Friday 13th July 2012

It’s been a while lovely peeps – not a lot to report in the world of “Mountain Biking” in the flatlands; done a lot of riding since I last wrote, feel like I am at my (cycling) fittest. This week did 30 mile ride on Tuesday and was expecting to ache and struggle on Thursdays ride but I didn’t ache and I didn’t struggle – quite the opposite was raring to go and felt great at the end of the ride. Just need to maintain this level of fitness now until October

Came to a conclusion the other week that was weather related – I can either be unfit and fat or get out in the rain and carry on riding, needless to say I am riding and the weather is getting no better

No real hardware news as such – running the Continental Speed Kings on the Merlin and I really like them no trouble at all with them, bit of wheel spin in some extremely boggy conditions but I think anything would have behaved the same, in addition they seem to roll really quickly. Broke both rails on the Fizik Gobi saddle on the 28^th June – just riding a long a piece of flat single track and then the next thing you know is both rails of the saddle had broken – managed to bodge the saddle back onto the bike and gingerly ride back to the car!

So here is all the riding I’ve done recently – just need to keep those pedals turning!

 

21^st June – 18 Mile Loop round Peterborough from GM’s house

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/vqbVsvQgU1Q

 

28^th June – 9 mile ride round Wakerley due to broken saddle

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/lfvaWFI48ek

 

3^rd July – 22 miles round Rutland Water incl. headland

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/j9XMEBResuI

 

5^th July – 20 miles around Peterborough (same as 21^st but start/finish from work)

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/oI2y7H1sAvM

 

10^th July – 30 Miles round Rutland Water two laps but no headland

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/lsXU3G7vFLE

 

12^th July – 20 Miles round Peterborough from IR’s house – one dose of cramp; one bug in eye and one puncture but none of it me!

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/ouV4yJ5JryA

 

 

 

Sunday 17th June

Well, this week one blog and two subjects!

The search for “The One Bike” has been ongoing,  since my last rant HERE, someone on a bike forum suggested a Singular Swift and to be honest I hadn’t checked it out but this months “What Mountain Bike” did a feature on 29er Steel Hardtails and the Swift came out well (as did the Cotic Solaris) so these were my original requirements…..

• 29er  – CHECK
• All steel hard tail  – CHECK
• Capable of running 140 – 160mm forks – Can run 120mm (see below)
• Sliding rear drop outs for single speed conversion  – No but does have an eccentric bottom bracket
• Tabs for fitting a chain device (for running 1 x 9 or 1 x 10 set ups) Nope 😦 but I’m sure I can live without!

NOTE on fork spec… many people questioned my requirements for a 140mm fork on a 29er so taking this on board (unlike me I know) I have decided to stick with a 120mm fork.

The Swift frame comes with a set of rigid forks from Singular (my original wish list was to be able to set it up with both Rigid and Suspension forks) for a humble £440; so I think for me this is now at the top of my wish list and will form the basis of “the One Bike” just got to get the rest of it spec’ed out now before I sell my soul to the devil to be able to pay for it!!!

http://www.singularcycles.com/shop/index.php/frames/singular-swift.html

And the other update is where I have ridden this week – standard 12ish mile ride after work around Yarwell , woods are drying out a bit despite the recent rain (hosepipe ban now lifted so do not care if the bike gets a bit more muddy!)

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/psPj4F4gnoA

And then when we went if to see friends in Parwich nr Ashbourne in Derbyshire and managed to get a 22 miler in, around the area, rode part of the Pennine Bridleway and the Tissington trail – not a  lot to report, wide smooth bridleway that were flat (yes in Derbyshire) and uninspiring, it used to be an old railway. It was good for fitness and allowed me to bat on at an average of 12.5 miles per hour over 22 miles! Next time I’m up that way I need to have a proper explore and find some more interesting places to ride!

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/u6kflcO-g2k

Sunday 10th June

A friend of mine had these butterfly handlebars on his mountain bike that he used for everything, touring, commuting, road riding, trail centres, the whole 9 yards all on one bike! He’s 10 ish years older than me and his fitness level is out of this world!

So I read the book “The Man who Cycled the World” who also used similar bars and thought – what the neck why not, so I gave it a whirl!

Popped them on and went for a spin from the word go they are really comfy, you can move your hands into various positions so that you do not get fatigue on your wrists, I had to adjust the angle of the bars a couple of times during today’s inaugural ride but the last third of the ride was great (apart from the snapped spoke!!)

Ran Endomondo software again and it was also good apart from me being a Muppet  and switching it off for handlebar adjust 1 and forgetting to switching it back on until I stopped for handlebar adjust 2 – DOH!

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/jQWqu7qFhHI

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/k3iiKtjNBTY

Hence to routes with a gap in the middle – the Butterfly bars are staying – hence FRANKENBIKE is born! Click the link and scroll to the bottom to look at the piccies!

Wednesday 6th June

As Led Zepplin said “It’s been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time, yes, it has!”

4^th May till now – wow, so what have I been doing, well front half of May got a couple or three rides in on the Single speed not huge mileage and nowt special but pedal turning non the less.

Then buggered off for two weeks in a tent in Cornwall with the missus and the wee one, great time was had by one and all although did not do any riding – great weather too – despite the previous rain that we have been having.

So after we got back from Cornwall I went off to Fineshade/Wakerley for a wee ride and decided to have a go on one of their 29ers – took a Giant XTC 29er hardtail as I wanted to compare the 29er to my Merlin 26er…..

Well all I can say is WOW – not sure if it was the frame; the 29er wheels; the plush fork or the Racing Ralph tyres – but bugger me that bike was quick and smooth as a Cashmere Codpiece! From the word go the bike was quick; easy to accelerate and easy to maintain the momentum, the ride smoothed over bumps and I soon found myself ploughing over stuff that I would normally try and ride round on the 26er without any perceptible reduction in speed.

I noticed no difficulty in manoeuvrability in the tighter, trickier sections that some reports suggested I might. The main difference that I found was the way the bike smoothed out those annoying little trial divots that you find in and around tree routes, it was like that they did not exist. Enabling more speed to be carried through the section and as we know more speed in itself leads to smoother riding

All in all I can only say that I would highly recommend a 29er; my next mission is to take a 29er Full Suss for a spin – more than likely a Giant Anthem and then at close on £2k for the Anthem I will need to sell all other bikes, sell my soul to the devil, prostitute my body and sell a kidney for medical research to enable me to buy one and that’s before I even mention it to the boss!

The only downside to the ride on the 29er was that the mapmyride software gave bizarre readings were it didn’t record the actual route but just put generic straight lines into the area where I rode….

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/98379131

Since then I have been for a ride around the local woods on the Single speed and have switched over to Endomondo which has given a much truer and more accurate record of my ride, think I’ll be using this in future!

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/oWSJMCiD_7o

So as I mentioned in the other post EVENTS its only four months till the AUtum Triple so time to get my arse into gear and to start pushing the miles – more big rides required – so time for me to stop procrastinating and get riding………………see ya all on the trials!

May the fourth be with you! (couldn’t resist)

Following on, in the UK, from the wettest April since records began May has excelled itself, with the average May rainfall coming down in the first week of the month! Consequently the trails, footpaths and bridleways are like swamps! Time to get the single speed out again then (glad I switched the gearing back to 38/20T and left the Panaracer Trailrakers on!) So I thought it would be fun to go for a play around Wakerley woods – standard lap around the red route at Wakerley

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/88343327

Followed by a run on the alternate off piste stuff

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/88351595

Unfortunately the Forestry commission had closed a load of the trails for logging but as they had knocked off for the night I rode the trails anyway, their logging machines have ripped great swathes out of the tracks – its gonna tack some work to get them back the way they were!

 

This afternoon managed to get away from work at 11am as is usual on a Friday – and had permission from the boss to ride as long as I was home by 2pm – now where should I ride;  due to the weather I was headed to Rutland water for a lap (boring but at least good for fitness) and then at the last minute decided to go for a blast round Wansford / Yarwell on the cheeky trails that I had not been on for a while – this was also muddier than I have ever seen it – went out on the Merlin and that was a mistake; Maxxis Ignitors were way out of their depth, I had rear wheel slides, front wheel slides, complete slides and luckily only fell off twice! It was like riding on glass! 

And Friday afternoons sojourn around Yarwell Mill / Wandsworth area

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/89182599

Great ride mind – couple of problems though… one  is two bikes are now minging dirty and we still have a hosepipe ban! And the other is I chucked my bike shoes in the washing machine to get them clean and ended up breaking the glass on the F*&%$ng machine, boss was not a happy bunny!

Monday 30th April

Ok – completely ballsed up yesterday – On One is only designed for a 100mm fork and the Orange is a 26er not a 29er – DOH! Homer Simpson moment!

Sunday 29th April – Prt 2

Suitable frames found so far …….

“On-One Inbred 29er Swap-Out Frame” http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROOIN29V3/on_one_inbred_29er_swap_out_frame Top of the seat stays is pretty ugly to be fair though!

“Kona Honzo” http://www.konaworld.com/29er_hardtail.cfm?content=honzo#1 Full bike not frame only – will it run 3×9? or 3×10?

“Orange P7 Frame” available here http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/p7_frame/ – mm looking good! This is prett much spot on – 140mm Fork compatable, ISCG 05 chainguide, Sliding/interchangeable dropouts and all for £500!

and still searching…..Genesis – no; Cove – no; Specialized – no and no thanks; Voodo USA – only up to 125mm fork;

Sunday 29th April

So its Sunday evening and I’m back at home after a weekend at the Sister/Brother in Laws – Dunc wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t ride – pity really as the Malvern’s were in view all weekend! Weather was especially stinky today so did nothing apart from drive back home and here I am – with zero miles to report since last week! Bad show I know, really need to start pushing bigger miles now – one 10mile ride a week on a semi-technical  basis and one distance 20+ mile ride are needed!

So as I wasn’t riding and had some relax time I started thinking about bikes (funny that I hear you say!)…..further to my post the other day on my current stable it dawned on me that I need one really versatile bike rather than three or four bikes, but what do I really need, where do I ride….

• Commuting to work / road work
• Trail Centres as and when I can
• Bridleway and forest trails, two or three times a week
• I Ride in both Winter and Summer,
• When its dry and also when its wet and muddy

So could I do all of this on one bike? Maybe, but I would need to be able to adapt it on a fairly regularly basis – so I started thinking what would that bike be and how would it look?

And this is where my thoughts lead me…..

• 29er
• All steel hard tail
• Capable of running 140 – 160mm forks
• Sliding rear drop outs for single speed conversion
• Tabs for fitting a chain device (for running 1 x 9 or 1 x 10 set ups)

Very high level thoughts are here….. Frame Build

So how would I set it up to ride?

• Commuting
  • 29er frame
  • Fully rigid front forks
  •  3 x 9 geared setup
  • Semi-riser bars
  • 1.5” wide tyres

• XC riding (Summer time)
  • 29er Frame
  • Suspension forks (circa 100-120mm)
  • 3 x9 geared setup
  • Semi-riser bars
  • 2.1” wide tyres

• XC riding (Winter time)
  • 29er Frame
  • Suspension forks (circa 100-120mm)
  • Single speed geared setup
  • Semi-riser bars
  • 1.9” wide tyres

• Trial Centre riding
  • 29er Frame
  • Suspension forks (circa 140-160mm)
  • 3 x9 geared setup
  • Semi-riser bars
  • 2.4” wide tyres

• Monster Cross Riding (maybe)
  • 29er frame
  • Fully rigid front forks
  • 1 x 9 geared setup
  • Drop bars
  • 2.1” wide tyres

So there you go one frame could do all of this the only problem I now have is two fold….who makes a 29er Steel frame with sliding dropouts and BB tabs and how do I go about doing QCO (Quick Change Over’s)? If I am doing a commuting run on Friday I don’t want to be spending Friday Night/Saturday  morning switching everything round for a visit to a trail centre before having to switch it all back again for the Monday morning commute, is this an overlooked niche in the market that I could fill and make my millions? Engineering hat on!

The frame issue could easily be resolved – make my own! Last winter’s #retroproject taught me a lot, strip down to bare metal, paint and rebuild include full wheel build and truing, the execution was far easier than anticipated!  It also gave me a huge sense of satisfaction, should I push the boundaries further and build my own frame?

Could I build my own, maybe, I know how to build complex 3D jigs and checking fixtures from many years producing low pressure fuel pipes for diesel engines, the theory is the same but the finished product would just be bigger (bike frame versus plastic LP fuel pipe). I know how to weld even if my seams are a bit agricultural! Just need to “borrow” the father in laws welding kit, get some tube and start practising! If the weather carries on like this then I will be spending more time in the garage tinkering J

Sunday 22nd April

Well, just in case anyone is interested or cares – the Single speed has gone back to being geared at 38/20 – and I’ve ordered another Charge Spoon of ebay……any one want a cr4p free saddle?

Saturday 21st April

Was going to title this blog “The ride of shame”  but now am not sure if I should title it “The ride of discovery” – so its spring here in the UK which means a who;le host of change on the weather front – we had the hottest May on record followed by non stop rain/showers in April that have  coincided with the hose pipe ban! DOH!

Went out the other week on the Merlin round Wakerley woods and the place was like a swamp – took me hours to clean the bike down without a hose pipe, so was non to keen on getting it clegged up with mud again.

Ah I’ll use the single speed I thought – well that was why I built a single speed to ride in the winter so I do not get the Merlin’s’ drive train clegged up and worn out. Problem was I’d already started to modify the SS for summer. Winter setup is usually 38/20 Gearing and Panaracer Trial Raker tyres – I’d switched the gearing for 38/18 and was going to put summer tyres (Maxxis Ignitor (F) /Larsen(R)) on but hadn’t got round to it.

So stuff it I thought I’ll go out on the SS and I’ll do a nice long ride – 18 miles through the bridleways of Lincolnshire including part of the Viking Way that was my plan!

please note the lovely painted fence!!

Out the house down the road and up the hill and ohhhh bugger – there was no way I was going to ride 18 miles Cross Country with that gearing and tyre combination on, no way! So quick 180 degree turn back down the hill and off in the opposite direction for a quick ride around the local woods ( a wee 8 mile jaunt). Morkery woods is an ex airforce bomb dump which has broken up concrete and cinder paths in the main with bits of natural single track here and there

I cannot explain how hard it was – it’s usually a very east ride on a geared bike and normally ok on the SS in 38/20 mode but every hill had me out of the saddle pushing hard to make it up the hills (these are small slight gradients and nothing that needs a polka dot jersey to ride)

So back home after the ride and some decisions to make; one was pretty easy – the saddle has to go! It was a cheapy of ebay the original one went on the Kona Hahanna coz it matched (bike tart) and after 2 miles my butt was killing me – no relief channels, I need another Charge Spoon for my delicate butt

But the big decisions is do I change the gearing  back to 38/20 which will enable me to ride it further or do I stick with the 38/18 although there is no way I can ride distance on it at the moment my legs are knackered post ride which is a good thing coz I know its done me some good . This decision is based round keeping the Trailraker treads on the wheels …

Change to the summer rubber and it will defo go to 38/18… but with the weather the way it is what does a rider do? – mmmm – decisions, decisions!