CONSTANTS......

There are some things in our lives that can remain as a constant ....Things that we learn about or become interested in as a child or a teenager that stay with us and do not change.....something amongst all the subjects, fads and crazes that we get involved with that remain with us. 
For me the love of the outdoors and riding a bike are two of these constants........ 


Now for something to be counted as a constant it does not mean that it is something that you have done throughout your life but more likely that throughout your life it is something that for periods of time you might well have stopped doing but always gone back to. 


Let me explain...
I first realized that the outdoors was important to me as a small child when I was playing out adventures in the countryside where we lived at the time, pretending to be an explorer and discovering hidden worlds less than half a mile from my home.....in those days I seemed to spend hours out of doors. 


When we moved as a family from the South coast to the London area because of my fathers job, my opportunities to spend lots of time in the outdoors changed and I realized that I preferred open country to city life. Because of circumstances over which I had no control I was unable to spend that part of my childhood in the countryside but my love of wild and open countryside remained with me..... 
I spent lots of time reading about it though and that helped to satisfy some of my desire to actually get out into the outdoors and enjoy something that I felt was really important to me. 


Later when we moved out of the built up area of South London to an area where we seemed to be surrounded by gravel pits and the wild areas around them I was able to get out and spend more time again playing and exploring in the great outdoors.......a constant in my life. 


Cycling has been the same. 
As a child from learning to ride a bike....to cycling further afield....the bike offered me the opportunity to explore other areas and combine my love of the outdoors and exploring new places with lots of things such as map reading and camping. 
Later on as a young teenager I would plan cycle camping trips with friends and our world became restricted only by what we could actually imagine doing......


As life moved on there would be times when again I was not able to get out into the wild places as much or ride my bike every week....for instance when the pressure of work seemed to get in the way or the ups and downs of family life made it seem impossible. Indeed there have been times when I have not even owned a tent or even a bike.....but.....I have always come back to the outdoors and cycling....two of the constants in my life. 


Now I am retired I am able to indulge myself in these activities more than at any time before.....activities that have been  in my life for over 50 years..  If I could only ever have one more ride of a bike....or one more camping trip it would have to be a cycle touring trip the perfect combination of these two constants.

IT JUST DOESN'T COMPARE....

NOT MANY TOURISTS AROUND YET

Yesterday was a great day for cycling....the sun was out..the wind was not much more than a strong breeze and the weather girl on the television had told me that it was going to be dry. 
I filled up a couple of water bottles grabbed an energy bar and set off as I do most days for a ride west along the coast to the Studland ferry. 


After crossing the harbour entrance on the ferry I decided to  follow part of the route of the Jurassic Beast Sportive that I mentioned in my last post. 
I didn't ride the entire route as I wanted to try some of the smaller country lanes before eventually heading back through Corfe and then setting off towards Swanage. 
I normally ride towards Swanage via Kingston hill but I decided this time that I would stick to the main road.

EVEN THE SEA GOES UPHILL IN THESE PARTS..!!

I saw a female rider ahead of me and just as I was about 20ft behind her we were both passed by a young guy who seemed to be putting some power through his pedals. 
I drew alongside the lady rider and we had a short conversation. 
It appeared that she was a visitor to the area and hadn't ridden the route before and she remarked on how nice it was. 


I commented on the helmet she was wearing...a Catlike Kompact Pro....this is my favourite helmet brand and I have both the Kompact Pro and the Whisper Plus. These helmets are a Spanish make and have a very distinctive appearance.  I really like these helmets although it must be said that they don't appear to be as popular in the UK as some other makes. 


After chatting for a few minutes I set off in pursuit of  the young guy with the power legs. I finally caught him about a mile from Swanage, timing my pass just as we reached an incline over a railway bridge knowing that he would find it difficult to respond at that point......don't you just love it when a little plan comes together..? 


When I arrived at the seafront I pulled over to take in the view and have a short break. This time of year there are very few tourists around and the promenade is still very quiet. While I was sat on the seafront both 'young power legs' and then about five minutes later the lady rider cycled past...both giving me a wave as they did so.....

MISSED IT...!!

I like Swanage...it's a small seaside town and is very popular with both young families who might want to avoid the larger commercial resorts as well as older visitors. 
I always enjoy stopping there before the final few miles back to the ferry when I am out on a ride in that area.... 


After about fifteen minutes I got back on the bike and set off on the five miles back to the ferry. The first half of this section of the route is uphill (surprise..surprise) and then it is more or less level right back to the slipway. 
I always enjoy this last part of the ride finding a nice comfortable steady cadence giving me about 13mph on most of the uphill section until the really steep part towards the top and then slipping into the big ring for the downhill where I can touch 44mph. 
When I reach the level stretch I normally hold about 28mph until I arrive at the ferry.........


Wouldn't you know it..? 
I arrived at the slipway just in time to see the ferry pulling away on it's short journey to the other side... 
Oh well at least it would be back again in about twenty minutes. 
After the ferry crossing I just had another five miles to home although that does include two more hills as a bit of a sting in the tail... 
A great ride and great weather and another 57 miles to add to this years total. 


Today...what a change! 
The rain was lashing down this morning and the wind was blowing a fair old gale.....So there will be no ride today! 
Two hours on the trainer then...it just doesn't compare does it..?

HOW LUCKY AM I......?

How lucky am I?
Living as I do right on the coast in the county of Dorset I can go out and ride in some absolutely stunning countryside on any day of the week.......


Each year a number of Cyclo Sportives are ridden in this area and very good most of them are too. If you enter one of these events and you are lucky enough to have good weather you are virtually guaranteed to have a brilliant days riding.
One of these events is the 'Jurassic Beast'.....this sportive is part of the Wiggle Super Series rides. 


Wiggle is an online Cycle/Sport retailer based in Portsmouth which is a few miles east along the south coast from here. The sportives in the Wiggle Super Series are always well run with good support and well stocked feed stations etc......


This particular sportive is set along Dorset's Historic Jurassic Coastline and in the advertising for the 'Beast' they tell you that it has arguably some of the best vistas of any of the UK Sportives. 
I would agree with that. 
The actual route of the 'Beast' is almost identical to one of the regular summer day training rides that JD and I do a number of times each year. The event itself takes place during the month of May and starts out from the Bovington Tank Museum, which is not far from one of my favourite tea shop stops at Moreton.......also purveyors of great Dorset Apple Cake...!


My Son-in-Law had expressed an interest in entering the 'Beast' this year, but as he has been finding it difficult (as so many working people do) to find the time to get out and do enough training I advised him to aim for something a little easier for his first event.


The film above is a short advertising film for the 'Beast'- showing scenes from last years ride. It shows you some of the countryside that I ride every week..........as I said...............
How lucky am I....?

AN ALTERNATIVE RIDE.......

DOWN THE HILL

Today was the last day of February and was going to be the first ride in 2012 with JD. 
The arrangements had been made and we were going to meet at the ferry for a decent ride together over the Purbeck Hills...that was the plan anyway. 
Unfortunately JD had to pull out due to a last minute appointment that he couldn't alter. 


Now I could have just carried on with the planned ride solo, but I decided to do an alternative ride and spend a little bit of time working on my hill climbing. 
Within half a minute bike ride from my home there is a hill that runs down to almost sea level. 
The local bus finishes it's route at the bottom of the hill where there is a circular turn round area for the bus. 
In the summer months the bus drops off lots of holidaymakers here for a day at the beach but at this time of year the area is more or less empty and makes a good place to work on my strength and hill technique.
It is not a huge hill only rising to 200ft  but it does present a good workout. 


I rode over to the top of the hill ....and set off on the short descent....down the hill.....

BEND AT THE BOTTOM

 around the bend as I approached the bottom of the hill where the bus turns around.........

AROUND THE TURN AROUND

AND BACK UP THE HILL

 and then I just set off back up the hill.... 
Obviously once was not enough so I completed this descent and ascent 25 times. 


The first few times I managed it without any problems, but by the time I got to number 20 things were becoming pretty tough and by the time I reached my goal for the day I have to admit I was glad to stop. 


A lot of people tell me that they are no good on hills and actively avoid them. I believe that if you hardly ever ride up hills you will never improve your hill climbing ability. 
As with all things you need to practice in order to get better at it. 
Over the years I have learned to love hills and it's practice on hills that has helped me arrive at that attitude towards them.........

A NEW WORLD RECORD....

ROBERT MARCHAND  (photo UCI)

Regular readers of this blog will be well aware that I am always looking for a new challenge......
Well I think that I have found it. However there is just one small problem....
I need to make it to 100 years old before I can make my attempt and that is a challenge in itself.


Recently Robert Marchand established a cycling world record for riders over 100 years old. 
He set the world record for the hour completing 24.251 kms during his attempt. 
The record was set at the World Cycling Centre Velodrome at Aigle in Switzerland. Robert said that he just wanted something to do for his 100th birthday....apparently he reached that grand century a couple of months ago. 
He completed the event on a standard track bike, although he said that he had not ridden on a track for over 80 years, normally preferring to ride on the road. 
The advice he was given before the start of his ride was to keep his heart rate under 110 bpm and in the main he managed to stick to this, although Robert did say that on a recent hill climb whilst out on the road he did take his heart rate up to 134 bpm  with no ill effects. 


Robert went on to say that over the last five years he hasn't done rides of more than 100kms. "There is no point in going overboard" he said.  
Apparently he doesn't smoke and he has never been much of a drinker either and his advice to both young and old is to keep on moving.........


Come to think of it I know a lot of riders a third of his age that don't ride more than 100kms at a time, if they even get to that..........................

DOES IT REALLY MATTER...?

CINELLI ...OR IS IT?

In my last post I touched on the fact that a recent common thread on a lot of cycling forums and blogs has been around the subject of 'Do you really know where your bike was made?' 
It would seem that a lot of people have expressed surprise that the bike or frame that they have  purchased might not have been manufactured in the country that they thought it had....
Surprised that they had purchased a name. 
Surprised that the bike frame they thought had been made in say Italy or USA was in fact made somewhere in Asia. 


Really? 
Did they really not have an idea that was the case? 
I mean why should the bike industry be any different to any other industry. 
In the book 'It's all about the Bike' by Robert Penn he went to the Cinelli Factory in Italy to choose the handlebars for the bike he was building....He picked his bars, but acknowledged the fact that although they were designed and then tested at Cinelli's Italian factory, they were actually made in Asia 
Does this make them any less Cinelli....I don't believe so..


Take cameras....where are so many of those made these days? 
There was a time that every Leica was made in Germany....nowadays a lot of cameras and lenses carry the Leica name but were certainly not manufactured there. 


Then there are cars.
The last time I bought a car I purchased a Peugeot....a French manufacturer with a long history....Citroen and Toyota both make very similar models and the reality is that all three are made in the same factory and that factory is in Romania...real badge engineering I call it. 


But my point here is that if you read enough photographic and motoring magazines you would have been aware of this.... 
So are people really surprised that their bike frame was not made in the USA, Italy or the UK but in say China and not only that, but in the same factory that a number of other makes are made as well?....


My last post was about the fix I get from reading cycling magazines and how my choice of bikes has been based to some extent on the reviews I read prior to my purchase......You only have to read these reviews to get a pretty good idea where your frame and components originated from..... 


But...and here is my main point...Does it really matter? 
If you have a bike that rides like a dream...does everything that you expected it to and looks pretty darn good to boot, does it really matter if the frame comes out of a factory in Asia where a number of other makes of bike frame are produced as well. 


Now I am not talking here about the political and business ramifications of production. What I am talking about here is riding a bike. 
I am a cyclist....I have a passion for riding bikes.....Yes I love the history of cycling and bike production, but we are where we are and it is 2012. 
I think that it is far to easy to get caught up in 'hardware' discussions such as Shimano, Sram or Campagnolo and the coffee and cake stop wouldn't be complete without these rider discussions, but when all is said and done the real point to cycling is riding your bike.... Wherever it comes from...


There is an awful lot of brand snobbery around cycling and a lot of that can be fun, but in my opinion in the great scheme of things it really doesn't matter. What does matter is getting on whatever bike you have wherever it comes from and riding it.......I mean, if you don't ride your bike you can't call yourself a cyclist and riding your bike is what really matters......

Dan O over at Yo Eddy!! wrote a good post on this subject recently with some good links. If you didn't see it pop over and have a look now...........
http://yoeddy.blogspot.com/2012/02/who-made-your-bike.html

TIME FOR A FIX...

MY REGULAR FIX

I have to come clean....every so often  I need a regular fix. No, not that sort of fix...the fix I'm referring to is cycling magazines. 
I subscribe to a couple of monthly magazines..then there is the bi-monthly magazine which comes as part of my membership of the Cyclists Touring Club and then on top of that I buy Cycling Weekly now and again just to keep up to date with the more sporting side of cycling. 
I also buy Pro-Cycling every so often again to keep in touch with the pro side of the cycling world, so all in all quite a few magazines pass through the doors of Purple Towers.... Oh..I forgot to mention a couple of small  occasional magazines from local cycling clubs...yes a lot of reading matter.


 So what is it that I enjoy so much about magazines...I mean I still read books and as I sit here writing this blog post I have a whole bookcase full of books behind me, a good third of them are cycling related...but there is something different about a magazine....it is so easy to read. 
I can read a bit and put it down and when I pick it up again just dive straight in without having to refresh my memory on the 'story so far'. 
I don't have to make a commitment to reading a magazine in the same way that I do when I read a book. 


Over the years I have learned so much about cycling from the various magazine that I have read. Regular write ups and reviews of the latest bikes have always been a favourite of mine and I have used them as the basis for each bike choice that I have made over the past few years. There is no way that I can test most of the new bikes that hit the shops each year but cycling magazine writers can. Each of the three bikes that I currently own was obtained after I had read reports on them in various magazines. If a number of various independent reports are all saying the same thing about a bike then it is usually the case. It has certainly worked for me anyway.... 


Then we have the advice regarding training and how to improve in various disciplines....always useful and always interesting. Readers letter pages...new components..new kit... even the adverts... I love it all.
Just look at the cover of the copy of 'Cycling Plus' shown in the photo above.. 
'Think Yourself Faster'  - 'Nail Every Climb'  - 'Superbikes-Dream machines ridden and rated!' just three of the articles in that one edition. 


Reading this kind of stuff really does help to ignite your enthusiasm and keep it burning on a month by month basis....well it does for me. 
On top of that it can also help to build your overall knowledge of the whole cycling scene....one of the reasons that I have been just a little surprised by some of the threads on various bike forums concerning the subject 'Where do you think your bike was made?' 
Did people really not know? Why should bikes be any different to any other product in this 'globalized trading' world we now live in...?
But I digress....I will save that for another post.. 


About this time of the month I start to feel a real pleasurable anticipation as the latest magazines are about to be delivered ...talking of which I have just heard a magazine flop through my letterbox and onto the mat...Time for a fix......