No ride today, I never quite got around to it before it got dark. I did however start to tidy up the workshop area, and weigh all the bikes slightly more accurately than before. I also fixed the loose forks on the crosser, and fettled the Stiffee ready for next weekend. Also, my old computer, long suspected to be dead, has been resurrected with a new power supply, it just needs some memory now, and maybe a new HD.
I’m almost back to normal now, although despite sleeping for most of the last three days I’m still very tired. I’m meant to be on a first aid course for scouts tomorrow, maybe I can learn how to cure myself?
A couple of new toys arrived this week, a Lowepro Mini Trekker AW camera bag, and some ickle digital scales so I can be a weight weenie and weigh my bikes. It’s scary how heavy some bikes can be, the Craftworks is 44lbs which is double the weight of my roadbike.
I’ve been off work for two days now with the usual winter lurgy. Daytime TV is even worse than I recall, and does a fairly good job of promoting sleep. In slightly better news, my new bike came back from it’s holiday, and it’s obviously done it’s job as Ian has now ordered the Ti/Carbon version to replace his still-unbuilt Trek Madone 5.9.
Bad experience of the evening, hearing Jimmy Smits singing Elvis Costello. It’s not nice.
After a poor game two weeks ago, things could only get better. And better they got.
Despite a minor slip-up in the second leg, we managed to take a convincing 5-1 win. Housing Admin took 8 points, Parks took 1.
Next week we meet my bête noire. The left hand alley at Widcombe Social Club.
For the first time in ages, my 7-day rolling average passed the 100 mile mark. A nice 19 mile spin tonight took me to 107.5 miles.
No power in a server room this morning, and not enough stitching in the pocket of the Endura Air Defence jacket I picked up this evening. That’ll be going back to the shop tomorrow, and given that it took 3 months to arrive I guess I’ll be getting a refund instead of a replacement.
A quick ride is planned for tomorrow night though, and the Lemond is off on holiday to Timsbury for a few days this weekend.
Another good ride tonight. Ian wasn’t out due to it being half term, so I stuck my headphones on and headed out early. Usual route to Bradford on Avon and back took just over 100 minutes. It was bloody cold out there though, and the front mech was playing up meaning it was a lottery whether I could get into the top chainring or not. Given that it’s not been cleaned or lubed since well before the winter I’m not entirely surprised and it’s now been flushed through with GT85 in an attempt to free it a bit.
I might do the same ride again Thursday unless we go to the pub after work instead.
After a brief dalliance with On-One Mungo bars on the commuting bike, I’ve reverted back to the original 3T The bars and The stem. Whilst the Mungo bars were very comfortable, it was just too difficult to change gear with the Sora levers, so the drop bars came back from the dead. Well, back from the spares pile really.
They may well make an appearance on a single-speed bike at some point as they’d be ideally suited to that.
The skittles team who we lost badly against at the beginning of the week have since been suspended from the league, and all their games have been voided. So we only lose one point, whereas a certain team we don’t like lost a full 16.
This means Thursday night is now free for a ride, double-bonus.
A very windy ride today, although the rain did hold off for the 90 minutes we were out. Took a gentle spin out to Bitton, then back via Saltford and Corston. The new bike just feels better and better the more I ride it.
Just for Grant, here are a couple of pictures: Lemond Buenos Aires.
I popped down to the LBS this morning to pay for my P2 forks and to pick up their Lemond Buenos Aires demo bike. I actually wanted a Lemond Versailles, but the Buenos Aires has the same frame, but with Campagnolo bits on it. The main reason for picking up the bike was to take it on a test ride with Ian tomorrow. However once I got home I couldn’t resist taking it for a quick spin.
A few miles into the ride I’d adjusted it to fit me a bit better, and I was smitten. Ten miles further on and I was in love. On the way back I was debating whether to ride home via the LBS and get some prices worked out when I noticed a tear in the front tyre, so I popped back to get it changed. Whilst I was waiting Ian got his calculator out, and I was soon the owner of a shiny new bike.
The bike is still at the LBS while they swap a few components over. It’s getting Mavic Open Pro/Campagnolo Centaur wheels, and a Bontrager carbon compact chainset.
Even better, my missing parcel has just arrived as well.
A package was delivered to me today, apparently it was signed for by "Wood" at 12:30, although I was a couple of miles away sat at my desk at work at the time. Presumably the parcel is currently residing with a neighbour, but the courier neglected to tell me which one it is, no-one has called round with it, and I can’t work it out from the signature.
I guess I’ll have to wait until someone turns up with it, or I can call the couriers on Monday morning in the hope he can remember what he did with it.
My work PC had died when I arrived this morning. Fortunately it didn’t take long to swap the HD and extra memory into a spare machine and get things back up and running. It’s obviously running in the family as my Dad had his PC go bang yesterday.
Yesterday morning I wandered into the office to find a large bin containing a desk fan had been abandoned next to my desk. This morning it had been joined by a small shredder. I wonder what delights will await me tomorrow?
I decided to quickly fit the P2 forks tonight, in theory I should have had plenty of time to fit them and still be able to pop down to the shop to pay for them. However it didn’t all go to plan. First off the steerer was slightly too thick for my pipe cutters to cut through, so I had to finish them off with a hacksaw and a file. Then I discovered that the painted part of the steerer is too large for the top cap of the headset and the Hope headset spacers to fit. I managed to file down the headset cap, and found enough other spacers to manage to squeeze everything together. All that faffing took 90 minutes in the end, and the shop was closed.
However now that they are fitted, the forks feel stiffer, and more importantly, the brake-judder seems to have been eliminated. I’ll give them more of a test during daylight tomorrow.
Another cracking ride tonight. We did the usual 25 mile Bradford loop on the cross bikes, didn’t feel quite as good as last week but I think that’s because I’ve picked up the stomach bug that’s going around. I collected the triple-butted P2s from the shop on the way back as they’d been hand-delivered from the warehouse this afternoon. I’ll probably try and fit them tomorrow night or Thursday if our ride is cancelled.
We were shit.
Widcombe Old Boys took 8 points, Housing Admin took an ill-deserved 1 point.
The Inbred now has a Magura rear brake thanks to Tim, it’ll probably still need a bit of fettling, but it seems to do the job at the moment. No new forks for the crosser yet as it turns out that they’ve not actually been ordered.
If all goes to plan I should be borrowing a Lemond Buenos Aires next weekend to try it out for size before committing to the slighly cheaper Lemond Versailles along with a few added extras.
A messy alley to play on tonight. Completely unpredictable leading to some comedy throws. Fortunately the game wandered it’s random way to 3-3 meaning that we are the inaugural holders of the Bill Giles Memorial Cup. After another few random legs we managed to win 5-3.
Half and Half took 3 points, Housing Admin took 8 and the aforementioned cup.
My entry for this years Hell of the North Cotswolds is sat in my courier bag waiting to be posted tomorrow. I think we might aim for a gentle spin round the 50km course this year followed by a pub lunch somewhere, as the last two times I’ve entered we’ve struggled to reach 70km, let alone the full 100km.
I wonder if my new forks will arrive tomorrow or not?
Another good ride tonight. We did the usual route to and from Bradford on Avon with a small hill climb in the middle to liven things up a bit. The legs felt a lot better this week, and it was a far more enjoyable ride than last time.
Next ride should be out to the Lock Inn for breakfast on Sunday morning, then evening ride next Tuesday and Thursday.
It was 9 years ago yesterday that I bought my house.