First injury of 2013. Took a hockey ball to the foot during our 1-1 draw at Hull this morning.
Nothing too serious - can't put any weight on it currently but hopefully within 72 hours should be a lot better. Doubt I'll be running this week at all and probably no cycling either. Had a poor week last week too so looks like I'm writing off the first two weeks of February as an exercise free zone. Although I'm hoping to get some swims in as my foot should be alright, as long as I can get to the pool...
Edit: 15th Feb
Went for a swim on Wednesday and a run on Thursday. Foot is back to normal! Even managed a sub 25minute 5k for the first time in 2013. Set a new PB at the same time, 23:20, though hopefully that won't stand for too long!
Edit 2: 17th Feb
Well, after playing hockey twice this weekend (3-2 and 3-0 victories, scoring once in both) I can safely say that.... my foot isn't healed! Very sore this evening but hoping the pain will subside soon and stay away this time!
Edit 3: 18th Feb
After seeing the Doctor at work today I was told to go for an xray at the hospital. As it was half term I expected the worst but I got seen within 3 hours and nothing is broken/fractured just some soft tissue damage and bruising on the bone. Still, advised to avoid physical activity for 2weeks minimum but we'll see. Planning a 100miler this weekend in the Yorkshire Dales so will see how the week pans out.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Saturday, 9 February 2013
Giant in the workshop
It was mentioned in previous blog post - about me losing many bikes - that my housemate James had a pretty poor 2012 in cycling terms. Perhaps I'll get him to write a 'guest post' one day about it but for now I'll just cover the basics. He was in an accident with his new Giant OCR 1 and in the process the forks got snapped.
Being the good friend that I am this week I bought him a present. I bought him some new carbon forks so he can get his Giant back on the road.
DIY of any kind is not my strong point. I can barely change an inner tube, let alone do major maintenance on a bike. I followed common sense with this one and I think it turned out okay!
Here are some photos of the process:
Being the good friend that I am this week I bought him a present. I bought him some new carbon forks so he can get his Giant back on the road.
DIY of any kind is not my strong point. I can barely change an inner tube, let alone do major maintenance on a bike. I followed common sense with this one and I think it turned out okay!
Here are some photos of the process:
This is what it looked like originally. Forks snapped off with the Alu steerer remaining
On the bike stand. Saddle had been taken off too at some point.
Close up of the brakes attached to the broken forks
New forks. Carbon fibre with aluminium steerer. Purchased from the bikeradar sales forum.
Not quite the same colour but being black they don't look horrific.
In the accident his front wheel was bent so put on a front wheel from one of the other bikes in the garage. The yellow tyre can be swapped over.
Close up of the front brake, attached now to the new forks
Saddle back on the bike. Sitting funny though.
What the bike looks like now on the stand.
Took it out for a quick spin after this.
Obvious points are that the saddle needs re-adjusting, I think I've put it on wrong so I will get James to look at it at some point. As well as that, it will look a lot better with a black tyre on the front wheel - or even getting the original wheel re-trued as the spoke count is so different on the back wheel currently.
The last thing I noticed whilst riding is that the front brake needs a little adjusting, getting a little bit too much feedback when you have a squeeze but should be an easy enough fix when one of us gets the time.
It is a very nice machine though, the 105 groupset (with some Ultegra) is very smooth through the gears compared to my 2011 Sora groupset. Quite jealous of it even though I think aesthetically my Bianchi is better. James saw it briefly before he went out to a shift at work so hopefully when he gets back in a couple of hours he'll like it and be grateful. Then hopefully it won't be too long until we get to go on some epic rides together!
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Coffee
I am a cyclist.
I don't like coffee.
Those two statements do not go well together. Coffee is deeply ingrained in cycling culture - coffee stops and the like, so something has to change. Either I stop cycling, or I learn to like coffee.
I'll be straight with you - I wrote a whole post at the time of drinking the coffee - my first cup ever - but since my phone decided to delete it without publishing(!) I am not going to try and recreate what I wrote.
It did however have this jist:
I was bought a cup of coffee by my fiancée, along with a bag of sugar and a bottle of milk. I first tasted it as black, with one sugar - which is how she takes it and it was, quite frankly, vile.
I then added quite a lot of milk and spent a lot of time inhaling the smell of the coffee before deciding to carry on with my tasting session. After adding another half a spoonful of sugar, and a splash more milk the cup of coffee became bearable and something that I didn't hate.
It's a first step towards what could be a new hot beverage relationship for me - though I was chastised by my barista housemate for starting with instant coffee. I plan to go to his shop next week to try a "real" coffee that he can make me.
So with a bit of sugar and a fair old splash of milk, it turns out coffee might actually be alright! I guess I can keep calling myself a cyclist - just!
I don't like coffee.
Those two statements do not go well together. Coffee is deeply ingrained in cycling culture - coffee stops and the like, so something has to change. Either I stop cycling, or I learn to like coffee.
I'll be straight with you - I wrote a whole post at the time of drinking the coffee - my first cup ever - but since my phone decided to delete it without publishing(!) I am not going to try and recreate what I wrote.
It did however have this jist:
I was bought a cup of coffee by my fiancée, along with a bag of sugar and a bottle of milk. I first tasted it as black, with one sugar - which is how she takes it and it was, quite frankly, vile.
I then added quite a lot of milk and spent a lot of time inhaling the smell of the coffee before deciding to carry on with my tasting session. After adding another half a spoonful of sugar, and a splash more milk the cup of coffee became bearable and something that I didn't hate.
It's a first step towards what could be a new hot beverage relationship for me - though I was chastised by my barista housemate for starting with instant coffee. I plan to go to his shop next week to try a "real" coffee that he can make me.
So with a bit of sugar and a fair old splash of milk, it turns out coffee might actually be alright! I guess I can keep calling myself a cyclist - just!
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Lost, Stolen & Never Found
My parents don't trust me with bikes.
Have you ever had a bike stolen? It kinda sucks. You go back to where you left it, most often to ride it home, and it's gone. Not where you left it. Someone's come along and pinched it. This blog post captures the bikes I've had stolen in the last 6 years (I think I can remember all of them..) Oh, and one that I lost. How do you lose a bike? I hear you ask. All will be revealed below.
I'll try do them in chronological order
1) Easter Holidays 2007:
The first bike that I had stolen was the one I was given from my cousin. This bike had served me well during my teenage paper round years, most often as a back up for when my bike had a puncture and Dad hadn't fixed it yet. When I got to college I used it as a bike for the "3rd leg" of my journey to college. (1 = Cycling to the train station. 2 = Being on the train. 3 = Cycling from the station to college)
The day before the Easter holidays I was round someones house after college and had locked my bike up opposite their house to the fence that surrounded the local leisure centre. I then got offered a lift home to which I obviously said yes. The bike was locked with a D-lock so I assumed it would be fine - even for the two weeks during the holidays.
First day back at college and I went to collect it and it had gone! Sort of. The frame was still there, locked to the fence, but the wheels and saddle had gone. So I did the thing anyone would do with a 16 year old bike - I took the D-lock and left the frame on the floor - oops!
2) Autumn 2007
This bike was a nice bike, if I remember correctly. A sort of hybrid with disc breaks from Halfords. I got it for my birthday and it lasted around 6 months. I used it for my first leg of the college journey and I remember vividly getting to the train station, getting off the train and heading to where I locked it up that morning. Then suddenly - nothing - nothing was there. I remember panicking a little and ringing my Mum. "Hello?" "Mum, my bike's not there" "What do you mean?" "My bike's not there." I wasn't particularly helpful in that situation.
We reported it to the police, but they were as unhelpful as ever an we got a letter through a few weeks later saying that 'Unfortunately the CCTV at the train station was not functional on the day the bike was stolen.' To say we were unhappy was an understatement. My parents claimed for the bike on their house insurance which gave me some cash to buy a new bike. Which leads me onto one of the more embarrassing episodes in my life...
3) Summer 2008
Much like the pretty girl I kissed in a club in Newcastle once, I don't remember this bike. I don't remember what it looked like, I don't remember it's name but I remember being ashamed of my behaviour.
I was late for the train. (Talking about the bike now..) There was no time to lock the bike up so I took the bike over the bridge with me and got it on the train. Just as the door closed I got a phone call asking if I was on the train. I said yes and went to find my friends. We got off the train at college and headed to our respective revision sessions. (It was A level period.) We headed back to the train station via Tescos afterwards and sat on the platform eating donuts. Mmm. Donuts. I remembered I had a doctors appointment that I needed to get to back home. I thought, no problems I have my bike, I'll just cycle up the road and.... wait a second, where's my bike? Did I leave it at college? I defiantly had it on the train. On the train. On. The. Train. Oh, &#%@!
So yes. This is the story how I left my bike on a train. Off it went to London Waterloo never to be seen (by me) again. It was probably a nice bike. We bought it off some family friends about siz months before and I'm pretty sure it was black. Or silver. I think. Needless to say, it was the last bike my parents bought me.
4) Spring 2009
When I moved to Lincoln I used to live in a house about 30minutes walk from work. As I was lazy I bought myself a bike off a friend for £20. Bargain. I used this bike to ride to/from work for at least 6 months (do you see a pattern here?) until one day the wheel buckled. That was annoying. I locked it up about half way to work and walked the rest of the way and picked it up on the way home. (I bet you thought it would have been stolen by then, eh!) Turns out it would be around £30 for a new wheel - £30 repair on a bike costing £20? No thanks. So what I very cunningly did was leave it unlocked outside my house. It was there for about an hour before someone stole it. Some poor sod rode off/more likely wheeled away an old bike with a buckled back wheel which meant I did not need to find a proper way to dispose of it. Score.
5) Spring 2009
Yes, yes, two bikes in the same time period; but they were both strategically stolen-on-purpose.
This bike cost me £15 from a facebook friend. I was warned however that one of the pedals came off so would need fixing. No problem I thought and duly picked it up from him one Saturday morning. I nipped down to B&Q to buy the relevant nut to keep the pedal fixed on and fixed it up and rode it around. After the pedal unscrewing itself every single day I finally got tired of it and - yes, you guessed it - left it outside my house. Now, I must emphasize that I didn't live in a crime hotspot - nothing of the sort actually - but this bike lasted less than 10 minutes outside my house. I left it leant against the wall, went and made dinner, came back to the front lounge and it was gone. Again some poor chap had ridden off on a bike that wouldn't last long until the pedal came off! I realise now that I could have easily swapped the pedals but at the time I didn't have the know-how and to be honest it probably wasn't worth it.
6) Summer 2011
After I got back from the Lincoln2London (www.lincoln2london.blogspot.com) trip, I thought it was time to get myself a bike again. I got given a free(!) Saracen downhill mountain bike that needed new gears and brakes. £40 later and I had myself a really decent bike. It was great for commuting on, handled all weathers well and I was really sad when this one got stolen. I locked it up in town under a bridge and went to work. We went out for lunch and as I walked past the bridge I noticed my bike was gone! The lock was missing too so they left no trace of a bike being there. I phoned the police and reported it missing but never heard anything from it. There was a 4 hour window where someone could have taken it and if it was me I would have got on a train with it and been as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. (Although knowing me I would have left said bike on said train...) For the second time in my life I received a letter from the police letting me know that on the day in question the CCTV was not working and the bike had not been found. What a joke! What's the point in having CCTV up if its not working?! It's not working as a deterrent so sort it out UK Police forces! I was saddest about this bike as I'd had it for a decent period of time and it was a really nice bike just for commuting and going into town on.
7) Honourable mention
This bike didn't actually get stolen but it is worth mentioning as it goes with the bad luck I have with bikes. It was a Reebok mountain bike (you can tell the quality of it from that) which I got for free off a freecycle style website. It needed the gears looking at and I couldn't be bothered to do it so I told my housemate James if he got it fixed and paid for it, he could have the bike. James did indeed get it fixed and rode it around for a few weeks until one day the front wheel decided to lock up and sent him straight over the handlebars! Resulting in a face that looked like this:
Have you ever had a bike stolen? It kinda sucks. You go back to where you left it, most often to ride it home, and it's gone. Not where you left it. Someone's come along and pinched it. This blog post captures the bikes I've had stolen in the last 6 years (I think I can remember all of them..) Oh, and one that I lost. How do you lose a bike? I hear you ask. All will be revealed below.
I'll try do them in chronological order
1) Easter Holidays 2007:
The first bike that I had stolen was the one I was given from my cousin. This bike had served me well during my teenage paper round years, most often as a back up for when my bike had a puncture and Dad hadn't fixed it yet. When I got to college I used it as a bike for the "3rd leg" of my journey to college. (1 = Cycling to the train station. 2 = Being on the train. 3 = Cycling from the station to college)
The day before the Easter holidays I was round someones house after college and had locked my bike up opposite their house to the fence that surrounded the local leisure centre. I then got offered a lift home to which I obviously said yes. The bike was locked with a D-lock so I assumed it would be fine - even for the two weeks during the holidays.
First day back at college and I went to collect it and it had gone! Sort of. The frame was still there, locked to the fence, but the wheels and saddle had gone. So I did the thing anyone would do with a 16 year old bike - I took the D-lock and left the frame on the floor - oops!
2) Autumn 2007
This bike was a nice bike, if I remember correctly. A sort of hybrid with disc breaks from Halfords. I got it for my birthday and it lasted around 6 months. I used it for my first leg of the college journey and I remember vividly getting to the train station, getting off the train and heading to where I locked it up that morning. Then suddenly - nothing - nothing was there. I remember panicking a little and ringing my Mum. "Hello?" "Mum, my bike's not there" "What do you mean?" "My bike's not there." I wasn't particularly helpful in that situation.
We reported it to the police, but they were as unhelpful as ever an we got a letter through a few weeks later saying that 'Unfortunately the CCTV at the train station was not functional on the day the bike was stolen.' To say we were unhappy was an understatement. My parents claimed for the bike on their house insurance which gave me some cash to buy a new bike. Which leads me onto one of the more embarrassing episodes in my life...
3) Summer 2008
Much like the pretty girl I kissed in a club in Newcastle once, I don't remember this bike. I don't remember what it looked like, I don't remember it's name but I remember being ashamed of my behaviour.
I was late for the train. (Talking about the bike now..) There was no time to lock the bike up so I took the bike over the bridge with me and got it on the train. Just as the door closed I got a phone call asking if I was on the train. I said yes and went to find my friends. We got off the train at college and headed to our respective revision sessions. (It was A level period.) We headed back to the train station via Tescos afterwards and sat on the platform eating donuts. Mmm. Donuts. I remembered I had a doctors appointment that I needed to get to back home. I thought, no problems I have my bike, I'll just cycle up the road and.... wait a second, where's my bike? Did I leave it at college? I defiantly had it on the train. On the train. On. The. Train. Oh, &#%@!
So yes. This is the story how I left my bike on a train. Off it went to London Waterloo never to be seen (by me) again. It was probably a nice bike. We bought it off some family friends about siz months before and I'm pretty sure it was black. Or silver. I think. Needless to say, it was the last bike my parents bought me.
4) Spring 2009
When I moved to Lincoln I used to live in a house about 30minutes walk from work. As I was lazy I bought myself a bike off a friend for £20. Bargain. I used this bike to ride to/from work for at least 6 months (do you see a pattern here?) until one day the wheel buckled. That was annoying. I locked it up about half way to work and walked the rest of the way and picked it up on the way home. (I bet you thought it would have been stolen by then, eh!) Turns out it would be around £30 for a new wheel - £30 repair on a bike costing £20? No thanks. So what I very cunningly did was leave it unlocked outside my house. It was there for about an hour before someone stole it. Some poor sod rode off/more likely wheeled away an old bike with a buckled back wheel which meant I did not need to find a proper way to dispose of it. Score.
5) Spring 2009
Yes, yes, two bikes in the same time period; but they were both strategically stolen-on-purpose.
This bike cost me £15 from a facebook friend. I was warned however that one of the pedals came off so would need fixing. No problem I thought and duly picked it up from him one Saturday morning. I nipped down to B&Q to buy the relevant nut to keep the pedal fixed on and fixed it up and rode it around. After the pedal unscrewing itself every single day I finally got tired of it and - yes, you guessed it - left it outside my house. Now, I must emphasize that I didn't live in a crime hotspot - nothing of the sort actually - but this bike lasted less than 10 minutes outside my house. I left it leant against the wall, went and made dinner, came back to the front lounge and it was gone. Again some poor chap had ridden off on a bike that wouldn't last long until the pedal came off! I realise now that I could have easily swapped the pedals but at the time I didn't have the know-how and to be honest it probably wasn't worth it.
6) Summer 2011
After I got back from the Lincoln2London (www.lincoln2london.blogspot.com) trip, I thought it was time to get myself a bike again. I got given a free(!) Saracen downhill mountain bike that needed new gears and brakes. £40 later and I had myself a really decent bike. It was great for commuting on, handled all weathers well and I was really sad when this one got stolen. I locked it up in town under a bridge and went to work. We went out for lunch and as I walked past the bridge I noticed my bike was gone! The lock was missing too so they left no trace of a bike being there. I phoned the police and reported it missing but never heard anything from it. There was a 4 hour window where someone could have taken it and if it was me I would have got on a train with it and been as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. (Although knowing me I would have left said bike on said train...) For the second time in my life I received a letter from the police letting me know that on the day in question the CCTV was not working and the bike had not been found. What a joke! What's the point in having CCTV up if its not working?! It's not working as a deterrent so sort it out UK Police forces! I was saddest about this bike as I'd had it for a decent period of time and it was a really nice bike just for commuting and going into town on.
7) Honourable mention
This bike didn't actually get stolen but it is worth mentioning as it goes with the bad luck I have with bikes. It was a Reebok mountain bike (you can tell the quality of it from that) which I got for free off a freecycle style website. It needed the gears looking at and I couldn't be bothered to do it so I told my housemate James if he got it fixed and paid for it, he could have the bike. James did indeed get it fixed and rode it around for a few weeks until one day the front wheel decided to lock up and sent him straight over the handlebars! Resulting in a face that looked like this:
Poor James! Unfortunately for him this wasn't the worst thing to happen in 2012.. but perhaps more on that another day.
5 bikes stolen, 1 lost and 1 faulty in 6 years is not exactly a great record... Fortunately I'm pleased to say that in the 2 years I've owned road bikes I've not had either of them stolen, and long may that continue!
Thanks for reading and sorry Mum & Dad for the money you spent on bikes for me that I had stolen and lost!
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Presents!
Don't you just love ordering things off the internet?
You can browse multiple shops, compare prices and order without moving. We're living in the future! My new favourite thing is the free returns service Collect+. It means you can go into select shops (mostly corner shops) open at much more sociable hours than post offices and drop off your parcel and the postman collects them from the shop the next day!
I've only had one experience of this so far - returning a DVD to Amazon after Christmas. I dropped off the parcel at 9pm on a Wednesday evening, the postman picked it up Thursday morning and Amazon had taken receipt of the item by 11pm on Thursday. 26hours to get there and all at no cost to me!
This week I've ordered some bits and bobs for my ever expanding collection of triathlon gear. Some has come already and I'm stupidly excited about it all.
- New High5 bottles with gels & water supplements. This is one of the best deals I've ever seen. A 750ml water bottle, two gels, two electrolyte tabs and two carb isolate drink supplements (one with whey protein too) for £2.08! Yes, £2.08. I'd pay more for just the bottle on it's own! So good I ordered 5! (Plus you need to spend £10 for free delivery) These fit perfectly in my Elite bottle cages so one of my favourite purchases ever (I previously bought two, one each for me and my housemate James.) Can be found here, on ProBikeKit.
You can browse multiple shops, compare prices and order without moving. We're living in the future! My new favourite thing is the free returns service Collect+. It means you can go into select shops (mostly corner shops) open at much more sociable hours than post offices and drop off your parcel and the postman collects them from the shop the next day!
I've only had one experience of this so far - returning a DVD to Amazon after Christmas. I dropped off the parcel at 9pm on a Wednesday evening, the postman picked it up Thursday morning and Amazon had taken receipt of the item by 11pm on Thursday. 26hours to get there and all at no cost to me!
This week I've ordered some bits and bobs for my ever expanding collection of triathlon gear. Some has come already and I'm stupidly excited about it all.
- New High5 bottles with gels & water supplements. This is one of the best deals I've ever seen. A 750ml water bottle, two gels, two electrolyte tabs and two carb isolate drink supplements (one with whey protein too) for £2.08! Yes, £2.08. I'd pay more for just the bottle on it's own! So good I ordered 5! (Plus you need to spend £10 for free delivery) These fit perfectly in my Elite bottle cages so one of my favourite purchases ever (I previously bought two, one each for me and my housemate James.) Can be found here, on ProBikeKit.
- BioTex leg warmers. These were another bargain - bought off the bikeradar forums for just £4 I am super happy with these. Stretchy enough to make sure there's no gap between bib shorts and leg warmers and small enough to tuck in a jersey pocket if needs be. The guy who sent them to me spent £3.65 on postage too so not sure where the business sense was in that for him, still - great deal for me!
- Swim hat. Got myself a swim hat because I'm fed up of my hair being in my eyes when I swim, yet I'm not quite ready to cut it off! This hasn't arrived yet but for £1.68 I'm not expecting too much - still, might take off 1/100 of a second per length for me ;-)
- Tri belt. Something I will benefit from now I have a trisuit (investment after the Southwell tri) I will be using a tri belt to keep my number on for bike/run in future triathlons. I got this one off ebay for under £4 and it comes with poppers to hold the race number on and space for 6 gels that get held on. Again this hasn't come yet but I'm looking forward to seeing if it's as good as it sounds.
- Tri-bars. This is my most recent purchase. Been looking for a while and all the decent ones seem to go for well above £30 (still above my budget!) so I found some on wheelies.co.uk here for £18 with clamp adaptor (not sure what size my handlebars are..), also with free postage and free Collect+ returns (hence the mention earlier) so I can buy with confidence that they can go straight back if they're no good!
- Mystery item! Bought something as a present for my housemate today - hopefully will turn up before the weekend so I can surprise him Saturday night - I'm just nice like that! Will post results here if it all turns out as well as it does in my head!
I think that's it for now... a nice lot of things to be going on with - I think in the near future some purchases will be new running shoes for me & the missus as we're getting to go out a fair few times together and I might treat myself to some new bar tape for the Bianchi come the better weather!
However, it's my anniversary on Friday and then Valentines next week so perhaps the trainers will have to wait a few more weeks until the next pay day.
:o)
Widgets on blogger?
Hi, on the slim chance that anybody reads this... I need some help.
I want to make some small changes to my blog but I can't find any up-to-date info from Google on on Bloggers G+ page..
How do I put widgets down the side of my blog?! I just want Strava & twitter feeds really.. but can't find the option anywhere?! Please leave a comment or email me if you can help!
Also - I'd like to move the text at the top of the page to a more central position but can't figure it out either... not sure if I'm useless or if it's really hard..
Cheers :o)
I want to make some small changes to my blog but I can't find any up-to-date info from Google on on Bloggers G+ page..
How do I put widgets down the side of my blog?! I just want Strava & twitter feeds really.. but can't find the option anywhere?! Please leave a comment or email me if you can help!
Also - I'd like to move the text at the top of the page to a more central position but can't figure it out either... not sure if I'm useless or if it's really hard..
Cheers :o)
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Lincoln Wheelers - My First Club Run
Well, what a lovely morning I had! I started off quite nervous - as Hayley texted me saying she wasn't really up for it as she'd done 110km the day before so I set off on my own to the start of the Club Run, hoping they'd be friendly and they were! As I was on the road looking for the house where we were starting one of the guys asked me if I was looking for the Wheelers and then showed me where I needed to go, lovely!
When I got there, everyone greeted me - I think they knew someone new was coming! I met the guy I'd been emailing in the week and I set off with the B group who were aiming to average 16mph over 40-45miles. We had a nice chat and I got introduced to some of the others as we went along. I sat mostly at the back of the bunch, sometimes in the middle, getting used to the calls and hand signals. Before I had a chance to take my turn on the front the group split with 5 going off ahead and the rest of us playing catch up. This was my first experience of "getting dropped" and it was weird watching the gap grow and grow and knowing that I wouldn't be able to bridge it without completely tiring myself out. Me and one other dropped the other three behind us accidentally and the two of us battled on for the last 20k or so, into the wind which was tough but it was good to be out. I enjoyed doing a route I would have never done otherwise, and each week the Wheelers route starts from a different persons house which throws in some nice variety.
When we got back there was a feast waiting for us. It had been advertised as tea and cake but in reality it was a full spread of party food - incredible. I'd go again just for the post-ride snack!
I had a great experience out with the Wheelers and I'm defiantly going to join the club. Not sure if I'll get out much with them in the coming month or so, as the hockey season is coming to an end and we have lots of Saturday & Sunday fixtures but come the end of March once hockey is over I'll be there every week. I also got told about the local 5mile time trial coming up in the spring which I will look at entering just for a bit of experience. Now I'm off to give my legs a rest - awesome.
Ride Stats:
Distance: 60km (37.3miles)
Time: 02:27
Average Speed: 24.8kph (15.4mph)
When I got there, everyone greeted me - I think they knew someone new was coming! I met the guy I'd been emailing in the week and I set off with the B group who were aiming to average 16mph over 40-45miles. We had a nice chat and I got introduced to some of the others as we went along. I sat mostly at the back of the bunch, sometimes in the middle, getting used to the calls and hand signals. Before I had a chance to take my turn on the front the group split with 5 going off ahead and the rest of us playing catch up. This was my first experience of "getting dropped" and it was weird watching the gap grow and grow and knowing that I wouldn't be able to bridge it without completely tiring myself out. Me and one other dropped the other three behind us accidentally and the two of us battled on for the last 20k or so, into the wind which was tough but it was good to be out. I enjoyed doing a route I would have never done otherwise, and each week the Wheelers route starts from a different persons house which throws in some nice variety.
When we got back there was a feast waiting for us. It had been advertised as tea and cake but in reality it was a full spread of party food - incredible. I'd go again just for the post-ride snack!
I had a great experience out with the Wheelers and I'm defiantly going to join the club. Not sure if I'll get out much with them in the coming month or so, as the hockey season is coming to an end and we have lots of Saturday & Sunday fixtures but come the end of March once hockey is over I'll be there every week. I also got told about the local 5mile time trial coming up in the spring which I will look at entering just for a bit of experience. Now I'm off to give my legs a rest - awesome.
Ride Stats:
Distance: 60km (37.3miles)
Time: 02:27
Average Speed: 24.8kph (15.4mph)
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