Sorry for the f*** about

You can now find me here:

http://www.massivemtber.co.uk

I know, make your bloody mind up Clive, but I thought about it for a short while after a chat with the ever helpful Joby over at http://www.biking2work.co.uk/blog who’s help was as ever invaluable, I decided to make the leap to my own domain name, so a virtual pint to him and a couple of real ones when we eventually meet for a pedal!

This is the last move! I promise, I’ll be tweaking it tomorrow, but it is up now.

Cheers

Clive

First WordPress effort…

I’ve been having some issues with Blogger so I’ve decided after much soul searching to come over to WordPress.

Nothing will change, still be daily updates and there’ll be the usual rubbish written.

Test picture insert here…

Now I just have to work out how to edit and sort links and widgets etc…

All help gratefully recieved!

Cardiff…

I have to go to Cardiff today for a meeting. So the internal combustion engine it is.

Last day at work until next Tuesday too! Whoop whoop!

Yesterday’s pedal home was a standard job, nothing to report.

Stats here:

Started: 18 Aug 2010 15:00:09
Ride Time: 46:53
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.82 miles
Average: 14.55 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 43.13 miles/h
Climb: 387 feet
Calories: 701

Not very fast, a pig of a headwind to push against…

Standard pedal.

Came in on my road bike this morning, mainly because I didn’t get up on time to be here if I came via the towpath. Bad skills!

I pedalled over Frankley Beeches and via Harbourne. Lights on too. Felt pretty good, the hills on route get dealt with fairly quickly for a 46 year old fat bloke, so happy days.

Stats here:
Started: 18 Aug 2010 05:35:37
Ride Time: 33:24
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.89 miles
Average: 16.75 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 30.94 miles/h
Climb: 112 feet
Calories: 730

Yesterday’s pedal home was the canal, NCR5 and a quick spin round the Lickey’s, ‘cos I could!

The towpath through Birmingham City Centre at Brindley Place was rammed with pedestrians so it was a go slow through there with plenty of “Excuse me’s” shouted out. It was pretty wet too, me and the bike were pretty filthy on arrival ay home, that dirty my daughter Fay wanted a picture of me.

It doesn’t show it too well there but I was covered in towpath grime and mud. The Ridgeback will need a bloody good clean on Friday!

Stats here:

Started: 17 Aug 2010 14:59:11
Ride Time: 1:11:34
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 16.16 miles
Average: 13.03 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 23.88 miles/h
Climb: 299 feet
Calories: 888

A change is as good as a rest…

This morning was the first commute in when It was dark when I started out and I needed my lights on. Bummer, that means Autumn is nearly here.

I also decided to commute in on NCR 5 and the canal for a change. I’ve been road biking a lot recently and my Ridgeback has been pining to be given some playtime. Plus I get so sick of bloody roads, give me a trail or a towpath anyday!

I’ve said it before, but changing your commute and or changing the bike you pedal is massively important to keep things fresh. I know I’m lucky to have a choice of bikes and other people haven’t got that luxury. But boredom is one of the enemies for a constant commuter and if you’re doing it for weight loss you need to keep doing it!

The pedal in was great though, enjoyed being on the canal and the solitude, as usual I never saw a soul which was great.

My body is feeling fine still after the 100 miler which in all fairness is a bit of a surprise to me. I was expecting to suffer for the century. But I guess my post ride stretches and recovery ride yesterday have all helped my cause. Looking forward to the 113 miler to the coast in Wales in 2 weeks now!

Stats for this morning’s commute:

Started: 17 Aug 2010 05:14:59
Ride Time: 1:05:18
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 16.26 miles
Average: 14.98 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 41.95 miles/h
Climb: 33 feet
Calories: 641

First Century since 1983…

I was awake at 0340hrs to the tuneful screaming of the Spawn of Satan. I quickly got dressed and was going to pile in to his room to settle him back down when he went quiet. Result. Downstairs, grabbed a bit of brekkie and packed my sandwiches and was off!

Lights on my bike for the first time since March/April, didn’t like that.

Anyway, off down towards Solihull then Catherine De Barnes. No problems, no traffic apart from the odd mini cab bringing late Saturday night clubber’s home. Got waved at by a young bloke staggering home down Seven Star Road which made me laugh.

Got to Meriden in good time. Meriden is famous in Cycling circles as the very centre of England, it’s a bit of a mecca apparantly according to my Dad who used to pedal a lot.

There’s a memorial there to cyclists killed in both World Wars.

Ok it was dark and I knew the photo would be crap, but I had to take a snap of the memorial with my bike parked up there. I’m sure Google will provide a better image.

Onwards then to potentially the worst part of the ride, that of skirting Coventry on the A45. Not pleasant.

But because of the hour and the day, there were very few tin boxes trying to kill me.

Pedalled past the old Peugeot works at Ryton on Dunsmore which is now a flattened derelict site, yet another example of the death of British manufacturing, even though it was a French company, but you know what I mean…quite sad.  

Then it was the start of the Fosse Way.

It was more lumpy than I remember from back in the day, lots of ups and downs, a bit like a roller coaster, nothing hard though.

The minute I saw my first Cotswold Stone house…

The road went up alarmingly, ahh, that’d be the Cotswold Hills then.

Next stop the end of the Fosse Way at 53 miles in for me and still feeling ok. The village of Halford.

A turn off right here and head towards Bidford on Avon via the leafy lanes of Warwickshire and the village of Mickleton. A bit of my route actually took in a bit of NCR5 which JB must have pedalled back in April.

I stopped at Mickleton for my jam sandwiches and a bloody good drink. I was starting to feel it now. Nothing serious but I knew I’d done a distance.

Sandwich stop at Mickleton.

Then it was a belt along through Honeybourne and past Bidford Gliding Club to get to my 20 minute rest stop at Bidford by the River Avon.

I left Bidford at about 0910hrs which is about 70 miles in on the ride. This was going to be the tester. It was all uphill and a headwind started up the minute I crossed the river. Great!

I was now seriously tired, up until Bidford my average speed was 16.9 mph, which I thought wasn’t bad. I knew it wouldn’t be that when I got back!

I got to Astwood Bank just outside Redditch after a real struggle getting out of the Avon Valley, and got to the traffic lights at the village centre. I went to unclip as the lights were on red and my left calf cramped up so much I couldn’t get my foot out of the pedal and I nearly toppled over like a SPD newbie! Just saved it! Time for a refuel then. I parked up at the service station just over the lights and had a Mars Bar and a bottle of Lucazade and had a walk around the forecourt while I refuelled. I also answered a text of support off Matty Lad while I was there! Oh and thanks for the Tweets too, they did help!

Next up Redditch, not a great place to pedal through, or motorbike through, I saw a bike on its side by the big island, it’s actually on the footage on the film below. The motorbiker was ok as I saw him walking around picking bits of his bike up with the car driver who I assumed was involved in the accident too. Haven’t a clue what happened.

Out the other side of Redditch and pedalled towards the village of Beoley, which meant going up Church Hill. My first granny ring climb. very tired now, thoughts of walking up the hill started to enter my head. But I didn’t.

Then the other side of Beoley was my first problem with navigation. I knew I had to turn left to get over to the Wast Hills, and I knew I was roughly where I should be turning left so I went for it at the next left which was worryingly sign posted Carpenter’s Hill. I never saw any wood workers, but I definately saw a hill! Another Granny ring battle that was that steep that I had to get out of the saddle to force my way up. My rear tyre kept spinning out too as the ground was that slippy with leaves. When the rear wheel span out I sat down to try to regain traction, which then meant I couldn’t pedal strongly enough! Doh! I got there though and at the top was a group of cyclists doing a spot of map reading. After relating my story of the hill I’d just come up, they decided that was the way they were going. Good skills, I’d have sooner gone down it!

That was my last stop, plain sailing (relatively) home. Apart from a painful right knee and aching shoulders I was pretty much ok.

My cycling bits were fine, legs, cardio vas, gentleman’s area etc. It was as usual all my old rugby and army injuries giving me grief.

I was out for 7 and a half hours for 106 miles.

Average speed ended up at 14.7 mph.

Maximum speed was 41mph.

The stats are off my cycling computer as my Iphone’s battery wouldn’t have lasted the course.

Video below, motorbike crash at 2 mins 50 secs in:

This morning I got up and did a recovery ride of just 11 odd miles. All low gear easy spinning. No rush. The objective was to get any remaining lactic acid out of my legs to promote recovery and stop any cramping. I did a lot of calf, quad and hamstring stretches yesterday afternoon as I could feel my legs starting to tighten.

Stats here:

Started: 16 Aug 2010 06:58:29

Ride Time: 52:37

Stopped Time: 0:00

Distance: 11.18 miles

Average: 12.75 miles/h

Fastest Speed: 38.64 miles/h

Climb: 217 feet

Calories: 531

Route here:

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/d1c4/1bb6/4b96/d37e/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20100816-0658.kml

Hopefully that’s the August 150 kicked into touch now. I make it I’ve done 157 leisure miles.

My final thoughts on the pedal is that it was nowhere near as bad as I feared. Maybe I’m fitter than I thought. Or I’d just got my head around doing the distance.

What I would say is that if you fancy doing a 100 then do it, you’re obviously ready as you’re thinking about it!

100 miler done.

Feel ok, legs a bit tired, I’ll write up the gory details tomorrow!

Food for free.

We’re off down the canal in Stoke Prior today armed with loads of bags to get fruit and veg. There’s Damsons, Plums, Apples, Horseradish, Water Cress, Blackberries, Raspberries,  Sorrell and God knows what else!

Wifey is going to be busy, Jam, Chutney and soup making for her then!

Luckily the Middlesex Sevens is on tele today and I can watch that when she’s creating. Looking forward to it, Hunty and Brakey are playing for Northampton, they’re 2 players from my club who are on loan to them for the competition. It’s being played at Twickenham, arguably the best stadium in England. It’s a very big annual rugby event. It’s an excuse for piss up truth be told, but there’s some good rugby on show too with a ruck of internationals taking part.

The weather is set fair and my bike and kit is all ready to go for the 100 miler tomorrow. Just want to get it done now.

Watch out for Tweets tomorrow.

A slight change of plan…

Apologies if you’re expecting Tweets from the Fosse Way or Bidford on Avon and a delayed Blog. But I have an excuse…

My rear tyre was flat when I got my bike out this morning. Upon inspection when I removed the tyre I found this. As you can see the weld that joins the valve to the tube has totally failed and is totally irrepairable. In all my years of cycling man and boy I’ve never seen that before.

I fitted the spare but obviously that leaves me without a change of tube for the rest of the ride. So I made a command decision and postponed the 100 miler until Sunday. I’ll get a replacement tube (or 2) today.

I suppose going Sunday has its advantages. Less traffic around Coventry and to be fair it is threatening rain here and around the 100 miler route today. While I have no issues pedalling in the rain, I’m not completely stupid as it is nicer not to have to!

Apologies then for the false start. A bit disappointed truth be told.

Still going to the Dodford later though!

Just found this over at Placid Casual another Blog I follow. The bloke is a great photographer and a really serious cyclist, I love reading his thoughts. They’re always out of the ordinary not like my cliche ridden ramblings.

But check this photo out:

If you remember my Blog about the Solihull lady that was sadly killed time trialling recently on the A46 in Warwickshire, the photo above is a good example of that type of road. In fact as Placid Casual is a Leicestershire lad it might be the A46!

While I fully support the running of events on the public road I really must question the wisdom of doing it in those conditions pictured above. Surely a bit of common sense must take over here? Relying on the good graces of car drivers just isn’t an option, as I know only too well!

Stand by!

The waiting is nearly over thankfully, I couldn’t sleep last night for thinking about tomorrow’s self imposed task.

Will I get up on time?

Will my couple of bananas for brekky and a coffee do me until my first scheduled stop?

Will just a T Shirt for a top do for the ride?

What if my map reading skills go pear shaped?

What if I have a major mechanical?

Etc etc etc…

This isn’t such a bad thing, for me the above behaviour means I care, not that I’m nervous, I just want to crack on now.

For those of you interested I’ll Tweet my progress at my scheduled stops:

When I get on to the Fosse Way.

At Bidford on Avon.

At Redditch.

Then obviously when I get home.

I’ll do my best to take photos, but I’m terrible for taking pictures during a job like this, I get pretty focussed and never want to stop, so please bear with me! As for filming, I’ll have my Muvi on but it’s capacity is limited so it’ll get used as and when. Or maybe never, dunno yet.

I’m not certain when I’ll blog about it, depends on how I feel tomorrow so it may be Saturday.

Whatever happens I’ll be at the Dodford for a couple of well deserved ales tomorrow evening!