Fate...

I planned out a nice big circular ride today. I went up the Warwick Road as far as Warmington hill & then across to Edge Hill & on to Sunrising hill & then back to Banbury through Wroxton. I used to do this ride a lot back in my MTB days & it was about right for a good little session. Googlemaps tells me it's 16 miles which to be honest was a little bit too much for me today.

I decided the tires needed some air & found my presta adapter for my foot pump but it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as air was coming out of the tube faster than it was going in! I managed to get around 80psi in it & then thought best to leave the other tire alone. The route took me past Ray's so I decided to pop in to say hello & blag a go on his pump. We made some arrangements to go do some miles together soon & then I was back in the saddle, tires properly inflated & raring to go.

No sooner had I got to the roundabout I saw a road biker heading in the same direction & he slowed down to speak. Well it turns out it's my old riding partner Tony B! I was stoked to see him as we had been speaking about getting together to catch up as it's been years since we met up. I do believe in fate, I mean what are the odds that he would be riding at the same place as me at the same time!?

We had a bit of a chat whilst we rode & as he was training he had to get on with it. We said our goodbyes & he left me for dust. Goes to show what regular bike riding can acheive & he was soon just a dot on the horizon but I was stoked up on seeing him again.

The rest of the ride went OK for me, again I struggled a bit on the up hills & am thinking more & more that a drop of a tooth on my chainring might be a wise idea until im back to some form of good fitness? I was comforted by memories of Tony & I riding bikes which all came flooding back as I crunched through the miles. Memories of us riding Bombers & BMX's as kids, riding our 1st MTB's (Dawes) together, riding our GT Karakorams on these very roads that I was rolling on today. So many good laughs we had & most due to our common love of bikes.

The ride complete I popped into Mum & dad's for a round of tea & toast & was soon heading up home again. Checked over the bike once home & the chain was a little slack so I reset the back wheel & chain tension & had a play with the brakes to see how they function.

Feeling a bit tired now so may have a rest from riding tomorrow? that is if I can keep myself off of it!

Lap of Banbury...

Decided to do a lap of the old home town this morning. When I went to bed last night I was planning the route, bearing in mind any bad up hills I would struggle with! & going through it street by street to get the nearest I could to the edge of town at all times. The route turned out to be 11 miles & took me a little under 1 hour to complete. The hardest part was Bankside which is a series of consecutive up hills & my legs were finding it very hard work by the last of them! Pleased with the route & it worked out well so I'll be doing it again soon to see if my speed is improving? I am feeling a little more comfortable on the bike, found some good rhythm on parts of the ride but I'm wondering if a 41t chainring to replace the existing 42t might be in order? The rims have a noticable join in them which make a clicking under braking, hopefully they will improve with use.

Need to get my SPD shoes sorted to get more power into my pedal stroke & also get the bloody bottle cage sat in my shed bolted on (or maybe a Camelbak is in order? hmmm...) My breathing was slightly better today due to a few puffs on the old brown inhaler pre-ride.

I felt tired this afternoon but also looking forward to tomorrows ride out. Just gotta get another route planned.

1st road ride...

I decided to take a little road ride around a couple of villages & I'm well impressed with the bike. I am not however, impressed with my road bike riding abilities! I went out to North Newington then across to Wroxton before heading back into Banbury. A total of 7 miles & I found the going quite tough. My main problem was my ashma kicked in as I was sucking in so much cold air. The up hills with a single speed are hard work but I'm looking forward to nailing them as my fitness improves.

Watch this space...

1st ride...

After stripping the seat & post off to check it was all greased in the threads properly, I set the seat & bars up to suit me & then I took her round the block a few times. Man what a different ride to what I'm used too! goes like the proverbial shit/shovel...

Christmas 2008

Welcome

I thought I'd create a blog for the experiences I have when out riding my new bike. I intend to list the routes I do & mileage covered, in order to see the progression in my riding. My fitness levels are not a patch on what they used to be & with my 40th approaching, I figured it's time to get fit.

I have been saving to get a Kona Paddy Wagon for a while & was just waiting to sell my old Kona Cindercone MTB which has now happened & my wife & I decided the new ride would be a nice Christmas present to myself.

I have been interested in having a single speed road going commuter bike for a while & seeing as I ride BMX's anyway, I thought it would be a nice way of keeping things familiar (no gears) & also be a good way to build up my fitness levels quicker.

I'm pleased with the Kona, the spec is nice & I think with a bit of tinkering, I'll be more than happy with it. It doesn't come with pedals & I've just put some old plastic MTB pedals on it for now but I intend to get some new SPD shoes & use my old Shimano SPD pedals as soon as poss.
I've not ridden a bike with drops on before & I intend to stick with them for a while until I can make an educated decision as to if I will keep them or go for a set of riser straight bars instead?

Being more or less completely different to what I'm used to riding, I'm sure it's going to take a while to settle into this style of bike but I'm looking forward to it immensely!

Winter...

It's a daunting time of year isn't it? All we have to look forward to is a good few months of shitty cold weather which consequently means lack of riding :-( I'm kinda 'between bikes' at the moment as I've got a couple waiting to sell to enable me to get a new one & get stuck into some cold commute! I'm hoping that the RAD Xmas doo won't be the next time that I dust off the 20" though?

I also notice that, as the season turns, you start to see less of your friends. This isn't a good thing & it leaves me wishing for a local indoor spot to keep the summer riding roll going & the social element that goes hand in hand with that.

Here's a seasonal piccy I took last night in my yard, one of my boys mates left his BMX out in the rain.:

On a positive note I'm off to spend 5 days in the tropical paradise that is Centre Parcs for some sorely needed R&R.

Lets hook up soon brothers...

Kona Cindercone ***SOLD***

1993 Kona Cindercone 18"

Recently completely stripped & rebuilt with 7 speed cassette & DX thumb-shifters, all in good working order & rides lovely :-) This was originally bought in 1993 as a frame-set (Frame, Forks, headset, Stem, Seatpost, seatclamp & brake guide) & built up with my own choice of components & groupset. Now quite sort after as these are pretty hard to find. I have picured the components before the bike was rebuilt for reference to condition. All the important original spec parts like the headset & stem are there with all the original plastic & rubber seals. Seat post moves in the frame no problem & the original brake guide for the rear brake is all there.

This bike is no 'garage queen' as she's been ridden for the past 15 years. Paint is rough in the usual places for a bike of this vintage & there is a very small dent in the top tube (see detail pics) which was done 10+ years ago & is only cosmetic.

Spec:
Frame - Kona Cindercone 18"
Fork - Kona Project II triple butted
Headset - Impact oversize
Stem - Velocity 1-1/8"
Bars - TransX risers
Seatpost - Kona racelight
Seat clamp - Kona
Seat - Free Agent Kevlar
BB - Shimano UN sealed
Cranks - Shimano Deore LX chainset 22-32-42
Pedals - Wellgo DX
Chain - sachs
Rear mech - Shimano Deore 9s
Front mech - Shimano Exage 500
Front Brake Shimano XTR canti
Rear Brake Shimano LX Canti
Brake Levers - Shimano Deore 2 finger
Thumb shifters - Shimano Deore DX 7 speed indexed
Grips - ODI longnecks
Barends - Bizhouse
Front hub - Shimano Exage 32h
Front Rim - Mavic 231CD
Rear hub - Shimano XT silent clutch 32h
Rear rim - Mavic 121
Cassette - Shimano HG30 11-28t
Tyres - Bontrager Revolt SuperX


Pics:

An Indian Summer...

Just got back from a session at Spiceball & the weather today was great so it would be a crime not to get rolling on the BMX. Surprised (& stoked) to see Sam Keene has blown off the cob-webs & bought Ibbo's old T1 setup & was back out sessioning again! Dan Tobe also keeping it real as usual :-)

Got a few nose picks onto the volcano from the spine down & came close to a tailwhip nosepick to fakie on the jump box which gave me the taste but was sadly not to be repeated... Ray was making it look effortless as per the norm & made some nice opposite stuff.

So maybe our 'summer' falls in the autumn now? who cares! you can't beat a nice little sesh with your mates when its sunny & warm ;-)

Still no sign of Sboy tho...?

Recluse...

My next door neighbour knows how mad on cycles I am, she told me that the house on the other side to her, had a bunch of bikes laying in the garden. Story goes that the guy who lived there was recently evicted as he never went out & evidently, never paid his bills either. I've never even seen the dude & I've lived here 2 years! So the place is a proper shit-hole, who ever lays out a mortgage on it will certainly have their work cut out...

Today I decided to go check the bikes out & see if there was anything that I could use as spares or maybe build up a ride to sell for a few quid. Here's what greeted me as I climbed over the fence:

This old Claud Butler Racer has been there so long that the wheels have actually dissolved into the mire:

As the drains are blocked with years of leaf litter the 'Path' is just a big puddle of shite & I dread to think what I was standing in?!

So I managed to salvage:

1 pair of plastic 9/16" pedals
1 alloy bottle cage
1 Kevlar seat

Which I wouldn't consider the greatest haul... It was fun to go nosing around & it is surprising how nature takes over when you let it. I'd like to take the Claud Butler but I'm certain it would be uneconomic to sort it...?

Oh & there was a nice wood saw just laying there so I gave that a good home too ;-)

Next...

I get bored not having a bike to tinker with, so I was in the shed today & thought fuck it, it's time Cinders was stripped, rebuilt & SOLD.

I've had my Kona Cindercone for 15 years now & she is starting to show her age. I know there are retro MTB guys looking for them so I'm going to clean her up as best I can & then see if I can sell her on to someone who will cherish her a little more than I have! The paintwork has worn in places but considering how long I've ridden her & the places she's been, she's still a damn fine piece of metalwork. I've pondered on powdercoating & other such luxuries but I don't have the funds to do that & besides I think these aforementioned retro MTB lovers would prefer to have it in the original colours that it left the showroom with?

Here's how she looked after riding in the Hell of the North Cotswolds in 2004







What no BMX?

Cruiser Update...

Well thanks to an 'anonymous' post on my cruiser resto thread, I have been in touch with the company that released this bike :-)

Turns out it was indeed an Australian hair-care products promotion & only a few were imported into the UK due to it's lack of lights & brakes.

Thanks to a stoolMX'er & Fudge for their help on this one ;-)