Today's pointless cycling thoughts

I picked a particularly attractive photograph of that young charmer Mark Cavendish. Looking at it (and being bitchy) you can see why he had a bit of dental work done a year or two back.

I'm being cheeky but, if rumours are to be believed, I was quite impressed by something Cavendish did. Apparently (according to hearsay) he will be doing as everybody thought and heading to Sky this coming season. He's (according to the same hearsay) being signed to a £2.5 million contract (very nice indeed). What I hadn't heard before, however, is that he was allegedly (same source) offered £4 million by Quick Step and turned it down.

My thinking 'That's good' isn't anything anti-Quick Step or pro-Sky. In fact, if anything, I probably like Quick Step a little more than Sky. My reasoning is that Cavendish has chosen to make a decision based upon what he wants to do rather than purely for financial gain. I think that's quite good of him, not to be a greedy money grabber. He can be a real tit at times (although can't we all) but he seems to absolutely love cycling and do it for the right reasons. At some point in the future (when things take a downturn he gets beaten into a bit of modesty) he may even come across as being likable.

Something else the rumour (if correct) shows is that Quick Step has a lot of financial backing. Of course, it may turn out the rumours are completely unfounded. Maybe he'll actually join BMC like everyone else? Hmm, maybe not.

In unrelated non-news, my good lady and I were out for a (sometimes wet but never unbearably so) cycle today. It was the first time this year I did a cycle of over fifty miles. I know some of you probably haven't done a cycle under fifty miles this year but it was a bit of a landmark for me. Without meaning to go on and on and on ad infinitum about it, my ropey knee (and lack of fitness) was keeping me from doing the cycles I might like to have. It was good to do 56.1 miles today and, I'm pleased to say, my knee feels as okay as it ever does. I nearly did fifty a few weeks ago but discovered it was 49.29 miles when I got home. I could have gone out to do 0.71 miles then but even I'm not that pathetic.

Really, mileage means nothing other than to the person doing it but it did feel like an achievement for me today to cycle the route I did without suffering knee problems. I feel my knee pain has been such an, er, pain? It's great to be able to get out cycling. Here's hoping my forthcoming physio can help clear it up completely. I'll stop repeating myself about my knee pain obsession now.

I was wittering recently about ordering one of those Foska Kwik-E-Mart jerseys. Well, I had it on today and the bloody hem unravelled part of the way round. I had a big length of thread hanging down from me. I'm lucky it didn't get caught in the drivetrain. I'll have to e-mail Evans and see if they've got a replacement. I don't believe jerseys are supposed to unravel the first time one wears them.

Yesterday I did something very long overdue and replaced the front brake cable on my Madigan bicycle. It was, as the made up word goes, an embuggerance. It should simply be a matter of loosing the part of the brakes which holds the cabling, pulling the right brake lever and feeding the cable back through its housing. Yep, that's what it should have been. As you will have ascertained, that's not what actually happened. The cable simply would not budge. Some sleuthing (ie. asking other people what might be wrong) has unearthed, what I believe to be, the answer: some stinker had used Shimano brake cabling.

I know that doesn't sound terrible but it isn't so good to use Shimano cabling with Campagnolo levers. The cabling itself is fine but the wee stoppers at the end aren't interchangeable. It would appear Shimano's cable stops are a bit larger than Campagnolo's and, if you try to use them with Campagnolo levers, they get stuck and are an embuggerance to get out. After much grumbling and pliers trying, I eventually got the cabling out with some long nosed pliers which look rather like this. I almost danced for joy when the bugger popped out. I imagine I'll have similar fun when it comes to doing the back brake and the gearing.

I know that's not interesting but it might be useful so you can avoid a similar problem yourself.

I'll bore off now.