Winter riding #2: Still not remembered the mudguards on...

I've been getting out every Sunday afternoon now for the last couple of months. A quick 35-45km ride up to the M25 and around a few country lanes, before heading back home. It's been taking me 1.5-2.5 hours because of traffic towards the beginning and end of each ride. What I'm starting to find peculiar is the routine of it. This ride in all it's variations has started to resemble my laps of the park. I can't go much further out because of the time it takes to get back. By 2.5 hours I'm busting for the loo and I've run out of water. A combination I particularly hate.

When riding a sportive or a ride from A to B the first stop is normally a couple of hours in. Go to the loo. Get some more water. Eat a bit. Get going. Repeat. the only ride in London I've done with any regularity, that even comes close to this is the Richmond park run.

The ride from my house to Richmond park is about 25km. Each lap is around 10km with a cafe at one end and a toilet and tap at the other. Effectively this means you can ride down there and then stop for a bite and a drink. Do a few laps (Stopping to use the loo) and then stop for a coffee and sandwich before heading back home. The whole ride is between 50 and 90 km and you feed yourself twice with a couple of loo stops. Basically an "in city" sportive on open roads. The ride there and back can be a little dull and for some reason always takes 90min on the way back.

What astounded me today was that I'm riding in the same kit that I rode spring and late summer rides. Admittedly there's a merino base layer and the gilet isn't coming off... but still. It's been startlingly windy. Enough to stop me dead-in-my-tracks last weekend, but this time last year I was wearing my jacket over a jersey.

Winter riding

Despite not getting around to putting my mudguards back on yet I'm starting to get weirdly excited about riding this winter.

Emma is back from the bike shop with new cables so for the first time since August I will have most of my gears back.  I have enough winter kit -well nearly enough- I've asked Santa for windproof dwr bib tights. I can cope with the conditions. I can do either windproof and warm, or rainy. I have a thick soft shell for very cold weather and a thinner one for most weather. In short I feel prepared. Weatherproof gloves, shoe covers, tights,  bright lights. 

I'll fit the mudguards and plan some winter routes that allow for slower slightly longer distances, some hill climbing but less fast descents. In short I hope that come Late Feb when I have a hilly sportive planned I'll be in better shape than last year. 

I'm hoping regular yoga, running and either swimming or weights will help. We'll see. I might be more stressed by work than I've ever been but I'm happier and healthier than before. I'll review all the kit as I go throughout the winter. 

Alienation and your local bike shop

Difficult to believe but just because somebody works in a bike shop it doesn't mean they know a lot about bikes.

I try whenever I can to buy at my local bike shop. I've blogged about it in the past. Sometimes you don't need that part that you've been researching online and whatever is in stock at you local bike shop (LBS) is going to be just fine. My saddle, stem, seatpost and wheels were all bought online after extensive research. My headset, bottle cages, tyres, cables and saddle pack were all bought at an LBS after taking their advice. Absolutely happy with all the above items. I've even bought online and contacted my LBS for fitting costs... And happily swallowed them because labour and skills cost money.

I took Emma in to my LBS to get the parts that had worn out in spectacular fashion last week replaced. The chain was measured...

"You replaced that in June"
"Oh. Have you thought about replacing the groupset?"
"Yes, but not before Christmas. I thought maybe before spring though."
"Well 10 speed is fine but you'd need new wheels for 11..."
"No. There's a spacer fitted by you to run the 9 speed. "
"Really?"

Then he went on to tell me that 105 is 10 speed and tiagra is old but probably what I should fit to a
Bike like mine. Wrong on point 1 and the 2nd is subjective.

I'm not going to name the bike shop because I know full well that if the owner had not been busy trying to serve a tricky customer then he would have called him out on some of this. All I suppose I'm saying is that like many things, the right choice is subjective. If I'd been sold the Claud Butler alu road bike I'd gone into Evans to buy in 2003 I'd have ridden that for LEJOG. As it was I got a specialized commuter that I replaced with Emma in 2011. Ironically that did end up working out for the best but at an extra cost of £600 to me.

Anyway. After assessing what needed to be done (and consulting with the owner) they did what I asked and Emma is waiting for pick up. I have 2 cycling mad friends who won't use my favourite bike shop because of past experiences. Assistants need to be a salesman where an excuse is needed and a solution when money is tight. I'll continue to patronise my LBS because I know Emma will come back to me better for the visit. I know the onsite mechanic loves her too. Just maybe not the floor staff.

Already looking forward to the London bike show.

I'd really like to buy a new bike this year. My trusty Kona is a lovely bike but...

• The wheels are heavy and nearly worn through at the rim,
• The chain set is a little shonky (It's actually fallen apart once on a ride)
• The rear derailler is bent beyond repair (by that I mean I've been told not to straighten it again)
• The brakes are awful (I realised the brakes on the brompton are much, much better)

I looked at replacing all the worn parts and I'm looking at a few hundred quid, which I might still do if I'm allowed to have 3 bikes.

David and I are off to the London bike show ostensibly to get him a new bike, and whilst I'm not in the position to buy one yet, I'm using the opportunity to see some possibles and some unobtainables in the flesh (carbon,steel and ti)

What do I need from this bike?

• Light. It's all relative isn't it? I mean around 8-9kgs for steel or ti and 7-8kgs for a carbon offering
• Comfortable. I'm going to ride it for 20 out of 24 hours in August
• Reliable. See above.
• Something I'm proud to ride.

I'm probably going to carry 2-3 water bottles a snack and a jacket, tool, 2 tubes, snacks, batteries, more food, and a first aid kit (did I mention snacks?). I'm thinking that it'll need to be sturdy.

My list at the moment is...

• Canyon Endurace (probably the Ultegra but I'd love the Campagnolo Chorus)
• Orro Oxygen
• Van Nicholas Ventus
• Starley (something unmemorable like a number)
• Planet X - RT58

I'd also like to look at lots of others. Weirdly the endurace in a size small is almost the exact same proportions and dimensions as my Kona...

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?

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.

Continuous improvement through reckless experimentaion

Triathlon preparation, like much in life, seems to be an endless series of experiments and purchases

Running
After injuring myself in 2012 and taking the first half of 2013 to recover I  was nervous about running. I first tried "barefoot" running in the Saucony Hattori shoes (I reviewed them here). Once that worked I realised I wasn't going very fast/it wasn't comfortable for longer than an hour/i had no grip at all* in the wet. I bought some merrell road shoes. Got used to them and then realised I preferred the Hattori. I have experimented with the following...

• Shoes
• Breathing
• Training patterns
• hydration equipment (bottles/bladders)

Cycling
I have made a few changes to the bike...just a few. None of which I have settled on. I even bought a brompton (which in this blog I'm going to call my "winter trainer"*). I am now panicking as the bike has transformed into a racier machine, just as I realised I'm doing the Dunwich Dynamo in 2 weeks and may need to convert it back a bit!!*

• Removed rack
• Removed second bottle cage
• Lowered handlebars
• Extended stem
• Added a small saddlebag and a bento box
• Tried 1980's bar extensions (FAIL)

In a box to do whenI get home tonight I have a 

• Change of  handlebars
• Modern ICU approved tri bars (we'll have to wait and see)

Swimming
I could not swim far or in open water. Given my  lack of ability, swimming  kit and experimenting has been kept to a minimum. I read"total immersion" and applied it.

• 2 different pairs of goggles
• Different pools
• Swimming in the sea
• 1 ill informed wetsuit purchase

Other equipment:

• Bryton cardio 60 triathlon watch - currently broken due to swimming in it...
• Zoot Tri Suit
• 2 running vests
• 2 pairs of running shorts
• 2 running t-shirts
• 1 running jacket
• 1 pair running tights
• I thermal running top

* The author is prone to gross exaggeration

Cambridge to London

“I’m still not sure which wheels to put on tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry, but your bike has no wheels?”

“Not yet, but should I go with touring or racing wheels?”

“Which ever you like but you’ll be at the station at 08:58? It’s nearly midnight.”

And so started a conversation that I had cause to recall as a sound like a single pistol shot went off in the train carriage at 09:10 the following morning.

“I think that’s your tyre David? Should the other one be bulging out off of the rim like that?”

“Probably not. I’ll let it down.”

The morning had started with a leisurely ride to Finsbury park station to meet Vera. We carried our bikes to the platform before I popped back for coffees. I didn’t hold out much hope that 2 coffees coming to £2.80 would be up to much… and I was right.

2 minutes before the train was due to leave David’s head popped in to view. With three of us and our bikes blocking the back of the train and Tanya at the other end we progressed to Cambridge.

At Cambridge station we found a quiet corner and whilst David and I dismantled his bike, Tanya went for coffee. I realised at this point that my budget bib tights were in fact a giant leotard, and that I was going to have to get naked to use the toilet.

Highlights of the day included:

A lovely ride through the countryside
Drizzle (Not rain)
Lunch in a cricket pavillion
French onion  soup in a garden centre
Heated toilet in said garden centre
Lee valley river path in the dark
Fallen trees on said river path
IKEA at Enfield
A mixed use path from Enfield to Tottenham
A bath
Sausage and mash

Ready for the off part 2

In typical fashion it took about 2 hours to sort out the bike ready for tomorrow. Again in typical fashion, whilst I checked the oversized bidons fitted the cages, they do not fit the frame. I'll take the two Alu ones and a 1 ltr bidon in the saddlebag.

Stuff I've packed

First aid kit
Spare tube
punture repair kit
multitool
Swiss army knife
Banana chips
vegan bars
protein snacks
peanuts
banana chips
coconut water (I'll be carrying 3 ltr of fluid at start)
swimming kit
regular clothes
batteries
iphone charger
headtorch
waterproof jacket

On the bike I have an iPhone mount, Carradice Barley bag, Zefal pump and bidons in Bontrager cages. I also have 2 sets of lights on the bike. My regular ones and a little blinky set as backup. I think that's everything... Just need some fig rolls and tpo make sandwiches...

Distance and relativity

I've just totted up the distances I've logged on the MWA app since I changed my tyres at the end of april. From the 28th of April to the 4th July I logged 701.8km.

It's all relative...

When I started riding in preperation for the LEJOG ride a couple of years back I would have been astounded at the volume of kms stated above... In fact I was as that was the sort of distances I had scheduled in for training. In reality 300km of the above is training rides. The rest is transportation.

When I got the brompton I was doing about 16 km a day as my round trip commute and found it exhausting at first and exhilerating after that.

By the time I started on the Kona the commute was 32-34km each day as a round trip but I didn't do it every day.

I saw both these as training rides. Now it's just transport.

In the end I thought of the ride to Brighton more as a fun day out than a training exercise. I don't know about you but I think that's a good thing.

London to Brighton with Vera

Variety is the spice of life, and so instead of cycling to Richmond at the crack of dawn before riding circuits with Dan and Warren, I cycled to Brighton with Vera.

We agreed on a slightly later start of 10:00 a.m. thinking that we could easily cover the 95km from our meeting point in 5 hours riding, with an hour or so off the bike, we’d be in Brighton by 16:00. OK so we may take until a little later but not much. An ice cream and a quick dip than back home for tea.

Vera was on  her new Surly Long Haul Trucker (in a 46cm frame) with mountain bike wheels and gearing. Last time I'd ridden with Vera she was on  a junior Fuji track bike so the Surly might manage the hills with a little more ease.

We set off using the route we both knew down from Tower Bridge down Tooley Street, following the river down through south London before heading towards Catford and on to Bromley. From  there we wiggled about a bit (yes this is the actual technical term for it). 

The aim was to head for Turners Hill and follow the largely downhill and straight route from there… Up the Ditchling Beacon and descend into Brighton.

I’ve checked the route we used on the magic that is google maps and it is between 101-106km in total and not 95 like we thought. So what’s 10km? Well we went a little off message and added a bit more onto the total journey. Even now though google maps reckons 6 hours or so so we should have been there by 17:00.

The route went well (apart from us not being able to locate the biggest hill on the whole route and accidentally joining the A23 for a 5 mile stretch) and with minimal checking of maps and GPS we made it to Brighton in  one piece.

It was however incredibly hot with a sun baking down onto Vera’s cumulative sunburn and my head-to-toe covering of cycling gear to ward off the rays. Mmmmm Toasty! The photo below shows the effect of the sun through the holes in  my gloves!)

We got to Brighton in a weird bank of fog (which was obviously hiding the beacon from us) and sat drinking coffee on the beach. Not the refreshing dip we had packed our swimwear for. In fact the sea was too rough for even a paddle. We were exhausted. It had taken nearly 7.5 hours including breaks in the baking sun. We had only eaten a couple of sandwiches and some heat remodeled chocolate bars (Tip: “breakaways” don’t travel well in direct sunlight… Who knew) and flapricots… the result of flapjacks melting into apricots.

The chat was mostly cycling related with time enough to discuss starting a religion of sorts (Motto: You die that’s it deal with it… Have a stick on beard) and Class war in relation to Mumford and sons. All in all a lovely day out.

I got back home at 21:00 to find Sophie had run me a bath and prepared dinner. I was so grateful for that.

The perfect bike

Everyone is looking for it and nobody finds it. The problem is that all bikes are designed to do a few things well. Wnat to cover 60 miles in three hours? Carbon road bike. Want to be able to walk when you get there? Steel Audax bike (But it'll take you 5 hours). Want to ride trails? A mountain bike. Want to commute as well? Cyclocross bike (But it has no suspension so you can't "Downhill")

With this in mind...

I bought my current bike in the run up to the supported LEJOG ride a couple of years back and for this it was spot on. A lightweight steel road bike with 28mm puncture proof tyres with braze ons for rack and mudguards.

I tried touring on it the following year and found it a little flexi at the back with panniers and a fair old amount of heel strike. This year I fitted smaller tyres and mudguards as I expect to do the Dun Run and I have masses of toe-overlap

For my current needs (in my head) I need this bike here. Although what would be useful on a daily basis is probably my old brompton.

Which brings me to Rule 12. The correct number of bikes to own is N+1 where N is the number of bikes currently owned.

Bike stuff

Whilst we were out on Sunday a couple of things occurred to me about cycling that I thought it might be good to share. I appreciate some of you regularly do long rides, but some of you might not


False flats
This is the name given to sections of a road race course that were you watching it on the telly box, or indeed riding it, you would assume are flat but are in fact not. Going from the flat to a hill in open countryside (where you have a horizon, objects to work out scale and distance against) is one thing. You can judge your speed and gear selection before making a measured approach.

On slightly more closed in roads (overhanging trees or high hedges) you will often get a false impression of the incline/decline of the road. On occasion you will be convinced that you are going down a gentle incline to a little hill at the bottom when in fact you are already climbing and it's about to get steeper. Your eyes will only tell you so much. You need to trust your legs.

A short section of the ride on Sunday conformed to this type and it gets really tempting to try and work it all out. In reality a better approach is to relax and see what happens.

Bottomless puddles
Water collects in depressions in the road to form puddles. During a rainy part of the ride several cars went through the same puddle at speed. Each one of them made a crunching/slapping sound as they grounded the bodywork into the water. Under the puddle was a pothole the size of a car wheel.

Where possible avoid riding through puddles on roads you don't know, especially those on un-edged country roads as who knows how deep they'll turn out to be.

Never pass up the chance to use an actual toilet
You never know where the next one will be. Ditto for filling up water bottles, buying extra fig rolls etc. If you get a chance...take it. I went on a ride to Brighton and spent ages looking for the perfect pub lunch... only to find they'd all stopped doing food and I had to go to a tearoom instead as it was all that was open. Hardly a hardship, but in Holland I very nearly missed the chance to eat for a whole day by forgetting to buy food before I joined a cycle route through the middle of nowhere.


Anyway... That's all for now


Dominic

London to Hengelo

Dave and I recently went on a brief cycle tour, the long way round the Netherlands, to visit our old friend Adam. Highlights included a 20 mile dyke/road across the north sea, the sheer volume of public art, naked saunas, very flat riding and trappist beer...

Countdown to departure

This Saturday I set off on my trip around the Nederland. The trip has two real purposes:

  

•      Go and see my old friend Adam who lives out that way,
•      Get out on the bike away from it all for a few days.

The main problem with any form of cycle holiday is getting to and from your start. What is the point of starting at home if that means that it would be several days of cycling to get to the bit you wanted to do? On the other hand it seems extremely wasteful to transport my bike by train to another country and only ride upon arrival. One potential long-term solution for me would be to go back to using a Brompton for this type of trip. The bike then becomes a travelling companion rather than a means to a holiday in itself.  For this ride I have to put the bike into a bag (disassembled rather than folded) and carry it between trains. 

Packing is quite amusing. My bike is the Kona Honky Tonk2009 that I used for the LEJOG ride last year. I have added a rack and panniers (review upon return) but little else. A bike of this sort has clipless pedals and a stiff saddle, which means special shoes and shorts. For comfort I will also need gloves, cycling tops for different weather and waterproof clothing just in case. One pannier is full of cycling gear, whilst the other has regular clothes.

I would quite like to sort out a touring solution that allows minimal dual kit. Seamless reinforced trousers and a brooks saddle for example, would eliminate the need for additional trews and shorts... Especially if I were cycling between trains or planes etc...

Anyway for now I have had to purchase:

•       Ortleib back roller waterproof panniers
•    Tortec tour ultralite rack
•      Cinelli bike bag
•    Plus vegetarian and vegan energy and protein snacks just to be on the safe side...

We’re on the Eurostar by Saturday lunchtime with a 36 hour stop in Haarlem...

Kit reviews from my LEJOG ride

 Kona Honky Tonk 2009 model

As an overall package this is fantastic all round bike. It held up without any real problems through rough road, high speed riding, light off road riding, hill climbing and riding in torrential rain on flooded roads. The gearing is a little high, and I found myself envious of Dan’s Charge Juicer with 3 front rings and mudguards, on a number of occasions. As complaints go that’s not really much is it. The bar tape and seat feel cheap, but do you know what, they work and are comfortable and hardwearing. I only needed to change the pedals and mount extras (pump, cages, saddlebag) to turn this into a proper lightweight tourer.

Shutt VR – Merino Cycling Jersey

I ended up wearing this for about 12 of the 17 days we were out. In the rain it kept me warm, in the sun it kept me cool. I had a backpack’s worth of stuff in the pockets, yet it still kept it’s shape. Mine was a gift from Shutt (we asked for kit and they kindly gave us a selection of samples as they were between seasons) and would have cost the same as my other shirts put together...however... In the end I could have managed with just this and a long sleeved top.

Bontrager Hard Case All Weather tyres 700x28

I pulled six shards of glass out of these the day before we left, numerous stones and thorns on the trip and not one puncture. Quite a hard ride but I had as much grip as I could ever expect in all conditions, on and off road. 1400 miles without a puncture. Enough said

Bontrager Classic Caps

A black technical one to wick the sweat from my head and keep the sun out of my eyes. A white merino one to keep my head warm in the rain. Both worked a treat. My trip would have been less comfortable by far without these.

Shimano – Sora Drive train, Pedals, Shoes

The only components I had problems with were all Shimano. The rear derailleur bent and the cleats in my right shoe broke when the pedal release mechanism seized. All fixable, nothing permanently broken. I was very unhappy at the time, but this is all entry level kit asked to do a 1,000 mile tour. Things break

B-twin bib shorts

£29.99 and the reason I still have a working bottom. A head and shoulders above the other shorts at this price, and the cheapest bibs I found.

Vulnerable/invulnerable

I am really enjoying the commute to work in the mornings and am beginning to appreciate the potential of night riding. In the past I have only commuted on a full size bike (non folder)where it gets dark on the way home, not when it is dark at the outset and murky for much of the journey. I have got a great light on the front that I can turn to constant. I have it directed slightly down so I can spot the potholes on the less well lit streets of Hackneyville. A couple of potholes I’ve spotted recently could swallow not just a Brompton wheel, but most of a full size road bike. Some of these (What’s larger than a pot... Bath) holes are in dark streets too.

The Brompton, whilst less stable and more affected by potholes, was less worrying to ride in the dark. I guess it felt more nimble and there was no cross bar in the event of a prang.
I do feel vulnerable with skinny wheels and derailleur’s front and back, and I do think they probably need adjusting again. Ideally I would have a Reynolds frame, with hub gears, hub dynamo, bullhorn or moustache bars, brooks saddle and tape and vittoria randonneur tyres (or similar).

Whilst looking at bikes to help a colleague out we came across this...



Cyclocross bikes are being touted as ideal commuters with a little off road capability... although this looks like an able commuter with more than a little of the “round-the-world” or off road capabilities. I really like hub gears, steel frames, drop bars... If only I still believed in Santa and unlimited space

Sausage-skins for tyres

I have already had a couple of punctures on my new bike. I realise that not having armoured tyres means that this is more likely, but in three weeks I have had two punctures. I only had 2 punctures in 4 years of riding the crossroads, and 0 the 6 months of Brompton ownership I managed before an untimely theft.

I have also had to take the bike back under warranty to get the front derailleur and rear brake adjusted as they’d stopped working properly. The bikes that I had as a kid I rode harder and more often than the bikes in my adult life, yet had less go wrong with them. Are bike manufacturers too busy chasing the weekend warrior market to make multi use everyday bicycles?

I picked the Kona because, with 25mm tyres and steel frame, it seemed to be sturdier than the average road bike in alu/carbon. It probably is, and the way I ride I should probably have 4 season Kevlar tyres on...