Saturday 31 March 2012

Brief review. Good weather still around so pushed hard and cycled for 3 days. Cold in the morning at 6.30 (0 Deg C on Tuesday) followed by 16-17 Deg C on the way home so need longs + 3 upper layers to get in and shorts and SS Jersey to get home so needed to carry some extra luggage which was a pain. Managed 18.4mph average in to work on Thursday and Friday mornings so the fastest for the year and close to best ever I think. However was pretty spent on the way home on both days as a result. On Friday took the long route but it was not as warm and a steady headwind all the way destroyed any chance of a decent time

On the plus side 119 miles commuting this week which led to some small improvements on a couple of segments plus PR for the trip in

For the end of March for the first time I have met the target mileage for Jan to Feb (422 miles per month or1250 for the quarter to get 5000 miles for the year) so I have a bit of headroom to hopefully make the target again this year. Last year it took me until April to start to get on schedule, so the March good weather has been useful.

Weather forecast for next week looks poor so that may curtail commuting next week

Sunday 24 March 2012 - retrospective review

Fantastic weekends cycling in unseasonably hot weather for the time of year. Had 3 really good rides

Work commitments and weather meant no commuting cycling until Friday this week.

The success started when cycling home on Friday from work. Noel had cycled as well due to a change in travel arrangements and was on the late shift so our finishing times coincided. I'd felt a bit lethargic on the way in, but within a few minutes of setting of home on the "long" route felt really strong. Not sure why but possibly because it was really warm so shorts and SS jersey was for probably the first time of the year proper attire. Normally I am happy to sit behind Noel but on this day I towed Noel the entire way home. Not only that but we set some Strava segment KOM and 2nd fastest times. The best was on the "Temple Balsall to Knowle Sesses" where I set both KOM and made a ~30second improvement in my previous time. I also got KOM on "Kineton Lane Blast" and 2nd on Vicarage Hill in Cheswick Green. Not only that but ride average time over ~25miles was 17.8mph which was stunning for the end of the week and with a heavy rucksack with my laptop. 

The following Saturday afternoon as the weather was still superb I went out for a quick hours loop of about 18 miles to try to get a few more segments on my Focus with the new Shimano RS80 wheels for its first "proper" run of the year. This ride was basically on the loop that Mike Harrison rides (a Strava follower and who I follow) but it also gave me a chance to have a go on the 2 "Box Trees Lane" segments for the first time. On the short one I only managed 5th but pulled our KOM for the full ride. That combined with a 19mph average gave me my fastest personal average ever so was ecstatic

Finally on the Sunday went out on my own through a loop Noel & I like through Alvechurch, Tardebigge, Astwood Bank, Shelfield and then as the weather was good off through Aston Cantlow, Snitterfield, Lowsonford and back home. Despite not really aiming for any segments I made a reasonable improvement on Scarfield Hill (and could have got another 5 seconds or so but got baulked by a couple of cyclists and a car coming the other way) and retook the "Astwood Lane climb in Astwood Bank" KOM back off Noel. Overall distance was 53.6 miles at 17mph average so well pleased (although was starting to fade at the end)

Weeks summary was 115 miles and over 4000ft of climbing all told.

Sunday 18 March

Brief recap of previous week.

Cycled to work twice (Tuesday & Friday) as hopefully normal in the "summer". New chain seems OK and I fitted new jockey wheels on Thursday prior to the Friday commute. I needed to re-index for some odd reason and even needed to undo the cable and re-adjust. However shifting etc all seems OK and probably better than it was. 

This week was also the first week where all the planned upgrades to the Giant were fitted - 10spd 105 kit plus the Cole Rollen wheels, all handed down from the various Focus upgrades. It seems to have made a difference as got fastest times of the year to and from work on both days, so that was good. I think the Cole wheels (plus lighter tyres) have probably made the biggest difference to be honest.

Weather looked OK for the Sunday run but decided to use Giant again just in case it rained, which it did, so a good choice. Was very cold as well. Rain after Rose Hill approaching Alvechurch made an alternative route a better decision but managed to get a route with 7 segments in and got some 2nd places so that was good as well.

123 miles for the week was a success

Sheffield and the fall out

Went up to Sheffield on Wednesday to take one of my sons to a University Open Day, and as he didn't really want me to go round with him I took the opportunity to take my bike and do a loop just a few miles to the west of the university. The loop was 39 miles in total and was really tough - 4100 feet of climbing, windy and hailed a few times. Just about got round but did walk for a few yards a couple of times I am afraid to admit. 

Also had a funny chain "off" about 10 miles from the end - got all jammed up. Seemed OK so carried on and also commuted to work on the Friday although there was some vibration at times when I put some power down - I had a nagging doubt that the bottom bracket bearing is going. Anyway Friday evening when back at home looked at the chain and saw a partially failed link. I fiddled around with my chain splitter and some spare links and made a bit of a pigs ear of it, so did a few other jobs (cleaning, swapping wheels etc that I had planned to do) and had another go successfully, only to then spot another broken link.

At that point the chain went in the scrap bin. It had only done 700 miles, so whether there were some manufacturing faults or I damaged it in the chain off incident I don't know. It was a KMC X10 series chain - (I have used a lot of these in 8 speed guise as well and not had problems before).

Anyway needing a new one fairly sharpish I went to Halfords and got a Shimano 105 chain - bit more expensive than on-line but not overly. Will get a spare in over the next few weeks. Then when fitting the chain and checking the shifting realised that the lower jockey wheel bearing was also shot -put back together for the time being until can get another set, so a more expensive couple of days than I had hoped. Fuel saved so far this year commuting just about covers the spares costs!

Used the Reserve and Collect service at Halfords. They could have made a better job as it took them about 15 minutes to find the chain.