Bib shorts -- crossing a line

So, if anyone had told me, when I first gave up my gym membership in favour of cycling that I would, a) be riding a bike with drop bars, b) be capable of riding 100K and thinking of more, and c) be riding every weekend, rain or shine, I'd have thought they were talking rubbish. But if anyone had said that I'd d) be looking forward to wearing my windproof bib shorts, I'd have laughed so hard at the idea. I mean, even if I ended up doing a, b, and c, d would still never happen, right? Er, well, the day has come and a line has been crossed. I've yet to wear them but I'm really looking forward to be it being cold enough to justify them. Why? Well, I want to ride all year, and remembering how cold I was on some of the MTB night rides I did last year, I was looking for ways to keep warm. When a pal pointed out that bibs mean no draughts, I was sold. What a brilliant idea, my cyclist's brain concluded. The next thing you know I've located a bargain (Gore Oxygen's in XS for £70!) and my credit card has been flexed. Whoop!!

Positively glowing (but not in *that* way)

Today was my first ride out with Team Glow, the all-women group set up by the inspiring Glynis Francis to get 100 women to ride the Manchester 100 in 2011. Well, Glynis achieved her aim. The event was a great success. Many women, some of whom hadn't ridden a bike in years, turned out on the day and notched up an achievement they will never forget. Having joined the team at the 11th hour (on the Thursday before the event!) I hadn't met any of the women before, so was keen to get out on one of their rides and also to have my first group riding experience, as previously my road rides have been either solitary or just with one other person, so no chance for the group riding experience. 100km later (the organised ride somewhat augmented by my ride to/from the start), I'm sitting here enjoying the post ride glow.

We set off from Chorlton, South Manchester at just after 9am, headed out towards the Man United training ground (which I didn't know existed), onto Warrington, Lymm, Knutsford, and then back. At least I think that was the route. The ride was also my first time using Endomondo, and it seemed unable to get a satellite fix for some of the route, so who know really where I was at any one time. For a change, the ride (at least, the organised part of it) wasn't hilly, and the only really tough physical challenge was a long stretch of road that felt like it was on an ever-so-slight incline into a head wind. Oh, and it was just before the cafe stop. Boy, that road felt like it went on forever! Our cafe stop was a very lovely High Legh Garden Centre. As we still had some riding to do a big feed wasn't an option. A shame, because the green Thai curry really caught my eye. The scone was pretty darned good though, and just what I needed in order to get me back to Chorlton. For the ride home, Glynis very kindly took Ang and I in and cooked some toast, made a lovely cup of tea, sold me some Team Glow kit (canny), and then I was on my way back home again.

Despite being absolutely done in, I headed up Matley Lane instead of staying on the main road. Having such a monster hill so late in my ride nearly finished me off completely, but I made it, and the payback was getting to whizz all the way down the hill to my house (instead of having another climb up from the bottom!) After a shower and change, we whizzed off to the pancake shop (next to Kimberley's Bakery) in Glossop. Maple and bacon - mmmmm. Perfect.

A great day out with some big hills and very tingly legs now!

From Blogger Pictures

No more bike bits

Something that's striking about cycling as a hobby is the extraordinary amount of gear that I seem to "need". Defining "need" in this context is complicated, because you could argue do I really need a road bike, do I really need a basket for shopping, a fork upgrade, different pedals, new lights, etc. etc. etc. Paraphanalia rules, and I seem to forever be grabbing a bargain here, sneaking some new shiny part in from the porch here... Considering you'd never usually catch me dead inside a shopping centre, cycling somehow seems to have awakened the latent consumer in me and then some. So, I am announcing here that from 15th month onwards I will be a shopping free zone. I hereby commit to buying absolutely nothing for the next 30 days. Weirdly, that thought brings me out in some form of mild panic. What if I miss out on a special offer for the new road tyres I secretly covet? And then there's the saddle bag I've had my eye on.

Because I'm such a soft touch for a "bargain" (a marketers dream is how one friend describes me) the only way I'm going to get through this (and it's cold turkey or nothing) is by canceling all the e-mail subscriptions for the gazillion bike shops that seem to have me on their mailing list, so they can't dangle some spectacularly good offer under my greedy nose. Those mailshots have uncanny ability to catch me in a weak moment, usually after midnight, with a 30% better discount offer on something that I probably don't need at full price but can probably find an argument for at 30% (or better) off. Grrr. It's so boring! Obviously I love this sport and want to do my bit to keep all the lovely bike shop retailers in business, but the time has come to just ride and stop with the shopping! Besides, I have to save for a new bike :-)

Mayhem here we come!

So having signed up for a Mayhem team in a fit of madness, there are now less than 5 days to go! Oh boy. Luckily there are only three other teams in our category, and we qualify as "oldies", so really there isn't any competition. If we really couldn't be bothered on the day, we could do our one lap each and then hit the bottle for the rest of the day. While that remains a distinct possibility (at least for one of our team, who apparently has a penchant for G&T), there's also the possibility that if we're just a little bit better than any of the other women in our category, we could get on the podium. How funny would that be!?

So that's the funny side of the story. The not so funny side is the question of women's involvement in mountain biking. It's something that's consumed rather a lot of my time this last couple of weeks, as there's been a fairly thorough discussion about it within one of the mountain bike clubs I belong too, which all came about because one my pals within the club suggested women-only rides. Personally I've been shocked by the heated debate it generated in comparison to, say, the introduction of a regular road ride. I'll come back to this another time (it's late now after all), but will just throw it in here as a taster of a discussion I plan to come back to. First I need to get my shit together for Mayhem. Eeekkk!

Back on the road bike

So I've been out on the MTB a fair bit lately, but having signed up for Mayhem (in a moment of madness, way to close to the deadline to have fully considered what saying yes really entailed), I'm kinda in training and want to clock up some miles so my little legs have a fighting chance of getting me round the course at least twice! So, time to get on the road bike.

Since the Manchester 100K last year one of my post-study missions for this year was to build up the road miles, so it was a real treat to get out on Friday (sorry Wills and Kate) and enjoy the quiet roads. To make
my life a little easier, I took the rack (and basket) off the back, and boy, what a different bike it is without that monster rack on it. Because of the disc brakes, I had to get a "special" rack, which cost more than a regular rack and weighs about four times more, so taking it off means I actually have quite a light road bike. Who'd have thought it? I was thinking I needed a lighter bike, but all along I just needed to remove the rack off the back. Genius.

The wind made it tough going, and my first ever climb of Monks Road out of Charlesworth gave my lungs a run for their money, but that was the worst of it. The road bike is such a joy to ride; a totally different day out to a day on the MTB. Not that MTBing isn't joyous -- just that it's a different buzz. Anyway, 28 miles, one ice-cream, two cups of tea, and a cheese sandwich later I was back home with a big grin on my face and some v.tired leggies. A hot bath later and all was well. Not a bad start, and now I'm really looking forward to my next ride.

A women-only sportive? What's not to like?

The internet is buzzing with the news that Victoria Pendleton, the heroine of British Cycling, has launched the Cycletta series of women-only rides. The write up on road.cc sent me racing to the website to see what all the fuss was about, since "Cycletta North" is only down the road from me, so it seems silly to miss it.

The idea is a good one, and I wholeheartedly support the sentiment behind the rides. I guess they're supposed to be like the Race for Life running series minus the charity element, which is no bad thing because it means you just pay your entry fee and turn up to ride, without having to spend weeks before nagging friends and family for sponsorship and weeks after feeling crap about only raising a tenner. Saying that, you can ride for charity if you want (it's optional, thankfully).

So here's what I think about the whole thing:

The good things: 40km of traffic free riding. Whoo-hoo!! And no blokes -- hopefully that means fewer club riders and more space when they overtake (which was a bit stressful in traffic on the Manchester 100k)
Oh, and Miranda is one of the ambassadors and Davina McCall isn't. Miranda was a real asset to the Comic Relief team, and I really enjoyed watching her; plus she's hilarious. Davina, on the other hand, is just a bit too loud and naggy for my liking. She has her own series of rides to promote anyway, as she's fronting the women-only Action for Medical Research series of rides -- Davina's Divas (ugggh to the name, yay to the idea though.)

The bad things: It's £45 to enter, yes you read that right, which seems a bit steep. Okay, so it will be traffic free, so on the day you'll probably feel like you're getting your money's worth. I could grumble about the fact that for your £45 there's only the one route length - 40k - ("only 40k") - and no mention of cake stops. Free Gatorade doesn't haven't the same effecct on my saliva glands as an offer of free tea and cake, sorry.

The wierd things: A free copy of Grazia? Well, I suppose they had to get sponsorship from somewhere, but Grazia!? I'll happily trade my free copy for a discount on the entry fee, and to be honest am not too fussed about Cycling Active magazine. I wonder whether they'll take £40? At least the hair clinic is an optional extra, It's easy too look on and make sarky remarks about that, but I'm sure I'll be tempted along on the day -- sometimes I get quite freaky helmet hair and, frankly, need all the help I can get.

And now a quick grumble..

Charity entry: I just had a quick look on Just Giving, and it doesn't appear to be in their events listing. Maybe I'm too quick off the mark. Either way, it would be good if they could add it, because I'd be happy to pay £45 for the event if I thought I could raise my usual tenner on top for the MS Society (my charity of choice owing to fact that I seem to know so many MS sufferers).

Sign up: Well, it would help boost the numbers if the sign up page actually worked, but again, maybe the site's a bit too new and somewhere in a room without natural light a web developer is burning the midnight oil to get it working.

Follow up: It's hard to tell from the write up whether there'll be anything like this at the event or not, but at the Sky Rides one of the great things was access to the various stalls with info about campaigns, rides, etc. so that people could channel their enthusiasm from the day into future events. Maybe we could have a SheCycles stall, or maybe there'll be some independent retailers there, like Minx or BeOutdoors -- both great online stores supplying quality clothes for women. I'm sure there are other great women-specific sites/groups that would benefit from being represented on the day. It would a shame for just the usual suspects (i.e., the Big Boys, like Evans and British Cycling, to have a spot and for there not to be any representation from smaller clubs and companies run by women for women.

Only three things to whinge about? Not bad then. Will I be going? Possibly not for £45. But hopefully some true novices out there will be tempted. In cycling terms 40k really isn't far, so it's within the range of most new riders, and the traffic free aspect does sound appealing. I did miss out on my VP signature at the Sky Ride ven in Manchester, so maybe I'll ride over to soak up the atmosphere? If I can swap my magazines for a massage, Gatorade for tea and cake, and do a second loop for free, I'm in :-)

To race or not to race?

It's that time of year again, when the competition calendars start appearing along with information on training plans, gear advice, calls for teams, and so on -- oh, and glossy fliers. Since getting into mountain biking I've tried to steer away from any competition, stressing I ride for fun and that's all. But I have to say that lately I've been more and more tempted. Maybe it's because I'm getting fitter, and the thought of pushing myself harder feels appropriate whereas for most the time I was finding my feet it just seemed to out of reach? I know I don't really want to race anyone else, so I won't be joining any teams that are all hotted up and brimming over with the thrill of competition; if I do sign up it will be between me, me, and me -- to prove that I can, to look back and say that I did (the competition will come the next time.

That's what happened with the Manchester 100(k) last year. I signed up because a few friends were doing it. I figured it would be a (huge) challenge, a fun ride with friends (although I ended up doing it on my own, but hey), and just a great day out on the bike with organised stops on the way and not much to worry about. It probably helped that the sun shone all day, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'd sign up for another one tomorrow. Ask me about an off-road event though and it's a different story. I'm just not sure. Maybe it's the macho bullshit element of it, the boo-rah comraderie that seems to accompany talk of an event? I don't know.

The MTB marathon series might be a good place to start. I'll think about it some more. On a cold, wintry day the thought of 50k off-road somewhere in Wales doesn't appeal. But somehow it does. At least I have the training plan, although who on earth has time for 3-5 bike sessions a week!?

Biking is always better

Without my bike, today would have been a wreck. I'm now only 4 weeks away from my dissertation deadline, so what I really needed to be doing today was working on it with 100% attention. Now, I'm quite easily distracted, so my approach has been to barricade myself into the University library, where I am cut off from the world: just me and my mission to produce 15,000 coherent words (I have 12,500 incoherent ones at the moment) by the deadline. After faffing about this morning, I decided to go into the library again, but with the heavy laptop would be coming with me the plan was to bike-train-bike it rather than ride all the way. Oh, what a foolish idea! I arrived at the station, 2 minutes too late for my train. Then I missed the next train (on the wrong platform!) and finally, 1 hour and 20 minutes from leaving home, I was on the train -- still 30 minutes away from the library! I could have ridden there in under an hour, so now I was rattled.

So, I arrive in Manchester, tootle off to the library, get totally intimidated on a short section of dual carriageway so miss my turning, so another delay, arriving at the library at 6.15pm to see this sign: The library closes at 6pm today. Oh what an idiot! After briefly toying with the idea of riding back then deciding that 6.30pm on a Friday is probably not going to be the most relaxing bike commute home, I headed back to the station, and luckily hopped on a train straight away, heading home again!

Anyway, the point of this mindless ranting is to praise my bike. After an entirely pointless trip into the closed library and back, I got off the train a stop early and decided on a nice round-about detour to get me home. It was dark, the roads were quiet, my lights were blinking away, there was drizzle in the air and a slick glisten to my tyres from the rain. Perfect.

The joy of the basket

So it's not cool, and won't me score points with the sporty crowd, the fixie crowd, the downhill crowd, or pretty much any of the cycling cliques that exist out there, but for getting my shopping and other errands done on my bike it's the best £20 I've ever spent! If I think of all the journeys I've done on my bike in the last 2 years and the money I've saved in petrol and parking fees, my commuter hack bike has already paid for itself many times over. With a basket in the mix, a whole new range of journeys have opened up to me. Need a trip to the tip (which I do)? Well, now I can go on my bike! Need a bag of logs for the fire? Yup, let's take the bike. I know, I know -- it won't be long before I'm hankering after a trailer or a cargo bike (actually, I've had a hankering for these :-) but as an upgrade from the humble but ever-so-useful in its own way pannier, I can't recommend the basket highly enough. Urban cyclists know this secret already, but somehow those of us out in the sticks a bit more, the drop bar, weekend ride riders have let this pass us by. But as much as my road bike is about travel, exploring, tea shop missions, and fitness, it's also about transport, right? And that means it needs to get the job done. And one of the best parts about this (and probably one of the reasons most cyclists won't be seen dead with a basket on their pride and joy) is that the weight it adds turns my 20 minute ride into a 40 minute workout. Who needs carbon when you can have log carrying capabilities!

Mine's mounted on the rear rack, which has the added advantage that I'm no longer forced to stand there for ages trying to balance panniers, or catching my bike as it tries to flip over if I'm pushing it along the street.

Do I dare take it to the next level and fit a front one too? With drop bars? Is is even allowed!? Would the bike fashion police lock me up and throw away the key? Could they be the next big thing?

It would look as daft as hell on my bike, but this is a lovely looking one:

If I had an upgright, I'd be buying it online right now.

One thing that I considering as a compliment to my basket, is a "grocery pannier". I've got my eye on this one:

I wonder how much I can carry with that AND the basket. Happy days.