Bling...Bling......Riding On Gold.......

I mentioned in my last post the fact that my winter bike....Tiffany the Tifosi was back from the workshop after having had a new cassette and chain fitted.....

A few years back when I swapped out the original saddle and bar tape for a matching set of Brooks leather saddle and tape in that gorgeous warm honey colour I also added a gold coloured chain......
When I replaced the chain this time I naturally made certain that only a gold chain was fitted.... 

I think that the gold chain matches the Brooks honey colour really well and also gives the bike a bit of bling....
The other thing that I find the Brooks colours and gold chain seem to go with are the Autumn colours...
As it is always Autumn when I start to ride this bike again there seems to be a bit of balance to the whole thing which I find almost comforting....

Enjoy your Autumn bike rides.......

Tiffany the Tifosi

The New Gold Chain

Another View of the Autumn Bling...

Time to Swap Bikes.....

We have now been back at the Verwood C&CC site for two weeks.....

Since arriving here my time has been spent catching up with family....getting my car serviced.... getting me serviced by way of my regular scans at the hospital.... watching the Vuelta and the Tour of Britain on TV and getting out riding my bike.......

It has been a good year for me as far as cycling goes..... I really enjoy getting out around the country cycling in all different areas.... It was good when a cycling buddy of mine Peter Calcutt met up with me a couple of times when Anne and I were in Suffolk.....

Throughout the summer I tried to improve my cycling abilities in various disciplines so that when we got to the area of the Surrey hills I would be able to produce some reasonable times over mixed terrain....

A couple of snapshots of my bike computer figures are shown below....
The first one is of a 20mile circuit from the campsite we were staying at over quite a lumpy course........18.4mph avg speed..... wind speed approx 12 - 15mph.

Fiona the Felt on her last ride of 2018

The second set of figures was over what I thought would be a 100mile route. I actually completed 94.18miles.
I had miscalculated the route a little but when I finished I really didn't feel the need to do the extra 5+ miles... 
Years ago I would have gone back out and topped those miles up but at my age now I feel that it doesn't really matter to me so much.....
16.32 avg speed with a similar wind speed as above....Time taken was 5hrs 46mins.

Watching the pros at the Vuelta and the Tour of Britain makes my efforts look a bit feeble but as Anne is always quick to point out to me I am now over seventy years of age and I am not a pro.......
The average speed that the pros manage to achieve is just mind blowing I would love to be able to get close to their efforts but sadly that will never happen no matter how hard I try......

The third photo above is of my summer bike the Felt on the last ride that I will use it on this year......
My winter bike...the Tifosi.... has just come back from my favourite bike shop after having a full service and a change of chain and cassette so it is time to swap bikes and pack the Felt away for the winter.....

The Tifosi although being my winter bike is also the bike that I used to cycle the Ten Countries in Ten Days ride finishing with an ascent of the Ghisallo from the shores of Lake Como back in 2013..... I have a real soft spot for the bike.
It is my go to bike for most occasions and if I could only keep one of my three bikes it is the one that I would choose even though it cost a fraction of the Felts price tag........