Monthly Archives: March 2007

I’ve just broken my self-imposed "no organised bike riding" rule and have entered SSUK 07. Given that it’s in Bristol it seemed silly not to go. Due to apathy it’s the first SSUK/SSEU raced I’ve entered since 2003.

I suspect the drinking will take priority that weekend, and bike riding will probably be an afterthought.

My biking mojo is back. All it took was a sunny evening, dry trails, and my Kona Unit.

It was my first time out on the Unit since mid December, and in that time I’d forgotten quite how much fun you can have on a rigid singlespeed. Everything on the ride went perfectly once I’d actually got going properly. However there was an aborted start when I realised I’d left the fridge door open, and whilst heading back inside to rectify that I caught my shoe on a sharp screw and put a hole in my Sidi Dominators. I taped them up before the ride, and I’ll clean them later and try and tape them up a bit better. Replacements will cost the wrong side of £100, so the tape will have to do.

I’m moving furniture tomorrow and skittling Thursday, but hopefully I’ll get another ride in on the way to the scout planning meeting Friday night.

Well they say that it’s all in the preparation, so this evening I dug the Unit out ready for tomorrow night. It’s not been ridden for over three months, so I decided the lighter evenings provided the ideal opportunity to bring it out of retirement.

To do this I had to rescue it from it’s hiding place behind the 456, and add some extra air to it’s somewhat deflated tyres. Some of the mud left over from it’s last excursion made it’s way onto the floor giving me a good excuse to brush the floor clear of mud and various feline by-products. All I need to do is introduce the chain to some oil before the ride and everything should be ready. As I’ve not ridden the bike since replacing the seatpost I’m sure there will be a few stops to wave an allen key at it to adjust things before I reach the top of the hill. Hopefully my current lack of fitness will still cope with the 32:18 gearing.

It’s skittles tonight hence delaying the ride until tomorrow.

I’ve now swapped the aging Syncros skewers on the 456 with some allen key jobbers, and possibly identified the problem. It looks like the axle on the Hope XC hub actually protrudes slightly past the outside of the dropout, and the skewer tightens up against this rather than the dropout itself. Obviously this wasn’t a problem on the Stiffee or Craftworks with their thick aluminium dropouts, but causes problems on the 456 with it’s more slender steel dropout.

I’ll give the allen key skewers a whirl, and pad it out with washers if necessary.

Another spin on the 456 tonight. I had intended to take the Unit, but the 456 was nearer, and was equipped with lights and a hipflask.

Something seems a bit amiss with the 456, yet again the rear wheel had come loose and nearly fell out when I lifted the bike through the back door. Later on during the ride I could actually pull the tyre into the seatstay if I pedalled hard enough. I think that the 7 year old Syncros skewers might be somewhat past their best, I shall probably replace them with some allen key skewers when I can get hold of some.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful apart from the rather excessive amount of wind.

It’s now time to overdose on garlic with a mix of garlic pasta, garlic bread, and the remains of Saturday nights beef in Guinness with Stilton and lots of garlic. Tonight will be guaranteed Vampire free after all that lot.

A cracking ride on the 456 tonight, it was almost dry under tyre. Far better conditions than the last few months worth of rides. Had I not faffed around for an hour when I got home, I wouldn’t even have needed lights.

I was all set to head out for a ride tonight, but for varying reasons I ended up working late which doesn’t leave me enough time to ride before skittles. Hopefully I’ll have better luck tomorrow night.

After much procrastination this morning, I eventually decided I couldn’t face dragging a mtb round the waterlogged countryside, so decided to bring the Lemond out of retirement.

I replaced the poncy carbon wheels with the repaired Campag Centaur/Mavic Open Pro ones which necessitated a tyre swap and a bit of fettling. Once that was done I headed out round the usual quick Burnett route of 15 miles, mainly because my back won’t cope with much more than that at the moment. I’d forgotten quite how comfortable the Lemond is, and how much of the road induced vibration it damps out.

In the end it was a very pleasant, if somewhat windy ride.