First post of 2015

At the risk of pretending anybody reads this...

Happy New Year!! Happy New Shoes!!

So since my last post I've discovered that I can indeed take voluntary redundancy and have accepted and then emailed the recipient of the letter to check they'd got it. As of the beginning of march I am no longer working at my current employer. I work in Local Government and gradually the similarities between this line of work and the problems facing the cast of "Parks and Recreation" are becoming too similar to bear.

So decision 1 has been made.

Decision 1 - Leave my current job

This ties neatly into  decision 2 which is...

Decision 2 - Develop an exit strategy for my current sector

Decision 3 was a little harder. I am back running again after my broken foot, but I have done little cycling as I've had to buy new shoes and pedals and they are not tuned in yet. It got me thinking though. I love cycling, I enjoy running and I can tolerate swimming. I should do more cycling and less of the other two. Last year I did little cycling as I needed to get my running and swimming up to "survival standard" to complete my chosen event.

I can do this now. I got a respectable time.

I'm going to do some of the Aquathlons and Duathlons in the Lee Valley area over the spring and summer to keep my strength and overall fitness up. I will continue to run and swim because I can but mostly I want to cycle.

An injury free year where I am doing some running, should build up a bit more strength. The Pilates has really helped here so that must continue. Swimming should help my back and upper body strength...

Decision 3 - Do a cycling event that pushes me harder than I've been pushed on a bike.

I've got lots of ideas but I won't post until I'm committed to an event.

Looking forward to 2015

I nearly always forget that pretty much the whole of December and much of November is spent planning for Christmas. Once Christmas is out the way then I start to wonder what we should do for new year, and then my birthday, and then....

This morning David wanted to know who wanted to see the velorution series at the lee valley velodrome. Sarah Storey is putting on a go at the hour record which should be good. I also suggested we should book in for the London Bike show as the brands we are both considering for new bicycles have stands there (to get hands on with their wares so to speak).

But what about me? What do I want to do in 2015?

2011 was LEJOG
2012  was my first bike tour and Bike to Bestival
2013 was the London Gypsy Orchestra and my first Dunwich Dynamo and a go on the Manchester Velodrome
2014 was my first time trial, duathlon and triathlon

2015 looks at the moment like it could be any number of things. At the moment I have the Cardiff  Velothon booked. I'd also like it to be the year I...

1. Try an Audax event
2. Try different night rides
3. Join a cycle club
4. Run a half marathon.
5. Finish a triathlon in under 3 hours

I'm  hoping to find out whether I am allowed to take voluntary severance from my job tomorrow. If so then 2015 will be the year I start doing something different for a living... Finish saving for a deposit... buy a nice shiny new bike... who knows. Maybe even  get an interesting job.

Knee pain

I have been suffering from knee pain for the last few weeks. It is a weird pain inside the knee that only really hurts when I'm climbing a lot of stairs. This wouldn't be a problem but I live on the fifth floor and work on the fifth of another building. It didn't hurt to walk. It didn't hurt to run.

This Saturday I got out on the Kona for a brief ride to pick up some shopping and noticed immediately that my left knee hurt. I got off and checked the bike. The saddle was adjusted wrong and the seat post at the wrong height...

My Dad took the seat post out to get the bike in the car after the triathlon... I should perhaps have also made adjustments after changing the pedals.

Last night I lowered the saddle and moved it correctly in the clamp. Sat on it for a try. Lowered the bars by a few mm to compensate for lowering the seat and hey presto it felt fine.

I rode in to work today (in the dark!!) and guess what? Apart from residual soreness from... well...it being sore... It felt fine.

Lesson learned?

Winter blues

After an autumn of relative inactivity (due to injury) and an almost unsurpassed selection of invites to parties, beer festivals, catch up drinks, gigs and general socialising; I am feeling extra sluggish as we head into the winter.

Despite some weight gains and a feeling that my heart maybe full of butter and cheese, I am keen to get back out there. I've recently started running again as I have been given the all clear on the broken metatarsal and it is an activity ideally suited to winter mornings. Running in the dark is nowhere near as scary as riding in the dark.

I have, as of this last weekend, broken out the 'windstopper' running tights which proved such a good buy last January. I am still running in a light windcheater and running vest at this point however and am saving the deep winter top for running in snow.

My life has taken an interesting turn in the last few weeks. I have worked at the  same place for 12 years and for the last 4 years have been aware that the department I work in will be restructured at some point. That point is now. The structure going forward seems ideally suited for me to take a promotion and to move on in the organisation. Had it happened 4 years ago I might have done just that.

I applied for an estimate on voluntary severance and it came back with a monetary figure that my employer thinks is worthy of my service so far. In the public sector you don't get pay rises based on work you do. There are no bonuses and there are no awards or presentations for long service. Just an amount when you finally get spat out of the machine.

I have decided to get out before I'm spat out. I'll leave local government... maybe for good while I'm still young enough to try something else. I may try contracting or I may get another job. My aim is to get a mortgage and buy somewhere to live. Once I have that sorted I'm going to work out what to do with the rest of my life.

Pistou - A veggie photo story

This weekend I made a big pan of pistou soup. It is very similar to minestrone soup with a fresh pesto type sauce dropped into the centre. After trying it at a friends we discovered the recipe was in a book we already owned by Rachel Khoo. The recipe is on  the BBC website here. I made a half quantity (which gave 3 big servings) and added a stick of celery that wasn't in the recipe.

Day of the dead ride #2

The Hackney bicycle film society organised a second 'Day of the dead ride'.

The route this year was brilliant as we saw Hackney Marshes, the Olympic park, lots of odd side roads and a lovely pub. 

Hackney to Windsor

On Saturday, 3 men with colds, and 1 man determined to break his bike on a single outing (2 drops and a spot of light off-roading follow later in this post) set out to go to Windsor following the least likely route possible.

On Friday I Googled the route and was surprised to see that Google maps suggested the M4 or A4 even when switched to "cycling" as the method of travel. I decided, on balance, that the route suggested by David looked better. I didn't really check why we were going where we were going because the route looked largely flat and easy to follow.

I got up at the ungodly hour of 06:30, after 4 hours of sleep, in the murky blue black light of a cloudy dawn and realised I was out of soya milk and bread. I managed to locate some cow's milk and muesli and managed to get showered, dressed packed and downstairs for 07:30 with the bike.

David showed up shortly after and we grumbled pleasantly about the cold and lack of breakfast etc. all the way to Angel. Once we'd stopped and got money out we headed off to the wrong bridge. Then we headed off to the right bridge to meet two of David's friends.

Drop 1# prior to arrival

We ended up a peloton of Aluminium (Cinelli), Carbon (Merida* citation need) and steel (Kona and Condor).

Down through Chelsea and into Putney we stopped first in Richmond park at the cafe to get some coffee and belated breakfasts where required. Chat centred around Local government and bikes before long as we all found common ground.

It was sometime later that I first started to suspect the circuitous nature of the route we were embarked upon as we passed through Berrylands and Surbiton. I'd spotted Hampton Court and Staines on the route and assumed we were doing a different way there than back. As we approached Surbiton Cricket Club it was announced that we'd arrived at stop 2.

We had taken a slight detour into suburban Surrey to view a recent addition to the bike family of a friend of some of the group. A lovely new Canyon Endurace with full Dura Ace. Very pretty and well worth the extra miles. It (and the rider) didn't join us due to missing  pedals and inclement weather... another time maybe.

Drop #2 in the carpark of the cricket club

Across Kingston Bridge and down the dual carriageway to Hampton court. Previous rides out this way I had gone along the Thames Path, but it was muddy and we had much more road bikey bikes with us on this trip. That said as we came around Staines we managed a small off road section before finding a lot of ponies and a window manufacturer in one particularly dead end.

Upon arriving at windsor we briefly considered the "All you can eat Thai Buffet" before settling on the roughest pub in  Windsor. The falafel burgers may have been in the freezer as nobody working there was even aware it was a menu item. By the time the food arrived we were all starving and it was very well received.

The journey back was much swifter and easier than the route there. Despite rain and high winds (headwind in both directions... Oh yes) we were quickly back at Southall and before long I knew where I was without recourse to my phone.

It was during the more straightforward sections that I came to the following conclusions

• Isambard Kingdom Brunel makes nice bridges
• Southall smells nicer than many suburbs
• There are a lot of dual carriageways in London
• Oxford street is full of blind aggresive idiots
• I wanted a very hot bath when we got back

I'm not saying David and my bikes are heavy but we were at the back quite a bit. This isn't unusual for me but it is for David.

When we got back to Stokey I stopped at "mother earth" because I needed bread and eggs and they needed (apparently) all of the money I had on my person. I'd just started running a bath when Kev rang to see if I wanted beer that evening.

I did

Unsolicited day rides required

At some point during the pub crawl last Saturday I agreed to go on a ride to Windsor and back this coming Saturday. I distinctly remember it being mentioned and I'm fairly sure I wasn't going. I had planned to ride to Brighton (Brighton or summat - the extent of my mental planning process). However it turns out I had been invited and I was yet to confirm. This will be a gentle 50 miler with mostly complete strangers and by the looks of it as little extra equipment as it is possible to mange with. Not because any of us are weight weenie's but because nobody can be arsed to drag too much stuff for a short ride.

As per usual with this type of thing we're going to attempt to start spectacularly early.For everyone to start from Battersea Bridge at 08:30 we'll have to leave Stoke Newington at 07:30. To be on the safe side that is. I could leave at 08:00 and welly it down but that never really works because there is always roadworks somewhere in London.

Also, as per usual, I have no idea where Windsor is or how I get there. I just googled it and apparently I need to ride on the M4. This seems unlikely but not entirely implausible. My Solo ride back from Cambridge the other year involved large sections of the non motorway A1 (i.e. not the A1(M))

This brings me back to my cycling club dilemma. I would dearly love to get out for more group rides. The easiest way to do this is to join a club of some kind. Local to me is a traditional cycling club and an audax club. I aspire to some of the long range audax rides but only when I fully understand the rules, however I have a heavy steel bike and so would feel out of place on the club rides where my pride might get the better of me. I can't be off chasing down a skinny 60kg club guy on a sub 7kg bike when my bike and rider combined weight is closer to 100kg (or 1/10th of a metric ton as I like to think of myself)

Maybe I should follow Groucho Marx's example...

upgrading and the dangers thereof...

One of the dangers of falling for a sport (or sports), instrument, hobby etc. Is the constant pressure to upgrade. Whenever I'm actually riding my bike at speed I'm perfectly happy with it. When I'm off the bike there are a few things I'd like to change, however it totally depends what I'm using it for going forward. Last year I put on and took off two sets of tri-bars, changed the stem and bars, took off the mudguards and rack and lowered the handlebars. This is because I wanted to race. Going forward it needs a new chainset and wheels (whatever discipline I choose to be involved in), however any other changes depend on how mny bikes I'm allowed.

Ideally this would become a day-bike and light tourer (Strong wheels and tyres and the matching Sora or new FSA chainset. Maybe a better rack)This after all is what the bike is effectively designed for.

That would mean that I needed a bike for racing (triathlon, dualthlon), club rides and sportives. The Kona would become the be-fendered and brooks'd comfort ride.

I could however get new and lighter parts for the Kona. I've seen a honky tonk with Carbon forks and seatpost, lighweight wheels and a racing saddle. I'd still be looking longingly at the bikes parked outside the cafe in Richmond park.

Ideally, in the long run, I'd like a bike like the charge plug 5 for most usage. On and off road, light touring and bikepacking. I'd then like the Condor Super Acciaio (above) with carbon finishing kit for racing and long distance speed rides.

The hill that beat me (reprise#2)

3 years ago, whilst in the early stages of training for LEJOG, I wrote a blog post about cycling around Richmond park. I had trouble with one of the hills. I wrote about how I hoped to return and beat the hill once I had improved.

I wrote about achieving this in a post back in 2013, however today I noticed a new development

This morning I rose early to meet Jonny at Richmond Park. The plan was for me to cycle down and back, but we would do a couple of laps of the park and have a catch-up. The day that I had gone to the park for the first ride, Jonny didn't make it due to a crash. He was ok but I'm not sure we've ever ridden it together. 

The ride there took a little longer than I remembered but it is effectively the first hour of the Bike to Bestival route.

We set off in the same direction as the very first time. Very quickly we were on the beginning slope of the hill. A couple of minutes later we were at the top. I had had so much trouble with this short sharp hill only a few years earlier. But today it was over before it really began (to paraphrase Morrisey). 

It's odd how perception of effort changes over time. Today's problem or challenge can quite easily become a daily achievement with enough hard work.

I noticed a similar effect with the Dunwich Dynamo. The first year it seemed incredibly far. A gargantuan achievement. This year it rained and I cycled the whole thing with road rash down one leg... and yet it seemed so much more manageable. I wonder if that's how I'll feel about triathlons by this time next year?