Blogs

I live in a bike theft hot spot alas (it should be like horse theft in the Old West), so I thought I would share with you some of the musts for bike security.

I wish this were unnecessary...

1. Get a good lock or lock combo if you are running qr wheels.

2. Consider the bolt through axles of a SS if you are commuting regularly in the city.

How did this happen? 

Well, you know how it is?  You're looking for your next (possibly-mid-life-crisis-related) adventure/challenge, you bump into Mack in the pub and he suggests you hop on a charity cycle ride to raise money for the Paralympians.  Being a fan of the 'why not?' camp rather than the 'why', how could I say no to such a fantastic idea?  So, here I am signed up for Deloitte RAB 2012, Lands End to John O'Groats mammoth bike ride, yay!

It's all about the sausage. That's what Wattbike reckon. If you want to be a top level rider, you need to get your sausage sorted. I'll explain...

I’ve got some time in on the Wattbike over the past few weeks and thought I’d give you a quick look at one of it’s most interesting features: the Polar View.

What’s the Polar View? Over to Wattbike:

Just a few more days to go now until I board the plane to fly out to LA for the Track World Championships. It is these times, right before major competitions, that a lot of athletes can easily get it wrong. There is a natural tendency to panic and think that you must train extra hard and do lots of extra work in order to make sure you are completely ready to race. But this is the furthest thing from the truth.

*Ping*

E-mail from friend, usual suspects in the cc. Want to do this? Pedal to the Lewes Wanderers Reliability Ride that starts about 25 miles away, do that, ride home, stop for some cake somewhere in the middle, should be about 80 miles all in all.

Sounds just like a Sunday ride then, but a little bit different, a good day out.

Yes.

Whew!! It's been a very busy past few months. The Track Cycling World Championships are almost here now and preparations have been ramping up. I'm just back from my third training camp in the past 3 months and only have just over a week to go until I leave for Los Angeles and the final mini-camp before racing starts.

Sometimes I feel I’ve got a lot to say, other times I think I’ll just end up having a whinge so it’s better not to start writing during those times as the resultant ramblings would make pitiful reading!

As years go 2011 was a pretty monumental one in our house... and when I say house, I mean houses.

A change in role at work, a move of home and then within four weeks our first baby. All within 12 months and one week of getting married... bullets have left guns slower than that but throughout all of the chaos and settling in, I still maintained a bit of fitness and enjoyment on my bike.

Who could have imagined that we would ever be talking about improving braking on a road bike. Why bother? Last time I checked going slowly wasn’t the aim of the game. But it is coming, without doubt. Disc brakes on the road will be the buzz groupset development of Eurobike 2012 aka 2013 for the market. Fact.

A start in the pre-dawn and a stretch of the legs to meet up with the rest of the bunch. This one to remember a friend, taken from us so much too early, seven years to the day. Two of his old bikes make the start. A push up a hill if you're riding one: that's the rule.

The decision to ride fixed makes me nervous. But I have fresh bar tape. How hard can it be?

Early miles are lumpy, winding throught the villages and chatting. Past Chew Valley lake we string out, preparing for the climb. The Mendips loom. The 69" gear will be hard to turn.