www.weightybiker.co.uk

Where it will be business as usual, so irreguar updates, mostly being far too long and not very intresting, with plenty of people self promoting their own blogs in the comments and even some people writting their own blogs via the comments section, but I will be well chuffed if you paid a visit now and again, go on, I’ll even pay your bus fare

I was still a little unsure even when I was getting the bike out of the garage, it did feel rather cold, but I soon warmed once I got going. The new lights seemed to be doing a pretty good job of lighting the road up, and more importantly the rear lights were letting people know I was there, I had 1 on steady and 1 flashing, this seemed to work well as I had no “near misses” well, except one prat who seemed determined to squeeze past me and a traffic island, still it wasn’t that bad. There was a fair bit of standing water on the roads, but this didn’t really cause to many problems.

Trip: 11.99 Miles
Time: 00.52.39  (hh.mm.ss)
Average speed: 13.6mph
Average Cadence: 63rpm
Then lucky me, did a 12 hour shift!

So, 6pm comes and Im starting to look forward to the ride home, as it had been a glorious day and the wind had dropped, then at 610pm, the rain starts. And doesn’t stop. The missus phoned and asked if I wanted a lift home, but I said “nah” as it didn’t look too bad, she phoned again at 630, again asking if I wanted a lift, but again I said “No”. I can’t help but feel, if I took the “easy” option, by getting the lift then I would have failed. I’m either going to do this cycling or I’m not. I really want this, and I really want to be competitive in next years longer rides.

So, the rain is beating down and its very dark! now I have not done this combo before. On the cycle paths, it wasn’t too bad, just the many artics going by and splashing what felt like tons of cold water over me each time! When I finally got onto the road, it wasn’t too bad, again I was pleased with the lights and I had also “borrowed” my VERY hi-viz vest from work, so felt a bit safer in the dreadful conditions. It was when I got onto the flat, straight road that I had my 1st proper Joby style incident.

Some “Halfords Heros” in their Punto decided it would be great fun revving the engine up a few feet behind me, then as the road went straight decided to pull along side me, spit and me then shout “get your foot down fatty” Before revving up again and shooting off. I did manage a “fuck off” but suddenly became quite aware that I was a fair trek from anything even remotely resembling civilisation. This REALLY put me in a bad mood, who the hell do they think they are? yes, ok Im fat, but Im trying to do something about it, but I really don’t need it pointing out to me when its dark and pouring with rain. Still prehaps if these sad little “people” happen to be reading this, if indeed they can read, then feel free boys to have a pop at me in the daylight, when I can read your reg plate, and maybe me and my friend “big stick” will sort your attitudes out.

And Im never violent.

Still, got home with no further incident and apart from being wet beyond belief, my mood had improved and I felt I had a pretty good time in the bag.

Trip: 11.36 Miles
Time: 00.47.17  (hh.mm.ss)
Average speed: 14.4mph
Average Cadence: 66rpm

Total miles today: 23.35 miles

Total miles to date: 289 miles

So, yeah, pretty happy with that.

Well, going to update again mid – week with some plans, new goals and some new ideas.

Not sure when I will get back on the bike, my ear/sinus infection has caused me to take today off sick from work, maybe tomorrow too, then I have a pretty important health and safety course all next week, so I think it will be a week Sunday before I get back out proper. Hopefully by then my ear will be better…hopefully!

Hoping to get some work done on the new website this week, it will be a start if I can understand my html from my ftp. I don’t at the moment. Might just carry on looking for gadgets and bits for christmas!

Still, it was rather overcast but dry and there was very little wind, amazing again for late October.

I went the same way as Tuesday to Harwell, pretty uneventful, just felt good and not particularly pushing myself. Got to Harwell and they had been cutting the hedges, I started to get a regular “clunk” from my front wheel, when I looked down there was a twig stuck across my front tyre and this was hitting the mudguard as it was going round. I thought about leaving it where it was, after all it wasn’t yet leaking air but I knew I would have to change it soon or later, so I ripped it out and tried to ignore the loud hiss!

Changed the tube no problems, however I started to ride off and realised the front brakes were not sitting right and were rubbing on the tyre wall, looked for my allen key set that should be in the panniers and of course they weren’t. Ended up loosening them off and just riding with them slack, not ideal but I did only have one hill to go down, will fix them properly next week.

After all this I was pretty fed up, so as I dropped into Didcot I decided to pop into a work friends house and have a brew. This cheered me up a bit but decided to cut the ride short and head home.

Got home with no further problems and have spent the afternoon asleep in bed, of course I have woken up feeling worse than ever and I have 3 days of work to look forward to, followed by a 5 day course!

Trip: 24.26 Miles
Time: 02.03.53  (hh.mm.ss)
Average speed: 11.7 mph
Average Cadence: 60rpm

Total Miles: 266

Picked up a set of Cateye lights as recommended by Rafe, or see them HERE, which should make my intended commute a bit safer during the winter months, I was not keen on the commuting to work as I would be leaving home at around 5am and not returning home till around 8pm and of course it is VERY dark at those times, also the roads are generally unlit and in the middle of no-where, so these and a reflective vest may make me stand out a bit better.

I have also been and bought a pair of padded shorts, so hopefully things will be a bit more comfortable, I thought I would go the whole hog and get a long sleeved jersey and waterproof jacket too, hopefully they will all fit but I’m not so sure…I will post pictures if they do! Would not dream of posting pics if they didn’t, I think there are laws about that sort of thing anyway!

Gave the bike a good clean today, it had a lot of mud and horse poo on, honestly, I think horse owners should be forced to clean up in the same way dog owners are. The bike also got a good oiling and shes ready for a ride out tomorrow morning, going for around 25 miles with a tea stop with a friend in Abingdon. Really looking forward to it actually.

Will blog the details tomorrow afternoon.

Just as a thought, I always put my ride times from what the computer says, so it’s actually the time the wheels spend turning not the overall time taken, how do the rest of you do your times?

I don’t genuinely know why I have been so off cycling of late, I think it has something to do with my “more miles = better” mentality. I have thought hard about this, I think I was trying to do to much to soon, and basically over – did it. So what am I going to do? well, I think that Im going to aim for lesser miles more often, eg 10 – 20 miles a couple of times a week rather than 40 odd once in a blue moon. This I hope is achievable, although going into the winter even this could get tricky!

So what has spurred me back on a bike? well apart from Gaz and Joby with their constant cycling chat on twitter and blogs, the fact that the dates for 2 of my main goals have been published:

Oxfordshire classic – 9th May

Manchester – Blackpool - 11th July

This has focused my mind, made it all feel a load more “real”   I’m scared.

Rafe also helped during the week by pointing out that I’m still way out of shape and have got a bloody long way to go if Im going to enter these events…though I feel he worded it far better!

Todays ride:

The weather was amazing for late October, mild, dry and only a gentle, steady wind from the South(ish) so decided I would head out towards the Harwell business centre, then back home via Hanney. It was all mostly on quiet roads / off-road tracks which were a bit sticky but nothing too bad.

Got the first mile under my belt with out too many problems, however the chain was jumping a bit in the rear gears a stiff link I think. Got to around 1.5 miles and the chain jumped off the low gear and stuck fast on the frame! however I managed to use a blunt screwdriver to prize it out and got going again. The stiff link also cleared itself, which was a result to say the least!

Fairly gentle ride to Harwell, overtook a few racehorses…and did not see much in the way of other traffic. Took a left at Harwell (home to the 1st nuclear reactor) and headed down into the village on a rough gravel path where I have jarred my wrists, which isnt too pleasant. then headed up a fairly gentle hill, overtaking a family of 4 in the process…god that felt good! had a great tailwind, which helped my speed up the hill at a fairly average 13 / 14 mph. Then I got to the top and almost straight away its down hill into the village of Steventon, made a new PB to speed of 32mph, this was scary, due to the roughness of the road at the bottom of the hill or maybe its just because I’m not too use to the speed!

Smooth sailing back home from there, stopping between Hanney and Grove to watch the trains on the main line for a while…I’m a secret very part time anorak, saw 60073 with some empty oil tanks then 66578 with a container train!

Was very pleased with the new sweat wicking t-shirt I got, although not able to wear it on its own, due to public decency laws it worked really well under another t-shirt.

HERE is the route from g-maps

The stats:

Trip: 18.24 Miles
Time: 01.34.07  (hh.mm.ss)
Average speed: 11.6 mph
Average Cadence: 56rpm

Total Miles: 242

Some advice required:

I have been recommended trying a saddle with a hole down the middle for me “ahem” bits, as I get quite a lot of pain in the area when I cycle, so any suggestions / recommendations?

Padded shorts / legging / trouser things – yay or nay? Looking round its going to have to be an order from the USA because of the size thing, again been told this would also help out with the above pain issues.

Ordering new lights which have been recommended by Rafe, so should be good for those dark rides.

Right, hopefully out again on Thursday for another similar distanced ride

Well it is Sunday. As you can see from the lack of updates, it has been a couple of weeks since I have been out on the bike. This has really annoyed me, however the DIY in the house is 99% sorted and the car is running well, so just work getting in the way now as usual. I’m hoping to get a few more good rides in before the winter but we shall see!

Last night I decided to do the commute to work thing, so that is exactly what I did. I went the usual way as far as Steventon, then picked up a path that runs alongside the railway that I had been told about, this was generally ok but could be a mudbath after rain, still it was flat! managed to hold a good pace all the way with the sun providing some beautiful warmth and there was very little in the way of wind…perfect. I didn’t note down the stats when I reached work, but it was 12.5 miles and I covered this in around 45 – 50 minutes, which I was very pleased about.

After my 12 hour nightshift I was feeling rather knackered so decided just to cycle the “normal” way home via a sustrans route, though I have never done it Didcot – home before. It involved a few reasonable climbs and although these were hard they were note quite as bad as I thought they would be, it was a perfect morning, so far anyway.

Autumn is dawning across Didcot

The power station in the picture is where I started my ride home, the picture does not really do the view justice. Anyway, I pushed on and decided to take a bit of a detour as I thought there was a better road to get me part of the way back. How VERY wrong I was, it was a good paved road for around a mile, then I got onto the ridgeway behind the Harwell IBC (home to the 1st ever nuclear reactor) and it turned to a rough track with my pedals catching the tops of the ruts, then it got worse, there was a very steep hill with lots of loose chalk and ruts and I had to get off and walk up, I was really pi**ed off at this point, the 1st time I have had to walk up a hill. Saying that though, the view at the top was stunning, again my camera phone is rubbish but you get the idea.

The ridgeway behind Harwell

It was about another 50 foot beyond this picture that I was able to get back on and cycle, very slowly again, through ruts and long grass. Won’t be going that way again.

I eventually got back on a road and wow, very steep down hill so I let the bike take the strain and enjoyed the decent. Had a very new experience at this point which scared me a touch, I was doing about 25mph when all of a sudden 2 deer jumped out of the hedge about 6 foot infront of me, I thought I was going to hit them but avoided them thankfully!

Not much else of happened on the rest of the trip home, it was just a pleasure being back on some almost decent roads! Part of the journey takes me through some villages that have a lot of stables (home to ex gold cup winner Best Mate) and the smell of horse wee was literally breath-taking!

Stats not so great, the walk and rough tracks really brought the average down but here they are;

Trip: 26.91 Miles
Time:02.21.25  (hh.mm.ss)
Average speed: 11.4 mph
Average Cadence: 55rpm

Total Miles: 224

On a plus side though I did loose 3 llbs, though I also hear Mcdonalds profits have taken a bit of a  dip since I started.

Looking forward to a new week now, I have a couple of days where I don’t have any work at all and the better half is not working either so she can do the child thing and I can get out and get the miles up!

Been a very poor week this week for cycling, finishing work at 7am Tuesday morning after an 84 hour week leaves you feeling dreadful for a couple of days, I also have been looking for a new car and this seemed to take a huge amount of time.

So, I had a spare Sunday afternoon and being inspired (yet again) by Gary, Joby, Emma and the rest of “team 100″ on their 100km ride I thought I should get off my backside and go cycle! so cycle I did!

Last week I used part of a Sustrans route upto Abingdon, this route ten carries on up into the centre of Oxford, so I thought I would give this a try, I was very pleased I did as it was a great path, with very few peds and not may other users, the road sections were generally free of traffic too. It got busy towards Oxford centre but thats because I missed a sign and ended up cycling along one of the main streets.

I didn’t go right into the centre as it is horrid, though the buildings are pretty, though I got within a few 100 metres and turned off again back towards home. From the centre I found the cycle path that I should have been on and was amazed with the amount of countryside actually only a few metres from the very centre of the city.

It was a pretty uneventful ride, bar a BMW driver on a back road not thinking about cyclists and he nearly drove into me on a mini roundabout, got a touch if the Joby’s at this point and I hoped he could lip read!

Not a great time or speed as the wind was in my face for the entire trip home, I’m pleased I got up and did it though. Im slowly running out of goals on the mileage front, so feel free to suggest any

Trip: 42.23 Miles
Time:03.45.13  (hh.mm.ss)
Average speed: 11.2 mph
Average Cadence: 57 rpm

Total Miles: 154

Of all the beautiful buildings in the "city of dreaming spires" Ladies and Gentlemen, I present, the arse end of Oxford Ice Rink

So, I knew Saturday night at work was going to be fairly quiet so I decided to commute by bike! the ride there was good, using Sustrans route 44 again, the same as I did last weekend. This was quite uneventful except for the keen head / side wind for most of the 14.49 miles, covered this in about 1hour and 10 minutes. After work this morning I was feeling good so decided to lengthen the route home and use some fairly main roads that I would not dream of using in the week. Felt really good cycling in the early morning, no traffic and just the birds and ducks on the lakes and river that I was close to for about half the trip the only problem I had was some really painful cramp in the legs around 2 miles from home, I carried on riding and it loosened up a bit, but I know I had a cramp thats for sure!

Well, the stats below are for the whole trip there and back, again I was pleased with it!

Trip: 33.50 Miles
Time:02.40.56  (hh.mm.ss)
Average speed: 12.4 mph
Average Cadence: 61 rpm

Total Miles: 154

Great mileage, sadly does not count as a goal, because although it was one trip, it had quite a long break in the middle, so doesn’t really feel valid as a goal breaker to me!