Wednesday 31 August 2011
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Saturday 27 August 2011
Friday 26 August 2011
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Monday 22 August 2011
Creaks and groans.
As the last month or so has dragged on the EX7 has started to make all sorts of horrid noises. It started with a small amount of up and down play in the rear end, which turned out to be the bushings in the shock wearing out, and after much searching I found some very reasonable priced bushings and a tool to do the job with. Some back and forth emails with the supplier and the bushings arrived with the tool and I was confident all my creaks and groans were to be solved?!
After whipping the shock out of the frame, popping the bushings out and slipping the new ones back in I went to pop the shock back in the bike, just as I went to do this I noticed some horrendous creaking from the frame. Damn! The play had stopped in the rear end and some noises had disappeared but it was now apparent that the cables in the frame were sounding miserable. So over the weekend I decided to give the bike some over due TLC. Putting the bike in the stand I removed the wheels, pedals and cranks, cut the cables, undid the hose clamps and set to work (I left the Aheadset alone as the bearings were recently replaced). A while ago the length of the hydraulic hoses started to annoy me, they were just too long, luckily there were some hose olives and fittings in my bleed kit, so while there I set about shortening the hoses. This was straight forward but left the gear outer's looking a bit, well, gangly so these too were removed and shortened. A heavy covering of muck off was sprayed on all the nooks and crannies before being washed off lightly with the hose. With the bike looking sparkly all the outer's were re lubed and even a little dab'll do ya in the frame cable stops. Cables were re routed and brakes re bled after about two hours my work was complete, everything had been cleaned stripped and greased where necessary in the hope of getting rid of these last niggles. Tomorrow will be the first ride and would you believe it it's probably gonna chuck it down. Brilliant!
Thursday 18 August 2011
A week of riding in words.
I have now completed two races. These first ones were close together, which left me no time for training. With the next race being four weeks away that gave me five weeks to try some proper training, including trying to get back to where I was riding three times a week before fracturing my elbow back in early spring. The plan is simple - do one ride as hard as possible for an hour and twenty minutes, another lower paced two and half hour to three hour ride midweek, then something new to me, interval training instead of my short Sunday ride to try and build power. Starting last Tuesday the full pace ride went well barring a puncture then the long ride on Friday got skipped due to other commitments (great start I know!) then Sunday and interval training. I did not expect this to be this hard, the idea was to do a 10 minute warm up followed by 4 mins full tilt 4 mins of recovery, then the same for 3 mins, 2 mins, two 1 mins, four 30 secs, two 1mins, , 2mins, 3mins, 4mins and finally a 10 min warm down, just reading that has made me tired. I only managed to make it to the second set of 1 mins and I was done, my legs were wasted, my hart rate hardly recovered and I felt terrible, limping home slowly feeling sorry for myself but determined to do better next week. I'm toying with the idea of going to the gym to do this on an exercise bike until I feel more comfortable out doing it on the bike. I just didn't have the concentration to be doing something that took that much out of me on the open roads and on technical off road tracks safely. Back on to this week and the Tuesday ride went well barring yet another puncture, it would appear the Nobby Nics do have a weakness. I've had more punctures since switching to these than I ever did running the Fire xc pros but it's a price I'm willing to pay for such an awesome, light, well rounded tyre. Tomorrow will see me do my long ride and I'm looking forward to venturing out a little further than I have done for a while. After not thinking I'm going to take racing seriously, I'm now fully buzzing with the idea of a Thetford winter series then possibly an XC race bike for next summer. Shhh don't tell Stacey.
Wednesday 17 August 2011
Friday 12 August 2011
Thursday 11 August 2011
Tuesday 9 August 2011
Monday 8 August 2011
Sunday 7 August 2011
Brant Richards Rejoins On-One To Head Titus Cycles - BikeRadar
Wow how did i miss this amazing bit of news.
Mud Sweat and Gears race day.
I was roused early with the sun glimmering through the curtains waking me up at 7am, this was pretty much perfect leaving me with plenty of time to pack the car, have breakfast (why can't I ever get up this easy for work? ) and generally be calm before the storm. The drive down to Codham Park was far less ridiculous after getting completely lost on Wednesday, needless to say this time the Sat Nav didn't see the light of day. (See previous Mud Sweat and Gears post related to this event) Upon arrival I had plenty of time to do the registration thing and have a few little blasts round the last part of the course before getting called to the start line at 9:50am, Sitting on the start line was a crowded affair with the Males and Vet Males all starting out at the same time rather than staggered like at my first race, sitting on that line seemed to go on for ages and the nerves really started to ramp up as the anticipation built to a climax. Go! Off the line I used the tactic which had served me well in my first race, just pick off as many people as possible before shooting into more technical sections without shagging yourself up, (not really sure that's much of a tactic actually) I didn't feel that great after the first climb but this feeling was swiftly replaced with rage as a guy tried to ram past me without warning on a corner and clattered into me, my rage was compounded more when he repeated his reckless manoeuvre and passed me on a corner. Now I have only competed in one race before this but at no time in that race did anyone do this to me. Etiquette at my first race dictated that you tell someone if youre about to pass them on their left or right, not just come barging through on the inside elbows out. The temptation to yell some abuse was quickly overcome as I realised the guy was not gonna keep up his mental, elbow flailing, sporadic braking pace for long, soon enough I passed him and did not suffer the unpleasantness of seeing him again. I enjoyed a moment of brief satisfaction....eat my dust. Lap 2 seemed easier and I was feeling better, my lungs were open wide and I felt like I had plenty in the tank, spent the lap mostly alone picking off a few riders along the way, towards the end of the lap at the top of the biggest climb I had a good view of the last bit of the course and counted 3 people in front of me, could I be in forth? this spurred me onto a head down arse up pedal mashing spin through the start finish area where the head wind was like being hit in the face with a battering ram. On to lap 3 and I was aware that a rider was creeping up on me, as the lap went on my legs started to feel next to useless and I wasn't sure if I could hold this guy off, it seemed as if at every turn he'd edged closer and whatever I did didn't seem to put any distance on him. Through the wooded section and onto the open final climb and he was closer again, as much as my legs wanted me to ease up I was pretty sure I was a forth and did not want to lose out on the last lap., At some point I stopped paying attention to how close he was getting and just focused on mashing the big chain ring round the lake and onto the home straight, as I came through to the gravel start finish section I really went for it, and then to my horror a front wheel crept into my periferal vision. He had matched my effort all the way round and now as a chaser had the incentive to go for it, it couldn't happen, I wouldn't let it and out of nowhere an unintentional and slightly embarrassing Chewbacca type roar came out of my mouth and for some reason this gave me an extra bit of speed, had I edged him to the line? he'd pushed me hard and I felt sick but was sure I had nabbed it. I turned round to ride back down to the start finish area to find the guy looking as bad as me, "was that you?" I asked, "yes" came the reply. After chatting as best we could through the heavy breathing it turned out his name was Matt and that he had raced some other races around Essex, after congratulating each other on a good race I went over to check the results, I'm pretty sure he regretted pushing for the place as much as I regretted fighting him off for a good 5 minutes after. The results weren't scrolling up like they had at the previous race so I couldn't find out where I'd placed. I decided to head to the car and get a hoody and some sustenance then go back to find out later. As it turned out I'd came in forth one place better than my first race but still a bit off the pace off the top three. Now the questions are forming, how can I close the gap? Training more is something I have been slack on so that is the first point of call but ultimately my Trek Fuel ex7 isn't exactly a cross country whippet, after just two races I've already found my self unconsciously browsing light weight cross country bikes on the net. In 2000 Lance Armstrong released a book called It's Not About the Bike. It was more a philosphical title considering what he went through rather than a statement, but to push onto a podium position I'm affraid it might be a little bit about the bike.
So much for not taking it too seriously!
Thanks to Matt if your'e reading this, for giving me a real run for my money and pushing me till the end, also a massive thanks to Alistair and everyone else involved in Mud Sweat and Gears for putting on such a well organised friendly event, I can't recommend it enough.
Can't wait for tomorrow to have an in depth browse through the results and times here : http://www.mudsweatgears.co.uk/
And to check the photos!
So much for not taking it too seriously!
Thanks to Matt if your'e reading this, for giving me a real run for my money and pushing me till the end, also a massive thanks to Alistair and everyone else involved in Mud Sweat and Gears for putting on such a well organised friendly event, I can't recommend it enough.
Can't wait for tomorrow to have an in depth browse through the results and times here : http://www.mudsweatgears.co.uk/
And to check the photos!
Friday 5 August 2011
Charge Blender update.
With my wheel all built up I found
an hour to fit some tyres and strip the old black hydraulic hoses off and replace them with some awesome lime green ones.
Pimp!
Thursday 4 August 2011
Mud Sweat and Gears. Codham Park. Wednesday.
With my entry confirmed last minute on Tuesday night I loaded up the car, set up my phones sat nav for Codham park. The sat nav in all it's amazing glory decided that the best way to go was via some unused, car wide back roads with crater like pot holes and branches hanging so low I could feel them taking the paint off my Trek (which was on the bike rack for a change as it seems most of the marks on the Trek are from putting it in and getting it out of the car. The irony ). After what seemed like an age of this craziness my sat nav spoke words I was less than impressed to hear. Network connection lost. Great! This is why normally I always have a map. I had no clue whereabouts my sat nav had stranded me, and with no sign posts it was all just guess work, fortunately I found my way onto some better roads where a guy on a road bike came to my rescue and had me heading in the right direction soon enough. Once in the car park the first group of riders were about to head out so I hurriedly jumped on my bike for a lap. Being unfamiliar with Codham park there were no preconceptions of what to expect, after lap one it was clear the guys who put the course together knew what they were doing. Starting on an inclined gravel road speed soon picks up as you blast through a very steep dip carrying your speed into a couple of really good off camber turns. These spit you out onto a wide grassy sections then a left turn into a drop with a tabletop (at least that's what I was using it for) into a berm, a quick climb leads you to some nice wide fast S bends before a sharp drop and onto the anchors for a sharp left hander. Note to self:- don't launch off the drop! A couple more berms and some rollers sees you out onto a grassy section with some climbing thrown in for good measure before dropping right over a fast but rough downhill turn. Finally a section to catch your breath, as you spin along wide grass tracks twisting through young tree saplings which climaxes with a couple of rollers and what can only be described as a kicker. Because if you go over it at race speed without braking you won't be keeping your rubber down, this leads into a dense wood section which goes on for some time with ups, downs, berms and bridges, oh and some trees which are just too close together for trail bike bars. This wooded section ends with a real nasty, long, sandy, leg sapping climb, there was talk of this being avoided in the race, fingers crossed. You've made it to the final section hooking a right off the gravel track and go round the picturesque lake and you're back on the start finish straight eagerly spinning your cranks for the next lap. Sounds easy hey. I was told it was 3.2 miles a lap but it feels longer, maybe because of the amount of variation. All in all I'm really looking forward to raceday but am under no illusion, it's gonna be quite a hard race. Bring on Sunday I look forward to seeing you all there.
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JximBpjH3d0
ReatinRides.
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JximBpjH3d0
ReatinRides.
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Monday 1 August 2011
Charge Blender
I have finally received two boxes full of shiny bits for the Blender, I'm looking forward to getting the build underway and have already built a Mavic front wheel with a techno lime green front hub you can see the parts in the pic. I haven't built a wheel from scratch before although I have replaced lots of spokes and trued hundreds of wheels. It turned out to be less daunting than I expected, once the rim was laced my truing experience made the rest of the task pretty straight forward, being a bit tentative it took three hours all in but i'm proper happy with the final result, I guess only time will tell if I have truly done a good job. Sorry. No pun intended.
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