First of 09...

Just a short run out today. I went out on the Warwick Road & off to Horley & then across to Wroxton. These villages hold a lot of fond, childhood memories for me & it's always nice to pedal through them now & again. Didn't manage to get up the steep one out of Horley towards Wroxton (oh the shame) but I attacked the hill into Drayton a little better this time. Only 7 miles total today but 'every little helps' Went to see Duggie aftewards for tea & catchups, man he has the sickest Ti road frame - how light?!

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...