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....
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
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
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
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Day 8 - Job Done (interim post)
We did it, Land's End to John O'Groats in 8 days...
Just a quick post to confirm we made it safely... Tomorrow, I'll try to explain JUST how tough today was.
Thank you all for your support, please keep donating, the Project really need and appreciate every pound donated.
Night all x
Just a quick post to confirm we made it safely... Tomorrow, I'll try to explain JUST how tough today was.
Thank you all for your support, please keep donating, the Project really need and appreciate every pound donated.
Night all x
Friday, August 24, 2012
Day 6 and Day 7 - a swap
No update last night as we ended up in a different location to the plan..
Original plan was day 6 -112 miles to Pitlochry then Day 7 - 99 miles over the Drumochter pass and the Cairngorms..
What ACTUALLY happened was that day 6 was going reasonably to plan (if occasionally wet) we set off, reached Lanark, met my parents standing by the road... And headed towards Whitburn..
Only to find the A706 closed and a 5 mile diversion that crucially turned us back into the teeth of what had been a strong cross/tail wind... This really tired me .. We met up with Nellie, refuelled and set off . Everything went ok over the Forth bridge, and a lot of climbing through Cowdenbeath .
The drop down to Perth was glorious, and after another Nellie stop, the planned route on the Garmin went a little wierd .and took us off the A9 onto a bizarre looping route.. Once we worked out were we, and Nellie , were.. We cae back towards Dunkeld... The light was starting to go and the A9 is not the safest road, a decision was made to stop there for the night (on 98 miles) and start fresh today, making it 112 miles or so .. Huge thanks to the Royal Dunkeld Hotel for putting us up, locking the bikes away and doing awesome food.
This morning we cracked on, the climb to Drumochter is long, not hugely steep, but tiring..,and the weather closed in again.we crested the top, met our Nellie , topped up and set off (each Nellie Gap is 12.5 miles) .. The long gentle descent was unbroken so we did most of the next 12.5 miles without having to turn a pedal.. And in great time.. We were getting wetter and wetter and I was struggling to get comfortable in my longs, the pad was so wet that it rubbed "somewhere" .. So at the next stop I switched to some of my own shorts and knee warmers instead.. Huge improvement in comfort and morale for me. The result was great time,each Nellie Gap seemed to fly by..and we were soon plunging into Inverness and on to the Black Isle and tonight's hotel nice and early despite 112 miles, horrible weather and two mountain passes... Epic day..we are tired, but happy with the outcome of toady...day 8 tomorrow !!!
Original plan was day 6 -112 miles to Pitlochry then Day 7 - 99 miles over the Drumochter pass and the Cairngorms..
What ACTUALLY happened was that day 6 was going reasonably to plan (if occasionally wet) we set off, reached Lanark, met my parents standing by the road... And headed towards Whitburn..
Only to find the A706 closed and a 5 mile diversion that crucially turned us back into the teeth of what had been a strong cross/tail wind... This really tired me .. We met up with Nellie, refuelled and set off . Everything went ok over the Forth bridge, and a lot of climbing through Cowdenbeath .
The drop down to Perth was glorious, and after another Nellie stop, the planned route on the Garmin went a little wierd .and took us off the A9 onto a bizarre looping route.. Once we worked out were we, and Nellie , were.. We cae back towards Dunkeld... The light was starting to go and the A9 is not the safest road, a decision was made to stop there for the night (on 98 miles) and start fresh today, making it 112 miles or so .. Huge thanks to the Royal Dunkeld Hotel for putting us up, locking the bikes away and doing awesome food.
This morning we cracked on, the climb to Drumochter is long, not hugely steep, but tiring..,and the weather closed in again.we crested the top, met our Nellie , topped up and set off (each Nellie Gap is 12.5 miles) .. The long gentle descent was unbroken so we did most of the next 12.5 miles without having to turn a pedal.. And in great time.. We were getting wetter and wetter and I was struggling to get comfortable in my longs, the pad was so wet that it rubbed "somewhere" .. So at the next stop I switched to some of my own shorts and knee warmers instead.. Huge improvement in comfort and morale for me. The result was great time,each Nellie Gap seemed to fly by..and we were soon plunging into Inverness and on to the Black Isle and tonight's hotel nice and early despite 112 miles, horrible weather and two mountain passes... Epic day..we are tired, but happy with the outcome of toady...day 8 tomorrow !!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Day 5 - what a difference the rain makes
Now, I know I suggested rain of biblical proportions yesterday, well, the old boy looking for his animal pairs was out again today..
We started with the climb of Shap Fell. It is hardest right at the top of its nine mile duration, and keeps turning corners to surprise you, the climb was done in light rain, which kept temperatures manageable but the descent was done in high winds and driving rain. Down through Penrith towards Carlisle for lunch ( the support crew of Dave and Andy are gems, they've got the routine for each stop, whether it be a 12.5 interim or 25 "bottle stop" ..invaluable today , especially with warm jackets and towels) .. On the run in we were passed by the two Ride for Vince guys ( local to us back home, doing a 10 day ride) for the last time as our paths diverge taking different routes through Scotland , and us finishing a goodly way north of them tonight. Lovely team ( including their support car, which has, along with ours , another group and a chap on a moto supporting a solo rider , formed a great camaraderie with toots and waves as each passes the other)
The ride from Carlisle to Gretna was physically and mentally tough, though flat, we had really high winds coming straight off the Atlantic trying to throw us, especially P , somewhere near Newcastle !!! . Over the border (HOME!!) and picked up the b7076 all the way up alongside the M74.. And the rain hit again.. Our stop after ecclefechan was a bit fraught, I'd not turned on my garmin so the mileage wasn't clocking up, though I didn't notice, so felt we weren't getting anywhere and running with rain jackets was slowing us and sapping all energy.
Having finally got my act together, we set off on the final push, over Beatock summit and down (eventually, it felt as though it never would) to Abington and our hotel..
Starting and finishing over big hills made it an interesting day, made tougher by the weather. Tomorrow is looking better for both profile and weather... So...off to Pitlochry .. Night all x
We started with the climb of Shap Fell. It is hardest right at the top of its nine mile duration, and keeps turning corners to surprise you, the climb was done in light rain, which kept temperatures manageable but the descent was done in high winds and driving rain. Down through Penrith towards Carlisle for lunch ( the support crew of Dave and Andy are gems, they've got the routine for each stop, whether it be a 12.5 interim or 25 "bottle stop" ..invaluable today , especially with warm jackets and towels) .. On the run in we were passed by the two Ride for Vince guys ( local to us back home, doing a 10 day ride) for the last time as our paths diverge taking different routes through Scotland , and us finishing a goodly way north of them tonight. Lovely team ( including their support car, which has, along with ours , another group and a chap on a moto supporting a solo rider , formed a great camaraderie with toots and waves as each passes the other)
The ride from Carlisle to Gretna was physically and mentally tough, though flat, we had really high winds coming straight off the Atlantic trying to throw us, especially P , somewhere near Newcastle !!! . Over the border (HOME!!) and picked up the b7076 all the way up alongside the M74.. And the rain hit again.. Our stop after ecclefechan was a bit fraught, I'd not turned on my garmin so the mileage wasn't clocking up, though I didn't notice, so felt we weren't getting anywhere and running with rain jackets was slowing us and sapping all energy.
Having finally got my act together, we set off on the final push, over Beatock summit and down (eventually, it felt as though it never would) to Abington and our hotel..
Starting and finishing over big hills made it an interesting day, made tougher by the weather. Tomorrow is looking better for both profile and weather... So...off to Pitlochry .. Night all x
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Day 4 - as long as day 3 !!
Profile wise, today may have been the smoothest, but throw in Warrington, Wigan, Preston etc and the MOST torrential downpour (e.g. We saw an old bloke with a beard collecting two of each animal to go on his boat!!) oh, and a lovely sliver of glass through my tyre and it meant today got long.. We lost about an hour overall..
Lying in bed at the Gilpin Bridge Inn, who have been wonderful , keeping back food for us, etc.
We kept meeting up with a group of 4 guys who left LE about 30 mins ahead of us , and two local chaps (on a 10 day schedule ) and their support crews, as well as crossing over with the "Brothers on Bikes"(14 and 15 with friends and family riding too) going the other way, it was nice to stop briefly and chat face to face after many twitter exchanges in the past.
The weather was variable, the towns were stop/start affairs ( we overtook Nellie twice crossing Preston !!) and the terrain not too bad... Body wise, we both hurt a fair bit, my aches are moving around, probably from compensating and couching the previous injury . Main problems are in the saddle area and knees. And the vibration through the bars means I'm losing sensation in the palms and last two fingers of each hand ( though it's no worse today , so... Bonus !!)
The key thing is that Project Mobility are getting noticed and the cause is being publicised..
That is, after all, why we ride..
Tomorrow, Shap Fell and into Scotland .
Night
Lying in bed at the Gilpin Bridge Inn, who have been wonderful , keeping back food for us, etc.
We kept meeting up with a group of 4 guys who left LE about 30 mins ahead of us , and two local chaps (on a 10 day schedule ) and their support crews, as well as crossing over with the "Brothers on Bikes"(14 and 15 with friends and family riding too) going the other way, it was nice to stop briefly and chat face to face after many twitter exchanges in the past.
The weather was variable, the towns were stop/start affairs ( we overtook Nellie twice crossing Preston !!) and the terrain not too bad... Body wise, we both hurt a fair bit, my aches are moving around, probably from compensating and couching the previous injury . Main problems are in the saddle area and knees. And the vibration through the bars means I'm losing sensation in the palms and last two fingers of each hand ( though it's no worse today , so... Bonus !!)
The key thing is that Project Mobility are getting noticed and the cause is being publicised..
That is, after all, why we ride..
Tomorrow, Shap Fell and into Scotland .
Night
Monday, August 20, 2012
Day 3
Taking the decision that I could try and ride into the day (with the option of stepping off if I really felt that I hadn't recovered at all)
A rolling day , with a few nasty ramps. We did have the chance to ride through Ledbury, Ludlow and Shrewsbury . the latter 2 containing a couple of interesting "power climbs"..
we really started to get our routine sorted with the support car going 12.5 miles ahead and then finding a spot to wait up for us. The sight of Nellie as we round a corner is really great and welcoming.. so much so that a main topic of conversation when we are riding is the distance of the next "Nellie Gap" (which really fits the tune of "Smelly Cat" from friends and now YOU might have it stuck in your head.
All in all, a long old day, biggest problem for me were stomach cramps and slipping whilst trying to clip in on the way through Shrewsbury as my foot slipped out and I banged the more private area of my saddle area HARD against the saddle. Very painful and I've resorted to the serious painkillers.
Got to the hotel in Wem in good time and are now back in the room after a good meal at a local place.
for some reason, I'm rather tired.... so.. night all.
C
A rolling day , with a few nasty ramps. We did have the chance to ride through Ledbury, Ludlow and Shrewsbury . the latter 2 containing a couple of interesting "power climbs"..
we really started to get our routine sorted with the support car going 12.5 miles ahead and then finding a spot to wait up for us. The sight of Nellie as we round a corner is really great and welcoming.. so much so that a main topic of conversation when we are riding is the distance of the next "Nellie Gap" (which really fits the tune of "Smelly Cat" from friends and now YOU might have it stuck in your head.
All in all, a long old day, biggest problem for me were stomach cramps and slipping whilst trying to clip in on the way through Shrewsbury as my foot slipped out and I banged the more private area of my saddle area HARD against the saddle. Very painful and I've resorted to the serious painkillers.
Got to the hotel in Wem in good time and are now back in the room after a good meal at a local place.
for some reason, I'm rather tired.... so.. night all.
C
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