Goals, anticipation and riding for pleasure

Well. I'm now signed off for a month due to work pressure. The mere mention of it sets me off at the moment - feelings of anxiety, nervousness and a sense of inadequacy as well as paralysing indecision. I had to take some files back to the office and I couldn't go in office hours because I can't face the others. I got there and sat in the car for 10 minutes plucking up the courage to go in. When I did go in I dumped everything and left quickly, feeling sick the whole time. Lots of work to do there!

I find that exercise helps which brings me to goals - small, pathetic ones but none-the-less goals which give me a sense of achievement.

In the gym on Tuesday I got on the exercise bike and, as is my wont, pedalled hard for 10 minutes to warm up. I usually manage 5.5 to 5.8km and have been aiming for 6km for some time. This time I managed 6.13km. It felt so good, motivated me for the rest of the session and set me up for the rest of the day.

I have signed up for the Cycle to Work scheme and will be buying a bike through salary sacrifice. The process is almost complete. I have chosen a bike (Merida Crossway) and am just waiting for the certificate to arrive so that I can go and buy it. At long last I will have something that is easy to ride and more that capable of the sort of riding I do.

To end this ramble I went out yesterday and intended to do a shortish route lasting about an hour. It lasted a bit longer (1.5 hours) and I went further than intended. That said it was a great ride, the weather was ok and the route scenic. It is easy to become jaded about the scenery when one is immersed in it but the whole point of rides around here is to enjoy it and breathe in the views and surprise encounters on the way round, in this case a new-born Welsh Black calf. The hills, fields, Pheasants in the road that try and run ahead before taking to the wing in a clatter of feathers and clucking. All this goes without saying most of the time.

Here it is.




Heads are still harder than bikes to deal with.
JoD

Further bike related trials and tribulation

Well here we are more than two weeks since I last reported on the troubles I am having with the bike and I have to report that I have hardly ridden the bike it that time.

After fixing the puncture (5 holes. Tut!) I went out on the Saturday for a nice morning run via Trefnant and up to Henllan and Groes.

On the Sunday I set out again but took a mini roundabout near home a bit quickly and the right pedal grounded rather hard. I stayed on but soon noticed that the pedal was loose.  I turned round and when I got home I found that the pedal was damaged and had sheared out of its alloy crank thread and the whole shebang was irreparable.

So...New cranks (again), new pedals (again). I ordered the pedals from Halfords online as they had none that I wanted in the local store. They use Yodel to deliver (NOT!). What a cock-up and what a bunch of useless idiots Yodel are. This is the company that sponsored the Tour of Britain sprint competition and they cant get a set of pedals to me in a van from 26 miles away!! The pedals went on a van 5 times - FIVE TIMES!

I'm now waiting for a refund from Halfords who say they will credit my account when the pedals are received back at their warehouse - some time next year then!

Anyway. Now the bike is fixed and I can get out again. I did a quick circuit on Friday up to Prion then grabbed an opportunity on Saturday... Our daughter wanted me to watch her riding lesson so I went up to the stables on the bike and took a longer route home.

Making the most of the warm sunshine on Sunday I did this one.

I still enjoy this ride as it offers a mix of challenges and I feel great at the end.

Now the weather is changing so I will have to begin cultivating some V (Rule #5) . With a bit of luck I will be the proud owner of a new bike soon which will make the job easier.

Now all I have to do is sort out my head (again). Bikes are easy...

JoD

Sunny Saturday

What a great day for an early morning ride. I was out by 7.50am and did this...





The bike held up and didn't get another puncture. Most of my flat tyres are caused by thorns in the road edges left behind after hedge cutting.

I felt great and it set me up for the rest of the day. However there were two incidents with inconsiderate drivers. One, having seen me coming pulled out in front of me from a side road and did not accelerate. I was coming down hill and caught him up much quicker than he expected. As we came off a roundabout to go into town he got stuck behind a bus and I passed them both which felt good.

The second was a driver, coming in the opposite direction who saw me indicating to turn right at another roundabout (giving me right of way). As I entered the roundabout turning right he came through and my pedal clipped his back bumper! He got the finger and must have seen this because he stopped. I do hope I left a good scratch!

JoD

And another thing.

Having enjoyed the Vuelta and then the Tour of Britain we have been treated to the Cycling World Championships all of which I have enjoyed. Great Britain came away with some medals and one thing I have heard throughout the coverage is that cycling has become very popular over the last few years.

Could this be because we have produced some really good, dare I say world class cyclists in the last few years? Boardman, Hoy, Wiggins, Cavendish, Pooley, Cooke and Pendleton to name but a few!

Can't wait for the Olympics.

JoD

Trials and tribulations of the bike...

I have already alluded, rather unsubtly to the quality (or lack thereof) of my current bike. I suppose that Halfords sell to the wider public spanning the entire range of funds. At the time I bought my bike in 2008 - an Apollo FS26, funds were limited and our daughter needed a bike as well so what I had was split between the two.

Apollo FS26

Since that time it has been ridden hard, abused and not properly cared for. At the beginning of this year I knew it required some work just to keep riding and so began a less than systematic programme of repairs starting with the axle bearings, brakes, tyres and a general clean and degrease. Then the cassette needed to be replaced as it had lost so many teeth it had become a liability. Then the head tube bearing was done to correct a worrying range of non-steering movement. The front derailleur came next and this made me realise that the bottom bracket was shot and that no amount of tightening was going to help. In the process of removing the chain rings I bent the small cog so that had to go as well, meaning new chain rings, cranks and pedals. These last few replacements have meant I have been without a bike for nearly two weeks. Thankfully a clean and adjustment proved that the rear derailleur was in good order and at last I have something to ride again.

I have signed up for the Cycle to Work scheme and I will be spending a bit more on a new bike this time - either Merida or Specialized.

Moral of the story. Spend as much as you can afford and look after whatever you get!

JoD

Update on 28/9/11

Well I went out late for a quick blast on a short route and the back tyre picked up a puncture just over half way round!!! I still got some exercise - walking back home, pushing the bike from the 6km point.

Grrrr! I needed that like a hole in the head today.

JoD  Further update 29/9/11

I came in from work today and set to work on the puncture... 5 patches later and I have an airtight inner tube again. 5 patches I ask you!!? Meh! as they say.

JoD

More racing stuff.

I commented the other week that the ITV4 coverage of the Vuelta a España was not as good as the TdF which preceded it. Well things improved and the best stage so far has been stage 17 when Cobo and Froome fought it out at the end with Froome winning in the last few metres!

Cobo won out in the end, retaining the red leaders jersey and he shared the podium with Froome and Wiggins, two British riders from Team Sky.

Now for the Tour of Britain.

JoD

When the effort pays off!

Last week I posted that I have tried a route mapped by Deadheah1971 which went up to the Brenig Reservoir and includes a 17% climb. I didn't complete it that time as the road was closed after the Saron crossroads.

Well I went again yesterday afternoon. The weather was lovely - sunny and warm and the road was open after the crossroads. The climb up to this crossroads is still beyond me - I had to stop multiple times which is, I suspect down to the fact that I am not getting out more than once a week at the moment. The route as mapped by me is here . I did try and add some photos (I remembered to take a camera!) without much success so here they are.

The view from Peniel Hill

The 17% climb up Peniel Hill!

Wind farm near the top

Made it!!

The Brenig

All downhill from here (thanks goodness).

JoD