Breaking in Bod and Old Route, New Tricks

I've had a coldy thing all week and felt terrible, so cycling was well and truly off the menu. I can't go a whole weekend without being on a bike though so I suggested to Bod that we have a little low intensity spin.


Saturday

Mark (Bod) has never ridden a road bike so it was going to be interesting for him. After sticking some mtb spds' on my winter bike and re-assembling my summer bike we were ready to go.

It was a balmy 0c as we set off , heading towards Hale. The riding position is so different to Mountain Biking that I thought he may struggle but after a small period of adjustment and after channelling the inner cyclist he seemed to be happy enough. We ploughed on through the backroads upto the A538. Although it's a main road, it's slightly downhill and goes under the two runways at the airport. Withing 30 minutes we were on the outskirts of Wilmslow. It was a nice gentle pace but Bod was sweating profusely (to anyone that knows him, this is normal).

We skirted round Wilmslow and headed back towards home. A nice ride at a gentle pace. 22.16 miles covered and I think Bod may be looking to add another bike to his (already burgeoning) collection.

Sunday

After the success of Saturday, Bod suggested that we head up to Rivington and ride out to Healey Nab. It's a minature trail centre complete with graded signposts and groomed trails. Groomed in a good way not in a Paul Gadd way!

After unloading the bikes and the statutory amount of faffing we set off. It was a short route at 10 miles but satisfiing; as we both ride round the Pike pretty frequently but have never been out to 'the nab'.

We made short work of the couple of miles out to Healey Nab. I felt quite strong on the uphills and was further encouraged as Bod was on his 'big bike' so was having to work a little harder than usual.

We dropped into the woods and were soon riding little drops, tight switchbacks and errr bermy berms. As we got to the bottom of the red section there was a little rock chute which, to my shame, I bottled. Mark stopped too, as I'd stopped.

Now, I'm aware that it doesn't look particularly steep but from the top it looks quite nasty, with a little drop off to the left.

Mark got back on his bike and rode it straight away. I had three abortive attempt before deciding that today wasn't the day. I blame being ill during the week. We carried on and it led to a nice climb out of the woods back to the bridleway. A couple of road climbs and some rocky bridleways and we were back at the car. sausage rolls and pie at Tesco and we were on our way back to civilisation.

On the Fiddle

The frequency of my posting suggests that I'm doing no where near as much riding as I should be. Blames lies squarely at the door of...the government. If they didn't put the bloody clocks' back, I'd have far more riding time during the week.

Back to business. My only ride of the week so far was on Saturday. Not the nicest or indeed warmest day of the year so far but needs must!

Jon and I set out from Sale with the intention of heading towards Buxton. It was pretty chilly but you soon warm up and the miles dissappear if you keep moving. We were in Wilmslow within about 30 mins, then on to Alderley Edge. Decision Time...Do we go straight on up to the Chelford crossroads or left up the exceedingly steep climb towards the 'edge'. Left it is then. Just to clarify, I hate this climb and I do mean hate. It catches you out by flattening out mid-way, only to kick back in at a steeper incline just as you think you've recovered. You also have the footballer wankermobiles flashing past you as you are blowing out of your arse too.

Jon had already been at the top a minute or so by the time I got there so we cracked straight on to Macclesfield.

Now in Macclesfield, this was the part I was really not looking forward to. A 30 minute climb up to the infamous Cat & Fiddle Pub. Jon sped off in his now characteristic style leaving me trying to squeeze an energy gel into my mouth and remember to breathe and pedal at the same time. As I climbed it got colder and wetter and then quite a bit misty. As I passed the sign for Rainow I remember how much further it was to the top. I plodded on progressing deeper into the damp mist. Soon enough I could just about make out the Cafe with Jon stood in the car park. I stopped to take a couple of photos' and then rode up to the cafe. He'd been there 7 minutes. Bastard.

51.5 miles done.

Rule 9: If you are out riding in bad weather, it means that you are a badass. Period.

Or so the The Rules tell us.

I didn't feel too badass yesterday to be honest. I didn't want to go out and had to be virtually dragged by Mark to leave the house. The weather worsened as we drove up to Steves' house which obviously cheered me up.

After unloading and a brief fettle we set off... only to limp back up the hill minutes later to change Steves rear brake pads.

10 or 15 minutes later and with the rain beating at the windows and seemingly a little wetter, we left again.

We were heading from Glossop up to Dovestones and even with heavy legs it didn't feel that much of a drag. We seemed to quickly be up on the moors and that lovely feeling of being out in the countryside was upon me. Until the cracking of two things. First was two gunshots over the bridleway we were riding up. Not particularly pheasant err pleasant I can tell you! Second was the cracking, then snapping of my rear axle. Not the QR but the metal axle that runs through the hub.

If you're not sure what you are looking at there should be a freewheel and cassette on there! The silver metal tube should protrude quite a bit further, instead it's sheared clean off.

It should look like the black hub at the bottom of the picture below:

Nicht Gut. I need to get on to Hope on Monday morning. I'm led to believe that they will replace this as a warranty issue.

We limped back to Glossop and had a coffee and croissant at Steves' whilst the rain continued to beat against the windows.

Only 12.4 miles done today because of mechanical issues. It was still good fun though it was worth it for the coffee at the end. I'll have to do some more roller work today to try and get back on target.

It never gets easier, you just go faster.

I'll start by getting my excuses out of the way...

I've been super busy at work
The weathers' been crap
My friend got taken into hospital


In summation, I couldn't be arsed so used the reasons above as excuses.

I need to get back on the horse (as they say, not quite sure who they are but they say 'it a lot).

Roller session ahoy! Whilst marinading chicken I snook in a 50 min, 13.7 mile roller session.  That's 140.9 miles for the year, which is some way behind where I should be.

I need to apply Rules' 5 & 10 post haste.

A couple of pictures of the crappy places I've been to this week.

The cut and thrust of commodity trading :-)

Plane Spotter

 On Sunday morning I did a chilly little road ride with my brother-in-law Paul.

We met in Northenden and rode through Styal and onto Wilmslow. A quick pit stop for cup of coffee and some cheese on toast and we cracked on upto the Airport. There is a little bridlepath walkway around the side of the runway off the A538, from there you can see the planes taking off and landing. It's quite nice in a geeky kinda way. As we were there an A380 came into land. Crap photo below.

The morning was finally warming up as we headed back over towards Didsbury. We took a detour through Heald Green and Bruntwood Park before popping back out into Cheadle. Quite a nice ride at a leisurely pace. Paul ducked out as we passed his house. Lots of Packing to do before heading out to Trinidad!

I rode on, heading through Didsbury and down into Ladybarn. I was feeling nostalgic and thought I'd visit my Grans' old house...

This is the house I spent a large part of my childhood in. Firstly living there with my Mum and Grandparents and later during school holidays. My (possibly rose tinted) memories of the area and the street are brought into sharp focus every time I go back.

I headed home. 30.7 miles done.

High Roller...

My friend Jon came round this morning and with him he brought a set of tacx rollers. He's been banging on for ages about them being a better alternative to a turbo when the weather's not great. After a couple of coffees and with much trepidation I gave it a go. Set up in the kitchen I sat astride my bike, quietly terrified and curiously already sweating slightly (Was the heating on?). As I started to pedal I was clinging on the the side of the sink with one hand and the other on the bars. I just couldn't let go of the sink!

Being told that you will fall off when learning to ride these things is never good. I'm not really that keen on falling off bikes anymore. Jon said he'd leave the rollers with me for a couple of weeks whilst he's on a training camp in Majorca, the lucky sod.

I have moved the rollers to the hall so that I can fall against the wall rather than smashing into the kitchen floor. I've done 2 x 45 min sessions on them now and completed 10 miles per session. It's quite hard going but with some music on the Ipod and a bit of practice it seems pretty good. I've got sore elbows from bashing against the wall for the first 15 mins of the first session but it seems quite natural already. It's quite high cadence work that I'm doing on the bike and that seems to suit the rollers. The faster you go the smoother the thing seems to be.

I'm going to do another 20 tomorrow before going mountain biking at the weekend. That is, if my cheese eating companion can drag his ass out of bed this time.

Paresseux fromage mangeur

From my previous post you would expect exciting reportage from the steep, rugged slopes of Kinder Scout. Unfortunately my riding partner for the day had been suffering from a, presumably cheese induced, lack of sleep. So was unable to raise himself from his bed.

Not wanting to miss out on a ride but none too keen to be scraped off Jacobs Ladder by Mountain Rescue, I opted for a road ride up to the Peaks. Cold and quite miserable but a little more testing on the legs than the Cheshire Plain. I stopped for a banana and a drink at the cenotaph in Disley. Funny little place, Disley.

I'm going to have a day off tomorrow and go for a walk instead. Probably Hayfield though as Rosies Cafe is ace. 36.5 miles done today though so not too bad.

'To wear the yellow jersey is to mingle with the Gods of cycling'

Unfortunately my jersey was blue and I'm sure that I'll never wear the maillot jaune.

I did go for my first ride of the year (Woo!). It was a nice 23.3 miler up to Wilmslow via Styal and back through Hale and Altrincham. It was cold and damp but very pleasant due to the lack of traffic. Getting used to the burning of the lactic acid again is a little uncomfortable but also warmingly familiar.

That's 39 miles off my total so just need to keep going. I've got a ride with Mr Bodemeaid booked in for tomorrow. A gentle leg warmer around Hayfield on the mountain bikes. I'll have to see if I can rouse Pob to join us as well.