Day 45 - Breakdown!

Shock horror, the worst of all disasters!

As I previously reported, on Friday, my steed returned to the Bike Shed, Exeter, for it's first service; this is when they tighten cables and check it over for safety. Over the weekend, persistent rain and other activities - decorating! - kept me away from the bike, and so it was not until this morning that I was finally able to return to my training.

We made good progress climbing Seaton Down Hill but on turning down Marlpit, the somewhat potholed lane, an awful rattle became very audible from the front of the bike. I initially thought it to be cables which had worked themselves lose, but no, there was nothing obvious there. In fact there was nothing visibly wrong anywhere, but the knocking was becoming quite disturbing. I made it down to the Esplanade where I pulled up to give it a further looking over. Dismounting to get a better view, there was still nothing obvious and I wondered whether it could have anything to do with the adjustable  shocks in the front forks. There is a small plastic switch on top of the shocks which, coincidentally, I remember examining on collecting the bike on Friday as something did not quite look right but nothing came of it then, tragically this morning, however, with one turn - to see if this could be the cause of the rattle - it sheered off! There was also a broken flange around the left shock. This made me believe, without doubt,  that the forks were at fault, something catastrophic had obviously happened. I was left with no option other than to nurse the bike home, drawing an early close to my morning ride.

If like me you hate having to return faulty goods, you'll appreciate my feelings making that early morning call to the Bike Shed. My view was that on Friday the bike was running perfectly and on Monday it has a rattle and visible signs of damage and the only change between these days had been the service. Why did I not spot this, you may ask - I did - on my way back to the car on Friday afternoon? Well. Exeter is a whole lot noisier on a Friday afternoon than sleepy Seaton at 07:00 am, also, my attention was focussed on finding my way along a very unfamiliar route. I reserve commenting on the Bike Shed's view for now, as just as your car insurance company advise not to admit liability in the event of a knock, it is safe to say that the sales team were adopting the same approach with me today, both on the phone and when I dropped it off in my lunch hour.

I was hoping to hear back from the Bike Shed this afternoon on how long it was going to take to fix, but alas no call was received. They have, it was explained to me, a very formal way of dealing with warrantee claims, only the Crediton branch can deal with these, so they were unable to tell me how long a fix would take but I was promised that they would call me later in the day. I always believe that you only see the true quality of a great retail outlet by the way they handle complaints. How the Bike Shed now perform will be of most interest to me. Their lack of an update call this afternoon, when they could see how anxious I was to get my 6 week old bike back as soon as possible, has not been the greatest of starts!

Day 42 - Exeter

My bike having completed 140 miles and my car being another year older, both were due a service today, so off to Exeter we travelled. I had planned out my route from car garage to Bike Shed and all looked very straight forward. Famous last words! It is funny how the roads never look as they do on the map and the 2.5 mile direct route became at least a 4 mile zigzaged detour around Exeter. I was not best pleased.

The route back, as in the map below - I won't share the earlier one! - was much more direct, as Marsh Barton even appeared on the cycle route sign posts. The cycle paths were a mixed bunch here. This one is labelled the National Cycle Route 34, covering the Exe Valley .. another one off my list .. and includes marked off sections of the main road, which cars think they have a right to stop in and block, forcing you into the main carriage ways, - my bell has never had such a hammering - shared and marked off sections of wide pathways which pedestrians just ignore and let their kids and dogs on mile long leashes roam aimlessly across and unsurfaced potholed tracks which jar every sinew in your body. I know, another dig at our poor excuse for cycle paths. Some of the route along the river is, however, quite idilic as I hope a couple of snaps I took along the way will show.

Despite all the challenges cycling in this country presents us with, I'm still having a brilliant time. You see so much more from a bike than you ever get to see from a car and I can't wait to get out again next week.

Stats: 5.71 mi, 42m 59s, Avg 8.2 mph, Max 21.4 mph, 433 kcal

Day 41 - Kangaroo Circuit

I've done well these last two days in avoiding the downpours. The quick circuit this morning was again timed just right, because as I type the rain is again falling while I managed to return dry just some 30 minutes ago. My route this morning, when drawn out on a map, alarmingly reminds me of the shape of a kangaroo! I now need to look back over my previous routes to see if any other objects come to mind. This is like staring into the sky on a summer's day and seeing shapes in the clouds. I can also see something else happening here ... routes predefined by the shapes they will draw on a map, now there's a challenge!

Moving swiftly on, before the sirens and men in white coats arrive, my 4 mile ride this morning has brought my total distance travelled up to 140 miles in 6 weeks and my Endomondo statistics dashboard has finally registered me as having made 0.001 trips to the moon ... those astronauts certainly have a long way to peddle!

Tomorrow is a special day for my bike, but more on that later.

Stats: 4.39 mi, 25m 07s, Avg 10.5 mph, max 21.0 mph, 278 kcal

Day 40 - Between the Showers

A break in the showers this morning, allowed me a pleasant ride out to Colyton. Into a golden sun rise and through the sea mist and fog, I cycled. Passing a fellow rider coming in the other direction, I was gad of my day-glow top and flickering neons, as I feared whether any speeding motorist would even see him in his darkened outfit! Another dig on the lack of cycle paths.

I was pleased not to have any major hills to climb today as my legs have been complaining something rotten! Is this something athletes just learn to live with? I was also not planning to do the Colyton circuit today, but once I got rolling, I just did not want to stop and with tomorrow looking like it may be another wash out, I was pleased to get another 8 miles under my belt.

Whatever happens with the weather tomorrow, at least I have interesting outing planned for Friday. More on that later!

Stats: 8.07 mi, 42m 35s, Avg 11.4 mph, max 21.6 mph, 472 kcal

Day 39 - Spring on Hold

Having just thawed out from yesterday's Seaton short circuit, with a bit of Wetlands thrown in for good measure, I was hoping to get a longer ride this morning, however, nature had other plans for me. A change in wind direction has brought back the rain and a reoccurring pain in the tum has sealed my fate for today.

I'll check back at lunch time to see how the land lies but it looks as though we've more wet and windy stuff coming in and I may need to sit the next few days out. I know my legs will be at least happy with that decision!

Posted with Blogsy

Day 37 - Sidmouth

Something different today .. a park & ride trip to Sidmouth, which lies two further villages west, along the coast from Seaton. Having to drive and drop my wife off in Sidmouth this morning, I thought I'd load up the bike and do a bit of exploring.

With an hour to play with I had intended to do a circuit out along Sid road to Sidford and back into Sidmouth along the main A375, however, after a detour over Mill Street ford, which for some reason was specifically signposted "unsuitable for cyclists", I wheeled upon the Sidmouth section of National Cycle Route 2.

This is an idilic 2 mile tarmac route through parkland along the river Sid, winding its way over bridges on an interesting crisscrossing path which exits either north, in Sidford, my intended mid point or to the east at Fortescue, onto Sid Road.

I enjoyed the outward run to Sidford so much that once back in Sidmouth I circled around and up the beach to retrace my route along the cycle path, turning off this time at the eastern fork to Fortescue where I was able to join Sid Road which took me over the river back into Sidmouth. 

The weather was near perfect, much warmer than earlier weeks and so, I was finally able to shed the majority of the Michelin-man layers that I'd been carrying since starting my Tour-de-Fitness. The strong easterly breeze along the front, however, took a great deal of peddle power to maintain forward motion, while returning in the opposite direction on the second circuit was a dream!

At the 8 mile point, I came upon a coffee shop and after pondering for a while over whether I could risk leaving my steed untethered outside while I took on caffeine within, I spotted a handy takeaway window, from which my beverage was duly served. 

I was then able to enjoy sitting in the sun, overlooking the beach watching the Exe to Axe runners pass by on their torturous route from Exmouth to Seaton, it gets no better than this!

Stats: 9.5 mi, 54m 36s, Avg 10.4 mph, max 26.5 mph, 605 kcal

Day 36 - Ten Miles

It's starting to feel like spring is finally here and while the air is still too call to shed the layers, the sun is certainly now giving off some warmth when out of the wind. So, into the sun I rode this morning with the 10 mile challenge in my sights.

I took the 3 hills and visited the landslip closed road, where the council have now erected a very permanent steel fence and signs redirecting walkers onto the upper road to continue their coastal path walk are now in evidence. Nature one, human occupation nil.

Heading down hill to the sea and harbour I reverse the circuit I completed a couple of weeks ago through Axmouth, Colyford and into Colyton. It is an absolutely beautiful day to be out on the bike. My return journey takes me down Seaton Road, across to Harepath and the 90 right to join Seaton Down Hill for the exhilarating, but controlled - after yesterday - decent into Seaton.

Endomondo reports I've completed 10.5 miles but on closer inspection it obviously lost its GPS signal at the start as it's missed a good mile of the route .. so today's circuit was more like 11.5 miles. Also, I'm surprised to see that I've covered 115 miles over the past 35 days, I would never have believed this possible 6 weeks ago!

Stats: 10.6 mi, 1h 12m 47s, Avg 8.7 mph, max 25.5 mph, 807 kcal