A Change Of Plan

Hi

I'm writing this having just watched the exciting climax of the Andorra UCI MTB XC World Cup on Red Bull TV online. Great race and I saw far more than if we'd been there as planned.

The July schedule with Max changed after I last wrote, instead of doing the GB National XC series, the weekend of the 6th July saw Max and I going to Exmoor for her to dip her toe in the Enduro scene and ride a more relaxed event at her coaches guidance. We were hosted by one of Max's sponsors Whackjob Clothing who had their own gazebo and inflatable sofa (and beer fridge) and were great company over the weekend. It was good to meet and chat to Joel and Joan (on Sunday) and chat.

(side note - I'd recommend checking out Whackjob's rider profile of Max : here (nuff said))

As a mechanic, Enduro events are far more relaxed too. After a long drive down windy roads, we rocked up at the event (the Mondraker Gravity Enduro) and I got the stand out and prepped Max's Orange enduro bike. Max is very good at looking after her kit, so, really it was more of a check over and a brief discussion on tyre pressures for the morning recce of a couple of the timed sections and then send Max and Joel off ... and then relax whilst they do all the hard riding stuff.

Not the worst spot to work

After the recce, it was just a case of checking with Max that she was happy with the pressures (small change) and then I gave the front end of Joel's bike a look over as he was concerned about headset movement. The main cause of the chatter was that his forks were in need of a good service, as there was definite movement in the lower legs.

After lunch, they were off again to do a couple of timed runs which we initially thought were for group seeding for the following day. Max wasn't too happy with the second section, thinking she could have pushed more. I got the bikes back, washed them down, checked them over and had a nice cold beer courtesy of the Whackjob fridge.

Rather than camping, we stayed in a local hotel so we had dinner in a pub and a little walk along Minehead seafront. Back to the hotel and we caught up with the days TDF stage before lights out.

Back at the site the following morning, I gave Max's bike a final check over before sending them off for the day.

Max getting ready to set off on Sunday

Joel before the off (note the discarded tutu (don't ask))

For me, the rest of the day was a relaxing time, reading a book and doing a bit of work on a bike that a friend of Max's, who had come along to support, had brought with him. Having got his bike working "a million times better" he went off on a ride and I chilled.

The wait for the riders to come back was broken slightly by one rider coming back in saying his friend had crashed and been airlifted (this is Exmoor after all) off from the first timed section. A short while later the worrying sight of two riders with three bikes heralded the return of the bike that had been left after the crash. I made sure the chap and his mate's bike were reunited.

Max's yellow helmet and shoes made her dead easy to spot, so when they rolled back in I took the bike, made sure nothing was broken and, after a brief chill out, we packed the kit back in the van and headed off home. 

...

A week or so ago, I had a chat with Max about the World Cup round in Andorra, and she and her coach felt that it might be best to miss this one *. So I've utilised the time I had booked off work to recce a couple of the Sky Ride Local routes on which I'm leading next month. This included a spin through Swinley Forest on the CX bike.. which was "interesting" (read : very difficult) with steep (20% +) rocky, gravelly, loose, sandy climbs and decents on the "Devil's Highway" stretch. On the CX bike, this was challenging. but a lot of fun. a few long stretches of sand were also great for "bike skills" training..

P and I popped out later and took a few pics of me on the CX bike (as I didn't have any) ...

Proof that the Panda occasionally IS indeed On A Bike

 Tomorrow, P is riding the London to Cambridge sportive with the president of the fledgling Girton College cycling club (of which more later) and I will be providing support.

* Note: subsequent to this chat, Max rode the National XC Champs at Cathkin Braes near Glasgow and finished a rather excellent 6th - very proud of her.

Project News - the new stuff

I've been working on a few things recently and I can finally let you know what is going on.

firstly,

I am now officially working for Cycle Systems Academy, where I did my mechanic training courses

I will be working there one day a week doing QA and internal verification work, although I'm still working 5 days a week at Holdsworth Cycles.

It's an interesting time to formally be part of the CSA family and I'm looking forward to developing the role over the next few months.

and Secondly,

I will be working as a mechanic on selected races for Maxine Filby , riding at British National Series and UCI Elite XC races this year.

Our current plan is for me to be at Margam Park for the GB series at the start of July and the UCI Elite World Cup round in Andorra at the end of the month. I'm really looking forward to working with Max (also a fellow SponserUK athlete) and will be reporting on the events here, and hopefully getting something down for a slot on the Bike Shop Show Podcast (with whom I've done a couple of things now) from the races too.

So there you go, busy busy Panda here, and with the Sky Ride Local programme in this area kicking off this weekend (for which I am a qualified Ride Leader) It is going to be a busy summer on and around bikes.

This makes me happy, this is good.

Funny what goes through your mind lying on a London Road.

A week ago last Friday (7th June) was a normal day on the commute. The traffic was maybe a little heavier than usual, but I was making reasonable progress. Coming up towards the junction of Upper Richmond Road and Priory Lane the traffic had come to a standstill. In the middle of the road there is a little island where pedestrians can cross.. I saw a family (mum, 2 boys and a buggy) run from the far side of the road to the middle.. I lost sight of them briefly as the cycle lane was clear and there was a van between me and them. I started braking just in case they popped out

Then he ran, the kid just sprinted for the kerb, didn't look, didn't stop. I shouted and grabbed the brakes hard. I had scrubbed off most of my forward momentum when I hit him. I had tried to steer for the gap, but it vanished. 

The bike pretty much just stopped and fell over, falling around the kid. As it fell left, I fell right onto my knee , elbow and back. And there I found myself, lying in the middle of a damp cycle lane on a main road in the rush hour.

Damn.

I looked back along the road…nothing close. Motorcycles use this cycle lane too, thankfully it wasn't one of them that hit the kid, and thankfully there wasn't one bearing down on me now. 

OK, mental inventory... I'm conscious, don't think head hit the ground. No searing pain. Ok...try and move.. Moving, this is good.. Try to stand…success.. As I stand, I pull my bike up too. The kid had crawled out from beneath the bike. I got onto the pavement and put the bike up against the wall. A brief check and the kid is standing with his mother, being shouted at, and being checked.. He looks fine, he's got a damp t shirt.

A kind person tells me she's from the house behind, and asks if I'm ok, if the bike is ok. If she can help. The mental inventory tells me I am basically OK, but can feel the adrenaline surge. Something's not quite right. Another lady says the mother has called the police. OK…unexpected. The family appear to be North African, her English is patchy at best. I ask if the police have been called and she tells me that they will be "a few minutes" . I don't want to be the bad person who just legs it. I try to explain that I'm first aid trained and offer to check the kid .. She doesn't understand. 

It turned out that she had given a confusing address to the emergency services. A friend of hers has turned up and speaks better English, she also says I cannot leave unless I leave my details. That's not going to happen, not with a "non official" person. So I wait...in the end I talk the ambulance crew in to our location.

The kid and mother go into the ambulance, his main thing at the moment is to scowl at me.  One of the crew asks how I am. The "not right" thing is now clear. My right knee took the main hit and twisted as I fell.. I get offered some pain relief and give them my details and the police arrive.  I give a statement , the key question the PC asked when I said the kid ran out was " wasn't the mother in control". Nope. They take a statement from the mother too and then tell me nothing more need come of it. Our statements match and the kid is basically fine. The police give me a lift the last little but to work and, 2 hours late, I get on with my day.

By Saturday , my knee was a balloon, I didn't ride in. I was back riding on Monday. It's not right. It still hurts, but I'm back into a normal routine commuting on the bike.

This Friday, I was riding up the same stretch of road... I spotted a family of four walking to the bus stop. No buggy this time and all of the kids holding hands in a little line. As I drew level,the kid on the end looked at me... It was "the kid" .. He seemed fine. He scowled at me…I smiled and waved. It looks as though they may have learned a lesson. I'm just glad it was a slowing me that hit the kid and not a scooter or motorbike.

-----

I've been doing the odd sketch for Sarah and Dan at ProWomen'sCycling.com including a "technical drawing" of a bike to help Sarah with her basic tech knowledge.

It seems to have been quite popular, to the point that someone asked if t shirts would be made available.. So, I set up a Zazzle shop and the "This Way Up" t shirt is now available here:

And, even more surprisingly… I've sold three !!! 

So yeah, fashion designer, crash test dummy, blogger, cyclist, mechanic, etc…

---

I think there will be another blog entry soon as there are one or two projects that look to be coming to fruition now... more to follow soon.. ;)

500 Miles on a Chameleon

When I sorted out my current job, it was on the understanding that I'd be able to cycle to a local station, get the train into London and then ride to the shop. Rail service restrictions mean that on weekdays, no full framed bikes are allowed during the times that I'd travel which meant I had to look at folding bikes.

I've always thought that with my size (panda, remember) that I'd end up looking a bit like a circus bear if I rode a Brompton, clever and small folding as they are. Lots of research online led me to find Airnimal Bikes , a small company based near Cambridge in the UK, that take a slightly different approach to the folding bike. For them "Bike" comes first and then "Folding", which means their bikes behave a lot more like a traditional road bike due to their choice of 24 or 20 inch wheel size.

A timely search on ebay turned up an Airnimal Chameleon, which is the "original" Airnimal design. The seller had used it for commuting and the previous owner had toured extensively on this bike, including twice touring round China.

We picked the bike up for around £850 and the seller actually dropped it off with us.

The bike came, as shown here, with mudguards (though the seller had replaced the front guard with a "Crudcatcher".) Shimano Ultegra groupset (but with a Deore XT Rapid Rise long cage rear mech) and Dura Ace bar end shifters that the touring owner preferred for reliability (though the original Ultegra brake lever/Shifters were also included).

My initial impressions were that the reach felt a little short compared to my road bike, but the basic handling was solid and sturdy; the carbon forks responding quite well to road bumps and the huge range of the gearing, with a 30 tooth "granny ring" and 34 tooth max on the rear, would allow it to cope with pretty much any incline up to almost vertical.

Initially, I made the following changes to the bike:

1) Removed the bar end shifters and refitted the Ultegra STi shifters, they are far more familiar to me and clean up the front end a lot. ( I also removed the heavy padding and retaped the bars)

2) Removed the mudguards to aid folding and clean the look of the bike.

3) Removed the bottle cage.

Having the Rapid Rise rear mech (this reverses the spring action from a normal rear mech meaning the spring actual pulls towards the easier gears making shifting "down" to easier gears smoother under load, ideal for laden touring setups) did make for slightly counter intuitive shifting forcing me to have to make a mental switch every time I changed bikes.

This led me to replace the Deore rear mech with an Ultegra 6700 GS (Long Cage) mech which fits better with the rest of the componentry on the bike and means that the gear shifting is now the same way round as on my other bikes.

The only other changes I have made since were to replace the saddle with the Selle Italia Diva Flow and change the tyres. The Diva Flow is a really comfortable saddle which I already favour on my road and cross bikes, and the Schwalbe Durano tyres are a great mix of strength and comfort without compromising ride quality.

Versatility

The Chameleon is an excellent commuting bike. It folds (Described by Airnimal as the "first fold") easily to get on the train. I use a couple of toe straps to hold things together when folded to make carrying on and off the train easier. The fold is done with the removal of the front wheel, splitting the frame in the middle which folds the rear wheel into the forks, and folding the seat tower down onto the frame. The design of the bike means that the drivetrain is not disturbed in any way by the fold. I've got this fold down to around 60 seconds including the toe straps to bind it together.

There is also the "Second Fold" which I've not needed to use, but really takes the airnimal to a different level. Removing both wheels (using a chain holder to keep tension in the drive train), the bars and the seat post allows you to fold the frame down to suitcase size which means that taking this bike on holiday by plane is a genuinely simple prospect.

Handling
The handling in both wet and dry is excellent. The combination of carbon forks and the Schwalbe Duranos with the 24 inch wheel size give a predictable and solid feel when cornering and responds well on rougher road surfaces. Whilst not as relaxed as a full frame road bike it is much steadier than it's smaller wheeled cousins and far less susceptible to the road surface flicking the steering out of your control. The Chameleon is stable at speed and will happily roll along at 20mph plus on the flat without being twitchy or terrifying the rider. I'm not sure I'd say the same on a Brompton, for example.

Componentry
Although the majority of the Ultegra components are from an older version of the range, the quality of the Shimano 2nd tier groupset is clear. With concise shifting and solid braking inspiring confidence and urging you to push on, it is easy to forget you are on a folding bike and mix it with the roadies on the daily commute.

Overall
The Chameleon is a fast, light and responsive bike that just happens to fold small enough to fit in a suitcase. It is distinctive enough to draw glances and comments from other cyclists when stopped at lights. On the odd occasion where the train service has failed me, the Chameleon is just as happy on a longer ride and I could easily see someone touring quite happily with this bike. The team at Airnimal are friendly and quick to respond to any problems or questions (I did have to replace the seat tower on this bike, but with the mileage that it will have previously done, this wasn't wholly unsurprising. The replacement tower was couriered to me the following day). It is genuinely fun to ride and it makes my daily commute both a pleasure and well spent ride time. We've now covered around 500 miles together and I'm looking forward to many, many more.

For more information, the Airnimal website is : Here

UPDATE
After posting this, I was asked by the lovely  @_Pigeons_ ,aka Sarah Connolly, how the bike folds down.
so here is the basic "first fold" that I use on the train. Done in about 60 seconds.

I don't rotate the handlebars as I find the rear wheel slots into the forks and can be held by closing the quick release on the front brake. With a single allen key, I could loosen the stem and rotate the bars, which reduces the folded size even more.


This second pic is a slightly tighter version of the fold, taking the seatpost out rather than just rotating it and folding the seat tower in closer.

Again, this could be reduced more by rotating the bars.

In both versions, strapping the loose front wheel to the head tube as shown also allows the bike to stand unsupported, which is useful.

A bit of a revamp

I've had a bit of a tidy up here and freshened things up to allow me to use this properly again.

I have a few ideas of pieces that I'd like to write up, soooo... 

In the meantime, here is an interview I did with Kirsty Medlock for Total Women's Cycling.

Five minutes with .... An interview for Totalwomenscycling.com

I really enjoyed the chat, and we were talking for a lot longer than five minutes, Thanks Kirsty.

A visit to the PinaHut - Halfords and Pinarello

I'm resurrecting the blog because I think I need a space to drop thoughts about cycling topics that won't fit in 140 characters and, well, I already have this cycling related blog thing all set up.

So. what has prompted this?

Back in January when I was on my Level 2 Mechanic course (of which, possibly more later) we heard the announcement that Halfords and Pinarello had agreed to stock the Italian bikes (now synonymous with Team Sky and British road success) from this year.

The intial response, both amongst the people with whom I was speaking and in the broader online world, was mostly one of derision and doubt. I shared some of the doubts but reserved judgement on the proviso that Halfords have done relatively well with the Boardman brand and if they were careful and actually controlled the staff who would be dealing with these bikes, then the potentially random and varied skill (or otherwise) set of a nationwide workforce could be mitigated.

Yesterday I saw the online announcement that the bikes have now gone into stores and are available online.

As previously announced, the range only goes up to the ROKH (105) so no Dogmas for sale to the budding Wiggo, but the road range is as follows:
FP Uno - Aluminium (mix of 105 shifters and Tiagra drive train)
FP Uno - Carbon (Campag Veloce, which stands out somewhat from the Shimano ubiquity of the others)
FP Due - Carbon (105 throughought 24HM carbon frame)
FP Quatro - Carbon (105 throughout 30HM carbon frame) and the
ROKH - Carbon (105 throughout 30HM carbon frame)

There is also the Catena "vintage" style single speed (flip flop single speed/fixie), the "Only the Brave" single speed (likely to be a real "marmite" bike) and the Treviso flat bar city bike

There is also the FP ZERO kids road bike.

The first notable thing is that they have only put the bikes into a very small number of stores (3) and the Farnborough store, a few miles from me, was one of the chosen sites. I thought I'd go and have a look.

Before doing so, I had a quick look at the website as they are also available online. A couple of noticeable things are the Catena is shown as a flat bar (the instore version is drop barred) and the Rokh and FP Quatro photographs don't match the published spec (the ROKH photo is on Campag and the FP Quatro is on Shimano Ultegra).

I wanted to go with an open mind and see what the point of sale setup, staff and general "experience" would be like.

On arrival at the store, there is nothing on the outside to mention the new range, nor on the inside before one goes up stairs to the BikeHut area. It is notable that they have completely restructured the store upstairs with a more structured display for their "name" brands and a more light and open feel to the whole area. in the far corner of the store is a big yellow display with a huge picture of Sir Bradley and the Pinarello range on display. There was one of each of the bikes noted above (apart from the FPZero which is also not showing on the website after the front page)

Obviously the store was fairly quiet on a Febraury Tuesday at 11 am, but within a few moments of starting to look at the range I was asked if I needed any help by the sales manager. He was friendly and helpful, answering questions on the spec and differences between what look like very similar bikes (the top 3 on the range all being 105 throughout, 2 being FP derived and 2 being 30HM frames), was keen to point out that as well as the displayed range and colourways, they would be able to order in other versions/colours directly from Pinarello although he also explained the possible delays.

Talking a little more technically, he mentioned that he'd just been on the Cytech 3 road course with some of his colleagues and explained that with himself, permanent and semi-permanent staff they had a total of 9 Cytech 3 level mechanics on staff to support the Pinarello venture (and obviously this will also benefit the general level of service for any customer). I did get the "campag wears in when other groupsets wear out" comment when we were discussing the Veloce gruppo on the FP Uno.

He wasn't aware of the geared version of the Catena, but quickly went off to look it up for me and was friendly, helpful and engaged me in relevant conversation (asking what bikes and styles of riding I did).

So, Halfords have invested in the staff that are handling the Pinarello brand in store.
They are controlling the number of outlets which will minimise potentially variable service levels
The staff are qualified mechanics and, the manager at least, had a good knowledge of the range.

I know that simply by being Halfords, many cyclists wouldn't go near the place, but I genuienly think a degree of thought and effort has been put into this venture and, for the person in the street who wants to "ride a bike like Bradley", they should get a level of knowledgeable service that shouldn't damage the Pinarello brand by being badly built or set up. By being selective on the range (nothing above 105) that they are stocking, it is also clear that the more serious and informed cyclist would always be directed to more specialist resellers.

Oh, and the Catena really is rather pretty in the flesh too....

Day 8 ( Full Post) - A Day of Two Halves and One Whole

Sorry for the delay on this one, it took all of Sunday and most of Monday to actually drive back from JOG (it IS a heck of a long way away, in case you still hadn't noticed) we got in around 5:30 pm last night, unpacked and watched some TV...

OK..

Day 8
It was always going to be a split day, with the first 58 miles to Helmsdale being "rolling" up and down and the second half from Helmsdale containing the two toughest climbs of the entire ride and the run to the finish line.
I had looked at the weather before and it looked as though the wind was going to turn to challenge us and get up to 12-15mph steady as a headwind (remember that we were riding at around 13 mph) .

The first half weant to plan, a steady roll out through Dornoch, spotting seals up on the rocks as we headed north of the Black Isle, and up the coast. Slowly it began to get a bit tougher, basically devolving into a perverse game of snakes and ladders whereby we dragged up a climb for a mile only to drop back down to the beach level at the next village/Town.... this was starting to get wearing when we stopped for lunch at Brora. (apologies to those following the live tracking, we seemed to lose signal around here... later, the location fixes up until 17:56 on the road to Wick did show up too..)

We knew that the next 20 miles (and 2 climbs) would be defining moments of the ride, the climb profiles are HARD...we arrived at Helmsdale village and hit the first 9-10% climb up through the village itself.. not too bad...knowing the real climb is about 2 miles long...the clouds were rolling in fast. As we reached the roundabout at the top to turn onto the new road out and onto the 8% drop to the bottom of the climb proper, the wind hit...hard... we were on a descent that, freewheeling, we should be capable of 25-30 mph easily, but we were pedalling hard just to move.. this killed any momentum onto the climb itself..

we hit the bottom, I slammed into my "mountain gear" (34 on the front - 30 rear) and could do nothing but plod.. every pedal turn moving me roughly one wheel circumference forward..it was slow... but it was steady...the rain and wind did not let up at all, we climbed on and on, knowing that Nellie was stationed at the summit, being blown all over the place, pedalling hard on up and the brief down slope. Knowing that I was still just about controlling my breathing kept me going..when I get to one breath per pedal stroke, I know I've "blown"... near the top, we turn into a little hairpin valley which was just funneling the wind and rain even harder, but up to our right, we could see Nellie...at the pinch of the turn, the wind was suddenly behind us for the last ramp to the car.. we pushed on and I pretty nearly fell off the bike at the top.

Shivering, cold and struggling for breath, I was wrapped in a big coat and bundled into the back of Nellie, P took shelter in the lea of the car and we tried to warm up... it took a while for me, P had climbed well and was nothing like the mess I was.

20 minutes or so of regrouping and we set off again, along the top of Navidale towards the harder climb of Berriedale Braes..

just getting to the bottom was scary, the road tilts down at 8% for a while then slams down at 13% into the base of the climb for quite a distance..escape roads on the descent (with tire tracks showing use) marked this out as treacherous...the sheer narrow nature of this valley actuall offered us some shelter and the weather had gone back to just "windy and rainy". We hit the bottom and the road flips straight back up at 13%... it then turns left to a hair pin around an old burial ground and then curves up past the church., the gradient never really lets off in the first part of the climb, again, we'd planned to have Nellie at the top of the steep part .. this was a vicious climb..harder than anything I'd ridden..but (and I'm still not sure of the actual mental process that got me up this) a combination of "It's the last MAJOR barrier","why we are doing this (for the Project, for people who lose the ability to even walk again) "just to this next corner, OK, just to the end of this wall" and "we are over 800 miles into this now, we CAN'T not finish" managed to get me up this horror of a climb.

A quick stop at Nellie and we pushed on , on the exposed moor towards Wick...and the promised headwind arrived...it was slightly downhill and could have been a joyous ride, but into the teeth of a wind that was gusting at us faster than we were riding into it, I could only put my head down and try to power through it. After the climbs, this should have been easier, it really, really wasn't... just counting down the miles to each Nellie stop..shovelling in food and pushing on got us to Wick, with 17 miles to go. the road turned a little , and the wind eased (a little) and P made the call to make the Nellie stops each 6 miles to break the last stints down..6 miles out of Wick, first stop...more food, and gels, another 6 miles, ending on a hill...more food..quick break, the light is going...we're on the last bit of road now... that was the last Nellie stop...the next time we met up with the support team would be the finish line.

We pressed on, knowing that the last 5 miles also contained the last climb of the ride (up to 400 ft, nothing compared to some of the climbs we'd faced, but at the end of 870 odd miles in 8 days, every ramp was draining me).. as we hit the hill, P shouted to me that this was "the last hill in Scotland" and we pushed...I really pushed, as I saw the gradient drop after the 6% section, I managed as close to a sprint as I could to crest this last darned hill... for a second your heart drops as you see hills further ahead...but on the crest proper, it becomes clear that these ARE hills, but that they are on the Orkney islands ahead of us.

Passing a sign for our hotel saying 2 miles to go, we rolled side by side in failing light down to the settlement at John O'Groats...downhill all the way... past the hotel.. down to the ferry quay...down to the finish line where Nellie and the Support crew of Dave and Andy were waiting... pointing at the line and with all of Nellie's strobes and flashing lights lit up..

DONE... I rolled over the line, plopped the bike down on the grass bank and hugged pretty much everything in sight.. we'd done it.. we'd done it in horrible conditions and we'd done it in the time we set , even though a lot of people were surprised we'd pushed for 8 days... we crossed the line at about 2051hrs, after approx 68.5 hours of actual riding (not counting stops) for about 870 miles.

The point here is simple, if we'd gone for more than 10 days, we'd clearly proven we could manage 80 (or fewer) miles a day relatively easily. by going for 110 miles a day, we had challenged ourselves, it made what we were doing harder, and hopefully more worthy of all of your support. Your support has helped so much, when we've had suffcient signal to get the texts, emails and comments on Twitter and facebook.

People talk of the finish being an anticlimax, I don't think so... JOG isn't an exciting place in and of itself, it is more about what this point on the map symbolises...

We rolled back up to the hotel, checked in, and went for dinner and a celebratory whisky (the Seaview hotel has a ridiculous selection of malts) and bed....

On Sunday we got up, packed, had breakfast and rolled back down to the finish line to get a cleaner, well lit photo against the sign wearing our sponsored ride kit.. then strapped the bikes to Nellie and set off on the near 600 mile drive home...

Today, the bikes go back to our LBS for another service (and the bent spoke in my front wheel we spotted just BEFORE the ride needs to be replaced) and that's it... done..

I think a review post in a couple of days will be called for. Including full thanks for everyone who supported us..

but for now...

We did it...

Caroline & Phil