Featuring the usual suspects

Featuring the usual suspects

Sunday 30 December 2012

Whinlatter 29 12 12



I don't think this needs any introductions. Seems to be a habit riding Whinlatter in the rain, especially on 29th of Dec. Well its better than snow surfing!

Friday 14 December 2012

An idiots guide to building a bike

Or........A guide to building an idiots bike
 

Part two: Decals

Rule # 57: No stickers -
 
Nobody gives a shit what causes you support, what war you’re against, what gear you buy, or what year you rode x,y & z See Rule #5 and ride your bike. Decals, on the other hand, are not only permissible, but extremely Pro.
 
So ensuring that I obey the rules I set about designing myself some decals for the new frame (they are definitely not stickers).
 
The decals have gained inspiration from several sources:
  • 5 four..3 - A spin on the Longitude and Latitude that this blog gets its name from.
  • Legs speak louder... & It's all about the bike - Paying homage to the Velominati rules and its disdain for a certain famous, now disgraced, multi Tour de France winner.
  • Ride 'till the bell tolls - a play on - 'Weekends are like recess for adults so play hard until the bell rings'  with a twist on mortality - Not sure who the original quote is from.
  • Hydrocross was the obvious (to me) amalgamation of hydraulic (brake) hydrocarbon (oil and carbon) cross (cyclocross and everything else crossed into the bike). When you see what else I have in mind for this bike you'll possibly understand the 'cross' bit.
  • Various other inspirations long forgotten but still in my head.
After a few weeks of messing around with various art work packages, confirming that some ideas were far too cheesy with Alan, my cycling style guru, and sticking paper proofs on the frame, this is what I came up with:
 
 

My next problem, getting someone to make them!

I sent the proof to some local vinyl decal suppliers and a few Internet suppliers. I got a few replies and initially went with the first to reply. After a week or two of endless questions from the supplier they still hadn't given me a price! I tried a local supplier who had responded, they obviously didn't want the job as they were as help full as..... well they just weren't. So finally I went with an Internet supplier who's price was fairly high but communications were great.

http://www.vinyllettering.co.uk/

I'm glad I did, my feeble attempt at designing looked good on paper, however the vinyl cutting software had different thoughts (probably why no one else would have a go!) Nick at vinyl lettering had to redraw the design again to get it right and then send the proofs back for me to approve. Even then the design in places is fiddly to say the least and took a fair amount of work to get right.

Applying the decals with the backing paper.
 
Thats 54..3 or 54 North 3 West. Latitude and Longditude of West Cumbria.


The finished article, I'm biased but it does look cool... to me.

So what I thought would be the easy bit, actually getting the decals, ended up a long winded affair but worth it. They are supplied in a three layer sandwich with the decal in the middle. After positioning each one in turn you remove the base paper and apply with the top paper still in place. After giving it all a good rub then the top paper is removed to reveal the decal.

So this is the frame ready to start building, the only second hand bit will be an old carbon seat post I have, everything else will be new. Hopefully some will turn up with a man with a beard on the back of a sleigh next week. (Yes........... my Dad's coming for Christmas!!)


Thursday 13 December 2012

An idiots guide to building a bike

Or is that.... a guide to building a bike, by an idiot.........you choose.

Part one....Frame


Over the last two winters I've refurbished and modified my 50 year old dinghy, this year I'm back in bike mode.

I've been dabbling with disc brakes on other bikes (rather than a mountain bike) for a couple of years without great success. I want a proper road worthy bike (drop handlebars and light weight etc) with good disc brakes (hydraulic) and Campagnolo gears (Italian). So it had to be carbon fibre with disc mounts.

In 2010 the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale is the governing body for international competitive cycling events.) Cyclocross bikes to compete with disc brakes, this change in the rules stimulated manufacturers to start developing frames and disc brakes for cyclocross they still have not allowed the same on road bikes and so road frames with disc mounts are very limited.

So with a few cyclocross disc frames available it seemed this was best way forward for my project. But as the development is very new so are the frames! Enter China..............

Its long been known that most bike frames are made in the far east and imported into Europe, the main bike brands do all the R&T and then get the frames mass produced in a factory somewhere around China or Taiwan etc. This way the suppliers can make a top of the range frame cheap and sell it in Europe with a big mark up. So how to cut out the brand middle man and go direct?

'Alibaba' is one answer: 'Alibaba Group is a family of Internet-based businesses which makes it easy for anyone to buy or sell on line anywhere in the world'. I'd stumbled across Alibaba a few times while doing searches but always thought it was, as the name suggests, a group of people selling slightly dodgy copies of stuff, so always steered away.

I stared searching for a frame in this country and did find a suitable frame at a fairly reasonable price. search for 'cyclocross carbon disc frame' and you'll soon see what I mean. However I wondered if i could get the frame cheaper, direct? So searching internationally I came across 'Miracle cycles' their main web site only does bulk orders but they had a link to the Alibaba site that does small one off orders http://www.aliexpress.com/store/409931. for a fraction of the cost of a very, very, very similar frame from the UK.

So the seed was sown, could I risk placing an order with a supplier in China? well after a week or two of deliberation, a few questions via Email with very quick responses (not great English but hay ho) I went for it. After a small delay in sending the order (they promised dispatch in two days, it took about 6) the parcel was sent. Two weeks later and daily tracking the parcel on its journey it arrived in the UK. Into customs and back out then arrived in the Carlisle showing 'awaiting customs payment' dohhh. I phoned them up, paid the charges and the very next day it was delivered. Total including shipping and import duties £360.

 

 
 
Rear fork


Full carbon fork with disc mounts.
 
My first impressions are the general quality is great, as good as my other road frame but for about 1/5th the price! I had a few niggles with resin in the head set bearing seat, this took about 3 min's with a file to sort. Lets hope the ride is as good as it looks!

The frame was supplied with a full carbon fork that tapers from 1 1/8 to 1 1/2. There was also the corresponding headset and carbon spacers supplied. (The headset and spacers would be £30 - 40 alone).

So is this a dodgy copy of a frame that sells for over twice the price in this country? I'll never know, but if it is, its a very, very, very, very good copy!

Sunday 2 December 2012

Skiing.

Long legs?
Winter is here again, hurrah. I got my skis out today, Max and I headed up to Great End.

The snow was really high well above 2500 ft, with the skis strapped to my pack and my big boots on I'm always bothered it might be a waste of effort if the snow isn't deep enough or the wrong snow!!

Yep you need the right sort of snow for my short snow blades, they are no good in powder, just sink in and you end up doing a face plant! What you need is good hard snow.


Great Gable from Wasdale


Great End from a frozen Lambfoot Dub
My boots are fully rigid Salomon winter climbing boots that I've modified to fit the snow blades, the bindings are very similar to a reversed crampon style that just clip on from the front. They a good compromise, fairly easy to walk in (for big rigid boots) and just about stiff enough to ski in (with a bit of experience and continually remembering to lean forward)


Big boots and little Skis

Wasdale from Lambfoot Dub.


Loads of snow, if you go high enough.

Well my luck was in today, perfect snow with a good frozen crust, bright sunshine and absolutely no wind (no that doesn't happen very often). A brilliant day.

Ski Sunday on Great End 2 12 12


Thursday 29 November 2012

Changing seasons

 
Nature and seasons. The rain comes and goes, the trees drop their leaves, the snow arrives, all of a sudden its winter. Life goes on. Hope to be in the snow at the weekend, if the weather permits.
 
 
Sept 2012

Nov 2012

Monday 5 November 2012

Skiddaw round 4/11/12

Andy, Col and I headed out today on a cold bright day for a Mountain Bike tour of Skiddaw.

Autumn has quickly turned to winter with snow on the fells over the last few days. We headed out along the Keswick Railway Cyclepath then up to Blencathra centre before heading up to Skiddaw House.
Glenderattera Beck

On a bright, clear day like today the views are excellant.
Looking towards Mungrisdale Common
Normally after the descent down Whitewater dash it's just a long road trip back to Keswick, however last year we found a nice little detour that takes in some more off road to the west of Skiddaw, skirting the bottom of Longside Edge. After a cafe stop in Dodd Wood cafe its just a quick climb up Latrigg before the blast back into town.


Borrowdale from Blencathra Centre




Skiddaw from the side of Southerndale



Check out the video below.

Skiddaw Round


Sunday 23 September 2012

Coniston - Wildcat island - Autumn sail with Ellie.

I must have some sort of switch in my brain that trips once the leaves start to fall from the trees. For the last two years now I've not sailed in the summer, this is not a conscious decision, things just seem to get in the way. Then once autumn sets in I get this urge to get the boat out and do some exploring. It's maybe not a conscious decision but autumn is a great time to sail, the water is still warm, the colours are awesome and the lakes are quiet so exploring is much more satisfying.

Today we headed to Coniston, Ellie has not sailed here and I had yet to set foot on Peel 'Wildcat' Island. We launched at Brown How car park and set only the jib for the short journey across the lake. The entrance to the 'secret' harbour is tight and with a brisk easterly blowing across the lake I didn't want the hassle of dropping the main sail at the wrong time or being blown onto the rocks.

Entering the harbour was simple with just a few pulls on the oars we were there.

Secret Harbour


It's not surprising why Arthur Ransome used this place in his stories, it is truly magical. Luckily for us the island was empty, it is a very popular spot and gets visitors all year round. For about an hour we had it all to ourselves.

A perfect place to park a boat.

A perfect place to be young, and young again.
Pirates?

After lunch and coffee and an explore we headed out into the lake for a sail. As usual with an easterly the wind was fickle one minute full on, the next we had the oars out!

Ellie practising her rowing.

All in all a great day out....

Sunday 26 August 2012

The Old Man and 1/2 a Mountain Marathon

Sick of getting wet on the bike in this barmy summer weather we're having I've started to do a bit more running.

It started out a few few miles here and there, now I'm going a little further, and higher!

Today Max and I did a run from Dunnerdale.


Max, ready and eager
We set of from the bottom of Walna Scar, the national park weather forecast, which is normally very reliable, was for a nice day 0% chance of rain! Luckily I'm packed a jacket.

Dunnerdale
The sky's were still heavy with cloud when I left home, they looked even more angry as we set of from the car. Climbing up Walna Scar we soon ended up in the cloud and sure enough the rain. We headed over Brown Pike, Buck Pike and then Dow Crag in the damp cloud, dropping down from Dow crag we dropped below the cloud giving good views of Coniston in the distance.



Coniston from the North side of Dow Crag
We soon headed back up into the clouds as we headed for the Old Man (of Coniston).

Climb up to the Old Man from Dow Crag.
Max leaving the summit after causing chaos for 5 mins!
So far we'd covered 3 miles, done 4 summits in about an hour. next we headed North along the ridge to Swirl How, the weather wasn't showing any signs of improving, luckily there is only one path so navigating is pretty simple.

We headed straight over Swirl How and dropped down to Swirl Hawse. Again we dropped below the clouds for more great views.

Stickle Pike in the distance, Wrynose pass road in the lower middle ground, wet side edge in the foreground.

We headed up, again, into the cloud and climbed upto Wetherlam. Heading North off the summit we scrambled down into the Greenburn Valley at the Head of Little Langdale.


Little Langdale.
 
Looking back up the slopes of Wetherlam.
Crossing the wet Greenburn valley floor we headed up again, we'd now covered 8 miles and visited 6 peaks.
Wet side edge is exactly that - wet. grassy and wet but fairly easy to run on after the rocky slopes of Weatherlam. We made short work of the climb back up to Hell Gill Pike and then headed South West to Grey Friar.
 
Finally the cloud had now stared to clear of fantastic views opened up. Hardknott pass with Eskdale in the distance.
 
Hardknott Pass
Looking west to the sea and the Dudden Estuary.




Looking west from Grey Friar
Dow Crag from Grey Friar
And now the crags we'd run over two hours earlier were basking in late afternoon sunshine.
 
Seathwaite Tarn
We headed down from greyfriar to Seathwaite Tarn and then headed along the access track back to Seathwaite bridge where the cars was parked.
 
15 Miles and 5000ft of climbing.
Max and me at the dam on Seathwaite Tarn.
 

Thursday 28 June 2012

Promenade à vélo après


Rule# 43 - Don't be a Jackass
But if you absolutely must be a jackass, be a funny jackass. Always remember, we’re all brothers and sisters on the road.

One crucial part of the 5 days was the evenings spent talking about the days we'd had over a few beers. Only a few beers as hangovers and cycling don't go well together. Except of course the last night where a few more beers were had, well it would be rude not to!

We talked about Gareth's shiny shoes that very nearly didn't see the light of day (they only came out on the last day after he was shamed into using them).

Gareth's new shoes

Mr Serious....not
 We talked about the sheep that could sleep anywhere, even while standing up!
Dead sheep standing.

Procy's Assos pose
 But most of all we talked about how good the riding was
That was awesome!

What?...................Where?.........Which way?
So what was the best?......... In my opinion:
Best climb......Luz Ardiden. Just for the aesthetics
Best descent....... has to be Col du Tentes, its high, no traffic, great tarmac and you can see whats coming for miles.
Hardest climb........Col du Tourmalet, from the East.
Most awesome ride........Col du Soulor to Col d'Aubiqsue.

5 days - 250 miles - 44000ft

Go there, you won't regret a single minute.

Monday 25 June 2012

Day 5 - Col du Soulor and Col d'Aubisque

Rule# 5 free your mind and your legs will follow.

Your mind is your worst enemy. Do all your thinking before you start riding your bike. Once the pedals start to turn, wrap yourself in the sensations of the ride – the smell of the air, the sound of the tires, the feeling of flight as the bicycle rolls over the road, the steepness of the climb, the scariness of the drop, all things to take your mind off the pain.

If someone had suggested leaving the longest and hardest day until the last day I think we all would have suggested that person was slightly mad....... That person is slightly mad, but for other reasons.

On 2nd June every year the locals take the large metal statue of a cyclist 'Montee du Geant', from its winter home in the valley, back up the mountain and place it onto the Col du Tourmalet for the summer. We had intended to join the group and venture back up the Tourmalet. But as we'd already seen the summit twice it seemed stupid to go back again when there was stuff we hadn't done. So we decided to head out and tackle the Col du Soulor and see how we got on, at 4800ft it would be the lowest col we had done and it was only 25 miles away. So again we headed down the valley that morning. As we got to 'Luz we met the giant and a large group of cyclists heading the other way, for the next 5 miles heading down the valley we were advised by numerous people we were going the wrong way!! How wrong they were!!

'Montee du Geant' heading back to the Col du Tourmalet

At Pierrefitte we'd again been advise by Rob at the hotel of a nice short cut along the back roads, again Rob's advice took us along some great roads that brought us pretty much to the base of the climb up to the col. A fairly easy 2000ft climb later and we were at the summit.

Not sure where we all were!
So was that it? Time to go home?..................No.

We'd talked the night before about carrying on and doing the Col d'Aubisque but as were all tired we'd agreed to just do the Soulor and see what happened. Well we were at the top and in the distance we could see the Aubisque, we could also see what lay between us and it:

The road to the Aubisque.

 
Well the only way to describe it is a 3000ft slab of rock with a road cut into it about 1/3rd of the way up. We headed down from the col a mile or so then started the traverse. The road is an excellent two lane road that winds its way along and through the side of the slab. The only issue is the lack of guard rail, barrier, wall or safety net and the knowledge that if you did stray to close to the edge that certain death was not far away. Oh.... and the fact that as you head out your on the right (wrong) side of the road and cycling next to a big drop.

Heading out


At the other end, note nothing to stop plunge to the valley bottom.
I can safely say its the scariest and at the same time most awesome mile of road I've ever ridden across. After the traverse there's another stiff 1500ft climb to the Col d'Aubisque.

Now those are bikes.
The last hill?

So that was it, we headed back over the traverse to the Col du Soulor. I even plucked up the courage to video some of the return ride, see the video posted before 'day 1'.
After getting back to the col we headed straight back down into the valley. Stopping at the base of the Soulor we had a coke or two and a baguette sandwich each. Now all that was left was the ride back down to Luz and the climb back to the hotel!
It was heating up again in the valley, we got to Luz and opted for some more caffeine in the shape of espresso and coke (a cola). Since we'd descended from the Soulor black clouds had started to form and the sky was looking angry, as we set of from the cafe in Luz it started to rain. Cool refreshing 'Carlsberg' rain (if Carlsberg made rain it would probably be the best rain in the world) this rain was just right. The last climb was so much easier with a cool dose of rain.

So that was it we'd set out to have an easy day and ended up doing our hardest, you can trick your body into doing anything if you take you mind of the pain!

Day 5 - 67 Miles and 12,800ft of climbing