy. I almost turned around until I thought of rule #5 and decided to try and do at least one up and down. In the end my legs felt very good so I managed two up and downs for a rather tough 19.7 miles.
27th April: It rained all day today but I decided to take Awesom-O out for spin, at the very least I could finally test how waterproof the Pedro's Syn Lube was. The ride didn't start well as I got close passed riding out of the village, I knew I was going to be because I could here them accelerate to get past me before an oncoming car did. A Ford again... Anyhow, it wasn't too windy and, quite strangely, the two big puddles weren't even full although Awesom-O did get really filthy from all the mud on the path. I suspect there's been a lot of farm activity going on as there was lots of wet mud everywhere. Oddly, as I was on my second 'down' I could see a large 4x4 coming towards me so I pulled into a driveway to let him pass and he slowed down, gave me a really evil look and beeped his horn before carrying on. Whether he was blinded by the immense 20 lumens of my Knog Chippy or had just had a bad day at work, who knows? Anyhow I finished the ride. It wasn't that enjoyable because it was one of those odd rides where my legs never really kicked in. Another 25.1 miles.
29th April: As it turns out, Pedro's Syn Lube isn't 100% waterproof as there were a few rusty links this morning. On a related note, I'm currently testing the theory that it's degreasing the chain all the time that leads to short chain life so I just added one more drip of Syn Lube to each link, gave the cranks a few spins, and left Awesom-O hanging from the wall hanger. Because it hasn't rained for a while and it was quite sunny, I decided to take the Strael for a spin. Because I'm short of mileage and I'm determined not to miss another month I set myself the challenge of doing five ups and downs of the farm path instead of the usual three. The new Scoop saddle was comfortable but tilted too far down and forward so I stopped at the end of first 'up' and adjusted it. It was much more comfortable after that so I carried on. It was fairly cool, around 10 °C, and deceptively windy. Heading up the track was great - fast and not much effort involved but it was much harder work on the down stretch. Anyhow, I plugged away and eventually did the five and headed home. Aside from one close pass (a Ford again, spot the theme yet?) it was a tough but uneventful ride and a much needed 36.4 miles.
30th April: The weather wasn't ideal today but I was determined to get the monthly mileage in the bag so I took the Strael out again aiming to get around 18 miles in. It was dry but chilly and really windy so not much fun but I plodded on. Because I've not done it for ages I decided to get to the farm track via Dairy Farm Road and the OCR, both of which proved that skinny steel tubes and 28 mm tyres can't completely compensate for horrendous road conditions but ho hum...
Anyhow, it was horrendously windy, heading up the track was hard work and I was leaning over occasionally and feeling the wind tug my front wheel but a lot of fun heading back at top speed. I managed two ups and downs before I was due at the 'rents for spag bol so I managed 18.1 miles to end with a fairly satisfying 201.7 miles.
5th March: Finally! The beast from the East and storm Emma are both gone and the temperature is above zero so I took Awesom-O out for a spin. While the weather was bad I decided to take Awesom-O apart and give him a good clean. When I removed the cranks I noticed that one of the bottom bracket shells was really rough so I removed them and fitted an Ultegra one I had in my spares tub.
It took forty minutes of filing the plastic adaptor you get with the bottom bracket to get it to fit the tool so I've ordered a Park Tool BBT-59 for next time. Anyhow, it was overcast but bright and not too windy so it was quite a fun ride in the end. I came back via the bypass to avoid going through the village during the school run so it was 26.4 very smooth miles to kick March off.
8th March: Well today was a very strange day indeed weather-wise. I left the house this morning to go to work and found it was snowing heavily and there was a good two inches of snow on the ground (the press are calling this one The Pest from the West)! I legged back in to change out of my shoes and into my boots and then left for work. By lunchtime, the snow had stopped and the weather brightened up and actually turned quite pleasant. By the time I got home it was as if it had never snowed so I took Awesom-O out to do the usual. The weather was pleasant, around 5 or 6 °C and not too windy, but the snow melt had really filled the two big puddles; they were both around forty feet long and a good three inches deep so Awesom-O was an absolute state when we got back but it was a fun ride overall and 25.0 more miles.
13th March: It was a nice calm evening after work today, maybe 3 or 4 °C with very little wind, so I took Awesom-O out to do the usual. It'll soon be time to put the lights away because it was still light when I left the house at six o'clock and didn't start getting dark until the second 'down' of the three ups and downs. Other than that it was pretty uneventful ride although I did have another of my 'firsts'. I was heading along the exposed section of the track on my third 'up' and my light picked something out on the path ahead. I looked down and there was a large rat, or possibly water vole, casually walking across the path ahead of me. There's a drainage stream running between two fields running up to the path at that point so maybe he was just visiting friends, who knows? Also, slightly annoyingly, Awesom-O has developed a really weird rattling noise which will need investigating before we next go out. Anyhow, another 25.3 miles and, coincidentally, the ride that took Awesom-O over the 4,000 mile threshold!
22nd March: Another finally! It's been very wintry recently and the Beast of the East came back for two or three days so the chances to get out have been slim. Before heading out though, I had to find out what the rattling was on the last ride. The rear mudguard is held on at the top by a plastic assembly that clips over the 'guard and is pinned between the rear brake and the seat stay bridge. It turns out mud had been building up in the clip and it had abraded a rectangular gap into each side of the mudguard so it was free to jiggle around! I took the mudguard off, washed and dried it thoroughly and then degreased the affected areas with isopropyl alcohol. I then liberally applied Araldite Rapid around the whole clip area and put it back together. The next morning the whole thing was as solid as a rock so that was a nice win. It wasn't too cold tonight, maybe 7 ° C, and not too windy so a very enjoyable ride and Awesom-O was as quiet as a well oiled machine should be again. Another 25.1 miles on the clock and a 55 mile sportive in the Lakes on Saturday to look forward to as our next ride.
24th March: I did my first sportive of the year today, the No Excuses Cumbria sportive. The weather was predicted to be pretty much perfect, sunny with not much wind so I put Awesom-O in the car and headed for Carlisle race course. Slightly worryingly, as we set off at about ten past eight the weather was very cold and foggy but by mile ten there were patches of blue appearing in the fog and by mile fifteen the fog had burned out and it proved to be a very pleasant sunny day. The ride was going well up to the feed stop when I took a very welcome bathroom break and had a slice each of fruit, cherry and ginger cake and a cup of water and headed off again. Not long after I set off again, I rounded a bend to be face with an enormous hill. It was seriously hard work and I wasn't 100% convinced I was going to make it. I was grinding away in bottom gear staring at the road six feet in front of the front wheel fantasising about reaching the top.
There was something of a false summit and then it carried on climbing, around 800 feet of elevation by the time I finally reached the top and my legs were absolutely burned out. I then arrived at this tiny hamlet where there was a sign asking HGVs to engage their crawler gear at which point my heart sank but I carried on. The road was 17% but only a few yards long and I admit I got off and walked for about ten yards, my legs were just fragged. I carried on though and my legs recovered in time for the last few miles and I arrived back at the race course and got a finisher's medal, a pair of ukcyclingevents.co.uk socks and choob, a protein gel and a Wilkinson Sword Hydro 5 Sense razor (you have to love the sheer randomness of sportive finisher packs!). A hard ride but another 55.4 miles for March.
30th March: I've had a bit of a case of the can't be arseds recently because it's been cold and windy so I performed a bit of preventative maintenance on Awesom-O. I took his cassette off and cleaned every cog with an old t-shirt and then removed the freehub. I took the freehub off mainly to see if I could because this is the wheel that had to go back to Hunt because the end nut froze onto the axle. It came off OK so I took the freehub off and air-blasted the old lube out of the three pawls and put a single drop of Morgan Blue race oil on each one and put it back together. I slathered the threads on the axle and the ones in the end nut with Finish Line grease, to prevent them freezing together again, and put it back together. I also decided to have another look at his front shifting.
I don't use the big ring on any of my bikes so I don't worry about setting up the front shifting. Anyhow, after about fifteen minutes in the workstand he now has what turned out to be perfect shifting! I took him out to do the usual this afternoon and definitely had another cycling first. I decided to add a bit of distance by heading back up Hall Lane and as I was cycling along, a male and two female ducks walked slowly out of the hedge and into the road. In the middle of the lane, the male duck jumped on the back of one of the females, gripped her neck in his beak and started doing the business. Luckily it's a quiet road and there was no traffic but definitely not a safe place to get amorous! Anyhow, another 25.4 miles at a very 'good for the season' average of 16.7 mph.
Update: I've just checked the chain and the 0.75% end of the Park gauge drops through most links at 694.4 miles so my EP90 and Morgan Blue Synlube experimental mixture is not a good winter lube. I've fitted a new chain and the next lube I'm going to test is Pedro's Syn Lube.
Well it was cold and windy today so I couldn't be arsed dragging myself out of the house. This means finishing the month on a less than optimal 182.6 miles but the evenings are really starting to brighten up and the weather's definitely getting warmer so I think I'm just tiring of the cold, miserable weather. Apparently it's going to be really warm and bright towards the end of next week so I'll definitely be taking Awesom-O, complete with new chain and lube, out for a spin then!
I was on the Simply Bearings website this afternoon and I decided to see what headset bearings Awesom-O has as I've never actually checked them. I dropped the fork and, at first, I couldn't understand why the bearing cartridges wouldn't come out. On closer examination they're not cartridge bearings at all, they're loose balls! The balls ride directly in the cups pressed into the frame, a race then sits on the balls and a wire cir-clip stops this race falling out. I cleaned it all out and re-greased but the bottom bearings are absolutely shot, they look like dark grey, pitted birdshot so I've ordered replacements. They're 5/32" and you will need 56 balls, 28 for each race.
4th February: It was an absolutely gorgeous day today, blue skies and barely any wind, so I really wanted to get out for a ride but dad texted and I ended up having a pub lunch with my parents in the afternoon so decided a ride in the evening would be a good way to clear my head. I ended up heading out at about six o'clock so I headed up the bypass for the farm track. It was really cold, maybe 1 or 2 °C but there was still barely any wind so it turned out to be quite an enjoyable ride overall and 25.0 miles to start February off.
10th February: The weather's been terrible recently, raining a lot and a couple of really cold days so I was determined to get out this weekend to get some mileage in. It was raining today but not too cold, maybe 5 or 6 °C, so I took Awesom-O out to do the farm track.
On the way there, I spotted a field where the farmer had let the cattle out into a field of sprouts which was cool; I can only imagine the smell in the cow shed tonight! Anyhow, it was raining and quite breezy, so a fairly rule #9 ride, but an OK ride overall and 25.0 miles towards the monthly total.
13th February: Quite an annoying ride tonight. It was very cold, maybe 1° C, but barely any wind so I took Awesom-O out for a spin. I got halfway up the bypass and realised I'd forgotten to put my overshoes on! Rather than turn around, I decided to carry on and see how far I got before the cold set into my toes. It was a very enjoyable ride initially, my legs felt great, but by the time I got to the end of the farm path my toes were absolutely freezing so I headed back home and grabbed a kebab on the way. A 20 minute hot bath when I got in saw my toes return to a colour resembling real human being and a not very good 13.7 miles.
15th February: The weather was going to be fairly decent today so I took Awesom-O out for a spin after work, not forgetting to put my overshoes on this time! Before I set off, I fitted Awesom-O with some new lights I'd bought following a review article on road.cc. They're called Orb, by Cateye, and are small red LED lights that replace your bar end plugs to give you improved visibility from behind. They operate on flash, blink and constant so I ran them on constant, the See.Sense is on pulse duties and I think you can have too much of a good thing.
The weather was cold, maybe 2 °C, and quite windy but at least it was dry. The wind was hard work on the outbound part of the track, particularly on the last run, but good fun coming back with wind behind me! The lights were good, it might have been coincidence but all the overtakes I got were grade 9 or 10 which is very unusual (where 0 is getting knocked off and 10 is the driver using the other side of the road like they're supposed to). Anyhow, a funnish ride and 25.1 miles. Oh, and I stopped for a kebab on the way home, I must stop doing that...
17th February: As I was getting Awesom-O out today, I heard a slight clunk as I put him down in the yard. I suspected his headset had come slightly loose again but thought it was odd because I had definitely fixed him properly recently. I checked the front wheel and found it move side to side about an eighth of inch - the bearing are toast at 1,816 miles! Anyhow, I decided I might as well ride him because I was all dressed and ready to go. The weather was beautiful, no wind, reasonably warm and a blue sky full of clouds so definitely a sign that spring is on the way. I decided to do the 27 25 route and apart from a couple of close passes, a white van (surprise!) on the way out of the village and a woman in a Fiesta later on, it was a very enjoyable ride. I took the axle and bearings out of the front wheel when I got in and the bearings are indeed toast, one is still very smooth but has some play in it, the other is extremely rough and has a lot of play in it. The wheels are Hunt Dura and the bearings are 609-2RS size so I've ordered some SKF replacements from www.simplybearings.co.uk who are a superb one stop shop for anything bearing related. Anyhow, another 25.1 miles.
20th February: The bearings for the front wheel arrived today so before heading out for a ride I decided to fit them rather than take the Strael. Before I started, I cleaned out the recesses in the wheel and greased them lightly to reduce water ingress and the chances of the bearings seizing in place in the future. Fitting is actually pretty easy but you need a 17 mm 3/8 socket plus a larger socket to act as an anvil. Lay the wheel on it's side on a firm surface and seat the bearing over the hole. Place the socket (open hex end facing the bearing) on the bearing and lightly tap the bearing into the hub. When the sound changes from hollow to solid you know the bearing is seated. Now lightly grease one end of the axle and feed it through the hub from the opposite side and insert it through the new bearing.
Now place the larger socket on the firm surface with the square hole facing upwards and place the wheel on it with axle inserted through the square hole. You can now use the 17 mm socket to seat the second bearing into the hub just like you did with the first one. Now just re-attach the end caps, tighten the 2 mm grub screws to stop the caps falling off and refit the wheel to the bike. After that, I took him out to do the farm track as usual. It was about 4 °C and not too windy so it was a pretty nice ride overall. I hadn't noticed the wobbly front front wheel before (you rarely do when a problem grows from nothing because it creeps up on you gradually) but the front of the bike definitely felt super smooth and quiet. 25.1 more wintry miles
Next day update: About half way around the ride yesterday I started to hear the front tyre make skittering noises whenever I went over over any damp mud or sand and assumed a bit of muck had started to build up under brake area of the mudguard because that's where it's closest to the tyre. I've just cleaned Awesom-O's chain and was putting it back on when I noticed two huge plumes of dried mud on the bottom end of the mudguard around the plastic flap. In the end I had to use a knife to remove about half a kilo of nearly dry mud! I can only assume some mud built up on the back of the plastic rivet that holds the flap on and as the damp mud was flicked up it started to build up - weird!
24th February: It was blue skies and sunny today and it hasn't rained for a few days so I took the Strael out for a spin. It wasn't too bad going up the bypass but the wind on the farm track was horrendous. It was blowing across the path but must have been slightly diagonal because going up the track was pretty normal but coming back along it was horrendous, I was struggling to maintain 11 mph! The ride back was all into the wind too and my legs were burning by the time I got home. On the plus side, riding the Strael again was fun and the brakes are just as impressive as I remember them. Another 25.1 miles.
Well, thanks to a rather liquid Sunday lunch this weekend I didn't make it out over the weekend and Britain is now suffering what the press are calling the 'Beast from the East'. We're on our second day of temperatures well into the minuses and most of Britain has had lots of snow so a slightly disappointing mileage of 164.1 for February. On the plus side, Awesome-O now has new front wheel and headset bearings so he should be good for another year or two and I've got a 75 mile sportive on Sunday, weather permitting, so here's hoping March is a good month!
Update: I got an email last night saying Sunday's sportive has been cancelled. The UK has had a lot more snow with continuing freezing temperatures and Storm Emma has hit the UK today on top of everything else so perhaps not entirely surprising...
