4th September: Well, the first ride of September proved to be quite an embarrassing one! I got about two miles up the village bypass and got a puncture in my rear wheel. I fitted a new tube easily enough but I couldn't find anything embedded in the tyre that might have caused the puncture so once it was repaired I was paranoid about it puncturing again.
Because I was meeting mum and dad (and the vicar!) for lunch at 2 o'clock I decided to abandon ship until I
could confirm the tyre was going to stay up so I had a pootle around the village and got back for a quick shower before lunch. The mileage? A massive 7.5 to start September off!
7th September: I headed out to do the local 27 after work tonight, it was overcast but very warm with light winds so it was a hot, sweaty ride. It was shorter than I'd planned because I'd barely got a mile along the farm path and found it was closed! I thought I'd nip through anyway because
I was on a bike not a car when I spotted a large sign saying it was closed to cyclists as well - arse! Anyway, I guess people need water so I'll just have to wait for them to finish. 22.5 more miles.
8th September: I really didn't want to go out today but I'm low on miles so I dragged myself out and did the Old Coach Road. It was overcast and very windy but actually quite warm out of the wind. A very bumpy 15.2 miles.
10th September: I did what's left of the local 27 this afternoon. It started off very overcast and a bit chilly but with virtually no wind which is a rarity. Now I'm using my new Topeak Joe Blow pump I decided to do an experiment. I inflated my tyres to 75 and 80 psi to see how comfortable they were. They were comfy but the front on still felt very hard and the rear felt slightly in danger of a snakebite puncture were I to hit a pothole. Next ride, I'm going to inflate them to 70 and 85 psi and see how I get on. Anyhow, the sun came out half way around and it turned into a gorgeous sunny day so a nice ride overall and it was the ride that took the Giant over the 3,000 mile mark which is cool. 23.2 more miles.
11th September: I did the same ride again this evening but with 70 psi in the front tyre and 85 psi in the rear one and I think I've cracked it! Some of the roads on my route, especially around the back of Kirkby, are appalling and the lower pressure in the front tyre made riding such roads much more comfortable.
I don't think they'd withstand a hard pothole hit at this pressure but for day to day riding it's ideal. It was a gorgeous late summer evening (see the pic, taken at the part of the farm track that's closed off), warm and not too much wind, so a very enjoyable ride and 23.3 miles in the bag.
15th September: I was dying to get out on the bike tonight so I necked a mug of Aeropress coffee after work and headed out on the Giant. It was quite windy but the last day or two have been sunny and extremely warm so it was a nice ride overall and perhaps the last chance to top up my tan before autumn sets in. I averaged 17.1 mph which was cool and it was another 22.8 more miles for September.
17th September: I headed out to do the local 27 and found that the farm path is fully open again which was a bonus. It was fairly windy but otherwise it was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day. On the odd occasion I was out of the wind it was actually quite hot so there's clearly life left in summer yet. A good ride and 27.1 miles.
18th September: My mate Joe has finally bought a bike and signed up with Map my Ride so today's ride was a test ride to see if he got an email when I uploaded my ride. The weather was ok so I did the Old Coach Road on the Giant. It was quite a pleasant ride and another 15.6 miles for September.
25th September: It was my third BHF Manchester to Blackpool night ride today, a night I'd been looking forward to for ages. The BBC website said it would rain all night so I decided to take Awesom-O because he has mudguards. I had the traditional chicken fried rice at about 8 o'clock so I'd be full of carb's and headed to Manchester. I managed to get out with the second pod of riders and I felt great heading out of Manchester, it was drizzly but my legs felt good and I was making good progress. At about the twenty five mile mark I fumbled my water bottle and lost it but I thought I could get some water at the feeding station at the 40 mile mark so I wasn't too worried. Just as we left Preston, the slight drizzle turned into a full on downpour. The rain started washing the salt out of my helmet pads so it felt like acid in my eyes and I ended up taking my helmet off and clipping it to my backpack for about five miles until the rain slowed down a bit and I could ring out the front pad. At the 40 mile mark, the feeding station turned out to be an empty car park so that was my last chance to get a drink and I felt I was starting to run out energy slightly. I think being completely soaking must have been using a lot of calories so I necked a gel and carried on. The gel seemed to last about 5 minutes so I ate a Co-op milk chocolate cookie and carried on. The cookie kicked in after a few minutes so I tagged onto a couple of other riders and the sight of Blackpool spurred us on to quite a fast finish.
At this stage, the event usually involves standing around for an hour and a half freezing to death waiting for the bus back to Manchester. This year however, the Beach House bistro was open. I went in and got a coffee and, at the manager's suggestion, sat in the seating area which had huge heating lamps on the wall which were bliss. I was getting warm but it was about 20 minutes before my legs stopped shaking from the cold! Anyhow, to my surprise, my time was 2h 54m which I was pretty pleased with and I'm definitely doing it again next year! 51.3 very wet miles.
29th September: I finally managed to meet my mate Joe for a ride after work today, something we'd been trying to arrange for ages. I took the Giant and he was on his new Giant Escape 3. We did a ride I designed in Map my Ride a few todays that Joe has already done once before.
Apart from some heavy traffic it was quite an enjoyable ride, windy but not too bad and the ride had some nice quiet trails on it. Joe is doing ok, he was a bit knackered but managed pretty well. He has good traffic sense and is fairly confident so that bodes well for the future. He also has a decent cadence when pedalling which is great, I hate seeing people grinding along in a high gear prematurely wearing their knees out. My first 8.0 miles with Joe!
Well, September goes out with another positive mileage figure, 217.5 miles, which is good. It's been quite a good month generally. I got my central heating up and running which is awesome, I conquered my 3rd Manchester to Blackpool night ride and finally got out on a ride with Joe and his new bike. Here's hoping the weather in October stays positive...
I've ween waiting for ages to review this inflator but, ironically, I haven't had a puncture! Anyhow, I had a puncture today so was finally able to test it. At just a tenner, this is a brilliant little device. Sure, you can buy fancier alloy ones that are a few grams lighter but as it only weighs 50 grams anyway I didn't see the point.
To use you just make sure the knob is in the closed position and screw in a 16g threaded CO2 cartridge. You then screw the orange alloy nozzle onto the valve and carefully open the knob. When the tyre feels hard enough, just close the knob and un-thread the nozzle from the valve and you're on your way. It comes with a foam insulating sleeve to stop it freezing in your hand in use but I filed it under 'something else to lose' and just wrap one of my cycling mitts around it in use. All in all, top product!
NB: When you inflate a tyre with CO2, it is important to empty the tyre when you get home and re-inflate it with air. CO2 is soluble in rubber and the tyre will go down over a couple of days as the CO2 diffuses through it if you leave it as is.
August 5th: It's been a hard month to start so far, we've had rain and gales which is a bit odd given that it's early August. Anyway, I got out after work and did the local 27 but I started with a couple of quick maintenance/repair jobs.
I cleaned up the Hunt wheels and fitted the Conti Grandprix GT tyres with inner tubes, I've given up on tubeless for the time being but the Hunts are a lot lighter than the Giant wheels so it makes sense to start using them again.
The rear brake has long felt like it wasn't contributing much so I decided to change the inner cable. It turned out to be quite easy, I cut through the inner by the caliper and then peeled the front of the hood back and tied the lever against the handlebar. This reveals the little cast end on the cable so you just give the cut end a push to give you something to grab and pull the old cable out. It turned out the end ten or eleven inches of inner was fairly orange and mucky which explains the lack of rear braking. I lubed the new inner with Purple Extreme and fitted it pretty easily.
The other issue was the right brifter. It was very loose and rattly so I suspected that some kind of return spring had fallen out so I took a closer look. I spotted that the caliper didn't moved as I pulled the lever so I started by winding out the barrel adjuster on the caliper. By the time I'd unwound the adjuster about 6 mm, the caliper hadn't moved and the slack was gone - fixed! I don't know how but the inner cable had mysteriously lengthened itself. Anyhow, I'll wind the adjuster back in and fit a new cable tomorrow to permanently fix the issue.
The ride started cloudy with some blue spots and finished fairly sunny. It was breezy rather than windy so quite a pleasant ride overall; rear braking restored, rattle gone and and it was 27.3 miles to kick August off.
6th August: I can't remember a lot about this ride as I did it last Saturday and I've been too lazy to write it up until now... Anyway, I did the local 27 and I do remember it was hot. It was one of the rare rides where arms and legs were sweating when I got back in which doesn't happen very often. I'm also guessing it was very windy because my average was only 16.1 but that's nothing new this year. A sweaty 27.1 miles.
13th August: I've not been out since last weekend because of the weird weather we've been having; It was almost as if a week from last November has been spliced into this August. It's been cool, overcast, rainy and windy which is quite bizarre at this time of year. Anyhow, today was better, blue skies full of white clouds and fairly warm although still very windy. It was quite an enjoyable ride, while I was waiting to turn left at Windle island the wind dropped and it was actually pretty hot so a good ride for the tan and 27.2 more miles for August.
14th August: Well today's ride turned out to be embarrassingly short... I kept getting distracted and then, just before I finally did set off, dad texted saying we were eating at 5 which is pretty early. Anyhow, I did the ride where I get half way up the bypass, cut down Dairy Farm road, do the half of the Old Coach Road between there and the East Lancs and then head back via Alec's hill. I felt pretty strong up Alec's hill but Map my Ride said I've done it 28 seconds faster before, go figure?! Anyhow, it was a paltry 10.6 miles.
17th August: The weather's been absolutely gorgeous for the last couple of days so I headed out after work tonight and did the local 21. I normally drink Old Brown Java coffee from Whittard but I've been lazy recently and bought Lavazza red beans from Asda the last couple of times I've run out, it's ok but very average flavour-wise.
I finally bought half a kilo of Whittard's Old Brown Java beans and had a mug before I set out. I don't know whether it's the high mileage I did in July or the coffee but my legs felt amazing. Even though I came down the shared use path which is quite slow, and stopped at the chippy for curry and chips, I did it at an average of 17.2 mph, which was very good. 21.8 caffeine fuelled miles for August!
20th August: It was a real slice of autumn today, it was grey, overcast and very windy with a lot of rain predicted. Strangely, despite the weather, my legs felt awesome and it was one of the most enjoyable rides I've done for ages. Having seen the weather forecast I'd just fitted a set of SKS Chromoplastic Longboards to Awesome-O so he got his first outing of the summer. As it turned out, there was barely any rain but the Longboards kept me dry blasting through the puddles. 21.5 more miles.
21st August: Cycling is weird. The weather today was much like it was yesterday except perhaps even windier. Yesterday's ride was awesome but today's felt like an absolute chore. What's even weirder is that despite one ride being awesome and one being a pain, my average speed for both rides was the same, 16.4 mph, go figure... Anyhow, 22.3 more miles.
24th August: After a hard day at work I necked a mug of Old Brown Java and headed out to do the local 27 on the Giant. It was overcast and warm but best of all, hardly any wind!
Like Saturday's ride, my legs felt very strong all the way around and I ended up with a 16.8 average which is always good, especially for an after work ride. Best of all, I saw the hare again. He was sitting in the stubble and when he saw me, he ran about 100 yards away from me and then jinked left and ran another 100 yards before he was out of site. There's something very mystical about hares and I'm glad he looked to be fit and healthy.
26th August: Another ride I didn't type up at the time... Anyway, I did the local 27 and it was sunny with clouds but drizzled a bit right at the end. The wind was fairly light though which is always a bonus and it was 27.1 more miles for the month.
29th August: Well that was an eventful ride! It was hot and sunny with clear blue skies but fairly windy so I set out to do the local 27. First of all, something got in my helmet and either stung or bit me on the head which really hurt. Secondly, I saw a helicopter hovering in the distance and that one side of the M58 was solid cars and a quick Google when I got in revealed there's been a fatal car crash on the M58. Thirdly, there had just been a bad crash at Windle island as I crossed it with a black BMW smashed into one of the islands and police just arriving. To cap the ride off, there was a large ginger cat lying dead on the side of the by-pass which is always sad. On the plus side, my legs felt great from the minute I left the house, I'm beginning to think doing 400 miles in July has really brought me on a level fitness-wise. Anyhow, it was 27.4 more miles for August.
Well, after having no central heating for the last two winters, I'm finally getting my boiler replaced in eight days time. This has lead to operation 'Try and get my house looking like it hasn't been occupied by squatters for the last couple of years' and a lot of cleaning and tidying. Because of this, I didn't get a final ride in for August but it still goes out with a fairly respectable 239.5 miles on the clock. The overdraft for the year is down to 29.3 miles which is about a tenth of what it was earlier in the year so here's hoping for an Indian summer this autumn!
There are a ridiculous number of competing bottom bracket standards in the bike world at the moment but I eventually established that mine (on a 2015 Giant Defy Advanced 2) was what is called a BB86 bottom bracket. The bottom bracket shell is 86.5 mm wide, 41 mm in internal diameter and accepts a 24 mm axle. The increasingly creaky nature of mine, and the fact that it has 2506.6 miles on it, led me to decide to replace it.
I ordered the bottom bracket and a Park Tool BB86 bottom bracket removal tool from Wiggle, made a red-neck bearing installer and got to work. It was very easy job, I could probably do the whole job again in five minutes, involving some basic tools and a smear of grease.
Firstly, to make the installation tool you'll need to visit B&Q and pick up a length of M12 threaded rod, a pack of M12 nuts and a pack of heavy duty square washers.
You need to saw off approximately seven inches of the threaded rod and smooth the cut end with a file. At one end, using plenty of thread locker, jam two of the nuts together to form a solid fixed end. Now add a square washer and one of the two dies that come with the Park Tool remover. Do the same at the other end but use one nut and leave it free so you can tighten it when you're pressing the new cups into the bottom bracket shell.The materials for this cost less than £9 and because there were four square washers in the pack I was able to make a second tool for my mate Phil at work. If you bought two packs of square washers, you could make four tools for about £11 - red-necking it for the win!
Secondly, here's a quick look at the grease I use on bikes. It's Finish Line grease with teflon. I've used it since it first appeared in the very early nineties when it came in a black tube with white writing. I've seen loose ball bottom brackets packed with this stuff looking absolutely perfect after a couple of brutal Scottish winters of mountain biking abuse.
If anything, I think it's actually improved since then, it used to be white and slightly translucent looking but now it's a sort of cream colour and smoother and stickier.
Anyhow, here's how it's done:
1. Loosen the two 5 mm bolts that hold the crank to the axle and use a Hollowtech II tool to unscrew the plastic adjustment plug from the axle.
2. Here's a pic with it removed. It's a good idea to smear some grease on the internal threads in the end of the axle when you're re-assembling later.
3. Now finish loosening off the two 5 mm allen bolts and, making sure you lift the retaining tab in the gap between the bolts, wiggle the crank off the axle.
4. You now need to unhook the chain from the chainring and carefully let it rest on the BB shell. You can now grab the driveside crank and pull the whole assembly out of the bottom bracket. You may need to bang the exposed end of the axle with the heel of your hand to get it moving.
5. You now need to insert the narrow end of the removal tool though one side of the bottom bracket and pull it until you hear the splayed end of the tool click into place behind the bottom bracket cup.
6. Using a fairly heavy metal hammer, hit the solid end of the tool sharply to get the cup moving and then a few more times to remove it. Mine wasn't difficult, it took three moderate blows and the cup popped out. Remove the central sleeve and remove the other cup. I found I had to insert the tool from the other side, narrow end first again, because the splayed end wouldn't seat behind the remaining cup easily from the now open side.
7. It surprised me how much muck and soil was in the bottom bracket shell. Needless to say, remove as much of it as you can now
8. Get the area as clean as you can and smear a good layer of grease around the inside of where the new bearing cup is going to seat in the shell.
9. With the seating area clean and greased, mount the new bearings either side of the shell (not forgetting to slot the central sleeve into one of the cups) and then assemble the red-neck bearing press through the whole assembly. Do the free nut up finger tight keeping everything as lined up as you can and then start turning the nut with an 19 mm spanner. I was expecting potential trouble at this point but the cups pressed in beautifully, one side seated first and when it was seated the other side followed it in. Tighten until you're sure both cups are flush with the frame but don't go mad; this is a bike, not a cylinder head.
10. And there you have it, job done - a nice new bottom bracket fitted. Re-assembly is easy, just put everything back in the order you removed it.
When you're re-attaching the non-drive side crank, you snug the crank onto the axle using the black screw in plug. Do it barely hand tight, just until you're the crank is seated but the whole crank assembly still spins freely. Now tighten the two 5 mm bolts, alternating between the two until they're both nice and snug.
Update since buying a torque wrench: The suggested value for these bolts is 12-14 nm. Tighten them alternately but bare in mind that once both bolts are at the correct torque value, the one you tightened first will have loosened slightly so tighten each bolt to the chosen value at least twice.
2nd July: Well, July started with one of the most Rule #9 rides I've done in a while. It was very cloudy with the odd patch of blue sky but it was incredibly windy, more like November than July. On top of that, it chucked it down for about quarter of an hour half way around just to add to the fun. I managed to average 16.0 mph though which I was surprised by given the wind but quite pleasing. One cool thing about this particular ride was that I passed the 7,000 mile 'distance since I started cycling again' marker which is a decent milestone! Anyhow, 26.9 miles to kick July off.
3rd July: I noticed my inner chain ring was looking particularly gross before today's ride so I took the crankset off the bike and thoroughly degreased and cleaned the rings. I then headed out to do the local 21 with the farm track. It was a gorgeous sunny summer day but the wind from yesterday was still around, albeit not quite as horrendous.
I was enjoying the ride so I decided to extend it a bit. I started it by climbing Alec's hill and decided to carry on and come back via King's Moss and Crawford. It was very windy but very warm when the wind occasionally dropped. I averaged 16.2 mph as well which was pleasing. Also, I've ordered a 105 crankset for the Giant to replace the non-series RS 500 crankset so I'll finally have a full matching groupset. Anyhow, 32.0 more miles.
6th July: I booked the day off work today because the BBC weather website was saying there'd hardly be any wind. As it turned out, it was overcast and fairly breezy but very warm when the wind dropped so a lot nicer than the last couple of rides.
I did the local 21 with the farm a quick diversion to take this picture, and added a few miles by staying on the East Lancs and coming home via Carr Mill dam and Billinge. As you can see in the pic, I fitted the new 105 crankset before I set off and I must say, I couldn't be more pleased with it. It's light and stiff and I think it looks absolutely fantastic and really complements the rest of the bike. Anyhow, it was sweaty ride but fun and a decent average speed of 16.1 mph and 33.1 more miles.
9th July: I did the local 21 today with the farm track added on (from here on in to be known as the local 27. It was a lot less windy than it has been recently but there were lakes and puddles from the recent rain everywhere so the bike needed a proper wash afterwards. On the plus side, my legs felt great and I averaged 16.7 mph which was pretty good and the baby rabbits were out in force on the big grass verge behind Kirkby which is always cute. Another 27.4 miles for July.
10th July: It was a bit of a weird ride today. The weather was pleasant enough so I set out to do the local 21 because I was meeting my folks for a pub lunch at 2 o'clock and didn't have a lot of time. For some reason, as soon as I set off my legs just felt like Bambi legs and I was struggling a bit. By about mile 18 they were feeling a bit better and I was puzzled to see I'd averaged 16.5 mph when I uploaded the ride, I though it would've been down in the low 15's, anyhow, an odd ride but it was 21.6 more miles.
13th July: I booked the day off work today and ended up with a rather strange ride, weather-wise. The sky was blue but full of white clouds so it was cool for a few minutes then warm for a few minutes as the sun shone through the moving clouds. The wind was pretty strong but dropped for a while every twenty minutes or so which was odd. Also, I did my usual trick of assuming that because it had been dry and sunny all day, the route would be too. Of course, because of all the recent weather there was a lot of mud and, especially in the woods near Billinge, so the bike needed a thorough wash when we got in. Anyhow, my legs felt good and I averaged 16.0 mph which wasn't bad given the wind and climbs and it was 32.0 more miles for July.
16th July: I did the local 27 again today. The weather was strange for July, it was warm and overcast but with quite a cool wind which felt chilly with just a t-shirt and bibs on. Anyhow, my legs felt good and I averaged 16.5 mph despite getting stuck behind a family with young kids cycling along the by-pass for a while. The total was 27.0 miles which, rather bizarrely, took the July total to exactly 200 miles; plenty of time left to work on the mileage overdraft!
17th July: And again... There was a coolish wind like yesterday but the clouds were largely gone so it was quite a warm, sunny ride. The wind was quite strong but I managed to average over 16 mph so not a bad ride overall and good for keeping the sun tan topped up and 27.2 more miles.
21st July: I went out today to do the local 27 but ended up getting diverted by a road closed sign at the left turn traffic light at the back of Kirky. I ended up cycling down a long straight road along the edge of Kirkby which ended up on the main road so I ended up cycling through the middle of town, something I haven't done for a long while. A somewhat reduced 24.2 miles.
23rd July: It was a warm day today without much wind so I headed out to do the local 27. The road blocked sign was there but being a Saturday there were no workmen there doing anything so I decided to ignore the sign and see what was going on. It turns out they were coating the road on the bend with that weird grippy beige coating. It was a fast ride with a 17.5 mph average and another 26.5 miles.
25th July: I got out this afternoon to do the local 27. It was fairly windy so not as fast as the last ride but an enjoyable ride nonetheless and I stopped at the Subway as I left the industrial park for a tuna sub which is always nice. Another 27.2 miles.
27th July: My new sports glasses from Optilabs arrived today so I dragged myself out to do the local 21 after work. It was overcast and fairly windy but quite warm overall.
The glasses felt a bit weird but I'm sure I'll get used to them, they certainly keep a lot of wind out of your eyes though which is pretty cool. One slight downside is that I can no longer glance over my shoulder to check for cars when turning right but I'm sure I'll adapt a new technique. 20.8 more miles.
29th July: I got out after work tonight with aid of a mug of Old Brown Java and did the local 27 again. It was overcast but warm enough so not too bad. It was quite windy but a pretty enjoyable ride overall and another 26.5 more miles.
30th July: I got out and did the local 27 today. The weather was better than it has been, it was blue sky full of white clouds and quite warm. I'm getting used to the glasses now and enjoying the lack of wind in my eyes, I'm getting better at looking behind me as well which is probably a good thing! Anyhow, another 26.8 miles.
31st July: I managed to get out early this afternoon and drag myself around the local 21 for a final 21.7 miles. The weather was same old, same old ie blue skies but with lots of big white clouds floating around and quite warm out of the wind. I chose this distance knowing it was going to contribute to quite a significant event (for me!) in that it was the highest mileage I've ever done in a month - 400.9 miles! My mileage overdraft for the year was nearly three hundred so by having a bumper July, it's now less than seventy so roll on the rest of the year!
Having lowered my stem about a centimeter the other day and really enjoying the results, I was getting quite annoyed with the two unnecessary narrow spacers above the stem so I bought a stem cutting guide from Planet X and borrowed a star-fangled nut setter from my mate Al at work and got to work.
I unscrewed the brake caliper and snipped the two zip ties that held the cable to the fork leg and moved it out of the way. I then removed the top cap and loosened the stem clamp bolts and removed the stem and bars. I then removed the forks and trimmed the necessary half an inch or so from the steerer, set the SFN with the setting tool and put the bike back together. I think it looks absolutely epic and I'm now fully Rule #45 compliant as well!
After a ride like yesterdays, I always clean my bike thoroughly when I get back because I hate sand and grit and the damage it can do to delicate parts! I've used Muc-off in the past but am getting increasingly disillusioned with them, their stuff seems really over-priced for what it is.
I saw method grapefruit in the Tesco near work purely by accident and decided to buy a bottle just to see what it's like. It's great around the house and smells absolutely gorgeous, exactly like pink grapefruit. I now use it on the bike as well. I just spray it over the wet bike and use a brush to loosen all the dirt and then hose it down with a spray gun. It's eco-friendly, smells gorgeous and leaves you with a sparkling clean bike - perfect!
