Big Change!

Samsung Galaxy S2

Ive always thought that once Google Android comes of age, I would switch over from using an iPhone but I thought it would be something that Google did instead of Apple that would be the deciding factor.
When Apple announced the iPhone 5, err, I mean when they announced an "updated" iPhone 4, I was really disapointed and saw through their tactics of making you really want an upgrade and paying a fortune for it!
The natural replacement was the Samsung Galaxy s2 and I am delighted with it!
It does go through battery charge faster when you are using GPS, but its not the same problem as an iPhone because you just pop in a spare battery, and they only cost £3!
I havent been on any long trips yet, so will report back once I do.

Cycling and everyday life.

After a wonderful Summer of cycling when I raised my fitness levels from a 10k run per day to a couple of 70m rides per week, I now find it's extremely hard to get started again!
My activities are little more than the daily commute and the last time I ran I couldn't walk for a week!
Tomorrow marks a milestone, not for me but for my brother. We are very close and age has never made any difference. Nevertheless, he is sixty on Sunday and more importantly we are meeting in York tomorrow for one of our 2ps meetings, basically lots and lots of ale!
Usually, I feel refreshed afterwards, so I'm planning on starting 2mile runs each day next week, then start to build it up again.
Wish me luck getting 'the big muscle' ie my motivation, back on track!

Flat Tyres

C02 Inflator

After a damn hard week back at school, with a new as yet flaky network and applications that I had never used before, let alone taught, this Friday was 'pub day' more than ever!
Unfortunately, when I got to the bike sheds, at about 2:46, my back tyre was flat!
I quickly whipped the tube out and replaced it with my spare tube, using a CO2 inflator as my wife is taking the Brommie this week and has my mini pump.
Unfortunately, by the time I had parked up in the pub, it was flat again!
This highlights two causes of failure.
1) the self adhesive patches have now failed my three times.
2) the CO2 inflator needs spare inflators and is a very expensive way of blowing up your tyres!

Quite what I will do as a result of this, I'm not sure, but money will be spent!

Addendum

Dual Action Pump

My prediction proved correct! I popped over to All Terrain Cycles (it was a good excuse to have a coffee at one of our favourite places, Saltaire Mill) and bought a new pump and tube(s) The pump is a "dual" action type which has a switch at the back to select either "high volume" or "high pressure". Its presta and schrader but unfortunately it is a very tight fit in my saddle bag so I've had to use the frame clip and mount it along side my water bottle. It is much faster than the Topeak Micro Rocket that I had before (now passed onto my wife for her Brompton toolkit)
The inner tubes were an absolute bargain, five tubes for £12.50. I have thrown away the patched spare and now have a brand new tube in my saddle bag. After inspecting the spare that blew, the patch was poorly applied and had come off - operator error I'm afraid!

Back to the grind

Click here to see the activity

After the school Summer holidays (in the UK, we aren't at school between mid July and September), I decided to get back into my morning running routine. I normally do a 10k run every morning and average about sixty minutes. As I have done a lot of long rides through Summer, I didn't think this would be too much of a challenge. How wrong could I be?
The run takes me down a short but steep hill and then up a longish steady ascent. The hills on this run used to be a real challenge but after the monsters that I ride up, they appeared easy and in fact I found them pretty low challenge. I went at a slowish pace but was very surprised to see my heart rate was consistently above 150b.p.m. and sometimes into the 160s. On a bike, this would be just about my maximum and I wouldn't be able to sustain it for more than a couple of minutes. The run wasn't much of a challenge but I was pleased when it was over after about 70 minutes. You can check out the profile and mileage splits by clicking on the Runkeeper logo.
The next day I ached a little but by the evening I was in agony!
My abs ache but the most pain is in my legs. Glutes and quads are very sore and the front of my calves hurt. The pain is intense, in fact I cant really walk properly and have to be careful because I don't seem to have enough control to prevent my legs giving way!
I will try another run on Friday, and if that goes well then I will try again on Monday.

I suppose the moral of this story is that you may consider yourself fit, but take it steady when you are trying a new activity!

Doncaster York

This was just an excuse for a longer ride across fairly flat terrain. I followed the A638 from Wakefield to Doncaster. Its obviously a main road but wasn't too busy with only a couple of lorries along the route.
I stopped briefly to stretch my shoulders, I had a real knot behind my right shoulder blade which was excrutiatingly painful but it went after a couple of minutes work.

St Francis Church at Thorpe Willoughby
I helped lay the footings in the 70's

The lovely house where I lived

The Fox at Thorpe - my first "local"

Switching A roads to the A19 across to Selby, I took a detour to Thorpe Willoughby, where I lived as a teenager.

Selby High School, where I did my A levels

Cliffords Tower in York
Apparently the Waud family sold
this in 1825 (see this link)

I stopped in Selby for some of Tracy's lovely Brack, then pressed on along the A19 to York.
At York, I parked outside Betty's tea rooms and had another piece of Brack, then set off for the A64. TomTom took me along some back roads and then across a road bridge so I was on the correct side of the road, and the cyclepath is wide and pretty smooth with only a few rough spots across side roads.
It was getting late and I had to put my lights on, and it had started to rain so I met my wife at Garforth and hitched a lift home.

Essential Equipment for longer rides.

A cheap cycle computer

I suppose you would describe my kind of cycling as more like touring than road biking. My bike is a modern style aluminium road bike, 25mm tyres, a frame with lugs for a rack and came supplied with some cheap and nasty Wellgo pedals.
As a serious road bike, it is limited but it will meet my needs for a couple of years until I either upgrade to a superbike or decide its enough for my needs.
I have been doing longer rides between 50 and 100 miles on some quite serious hills in the Dales close to where I live. Whilst I am never very far from home, some of the locations that I bike to are remote and you could get into quite a lot of trouble if you met a problem. An example is a route I recently took from Heptonstall to Colne. I had travelled "over the top" on my Brompton before and the conditions were terrible. I was riding through cloud, was very wet and very cold. It would be really easy to make a poor decision, influenced by the onset of hyperthermia, which could easily lead to you dying - a friend reminded me that this had been the outcome only a week or so before I did the ride. The point I am trying to make is that you have to be serious about your safety when cycling alone for distances that take you away from regular traffic.
So, the decision could be easy - you need a complete tool kit, spare clothes, possibly some portable shelter etc!? It would be easy to double the weight of your bike and this would seriously limit the enjoyment and range of your travels.
So what should you take?

Saddle bag with rear light

For Summer (warmer) journeys, I wear a polyester cycling top and bib style padded shorts. The material wicks away perspiration quickly and keeps you cool whilst still providing enough protection against cooler weather - as long as you keep pedalling and generating body heat. I also have a waterproof jacket which is small enough to fit inside one of the rear pockets. I rarely use it unless its raining heavily. The polyester material quickly dries out when you have been soaked but the jacket gives you a bit more warmth and the extra layer can make a big difference. What does happen though is that your "points of contact" get wet and soaked hands, feet and saddle area rub more quickly and you will rapidly get sores which could keep you off your bike for a long time.
I use my iPhone to track my journeys, and often use TomTom to direct me on my journeys, and I have a waterproof container that came with my Sennheiser headphones which has proved itself capable of keeping things dry. This gives me a single point of failure which could have serious consequences if the phone was to run out of charge or get damaged.  I often take a laminated printout of my journey but you have to include enough detail for your needs and this can mean you are carrying a wad of maps. I am looking for a good cycling atlas and will report back when I find one.
I also have a cycle computer and a heart rate monitor. These give me feedback so that I can monitor my speed, average speed, temperature, time and the heart rate monitor lets me judge how I am responding to a difficult section. When you are tired, its surprising how much harder your body has to work.

Contents of my saddle bag

Inevitably, you will have mechanical problems. In my saddle bag, I carry the following equipment:
A spare innertube, wrapped in a plastic bag
A pack of self adhesive patches (in fact I carry two sets in one case.
A CO2 inflater and cartridge.
A Topeak Micro rocket pump.
An good quality micro tool. This one (Topeak Alien 3) has tyre levers, a chain tool and a knife.
Lights, we can plan to be back at home before it gets dark, but on a long journey it is easy to get caught out. I have a light bracket on my bars and keep the front light in my saddle bag and the rear light fastened to the back of the bag.
I'd love to hear people's comments about this page, and also if you carry anything different. Please consider +1ing this post and maybe even subscribe to the RSS feed.

Holme Moss and Snake Pass

View HolmeMoss Snake Pass in a larger map

After meeting my friend in Holmfirth the other day, I decided to pop over again and go up Holme Moss and along Snake Pass. It would be a good test for my dodgy foot!
The route from Ossett to Holmfirth has quite a few challenges of its own. Just beyond Flockton, the road along Haigh Lane up to Emley Moor is very steep and is guaranteed to get the heart rate up.
When you get to Shepley, you travel down a freshly tarmac'd road (Marsh Lane), and then along a really small track called Long Close Lane. This is little more than a footpath, definitely unpassable via a motor vehicle and it is difficult to ride a road bike along the rocky path that is only a couple of feet wide in places.
Holme Moss is a nice ride, long and constantly rising gradually getting steeper near the top where my speed dropped right down to 3mph. There are regular distance markings on the road, something to do with the various races that go up to the top. I didnt get chance to take any pictures, here is one from Wikipedia:

Image from Wikipedia

Once you are the top (I also feel "King Of Yorkshire" after tackling a big climb, sadly this is short lived as you move past the Derbyshire sign), the route is down some occasionally steep but well maintained roads and eventually joins the A628 Woodhead Pass. The A628 is very busy but luckily you soon leave the road at the end of the Woodhead Resevoir and travel to Torside along the B6105.
The road doesnt offer many challenges and you will soon be in Glossop where you take a left turn which takes you up the A57 Snake Pass.
Snake Pass is a long constantly rising road, eventually taking you up to a similar height as Holme Moss (1724ft for Holme Moss and 1679ft for Snake Pass). The route was built as a toll road in 1820, incredible that they could do such an engineering feat nearly two hundred years ago. I found the road to be very well maintained with only a couple of small pot holes. It is apparently lethal in Winter and it is almost a universal indicator of a bad winter when they announce that snow has closed Snake Pass.
All ascents have a descent and the road down Snake Pass is lovely! Not too steep and stunning countryside, if you can dare to take your eyes off the road as it whizzes past.  I stopped for a pint (of beer and also of water) at the Ladybower Inn. They served a good pint of Barnsley Acorn bitter and were happy to provide the water and a bottle top up for free. Good service and a nice pub.
When I looked at my route on Runkeeper (click here) its obvious that GPS reception isn't very good down the Hope Valley. There were several sections where I was shown as well away from my actual route and at one spot it shows me as travelling at 89miles an hour. The GPS problems continued into Sheffield and TomTom told me to turn around several times even when I was continuing on a road that it had previously sent me down.

Image from Tramways Blog

When I travelled along Manchester Road in Sheffield, the road had tramlines set in, at times the width of the road was only two tramwidths apart. It was very disconcerting biking on these roads, avoiding the lethal tram lines whilst constantly looking over your shoulder for a tram.
I took the B6079 and then A61 out of Sheffield and started to head for home.The road is a steady climb up from Sheffield and the A629 eventually peaked at Thurgoland.
The route through Silkstone Common and Silkstone was pleasantly quiet but my phone then ran out of charge.
This led to a few problems. I had been relying on TomTom for my route and hadnt got a clue how to get home efficiently (my initial idea to head into Huddersfield and home from there would have been a mistake). It was also getting late and I didn't have lights but the biggest problem was a huge black storm cloud over Huddersfield that was heading my way.
As it was evening, I asked a few beer garden folks for directions and I was able to get to Clayton West before the rain started in earnest. It poured down! I was considering stopping to order a taxi, I was tired, very wet, and my left knee was starting to give some pretty sharp pains.
Im glad I didnt, although I wasnt at all happy cycling in the dark, in heavy rain and along busy main roads (see http://runkeeper.com/user/philwaud/activity/48338382 which I had to manually enter later)
Tracy and I had ridden back from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park last week, so I knew the route. It was mainly downhill, which I took very slowly in the heavy rain.
Storrs Hill proved too much, so I pushed for a couple of hundred yards.

So, some points to note and changes for the future:

• I will consider always carrying a map, Im thinking about making a series of screenshots from Google Maps which will need laminating to protect them from the wet.
• I think I will look into an emergency phone charger. Being stuck without a phone in this day and age is reckless and dangerous.
• It is stupid not having lights, I am going to carry at least a rear light all the time. I'm not a professional road racer and the few grams are well worth it.

A warm bath was very welcome, and I was a happy bunny after completing this 80 mile 8800 foot climb ride.

Ten pound Maintenance Stand

I didn't think about this being viewed by people who live outside the UK, or even outside Yorkshire, but as Matt from www.bikehacker.com points out in this post, Ive used quite a few terms that non UK people may find confusing. Im sure that everyone will understand the metric system, basically 300mm = 1 foot, but the UK currency is the pound and uses the £ symbol. We affectionally call £1 "a quid", hence the "ten quid" reference! Incidentally, if you like this post, please +1 it and consider signing up for the RSS feed!

The Maintenance Stand in its collapsed form	Ive wanted a maintenance stand for a while, but havent wanted to pay a huge amount in either materials or on one of the splendid models available in most bike shops. I thought of this design because it uses the cheapest possible materials. The main components are: 1) A 2.4m length of 75mmx50mm timber, from B and Q (£4) 2) A scrap piece of 12mm plywood 3) A bench clamp - I used an old one but I think it was about £5 4) Various screws, bolts, scrap blocks of timber etc.
The main hinges	In this picture, you can see the stand in its collapsed form. The length of timber is cut into two and I used a scrap block to provide an offset at one end. This is simply screwed onto one end of the timber, and a hole drilled through the scrap piece into the other length. The ply is cut into a delta shape and two more scrap blocks are used to make a substantial pivot. This pivot is important as it provides the stability of the stand. Drill a hole through the two blocks and add a bolt through all three thickness's of timber.
The open stand	You will need to cut some cutouts into the plywood as shown. The one at the point will be in the centre and the other one will be offset slightly. Its best to cut this in the correct place once you have assembled the stand. I usually use the stand outside on some gravel so you will see from this picture that I've allowed a small gap at the end of the ply. This works fine for me, but you might like to cut the central slot deeper or even add a curved profile to the delta so that it just touches the floor at the ends. Add the clamp and hang your bike on the stand so you can judge where to place the stop. This is simply a screw in the base.
The stand in use	In this photo, you can see the stand in use. I screwed the clamp onto the side of the top arm and added some 22mm pipe insulation, fixing it in place with a couple of cable ties. The whole stand took about twenty minutes to make and cost less than a tenner, leaving me with two important things - more time to actually use my bike and more money to spend of goodies for my biking!

Normanton and Holmfirth

Screenshot from Runkeeper

Today was a test to see if I was able to ride my bike with a dodgy foot. I also had to visit a couple of friends, so I rode through Stanley to Altofts, then back through Horbury and across to Holmfirth. I used the route suggested by TomTom, and it took me on a pretty much direct route that was certainly not easy. The road from Flockton to EmleyCcrossroads had my heart rate up to 165bpm, and the route through Shelley, Shepley and New Mill also had some steep climbs. Not only did the TomTom route give me a hard non friendly bike ride, it also took me along a very narrow rough footpath which was quite rocky at times and I was force to get off and push.
After a couple of coffees with a friend at the lovely Longley Coffee Shop, I was more than happy to accept her offer of a lift home!

Wakefield to Beverley

Wakefield to Beverley

View WakefieldBeverley in a larger map

I had to bike over to see my Dad today, he came out of hospital on Tuesday after breaking his hip stepping out of a glider. He had mashed his leg quite badly and had to have his hip replacement re-done. He seems to be adjusting to home life well.
I also popped into by Brothers, and when he suggested I stop overnight and have a few beers it seemed like a very good idea!

1. Leave Wakefield on the A638 heading towards Doncaster, then take the A655 towards Normanton as soon as you have gone under the railway bridge.
2. Take the charmingly named Hell Lane towards Sharlston and follow the road through Sharlston before joining the A645.
3. Follow the A645 through Purston, Pontefract, Knottingley, Eggborough and Snaith before turning left onto the A614 at the end of the road.
4. Travel through Rawcliffe then turn left onto Airmyn Road just before the motorway junction. Continue along this road and cross Boothferry Bridge.
5. Take the A614 through Howden then turn right onto the B1230 at the roundabout. Follow this through Gilberdyke, Newport and North Cave.
6. Take the long hill out of North Cave, briefly travel along the A1034, then turn right on the B1230 up a steep hill. After a tough but short middle section, the hill eventually levels out and you should be able to cruise down across Beverley Common into the town.

Its quite a fast ride along big roads that have some occasional heavy traffic. The ride back is the reverse although it did take me a bit longer as I was riding into a head wind. The hill outside North Cave has a very rough road surface and you need to slow down well before you hit the steep part as it is extremely difficult to brake safely when your wheel is bouncing around.

55.5 miles with 1744 feet of climbing

Wakefield to Beverley

View WakefieldBeverley in a larger map

I had to bike over to see my Dad today, he came out of hospital on Tuesday after breaking his hip stepping out of a glider. He had mashed his leg quite badly and had to have his hip replacement re-done. He seems to be adjusting to home life well.
I also popped into by Brothers, and when he suggested I stop overnight and have a few beers it seemed like a very good idea!

1. Leave Wakefield on the A638 heading towards Doncaster, then take the A655 towards Normanton as soon as you have gone under the railway bridge.
2. Take the charmingly named Hell Lane towards Sharlston and follow the road through Sharlston before joining the A645.
3. Follow the A645 through Purston, Pontefract, Knottingley, Eggborough and Snaith before turning left onto the A614 at the end of the road.
4. Travel through Rawcliffe then turn left onto Airmyn Road just before the motorway junction. Continue along this road and cross Boothferry Bridge.
5. Take the A614 through Howden then turn right onto the B1230 at the roundabout. Follow this through Gilberdyke, Newport and North Cave.
6. Take the long hill out of North Cave, briefly travel along the A1034, then turn right on the B1230 up a steep hill. After a tough but short middle section, the hill eventually levels out and you should be able to cruise down across Beverley Common into the town.

Its quite a fast ride along big roads that have some occasional heavy traffic. The ride back is the reverse although it did take me a bit longer as I was riding into a head wind. The hill outside North Cave has a very rough road surface and you need to slow down well before you hit the steep part as it is extremely difficult to brake safely when your wheel is bouncing around.

55.5 miles with 1744 feet of climbing

I get knocked down!

Shimano M520

You have to take the decision at some point to go for clipless pedals on a road bike. Various sources state that clipless pedals are 20% more efficient than just using normal pedals or pedals with a strap. The idea is that you transfer energy more efficiently and utilise the upstroke as well as the downstroke to drive you forward. It's quite a jump, as you need to fit new pedals as well as buy special shoes.
You also have some decisions to make. I was advised to go for an MTB style of cleat as they are smaller and usually allow you to actually walk in the shoes without slipping all over the place. "Proper" road cleats are quite large and the shoes have a rigid and very slippy sole.
Shimano make some very nice pedals and the price can vary from £20 up to ten times that price. At the bottom end of the range is the Shimano M520, which is also very light and reliable - its rare to find a win win situation in road bike kit, but unless you are going for ultra lightweight then the 520's offer a very functional and good value option.

Shimano M087 MTB shoe

Shoes are very personal and it all depends on the shape and size of your feet. I have large, wide feet so I tried several pairs on before going for some similar to the Shimano M087s. There are many shoes which have velcro straps, but some of the Shimano styles add a ratchet type of strap which is really easy to adjust when you are cycling.
Using clipless shoes can be very amusing! I was told that I would fall off quite regularly at first, even if I set them at the loosest setting. Unclipping early helps, but I have fallen off at least once on every ride so far.
On a ride at Whitby, I stopped by a cattle grid and lent over to steady myself against the gate. My front wheel slipped away from me and I went down hard! I twisted my hip and bruised my leg as well as adding some lovely graze marks. I was concerned about the hip as my family all suffer from poor hip joints and I always try to look after mine! It took about a week to settle down.

Broken iPhone!

Another more serious accident happened on a very steep hill in Huddersfield. There were some roadworks on the road and when the lights changed the car in front of me didn't set off. I had got ready to go and with me being on a hill, I didn't have enough time to get my feet out of the cleats before I lost balance. I fell onto my left side and hit my hand quite heavily. For quite a few hours afterwards, the pain was at times excruciating.  Unfortunately, this wasnt all! My iPhone was damaged, the rear case was smashed to smithereens, spoling an otherwise great ride.
I suppose I will eventually get used to them!

Saddleworth and Holmfirth

View SaddleworthHolmfirth in a larger map
We had planned to travel up Cragg Vale and then tackle Holme Moor on this challenging ride. At the start of the ride we were both feeling lacking in energy so we cut out the Cragg Vale ride.
On the A640, we took the stunning New Hey road down to the Pole Moor turning, all downhill and beautiful countryside. The thrilling downhill continued down Bradshaw Lane and several smaller lanes into Marsden. The climbing then started up to the A62 where we had a stark reminder about how dangerous the roads can be. A sheep had just been hit and its poor body was in the middle of the road with several of its distraught mates looking on in confusion.
It had started to rain and as we climbed the rain got heavier. We went through Diggle, Dobcross and Saddleworth before turning off on the A635. The climb up to the moor top wasnt particularly challenging, although the weather made the long ride difficult. Every climb has a downhill and the trip down to Holmfirth was welcome. A quick fishcake butty and we decided that after getting so wet, I didnt want to do Holme Moss, my feet were soaked and my saddle region was very wet. Continuing up a hard climb would have led to saddle sores which would have been foolish.
The ride back into Huddersfield was uneventful, and I took a very hard climb up to Lepton - probably my steepest hill of the day. After taking a tumble (see main blog), I sailed down to Middlestown and tackled Storrs hill to round off a nice ride 77 mile long with 8000 feet of climbing

Tom Tom on the iPhone

TomTom

I generally track my longer cycle rides using the Runkeeper app, and it provides an excellent post activity record and in ride regular stats. Evey now and again, you come across either an unfamiliar or even new junction and have to make a decision about where to go. This usually means getting the iPhone out and loading Google Maps. Ive tried lots of other mapping apps and they nearly all need an active 3G or data signal which not only drains your battery but is also sometimes just not possible.

I managed to get hold of a copy of TomTom UK and Ireland, and was pleased to see that it stores its maps in the phone and only needs a GPS signal to get a lock. You can set it to plan cycle routes by default (Settings->Route Planning->Default route type) and if you plan your journeys carefully, adding "via" stops (Options->Find Alternative->Travel via), then you get audible feedback that re-calculates when you make a mistake.

I did a short route to test it out, and it didn't seem to run the battery down much more than using Runkeeper on it own.

Turn WiFi, 3G and data off. If you aren't using Bluetooth headphones, then turn that off too. On longer climbs, I sometimes play pod-casts or music - there isn't much point when your speed gets above 20mph as wind noise makes it practically impossible to hear. I also have music turned off on busier roads, you need every bit of information that you can and having a musical distraction could mean all the difference between safety and danger. The standard iPhone "buds" are pretty rubbish, but you may find that spending a lot of money of some in-ear earphones may lead to sorrow as they get some hammer and dont last long. I use Sennheiser Adidas headphones. They are waterproof and have Kevlar reinforcement which has so far been able to resist any breakages. They also have an iPhone control which hangs just by your shoulder which makes it easy to answer and make calls, turn volume up or down and change ipod tracks. I have an app on my Jailbroken iPhone 4 which reads any text messages out so I dont have to stop when I get a message.

Ridiculous Potholes

Alien Space Landing Marks?

I logged this series of potholes on the Fill That Hole website (see http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/hazard/59100) Ive seen similar single circles on loads of roads. They are usually cut through 50mm thick top layers to reveal the old road surface so I'm guessing that it is some form of survey work to see how the road is wearing. Sometimes they fill them in and sometimes the filling is missing.

They also use the same size circle to fit the solar powered cats eyes, which they just glue in with bitumen.
Ive ridden over this particular set a few times, and to my knowledge they have never been filled, although the end ones do have some cold fill tarmac in them.
As a cyclist, you notice road surface a lot more, hitting this lot at speed would throw you off and its a busy road so it may lead to a serious injury.
Like I said, its logged on www.fillthathole.org.uk, so we will see how long it takes to fix it!
(Also posted on Google+, see this post)

Chain Maintenance

This is one of the topics where there is almost too much misinformation and people who just state things without giving, or even having any proof to back up their statements.
Back when "I were a lad", I just used 3 in 1 household oil and assumed that chains always got filthy and made your trousers dirty. I cant remember ever cleaning a chain, replacing a chain or checking for wear.

Chain Wear Indicator

This all changed when I got the Brompton, as the large chainring and close proximity to the ground mean that the chain gets dirty and wears quickly. I'm finding that I need to replace the chain every 1500-2000 miles. I use a wear indicator but its easy to do with a ruler. Each link is exactly half an inch, so measuring a 12 inch piece of chain and it should be exactly 24 links. If its more than 1/16 inch out, then you need to replace the chain. Failure to replace a worn chain will lead to sprocket and chainring wear, chain skipping and even chain failure. The immortal Sheldon Brown has a lot more information, and unlike many people he based his information from a great deal of experience. See http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html  for more information.
To reduce the wear to a minimum you have to do two things:

• Keep the chain clean
• Lubricate the chain

We will look at each of these in more detail.

Chain Cleaning

Chain Cleaning Machine

To clean your chain, you have to decide whether to keep the chain on the bike or remove it from the bike and clean it away from the bike. If you decide to clean it on the bike, you can use a chain cleaning machine or just go with an old toothbrush. Squirt on some degreaser, then set to work cleaning the chain. If you use a machine and want to do a really thorough job, change the degreaser several times as you will get to the point where you are actually adding dirt back into the chain because you have suspended dirt in your solution. Its relatively easy to clean the outside of the chain, but very hard to clean inside the chain rollers which is where all the damage is done by the dirt.
If you use a chain breaking tool to remove the chain, and clean it with a toothbrush and degreaser. You will need to spend some time flexing the chain back and forth but you aren't going to get the chain as clean as using a machine. Some people use all sorts of strange techniques, boiling the chain, ultrasonic cleaners, etc. that must take hours!

Lubricate The Chain

You then need to re lube the chain. There are many different kinds of lube, and to be honest, I haven't found a satisfactory solution. I used to use "wet lube" for my Brompton, which works well when the weather is wet. The problem with this kind of lube is that it collects dust and dirt particles (even the ground up metal from your chain wearing), and this then collects in a horrible black mess around the chain.
Another lube is Dry Lube. This uses Teflon or similar which is in a solvent. The solvent evaporates and leaves a teflon coating, sometimes with a wax layer.
Ive been trying this recently, and I am finding that the chain soon starts squeaking after a good clean/re-lube.

I would love to hear from anyone who has a better method of chain maintenance or can recommend a good chain lubricant.

Something is wrong!

After several long rides of 100km+ and burning 4000 calories or more, I was expecting to be able to say that my weight had fallen by quite a bit.

It hasn't!

So, what is going on? I know that my muscle mass will have increased and that muscle is heavier than fat as it is more dense but I don't think this will account for the slight increase. If you are exercising for more than 90 minutes then you have to start to take on carbs in the form of sugar but even when I take this into account I should easily be in a negative calorific differential situation, by several thousand calories.

On a ride, I have a pocket full of jelly babies, fox's glacier mints, raisins, cereal bars and the odd gel pack. If you add the calories up, its about 400 calories and it is very high in carbs whilst keeping the fat content low.

I do know that on the following rest day, I am hungry and I eat more than normal, probably 2500 calories compared to my normal 2000. I do this to restore the glycogen stores in my muscles.

So, I just don't know what is going on, and would welcome your comments! I'm going to calorie track my intake for the next few days to see if it will shed any light into the situation.

Heptonstall and Colne

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I wanted to do some hill practice so I picked a toughie! I took the normal route to Hebden Bridge then set about tackling the road up to Heptonstall. Its very steep and I had to stop a couple of times as my heart rate went right over 150 bpm. It was great to stop at the Towngate tearoom in Heptonstall which give cyclists 10% discount (I had to ask, and the waitress didn't know that the owner is a keen cyclist and gives the reduction to anyone that asks)
From Heptonstall, I went up to Slack and carried on over the top to Colne. This isn't a route to tackle in poor weather as they are small roads and I have ridden through cloud cover on this road. If you ran into trouble then it would take some time for help to reach you. There are many cases where they had to look for people who had got lost and sadly some of them ended up in taking bodies away. When you get cold and wet, hyperthermia sets in and you make bad decisions which make the situation worse.
Down to Colne, and then over to Todmorden. The ride back into Hebden Bridge is great, lots of downhill and good roads.
7300 feet of climbing, 78 miles total distance.

Good Times

Tracy in Grosmont

Weve had a lovely long weekend!

Friday saw us tootling about, I had to pop into All Terrain Cycles in Saltaire to see if they could do anything about my Giant saddle bag. In my opinion, it is a very poor design and had literally shaken my toolkit to pieces after only a few hundred miles. They were good enough to swap it for a Topeak one (or at least, they sold me one for the return of the Giant bag and a trade price discount for the new bag)

We then popped over to Heptonstall and spent an enjoyable afternoon in one of our favourite places.

Saturday saw us take the Brompton and road bike over to Grosmont near Whitby. Tracy did a brilliant job going up several 25% and even 33% climbs and a three hour 13 mile ride stats dont really do justice to how hard the trip was, especially on a Brommie. As a reward, we went to Trenchers in Whitby for very expensive fish and chips.

Today, we went back to Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall. Again, just pottering around, looking for good cake!

Really nice weekend, one life, live it!

York and Selby

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Been chewing wasps!

This ride was great fun, we travelled through Wakefield, Stanley, Garforth, Tadcaster and then to York.

There isnt really an easy way of avoiding the A64, you have to travel along the cycle path (separated from the main road), facing the traffic, then cross the A64 - its really busy and you have to use a narrow path between the central crash barriers, simply ridiculous!

Just after we crossed, a wasp flew into my mouth, which was luckily only slightly open. It stung the inside of my lip, not very painful but it swelled up quite dramatically.

Onward to York for a quick bacon sarnie (my first real meat for weeks), and a coffee. Aching a bit when we set off again along the A19 but we soon settled into a steady pace. We went through Naburn, Cawood, Wistow and then into Selby.
Continuing along the A19, through Brayton and Burn then a bit of a wobble! I think we should have taken a turning at Roall, but we messed about a bit swapping sides of the M62. Knottingley, Ponte, and Sharlston before diverting through Walton and back to Ossett via Horbury.
85 miles and surprisingly 3181 feet of climbing.

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Shipley and Hebden Bridge

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The route to Shipley from Ossett is very straightforward, but the roads are quite busy. I was taking my bike for its first service at All Terrain Cycles http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/ and they did the service as I waited. They had to re-tension the rear wheel and tweak the gear indexing, very good friendly service.

Take the A650, then the A6146, A6144 to Wilsden. Onward to Hawarth then a mountain of a climb right up to the top of the Moor. The hard climb is worth it because the view at the top is amazing and the ride down to Hebden Bridge is wonderful. Unfortunately, I had a puncture on the way back, and my tool kit had disintegrated in the saddle bag! It was easily mended and made a great ride.
(4387 feet of climbing altogether)

Cragg Vale, Scammondon

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A stunning bike ride right up to the tops!
To avoid a very hard ride up Tuel Lane in Sowerby, take the next right turn (Gratrix Lane) just after the Navigation Pub in Sowerby. Follow the map along some very nice lanes and eventually emerge onto the A646.

In Mytholmroyd, take the next left turn after going over the river, following the signs for Cragg Vale. Its a five mile route ascending all the way up to Blackstone Edge reservoir, nothing too taxing, just very long!

Descend to Ripponden, then take a sharp right turn along the A672, eventually going under the M62. This is a steep road!

Downwards to Denshaw and up again to the top of Saddleworth Moor. I took the downhill route to Brighouse which was a real reward after a hard ride.
(6217 feet of climbing altogether)

Basics

Over the years Ive gathered quite a lot of information about nutrition, some of it backed by science, some common sense and a bit of it just my own hunches. Here are the basic rules:

1. Count and log everything! Log all your food using services such as www.sparkpeople.com and log all your exercise using services such as www.runkeeper.com. This lets you analyse your performance in more detail and you will almost certainly find that your weight loss or gain equates to a calorific differential of 3500 calories per pound of weight. This means that if your Daily Calorific Requirement is 2000 calories and you eat 2000 calories along with 1750 calories of exercise then you will lose half a pound. Over the course of a few months I have found this to be almost exactly true.
2. Drink lots of water. Your body needs water for almost every process that it has to do. Your digestive system, brain, muscles, in fact everything not only need water but can be seriously in-affective without enough. Most people believe that they are hungry when in fact they are just thirsty. Drinking eight pints of water a day can help to control your diet and makes your digestive function work more efficiently. Your muscles need water to help repair damage done by exercise and flush out lactic acid etc.
3. Eat six times a day. Yes, that right, six! The key is to eat little and often but not to fall into the habit of snacking or continually grazing. Have a good breakfast, fruit two hours later, a slightly larger meal at 12, then three more small meals ending well before 8pm.
4. Only eat Ancient foods. If a food substance wasnt available 10,000 years ago, then your body will probably not be able to deal with it properly. Eat little red meat, plenty of fish, pulses, nuts, berries and vegetables. The only sugar that you should eat without fibre should be honey which has extraordinary properties. (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM)

Lip up fatty!

Wakefield Hospice 10K

I've always been quite active and enjoy lots of different kinds of physical activity but my fitness levels have varied quite a bit. When I sold my milk round to train to be a teacher, I found that my fitness level dropped right down - well, it would as I wasn't doing any exercise at all! When I tried to do something about this, I found it really hard. I couldn't run 100 metres and it took me a few weeks to be able to run a mile.
I have always enjoyed running and I managed to get myself up to a good level of fitness, but after a spell of illness I just couldn't get back into training. My school had entered a team into the Wakefield Hospice 10k and I started the race with no training at all. I managed to run all the way and did it in 68 minutes but when the photo came back I was shocked!
That was enough for me to take action, this blog is the record of the system I use and of the results I obtain.