Newport 200k Audax

The weather on Sunday was almost perfect for a February day spent cycling. Yes, it was cold, but there was virtually no wind, and later during the day the clouds parted to reveal blue sky and SUN!

And so we left Cheadle at 8am and headed south on our journey to Newport.  Graeme and I pushed on strongly, and whilst Neil stayed with us Martin dropped off the back.  After a while we got onto the back of the lead group and swept through the Cheshire lanes.  Then, as Graeme and I turned right to follow the official GPX route, the lead group carried straight on – as did Neil.  So we two made our way to the first café stop, arriving before they opened.  However, they let us in and served us cake and coffee, before we set off again – still no sign of the other two.

Of course, much like last week, after a while we came across Martin chatting away with another rider.  We slowed to chat a bit and then agreed to meet him at the next stop, before pushing on.  We overtook a number of riders, and weren’t passed, as we continued to follow the GPX route.  Imagine our surprise then when first Martin, then the other riders we had overtaken, appeared in front of us.

Second café stop in Newport at the halfway point saw us suitably refreshed and then on our way again.  We blasted the second half north as fast as we could, the aim to arrive back in daylight.

The route was very nice – mostly back lanes – and the weather was just about perfect.  Throw in good company, and the satisfaction of hard work, and it was a great day.

Ride stats : 125 miles in 7hrs 15m @ 17.3mph.  4,318ft ascent, average HR 141bpm and 5,745 kcals used

Strava stats here

Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor Problems

The Garmin GSC10 speed/cadence sensor sits on the chain stay and has two “sensors” that record both the stroke of the pedal (cadence) and the rotation of the rear wheel (speed).  The sensors are in fact reed switches that are activated each time a magnet passes them.  The cadence switch is, I believe, in the body of the GSC10 and the speed switch is in the arm.

So I have three of these things on each of my bikes and have not had any problems.  Tonight on my commute home my Garmin started auto-pausing whilst I was moving, recording a 0mph speed.  This was intermittent at first but then just stuck at 0mph.  The cadence was recording correctly which meant that the unit was successfully paired with the 800.  When I got home, I tested it further using the small test light on the side of the unit, which flashes red when the pedal passes and green when the spoke magnet passes.  The red light was showing but no green.  A change of the battery didn’t help, nor did repairing the device.

So a quick search on the Garmin forums identified yet another common problem.  Yes, another.  It seems the reed switch in the arm can fail.  It’s not easily replaceable (of course some have managed it) but as my unit is several years old I’ve decided to bin it and just use the GPS from the 800.

So if you get some more strange behaviour on your cadence sensor then this might be your problem too.

Boardman Team Carbon – 10,000 miles!

I bought my Boardman Team Carbon just over 2 years ago for a shade under a thousand pounds.  Since then I’ve used it to ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, from London to Brussels, up to Stirling and pretty much all over the place!  It’s now clicked through the 10,000 mile and has been a great servant to me over that time.  It’s pretty light, has proved to be relatively robust and was a great first serious road bike.

This summer I’ll be changing to a Canyon road bike and my Boardman will become my winter training bike.  I hope the Canyon proves as comfortable and durable.

Sunrise Express Audax

The Sunrise Express is the sister ride to the Snowdrop Express and follows the same route, albeit in a clockwise direction as opposed to the anti-clockwise.  We rode the Snowdrop last year – post here.  Anthony and I arrived dead on time 20 minutes late, and Martin and Andrew were already ready to go.  As we got ready we told them to set off and we’d catch them up.

The weather was pretty windy and it seemed that heading south took us straight into it, so it was quite difficult in the flattish and open countryside as there was little shelter.

3030ft ascent

After about 20 miles as we rode down a lane we spotted Martin walking out of a field.  Anthony swore blind he saw a sheep smoking a cigarette behind the hedge! We pushed on and left Martin and Andrew.

The first café stop was at 30 miles and was at the side of the Avon.  Very nice scrambled eggs and a couple of cups of coffee whilst we waited for the other two, who unfortunately had punctured following a hedge clipping tractor.

Martin was sporting a strange light contraption on his helmet which earned him the nickname Davros as it looked like a Dalek hat.

EXTERMINATE!

We briefly chatted to a new clarion member walking her dog outside the café before setting off again.  It soon started raining and very quickly got very, very wet.  I’d removed my mudguards because they were rubbing my tyres and I regretted it as I gradually got wetter and wetter, muddier and muddier and colder and colder.  A brief coffee and cake stop later and we pushed on to try to finish.  At the end I couldn’t feel my toes or fingers!

Ride stats : 76.65 miles in 5hrs 1m @ 15.3mph.  3030ft climbing, average HR 134bpm and 3646kcals energy used

Strava stats here

 

Icy Feet

I have long suffered from icy feet when riding in the winter, and even during autumn and spring.  I’ve tried many solutions – two pairs of socks, socks plus polythene bags (yes, seriously!) – and I always wear overshoes.  But my feet have remained icy cold.  However, I’ve been wearing a pair of Defeet Wolly Bully 2 socks and I have to say they are the best that I have tried, keeping my feet warmer, for longer.  They don’t completely solve the problem on longer rides, but yesterday my feet were okay until quite a long time into the ride.

If you have the same problem then have a look at them.

Hebden Bridge Permanent Audax

This is one of Chris Crossland’s permanent audaxes and we’ve been meaning to do it since Christmas!  As it turned out this was Anthony’s first ride since our last outing just after Christmas and perhaps it wasn’t such a good choice!

7,465ft climbing (2.5AAA points)

We set off at just after 9am having got ATM till receipts as proof of start and immediately we turned into the big climb up Heptonstall Road out of Hebden Bridge.

This is a long and steep road which eventually becomes cobbled, just in case you think it’s a bit easy (to the left is a picture of me in Cycling Active doing the same climb on Seasons of Mist.)  At the top the road was still partially icy and the mist/fog closed in making it pretty cold and damp.  I put my lights on to find that the batteries were flat which meant I was down to my emergency mini-light at the front.  The fog and ice made the descents particularly tricky so we were on the brakes most of the time.

First coffee stop was JJ’s diner, followed by a stiff climb back up onto the tops, time for another brew at the Corden Activity centre café, before dropping back down into Hebden Bridge for the second of the two loops.  I took the opportunity to buy some batteries for my front light and then we were off again, this time taking the long drag up the Keighley Road.  The fog was quite interesting, being a real pea-souper up the climb, but completely dissipating down the other side.

My legs were feeling pretty strong up the climbs so I was quite pleased.  Best joke of the ride talking about schitzophrenia – “I’m not schitzonphrenic.  And neither am I.” shows how addled your brain becomes when knackered.

A nice bowl of soup at the Scartop Balcony Tea rooms and an argument about the pronunciation of the word scone (I pronounce it like “stone” and Anthony pronounces it wrongly) were the other highlights of the remaining bits of the ride, apart from the final fast descent into Hebden Bridge as the sun was fast setting – brilliant stuff.  Great ride, great effort by Anthony with zero 2012 miles in his legs before today.  Onwards and upwards.

Ride stats : 67miles in 5hrs 11m @ 12.9mph.  7465ft climbing, average HR 141bpm and 4,113kcals used

Strava stats here

North Cheshire Clarion Awards

Most Competitive Rider

Earlier in the month I was due to attend the North Cheshire Clarion annual awards dinner.  Having set off in the snow blizzard it soon became apparent that we wouldn’t get there and back so I had to turn round and go home.  Which means I missed a great night – some details of which can be found here.

Audax Grimpeur

Anyway, I was due to pick up some awards, which I got today in a spy-like exchange with Giles, the club secretary, within Evans in Manchester!

Audax Randonneur