Go West 2017

Hi all!

So winter has been a bit long in the tooth with the rain this year, that and being really busy with...life...it's meant that I haven't really been out since last December or so.

So when the weather and the calendar cleared last weekend I jumped at the chance to go out. Lying in bed I considered my options. My commute isn't very long and I hadn't done any big rides in a while.

Should I attempt my nemesis and try and push North again? No. Too soon.
Should I attempt a new ride? No, I'm not sure what my fitness is after an extended Christmas and time off my bike.
Should I attempt an easy ride I know well? Not really. I don't want to disarm myself if my easy ride turns out to be tough.

So I chose "Go West", which is my route around the western part of the New Forest with the furthest part of my route going over Godshill.

This time though, I didn't have any snacks in the cupboard and this 40 mile loop isn't exactly known for it's stops, so I decided as it wasn't blazing hot I'd just go with some Juice and that's it. It was a bit foggy and a bit chilly < 10c when I left

But it after an hour or so it warmed up and I was treated to blue skies and great views.

I'm pleased that even after christmas, I didn't stop as long as last time, and my moving time was slighty faster too. I have to say I've missed being on my wheels.

Strava:



Thanks for reading!

A lap of the Isle Of Wight

Hi all,

I'm feeling pretty good. Pretty knackered but pretty good.

One of the rides on my bike bucket list has been the Isle Of Wight. I've cycled down to the south coast near where I live many times and always looked out to the Island wondering what its like over there.

Now, I know.

It's hilly.

I live in Hampshire. It's lovely. It's lovely and mostly flat. It's a bit hilly to the North, but other than that it's fine. What I didn't expect was the scale of the hills over there. It's Devon style hills. Real hills. The north of the island is fairly flat, with rolling, gentle, undulants. As you go clockwise towards the south of the Island, all of a sudden you find the horizon is above you. A long way above you.

I set off with the local CTC group, who are a great bunch of people. the 9 of us set off at a gentle pace had a few laughs and a few breaks. We stopped at a fantastic tea room which you can see in the pictures below. If you are in the area give it a try. We lost a member of the group there as they found it hard going. They headed back North to the ferry. The rest of us carried on.

We got to about half way round (after Black Gang Chine) and we seperated into 2 groups. I tried to keep up with the fast group but I admit that after the hill, I was shot. I had a break and some sweets and waited for the slower group. I'm glad I did as it was great fun. Such a laugh.

I had a couple of issues where I ate too much or drank too little, but nothing major.

One thing that I will remember though. The roads are smooth. It looks like they've just been resurfaced for the most part. Also taking real, proper corners at 35mph on nothing but a small bit of tin is really exciting. I loved every second of downhill.

I won't be doing this ride again until next year as it was pretty tough. I need to do longer rides more regularly to get up to fitness for this sort of thing.

Pictures and Strava below:

Thanks for reading,

Strava fever

Hi all,

A few weeks ago I made a decision. Not a big one, but one that helped my cycling immensely.

I used to record my every ride, every commute. But the constant disappointment of not getting a trophy for a top 3 ride when I thought I had done well started affecting how I was riding. I would push too hard. I wouldn't enjoy my ride, I just had to ride faster.

So I made the decision to stop recording everything. It's been a few weeks now and the pressure has been released. I can relax more. I can take my time. I don't look down at my garmin and push myself to get another km/h out of my legs, or try to get the average speed to click up a tenth.

That leads me onto today.

Haha!

So not having got any top 3 or PB's in a while on my commute, I thought I'd take my road bike, as normally I take my commuter Halfords Carrera Crossfire 1.

I feel like I cheated. There is no way my poor Carrera is going to match that. It's far too heavy. But it feels like I've cheated myself. Yes I did it, but it was cheeky.

Now I'm going to keep my Strava times for my adventures and big rides. Its just not worth the stress.

In the meantime, I'm going to celebrate my KOM and being disappointed I tried too hard on the Water Lane run so I was knackered for the sprint finish.


Thanks for reading

Cheap bike challenge? Matley Wood Hampshire

Hi all,

So recently I bought myself a bike to trash. A Rockrider 340 from Decathlon. Tiny 26" wheels, Tourney gear set, the usual really. It does have an aluminium frame though so...yay?

Anyhew. I thought I'd take it out for a spin with some mates to see how it'd do compared to some "real" offroad bikes. To put it simply it was outclassed. Everywhere.

On gravel, even though I changed out the stock tyres for mud tyres there was no grip. The  800mm suspension refused to push the front wheel back into the ground. It shock absorbance was also terrible, but I'm glad I wore my gloves. It meant that even at low speed, while my friends were cornering at a lowly 12mph they could make the corner. I had to slow down and had very little confidence.

Eventually we made it to the most fun part of the ride, Matley Wood in the New Forest in Hampshire. I've not been down there before, but there are many natural dips making it a good pump track and I actually managed to get some air on my bike a couple of times. It would have been so much easier with larger tyres and less weight!

Anyway. this is my handlebar view of what happened. If you don't catch the audio it's basically my friends warning me it's about to get exciting for a bike that cost £150 with stupid wheels!

Here's the vid:



I did do a speed test on tarmac in case people are interested. Bouncing up and down in the seat in the hardest gear at 27mph. Not too shabby. I wouldn't go that fast offroad though. Jebus.

Here's the strava:

thanks for reading,

Strava KOMs don't last long...

Hi all,

For those who don't know what Stava is, it's a ride logging website. It also has things called segments. These are bits of road or trail, normally uphill or technical and the challenge is to navigate it as quickly as possible. The fastest riders get things call KOMs (or QOMs) "Kings Of the Mountain" (or Queens).

I've noticed that over time I was getting faster, and I held the top 3 times in quite a few of my commute segments. Then I realised a couple were in my grasp.

These are tough segments. Bad entries meaning you can't carry speed into them and bad exits meaning you may have to break. As the roads are narrow chances are you will hit traffic, or the roads are in such a state that if you're forced offline you lose time and speed very easily.

Then one day, on the way home, I noticed something.

No headwind.
No leg fatigue.
Not feeling heavy.
Bike feels good.

So I went for it and nailed both KOMs. Boom! Really happy! They don't last long though. I don't hold them any more. For the sake of a few seconds over a mile. The guy who holds the top spot must have had a perfect run.

Here's the strava link:

Leap to Lepe

Hi all,

This weekend was really busy so the only time I had was a couple of hours on Sunday morning.

I love riding to the waterside, or to the sea at least, so my route of choice has to be Lepe. There's a great coffee shop down there that sells good coffee and ice cream so it's all to the fair. There is a nice 30 mile loop from Totton to Lepe going down through Eling, Marchwood and Hardley and back through Beaulieu and Longdown onto the "Green Route".

I put my camera on my bike for the first time in a while, so I've grabbed stills from the video. I might process it later but nothing cool happened. It may serve as some evidence for the local council to fix the bloody roads though *fume*.

The weather was pleasant enough. A tiny bit of drizzle before I left, but otherwise dry and sunny in parts.

Pictures and what's left of Strava after my Garmin stopped being weird:

Thanks for reading,

Wiggle Spring Sportive 2016

Hi all,

So this year I decided to do my first event. I was fairly nervous to be honest having not done anything like the distance required before but I was certain I could do the distance.

The problem with these events is actually time. If I do this event again I'll keep my average moving speed, but cut my breaks down. Now I've done a few big rides I know what I'm capable of.

The bigger drain on this ride was the wind. It was horrendous. A really strong headwind most of the way round.

I met a friend of mine on the start line, which meant I had a ride buddy. We cleared the first 30 miles quickly, but I really needed him for the last 25 miles. I got huge cramp. Sorry, that's not big enough.

I got HUGE cramp.

Both legs.

It didn't even play nicely. It cramped at extension and reflexion. At one point I had to jump off my bike and lie on the grass for a bit. Eventually it gave way and I could jump back on for a mile or so. It really tested me.

Saying all that, it was good fun. Pretty cool stuff. I met some nice people, I got overtaken by a really old gentleman making a noise like a steam train. I couldn't keep up with him!

I will do the one later this year, but I'll definitely do the spring one next year.

Photos and Strava below:

I don't know who this guy is.