More inches make a difference

Confirmation that the Brompton S2L was a handicap at the BWC. I was lent a P6R by my local Brompton dealership and the longer gear inches offered by the Sturmey Archer hub helped me achieve a new personal best time in the silly commute race today.

I'm in a dilema now. Aiming for a top 50 placing this August, should I modify my S2L or sell it to buy a new version?

I think I'm going to embark on a journey of modifying it.

Very happy Valentine

Bicycles are the new sports motorbikes/cars

I have owned both and (whilst I'm not sure I have got them out of my system entirely) bicycles are more appealing to me.  Today the BMC MC01 29er town bike caught my eye, but coffee came out of my nose when I saw the price. £4,499.99!!  This is clearly being marketed at the Swiss high net worth individual - who's sold his or her Ducati/Porsche.

Mountain biking

With only 22 mile commuting miles and one turbo trainer session this week, I needed to get out on a bike.  The mercury didn't get above -1 yesterday and reports of -10 overnight worried me about the condition of the roads so mountain biking was the obvious option.


I pumped the tyres up on my Marin Wolf Ridge (bought new in 2002) and took to the local bridleways accompanied by my 10 year old son riding his Trek Liquid 10.

Despite some of the local woods being developed for the forthcoming Center Parc there are still lots of excellent trails near my home. We did a short circular route choosing to return home earlier than planned when I lost the feeling in my fingers - retrospectively the Assos early winter gloves were an unwise choice for the temperature.

Mountain biking was my passion for many years, mostly cross country (and a taster of downhill in Courcheval in 2005) but in 2007 my interest in road biking was rekindled when I rode the 187km London to Canterbury stage of the Tour de France.

As well as the Marin, I have also got a 2002 Airborne Lucky Strike  titanium-frame hardtail which has undergone a few upgrades and with a few further planned.  If this cold weather continues then I think both of my mountain bikes are likely to see more use.

Snow stops play

Countdown to l'Ardechoise:

• 18 weeks
• Weight to lose - lots!
• Longest ride completed year to date - not nearly enough
• Average speed - optimistically improving
• Training plan - still not established
• Registered for any organised sportives - no
• Group rides - none

On the positive side: the Brompton commutes are getting faster (but only two this week), I still haven't lost a scalp in the Silly Commute Racing, my legs are beginning to feel stronger and head rush is getting more frequent.

Going nowhere

Only 33 miles on the Brompton this week and zero miles on a road bike. My mileage has been going down each week and the dieting isn't going too well either.  I need a training plan.



I bought a turbo trainer in 2008 to help me train for the Etape du Tour and I blew the cobwebs off it today.  There is nothing more boring than training in the garage, but with several inches of snow on the ground and freezing temperatures it was either that or mountain biking and the CycleOps was easier to get to in my cluttered garage.

My training routine is pretty basic; I warm up at a high cadence in an easy gear, go through a series of intervals, cool down with a fast spin on an easy gear and then finish with some stretching. I use my Garmin with the chest strap to monitor my heartrate and cadence. 

I realise there are some great looking screen-based training programmes and videos like the Sufferfest available but they are useless for me as I am short sighted and my glasses get steamed up and covered in sweat so I generally take them off. I'd need a 40" plasma screen in the garage just to see what I was supposed to be following.  Instead, I resort to listening to my iPod to help make the time pass.

I used my Wilier Izoard on the turbo today after swapping to an old (Schwalbe Ultremo) tyre on the rear wheel.  Whilst re-fitting the wheel I noticed that the bike's cable outers are beginning to crack.  They are Shimano Dura-Ace and I guess about 3 years old.  I will probably replace them with the Jagwire Racer cables but I can't decide on what colour outers to go for.  Changing the brake cables will also require fitting new handlebar tape and maybe I'll use it as an opportunity to try something other than Fizik.

Where to stay?

I watched Ridley Scott's film 'A Good Year' this week and it brought back great memories of 2010 and cycling along beautifully smooth roads lined by plane trees near Uzes in the Languedoc region of France.  My base for a week was a rented villa (sadly not like Russell Crowe's chateau) in the small market town of St. Quentin la Poterie.

Last year, whilst in France to race the Time Megeve Mont Blanc sportive, I stayed at the luxurious Chalet Apassion owned by my friends Rob and Vicky.  Whilst there I also 'ticked off' the Col de Joux-Plane and found a great circular route over the climb to Morzine and back to the chalet across the valley.  Normally I wouldn't consider re-riding a climb as there are so many others I'd like to achieve, but the mountains, the smooth roads and especially the chalet are so good I definitely intend to return, perhaps to watch the Dauphine Libere again.

Finding good accommodation can sometimes be a challenge especially when thousands of other cyclists are also trying to do the logistics for the same sportive.  The Ardechoise sportive is expecting 13,000 cyclists to participate!

Has anyone got any recommendations for accommodation in the Valence area?