Run Forrest, Run!

Cris and Pete both pushed themselves way beyond their comfort zones on Sunday when they took part in the Edinburgh Half Marathon on Sunday.

Both of them did brilliantly well, both have also had very different thoughts on the whole experience; Cris loved the experience and is looking to repeat it again by signing up to do another run in the very near future. Pete on the other hand, while being suitably chuffed with his performance, came out with the classic quote 'man, I could have been cycling or kiting'.

Cris managed to run the route in an amazing 1hr 30mins while Pete managed to run the whole route in 1hr 51mins.

Pics of the event can be found at www.marathon-photos.com but I could only find pictures of Cris but none of Pete (sorry Pete).

Well done gents, way to go!

UPDATE: We've found Pete!! (it does look like i am walking but i can assure u im running - slowly!)

Insurance claimed

OK, thats the deal done.

The insurance company will reimburse me the cost of my bike (2005 model not available so they will pay for a 2006 version) as well as the cost of the various accessories that I had on the bike too. Not a bad deal, until they then spring the £110 excess that they cream right off the top of that - ouch.

As a result of that, my new bike is ordered and will be available for pick up on Sunday afternoon. I've stuck with the Revolution brand and even with the frame that I loved so much on the Cuillin Sport but I have had to consider costs and set my sights on a slightly more commuter friendly bike, the Revolution Trailfinder 2006. I'm getting new clipless pedals and a new pannier rack for the bike too.

Can't wait to get back on the trail again and start clocking up those miles.

It's Gone!!! Thieving Scum.

I hooked up with a former work colleague of mine yesterday evening for a couple of hours of catching up interspersed with the odd game of pool. In the two hours (6.15pm - 8.15pm) that I was inside the Sports Cafe bar on Sauchiehall Street, someone decided to help themselves to my bike, which was chained to the railings just outside. The bouncers never saw anything, the police say that the CCTV cameras haven't been able to see anything, the policeman handling my case has said that all they can really do is take a note of the frame number (SA41144544) and if they retrieve any propety that looks remotely like the bike (black MTB, Revolution Cuillin Sport, crud catcher mudguards, pannier rack, Candy SL pedals, twin Electron front lights) then they will check to see if it has a frame ref that matches. I won't hold my breath.

Probably the most frustrating thing about the whole situation was that I'd deliberately cycled a sufficient number of miles this week so that I'd be breaking through the 1000 mile barrier today. I figured that would have been a pretty cool way to end the week. Oh well, just makes the challenge that little bit more interesting.

I'll give the insurance company a call over the weekend and see what they say about the matter.

Weekly Total: 77.07 miles
Overall Total: 982 miles

Cycling Weather

The last couple of days have been glorious sunshine coupled with a cold snap in the air - perfect cycling weather.

Weekly Total: 50.45 miles

Weekend

The Sunday Service was duly completed this weekend following an amazing day on the slopes on Saturday where Seonaidh learnt how to turn, I learnt how to go fakie and Bov and Kinnie made every effort to cover every square metre of the Glenshee pistes. Burnt noses and big wide smiles all round.

Tough Week

I found it hard getting back into the cycling this week after a couple of easy days the week before. Not getting to clean and grease the bike also made a big difference too. Still, got more miles under my belt and I'm off snowboarding tomorrow - all good.

Weekly Total: 89.76 miles
Overall Total: 905 miles

Weather-tastic

It was a crazy day weatherwise today.

I left the house in the midst of a blizzard, I arrived at work in glorious sunshine. It was dry when I left work but in the last section of the journey home it poured with rain!

Weekly Total: 67.93 miles

Feeling Flat and Knackered

The day started off so well. The roads were dry, it wasn't that cold, bike seemed to be running well... then I picked up two punctures on the way into work, which kind of put a dampner on things.

Work was busy, really busy, but the cycle home is normally something that helps clear the head and help unwind. This time however, it felt draining. No real answers why, just hope it feels better tomorrow.

Self-sealing inner tubes have now been purchased and are en route. Overall spending has gone up to £361.83.

Weekly Total: 45.87 miles

Snow Travels

So I did manage to cycle in to work on Monday. It was a pretty stressful situation at first, crowded roads, single lane traffic and a complete lack of traction anytime I was stupid enough to try and cycle through a snow drift. Once I stopped being so tense and basically just embraced the situation I'd put myself in, things quickly became a whole lot more fun, to the point that I even decided to complete the last 500m of the journey by cycling through the foot deep snow on the canal path - that was a hilarious and rather time consuming mistake to make, but bloody good fun.

I only cycled one way on Monday and again today due to work problems on Monday and family commitments today, but I'm pleased I've managed to cycle at all and hope to cycle the rest of the week as the snows melting.

Weekly Total: 23.92 miles

Whiteout

I went to bed just after midnight last night after enjoying the light snow showers that coloured the evening sky with a hint of white. When I woke up this morning, however, it was a completely different scene - almost a foot of snow covering the driveway, the garden, the shed, the car, the bin... everywhere was covered with a magnificent blanket of snow.

We've spent the day sledging, snowboarding (had to be done), building snowmen and having snowball fights and its been brilliant. Now all I have to do is decide whether or not its feasible to cycle in to work tomorrow morning. Just now its looking pretty shaky, but thats a good reason to make the attempt.

Saturday Service

Cris was subjected to a masterclass in the basic servicing that I give my bike each week. It started off with a midweek email where Cris revealed that he probably hadn't cleaned or lubed his bike in almost a year. I responded by sending him the list below:

essential items:


washing up liquid
bucket & sponge
an old tooth brush
good brush for getting in about the chain and cogs (get a car wheel cleaning one from Halfords - much cheapness)
bottle of degreaser
empty jar with lid (pasta sauce size)
chain lube
GT85 (apparently attracts less dust than WD40 according to the Hippo)
old rags for drying.


non-essential:

muc off
hose with power nozzle


suggested routine:

Friday night / Sat morning - 5mins:

remove chain (SRAM chain) and place into jar of degreaser.
Give it a damn good shake and leave for a while (overnight preferably). I have two chains and leave one in the jar all week, but i don't think you'd need to do that because you're doing less mileage and you're also on the roads, which is relatively cleaner than muddy canal paths.


Sat / Sun morning - approx 1 - 2 hrs:

hot water + washing up liquid into bucket
soap up the bike, including wheel rims, brake blocks, cogs and mudguards
use the brush to get in amongst the gears and cogs, in between the derailleurs, including the wee jockey wheels in the rear one.
get all mud and cac out of the derailleurs and cogs.
use hose / bucket of clean water to wash off all soap suds etc.
take toothbrush and dip into jar of degreaser - scrub down the front and back derailleurs so that they have all grease removed.
take off rear wheel and do the same with the cogs - you want these clean as a whistle.
if you haven't washed your bike for a while, use the toothbrush and degreaser to clean your wheel rims too - this will really help your braking
hose / wash down the parts you've just cleaned.
Now take the rags and start dryng the bike. Dry everything, between the brake blocks, the derailleurs, the frame, the wheels, everything
GT85 all the moving parts. This forces the water out and helps prevent rusting. Do the cogs, the derailleurs, the hubs, the pedals, the swing arms on your brakes. Anything that moves needs a squoosh of GT85 (don't squoosh your brake blocks or bike rims though)
Thats your bike all cleaned. All you need to do now is sort out your chain.
Fish the chain out of the jar. Find the two powerlink connectors in there too. SAVE THE DEGREASER - do not throw it away, you can reuse it.
Take a rag and thoroughly dry the chain. Work hard to clean out any stubburn muck between the links. Take your time, its worth it.
Once dried, find somewhere to hand the chain vertically ((I nail the chain to my shed and let it hang down) and spray GT85 down through the links. This forces out more sh it and cleans it even more. Warning - GT85 is a degreaser too, so this does not count as lubing the chain.
Wipe down the chain again, honestly its worth it.
Now take your chain lube. Start at the top of the chain and work down every single link covering it with lube. I usually leave the chain like that for a wee while, let the lube work its way in.
Now thread the chain through the front derailleur and let it hang around the front cog. Thread the chain around the rear cogs, through the CLEAN jockey wheels in rear derailleur and then use the powerlink connectors to link the chain back together.
Sorted.


Now you can complete any other maintenance that you maybe want to do, ie tweak your brakes or gears etc.

Anyway, to cut a longish story short, we cleaned Cris's bike this morning and, while he still needs to replace the chain and the brake blocks, everything else is looking all bling and clean. Happy Walshy.

Busy

Snowboarding at the weekend was excellent, my sincerest thanks to Pete for being my personal flunkey and driving me about the place.

Its been busy at work this past week, but I've been on the bike every day and enjoyed the mix of weather that we've had. Its been cold, its been rainy, its been warm enough for shorts & t-shirts but the best thing of all is that its been staying light enough in the evenenings that I've not had to use my lights on the way home (much).

I forgot to declare a recent purchase for the bike, I bought myself a new bike lock (£8.75). That takes my overall spending for the year up to £351.85, ouch.

Weekly Total: 110.16 miles
Overall Total: 816 miles

In Town Training

I've been on a training course all week this week. The training centre is in the centre of Glasgow, on Renfield Street, so I'd been in two minds about whether or not I would bother cycling in each day (its only 5 mins on the train). Anyway, I'm glad I did because I've managed to notch up over 60 miles bombing into and about town!

Most of that mileage can be attributed to a new form of cycling that was suggested to me by Guru Walsh, 'tripping'. Basically, the idea revolves around using the bike for those wee trips to the corner shop and popping down to the video shop, the post office etc. The trips themselves don't have to be particularly long at all, but the miles do mount up and for me, thats all that counts this year. Cheers Mr Walsh, its working like a good 'un.

Off snowboarding again this weekend, the snow is looking amazing and conditions have been described as the best of the season, so I can't wait. The only downer is that I actually have to work tomorrow morning, so I'm going to head in for about 6am and try and get away by 8.30am. Pete has kindly agreed to be my chauffeur for the weekend, I owe you big time amigo!

Weekly Total: 64.19 miles
Overall Total: 705 miles