As anyone who reads this blog will know, I suffer badly from frozen toes in winter. I'm sure part of this is down to poor circulation in my feet but the fact I ride in cycling shoes with mesh panels in doesn't help. The panels are to let your feet breathe when the weather's hot and you're riding hard but they let a lot of cold air in.
I'm not sure where I first heard of it but this is a great tip. Pull out about nine inches of foil and fold it in half width-wise. Now put it across the toe end of your shoes and tuck the edges down and underneath around the front of your shoe. Now simply put your overshoes on as normal, over the foil, and no drafts will get through and you should have much warmer feet!
I flipped the bike up onto it's back wheel the other night to wheel it into the back yard and happened to noticed how dry and dirty the under bottom bracket cable guide looked. I wheeled the bike over to the lawn and flipped it upside down (apologies to disciples of rule #49...) and brushed out the cable guide and lubed the cable where it ran through it.
For this sort of lubrication, cables especially, I like to use a semi-wet lube. In this case White Lightning Epic Ride which I didn't rate much for chains but is great for this sort of job. Anyhow, slightly to my own surprise, the rear shifting is noticeably smoother and more accurate following this simple job. One to keep on top of in future!
3rd March: The weather was looking pretty poor today but I've started taking vitamin D again and was keen to get out. I took it last winter and felt it really helped my cycling so I was eager to get out for a ride. To that end, it was back into the stolen goat and long bibs and I took Awesom-O out to do the usual. We must have had a lot of rain recently, although I don't particularly remember it, because there were puddles everywhere on the ride although the two big were still mysteriously absent. It wasn't cold, maybe 8-10 °C, but it started out drizzling and ended up raining pretty consistently and I was soaked by the time I got in. It turns out the stolen goat climb and conquer is largely waterproof although, rather strangely,it was the points of my elbows that felt wet first. Anyhow, despite the wind and rain I felt perfectly warm and it was actually a very enjoyable ride and 25.0 to kick March off.
20th March: Well, after the longest break I can remember taking, I finally got out for a ride tonight. We had a week or so of crappy wet weather earlier in March followed by a good week of ridiculously windy weather centred around storm Gareth but, finally, an area of high pressure has arrived over the UK. The temperature display in my car read 19 °C at lunchtime today and there was barely any wind so I was looking forward to the ride. It had cooled down by evening but I wore my new Orro bib shorts with the Castelli over my merino underlayer with my Giro mitts and headed out.
It felt fresher that it should have done and my legs felt a bit off at first but I soon got into it and had a really enjoyable ride in the end. It was still just about daylight when I headed out and night fell as I rode which was interesting, bats flitted across the path in front of me on several occasions chasing the flying insects which was very cool. Anyhow, I did the usual and then headed back via the kebab shop for a very enjoyable 25.1 miles.
23rd March: It was quite a pleasant, sunny day today and it hasn't rained for a while so I took the Strael out for it's second spin of the year. Because it was quite sunny, I wore my new Orro shorts and my Giro mitts and then realised it was actually only 8 °C or so but it was OK when I warmed up. Talking of the weather, I have finally replaced my cycling shoes! My Shimano MT31s are at least 19 years old and they've always felt slightly tight, I suspect that's why I get frozen toes so easily because they restrict the circulation. The Giros are a lovely fit and it feels like there is room around the toes to keep the circulation going in winter so fingers crossed. Anyhow, it was very enjoyable ride and I saw loads of other cyclists out enjoying the sun which is always good and another 25.0 miles on the clock.
25th March: I wanted to get three rides in this weekend because I had Monday booked off but Sunday was ridiculously windy so I stayed home and gave the Strael a much needed wash instead. Anyhow, the weather was gorgeous, lots of blue skies and around 9 C, on Monday so took the freshly washed Strael out for another ride. I didn't do anything unusual, a quick look up Siding Lane and the usual three ups and downs of the farm path. Because I set off at about half two, I knew there'd be a small flurry of cars at one point as the local schools finished and parents picked their kids up. On my second down I saw a freshly run over hedgehog on the path which I'm sure I'd have noticed on my first 'up' if it had been there. I can only assume one of the cars got it as it tried to cross the path. Unfortunate but we live a car oriented society unfortunately. Anyhow, 25.4 miles.
27th March: The area of high pressure is still with us and it was a very pleasant sunny day today so I took the Strael out for a spin after work. It had been quite warm today but I heard on Radio 4 that some areas of the UK could freeze overnight so I was in something of a quandary as to what to wear. It was a bit chilly so I wore my Castelli bib longs and decided not bother with overshoes. As I set off, it did feel cool and my fingers were cold as I was wearing my mitts because they're so much more convenient than gloves which get sweaty and hard to take off and on. I soon warmed up and my hands were fine but at around 8 o'clock, as I was coming down the last 'down' the temperature absolutely plummeted and the the Wahoo said it was 36 °F which is 2.2 °C. I don't think it was that cold but by that point my feet were in agony and my fingers were starting to get really cold. One thing I forgot to mention is that as I was cycling along Barrow Nook Lane, I glanced up and it was a huge heron, it looked to have a good five foot wingspan. You see them all the time driving along the M62 to and from Manchester but I haven't seen one around here before. Anyhow, I manfully made it back and stopped for a warming kebab on the way home for another 25.1 wintery miles.
28th March: It was supposed to stay cloudy today and be a bit warmer than it was yesterday so I wore the same gear as I did yesterday and headed out to do the same ride. Like the ride yesterday, my legs felt great but the sky was fairly clear and I ended up with cold feet again so from now on I'm adopting a new rule: If it's cold enough for long bibs, wear overshoes! Anyhow, I had another strange animal encounter on this ride. I was on my second 'down' and was just puzzling over why about fifteen youngsters were coming along the path in dribs and drabs in the opposite direction to me (without a single light between them...) when I came across four miniature horses just milling around in the path.
Not wanting them to wander off and get run over I headed to the big horse farm half a mile up the path and cycled into the yard and chatted to a very nice young girl who said she thought she knew who they belonged to and would round them up on her way home, result! My feet were cold by this point so I headed home and cycled right down the bypass and came back through the industrial estate and the shared use path for 22.7 miles.
30th March: Today's ride turned out to be rather longer than anticipated. It was slightly warmer than it has been recently so I headed out to do three ups and downs of the farm path. I'd done two when I stopped to check something on my phone. As I put my phone away and was about to set off, I noticed a kid on a mountain bike passing me who said "Race, race, I'll race you on them skinny tyres!" I laughed and carried on soon proving that mountain bikes aren't as fast as road bikes and then decided I was bored of the farm path so I decided to do the 27 mile route because I've not done it for ages. As I was riding along, I noticed a rattling sound which was very hollow and plasticy and getting louder.
I stopped at the top of the overpass behind Kirkby and found that the screw holding the plastic cap on the top of my left brake lever was loose. I was paranoid about the screw falling out and disappearing so I had a quick think and then tore a small amount of grass from the verge and stuffed it into the gap between the lever and the shifter body, no more rattling and the screw trapped in place - sorted! I took the screw, and the one from the other side, out when I got home and refitted them with some blue Loctite. Another 29.3 miles.
31st March: Finally, a completed month!!! The weather was slightly warmer today so the new Orro bib shorts got an outing. I took the newly quiet Strael out to do the usual and initially thought, 'Hmmm... not much wind today, this is fun!" before I got to the end of the track and turned around and realised it was because I'd been cycling with the wind - doh! Anyhow, I was getting bored of the track so I did two full ups and downs of the farm track and the road to Holt Green as far as the Derby Arms pub and back for a total of 25.5 miles and a monthly total of 203.1 miles.
February 13th: After two weeks of cold, wet, windy weather an area of high pressure has settled over the UK and I could finally get out for a ride! I took Awesom-O out to do the usual and ended up having a rather strange start to my ride. As I was cycling up the bypass, I saw two guys on mountain bikes heading towards me riding two abreast. I was sure they would see me and move into single file so I squeezed to the left of the path to make room. As it turned out, they didn't move into single file and the right hand of one of them crashed into my right arm as we passed. The guy let out a rather startled "OOF!" so I suspect, rather than anything malicious, he just hadn't been watching where he was going. Anyhow, no one came off so I carried on going expecting a reasonable bruise on my arm in the morning. The ride itself was fine, a barn owl swooped across the path ahead of me which was cool, and it was reasonably warm at around 8 °C without much wind and my legs felt pretty reasonable despite the enforced break. 25.1 miles to finally start February off.
February 15th: It was a bit of an unusual ride today. My colleague Adam and I were doing a big office reshuffle at work so we decided to start at lunchtime and work into the evening. This left the morning free so I took Awesom-O out to do the usual. As a bit of an experiment, I had a pizza for breakfast just before I set out to see how it would affect how I felt on the ride. Anyhow, it was cold. The BBC weather site said it would be 5 °C rising to 8 °C but it felt a lot colder when I set off. Other than the cold, it was a gorgeous late winter day with blue skies and the sun feeling quote warm.
The wind ruined it slightly with a pretty consistent southerly wind that didn't let up at all. The wind, combined with riding straight after a meal, meant I never really felt like I got going properly and it wasn't the most enjoyable ride ever. It was tempered slightly by another cool wild life encounter though. As I was doing the last 'down', something made me look up to my left and there was a young buzzard flying along side me and we look at each other for a few seconds as we paralleled each other which was really cool. Anyhow, I only noticed when updating my spreadsheet that this was the ride that took Awesom-O over the 5,000 mile mark and another 25.0 miles for February.
February 21st: After weeks of crappy weather, it was a rather amazing 15 °C today so I was looking forward to getting out for a spin on Awesom-O after work. The temperature was around 9 or 10 C so I wore the Castelli Alpha over my merino for the first time in ages and set out. I did two ups and downs of the farm path and then got bored so I did a loop of the time trialler's loop, taking in an up and down of Church Lane to add some distance and then came home first via the kebab shop (ahem...) and then my parents house to collect some deliveries (it was interesting trying to fit nine Veloforte bars, a pot of wood filler and five bottles of Marie Sharp's Fiery Habanero Sauce into my small cycling rucksack) and onto home for 24.0 miles.
February 23rd: Today's ride was something of a milestone, the temperature was around 15 °C so it was the first ride of the year in short bibs! I shaved my legs before the ride and, although I'm not a particularly hairy bloke, the bath looked like someone had shaved a monkey in it afterwards. Anyhow, it hasn't rained for a while so I fired up the slow cooker and re-waxed the Strael's chain before the ride as I couldn't remember what state the chain was in lube-wise since I'd last done it. Anyhow, I set off and although it was warm, it was overcast and very windy so not as enjoyable ride as I'd been anticipating.
I wore the Castelli over my merino underlayer and I struggled to stay cool enough. It wasn't helped by my Lusso shorts. They've got a few thousand miles on them and my bum was feeling it for most of the ride so I Googled the matter and I've ordered some Orro bib shorts which the road.cc review said were awesome for people who's bums can suffer on longer rides. They were less than a hundred quid, I find two hundred pound plus cycling shorts bemusing, so I'll review them when they arrive. Anyhow, a slightly less pleasant than expected 26.7 miles.
Well, some less than stellar weather and the stressy week from hell at work meant I didn't manage to get out again this month so February goes out with rather poor mileage of 100.8. Is it nearly summer yet?
2nd Jan: I was feeling a bit partied out today after all the festivities so I took Awesom-O out for a spin to clear my head. It was overcast and pretty cold so I donned the stolen goat and headed out. Weirdly, despite being hungover and not having eaten, my legs felt better than they have for years and I absolutely flew the whole ride. I had a couple of very cool wild life encounters on the ride as well. At one point, I was cycling along watching a flock of at least 30 goldfinches swarming up to land on a telephone wire when they changed their minds because there was a kestrel already sitting on the wire, cool! At a later stage of the ride, I was cycling back down the track when a flock of 4- to 500 starlings lifted into the air ahead of me and could decided which side of the path to alight on so I was cycling along with a massive half torus of starlings in front of me. That was extremely cool and it happened again on a subsequent 'down'. Anyhow, a fun, fast ride and 25.1 miles to kick the ride off with.
6th Jan: Awesom-O was absolutely filthy before today's ride, virtually every square centimetre was covered in dried mud, so I gave him a good wash. I also t-shirted the cassette, gave the chain a really good wipe to get any grit and excess oil off and treated all the pivots on the rear mech to a drop of Purple Extreme. That done, we headed off to the farm track. There was barely any wind and it was around 8 °C so not particularly cold and quite a fun ride. There were a lot of corvids around for some reason, there was a murder of maybe 5- or 600 hundred crows on one of the fields because the farmer was tilling it as I rode and most of them lifted into the air each time I went past. After two ups and downs, I headed to Holt Green and there was freshly tilled field on the right hand side there with 2- or 300 rooks mixed in with a few crows so a very corvid rich ride! Anyhow, it was a fun ride and another 25.2 miles.
20th January: It's been a mad couple of weeks recently which meant I haven't been out on the bike for ages. I had a crazy week at work including a lot of travel and an overnight stay and then we had a week of windy, rainy weather afterwards. Anyhow, I managed to take Awesom-O out for a ride today. Because he has mudguards, it isn't easy to see what state his tyres are in so I flipped him upside down and took a look. The front was fine but the back tyre was quite flat and fairly cut up with a couple of holes where you could clearly see the anti-puncture belt under the tread. Coincidentally, the next morning I was sitting in the car looking at Instagram on my phone when I saw an ad showing Sigma Sports were doing the same tyres for thirty quid each so I ordered a couple.
I fitted them yesterday and boy were they a pig! Anyhow, I used lots of talc on everything and managed to get them fitted without sacrificing any inner tubes and was looking forward to the riding the smooth new rubber today. It was an OK day, overcast but bright and not too cold at around 5 °C and barely any wind, so I did a lap of the fishing pond followed by the usual. I saw quite an odd thing bolted to a telephone pole on the last 'down' so I stopped and took a pic. It had a laser warning sticker on so I guess it's something to do with broadband? Anyhow, a quite enjoyable 26.0 miles.
28th January: I read an article on road.cc a while back about dealing with smelly cycling clothing. One of the things they mentioned was gloves. This bamboozled me slightly because I thought 'How can gloves stink'? As it turns out, my gloves do stink. The odour is rather reminiscent of smelly feet so they're definitely going in the wash after this ride! Anyhow, It's been another long break from the bike, we've had some snow and a couple of really freezing nights and yesterday was incredibly windy, but I managed to take Awesom-O out for a spin today. By happy coincidence I'd booked the day off and it was a beautiful day, around 4 °C with clear blue skies and not too much wind. I only did the usual but, apart from a close pass by a prat in a Range Rover who'd obviously taken umbrage with me moving to the centre of the road to turn right at a t-junction, it was a very enjoyable ride. I felt a bit meh initially but I soon perked up and it was another 25.1 miles.
Well, another poor month. It snowed on Wednesday which made getting to work an adventure! They hadn't gritted the village, the bypass or the East Lancs so every traffic lights was 'am I going to be able to get moving again?' which was nerve racking. It's been around freezing since and there's still snow remnants everywhere so I've been stuck indoors. Anyhow, the monthly total was a poor 101.4 miles. Here's hoping it warms up soon...
I thought I'd start this winter season with new brake pads for Awesom-O as the Swissstops have done two seasons and were looking a bit tired. I was somewhat dismayed to see the Swissstop green pads seem to have been discontinued so I decided to try a different, cheaper option. I've used Clark triple compound pads before and been very impressed so I took a chance and ordered these pads from the Disco brakes website. They cost £12.24 for four packs of two ie two complete sets which is a lot cheaper than the Swissstop pads. Anyhow, I got them fitted and have done a lot of dry riding and one wet one and have been quite impressed overall. In the dry they lack the immediacy of the Swissstop pads but there's no shortage of stopping power.
If you need to, and grab a handful of brake lever, you can stop from 20 mph is under 20 feet perfectly easily. It's also worth mentioning that these pads never, ever make a noise. They stay silent in all conditions which can only be a good thing. In the wet they work just as well. I did notice a lot more grey sludge (which is a mixture of microscopic rubber and aluminium particles) on the rims after the ride than you get with the Swissstop pads but I guess it's the research at Swissstop around making pads efficient but rim friendly at the same time that makes their pads much more expensive than these ones. Anyway, overall? I'd say these are way better than stock Tektro pads, slightly better than stock Shimano pads but not as good as the superb Swissstop product. A solid four stars!
1st December: My neck's feeling a lot better now so I decided to take Awesom-O out for a spin. It wasn't too cold, around 10 °C with very little wind, but it was threatening to rain which at least meant I'd be able to do the brake block review I've been waiting ages to do. I did the usual, three ups and downs of the farm track, and ended up really enjoying the ride. It didn't rain but there was a constant heavy drizzle so the brake blocks finally got a test in the rain. I was wearing my Climb and Conquer jacket and Sealskinz windproof gloves so I was perfectly warm although the gloves do make your hands very sweaty. Anyhow, it was great to finally get a ride in and 25.3 miles to start December.
4th December: It was the first properly cold night of the year tonight, 4 dropping to 3 °C, so I girded my loins and took Awesom-O out for a spin. I was going to do three ups and downs of the track as usual but, although the rest of me was warm, my toes were absolutely freezing so I did two and headed back in via the kebab shop, ahem... I'm going to look into ways of keeping my toes warm in this sort of weather. My toes get so cold they actually go dead, numb and grey and need a good ten minutes in a hot bath to come back to life.
I believe kitchen foil comes into the equation somewhere so that's a handy research project if it's quiet at work tomorrow. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I was cycling along Outlet Lane on the first 'up' when a barn owl that must have been perched on the barbed wire a couple of feet to my left took off and flew along in front of me for a few yards before jinking right and disappearing into the trees which was pretty cool! A rather enjoyable 19.6 miles.
9th December: We've had a few days of strong winds and heavy rain but the weather wasn't too bad today, windy but dry, so I took Awesom-O out for a spin. Because my toes got so cold the other night, I'd ordered some merino socks from Tredz. I wore them today and also wrapped the front of my shoes with foil to keep the wind out. It wasn't cold today, around 10 °C, but my toes definitely stayed warm, it'll be interesting to see if my toes stay warm when it gets really cold. Anyhow, I was on my first down when I saw a couple of horsists up ahead so I diverted to Holt Green and back and then did a last up and down before heading home. Following all the recent rain the second puddle is starting to form again so Awesom-O was filthy when I got in but it was a windy ride but enjoyable overall and another 24.6 miles.
16th December: We've had some really crappy weather recently, including storm Deirdre yesterday, but the weather was relatively pleasant today so I took a 'filthy from the last ride' Awesom-O out for a spin. I didn't do anything interesting, just a lap of the fishing pond and the usual three ups and downs of the farm path, but it was a pleasant enough ride despite getting close passed by some tool in an Evoque on the way back through the village. The wind wasn't too bad and it was around 7 °C which was no challenge to my stolen goat jacket. One issue I haven't solved is getting frozen toes. I tried wrapping the end of my shoes with foil before I put my overshoes on but it didn't make a lot of difference. I suspect I need new overshoes, the Sealskinz ones I have now are thin and open bottomed. The basic thick neoprene ones I had previously from Wiggle were much better. Anyhow, another 25.9 miles.
23rd December: It was raining constantly today but I'm short of mileage for the month and there was hardly any wind so I took Awesom-O out for a spin. I was going to do the fishing pond and the usual three ups and downs of the farm path but on the second 'up' I saw at least four girls on horses on the path ahead so I turned around and decided to do the 27 instead. In a bid to keep my toes warm I was wearing merino socks, foil over the end of my shoes and my new DHB overshoes but alas, this was not to be a ride of warm feet... As I was heading down barrow Nook Lane, I noticed that the whole left hand lane was under water right up to the white line. Me being me, I decided to cycle through it but hadn't realised it was a good four inches deep and my right shoe immediately filled up with water! Anyhow, it wasn't particularly cold, around 7 °C, so my feet were actually OK and it was quite an enjoyable ride overall and another 26.9 miles.
26th December: The area of high pressure is still sitting over the UK at the moment so although it was overcast and misty, there was little wind and the temperature was around 6 °C. I took Awesom-O out to do the usual and had quite an enjoyable ride burning off some of the festive season excesses. I wasn't the only one either, there were quite a few roadies out which was good to see.
There were no horsists out this time but I am getting rather bored of doing the farm track so I did two ups and downs and then the road to Holt Green and back for 25.2 miles. I did notice the day after this ride that the chain was really rusty and barely turned. I think that what happens is that as the chain dries, all the crushed grit and silt in the chain dries and wicks all the oil out of the links. Anyhow, easy enough to apply more lube.
28th December: I'm still feeling a bit jaded with doing the farm track all the time so I did something a bit different today. I carried on until the end of the bypass and decided to do part of the route towards Leisure Lakes but then changed my mind part of the way and ended up in Newburgh. I soon realised there was no circular route back because you basically end up in Skem so I turned around. It wasn't a particularly fun ride, I got close passed so many times I lost count, I really don't know how people commute with going postal occasionally. Also, although it wasn't warm, around 10 °C, I was absolutely boiling, even with my jacket open. Anyhow, I survived and it was another 23.6 more miles.
30th December: I don't need too many miles to complete the year so I decided to split it into two rides and just do a quickie today. It was overcast and around 10 °C so after boiling myself on the last ride I wore my castelli Alpha over my merino and took Awesom-O out for a spin. I set off up the bypass, did a lap of the fishing pond and then to the end of the farm track then added a mile or so by heading up Simonswood Lane and looping back via Back Lane and then home via Hall Lane through Bickerstaffe. It was quite a fun ride, I felt just right temperature-wise, and another 15.5 miles.
31st December: It's been dry for a couple of days now so I decided to take the Strael out and do the ride I did yesterday again. It was relatively warm and not too windy so it was quite a pleasant ride overall and the 13.8 miles meant I finished the year with a satisfying total of 2,404.8 miles.
