The sun is out!

I love the sun

Lay in, get up, courier a monitor to Donnas work as they have an emergency, come home, blazing sunshine, drag crossbike out of garage, head off to Beaulieu (random destination).

26 miles at a half decent pace, lovely weather, beautifully quiet roads once outside Southampton (which was comically snarled up), Tea and Scones (and wasps), lovely old lady who loved the colour of the Merida and had watched the track cycling at the Olympics - "I bet there loads like you who got into cycling because of the olympics" - Cheeky!

Had a butchers around the classic garage, sat on the side of the lake and basked in the sun, rode home - Ace!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timcave/sets/72157607023466598/

Merida Cross Special - Initial thoughts

Had my first proper ride on the Merida last night - 26 miles back from work on the back roads over the downs, although I use the word 'road' with some difficulty as I think the actual downs themselves would have been smoother and less gritty! Took me just under 2 hrs door to door, and underlined how unfit I am at the mo - I felt really quite shattered riding back up the hill too my house. Lovely weather for riding in as well, would have been nicer if I didn't have a headwind for most of the route though...

Verdict - surprisingly comfy to ride, I can sit in the drops and on the hoods comfortably and it doesn't feel like a barge as its quite short. Everything shifts cleanly and the brakes seem to be getting better as they bed in, but still not as good as I'd have thought they should be. The drop of the bars is spot on, but the shape of the drop isn't that comfortable - you feel there should be something to seat the palm of your hand on - might experiment with some extra layers of bar tape to create a lump to sit your hand on.

I've noticed my baggies get a bit annoying when your sat in the saddle for ages as they move around - much more noticeable on a road bike as on an MTB you move around a lot more - the chamois on my Alturas feels like its been sown in too far forward. Still much better than sweating in lycra plus overshorts though.

Feels quite fast, the Schwalbe Scout knobblies weren't too bad on the road and everything worked as it should. Got a rattling cable I need to silence though. I was quite glad of the triple on a couple of the steep climbs too, shamefully (despite originally not thinking I'd need it), but mainly to save my legs as hadn't ridden the route before and was toying with reversing it the next morning.

The bar-top levers I'm less convinced by - despite initially seeing them as a good idea - they seem to offer very little leverage so you have to really haul them on, and also make it as if your riding with 10" bars, which isn't exactly good for stability - especially off-road. I'll leave them on for the moment, but can't see me keeping them on for good.

Wimped out this morning and ride the 2 miles to the station and got the train in and then 3 miles in to work from there up Bell Hill - good samaritan here helped a lady and a daughter by pumping up their tyres on the train. Well i would have if the girls rear tyre didn't go straight back down again, and the ladies bikes rear valve wasn't pretty much parallel to the rim, stopping me from getting a pump in. Another commuter on a nice Kona Kilauea tried hers too but in the end we both admitted defeat. FAIL

OOH , i forgot, it also had a little sticker on the top-tube saying something like:

"Warning, as you are obviously a midget, don't sue us when you turn a corner and the wheel hits your foot and you crash horribly - its not our fault you cant reach the bars or pedals of a normal sized bike, you twatting freak"

or something along those lines....

Commuting

Just spent lunchtime plotting the best commute route - 26 miles staying away from main roads as much as possible:



Although the elevation looks fun!

Might be old, but it made me smile

Merida Cross Special

IMG_0397
Originally uploaded by Tim Cave

Woo its here, finally.

Bit of a bastard really - Merida Speeder frame with cross components, but seems to work really well as far as i can tell . Only thing I could get in my size and price range anyway. Not ridden it yet so cant really say much about it, but the fit is nice and comfy - everything seems (at first) to sit where it should.

Oh and it has a triple and suicide levers, just for Simon :-)

Although to be honest I should have asked for a double, as i never use a granny, even on the 456 (the bb is too short on that anyway!) starters

Afan - nearly a year ago!

Play it cool guys :-)

Wake Up

I'd pretty much forgotten this existed

Just been on a lovely week long trip to Newquay (pics linked over on my Flickr site)

The week of excess living has led me to come home feeling slightly down about being home, and has spurred me to get healthy, so yesterday I went for a run - 2.9 miles.

Last night lying in bed with sore legs I decided that I need some goal to achieve - so from now on i will be doing a 30-in-30 - that is going out and doing some decent exercise, be that riding, swimming or running for an average of at least once a day for 30 days (I can't really be sure i'll have enough time everyday due to work and homelife, so an average of 30 is the best I can do).

Lets see how I get on :-)
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Update -

15.04.08

I made it two days in a row - ran 1.5 miles last night, and then a further 2.6 miles riding to the pub and back :-)

does that count?
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16.04.08 - Nothing, nada, zilch (-1)

17.04.08 - 2.5 Mile run (-1)