Yes, Thursday has come around quick and it is lucky that I did break the curse of the reluctant cyclist last week, as with the clocks going back on Sunday even my afternoon tea breaks are now taken in the dark. Building the motivation to cycle out in what one can only consider to be the middle of the night is taking some effort!
Feeling like that French tyre manufacturer's advertising fella, I waddled in goat feet to the road wheeling my trusty Roubaix, rear wheel still complete with its mighty dent which has the effect of blurring the transition between smooth and bumpy road surfaces. Arriving at the Kings Arms, I team up with 8 other Pedallers. It is always interesting to see who is going to be out, as rarely are there the same faces. Tonight we are joined by Glenn, Airfix and Andy but have lost Steve, Peter and Derek. The faces also determine the style of ride. If Clive had arrived, he would have joined up with Glenn for a sprint ride and I would have to make the decision to join them or stay with the slower ride. Had my old friend Andy turned up, he too would have joined the speedsters and the decision would have been made, the slow ride would be the only way I would live to see another day!
As it was, these 9 riders who had found this dry gap in the weather were happy to stick together and temper the speed for another day. The route we took was hatched by Barry following last week's ride, over an apres cycling beer. The first 11 miles took us up a steady climb, through Colyton, Shute, across the A35 and along the full length of Stockland straight turning west just before meeting the A30. The second half of the route should have been all down hill, had, Glenn, Airfix, Gillian & I not been deep in conversation so as to totally miss the Golf Club turning (Note: this is the third time I've done this!). As it was, the four of us, with Tigger & Relay forced to follow in our wake (although wondering where on earth we were going), descended almost to the bottom of Northcote Hill before realising Honiton was not our intended destination! All six of us then had the unplanned additional hike back up Northcote Hill to rejoin Barry & Andy who fortunately had bumped into Kelly, out on a later solo ride, and so was delayed talking else we'd probably not have seen them again that night!
Our return to Seaton was a mirror of last week’s ride, with a quick blast across Farway Common and back along the A3052. This did wonders in bringing up our overall average speed from 12 - 14 mph, a much more respectable figure. It was a great route, although may be a little testing on the long straights - I'm going to have get some turbo training in - and the views were apparently stunning, so we're going to have to repeat it again in the summer when we can see them! I wonder where next week will take us ..
And the stats: 29 miles covered in 2hr 3 min an average of 14 mph 1,737 ft of ascent, and the route ..
Friday, 30 October 2015
Friday, 23 October 2015
Motivation Needed
After returning to work, following my 3 month sabbatical, I am certainly feeling less than motivated to get out on the bike. The temperature has dropped, the nights start before I down tools and the layers of kit now required feels heavy and restrictive. Having missed a series of Thursday night rides because of business commitments, I could very well decide to just take the winter off and hibernate until Spring!
I coincidentally bumped into Jolly, my club cycling buddy who guided me through my first chain and cassette change earlier in the year. He was leaving the Broom Wagon as I arrived for my long very black caffeine fix. He too had missed a number of rides and we empathised over the arrival of winter. A pact was made, however, that if both agreed to go, we'd attend this week's evening ride.
The day, Thursday 22 October arrived and reluctantly I suited up and rolled down to the Kings Arms where I joined 8 Pedallers in the dark under a silvery moon: Barry, Derek, Gillian, Handbag, Peter, Relay, Steve, and Tigger. No Jolly! But the good news was that ‘routemaster' Tigger was back. We'd been lacking a ride leader of late and even I, one who has the route sense of a lemming has had the dubious honour of stepping in. So this was great news for me. The route Tigger crafted took us over the new Stop Line Way Cycle Path, too dark unfortunately to see the river bridge, such that I did not even notice we’d crossed it! There was then the ubiquitous climb which today took the road up from Colyford, through Shute Vale, briefly across the A35, and then the down hill return to Seaton via Wilmington, Offwell and Farway Common.
Handbag & Gillian peeled off after Colyton to join the 7:30 ride, leaving the the remaining seven to continue the climb. Some of the back roads to the A35 hardly deserve to be named as such, with central grass patches and broken tarmac. It is becoming a real challenge these days to find traffic free routes with quality surfaces. The Roubaix, however, nimbly traversed the moonscape, with its gel suspension and newly shod winter tyres; its dented and squared off rear rim, however, does now need some attention; I’m sure I was feeling bumps where there were none!
After the slow and steady climb, we then had the joy of that gradual descent over the swift and smooth surface that spans the 10 miles from Honiton golf club to Seaton. Barry, Peter, Steve and I (now christened Tacho, something about being the single true source of ride telemetry!) took up point, performing a pro style chain gang that even a hooting car could not upset. An array of wildlife was also out and about. A luminescent barn owl crossed between us as we made our way to the common and a pack of baying hounds was released as we paused too long at the Northcote Hill junction of the A35, although fortunately the owner’s perimeter fence was sufficient to keep them tethered.
So, after a little early trepidation, a very enjoyable ride was had and to top it all were back at the King’s Arms for the strike of 9:00 to join the MTB and 7:30 riders in a round of drinks, chips and chat, the perfect way to end a day in the office and may be my motivation restored!
Oh yes, and the stats .. 23 miles covered in 1hr 46 min an average of 13.3 mph 1,644 ft of ascent, and the route ..
I coincidentally bumped into Jolly, my club cycling buddy who guided me through my first chain and cassette change earlier in the year. He was leaving the Broom Wagon as I arrived for my long very black caffeine fix. He too had missed a number of rides and we empathised over the arrival of winter. A pact was made, however, that if both agreed to go, we'd attend this week's evening ride.
The day, Thursday 22 October arrived and reluctantly I suited up and rolled down to the Kings Arms where I joined 8 Pedallers in the dark under a silvery moon: Barry, Derek, Gillian, Handbag, Peter, Relay, Steve, and Tigger. No Jolly! But the good news was that ‘routemaster' Tigger was back. We'd been lacking a ride leader of late and even I, one who has the route sense of a lemming has had the dubious honour of stepping in. So this was great news for me. The route Tigger crafted took us over the new Stop Line Way Cycle Path, too dark unfortunately to see the river bridge, such that I did not even notice we’d crossed it! There was then the ubiquitous climb which today took the road up from Colyford, through Shute Vale, briefly across the A35, and then the down hill return to Seaton via Wilmington, Offwell and Farway Common.
Handbag & Gillian peeled off after Colyton to join the 7:30 ride, leaving the the remaining seven to continue the climb. Some of the back roads to the A35 hardly deserve to be named as such, with central grass patches and broken tarmac. It is becoming a real challenge these days to find traffic free routes with quality surfaces. The Roubaix, however, nimbly traversed the moonscape, with its gel suspension and newly shod winter tyres; its dented and squared off rear rim, however, does now need some attention; I’m sure I was feeling bumps where there were none!
After the slow and steady climb, we then had the joy of that gradual descent over the swift and smooth surface that spans the 10 miles from Honiton golf club to Seaton. Barry, Peter, Steve and I (now christened Tacho, something about being the single true source of ride telemetry!) took up point, performing a pro style chain gang that even a hooting car could not upset. An array of wildlife was also out and about. A luminescent barn owl crossed between us as we made our way to the common and a pack of baying hounds was released as we paused too long at the Northcote Hill junction of the A35, although fortunately the owner’s perimeter fence was sufficient to keep them tethered.
So, after a little early trepidation, a very enjoyable ride was had and to top it all were back at the King’s Arms for the strike of 9:00 to join the MTB and 7:30 riders in a round of drinks, chips and chat, the perfect way to end a day in the office and may be my motivation restored!
Oh yes, and the stats .. 23 miles covered in 1hr 46 min an average of 13.3 mph 1,644 ft of ascent, and the route ..
Friday, 2 October 2015
End of My Sabbatical
If you workers out there ever get the opportunity to take an extended time away from the office, just do it! Back in July, after 25 years with my employer, I embarked on a 3 month sabbatical. The word sabbatical comes from Latin: sabbaticus, from Greek: sabbatikos (σαββατικός), from Hebrew: shabbat (שבת) (i.e., Sabbath), literally meaning a "ceasing". Sabbatical is mentioned in the Bible, Leviticus 25, when God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, instructing that in the seventh year he should let his land have a year of sabbath rest. Thus, I probably waited a little long and took too short a time! Either way, I had a terrific rest and completed the majority of those things I set out to do, those things that work just gets in the way of. My final act, and it had to be this, didn't it, was to go for a long cycle ride with my friend and favorite Broom Waggon coffee shop proprietor, Glenn .. also known as the Near Naked Man.
Glenn shut up shop to ride with me, on this last day of freedom, what a way to end my sabbatical!
Glenn shut up shop to ride with me, on this last day of freedom, what a way to end my sabbatical!
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| Glenn shuts up shop to ride with me |
The weather was fantastic, more like summer and it turned out to be not only the last day of my sabbatical, but also the last day of wearing shorts and t-shirt!
Our destination was Bridport where we refuelled at the amazing Soulshine cafe.
Thank's Glenn, much more that I can say about this ride, it had the weather, company, great food & coffee and terrific route .. cycling at it's best. Back to work next week :-(
Friday, 25 September 2015
Never Say Never Again!
Never Say Never Again is the title of the rather poor Sean Connery remake of his earlier James Bond film, Thunderball. I've been a Bond fan for as long as I can remember, my Tour de 007 DB5 collection being just the tip of the iceberg of the memorabilia I have collected over the years. I even have a rose in my garden called 'For Your Eyes Only'!
Following my recent trip north to Cumbria, "never say never .." took on another meaning, one concerning my other love; that of cycling. Contrary to my talk of 'never again' in my Tour de Fitness blog 'Why Bother With Sportives', I somehow found myself signing up for the inaugural Cross Boarder Sportive - The Raid, on the Sunday following the Tour of Britain, ahead of my return home to Devon. The Raid was a 50 mile route starting and finishing at Lanercost Priory, north of Brampton and crossing briefly into Scotland. The longer 80 mile route, called The Invasion, completed an additional 30 mile circuit further into Scotland following the first food stop.
I had tentatively signed up for the 50 miler so that, should I still be up north, I could be back in time for lunch. Also, as I have said many a time, having such a short attention span, I find much more than 60 miles a bit dull!
What made this ride far from dull, was the company I had for the first 30 miles. I was fortunate to join up with two local cyclists who earlier this year had ridden the London to Paris and had planned their arrival to coincide with the conclusion of the Tour de France .. what an experience! One of the guys was having a hard time with the Cumbrian hills, so it was far from a quick ride, but what pleased me most was how we each stuck and pulled together. At the 30 mile point, the first food stop, my road went south and theirs, they doing the 80 miler, headed back into Scotland. I was impressed with how the struggling guy pushing on although feeling I had at least the additional distance left in my legs, lunch back in Brampton beckoned, so I bid farewell and started out alone on the final leg of my ride.
For the next 20 miles, as per my more my usual sportive experience, I saw not one other rider until I was in sight of the finish line! While it was not a fast ride, I did complete in position 20/130 overall and 5/38 in my age category. This was a very informal well organised event. The roads were very quiet and for much of the route it even felt like a closed road event. Would I do it again? "Never say never .."!
I had tentatively signed up for the 50 miler so that, should I still be up north, I could be back in time for lunch. Also, as I have said many a time, having such a short attention span, I find much more than 60 miles a bit dull!
A short video of the first 30 miles
What made this ride far from dull, was the company I had for the first 30 miles. I was fortunate to join up with two local cyclists who earlier this year had ridden the London to Paris and had planned their arrival to coincide with the conclusion of the Tour de France .. what an experience! One of the guys was having a hard time with the Cumbrian hills, so it was far from a quick ride, but what pleased me most was how we each stuck and pulled together. At the 30 mile point, the first food stop, my road went south and theirs, they doing the 80 miler, headed back into Scotland. I was impressed with how the struggling guy pushing on although feeling I had at least the additional distance left in my legs, lunch back in Brampton beckoned, so I bid farewell and started out alone on the final leg of my ride.
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Tour of Britain 2015
I was up in the north, near Carlisle, last week visiting my folks where, coincidentally, the Tour of Britain made an appearance not once but twice!
My first experience of Tour was in 2009 when I saw from my office window, the riders stream past on their way from Hatherleigh to Yeovil. In this year, a now very familiar Team Sky rider, Ben Swift riding for Team Katusha, won the stage, the British Champion Kristian House riding for Rapha-Condor, now a regular pundit on ITV4, led the breakaway through Seaton and Edvald Boasson Hagen, riding for Barloworld, was the overall winner. It is hard to believe now, being 4 years before catching the cycling bug, that this event meant so little to me, it was only the mass of colour passing before my peripheral vision that made me take note!
I was thrilled to be able to catch the Tour of Britain again in 2013 when it came through Sidmouth, something my long term readers will remember from my post on Day 200. Last year, I took a late holiday in Scotland and went Cycling on Mull during the Tour, so missed it coming through Exeter and across Dartmoor. This year, Devon have the Rugby World Cup and so declined to bid for the Tour again which meant the closest it was going to come to the South West would be Stoke! It was therefore the perfect combination of having time on my hands, due to my sabbatical and already having plans to visit my parents in Cumbria that gave me the opportunity last week to be a real ToB groupie!
It all kicked off on the Tuesday with Stage 3, Cockermouth to Floors Castle, and a 30 mile cycle over to see the sprint finish through Carlisle. I was one of the first to roll up so had a great view. I also attracted interest from the local press and received a full column write-up in the following day's newspaper!
Stage 5, on Thursday, Prudhoe to Hartside Fell, came though Brampton along Hardian's Wall and concluded with a final climb of eight kilometres to the summit finish on Hartside Fell above Penrith in the Eden District. My plan was to catch the riders at both these locations, with Brampton being a short distance from my folks and by taking a more direct route up Hartside, riding with my old Rock 2 Roll CC mates, I would be able to beat the pro riders to the finish, they having to do a spin out to Ullswater first!
In the above picture of Kristian House, you'll have to believe me that Bradley Wiggins is in this group, behind and to the left. He must have seen me coming as in every one of my shots he is obscured by other riders or I just manage to get the back of his head!
It was an amazing day, great views, great weather and some great cycling. I've recently got back into my GoPro, so here too is a little video of the ride from Brampton up to Hartside Fell ..
... and this was the route.
Finally a couple more coincidences. The 2015 Tour celebrated the first double winner since it was relaunched in 2004, this was Edvald Boasson Hagen, the cyclist who last won it in 2009 when the event was first to appear in my 'peripheral vision'. The second co-incidence is that Kristian House was also riding on this Tour, just as he did back in 2009 .. as evidenced by my shot on Hartside and Alex Moorhead's photo from Seaton.
Postscript:
If interested, you can check out a few more photos from the Tour of Britain in my Flickr album.
My first experience of Tour was in 2009 when I saw from my office window, the riders stream past on their way from Hatherleigh to Yeovil. In this year, a now very familiar Team Sky rider, Ben Swift riding for Team Katusha, won the stage, the British Champion Kristian House riding for Rapha-Condor, now a regular pundit on ITV4, led the breakaway through Seaton and Edvald Boasson Hagen, riding for Barloworld, was the overall winner. It is hard to believe now, being 4 years before catching the cycling bug, that this event meant so little to me, it was only the mass of colour passing before my peripheral vision that made me take note!
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| Tour of Britain 2009 Stage 7 - Seaton www.alexmoorehead.com |
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| Kristian House - 2009 Stage 7 - Seaton www.alexmoorehead.com |
I was thrilled to be able to catch the Tour of Britain again in 2013 when it came through Sidmouth, something my long term readers will remember from my post on Day 200. Last year, I took a late holiday in Scotland and went Cycling on Mull during the Tour, so missed it coming through Exeter and across Dartmoor. This year, Devon have the Rugby World Cup and so declined to bid for the Tour again which meant the closest it was going to come to the South West would be Stoke! It was therefore the perfect combination of having time on my hands, due to my sabbatical and already having plans to visit my parents in Cumbria that gave me the opportunity last week to be a real ToB groupie!
It all kicked off on the Tuesday with Stage 3, Cockermouth to Floors Castle, and a 30 mile cycle over to see the sprint finish through Carlisle. I was one of the first to roll up so had a great view. I also attracted interest from the local press and received a full column write-up in the following day's newspaper!
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| 2015 Stage 3 - Carlisle Sprint Finish |
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| Tour of Britain Winner Edvald Boasson Hagen - Stage 5 - Brampton |
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| Kristian House - Stage 5 - Hartside Fell |
In the above picture of Kristian House, you'll have to believe me that Bradley Wiggins is in this group, behind and to the left. He must have seen me coming as in every one of my shots he is obscured by other riders or I just manage to get the back of his head!
It was an amazing day, great views, great weather and some great cycling. I've recently got back into my GoPro, so here too is a little video of the ride from Brampton up to Hartside Fell ..
... and this was the route.
Finally a couple more coincidences. The 2015 Tour celebrated the first double winner since it was relaunched in 2004, this was Edvald Boasson Hagen, the cyclist who last won it in 2009 when the event was first to appear in my 'peripheral vision'. The second co-incidence is that Kristian House was also riding on this Tour, just as he did back in 2009 .. as evidenced by my shot on Hartside and Alex Moorhead's photo from Seaton.
Postscript:
If interested, you can check out a few more photos from the Tour of Britain in my Flickr album.
Monday, 31 August 2015
Tour de Fitness Joins The World Of Twitter
Twitter (/ˈtwɪtər/) is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets" .. or so Wikipedia says. In the last week or so, I can't now be sure when as I'm losing track of time on this sabbatical, I created a Twitter account for my 'Tour de Fitness' persona. Why you may ask? Well, I've had a Twitter account for some years in my own name, but have never had a reason or mission to use it. I say mission as from what I've learned in my limited time of observing Twitter users is that one basically uses it to sell something .. either a product or service, raise awareness of a charity, or ones own eminence.
I initially decided to create my account to shamelessly promote this blog, increase the number of readers and share my 'Tour de Fitness' journey. Since receiving Twitter guidance from my cycling buddy, the Near Naked Man at the Broom Wagon, I've found it actually to be far more than just a platform from which to promote oneself. The companies, publications and people I am now following, have interesting facts and events to share themselves. I have also found it to be more than just a one way communication, I've been able to enquire on companies products, raise issues, exchange ideas and re-share interesting information with my own followers. The responses I have received from companies has also been far quicker and immediate than email or letter!
Having had such a positive initial experience with my Tour de Fitness venture, I've now also set up an account for the Pedallers to complement our Facebook page, we will see how long I keep this up and whether it has the results I'm hoping .. generating interest in the AVP and encouraging local cyclists to join us. It has been great, for example, to see the Seaton Tourist Information Centre re-tweeting our ride details, and it will be interesting to see how this develops.
One downside to the immediate availability of information from my Twitter feed, however, has been in finding out the results of the Vuelta, the Tour of Spain pro cycling event, prior to seeing the evening's catchup programme on TV! I have another 2 weeks of having to turn a blind eye to the day's updates or just access it early morning and late evenings!
Finally, returning to this blog, you will see that on the right hand side of this page, there is a section where you can view a summary of my random 'Twitterings', so that you too can share in the immediacy of these communications without having to open an account yourself .. naturally, if you have taken this step into the world of twitter, please feel free to follow, that is after all, what it is all about :)
I initially decided to create my account to shamelessly promote this blog, increase the number of readers and share my 'Tour de Fitness' journey. Since receiving Twitter guidance from my cycling buddy, the Near Naked Man at the Broom Wagon, I've found it actually to be far more than just a platform from which to promote oneself. The companies, publications and people I am now following, have interesting facts and events to share themselves. I have also found it to be more than just a one way communication, I've been able to enquire on companies products, raise issues, exchange ideas and re-share interesting information with my own followers. The responses I have received from companies has also been far quicker and immediate than email or letter!
Having had such a positive initial experience with my Tour de Fitness venture, I've now also set up an account for the Pedallers to complement our Facebook page, we will see how long I keep this up and whether it has the results I'm hoping .. generating interest in the AVP and encouraging local cyclists to join us. It has been great, for example, to see the Seaton Tourist Information Centre re-tweeting our ride details, and it will be interesting to see how this develops.
One downside to the immediate availability of information from my Twitter feed, however, has been in finding out the results of the Vuelta, the Tour of Spain pro cycling event, prior to seeing the evening's catchup programme on TV! I have another 2 weeks of having to turn a blind eye to the day's updates or just access it early morning and late evenings!
Finally, returning to this blog, you will see that on the right hand side of this page, there is a section where you can view a summary of my random 'Twitterings', so that you too can share in the immediacy of these communications without having to open an account yourself .. naturally, if you have taken this step into the world of twitter, please feel free to follow, that is after all, what it is all about :)
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Ending The Week With The Near Naked Man
It was not a promising start to the week when the Met Office, still providing the BBC with their weather, reported that "the weather out there today is wet and shitty with continued wet and shitty in the afternoon. Tomorrow a chance of continued crappy with a pissy weather front coming down from the north. Basically, it's [going to be] wetter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut." .. don't you just love Robin Williams!
I, therefore, thought I'd be locked up inside for the duration working on an ark, for the day of judgement seemed soon to be upon us. A break in the weather surprisingly appeared on Tuesday morning in time for me, filled with guilt and jitters for having only ridden once since the 100 miler 2 weeks ago, to venture out on an early morning spin. The window was, however, a short one as having only pedalled 5 of my intended 20 miles, god's sprinklers got turned up to max and I had to make a slight detour to the Colour Wheel coffee shop to steam off a little dampness and take on warm coffee and a very welcomed toasted tea cake. The staff were very surprised to see me tap my way, dripping, into their shop and questioned my ability to read the weather forecast! I completed my 20 mile soaking back at the Broom Wagon where I was offered a towel to sit on, such was by then the state of my attire!
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| Soggy view from the Broom Wagon |
Wednesday saw a dove arrive with an olive branch .. or at least a promise of clear sky for the afternoon. I had been hoping to catch up with an old colleague from Yorkshire holidaying in the area and agreeing that this forecast looked the most promising for a while, we agreed a late afternoon rendezvous in Lyme Regis. I took the Tarmac on a circular route, as you know, I do not like having to retrace my steps if at all possible. The roads were dry and clear in all but the shaded sections where I received a slightly pleasurable dampening, the afternoon August heat now building.
Thursday was another mixed day with a promise of clear and rain free evening for the regular AVP ride. I had earlier fitted a set of new hefty Schwalbe Marathon tyres to an old set of Mavic wheels which I had thought to set aside for the winter / wet weather. This is akin to the F1 teams having sets of slick 'super soft tyres' which I normally run on and a set of wet weather tyres. The Marathon's will be the wet weather tyres I can shoe my steeds with when venturing out during the winter. I had, however, not assumed to have to consider them so soon, although for this Thursday evening ride, they were a godsend and perfect for the not so well maintained Devon roads frequented only by farm vehicles and those lost following their satnavs. Well this night's road ride(s) were a bit different. Around 11 riders met up at the Kings Arms. Grinch led the 6 club riders out to Lyme while Quiff took the sprint ride towards Crewkerne. Somehow, I managed to get swept along with the sprint group until Raymonds Hill when Curtis and I peeled off to take in Tatworth, Chardstock and Membury. http://ridewithgps.com/trips/6261940. This was when my Schwalbe Marathons came into their own as we traversed some very slimy and gritty sections over which my normal slicks would have been severely punished. After a good 35 miles covered, I was feeling decidedly pooped (Clive's term) and it was even too late for any recovery beer & chips! Still .. it was great to have got out for another spin.
I had planned to leave my cycling for the week there. That was until I received a text from The Near Naken Man on Sunday morning. The message was that he was going out for a ride in 30 minutes and did I want to join him. Before my legs had a chance to counter the decision, I was lycra'd up and spinning the Tarmac down to the Broom Wagon. The Near Naked Man does not do wet weather cycling, so assumed I'd not need a rain cape, nor the Roubaix still shod with Thursday night's wet weather tyres. Big mistake! By the time we reached Sidford, I was again wet to the skin! I couldn't grumble though, it was a great ride and the biblical weather reminded me so much of last year's Ride London and that feeling that you can only get so wet after which it some how becomes comical. I do wish however that drivers would heed the weather conditions and show more consideration to their fellow road users, who do not have the luxury of a windscreen, roof and cozy air-conditioning .. I have too few digits to count the number who sprayed us with dirty puddle juice as they passed dangerously close in both directions .. may be the parliamentary petition to add cycle awareness and safety to the current Driving theory test will do some good for new drivers, for the old .. well, answers on a post card ;)
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| Cycling with the Near Naked Man |
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