Replica team kits etc.

Recently I've been emulating my heroes by purchasing and wearing some replica cycling team kit. 

I should point out they're not actually my heroes at all. They're people who get paid to ride bicycles for a living. I'm sure it's hard to do but I'd hardly describe it as heroic. Also, I'm not really emulating them; they don't have to pay for the stuff they wear and they use the top quality versions rather than the cheaper facsimiles I've purchased. 

So, in summary, almost everything I wrote in the first sentence is inaccurate. At best I'm an idiot and at worst I'm a filthy liar.

I was telling the truth about buying replica team kit. It's something I've only started doing this year. Well, even that's a bit of a lie. I've got a couple of Liquigas, Rabobank, Caisse d'Epargne, Cofidis, Garmin and CSC jerseys from a year or two ago but I only started buying other matching items this year. Am I confusing? Am I boring? Yes and yes. 

Anyway, it started with my getting 2011 Lampre bib-shorts and a jersey from Dave Kane Cycles in Belfast (which is a very good pair of shops staffed by a lovely helpful, patient with me and my annoying ways, family). That being the case, I may as well start with a bit of a ramble about them...

Lampre

Items - 2011 bib-shorts (£30GBP @ Dave Kane Cycles), 2011 jersey (£30GBP @ Dave Kane Cycles), 2011 cap, 2012 socks and 2012 bandana

Manufacturer - Santini

Pros - The gripper on the bib-shorts is good and the items all fit me well (although that might say as much about me as it does about the clothing)

I like the pre-shaped bandana. Even I can't screw up tying that one on

Cons - Although it's better than it looks, the chamois/insert on the bib-shorts is rather basic and might not be particularly suitable for regular long rides

Short zip on the jersey 

White socks get grubby and can't be washed at a hot enough temperature to get them looking spotless again

Overall - For what I paid, I shouldn't complain at all but undoubtedly shall. Santini makes a bit of a fuss about all its items being produced in Italy but I don't think the quality of the items is any better than those made elsewhere. If anything, its quality is around the lower end of replica kit I have. It looks the part and is, at the very least, functional but there are higher quality team replica kits out there at similar prices. It does, however, look great. I love the aesthetic of the Lampre kit.

Right, that's enough of that for now. While writing, I found I was even boring myself. I'll witter about some other replica kit in the future OR maybe I won't because it was pretty darned tedious.

P is for...

As threatened promised, P is for Purchasing. I'm going to write some more ill informed opinion about something I've bought recently. What a treat this must be for you.

Today's subject is Castelli's Fondo bib-tights. Before I go any further, I'll ruin it by telling you, in almost the words of Tony the Tiger, 'They're frickin' great!'.

I'd rather not have to wear bib-tights in the middle of May but, if I've got to, these are great bib-tights to find myself wearing. 

Unlike some other bib-tights I could mention, the Fondo tights are a marvellous fit; they may well be the best fitting cycling item of clothing I own. No flapping or loose crotches with these tights. They're snug and extremely comfortable while allowing full freedom of motion. I don't find myself having to adjust them at all once they're on and the KISS3 chamois  more than does its job. 

At the risk of sounding like a complete pervert, it seems to diminish that awful smell of one's sweaty gusset extremely well. If I give it a quick sniff upon getting home, it's not absolutely rancid. Who even knew that was possible? In addition to being fairly stink free, the KISS3 (despite being fairly thin and unobtrusive) is remarkably good in terms of comfort.

The tights themselves are splendid. They seem to give me the most support where needed and allow my blood to flow where it's supposed to be going. Although not of the super warm variety, they definitely keep me snug and happy in the temperatures suggested on the Castelli website. They don't have any special windproofing qualities (or pretend to) so an additional pair of windproof tights might be wise to own for blustery conditions OR maybe looking out the window, saying "It's a bit windy, I think I'll stay inside" would be even more wise.

As an indication of how highly I regard these bib-tights; I've bought six pairs of them. That's not to be taken entirely out of context. I should point out I haven't payed the £109GBP RRP (or close to it) for any of them. I firstly bought two plain black pairs from ProBikeKit for £59-40GBP each and then noticed Evans (as in the bike shop rather than the clothes shop for the medium to larger lady) was selling them for (including a 15% discount offer at the time and some Quidco cashback) less than £50GBP a pair. That being the case, I bought another four pairs from there (one in blue and three in Italian Flag). Smashing! All in all, I got six pairs of Fondo bib-tights for the RRP of three. Hoorah! 

At the time of writing this, Evans is still selling them for £59-99GBP and currently has a 10% discount on top of that. If you're interested, you could do a lot worse.

Ranting, cycling and boring

Heed the warning (on your left). I am about to rabbit on, in a completely uninteresting manner, about cycling nothings. 

Today, I find myself sitting indoors as constant rain spatters the world outside me. I'm not grumbling. It could be a lot worse. I've been drinking overly sweet coffees and am currently watching live coverage of the Giro d'Italia (often my favourite annual sporting event) on Eurosport. Life isn't too bad at all. Besides, I got out for a great cycle yesterday and my legs would probably appreciate the rest. They're not as young as they once were. 

I've had the pleasure of getting out on my bicycle a reasonable (for me) amount recently. Unlike a lot of neighbouring countries, it has generally been quite dry here. Sure, we've had strong winds but (as an old man once said to me about hills) you've got to try to look at that as an investment; It might be in your face on the outward leg of your journey but you'll be glad of it on the way home. That's the theory anyway. I'm not sure it works quite like that in reality. Yesterday was extremely calm and I found that considerably preferable.

So, what have I been up to in my unexciting word of cycling excursions? Probably the main event which happened (or almost happened) was last Saturday. I was out cycling on my own in a bright yellow jersey, coming down a little bit of a downhill and about to pass through a crossroads where I had right of way. Yep, we can all see where this is going. As I was coming downhill, I had good visibility and could see a small van (one of the wee vans with a car type front and van rear, if that makes sense) stopped at the end of the road to my right. The driver sat there for maybe five seconds or more and then pulled out, to his right, just as I was about to pass. 

It was so close, I could easily have touched the van and, in retrospect, am a bit sorry I didn't give it a slap to see if the driver thought he'd hit me and would have stopped. I was able to look right in the passenger window at the driver. After he passed, I shook my fist a bit (no rude gestures, which I thought was very reserved of me) and signalled to stop and come back. Unsurprisingly, he didn't. 

Thankfully I got the registration and was able to give it to the police along with a basic description of the driver. I found the police surprisingly helpful. That's not to say I expected them to be deliberately unhelpful. I simply imagined I'd get a 'Sorry, we can't really do anything about it' response. Instead they said it was terrible, I should be able to cycle without fear on the roads and they will try to track down the driver and have a word with him to let him know he's on file and this sort of behaviour is not acceptable. That's better than I imagined. I understand they can't prosecute with nobody else there as an eyewitness or without a confession from the driver himself. It turns out the van is registered to a company. With any luck, the driver will get in trouble with his bosses and possibly face some sort of disciplinary action there. Well, I live in hope. 

Obviously I was able to keep everything together and not get run off the road (just about) but it seems likely the intent of the driver was to try to get me to crash. Especially with my coming downhill at reasonable pace, that could have been pretty nasty. Even if the intent wasn't there and it was merely that the driver didn't notice me, I'm not sure that's any better. If people are driving about who can't see cyclists in bright jerseys, it would be nice to stop them driving around at all.

What else have I been up to? I've been getting a few more miles with those Time pedals I did a fumbling review of recently and continue to be impressed. One tiny niggle (actually less than a niggle but I can't think of a word lighter than niggle) is how I seem to be able to half-clip in from time to time. It doesn't happen terribly often but it would be better if it didn't happen at all. It may well be down to me and my clumsiness. What will happen is, I'll try to clip in and my cleat will get to a point where it's kind of in the pedal but doesn't feel fully engaged. I then seem to have to unclip and clip in again. It's not a big problem and, as I mentioned, may be down to my poor motor skills. Even when it is semi-clipped, I can still pedal happily enough; I just wouldn't like to have to rely on it when standing.

I was lucky recently; my heart rate strap stopped working. That, in and of itself, doesn't sound particularly lucky. However, it stopped working eight days before the warranty would have run out and I was able to get a replacement. Being me, I had (of course) ordered a replacement strap as soon as it stopped working and ended up with a second strap. That wasn't bad news for KG as it means she was able to switch her old heart rate strap for one of the new softer fabric ones. Plus, it means the old strap is there as backup if either of the new ones stops working. It's all good, as I believe I once heard a person say, possibly in a film.

On the subject of KG, I'm sorry to say she's been experiencing a bit of knee pain recently herself. She cut a few (uphill) miles off the end of yesterday's cycle to attempt to save her knee a bit. Here's hoping she doesn't continue to have any bother with it. Some stretching, overuse of Biofreeze and and strengthening exercise should help matters.

I've been reading the book French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France. Have you read it? I initially started reading our copy of it quite a few years ago, decided I didn't like Tim Moore (the author) very much and stopped. I decided to go back to it recently and, while I'm still not overly enamoured with the author, I find parts of the book fairly interesting and amusing. Some of the book, I'd say, should be taken with a pinch of salt. I fear Moore is a fibber at best and outright liar at worst. He's a difficult man to like and gives many reasons not to but it's still reasonably entertaining reading at times, if a little drawn out to fill pages (says Mr. Pot about Mr. Kettle although, with my being merely some unread internet random, I don't feel any guilt about doing so).

Another one of my feeling manly without any good reason about repairing my bike moments happened the other day. I'd been having a spot of bother with my forks jiggling about a little. To explain a bit better; if I had my front brakes on, there was a millimetre or two of motion if I tried to move my bike forward and/or backward. Oh and there was an unpleasant clicking noise too. Well, the noise wasn't unpleasant so much as the reason behind the noise. A nice man in a bike shop told me it was probably due to the headset being a bit loose inside the steerer. He then showed me a couple of different types of headset so I could understand how they gripped the inside of the steerer. Thankfully the headset on my bike was of the easy to adjust yourself with an allen key variety. Despite getting confused twice in a row and letting part of the headset fall down into the tube, I finally managed to understand anti-clockwise turns tightened the unit in place, did that, replaced the stem and spacers and, amazingly, it seems good.I was able to fix it in a matter of a few minutes. Just goes to show what a tiny iota of passed on knowledge can do. It saved me the time and money of having to take the bike to a professional and means I don't have to be without it for a day or two. Hurrah! The world is wonderful. 

I think that's quite enough of my witterations for now. For anyone reading, it must be like receiving a really boring e-mail which wasn't actually intended for you. Thanks for your patience.

P is for...

P is for P-P-P-Puppy Power...

...but not in this case.

It's for Purchasing again. As promised/threatened, I'm going to write a blathering load of auld muck about some stuff I've bought in the past couple of months. This time, I'll witter about a couple of pairs of bib-tights.

Craft Performance Bike Storm Bib-Tights

As their catchy name suggests, these are some windproof bib-tights made by the company Craft. What do I think of them? As I'm lazy, I'll copy and paste the overlong review I did for ProBikeKit and they seem to have chosen not to post.

PROS:

• Windstopper type fabric does, as suggested, stop the wind.
• Tights are generally warmer than the thin material at the back (windstopper at the front) might suggest.
• Chamois, while not outstanding, is at least 'good enough'. There are superior chamois available but it's definitely comfy enough to go for a few hours on the bicycle without any pain or problems.
• Stitching etc. seems good and the general quality of the bib-tights is fairly high.

CONS:

• A bit of a weird fit. I'm about 5' 10"/1.78m tall and weigh around 152 lbs/69Kg. I bought size medium and they're pretty loose round the legs and a little MC Hammer at the gusset.
  I don't think it's merely my stick-like bird's legs causing problems; they're a snug fit in other bib-tights. I wonder if it's partly to do with the windstopper fabric. It doesn't seem to have the same stretch as the likes of Lycra and might not pull so taught to one's legs. Or, alternatively, I could be completely wrong. Whatever the case, the bib-tights aren't as snug as fit as one might like.
• Despite also listing it as a pro, I think the chamois could be better on a pair of tights retailing at over £100 GBP. Maybe I'm slightly delusional about what one can expect his/her money.

In summary; I think the RRP (£107 GBP) on these bib-tights was a tad on the high side, given their 'fitting' concerns but the ProBikeKit sale price (£70-20 GBP when I bought them but up to £97-20 GBP at the time of posting this) is considerably better value. 

The looser legs and low slung crotch aren't really a major problem when pedalling (although there is the odd bit of catching on the end of the saddle to annoy one with). It generally takes a bit of 'hiking up' to get into a comfortable position before setting off and never sits quite as one would desire. If one has huge, thick but quite short, legs s/he'll probably find they're an excellent fit. Otherwise, s/he'll probably discover a smaller size would fit the girth of his/her legs better but the usual size will fit the length.

I hope that's of some use. Apologies for wittering.

P is for...

P is for Panda but, in this case, it isn't actually for panda. I merely liked the image of the panda and nabbed it from a Google Images search. P is for Plagiarism. I wish I had a superb panda/cycling related anecdote to share but I don't. If you'd like to write such a tale yourself and share it with me, please do so in the comments section (below). The best answer wins absolutely nothing (as does the worst and all the non-answers).

My P this time is for Purchasing. Yes, I've done that one before but sure this whole blog is nothing but repeated rambling witters about vaguely cycling related bits and bobs. Don't start complaining now. If you weren't moaning right at the start, you're too late.

Being the exciting chap I am, I've recently bought some stuff. Please excuse my technical terminology. I have (as already noted) bought a new bike (albeit for my beloved/other half/'er indoors etc. etc.) and some wheels recently but I'll write about other stuff rather than cover them again.

I decided I'd share my first impressions on some of the stuff I've bought. To call these reviews would be very flattering; they're more gibbering thoughts than anything. Maybe they'll be useful, maybe they won't. Either way, they fill space, give me something to do and prove I'm still alive.

Time I-CLIC Carbon pedals
(NB that link goes to information on this year's version of the pedals. They're not terribly different from the pedals I bought)
 

I'd been using Look A5.1 pedals for the past while and, although they were fine at the time, they're a tad antiquated and heavy by today's standards. That being the case, I decided to change to something more modern. Would I stay with Look pedals and go Keo, choose Shimano SPD SL, maybe Speedplay  and their zany pedal clips into the cleat craziness (obviously I didn't do any of those and the questions were rhetorical) or possibly the likes of Time? The world was my oxter. 

So, off I popped to some local bike shops (that could be the start of an awful rhyme) to see what each pedal had to offer. It appears they primarily offered something very similar; a large triangular plastic cleat. Speedplay, of course, was different but we'll mention their twisted perversions no longer. Ultimately my choice of Time hinged on three points:

a) Absolutely lovely guy in shop (and his equally charming brother in their other shop) said he'd been using Time because he suffered knee problems in the past and found Time pedals good for alleviating that. That led me to think "Hmmm. I've had a bit of knee bother myself..." (who hasn't?) "...they might be a suitable choice for me too".

b) I'd tried Look (albeit not Keo) and my good lady has Shimano SPD SL on her bicycle. I wanted to try out a make I had no experience with.

c) This is probably the most important point; I thought they looked good. They're black, pointy and sleek looking. I wanted to see them on my bike. Even if I can't pedal to any level, I want my bike to look as good as I can on the budget I have. It spends the vast majority of its time sitting around hoping I don't get back on it or pleading to be cleaned. Why not let it look as good as it can during those times?

Time it was then. £134GBP later (I know I could have got them for cheaper online but the shop I bought them from was absolutely excellent and I wanted to give them my business) and I was the proud owner of a pair of Time I-CLIC Carbon pedals and their associated cleats. 

This is all leads to the important question; Are they any good? 

So far, I've done four journeys on them for a total of slightly over 170 miles (275 Km if you're a bit more advanced than me and my imperial ways). Of course that's not enough to fully judge any pedals on but, so far, I've noticed them being a bit easier to push than the heavy old Looks were. I'd like to think modern Look (and other brands) pedals would also compare favourable against a close to ten years old pair of Looks with Delta cleats (not to be confused with Delta Goodrem who, it appears, doesn't click into any type of pedal).

Clipping in and out seems very easy. I'd say it's more natural than I've found it to be with the Look Deltas. There's less of an almighty click. As is to be expected, it takes me a little while to acclimatise myself with the slightly different pedal position when clipping in but I think I've got used to already. Despite the lack of thunderclap click (I'm getting carried away now), my feet don't seem like they might unclip of their own accord. I'm pretty sure they're solidly held in place when clipped in. Like any new pedal, some cleat microadjustments had to be made to get me comfortable but I'd imagine that's going to be the case with every pedal on the market. The only particular nuance one might wish to be aware of with Times is their more shallow cleat. They clip in about half a centimetre lower than other cleats. I had to lower my saddle a tiny amount to allow for this. Prior to that, I'd experienced a little pain in my right (which is my weaker side) hamstring and think that may have been due to the change in position. Since microadjusting the cleats and the seatpost, I've found them very comfortable.

Without meaning to make a terrible pun, time will tell how the new pedals and I fare as a couple. So far so good. They're light, comfortable (once adjusted, as with any pedal), easy to clip and out of while secure and (most importantly) they look great. They're the Venger of the pedal world. One downside some people might be wary of is Time only makes one type of cleat for their I-CLIC pedals. If you'd like the choice of different amounts of float in your cleat, Time might not be for you. Thankfully it seems (to date) to be for me. I found all the standard adjustments (cleat positioning on the shoe, saddle height etc.) catered for my needs.

Rather than witter on (and I certainly did) about another item I've recently bought, I'll stop here and do that at a later point. That will give you something to look forward to; a reason for living.

Just before I go, I've been out cycling with (the slow group of) a club recently. I've enjoyed it but noticed something which slightly baffles me. A few times, people have said something along the lines of "When you get into cycling you'll find..." or something in a similar vein. There seems to be an assumption a person can't be into cycling without going out cycling with a club. In actual fact, they're one of at least six clubs I've been out cycling with over the course of about the last eight or nine years. I just find it kind of funny and maybe a little patronising the way some people speak to one when s/he is a new member of their club. Mustn't grumble really. Other than that microscopically tiny niggle, they're an excellent bunch and I'm thoroughly enjoying my time cycling with them. I can definitely see many advantages to cycling in a group.