One of the things I've always suffered from cycling in the winter is cold hands and toes, I guess I just have poor circulation. Cold hands are pretty easy to deal with and I now have various types of gloves to use when cycling, depending on the weather. The thing I always suffer from, wet weather or dry, is frozen toes. I've come back from long, wet winter rides before where it's taken 20 minutes in a hot bath for my toes to turn back from grey to pink and regain any sensation at all.
I knew overshoes existed of course but some weird, stubborn part of my mind always thought they were a bit too roadie for me (especially when you see people wearing them in the height of summer!) so I ignored them. Anyhow, I bit the bullet and bought a pair from Wiggle for the princely sum of £19. Fitting the size smalls over my old size 7 Shimano MTB shoes was a struggle but they fit very well in the end so I headed out to do the Old Coach Road tonight, in 8c weather, to test them really hoping they'd work. The result? warm feet! My feet weren't hot and sweaty but they were 'normal', no sense of feeling cold at all. I'm a convert !
Clothing sizing can vary enormously between brands, especially where cycling clothing is concerned. It isn't just between brands either, it can be even more evident between different countries; if you've ever ordered what you thought was your size from an Italian brand of clothing you may be in for quite a surprise when you try it on.
With this in mind can I just ask that if you leave a product review for the item you bought, please give the size you ordered and your own measurements and how the garment fitted? For example:
"I bought these shorts last autumn and they're fantastic!"
doesn't really help other people trying to decide what to order. A review along the lines of:
"I'm a skinny 5' 11" with a 32" inside leg and I ordered the medium. They were pretty tight so I took them back and got the large which fitted perfectly"
gives people browsing the web a lot more useful information to base their purchasing choice on.
Just a passing thought!
1st October: It rained most of the morning today so I got a fair bit of maintenance done. I took the cranksets off both bikes to give them a good clean because muck does tend to build up between the cranks and the bottom bracket. I also took the rings off Awesom-O and found a solid black crust on the inside of the rings that I suspect is the residue from Muc-Off's vegetable oil based chain lube that I no longer use. I deep cleaned Awesom-O's chain last week before the Manchester to Blackpool and after I gave it the second application of Purple Extreme I noticed the rollers between the outer plates looked really wobbly so I checked the chain and found the .75% end dropped right through! The chain only had 916 miles on it but I whipped it off and fitted a new one so with his clean rings and chain, Awesom-O was looking pretty smart. Anyhow, the sun came out in the afternoon so I did the local 27 on him. It was overcast but a bit sunny and there wasn't much wind which was refreshing. I also had a first on the way back in. I was doing 18.1 mph (I'd just glanced down at the Garmin) along the shared use path when a grey squirrel shot out in front of me. He instantly span round and shot back into the undergrowth in a perfect V-shaped path. I know my heart missed a beat and I'm pretty sure his missed a few too! Anyhow, 27.2 miles to kick October off.
2nd October: It was an absolutely gorgeous autumn day today, without much wind, so I hopped on the Giant and headed off up the bypass. As I occasionally do, I was suddenly hit with a sense of boredom with my usual route so I decided to go wandering instead.
I stayed out for a good hour exploring places I haven't been for a while, including a lap around the fishing pond at Sidings Lane which got the Giant rather muddy. My legs felt very strong so it was pretty enjoyable ride overall and it was another 17.9 autumnal miles.
4th October: Not a perfect ride tonight, I must admit. The weather was looking promising so I headed out at 6 o'clock planning to do the local 21. I had the new See.Sense Icon on the back of the bike and a coin-cell blinking white light on the front because the evening are definitely drawing in. Anyhow, the ride was going great and my legs felt really strong coming back down the East Lancs when I turned around and saw my back light had turned off! I managed to get back in the pitch dark in one piece by staying on minor roads away from the traffic for the last few miles but I was not impressed. It was lucky I'd taken the front blinky light as well because cycling down the shared use path in the pitch dark was an interesting experience, at least I could make out the vague outline of where the path was! A sketchy 21.5 miles.
8th October: It was another gorgeous, sunny autumn day today with barely any wind so I headed out on the Giant to do the local 27. Before I went however, I decided to replace the front brake pads. They've got around 3,000 miles on them and, although not particularly worn, they were looking a bit tatty. Pads changed, I headed out for the ride. It was chilly but warm when out of the wind so it was a pretty enjoyable ride, my legs felt very strong and I ended up with a decent average of 16.9 mph which was good. The front brake was fairly poor as the pads need to bed in still but they should be back to normal after a couple of more rides. Anyhow, another 27.2 miles for October.
15th October: It was a beautiful autumn day today so I took the Giant out to do the local 27. It was fairly windy but actually pretty warm when I managed to get out of the wind. Apart from a couple of dickheads close passing me around the back of Kirkby it was a pretty good ride. I was wearing my new Planet X winter bib longs and my Aldi Pro cycling top to so I ended up virtually cooking myself so I guess I'll leave the longs until winter really kicks in. Anyhow, 27.2 more miles.
19th October: I managed to get out for a late ride after work this evening and it was a first for two reasons. Firstly, it was the first fully dark ride of the year and secondly, it was the first ride with Awesom-O's new wheels! I've never really been happy with the back wheel since I smashed it into a pothole last winter so when I noticed Hunt did a rim brake wheelset specifically designed for winter riding for £229 I bit the bullet and ordered a set.
It was a very enjoyable ride, my legs felt great and I didn't get as hot as I did last Saturday. It was about 8c and I was wearing my new Planet X long bibs and the Aldi jacket over a t-shirt and I was sweaty when I got in but I didn't feel boiled. The new wheels are awesome, super smooth and stiff but really comfortable. It's hard to explain why but I've always found the Aksiums quite harsh, the Hunts definitely feel comfier somehow. Anyhow, an extremely enjoyable ride and 21.5 more miles for October.
25th October: I took Awesom-O out tonight to do the Old Coach Road to do two things. Firstly, I wanted to see how the new Hunt wheels were on the extremely poor surface and secondly to see how warm the new dhb overshoes kept my feet. It turned out to be an extremely pleasant ride. The new wheels were definitely a bit smoother than the Aksiums and I got home with 'normal' feet. It was barely 8c and the mesh panels in my Shimano MTB shoes meant my feet would normally be pretty icy when I got in but they were absolutely fine - result! Another 15.5 miles for October.
27th October: It was quite a fun ride tonight except for one annoying incident. It's been dry for a few days so I took the Giant out to do the local 27, we're having a warm spell at the moment so I left the overshoes at home. As I was heading along Sineacre lane past a row of a few houses my front wheel hit a pothole with a very loud noise I can only describe as sounding like someone belting a wall with a carbon fibre pipe. I fully expected the tyre to go down but miraculously it didn't which was strange so I carried on. When I got home there wasn't a speck of damage to the bike or the wheel so I guess carbon fibre bikes are tougher than some people say! Anyhow, quite an enjoyable ride and 27.2 more miles.
29th October: It rained all morning today but stopped in the afternoon so I took Awesom-O out for a spin. I wanted to do 25 miles so I planned to do the local 27 but stop a mile short of the end of the farm track. It was an odd ride, there was no wind but it was very overcast and what the Scots call 'dreich', damp and grey. On most rides I want to ride as hard as possible but on this one I was strangely content to just ride at my own pace and take things as they came. One real high point was that I saw the hare again! As I was halfway down Hall Lane, he popped out of the hedge, hopped across the road and down the pavement a bit and then disappeared through a gap in the hedge. He's absolutely huge and I'm really pleased he's well. I ended up diverting down the farm track to try and take a decent pic of Awesom-O (seemingly impossible, the Celeste-like green paint throws the auto white balance of any camera out of whack it seems) so it ended up as 25.9 miles.
Well, I was going to squeeze in one more ride for October to finally banish the 2016 overdraft but I didn't so the month goes out with a respectable enough 211.1 miles on the clock. The overdraft is down to a miniscule 0.7 miles so, winter weather permitting, that shouldn't be too much of a chore.
I nipped over to Halfords across the road from work the other day to buy a new multitool as my current one (a Topeak x-tool) is rather rusty and corroded. In the end, I decided on a Topeak Mini 9. Let me start by saying, this thing is cute! It's tiny and comes with a small neoprene case for it which I don't use as I suspect it will act as a moisture trap and rust the tool prematurely.
It has all the tools you might need for a road bike: 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 mm Allen keys, a T25 Torx driver and a Philips screwdriver. A flat bladed screwdriver is largely redundant on modern bikes so it's absence isn't an issue. I've mic'd the Allen keys and they're all a microscopic 0.02 or 0.03 mm under spec which is very good indeed. All in all? Awesome value for a little over a tenner!
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!
