Final Journey

Lights on, tunes on.. ignore the rain, the mud and the dodgy chain.

Home safely. Journey is over.

Weekly Total: 23.45 miles
Overall Total: 2507.4 miles

Limping In - Final Day

With no further technical repair to my damaged chain, I still decided to cycle in to work today.

The reason?

I wanted to get through the 2500 mile barrier before hanging up my cycling shoes...

Weekly Total: 11.77 miles

Chain Suck

I've cycled 3 days this week, all was going fine until this morning when my chain spun off my chainset and lodged itself firmly (very bloody firmly) in between the chainset and my bottom bracket, this is commonly known as chain suck.

It took a while to pull the damn thing clear, but when I finally freed the damn thing I found that the specific link that had suffered the majority of the chain jammed had been crushed (which meant it wouldn't fit onto the teeth of my chainset). A little bit of technical faffing about with an allen key soon prised a small gap between the metal plates and I was able to resume my pedal into work... the regular slipping of the chain becoming only a mild irritant...

Weekly Total: 63.48 miles
Overall Total: 2483.90 miles

Ice, Ice, Baby

Another frosty morning, which made for an invigorating cycle in. No mishaps, no mechanical failures just a chilled and enjoyable commuting experience...

..at least until I'd had my shower, pulled on my jeans and t-shirt and started off towards the office block and managed to hit a patch of black ice!

the front wheel disappeared from underneath me, next thing I kmow I'm sliding along the ground on my shoulder and thigh for about 5m, my feet still on the pedals. When I did finally come to a stop and dusted myself down, there were no scratches or scuffs to speak off - the black ice had protected me as much as it had caused the problem in the first place.

Must be Monday.

Sunday Service

Just got in after giving my bike chain a quick clean and fitting my new seat post. It wasn't a brilliant week last week - cycling home on Monday night was tedious and made even more so when, about 15 mins from home, my saddle bolt snapped and I had to pedal the remainder of the journey standing up on the pedals.. pretty draining and quick demoralising. The most humiliating thing about this, however, is that its the second time that its happened to me.

Anyway, after a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing (did you know that seatposts can come in a variety of different diameters, only a couple of mm difference can make a huge difference - mine is 27.2cm thick - so there!) my new seatpost is in place and the bike is all set for tomorrow and (hopefully) a full week of cycling.

Weekly Total: 21.23 miles
Overall Total: 2420.5 miles

Still on the Bike

Not had any time to blog about it, but i've still been pounding out the miles on the bike. I've managed about 3 days each week, through wind or rain or, most recently, bloody freezing icy days too. the icy days have been teh most fun.

I also had the pleasure of accompanying Mr Walsh along on his own commute back home just the other day. It was very interesting to be travelling a brand new route, much more varied than my own with loads of wee different sections. The pace was kept pretty high too - certainly higher than I cycle my way home.

More biking next week, the bike seems to be holding up well and the new lights and winter gear have been doing me proud. My particular highlight of the week was cycling back home up the canal path - pitch black, no street lights, just my twin beams for visibility.. nae bother.

No idea what my stats are so far - I'll post them up over the weekend.

UPDATE:
Overall Total: 2399.20 miles