Cycling Weekly 2016 Race Bike of the Year

Catching up on my Cycling Weekly reading in my new coffee shop find of the year, Sidmouth's Cycle Service, I was drawn in by the headline article, 2016 Race Bike of the Year. 

Within the glossy pages, viewed on my iPad, the magazine lists its top 10 by category. Best endurance, disc brake, endurance, light weight, aero and best value. Whenever I'm looking at reviews it is always pleasing to see something I own and for it not to be in the "don't buy" category! On this occasion, I was understandably pleased to see my two Specialized stable mates mentioned favourably in dispatches, even if not the all out winner. 

My 2 year old Roubaix, which has now carried me safety over more than 5,000 miles of pedalling, receives recognition in the disc brake category. OK, so while discs were new to 2015 and so are not supported on my 2013 variant, I can still seek solace in its namesake getting a few column inches in this write up. 

Further through the article, we come to the endurance winner and within the list of runners is my Tarmac. I have to disagree with their view that the 52/36 chainrings are perfect ratios for all types of riding, but this may be because, labelled by British Cycling as veteran, I  am 20 years over the prime pro cycling age group. Otherwise I can not fault the praising comments and the maximum 10/10 marks given for 'ride' makes me smile .. just as riding the Tarmac for real does!

The overall winner is a matt black stealth like Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 6.0 on Cosmic wheels and a price tag to match, so I'm not sure they've compared apples with apples here. Even more special, therefore, in my rides getting a mention. 

Found Another Coffee Shop

I've always thought the most perfect bike shops are those selling coffee, and the most perfect coffee shops are those selling bikes. Over the past year, I've now discovered four such establishments.

In Bristol during my sabbatical, I came across the Mud Dock Cycleworks & Cafe. This is probably the most substantial twinned shop I've found, with a Cafe which does far more than coffee and cake. In Portland, on my first 100 miler of the year, I lunched at Cycleccino, probably the smallest bike shop duo, with a very informal and somewhat amateurish but honest cafe. The third was Veloton Bicycle Shop, found in Tetbury. This is a small cafe fronted shop where the coffee seems to be secondary to the fashionable Italian bikes and clothing. I had to really want to try out the coffee to stop here, as the welcome was a little cool, as though the shop itself was just "too cool for school!".

The forth I found today, whilst out on an early morning ride with fellow AVPer, Kelly. This was the new Cycle Service cafe and bike shop, much closer to home, located in the grand old Sidmouth Post Office. Although there were plenty of bike stands outside, not carrying bike locks with us, we ventured inside wheeling our bikes just for a look. We received such a warm welcome and not being overly busy,  having received the offer to park up in side, we could hardly refuse staying for coffee and cake!

They have a lovely setup there and I can see it being a regular stopping point, certainly during the winter short rides on the way out of Seaton or after a longer ride on the way back. The interior has a good sized bike service area near the entrance and a back wall lined with Park Tools to die for. This is then surrounded with bikes and bits to buy. The cafe and tables are through the shop to the left, giving good vantage point to brows the wares from a distance. Adorning the wall at this end, there is a blackboard advertising rides and an array of cycling jerseys, naturally including a number from the local Sid Valley CC .. I wonder if they would consider adding an AVP jersey into the mix .. it would certainly make for a warm welcome to their nearest neighbouring club? .. I'll have to bring it up in conversation when next in, I'm sure I can find a spare jersey in my collection!

AVP Evening Ride - Taking it Easy

Thursday, provided great conditions for an evening ride, storm Barney had moved on and we had no rain as eight Pedallers mustered at the Kings Arms. Quiff, Andy and the Near Naked Man were in our numbers, so it was either going to be a quick one or we'd need to split ranks!

Handbag and Gillian headed back to join the 7:30 ride after the climb out of Axmouth and Recumbent, Manx guy and I decided to wave goodbye to the Near Naked Man, Andy and Quiff in Lyme Regis, as there was no way we were all going to stay together. The quick group climbed over and into Charmouth, Wooton Fitzpane and Coney's Castle, while us three took the more gentle climb through Uplyme and Yawl. Although not too steep, this Yawl climb is quite relentless and a good one for me to remember when wanting to work on my climbing stamina.

Once at the A35, at the summit of this Yawl hill climb out of Lyme, with time still on our hands, we decided on adding in a circuit of Axminster before heading back to Seaton via Kilmington. It was on exiting Axminster at the crossing of the A35 into Kilmington that we picked up another rider - a college student returning from Exeter in jeans, trainers, carrying a rucksack and no mudguards .. oh to be young again! We shepherded him back to Colyton following which Manx guy & I finished the ride back at the Kings Arms, joining 3 MTBers for quality beer, chips & chat ... my kind of ride!

Get That Chimp Off My Shoulder

Have you ever been out riding with your club and you think you're in for a quiet spin until unexpectedly the 'keen quick one' rolls up. I've spoken in the past  of how the dynamics of a ride can change dramatically depending on who you are out with and this Thursday's club ride was a typical example.

What frustrates me most, however, is how quick I am to convince myself that it's going to be tough and I'll never keep up, so why bother even trying. It's like that inner chimp of mine, just sitting there on my shoulder, chattering negativity into my ear! It's become a little comical to be honest but I do just hate getting dropped!

Get That Chimp Off My Shoulder

So, perhaps that's going to have to be my 2016 New Year's Resolution .. to get that chimp off my shoulder!

Tarmac Gets A French Compact Upgrade

I've been on holiday in Norfolk this week, not cycling but walking on this occasion. Norfolk is a great location for for doing both, its expansive never ending horizons provide for long days even in winter. This is because it is generally flat, devoid of the hills and hillocks I've become so familiar with on my cycling tours of Devon. In Norfolk, I could probably pedal forever. Here in Devon, my treasured Specialized Tarmac has been beaten on some hills, its semi pro 52/36 crank just simply runs out of steam on some of the more severe climbs. You may remember that in the summer, I chose to take my older Roubaix with its 50/34 compact chainring to climb Mont Ventoux. So, while I've not done any cycling this week, I have taken the opportunity to Devonise the Tarmac. Yes, I've upgraded the chainrings to the hill climbing 50/34 compact configuration.

This is a change I've been pondering for some months. I originally added the Tarmac to my stable to give me greater speed on the straights. My feeling being that the Roubaix was soaking up power through its gel suspension system and that the Tarmac's rigidity and better gear ratio would give me the increased speed I was seeking. In the stats below, the Tarmac (semi-pro) is shown above the Roubaix (compact). The left figure shows the gear ratio for the big ring / small socket - flat riding and right the small ring / big socket - climbing configuration ..

In moving to the compact chainring, I assessed - using a handy iPhone app - that over 10 miles, I'd be just 43 seconds slower and have to spin my legs an additional 65 rotations .. this assumed the impossible that I'd find a 10 mile level piece of road and was physically able to maintain 90 rotations a minute and a speed of 33 miles per hour! This settled it, until I move to Norfolk, being able to actually make it to the top of hills was going to be more important than any 'marginal gains' over the non existent flats! 

The next job, was tracking down the parts and fitting them. I had some really good advice from Chain Reaction, Wiggle and a new find, Tweeks Cycles. Both Wiggle and Tweeks recommended a French manufacturer's chainrings, TA Zephyr. Chain Reaction and Tweeks provided the most useful advice, so I sourced the rings from Tweeks and the tools from Chain Reaction, it seemed only fair .. particularly as Wiggle get most of my other business.

Fitting them was surprisingly easy. The 5 screws came free after initially breaking them free and then it was just a simple case of swapping one for the other. I think the new black TA Zephyrs look much smarter than the standard FSA fittings, and perhaps even a little lighter - may be I will find 'marginal gains' after all!

I was not sure if I would need to shorten the chain. The forums did not seem to agree on this. My plan was to compare chain lengths with my Roubaix, now of the same configuration, but could not believe it when they were an identical 54 links! I found, however, that the chain clunked a little when leaving it unchanged, so removed a link and found it to run much smoother. This was most odd, considering the bikes are the same size. The other change was to the height of the front derailer. This was, however, another inexact science. I think the final position chosen is OK as in the test ride gear changing was smooth enough, naturally time will tell!

I'm now hoping for a dry weekend sometime soon to take it on a hillclimb test .. may be even another trip to Mont Ventoux in the summer?!