Life in the Bus Lane

July’s totals would have been better if I’d managed to ride this last weekend, however a combination of overtime and picnics conspired to stop me riding. Tonights ride was also cut short due to the rain.

A group of us decided to meet up in the park for a picnic and games today. The rain managed to hold off until I was walking home, leaving us a nice dry afternoon to eat food, and play football, cricket, volleyball, and have three-legged races and the suchlike.

We really ought to do it more often.

Picnic in the park pictures.

That was probably my longest post-work ride ever. 38 miles with 3081ft/939m of climbing.

We started off on the usual Chew Valley route but took a slight diversion in Pensford to check out a new variation on the route. When we got back to the outskirts of Saltford instead of taking the easy route home I rode part way back with Ian and took in a few more climbs. The extra climbs and a few impromptu sprints along the way have finished me off for the night.

If I can get another good ride in in the next few days I should be on for my best month since I started keeping track of my mileage.

It’s horribly hot and sticky out, and we’re doing a 40 mile road ride tonight. I’m almost tempted to torture myself and take the Langster instead of the gear-equipped Lemond. I’m sure sanity will prevail in the end thoughl

The aim tonight was to ride out to Avoncliff for a pint or two, then ride back home again. However by the time we’d got to Dundas Aqueduct we decided to head back again and stop off in Bathampton for a pint instead. The only downside was the long queue at the bar again.

The pub bike worked pretty well, it’d probably be a lot better though if the front brake wasn’t partially stuck on all the time.

I took the cross bike out tonight for the first time in about four months. Once I hopped on my first though was “blimey this feels small”, quickly followed by a quick stop to put the saddle up another cm or so, I’m sure my legs must be stretching.

My arm is still a bit sore, and the cross bike isn’t the most forgiving form of off-road transport, so after the first bit of singletrack I decided to head down the roads into Monkton Combe then back along the canal for a quick 12.5 mile loop.

What bike should I ride tonight? At the moment I’m leaning towards finding some spare pedals for the cross bike and taking that for a spin.

Yesterday we did a 38 mile trip down to Chew Valley Lake and back. I was due to leave at 09:15 to meet Ian but it started raining again at 9 so we delayed things for an hour or so. It was still raining when I headed out at 10, but was starting to clear up by the time I met Ian at 11, and was lovely and sunny by the time we got to the tea stop at Chew Valley just before 12.

I didn’t touch a bike at all today. My arm was too painful this morning to be able to ride to work, so I resorted to a gentle stroll in by foot.

The antibiotics seem to be having an effect though. The swelling seems to be receeding slightly, although it’s still fairly painful to touch or move too much. Hopefully another 48 hours should clear things up enough to be able to get a proper ride in on Sunday.

Has anyone used the phrase "Floyd on Form" yet today?

I’ll be having a night off the bike tonight for two reasons. It’s too bloody hot out there, and my arm still hurts.

The swelling on my arm is getting redder and larger, and the outside fingers are still partially numb. Following a flying visit to see the doctor this afternoon I’ve now got a 7-day course of antibiotics to take which should hopefully clear things up though.

It’s hot out there with a capital H O T today. I got home from work at 16:10 and noticed that I had a parcel to collect from the sorting office, so I quicky got changed, refilled the camelbak, grabbed the Unit, and was back out on the bike by 16:25. The long slog up Wellsway was pretty painful in this heat, and then I managed to smack my left arm into a branch on the first bit of singletrack meaning that the entire outside of my arm and the outside two fingers are now quite painful. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, if a little uncomfortable. I picked up the package on the way back through town, and was home by 17:45.

12 miles and 1080ft/329m climbing in an hour and a bit.

Tonights post-work road ride with Ian has been cancelled leaving an important question which must be answered.

Do I go out on the road bike anyway, go off-road for a change, or stay in and watch todays coverage of the Tour de France with a nice cold beer?

I was meant to be out on a work ride tonight, however they are now cancelled for the foreseeable future after Sandy had a crash on the Cwm Carn DH course yesterday resulting in him being off the bike for the next three months.

In the end the lure of an empty A4 though Saltford was too much to resist and I headed out through Saltford and across to Marksbury to try out a new route back to Bath. After one short but steep climb I had a few miles of empty country lanes to swoop through all the way down to Newton St Loe, almost perfect.

16 miles and 1115ft/340m of climbing in just over an hour.

My brother has just left with my tripod and nearly all my lenses. All I’ve got left is the 50/1.8 and a 75-300 if I can remember where I’ve put it.

Never listen to Ian when he says “I’ve got a new idea for part of the route today”, it’ll only end in pain.

The first planned deviation we took was actually quite nice, however after the tea stop Ian decided it would be a good idea to head up towards Dundry instead of heading round the back of Chew Magna. We ended up riding a steep climb, a short descent, then an even steeper climb. I can now say that I’ve ridden it once, and never plan to do it again. It did at least add a few miles and another 150 meters of climbing onto the route. The rest of the ride was actually really good.

In the end I did 40 miles with 3218ft/981m of climbing. If only I’d done another 2 miles I’d have reached 100 miles for the week.

…is now complete.

Time for a quick test ride before the TdF coverage starts this afternoon. Pictures later, maybe.

Another work ride tonight. Sandy turned up at my house slightly late, and we headed out on the usual climb out of the valley. Once we reached the top we headed along the main road instead of the usual path ‘cos I had to pick some stuff up from the Vets, however I spent most of the ride across the top trying to stop my legs cramping painfully. Once we’d finished at the Vets I put my saddle up again which seemed to solve the problem. My legs must be stretching as I’ve put the saddle up over an inch in the last week or two.

The rest of the ride was pretty good, the trails are still in perfect condition. The only downer was the long wait at the pub before we got served. Another 12 miles on the Unit in the bag though.

After nearly four years, I’ve finally had to admit defeat and take the barbell out of my right nipple piercing. It’s never settled very well, and over the last year or so has slowly been migrating out and had finally got to the point where it was going to get pulled out if I wasn’t careful. The left-hand piercing has been fine though, so that’s still in place.

I did however get a 12 mile ride in on the Unit tonight. I rode up to the monthly committee meeting instead of getting a lift, then raced the traffic back down the hill into town. I think I won.

It was perfect riding weather tonight. Not too warm, just enough breeze to keep you cool, and topped off nicely with clear blue skys. Despite all the recent rain the trails were still hardpacked without being too dusty. The only downside was that one path is getting a bit overgrown, but to balance things out the next one had been trimmed back nicely. It all came to and end too soon after 13 miles on the Unit.

Hopefully there will be another slightly hillier ride tomorrow night, then probably another trip round tonights route on Thursday.

It turns out that CycleScheme isn’t such a good deal for us, apparently we still have to pay VAT on the purchase price which wipes out a fairly hefty chunk of the possible savings. The only real advantage left over careful shopping is that you effectively get a 12 month interest free loan, which isn’t really enough of a benefit to go through the hassle of all the paperwork along with not actually owning the bicycle.

Blimey, a 10mm lens is pretty damn wide even on a APS-C sized sensor. This could be fun.

The Ribble now has full-length mudguards fitted, something I decided was a priority after the rainwater enema I received on the way home on Wednesday. There is also a new 105 rear mech to be fitted when I get a chance, hopefully that’ll help sort out the slightly vague shifting.

It looks like my 2GB DaneElec CF card is dying. I had trouble with it at cub camp a few weeks back, and tonight the camera rebooted a couple of times whilst writing to the card, corrupting a few pictures in the process. I’ve swapped back to my old 1GB Kingston card for the moment to see if that solves the problem. If it does I’ll probably get a couple of new 1GB cards to replace the 2GB one.

My brother has just left me with a Sigma 12-24 lens that he’s rented for a few days for work. Having had a quick play with it, I might have to go and buy one of my own, especially if I can rent it back to him to reduce the cost a bit. The big question is do I get the Sigma 12-24 which will work on any camera, or the Sigma 10-20 which is £100 or so cheaper, but will only work on APS-C sized sensors?

I finally got fed up with the incessent creaking coming from the chainset on the Unit and removed the 5-year old Truvativ Stylo chainset and slightly more modern Truvativ Gigapipe DH BB. The creaking might have been due to the BB coming slightly loose, but I think it was more down to the splines on the chainset wearing to the point you could remove the cranks by hand.

It’s now equipped with the Deore Hollotech chainset from the spares pile which is perfectly silent, at some point in the future it might get swapped to a new Hone chainset.

The one downside of the new chainset came to light on the first long climb. It’s only 175mm instead of the 180mm I’ve been using on singlespeeds for the last 5 years, and I’d forgotten to put the saddle up by the corresponding 5mm. A quick wave of an allen key soon sorted that out though.

I did the usual Uni route stopping off on the downs for a quick can of ice-cold Stella which was suitably refreshing.

The On-One Bignose saddle is still nice and comfortable, although I’m not sure it’d be my first choice for longer rides. The logos on the nose are wearing off very quickly, both are almost gone after just two rides.

No riding tomorrow night, it’s my annual trip round the approach golf course. Hopefully the weather will be slightly better than it’s been for the last three years.

It’s that Wurzels time of year again. Luckily yesterday afternoons rain didn’t return during the evening. Despite the best endeavours of First Group to stop me attending I made it to Claverton in time thanks to a lift from Father. The weather was superb, the beer was cheap, The Wurzels were great as always, but unfortunately it was a long walk home afterwards.

More pics: The Wurzels, July 2006

Today was my first offroad ride for nearly three weeks, and the first ride with my new On-One Bignose saddle on the Unit. It was bloody hot out which made the ride somewhat unpleasant, but the trails were nice and dry and empty which more than made up for it. The new saddle is pretty comfortable, with plenty more padding that the Selle Italia Oktavia it replaced. I might keep the Oktavias for the road bikes and get another Bignose for the Stiffee.

Tonight we’re off to the The Wurzels again, hopefully I can work out where to get the bus from so that I can get there in time to find my ticket.