Freebie Oakleys

As part of the goodie bag from the IG Markets Nocturne, I got a set of the excellent Rich Mitch designed Oakley cards.

 

 

I love Oakley sunglasses and have had a pair of E-wires for sometime, complete with prescription lenses.  Sadly the prescription is a little out of date, so I was thrilled when my employer offered a benefit scheme to include getting a new pair of prescription sunglasses...for free.

 

I decided to go against the pro-peloton fashion and chose a pair of Frogskins...

 



Team support

I rode out to Whitwell today with the intention to race with some other members of my club, however I faffed about getting my bike ready, changing the cleats on my shoes and arrived at the sign on too late to get a place.

Instead of racing I cheered on my club mates and took a few photographs.

It was a very hot day to ride 58 miles at 23.6mph.

Cycling characters

With my Brompton folded and stowed away on the train, I generally pass the time by reading but it is kind of fun just to observe other people. In particular I like to see how other bicycle-carrying commuters manage on the train.

I occasionally see one chap who brings his road race bike onto the train and he removes the front wheel, angles his handlebar with the bike standing upright on the rear wheel and then he bungies it to the rail in the door area.

He was on my train yesterday and I watched as he disembarked and noticed that he had at least four GoPro cameras mounted on his bike and one atop his helmet.  This confirmed my suspicion that he is the Traffic Droid posting as SonofthewindsInc on YouTube. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0122n1g
https://twitter.com/SonOfTheWinds

I love the way he gives red cards during his commute :-)

http://www.youtube.com/user/SonofthewindsInc?feature=watch

Climb every mountain!

When I bought all of the components for my son's bike a couple of years ago, the intention was for him to race on it, so the gear ratios were chosen to be appropriate for Youth racing without the need to block off any sprockets. 

 

We chose the Shimano 105 group-set for the build and the GS medium-caged rear derailleur to cater for a big sprocket for some steeper, longer climbs like Mont St.Victoire in Provence and the Pyrenean Cols we ticked off last year.

 

However, my choice of chainset wasn't too clever. I went for a 165mm crank length which was fine but I worked out that a 38 tooth chainring was ideal for Youth gear restrictions and purchased a Stronglight 130BCD set up.  This was perfect for racing but, even with a 32 sprocket, not great for any climbs over 8% for a 10 or 11 year old and I couldn't go smaller with 130BCD.

 

This year my son and I are planning to tick off some Tour climbs in the Alsace region of France.  We decided to swap his front chainset to a compact and I coincidentally found a new SRAM APEX with 165mm cranks offered for sale at a reduced price. Buy it now.



The black coloured APEX goes well with the 105 groupset.

 

My son finds it much easier to spin up the climbs now and, whilst his racing is on hold, he can flick it up to the 50 tooth chainring and push a bigger gear.  Our average speed around one of the local training rides has increased by 1mph to 14mph, so the change is good and we are looking forward to conquering the Grand Ballon.

Life imitating art

I hit a pedestrian on my Brompton commute :-( The idiot stepped out into the road whilst looking left, ignoring to look to his right and I had no time to take evasive action. The weird thing is, once he realised what he had done he panicked and grabbed my left wrist almost pulling me off my bike. And, get this - he was a clearly a cyclist; wearing lycra and carrying a helmet.

I was wondering how to write about it with any lessons learned and could only come up with advice to pedestrians.  I recalled the Green Cross Code instructions with Dave Prowse acting as the Green Cross Code Man.  Dave is more famously known as playing the character Darth Vader in the Star Wars original trilogy.  Ironically Dave writes on his blog about having his hips replaced recently.

On my training ride today I was still mulling over what to write and whether I was feeling the need to commute slower/wear more high viz/make more noise.  I rode over to The Hub café in Redbourn and as I passed the Common I noticed there was some sort of fete going on with people dressed a little unusually. At the roadside, one such person was crossing the road (looking left, then right and left again) dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi. A Star Wars convention!

Advice to pedestrians planning to cross the road...use the Force ;-)

Race marshals

On our recent cycle to the Bike Bus, my son and I learned of the Fete du Velo plans in Redbourn village and, in particular, the planned road race organised by Simon Barnes of The Hub café. It was scheduled for Sunday afternoon and since we didn't have anything planned we thought we'd pop along to spectate.

 

 

The closed road race circuit went around Redbourn Common with great spectator vantage points. Whilst waiting for the race to commence, we were watching from a tricky corner and Simon drove passed and asked if we wouldn't mind acting as marshals and to keep an eye out for any cars ignoring the 'road closed' signs.

 

Now 'officials' we stood at the junction and watched the racing and I regretted not entering myself; only twenty had signed up because of the wet weather but the mixed category race was great. The weather dried up mid-race and I think there was only one retirement. Simon had arranged for several Primes throughout the race and even the last placed finisher took home a couple of steaks courtesy of a prize donation from the local butcher.

 

The race resulted in a group of ten making a break splintering the bunch and after about an hour they had lapped a few riders who managed to tag back on giving the judges a bit of difficulty.

 

I'd like to think that I could have hung on to the break and finished in the points, assuming I hadn't ridden 100 miles the previous day.

 



Rockin' that look!

sar·to·ri·al  (sär-tôr-l, -tr-)

adj.

Of or relating to a tailor, tailoring, or tailored clothing: sartorial elegance.

---

[From Late Latin sartor, tailor; see sartorius.]

 

I get up early for my commute to work and often get dressed in the dark. But unlike this fella I don't wear my son's shorts or my daughter's socks. 

The Rapha jersey improves the ensemble a bit ;-)