Speedo Woes

Another lovely frosty morning this morning and it felt exhilerating to be experiencing it all from the relative comfort of the bike.

Unfortunately, about 9 miles into the journey, my speedometer started playing up again. I stopped the bike, checked that the speedo magnet and the sensor were correctly aligned, made sure there was no dirt on the back of the speedo and set off again - the numbers flickered up on teh display but soon disappeared again. Frustrated, I then began a series of attempts to resolve the issue by cleaning the speedo connectors again, bending the speedo clasp into a more prominient position so that it would be held more firmly to the cradle, cleaning the speedo magnet, realiging the sensor... a myriad of different tasks which all resulted with the same initial flicker of life and then nothing.

I gave up after that.

Well, at least until I got to the Playdrome and put the spedometer in my pocket while I went in for a shower. On my return to the bike, I slotted the speedo back into its cradle (I don't know why - habit?) and cycled over to the office block that i work in. The speedo worked the whole of that mini trip!

My diagnosis?

The bloody thing doesn't like the cold! We'll soon find out, I've borrowed some de-icer from a work colleague and applied it liberally (read 'drowned the bugger in it').

Weekly Total: 30.86 miles

Canal Desires

It was a cold one today. So cold, that condensation actually turned to ice as I rode in this morning. It was so cold that my smile seemed to be frozen to my face. It really was lovely out there today.

I cycled along the canal path in the morning, working my way through the bitter morning mist and grumbling at my iPod's pathetic battery life after it died only about 20mins into the journey (on a particularly banging tune, no less). The cycle back home was equally cold and equally misty but in a more sinister and mysterious way as I pedalled my way back home along the dark canal path.

The canal path at night is a pretty exhilarating place to be. I remember hanging out alongside the canal banks in Edinburgh when I was a school boy, letting off fireworks and generally getting up to mischief, so maybe its simply that fond memories make cycling along that route at night particularly enjoyable. The lack of lighting along the canalside also makes it exciting, although this is usually tinged with just a hint of trepidation when you see a cluster of baseball caps up ahead. Touch wood though, nothing too bad has happened to me when I've taken the canal route home at night, other than a little verbal abuse (easy to ignore), the odd stone being thrown and, on one occasion, an empty bottle. All have missed and none have damaged my experience of those dark rides back home.

Weekly Total: 23.07 miles

It was a cold one today. So cold, that condensation actually turned to ice as I rode in this morning. It was so cold that my smile seemed to be frozen to my face. It really was lovely out there today.

I cycled along the canal path in the morning, working my way through the bitter morning mist and grumbling at my iPod's pathetic battery life after it died only about 20mins into the journey (on a particularly banging tune, no less). The cycle back home was equally cold and equally misty but in a more sinister and mysterious way as I pedalled my way back home along the dark canal path.

The canal path at night is a pretty exhilarating place to be. I remember hanging out alongside the canal banks in Edinburgh when I was a school boy, letting off fireworks and generally getting up to mischief, so maybe its simply that fond memories make cycling along that route at night particularly enjoyable. The lack of lighting along the canalside also makes it exciting, although this is usually tinged with just a hint of trepidation when you see a cluster of baseball caps up ahead. Touch wood though, nothing too bad has happened to me when I've taken the canal route home at night, other than a little verbal abuse (easy to ignore), the odd stone being thrown and, on one occasion, an empty bottle. All have missed and none have damaged my experience of those dark rides back home.

Weekly Total: 23.07 miles

Catch Up

Its been a busy couple of days and the cycling seems to have just faded into being part of a normal day. This is a good thing - it isn't such a hard decision to get up and get out on the bike anymore, I don't pedal in wishing that I was sitting in a warm train carriage instead and I seem to enjoy the dull ache that my legs constantly seem to have now. I managed 3 games of squash last week and cycled home every time - seems to be a great way of warming down.

So, I've cycled 5 days a week for the past 3 weeks now and the odometer is looking healthy. If I can keep this rate up, I should have reached my target by the end of October, which would be brilliant - I really can't see me cycling every week day from now till November though.

On a different note, I got my new kite delivered on Thursday. Its a 12m Takoon Nova and I'm hoping (expecting) it to be my ticket to experiencing the rush that kitesurfing seems to bring the rest of my friends. I have done nothing more than unfurl the kite and then roll it back up and watch the instructional DVD, but it looks and feels the business and I'm itching to try it out. Shame there's no wind!

Anyway, back to cycling...

Weekly Total: 111.85 miles
Overall Total: 307.1 miles

Winter Sunshine

It was cold today, but another lovely sunrise and a an easy ride home made it a good day all round.

Weekly Total: 66.94 miles

Cold Toes

I like my new cycling shoes, but they're hardly what you might call 'winter atire'. I've been wearing the neoprene overshoes that I bought at the same time over them during the wet and wild weather and found them to be very comfortable and very effective. Today was forecast to be a dry but cold day and so I figured the overshoes would be overkill. What a mistake - my toes were bloody freezing!!

It was lovely to see the sunrise this morning, however, a big red sun sitting low in the sky as I pedalled alongside the canal.



Weekly Total: 44.58 miles

Dark Mud

I made the mistake of trying to cycle down the canal path in the dark tonight. After no rain for the last few days, I thought it might be pretty dry, but while it hasn't rained, it hasn't been warm either and the dirt path was just as muddy as if it had been raining all day. It made for an interesting experience, sliding about in the mud with nothing but a set of bike lights for visibility... I soon elected to cut back on to the road and finish the journey in the relative safety of Great Western RoaD.

Weekly Total: 22.29 miles

Burst Bladder

Top Tip: Riding a bike with a full bladder is NOT a particularly nice experience. The "I-need-a-pee" mantra is a rather good motivation, however, as long as you don't try to extend the experience too much past 60mins...

Bought myself a chain splitter / multi tool at the weekend too - I needed it to take off a couple of links from the new SRAM chains that I bought. One of the new chains is on the bike now, well oiled up and turning smoothly. Lovely.

Multi Tool: £9.99

TCO: £309.90

Weekly Total: 11.90 miles

100+

Had to dash home today - there's a works night out in The Bunker tonight from 5.30pm. People seemed slightly alarmed that I was prepared to be late for the free bar & buffet in order to pedal my bike home and notch up those end of week miles. I'm quite pleased though, I've cycled more than 100 miles this week.

Weekly Total: 105.33 miles
Overall Total: 195.3 miles

Buying Stuff

More purchases for the bike:

Finish Line Wet Lube: £4.99

GT85: £3.99

Beater Blockers: £4.00

Hopefully the Blockers will arrive tomorrow and I can fit them to my shoes - the cleats are chewing the soles of the shoes apart!!

TCO: £299.91 (and its not even the end of January yet - ouch).

X-Men

Have you ever watched one of the X-Men movies and watched Storm use her powers? Big, dark, odious clouds start to gather her around her, her eyes flash white and a mean wind starts blowing...

It was like that for me this morning, but although I tried to spot her floating about the place, I couldn't see her anywhere. Had to peddle through her damn storm though.

Weekly Total: 94.98 miles

I am Sailing..

Bit gusty today, I'm starting to think that I might be improving my sailing skills as opposed to my biking skills as i battled through the various gusts and squalls that seemed to wrap themselves around buildings and try to batter my bike off the road. At least it was dry this time.

Weekly Total: 83.10 miles

Face Your Challenge

It was a wet ride home tonight. Crazy wet = crazy grins even through the nightmare of having to change my punctured tyre in the dim light of a street light amidst a torrent of rain. My first puncture of the year!

Anyway, I feel I have to answer a question put to me by the beautiful Claxton who has queried whether my 4000 mile challenge is any sort of challenge at all.

Cal correctly points out that I average 80 miles a week on the bike and that if I notch up 80 miles a week for every week of the year then I will surpass my target.

But...

I only make the distance if I cycle every one of those weeks. I can't allow for bike repairs, holidays, bad weather, illness or duvet days, I just have to get up every morning and pedal my inherently lazy ass to work. And that's a challenge for me.

Weekly Total: 60.98 miles

Grand Prix Mayhem

Had to dash home tonight to get the bike home before getting a lift back to Clydebank for a Grand Prix event at the Scotkart gokarting track. I managed to take 2nd place overall - podium finish for McFlea!!

Weekly Total: 38.97 miles

At one with the bike

Clipless pedals... hmmmm.

I wasn't sure about them before, I mean they sound good and everyone says how efficient they make your pedalling and how they improve your speed and control, but I wasn't totally sold on the whole concept. That being said, I really wanted to try them out and I've taken the plunge and sorted myself out with pedals & shoes and I've joined the clipless revolution.

And I'm damn glad that I have. The cycle in this morning was fine, but it took me about 30mins before I really started to understand what being clipped to a pedal actually means. There are no problems unclipping, so no embaressing impersonations of a tree being felled, but the fact that the sole of your shoe is locked tight to the bike means that even while you spin the pedals, you can relax your feet and concentrate on using the various leg muscles involved in turning the cranks. Previously I would tense my toes as I pulled up against my toe clips, but I don't have to do this anymore. Seems a small thing, but seems to make a difference.

I seem to be able to spin smoother too, with power being generated from whatever position the pedal is in. I haven't got brave enough to attempt bunny hops yet, but I can only imagine how easy they will become once I truly get my confidence with the new setup.

Anyway, a nice start to the week, just as long as the rain stays away.

Weekly Total: 22.29 miles

Sunday Cleaning

1st week was a doddle in the end, 5 days on the bike and I felt good pretty much the whole time.

I've just got in from spending a couple of hours cleaning the bike, I haven't put my new chain on yet because I don't have a chain splitter but I did fit on my new clipless pedals to the bike and then clean it thoroughly. I had a wee test run around the block and thoroughly expected to find that I was unable to unclip myself from the bike but everything seemed remarkably easy and smooth and I reckon they'll be fine tomorrow.

Total Cost of Ownership

Crank Bros Candy pedals: £44.99

Total so far: £286.93

1st week over, only another 39 more to go.

Weekly Total: 89.90 miles

Easy

I feel goooooood.

First week back, 5 days on the bike (although I still have the return leg to go tonight) and I feel fit and strong and ready to do another few hundred miles. Rain or ice, I'll ride through it all, although I wouldn't mind seeing the sun or perhaps clycling in the daylight!!

I doubt it'll last.

Weekly Total: 79.65 miles

Happy Birthday, Walshy

Happy Birthday to Old Man Walsh - thanks for getting me into biking.

Wild Wind

It was crazy going home last night, but ultimatelt pretty exhilerating. The wind was gusting pretty badly and I found myself being lulled into a sense of relaxation while I pedalled alonside houses and offices but then desperately trying to hang on to the bike and keep it as straight as possible as I crossed bridges and busy junctions that offered no protection from the elements. Anniesland Cross was particularly petrifying.

Anyway, I made it home and found that my next purchase for the bike had been delivered. I've decided to listen to the advice of my good friend, the Hippo, who suggested that I bought two sets of SRAM chains and to swap the chains about on a weekly or monthly basis. The chains are easy to take off thanks to their Powerlink connections and I will be able to leave on soaking in a tub of lubricant while I use the other one. At the end of the week, I simply unhook the used chain, clean the bike and drivetrain and then hook up the new, fully-lubricated chain. This should hopefully at least double the life of my cassette and my chainset and save me forking out for expensive repairs and replacement components... well, that's the theory.

So, now I need to add this to the total cost of the bike:

SRAM chains x 2: £19.98

Cheers for the tip, Jimbo.

Dress Your Feet in Rubber

I got my cycling shoes & overshoes through.

Chain Reaction Cycles are the mutts nutts when it comes to online shopping: excellent prices and free (and FAST) delivery. The stuff arrived yesterday and I decided to leave the shoes in their box until I get pedals to go with them (on the way now - more about that later) and just used the overshoes to get home.

The overshoes are made of 3mm neoprene with a couple of bits of velcro and a wee reflective bit at the heel. Its a struggle to stretch the buggers over your shoes and get them on, but once you're sorted, that's you sorted - all lovely and warm and just waiting for a rain shower to test them in. Unfortunately, it hasn't rained on either the way home last night nor on the way in this morning - bugger. The speedo has been behaving though.

Weekly Total: 59.3 miles

Dodgy speedo

Another wet ride to savour this morning and more angst and despair as I battled to get my damn speedo working properly. It worked for a fair bit of the journey, but then the rain fell and it decided to take a break.

I've decided that this year i'm going record how much this commuting lark actually costs me. Over the year I'll note down the various components, repairs and services that I shell out for and we'll find out what the Total Cost of Ownership of commuting by bike really is.

So far:

• New Bike: £150


• New mudguards: £18.98 (the old ones didn't fit)

I also bought a new pair of cycling shoes (spd compatible) and some neoprene overshoes to keep me waterproof. Clipless pedals will be my next purchase, I reckon.

• Cycling Shoes: £34.99


• Neoprene Overshoes: £17.99

Total so far: £221.96

Weekly Total: 21.55 miles

First Day on the Job

..and what a start to the campaign.

It wasn't just my first day on the bike, it was also the start of the new school term and with it a new set of family routines. I'm now walking the kids to school each morning which means I need to get myself and them and my bike ready on time.. hectic stuff.

Anyway, it was a frosty start to the cycling year, I decided to take the canal path route which turned out to be lovely - all frozen and hardpack, making for an easy run in and a great opportunity for the iPod to provide the soundtrack to the icy canal scene. It wasn't as bad as I expected, I felt fine when I got in and it was great to get that big old grin back on my face again... nothing better for getting you going in the morning than watching a gorgeous sunrise while bombing along a frozen canal.

The bike felt good, I need to raise the seat a bit more but thats about my only gripe. It's weird getting used to front suspension too - even with basic forks like mine, the ride is still smoother, hopefully that means it will be faster once I get up to match fitness again.

The ride home was a bloody wet one though. I was playing squash after work so I never saw the onset of the rain and therefore got a rather nasty suprise when I walked out of the Playdrome and saw the downpour. It wasn't too bad though, I'd washed my jacket with Nikwax and the results were pretty effective, unfortunately I hadn't done the same with my cycling trousers or my shoes.. so I was completely sodden after only 10 mins - not nice.

The ride wasn't too bad in the end, a bit wet, fairly miserable but I did make it home without too many issues. The only thing that did go wrong was my bloody bike computer - the damn thing packed in sometime during the journey and I couldn't get the damn thing working again.

"computer says no"

I feel like i've had about 7 miles stolen from me, but hopefully that won't come back to bite me at the end of this year.

First stats of 2006:

Weekly Total: 13.62 miles (robbed by computer malfunction)

Got it

I picked up the bike today.

I almost didn't take it in: the full length mudguards that I had on the old bike didn't fit on the bike and I had specifically checked that they would. I got over that in the end and now I've got myself on a lovely new bike, no creaks, no rattles, no dodgy gears. I had to move over my bike lights, speedo and finally my old pedals onto the new bike, which took a couple of hours, but its all sorted now and the maiden voyage will take place tomorrow - I really can't wait.

There's only one other thing that I feel I should mention... I have said that I was going to aim for 3000 miles as my target distance this year... well thats now changed, I've decided to aim for 4000 miles.

Well there's no point in having a goal that you feel confident that you can reach, is there? Much better to set yourself a target that makes you nervous.

2006 starts now

I'm picking up my new bike tomorrow.

Edinburgh Bike Co-Op is a great bike shop which is based (funnily enough) in Edinburgh. I completed last years challenge on one of their own brand bikes and I intend to do the same again this year - I've bought a Revolution Cuillin from them.

This year's challenge will be to break the 3000 mile barrier. Its not a huge increase on last year's final total, but it will require a little more dedication and a few more days in the sadddle, so its a good target to set myself. I start on Monday.. wish me luck.

Its All Over

It's all over. McFlea's Cycling Extravaganza 2005 has come to a conclusion and I'm pretty pleased with my results.

I started the year with the ridiculous intention of cycling 2005 miles in 2005. This wasn't something I was certain that I could achieve, I certainly never expected to exceed the target, so I guess I've done not too badly, all in all.

Its been a hard one though. My body has changed shape, my stamina has improved, my bum seems to be immune to the dull pain of saddle ache and I seem to have got used to the taste of midgies and the smell of traffic fumes. I appear to have developed a reputation amongst work colleagues as they've sat and watched me dragging myself in either muddy, or wet or freezing but generally with the same stupid grin on my face each time. I've learnt how to change a tyre in 5 mins, how to clean a bike and tune my gears and brakes, how to pay vast sums of money for various repairs to the bike that, quite frankly, I should be doing myself. Its been fun, I've loved it and hated it, but it has been fun.

The final stats (the numbers in the brackets are my stats for the final part of my challenge):

Main

Total no. of days cycling: 114 days (21)
Total miles cycled: 2507.4 miles (497.5)
Av. miles per day: 21.99 miles (23.69)

Repairs

No. of punctures: 21 (5)
Total cost of repairs and servicing: £175.94

Other Stats

No. of rainy days: 25 (9)
Snow/Sleet days: 4 (2)
Furthest distance in a single day: 54.92 miles
Fastest Time: 37mins53secs
Most number of people on a bike at one time: 3
No of times hit by a car: