The Raceface XY post in the 456 slips just as badly as the Thomson did, I’ve now resorted to a hand-made shim from that renowned manufacturer Stella Artois in order to try to cure the problem.

Good weather, good beer, good food, good riding, good friends. All in all it was good.

A nice shiny new chainset has arrived in the post, I could build a bike round this :)

23.5 miles on the crossbike tonight out to Bradford-on-Avon and back. It was fantastically hot and sunny, and very very dusty.

The seatpost was still slipping slightly on the 456 tonight, so I’ve replaced the Thomson post with the best post in the world ever, a Raceface XY. Time will tell if it’s an improvement or not.

That’s how long it’s been since I rode a geared mountain bike off road, gears aren’t really necessary round here, but they do make the first 20 minutes of climbing out of the valley slightly easier. I just did the normal 11 mile route with 750′ or so of climbing. Oddly I was about 0.5mph slower on than last time out on the singlespeed possibly due to the heavier bike with fatter tyres. The rear wheel looks a bit wonky at the moment, but I have a feeling that it may be the tyre rather than the rim, time for investigation later.

The aging Nokian NBX tyres I’ve been running on the 456 for a while have been replaced with a new set of Bontrager Jones ACX tyres in a generous 2.35" size. This is a fairly unremarkable event, but gave me the ideal opportunity to post and entry with the above title. I’d heard rumours of them being fairly trick to fit as they are the tubeless-ready version. However the front went on with very little trouble, but getting the first bead on the back wheel was a bit of a chore, especially when I had to remove and refit it as the logo wasn’t lined up with the valve-hole properly.

This mornings breakfast was partaken of at the excellent Velo Lounge, a full english with a side order of fries, washed down with two mugs of coffee. A very welcome meal given that I hadn’t eaten since Nandos yesterday lunchtime.

Riding home on a bike with the seat at it’s absolute lowest is not a comfortable experience.

The weekly email newsletter has just been sent round at work, proudly stating that:

Free breakfast for staff who cycle to work
On Wednesday 17 June, staff will be able to enjoy a free breakfast as a reward for cycling to work.

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I shall bear that in mind for 2015.

In advance of a trip to Welshland next week, it seemed sensible to resurrect a bike with gears. Whilst the 69er is a fantastic bike, a singlespeed would probably not be ideal for Afan. So the 456 was retrieved from it’s resting place, the tyres were pumped up, and the chain even received some oil in anticipation of a ride to work today.

The bike felt very odd to start with, however I quickly decided the saddle was an inch or so too low. Once at work out came the multitool, and the saddle duly move up an inch, however on tightening up the seatclamp both bolts stripped, making the ride home an interesting proposition.

I blame all this on what I suspect is a slightly shonky seattube in the 456. The Thomson seatpost continually slips, and to keep it in place I had to resort to a slightly OTT DMR double clamp done up to the official "bastard tight" level.