Freewheeling

On the day the Froomie has to settle for 6th on the Volta a Catalunya, the BikeShed return my freewheel duly repaired and I have one of my best rides of the season.

Freewheel looking good

The BikeShed should have really fixed my wheel last month when they had it in for a service .. a stitch in time and all that, but they recovered well with a rapid fix enabling me to get in a weekend ride on my Roubaix.

What views!

With the majority of the Pedallers, including my buddy, Andy, having had a ride out yesterday, I was left to do a solo cycle this afternoon. I had a plan to do a re-run of Thursday's quick loop out to Farway Common and this I did with a slight detour into Farway having turned off a little early. This resulted in one of the steepest climbs of my 'cycling career' up Ball Lane .. one to miss in future. I even passed an old guy getting out of his car and was showered with admiration from him, little then did I know what was in store.

Old petrol pumps in Farway on the turn to Seaton

In spite of the detour, the climbs and solo ride (I normally do better with company), it was a quick ride. I got a new PB of 16.13 miles for 1 hr and a 43.54s for 20 km last set back in September 2013! I also achieved 5 Strava segment PBs, even beating Andy on the Golf Club to A35 segment :)

Feeling a lot better this week!

Pro Cycling Teams Announce New Kit

The Pro Cycling Teams have announced their new kits for 2014.

Many will by now have seen or read about Chris Froome's tweet on 31st December .. "Trying out my new 2014 @TeamSky @rapharacing kit. This skin suit takes #marginalgains to the next level pic.twitter.com/UlnSTDgVtv" which has caused quite a stir in the cycling press.

Froome trying out his new 2014 Team Sky Kit

I'm hoping this will not be on general release for the Mamil brigade .. if it does, many will be pleased to hear that it will certainly not be added to my collection!

I've also seen that Team Sky, as well as renaming themselves this year from Sky Pro Cycling, are also to use blue, rather than the green water bottles this year. It is just like a new football season, cycling has very much now entered world of big business and mass marketing. I am trying - so far not very successfully - to avoid being sucked in!

Luke, proud to be rocking the Welsh flag on his kit for 2014 ! 

Meanwhile, may be due to this being the year of the Commonwealth Games, Luke Rowe has been showing off his Welsh Dragon motif which this year replaces the Union Jack on the Sky Team's jerseys. May be something we'll need to get used to if Scotland exits the Union later this year. I am waiting to see if Wiggo and Foome will, likewise, be wearing the St George's Cross.