Happy New Year

Happy New Year and all that.

Poorly bad

With just four days of 2008 remaining, I've given up on reaching 2000 miles for the year. On Friday I started feeling flu-like, which developed into a chesty cough. It was only a fortnight since my last chesty cough, which knocked my asthma and made be get my first brown inhaler and a course of steroids, and this second cough knocked my breathing again.

So, I went back to the docs on Monday and got another lot of steroids, pus a course of antibiotics. I spent the period up to and over Christmas wheezing, eating very little and not sleeping.

I got to finish Christmas Day by going mental - a lovely side-effect of the steroids. Proper, curled up in a ball, making repetitive movements and being genuinely convinced that I would die. Not pleasant and not something that I ever want to repeat, but luckily only lasted a couple of hours, while the kids were in bed and while I wasn't in on my own!

Update: Another course of antibiotics started yesterday and I get to go for a chest X-ray next week if it doesn't clear up. And the steroids haven't given me moobs sorry, just temporary mentalness.

Not dead

I'm not dead, I'm just busy.

Lakes Ride: High Street

Last Sunday I went for only my second ever ride in the Lake District. A group of four of us travelled over to Pooley Bridge, rode down the lakeside bridleway to near Glenridding, then two of us carried on to Hartsop, from where we carried the bikes 2000' upwards over the space of about two miles, then rode along the top of High Street back to the cars.

Three days later my shoulders are still sore from the carry up to High Street. I'd though the SS would be a handicap in the Lakes, but the climbs were mostly ridable in middle ring or carries, so it wasn't a problem, with just a few points where I was pushing while others carried on riding, and there was no real difference in speed.

Distance: 25 miles (map - our route was slightly different and started just off the top of the market route)
Climbing: 4800 feet
Surface: Off-road
Time: 7.5 hours
Weather: warm and dry!
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:17, with 2.1" tyres)

Darlington - Hamsterley Group Ride - Darlington

Rode up to Hamsterley to join a group ride with some HTB members who'd been camping there the night before.

A massive group of four of use set out at 10:30 on Saturday morning - myself, Andy, Dave and Karen. We rode at a 'sociable' pace it the first bit of the black, then down G***** O** (not sure how public this trail is) before Dave and Karen went to the skills loop and Andy and I followed the Black to the ford and then along to the Grove, where I had a cup of tea and Andy went back to bed to sleep off Friday night's excesses.

I did 50 miles with 2664 feet of climbing on the road, plus 720' of climbing over about 5 miles on the group ride.

Distance: 55 miles
Climbing: 4444 feet
Surface: On- and off-road
Time: 2 + 2 + 2 hours, plus breaks
Weather: warm and dry!
Bike: Solitude Singlespeed (34:18, with 2.2″ tyres)

Mind over matter

When the sh*t goes down and the screws are turned, we all wage the war against the ingress of doubt. Like cold, salty ocean water, doubt will find its way inside a breach and then... it's only a matter of time before the ship goes down.

Following an effort so hard that it leaves the eyes bloodshot and your feet fried, a rider tries to sort out the race's details. How can one's fitness vary so greatly on back-to-back days? All things being equal, one can point to doubt.

At times, denying doubt is harder than any of the physical efforts doled out. When the group is strung out into a razor sharp point and riders begin popping, doubt becomes tough to ignore. At that moment, the difference between a good day and a bad day is determined by the mind's willingness to ignore the persistant whisper of that f*#ker doubt.

I've been meaning to blog tha above (Doubt, by BKW) since reading it yesterday. It fits in really well with a BBC interview with Chris Hoy, which I read today:

In the velodrome, we battered the other teams into submission. You could see their morale was completely dented by the first few days.

I was almost surprised at how badly some of them performed. Some of them didn't even reach the levels they had at the World Championships in March.

That couldn't be a physical thing, because you'd aim to peak for the Olympics. I think it was mental.

The lower your morale, the more you feel the pain. And when they saw how our team was riding, everyone else just started to crack.

The emotional side of it is almost tougher than the physical part.

Darlington - Swaledale - Bowes - Barnard Castle - Darlington

If you ever look at a map and decide that the bridleway between Melsonby and Richmond looks like it would be a great way to ride to Swaledale, don't ride it. Pushing your bike through nettles and brambles then over boggy grassy fields seriously takes the edge off a ride, as well as producing the great low average speed of 7mph you can see below.

Luckily, there's a road alternative which means that I can do the rest of the ride again. That's a good thing, because it's a great ride. The descent off Fremington Edge is great and riding to Tan Hill is suitably epic.

Having no water between Hurst and Barnard Castle also dragged the speed down and made the climb up the valley from Langthwaite seem a very long one. For future reference, the shop in Bowes is only open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and the public toilets in Langthwaite are currently closed for renovation.

For the two bottles of water between home and Hurst and the two between Barnard Castle and home, I used nuun tablets for the first time, bought from Nick at Nixon Interactive. It's hard to say whether they made a difference, but the ride home from Barnard Castle was a lot easier than when I've done it before and I feel fine today, which is pretty good considering I had no water for the middle third of the ride.

The big tyres were pretty draggy on the road, not helped by the skinny tube in the rear tyre making it a bit flat. I'm pretty sure that I could have ridden the off-road stuff on the 45c Panaracer Cinders I have in the garage, if a little slower than I did on the bigger ones, but the road bits would have been a lot less draggy. I think some Small Block 8s would be a better tyre for me than the Nevegals, at least on this bike.

I'd planned on riding the bridleway between Whaw and Tan Hill, but the weather and lack of fluid made the road a safer option. One day though.

Food: 20 jelly babies in one jersey pocket (100% of my RDA for sugar!) and 10 dried apricots in another. Four slices of toast with honey in my bag. Should have taken more - I bought two iced fingers and a bar of chocolate (and two litres of water) at the Coop in Barnard Castle.

Distance: 70 miles (map)
Climbing: 4199 feet
Surface: On- and off-road
Time: 10 hours
Weather: wet
Bike: Solitude Singlespeed (34:18, with 2.2″ tyres)

Local meandering ride

Went for a local mixed ride (map). I intended to ride to the bridleways just north of Richmond, but a combination of getting lost (a junction on the fold of the map meant I left left when I should have gone right, returning me to Stapleton instead of getting me to Barton), getting a puncture (hawthorn) and bad weather made me cut the ride short.

Revisited a nice bridleway that I've not ridden for a good few years that would make a good link in a round-Darlington route, and found a nice singletrack road with grass growing down the middle (the best kind of road).

Distance: 23.5 miles
Climbing: 797 feet
Surface: On- and off-road
Time: 2.5 hours
Weather: wet
Bike: Solitude Singlespeed (34:18, with 2.2″ tyres)

July Riding

Total: 114 miles (6,428 feet climbed)

Worst month of the year, distance-wise. But, rode at Hit The North earlier in the month, which was a great event despite lotsa rain and a mechanical stopping me from putting in a decent ride - with just one of those I'm sure I'd have kept going, but both just made for miserable riding. Ended the month with eleven consecutive days of not riding, which is the longest spell of the year!

Total so far for 2008: 1265 miles
* average of 5.9miles per day - on course for 2174 miles for the year

Hit The North

Back-dated post, so I don't forget to count it at the end of the year.

Went to hit the North in Manchester. It were great. I did crap - broken bike and lots of mud. Also, rode to race (via a train) and back (also via a train).

June Riding

Proper rides: 117 miles (52 miles and 65 miles)

Total: 300.5 miles (13,360 feet climbed)

Best month ever, and my first to total more than 300!

Total so far for 2008: 1151 miles
* average of 6.3 miles per day - on course for 2315 miles for the year
* 37% more than this time last year

Inspiration

I'm attending a talk at Darlington library tomorrow night by Alastair Humphreys - adventurer, author, speaker. Alastair has done lots of cool stuff, like riding round the world by bike and completing the Marathon Des Sables and is soon to attempt to make the first unsupported journey to the South Pole and back (with Ben Saunders). His talks have recieved some excellent feedback and I'm really looking forward to going.

Via Alastair's blog, I rediscovered Dean Karnazes. He runs very long distances and completes challenges like running 50 marothons in fifty states in fiftey days, then running home. Dean's blog and this interview are full of fantastic snippets of wisdom and inspriation.

People like Alastair, Ben and Dean make me want to move my bike riding up a notch. I'm even contemplating running!

Riding update

Last Sunday, while at Hamsterley, I passed 1000 miles for the year. I didn't manage that until the middle of August last year, so I'm about 2 months ahead of the 2007 me.

June is shaping up to be a pretty good month for riding, which is good because Hit The North is in only about 5 weeks! June is already my best month so far, and we're quite not half-way through it yet. It's also shaping up to be the first month ever where I ride more than 300 miles in the month.

I'm on track to average more than 10km per day over the year, which is about 40% more than last year. (I'm averaging 26km a day for this month, which is 16.5 miles.)

I ordered an 18t sprocket for the Inbred last night. I've pretty much decided to ride that at Hit The North. The Solitude would have been perfect, but it's over-geared and would be more expensive to reduce the gearing. Plus, I'm less worried about breaking the Inbred if I do something stupid like ride into a tree while exhausted!

Darlington - Hamsterley Group Ride - Darlington

Rode up to Hamsterley to take part in the group ride come photo shoot with the Trailblazers. It was very sunny and I am now very red and painful.

For those that know the forest: we rode a couple of laps of the Skills Loop, Brainfreeze (new red section), Grove Link, Black Hill climb, bridleway descent. The group then split and Rifty, Jez and I rode up another climb (whose name escapes me, but which is horrible) and then down to Blackling Hole and along the road back to the car park.

I drank 4.5 litres of juice over the day, but was still dehydrated. I didn't eat enough (coco pops for breakfast, a couple of buns when I arrived at the forest, three bananas on the ride and a Magnum before setting off home), so started to fade on the ride home.

I was worried about using the Solitude on a group ride off-road. Riding down the BOAT into the forest made me even more worried and I was pinging off everything and my armes were knackered. However, I dropped the saddle half an inch and let some air out of the tyres before the off-road rides and it was like riding a different bike. I was no slower than I normally am on the downhills and climbed everything I normally do on the Inbred, despite the gearing being higher (34:18 on the 700c Solitude is about the same as 32:15 on the 26" Inbred). My main problem was with a bit of toe overlap, which could be solved with flat pedals instead of the clips and straps. I also have trouble setting up the brakes properly, which is, I think, down to the narrow Mavic MA3 rims.

Distance: 65 miles (24, 17, 24)
Climbing: 4852 feet (1485ft, 2188ft, 1179ft)
Surface: On-road, off-road, on-road
Time: 8 hours (inc. some (lots?) hanging around)
Weather: Very hot and sunny, no wind
Bike: Solitude Singlespeed (34:18, with 2.2″ tyres)

Update: Photos of me!
* Descending the bridleway from Black Hill 1
* Descending the bridleway from Black Hill 2
* Climbing the same bridleway to Black Hill 1
* Climbing the same bridleway to Black Hill 2

New route to Hamsterley

The last few times I've ridden to Hamsterley along the A68 have been a bit scary, especially when windy. So here's a map of my new route to Hamsterley, which uses quieter roads. (Mainly so that I can find the map again.)

I'll probably try it out on Sunday, to get to the Trailblazers' group ride.

Update: I've now mapped it on Bikely, so height data will soon be available. Bikely: Darlington to Hamsterley Forest

More riding

I did 13 miles getting to/from work today, getting soaked on each of the four rides.

Tonight's Council Cycle Forum meeting was a tour of the bike routes in the town, instead of just talking about them. Eight of us braved the rain, and got very lucky staying dry on the ten mile tour of the town. I also rode to/from the start, which is about another 3 miles.

Total of 26 miles over the day. With yesterday's 19.5 and Sunday's 52, that's a pretty good start to June.

Some time on the ride this evening, I passed last year's total for the end of July, so I'm almost two months ahead of last year's riding. I should pass the 1000 mile mark for the year on Sunday.

300!

This is the 300th mactually post.

That is all.

Commuting advice

If you're riding to work for the first time after a weeks holiday, and you've used your commuting bag and/or bike for other things over your holiday, make sure you remember to repack your bike lock. If you don't, you'll have to ride home again to collect it.

If you also have an evening meeting at the Arts Centre next door to your work, you'll end up doing triple your normal mileage.

(19.5 miles total - enough to finally bring my daily average for the year back up to 6 miles.)

Darlington Round 50

I've never felt like getting into the shower made me drier. It rained just a little on today's ride.

Took part in the Council-organised Round 50. This is first in a series of four rides, culminating in the Hell O' the North.

Felt ok going round, though the big tyres are very draggy obviously, despite the rain.

I think my Brooks saddle might have given up after getting so wet, so the 'wings' stuck out a bit far, leading to some unfortunate chaffing. I might need to get the drill and a shoe lace out and tie the saddle to tighten things up a bit.

Distance: 52 miles (84 km)
Climbing: 1280 feet
Surface: On-road
Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Weather: Very, very, very, very wet
Bike: Solitude Singlespeed (34:18, with 2.2″ tyres)

May Riding

Proper rides: 30 miles (one ride)
Commuting/business: 110.5 miles

Total: 140.5 miles (5532 feet climbed)

Total so far for 2008: 850.5 miles
* average of 5.6 miles per day - on course for 2061 miles for the year
* 22% more than this time last year

Darlington - Bildershaw Loop

I'd planned to ride to Whitby and back today, but the forecast winds and rain (which never materialised) put me off. Instead, I rode a loop out to the west of Darlington, going over/around Bildershaw. Took in part of the W2W route, and some bluebell-lined singletrack. Bits of on- and off-road.

Nice loop, might do it again tomorrow.

Distance: 30 miles (48 km)
Climbing: 1512 feet
Surface: On- and off-road
Time: 3 hours
Weather: Cool and overcast
Bike: Solitude Singlespeed (34:18, with 2.2″ tyres)

New Shoes

I got some new shoes on Sunday: Simple Shoes Eco Sneaks Sno Tire. They're black, but green:

* Washed leather and organic cotton canvas uppers
* Organic cotton linings
* PET laces (recycled plastic bottles, apparently)
* PET pedbeds
* Yes, that outsole used to be a car tire
* Vulcanized rubber sidewall, toecap, and heelcap
* 100% post consumer paper pulp foot forms

April Riding

Proper rides: 38 miles (one ride)
Commuting/business: 104 miles (12 days riding to work and back)
Misc: 9.5 miles

Total: 151.5 miles (5056 feet climbed)

66.5 miles more than last March, despite a holiday meaning ten days off the bike.

Total so far for 2008: 710 miles
* average of 5.9 miles per day - on course for 2148 miles for the year
* 27% more than this time last year

Darlington to Crathorne and back on Sustrans W2W route

First proper length ride on the Solitude with the bigger proper 29er tyres, though still mainly on the road. It looks loads better (though still very odd) with the 2.2" tyres filling out the frame and forks properly. The Kenda Nevegals don't roll as well as the narrower tyres I had on before but they're ok and should be lots better off-road, but I think something like Small Block 8s might suit my riding better.

I used a bike path and bridleway shortcut to get out to Hurworth and then joined the Sustrans W2W route's spur towards Whitby (map (I rode home too, obviously)). I'm considering doing Darlington to Whitby and back as a long ride in the summer, so it was nice to get to try some more of the route. I just rode out for 90 minutes, then turned around and rode back.

It could be a nice route, although not through the prettiest of areas, but the pouring rain and freezing cold temperatures took the edge off a little.

I got home soaked, filthy and freezing. Great.

Distance: 38 miles (61 km)
Climbing: 1300 feet
Surface: On- and off-road (only a couple of hundred metres off-road)
Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Weather: Wet and cold
Bike: Solitude Singlespeed (34:18, with 2.2" tyres)

Our holiday in numbers

* 950 miles in the car
* 8 nights
* 14 eggs laid by our 3 chickens while we were away (they started laying on Tuesday)
* 1 bottle of whisky drank
* 0 miles ridden on a bike

A great time had by all, in a beautiful place.

March Riding

Proper rides: o miles
Commuting: 91 miles (13 days riding to work and back)
Business: 67.5 miles (5 trips to work via Hurworth)
Misc: 13.5 miles

Total: 172 miles (5607 feet (1 709m) climbed)

Two miles more than last March, but no 'proper' rides!

Total so far for 2008: 558.5 miles
* average of 6.1 miles per day - on course for 2246 miles for the year
* 34% more than this time last year

February Riding

Proper rides: 54 miles (Darlo-Hamsterley-Darlo)
Commuting: 81.5 miles (12 days riding to work/Hurworth and back)
Business: 39.5 miles (3 trips to work via Hurworth)
Misc: 9.5 miles

Total: 184 miles (9490 feet (2 892m) climbed)

Seventy miles more than last February, helped by only missing one day off work and my Darlo-Hamsterley-Darlo ride.

Total so far for 2008: 386 miles
* average of 193 miles per month - on course for 2319 miles for the year
* average of 6.44 miles per day - on course for 2358 miles for the year
* 55% more than this time last year - on course for 2650 miles for the year

Inbred Photos

I'm off work ill. Let's just say that I'm not farting with confidence...

Consequently, I am very bored. So, I took some photos of my bike and stuck them on Singletrack.

Darlington - Hamsterley Forest - Darlington

Gusty winds and 'sticky' trails made for slow going and even downhills hard work. I decided to give up on trying to complete the full 50km.

Distance: 54 miles (87 km)
Climbing: 4948 feet
Surface: On- and off-road (20 miles on, 14 miles off, 20 miles on)
Time: 7 hours
Weather: Windy and wet under-tyre
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:16, with 2.1″ tyres)

I only realised how close I was to getting 100km on the ride once I mapped the route. If I'd known, I'd have found another13km, as I'd half-intended to try to do a metric century every month this year. Maybe I need a GPS, or a cheap bike computer? Oh well, 200 miles for this month is within reach, if I can find an extra 10.5 miles I the next week, so doing at least 200 miles every month can be my new half-assed target for the year.

Half Term Plans

I'm off work next week, which means no little-and-often bike riding. It does, however, give me a chance to go out for a longer ride. I'm planning on riding to Hamsterley and doing 50km on the fireroads (Hamsterley Hill Rush) and then riding back again.

It's 114km all in and took me 8 hours when I did it in October 2006 (I missed out a 7km loop), so it'll be interesting to see how long it takes next week.

I'm hoping to get the big tryres on the Solitude this weekend so I should be doing it on that, although the brakes had siezed a little after not being ridden for a couple of months so I might be on the Inbred.

I'm on track for another 200 mile month, and also for beating last year's total for January to March, if I do this ride, but I'll need a second ride next week to make sure.

Update: Thursday is Hamsterley day

Riding update

In the whole of January and February last year I rode 246 miles. So far this year, I have ridden 262. That means, on Friday last week I passed last year's total for January and February, 3 weeks earlier than least year.

Looking at the numbers (yes, there's a spreadsheet), it should be possible for me to beat last year's combined January, February and March riding total before the end of February...

(I'm currently averaging 6.2 miles (9.98 km) per day , compared to the average for 2007 of 4.6 miles (7.4 km) per day.)

Update: An extra 2.5 miles on the way home, to pick up a teddy bear. Really.

Lots of inspiration

I'm going to have to add Ben Saunders' site to my feed reader. I had it bookmarked on my old laptop and it was one of the sites I checked weekly.

There are so many things just from the last few posts that I wanted to link to, or requote here.

"We are richer now, but more overworked, more deeply in thrall to the addictions of getting and spending. We have more possessions, and they tyrannise us. Each new mod con must be shopped for, maintained, insured, upgraded; each new thing must be stored, kept track of, kept secure, tidied; and the whole package is paid for in overwork, time-poverty, round-the-clock availability and round-the-clock insecurity.

We have more, and we have less. In such a world, freedom is both more precious and more elusive than ever. And one of the few surefire ways of liberating ourselves from the tyranny of the consumer society is to put ourselves beyond its reach."

[quoted in Ben Saunders: Thought for the year]



[Ben Saunders: And my feet hurt]

Arctic sea ice cover comparison

There's a scary difference between the Arctic sea ice cover on my second birthday and my thirtieth birthday.

[via Kottke, via Ben Saunders]

Hit The North

On July 19th, I will be riding my bike in 8.4 mile circles for 12 hours. For fun.

Hit The North

Update: I'm in

Mactually

My proper blog is at http://mactually.co.uk/

January Riding

Proper rides: 62 miles (metric century ride)
Commuting: 91 miles (16 days riding to work and back)
Business: 39 miles (3 trips to work via Hurworth)
Misc: 10 miles

Total: 202 miles

A metric century and riding to work and back every day (I must have had a week off riding last January) gets me 50% more miles in January this year than last year. If I keep that up, I should hit 2500 miles in 2008.

Not bad for a January, considering I only had one 200+ mile month last year and two in 2006.

Total so far for 2008: 202 miles
* average of 202 miles per month - on course for 2424 miles for the year

Phew! Almost missed the 200 miles for the month!

I just got an email cancelling the work than normally means an extra 8 miles of riding tomorrow. With my normal commutes, that would put me 2 miles under 200 miles for the month!

Luckily, when it was really windy last week, I took the longer route to/from work, but still counted it as 5 miles. I just mapped it, and it's a mile and a half longer than my normal route. If I take that route home tonight, I can count today as 5.75 miles. Adding the extras on puts me on track for "exactly" 200 miles for this month.

More than anything, however, it shows just how shonky my mileage tracking is. It's a good job I didn't become an accountant...

Undercounting?

I remapped my commute this morning, so someone could export it as a GPX file and tell me my height gain. It turns out that the round trip is 5.6 miles, not 5 miles like I assumed. Over 195 working days, that's an extra 117 miles per year!

I'm going to keep logging it as 5 miles for consistency, and because I'd rather underestimate how far I'm riding than over estimate.

A metric century

A metric century on the road, on an unsuitable bike. I found an 85km route on Bikely and added a little to it to get it up to a round 100km. Darlington - Shildon - Sadberge - Neasham - Girsby - North Cowton - Darlington.

Hard going on 32:16 with big tyres.

Distance: 62 miles (100 km)
Climbing: 2889 ft (see here)
Surface: On-road (plus a couple of off-road detours)
Time: 5 hours 50 minutes
Weather: Cold and wet under-tyre
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:16, with 2.1″ tyres)

Update: Height gain added (23/01/08)

An extra 3500 miles in 2008?

One hundred miles a week is 5200 miles per year. On the one hand, that's slightly more than three times what I did in 2007. On the other hand, it's only 14 miles a day.

2007 Biking

Another year of commuting by bike all through the year, but otherwise a very patchy year for riding, with five months where I didn't ride at all, other than for getting to and from work.

1684 miles for the year, which is about the same as last year. Somehow, I did 14 non-work rides again too!

* In January I took the gears off my bike and went on a local windy ride (30 miles)
* In February I managed to do no rides, other than to/for work
* In March I also did no proper rides
* In April, guess what...
* In May, shock! Two proper rides, the Hamster 6 enduro (48 miles) and a two day road ride (44 miles)
* In June I attempted to ride every day for 30 days, but failed after a day. I also went to SSUK and broke my bike on the first lap
* In July I did several fixie rides (100 miles in total), having finally go my Solitude finished in June - ten miles round Barmpton, 50 miles to Hamsterley and back, a 24 mile ride to Egglestone and a 16 mile ride while I was up there
* August started well with a 24 mile ride home from Egglestone and continued with a 65 mile fixed ride up into Teesdale and a group ride at Hamsterley (55 miles)
* September was my best month of the year with a new PB for the Hell O' The North (100 miles) and a decent finish in the Great Milk Stout Ride (66 miles), despite being the only singlespeed rider and riding to and from the forest
* Illness and injury conspired to make October my worst month of the year, with a return of No Proper Rides (NPR) syndrome
* November saw a continuation of NPR syndrome
* December saw me round off the year with a short ride in Swaledale

Update (Jan 2008): I just found another ten miles in January's total, after re-adding them. So, 1694 miles for the year. If I'd know it was that close to a round 1700, I'd have gone out for an extra trip to town and back!