Bike blog

One of the challenges I face each time I go out for a ride is deciding where to go. I’m fortunate enough to have the South Downs right on my doorstep but its only one specific bit and its easy to become bored of doing the same routes time and time again. Fortunately, there are quite a few different routes onto and across the downs and I’m always finding new ways to mix these up - especially given the increase in range that my growing fitness has given me.

Yesterday I discovered the Pyecombe loop. Sidestepping Truleigh Hill and Fulking Hill altogether, this route began at Foredown Tower and made its way to West Hill via the golf course and Brighton Rugby club. From there its a quick plummet into Pyecombe and then up the climb towards Ditchling Beacon. About a mile or so before the beacon is a trail that heads back down towards Brighton taking in an unexpected Indian memorial along the way. Before you know it, you’re back at the rugby club and twenty minutes from home. Its a fun 19 mile loop.

Best of all, it was sunny! Its been much drier for the last few days and today was truly gorgeous and surprisingly mild. I did most of the ride in a base layer, only pulling on my windproof when the sun started to go down and the shadows became long. The trails have dried out a lot and the difference was marked - it makes such a difference when your bike isn’t covered in sticky mud, your gears work and your tyres aren’t fighting for traction. I almost felt fit!

I’ve neglected my bike for the last week or so, choosing to work on some projects around the home and sidestep the continuing bad weather. I don’t even think I had ridden to work until yesterday. As a consequence, my bike feels as out of shape as I do. The headset is a touch stiff and backpedalling just isn’t happening. Or at least it wasn’t. I gave the bike a quick service this morning and found out why - the sealed bearing of the lower jockey wheel was packed full of mud rather than grease!

I’m reluctant to spend money on new jockey wheels at the moment. I’d rather wait until the spring and give my bike a proper service then and replace those parts that suffered through the winter. For now they will have to make do with a clean up and re-grease. As it happens, that was all they needed and they are now spinning perfectly.

As the weekend drew near, the weather forecasts were unusually consistent in their outlook for Saturday - it was going to be sunny! Damn how I’ve waited for that forecast. Now, this wasn’t to be an end to the atrocious weather we’ve been having recently, nor were they predicting two days of preemptive Spring. No, this was a one day special, get it while it lasts. The miserable conditions would resume on Sunday. I was a bit excited when Saturday arrived and the forecast was right.

Incredibly, the trails were even muddier this week and the ride up to Truleigh Hill was a killer as I pedaled twice the distance I travelled. I shouldn’t complain though, there was another chap on the trail today riding his brand new Specialised cyclo cross bike. Quite how he got up that hill I don’t know - I left him behind - but he managed to catch me up a few miles later when I had stopped to chat to another rider. He didn’t deserve the puncture he got as he passed us. All credit to him.

The best part about today’s ride was the puddles. So many and so deep! Too many riders go around them, widening the trail and worsening the situation but its best through the middle where your tyres can find traction at the bottom and the water can wash the sticky mud from your tread as you go.

Puddles aside, I can’t wait for the rain to stop - its getting boring now. As much fun as it is out there on the trails I’m tired of having to wash the bike and my clothes after every ride.

I bet it rains tomorrow.

I had trouble catching a rider up ahead on my commute this morning but as ever the traffic lights leveled the playing field and he and I found ourselves lining up for the green light. I had chance to survey my competition whilst we waited and I saw an old balding man on a cheap mountain bike. He was wearing a suit, a three quarter length raincoat and no helmet. I was dismissive, I wouldn’t be seeing him again today. The lights changed and I was off, shifting across the cassette and leaving my aging challenger in my wake. Or so I thought.

It was only when I checked behind me to change lanes that I saw him come sailing past, slowly but confidently turning a big gear. I trailed him to the next lights where he turned off and I was left to reflect on what had just happened.

There are perfectly good excuses I can make for myself. I mean, I did a massive ride on Sunday and my legs are still recovering, right? Perhaps. I’d leave him for dust offroad, surely? Almost certainly but this was on the flat, in town. Ultimately, that older rider was stronger than me today and it just makes me all the more determined to be fit and strong when I’m in my fifties - if I can give my son a run for his money like that I’ll be very happy.

Inspired by Jim’s ride that took in both Cissbury Ring and Chanctonbury Ring, I decided to extend my Lancing College route to include both of these old forts. The third ring was Lancing Ring, a nature reserve on the bridleway near Lancing College.

I knew this was going to be a long ride but I had all afternoon and the weather was very much in my favour so I went for it. The ride started in sunshine and my jacket was quickly packed away into my Camelbak and didn’t come out until I stopped for a snack an hour later. I really enjoyed the extension and it didn’t take too long at all to reach first Cissbury and then Chanctonbury Rings.

I got to Chanctonbury after two and a half hours and I figured cool, its easy home from here along the South Downs Way. However, I hadn’t factored in my legs running out of steam after twenty miles, just before the climb up to Truleigh Hill and the bitter head wind that would make me work for every mile back to Portslade.

All told, this new route clocked in at 27.25 miles and took a whopping four and a half hours. I’m pleased to have completed it, I feel like my base fitness may not be as bad as I had thought.

After a cracking 2007, I’m really excited about 2008. I haven’t really made any resolutions but I have set myself some goals that are relevant here.

The most significant of these is to ride the BHF South Downs Randonee once again. I last rode it in 2004 when some friends needed a last minute replacement for another who had dropped out. We rode the 65 miles from Winchester to Devil’s Dyke in glorious dry conditions and it was an amazing experience, if incredibly hard work. There were four of us and we worked well as a team, some pushing ahead on the flats and others doing well on the climbs. All told, the ride took about 11 hours and I was happy - not to mention relieved - to reach the finish.

This year I’m undecided on how far to ride and who to ride with so my short term goal is to build speed and fitness and see how ambitious I feel nearer the time - if I was to do the full 100 miles then I would need to do them in more or less the same time as we managed 65 miles four years ago, thats quite intimidating! I may ride it alone but if I can find a rider of a similar ability then I might be inclined to buddy up and enjoy the motivation of a companion.

My other bike related goals are ambitious for different reasons.

I want to buy a new bike, my first since I bought the DB in 1997. Its high time I tasted the the enormous changes that have taken place in mountain biking over the last decade - full suspension, disc brakes and improved geometry. I have my eye on a Trek Fuel EX8 but first I have to save up and get in a test ride or two. I did try one at the Cycle Show in October but its hard to gauge a bike whilst following other riders around a petit indoor track. Cotic’s Hemlock is also of interest having seen one at the Cycle Show, they look much better in the flesh than in pictures although the cost of full build may be prohibitive.

Finally, I want to have one or two (or more) mountain biking breaks. Ideally, this would mean a trip to the Alps or the Pyrenees for a few days of inspired riding in huge terrain but I’d be just as happy heading up to the Lake District or across to Wales for a weekend. I’ve discovered Bike Dartmoor who organise rides on Dartmoor, Exmoor and the Quantocks and I’d like to go out with them for a weekend later in the year, it will be good to do some rides with a guide and this could be very accessible given that we have family in Devon.

I’ve started the year the right way with an eleven mile loop on the downs this afternoon. I felt almost back on form considering how my ride the other day went and it felt so good to be out there, as ever.

2008, bring it on! Happy New year.

Between colds and a stomach bug the last four weeks have conspired to keep me from my bike. December has been a write off as far as riding is concerned. I suppose it could be worse - afterall, there’s been nothing but rain throughout December. Imagine missing out on a really sunny month!

I still have a damn cold but I needed some inspiration so I gave the chain a fresh drop of oil, checked the tyre pressures and headed out. Today was a perfect day to resume riding as it happens, fresh and sunny without the wind. Lots of mud though as you can see from the pics. That, my month off and outgoing cold combine to provide a perfect excuse for an hours ride that took nearly two! I took quite a few photographs along the way as well, the light was just awesome. I arrived home feeling a hundred times better, riding really is good for the soul - I really feel it when I’ve gone without.

Whilst riding today I found myself reflecting on 2007 - its been a really important year in all sorts of ways. Of course, the most important changes to my life have been the arrival of my son and the house we bought at the start of the year but its been a huge year for mountain biking too. Moving to Portslade put the South Downs practically on my doorstep and forced a resolve to get back on my bike after a couple of years of intermittent riding. Quite why I had neglected riding was beyond me but I found myself riding again with a real commitment and I’m now more passionate than ever about mountain biking and developing my fitness and abilities. It feels great.

My riding has changed enormously through this renaissance. I’ve learnt that wider bars and a shorter stem mean more control while bigger tyres allow me to blast through all sorts of trouble without hitting the brakes or stopping pedaling. These changes have helped me to conquer the trails that had me scared at the start of the year. Looking back, I don’t know why they were scary, maybe it was the way my bike handled. Anyway, I think I’ve learnt to ride better this year and I can’t wait to build on this foundation in 2008.

I think I’ve been served my penance for that foul mouthed tirade my drunken rambling the other night - I have a cold. I awoke yesterday without a hangover (hooray!) but with a godawful sore throat and headache. I just hope it blows through quickly

You know, while I’m here and loose of tongue I might as well spit it out. I had informed USE that my Race MaXx was rattling. Not in a really bad way but just like a bit of plastic was loose inside. This was day one, a proud owner of an expensive light system. A light system that rattled. Grr.

The rattle stopped after a ride or two but now that its been back to USE to have the switch repaired, the rattle is back. Why?? To be fair to USE, I didn’t remind them about the rattle when I returned the light but it was obvious to me as soon as I took it out of the box so quite how they missed it I don’t know.

I live in hope that my first ride with the repaired light will silence the rattle as it did when the light was new.

UPDATE: No more rattle and a perfectly functioning light.

Its been more than a week. I can feel the stiffness creeping in, the lungs shrinking and my heart coming off the boil. I’m aging and a missed ride is more than two steps back. In my defense, the weather has been awful and my light has been at the cleaners manufacturers being repaired. Today - Monday - was gorgeous but my plans involved a post work trip to London to annihilate my brain cells in tandem with my best friend and I couldn’t afford to spend the morning on my bike.

So, you may ask, what am I going to do about it? I don’t know, let me think. hmm.. tomorrow. Yeah, I’ll ride tomorrow when I get home from work. I just hope it isn’t raining or I’ll be back on square one.

Ps. My Race Maxx is back from USE and its working again. Hooray! I’ll save the fact that it still has an irritating rattle for another day when I’m not drunk on a train.