Cycle Troosers!

Mar 29 2011

Last weekends cycle ride has made me finally realise how much I need to buy some proper cycle trousers. The bit of skin between my bum and my undercarriage was sorer than a very sore thing yesterday, despite wearing 2 pairs of underpants on the ride.

The problem is that Im a bit of a skinflint. I’ve looked online and decided that I dont have the figure for lycra, which leaves me actually liking the looks of the MTB 3/4 length trousers, but the cheapest I’ve seen are close to a whopping £50 a pair from Evan’s Cycles. I know that as with most things, the more you spend, the better the product, but…well fifty quid! Even that’s daylight robbery.

I’d be really interested to hear what others think on this subject, and even what other people wear…no lycra though lol.

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A Weekend of Cycling

Mar 28 2011

Saturday
 
A shame the previous weeks weather didn’t quite hold good for Saturday, and although it didn’t rain until a few spots around 5.00pm, the sky was overcast all day. Having said that it was a warmish day and in the afternoon Karen, Ben and I cycled down to The Cunning Man for a drink. Ben was quite upset that they had run out of crisps and had to resort to some kind of puffed chilli flavoured snacks.
 
After relaxing for a bit we went the long way back, via Theale and followed the towpath through some fields. It’s all Public Right of Way and we were disgusted that someone has chained and padlocked one of the gates across the route, meaning you either have to climb over the gate of through a hole in the fence. It’s so out of the way that I doubt it will get fixed either. Either we were more exposed in the fields or the wind picked up because it became quite chilly and I was grateful I hadn’t managed to locate my shorts before we left.
 
Nothing much else to report except the old “landing strip” between my bum hole and my happy sacks felt a bit raw afterwards. When we got home I made us a nice thick Courgette, Carrot and Broccoli soup which I have to admit we really needed and warmed us all up nicely.
 
Mileage = 12 miles
 
Sunday
 
Sunday dawned a much better day. The Sun was visible and it was at least a couple of degrees warmer with no wind apparent. This was the day of our long planned ride down to Silchester to look at the old Roman town there which archaeologists are excavating during the Summer months. After doing a few chores and collecting the essentials together we set off at around 11.30am.
 
Based on yesterdays exceedingly slow cycling I figured the 12-13 miles to Silchester would take us about 2 hours, maybe a little more. Most of the route is via NCR23 and is pretty well signposted but I printed off maps to take just in case. None of the route has dedicated cycle lanes, very little has footpaths except through villages and a lot of the roads are barely wide enough for cars to pass cyclists and other cars coming the opposite direction at the same time. On the plus side, once you get a few miles South of Reading the traffic eases considerably to only a few vehicles every so often and most of the time the roads are empty.
 
We had one accident – yeah you’ve guessed it – Ben again! There is a corner you can cut which is a few hundred yards of shingle lane followed by a rutted grass & mud lane. We were hacking it down there and Ben caught a wheel in a rut, apparently slid forward, onto the crossbar and slammed his nuts into the stem. It kind of took the wind out of his sails for 10 minutes but was eventually all right.
 
A few miles further on I missed a short cut via an old Roman road which would have cut off the curve of the “D” route, but it did allow us to stop for a nice picnic lunch on the bank of a field. We eventually arrived at the site…a bit disappointed really as fences meant we couldn’t get anywhere close to the actual excavations, which are small in area despite the town allegedly covering a huge field. No one was working there so early in the season, so we walked around the old perimeter defence wall (more of a bank of earth with some flint masonry, stopped for a look at the amphitheatre and began the return trip home.
 
This time we took the Roman road back. Its not much more than a tree lined single track lane now but was extremely pleasant to cycle plus it was mainly a gentle downhill gradient. Getting close to Reading and seeing as it was late afternoon we diverted off to The Hungry Horse for a drink. Ben was absolutely exhausted and even though we were within sight of the pub he had to get off and walk, but once we had a drink and bought a nice evening meal there he perked up for the short ride back to home.
 
I have to say that my arse is definitely suffering this morning. I was contemplating bringing a cushion into work. I think its probably time I looked at some proper padded cycle shorts.
 
Mileage = 23.4 miles + another mile home from the pub.
 
Total distance this weekend = 34.71 miles
 
(I’d also like to thank Toby for his copious use of Endomondo on his mobile phone. It’s convinced me to use it too and I have to say its bloody good)

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Long Time – No See!

Mar 25 2011

Guess who fell off the wagon then? Well not so much fell off it but I broke it in bits I guess. When the cold weather came along late last year I just faded out of my cycling and then Christmas splurges, followed by a cold start to the year, dark in the mornings, dark at nights, wet, very wet, and did I mention it was cold and miserable?

 

Those are my excuses, which arent really justifiable but are my attempt to explain why I have been “away”. Truth be told, I have been doing a little cycling but not enough to get rid of the weight I have gained back in my lazy period. Anyway enough of this, the warm weather is here now (I hope) and its time to rock n’ ride once more.

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A Mini Ride

Dec 06 2010

Its just over a month since I bought Karen her new bike from Halfords and as part of their price included a free 1st month service, I called them up last week to book it in. The guy on the phone was very helpful (or maybe it was because he didn’t give a damn) and said to “just bring it in and they’d do it right away“. A said I’d drop it round on Saturday morning.

Now I’m not so stupid as to think that they were really going to do a “while you wait” service. Apart from the fact that it was a Saturday, its also the run up to x-mas and staff try to use up their holiday and shops are busier. Nevertheless I pretty much knew the only thing wrong with it was the disc brakes needed adjustment and maybe a lube here or there so it’s not a massive undertaking.

On Saturday I cycled the couple of miles to the shop – its a really nice bike to ride with more gears than mine, a smoother action to change up and down with no rattling of the gears as you change and no need to give the front cog a swipe with your heel to get that elusive change up. I decided to take the “scenic route” there and boy have I missed cycling this past month or so! Apparently my legs have too as I could feel the calves tightening up as I applied more and more pressure…it felt really good.

Anyway I eventually got to the shop and took the bike in. I’d like to know who the bright spark was who thought a bike department should be on the upper mezzanine though. It seems my suspicions were well founded and the counter guy immediately began with the “we’re busy…time of year…bikes to build…can’t be arsed” kind of spiel. I told him it was okay and I could pick it up later on or even the following morning so took a ticket and walked home.

(That’s the end of the exercise bit folks!)

I didn’t hear from the shop that day so figured that it was best to call them on Sunday, however what with one thing and another I completely forgot until after they were closed. I just called them from work and guess what? They didn’t do it!

Now I’m not naturally a pain in the ass on the phone but I felt kind of justified in being the kind of guy who when I put the phone down I swear at them & tell them where to go. I was that kind of person to him and I’m sure he did just that when he put his phone down. I don’t care though – I’m the customer and they didn’t provide the service – in both senses of the word. It had better be ready this afternoon when my wife walks all the way there to collect it. She is not to be trifled with lol.

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Excuses Excuses!

Nov 22 2010

  1. It’s too bloody cold.
  2. It’s too dark when I get home on the weekdays.
  3. Ben’s still trying to get rid of his viral infestion so cant go cycling with me.
  4. I think I have the start of a cold.
  5. It’s dark & I get scared.
  6. It’s raining & I have no waterproof trousers.
  7. I’m tired but I’ll definitely go cycling tomorrow.
  8. I’ve worked late so it’s too late to go out cycling now.
  9. I’m a lazy, whinging, old bastard.

 

Can you spot the real one?

Apart from the last one of the above – which is the only honest excuse I guess - I have probably used all of these over the past month to ‘reason’ with myself why I haven’t got on my bike once.

The thing is I can see the weight going back on, even though I haven’t dared to weigh myself. Hopefully coming clean like this will shake me out of the fug I’m in and at the very least get on the exercise bike. Christmas is coming and thats a bad time of year to be overweight and not exercising.

Nuff said. Confession made.

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mybikelaw.com email

Nov 20 2010

Some of you may remember that a few months ago I did a small piece on mybikelaw.com which is a US based law practice headed up by a cyclist, with personal experience of the unfortunate consequences that can happen to cyclists, who specialise in promoting and protecting cyclists rights. I was attracted to their website which is well presented and thought out, with background information, case examples, cycling links and their own very interesting blog section.

I have to admit it’s a pretty good feeling to know that there are dedicated people out there who are prepared to stand up for cyclists rights whether individually or as a whole and its a shame that they are based in the US, whereas I am on the other side of the puddle in England. Of course there are probably other legal practices out there on both continents, but I personally just felt more attracted to this one – call me shallow if you like, but to me their site gives a sense of caring that little bit more.

Also, being a shallow kind of guy, I applied for their “freebie” water bottle and it wasn’t a surprise to discover that the cost of shipping one overseas was thought to be too great, plus I realise that these are ultimately a business tool and they aren’t going to drum up any of that over here! Nevertheless, I still pop by occasionally to read their blog updates.

So it was a big surprise to receive an email last week from Janie at mybikelaw.com telling me that Peter (head honcho I think), had read my blog and found it interesting enough to ask them to send me a water bottle anyway! To say I’m chuffed to bits is putting it mildly. Okay I can hear you saying “its only a water bottle dude”, but its not often (i.e never) that something like this happens, and to get personal correspondence about it just strengthens my opinion that they care that much more.

So if you live in the US go take a look at their website (and apply for a water bottle or spoke card), and if you don’t live in the US, go take a look anyway – the cases, links and blog are definitely worthy of some spare time reading.

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Got Dem Bicycle Assembly Blues

Nov 05 2010

It just occured to me that I now know the reason why the word “assembly” is sometimes shortened to “assy”! Because sometimes assembling something can be a real ass.

 

Tuesday night I came home from work and began assembling Karen’s bicycle. I figured it would be pretty straight forward – I mean how much trouble can two wheels, pedals, a frame, seat and handlebars really be?

 

“You noob!” I hear you say in astonishment, and really you’re dead right – I am a noob when it comes to this. Of course I know the essential things, like one big round thing at each end, handlebars at the front and a saddle in the middle, made even easier by the fact that the rear wheel was already fixed on, but I’m not someone who does this regularly enough to rush it or one who makes no mistakes.

 

Still after a couple of hours over two nights I’m more or less there. The main hold ups are….

 

  • The saddle wont go low enough for Karen because the stupid seat post hits the upper lug inside the frame that is for the water bottle holder screw. I’ll have to hacksaw off some of the seat post to remedy that.
  • The disc brakes seem to rub so they need adjusting. With no assembly manual to speak of I’m fortunate to have my Zinn manual to refer to. I’ve never worked on disc brakes before so this should be amusing or possibly confusing and most likely involve substantial cursing.

 

After that its just pump up the tyres, fit Karen’s basket to the handlebars, fit some new lights which I shall buy today (her old cheap Lidl ones bust after one use!) and then give it a test ride. All of this will have to wait until Saturday. Its major annoying that I couldn’t get all of this done during the week so she could ride it before the weekend, but work & the lack of light in the evenings just got the better of me.

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Breakfast Cereals

Nov 03 2010

In the seeming less never ending search along the shelves of our local supermarket for a nice tasting breakfast cereal that doesn’t have the calories of an elephants butt, I have recently tried to like Kellogg’s Bran Flakes with Sultana’s. Admittedly the Sultana’s are nice, but I really have to confess the Bran Flakes themselves are more than a little bit dull and tasteless.

On my next visit to the cereal aisle a week later I happened to spot a packet of Jordan’s Crunchy Oats with Tropical Fruits. Sounded nice so I bought a packet of it and can honestly say its possibly one of the best cereals I have ever tried. I’d truly give it the KFS seal of approval if it wasn’t for one thing….freaking coconut!

Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy trying to knock coconuts off the cups at fun fairs like everyone else does – and mostly fails to do – and as a kid I’d get my dad’s drill and pop a hole in it and drink the milk, pretending to like it, then crack it open and further pretend to enjoy the feeling like chalk on a blackboard as my teeth tried to scrape out the inner flesh. Yes all of that was a childhood joy. I even use low fat coconut milk in the odd home made curry dish, BUT whoever thought to put dried chips of coconut into breakfast cereals needs a frontal lobotomy with a spatula & corkscrew because its just completely WRONG!

Maybe I over exagerate a bit – the occasional coconut chip amongst all of the oats and other fruit is acceptable I guess, but when you’re eating a bowl of it and you scoop up half a frigging coconut’s worth of the buggers its like eating crappy flavoured woodchips. And how is it that your mouth seems to have swallowed everything else that was on your spoon so that all thats left in your gob is this…stuff? There’s not even anywhere handy to spit the wadge of semi masticated pulp out!

Still at least I have the Bran Flakes as back up eh?

Nutritional information for those who care:

Jordan’s Crunchy Oats Tropical Fruits – per 50g serving c/w semi skimmed milk

 Calories 269 kCal

Fat 9.0g

Saturated Fats 2.4g

Sugar 19.4g

Salt (Equivalent) 0.3g

Carbohydrates 38.9g

Kellogg’s Sultana Bran Flakes – Per 40g serving c/w semi skimmed milk

Calories 138 kCal

Fat 0.8g

Saturated Fats 0.2g

Sugar 12.0g

Salt 0.4g

Carbohydrates N/A

So quite evidently the less enjoyable Kellogg’s Bran crap is better for you. Isn’t it just great how all the stuff that is good for you are the same things that either taste horrible or have no taste whatsoever?  – Sigh – looks like I’ll have to change back to the Bran crap when I’ve finished this packet of Jordan’s.

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Birthday Bicycle

Nov 02 2010

Today is my wife Karen’s birthday – I won’t say how old she is, and as she tends to read this blog I will only say that she is still the love of my life…with the exception of my two son’s…and Kylie Minogue, and possibly the curly haired girl who snuffed it in Starship Troopers.

However I can finally say in “public” what Ben & I have been keeping quiet about for weeks i.e. her presents.

For some reason, a while ago I offered to buy Karen a new bike for her birthday. I have no idea why I did this at the time, except I was probably caught with my guard down or was in desperate need to extricate myself from something I had done wrong. However, like a Velociraptor she grabbed onto my words and wouldn’t let go, so having made the offer I was pretty much done for.

Over the following weeks whenever we went past a bike shop she was in there looking at them and pointing ones out that she liked, usually in the £1000.00 to £3000.00 price bracket, and admittedly it would be hard to notlike any of these – that’s why they’re so damned expensive! I had expected she would want something light, possibly a sit up and beg style ladies bike (there’s some really nice ones around), or a road / hybrid bike like mine as that would be light and most useful in her daily ride to work.

Being a man, I was wrong of course, and she was only interested in mountain bikes, so that was what I looked at while she wasn’t around. I naturally had my own ideas of what I wanted to get her; a hardtail bike with front suspension only, preferably women’s spec, quick shift trigger Shimano gears instead of those annoying twist grips, and disc brakes. So over the course of a couple of weeks Ben and I secretly looked in every cycle shop in the Reading area and assessed the bikes available, although naturally price had a lot to play in our plans.

Eventually we bought her a Carrera Vulcan W-Spec MTB  which ticked all of the boxes I was looking for - and to say I’m disappointed that it has gone down in price since I bought it is a gross understatement! Okay it isn’t a megga expensive MTB, but then we don’t go in for the triple salco back flips off the saddle when we do go off road so it’s not going to get a lot of punishment. It is a nice looker though.

We paid and arranged to store the bike at the in-laws until her birthday, then a week or so passed and a new Decathlon store opened up here. We went down to look at it and can I say here how bloody annoying it is when your wife looks at a £90.00 bike - less than a third of the price of the one we’d bought – and she says “oh I like that one”…grrrrrr.

But I know we got the much better and safer bike for her, despite what my wallet was telling me. I think she was very pleased with it when we gave it to her this morning – although it was a shame Chris couldn’t be at home to share in the giving as it was from all three of us.

Along with the bike, she also got other cycle related items like a bike computer, a bike cleaning kit, a new cycle helmet, a water bottle and holder and a light for fixing to the top of her helmet. Tonight looks to be a busy night of assembling things for yours truly, and I know my jealousy of her having a brand spanking new beautiful looking bike isnt going to lessen with each passing minute I spend putting it together.

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Wolverhampton Wandering

Oct 31 2010

So here I am laying on the sofa. The laptop indicates that its 6.11am however I suspect that as the clocks went back an hour last night that it didnt auto update itself…then again maybe it did. Im pretty much wide awake now anyway as I yet again fell asleep yesterday evening to such a state that Karen was unable to wake me up. If I had a super power it’d be “sleeps like a rock”.

Yesterday we drove up to Walsall in Wolverhampton to see Chris at university. It’s the 1st time weve visited since I dropped him there nearly 2 months ago at the start of term. Both Karen & I were both very happy to see that he’s settled in, made friends and seems to be very much enjoying himself. It’s a fair weight off our minds as despite phone calls theres nothing like seeing for yourself.

After a quick look around we all drove over to Dudley and the Merry Hills Centre where we had a great meal in Pizza Express followed by a (very long) walk around the impressively large shopping mall.

After buying various items and some provisions for Chris we set off back to his accomodation. It was around 6pm so we bade our farewells. We won’t see him again until Christmas now but we all had a really good time. We did the 2 hour drive home without any issues, except for just past Oxford when we found a radio channel that played non stop 80′s and so the car was filled with exceedingly bad half remembered karaoke.

Today we plan to go for a bike ride, however at the moment I’m sure I can hear it raining outside so that may get cancelled. We’ll wait and see.

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