The Participation Ride 2007

Bent washer holding out

 

The hour in the kitchen at midnight last night is paying off. The bent washer is compensating for the bent bracket on the frame and I have the use of the bottom two chain rings. :-)  Thanks to all at the lovely B and B at New Butts Farm, High Bentham, for looking after us (and the bikes) so well.

Big tyre problem

 

I have just had my second puncture caused by a split in the side of the tyre. See picture. I am going to get through tyres pretty quickly at this rate. I am going to need a Moulton supplier! Help! FYI I am on Alexrims DA16.  I have checked the rims for burrs - there are none. But the tyre wall is worn where it hits the rim but only on one side???

Tyre 2 written off!

 

I thought it was extravagant bringing two spare tyres but half way through day 2 the second one has gone sausage shaped.

GPS and other problems

 

The GPS did exactly what it said on the tin. It displayed the routes brilliantly. You could not do what we are doing on the National Cycle Network without the routes in a GPS. Signs are few and far between.

We ran late all day and still had 50 miles to do at 5pm. At that point we were in Truro and the GPS ran out of battery. So with no GPS and an impossible number of miles to do we had to abandon the NCN and get to our accommodation via St Austell on the main roads. A bit of a disappointment but the only option we had. As it was we didn't get to our B&B until 10:45pm. Again the lack of the GPS to guide us was a real problem.

I will try to make sure we keep better timing tomorrow. We are having breakfast at 7:30.

PS: I have found the spare battery now.

Packed!

Here it is, my bike all packed up for 12 consecutive days on the road. Now off to a wedding for the weekend before the trip down to Penzance on Sunday. Looking forward to meeting up with James and Ian for the first time . . .

Simon's bike - Pashley Moulton TSR30

I've been asked a few questions about the bike I am riding. Well here it is. This is walk around the bike about 700 miles into last year's trip.

A few additional points not made in this video are:

1. The pedals were reversible - flat on one side and with clips on the other. I was clipped in 99% of the time;
2. I was carrying a foldable tyre in the back bag which was fitted just north of Glasgow;
3. I had spare spokes taped to the rear triangle - look out for these in the video;
4. The zip ties stayed on the frame and formed loops and clothing was tucked underneath them - long velcro traps would have been better;
5. I had a pump clipped to the bottle holder on the underside of the frame;
6. If it had rained I had re-sealable polythene bags to wrap things up in.

Saddle acclimatisation starts tomorrow

With some anxiety I plan to start to get my a**e in gear and start cycling to work tomorrow it's 13 miles each way but will be OK once I get used to it! I'll let you know how I get on.

Ian (co-rider #1) called today and we had a good chat - he's an actor! He did a 12-month stint on Coronation Street and has done loads of other stuff. Aren't people interesting?

I'm off now to write a press release to see if we can get a mention in the Cycle Mags.

The bug starts to bite

Isn't the start of British Summer Time wonderful?

Spurred on by the first 'long day' of 'summer', the Moulton came out and got cleaned up . . . I feel that I am going to want to start riding is again very soon!

One thing I'd like advice on is tyres. What tyres should I be using for the 1,250 mile trip on the National Cycle Network?