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.

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.

On Your Bike - Belfast

I had a super day today (or yesterday if you're a pedant). I started it with a short cycle (in case you're wondering, I didn't clean my tyres this time), came home and watched the Vuelta ([SPOILER STARTS] well done Señor Cobo [SPOILER ENDS]) and then drove to Belfast to watch three cycling related films at the On Your Bike (hence the post title) mini festival-ish thingamajig.

First things first; That's three cycles in the past three days for me. Although the last couple have been quite brief, it's all been a test for my wonky knee. It's feeling a little off right now so maybe I should rest it for a few days. I think the weather may stop my having the option to go out cycling (I'm very fair-weather) anyway. All the same, it hasn't given me any real bother. That's marvellous. Hopefully it'll be even better once I get some physiotherapy, if anyone ever contacts me about that. Maybe I should phone them (although I'm not sure who them is) and ask what's going on.

Second things second; I don't want to mention anything about the Vuelta itself in case anyone missed today's stage, will be watching it on the rest day tomorrow and is reading this inbetween. It would be quite easy to have missed it if you live in the UK as, despite it being one of the biggest days in the history of UK cycling, both ITV4 and British Eurosport decided not to show it live on television. Prior to that, ITV4 had shown every stage live and British Eurosport had shown all but one.

In their defence, ITV4 was streaming it live online but we've got an awful internet connection and it wouldn't work. Thankfully I eventually found I could watch the Eurosport (which must have been broadcasting to mainland Europe) coverage online and the picture quality on it was low enough for even our yokel connection to suffice. Phew! It's a day I didn't want to miss.

Lastly (is that a word?) ; On Your Bike. The films we went to see (in the order screened) were Böikzmöind, A Sunday In Hell and Jour De Fête.

There's not much point in my writing a huge lot about each one as one's view of films is entirely subjective (and because you can look at information on the links yourselves). All the same...

• Böikzmöind made me dislike some hipsters a bit more (the director seemed very pleasant though and wasn't too hip). The premise was to display why some people ride fixed wheel bicycles. In reality, it was more of a short (30 mins) piece about a fixed wheel cyclist collective in Bristol and their hijinx (mostly comprising of being slightly-annoying-but-probably-more-likeable-in-real-life silly-face-pulling hipsters) than a conscientious attempt to answer the question. That's not to say it was devoid of entertainment. It was pleasant enough viewing.
  
• A Sunday In Hell was fairly interesting but could have been at least half an hour shorter, more informative and featured less of the dreadful 'Paris Roubaix' choral singing. It's not one the French tourist board might want to promote, unless they'd like people to think the people of France are surly protesting flat cap wearing heavy smoking (it was the 70s) poodle walking malcontents.
  
• Jour De Fête made me laugh quite a lot more than I had expected; at japes no more sophisticated than Jacques Tati walking into stuff. It had the most tenuous link to cycling, although M. Tati was on/off/back on a bike for quite a lot of the film. It was probably the film I most enjoyed of the three, even if it turns out that Jacques Tati isn't French for jacket potato. Oh, if you do see this film, doesn't Roger (played by Guy Decomble) look like Thomas Voeckler. There's another coincidental cycling link for you.
  

As we didn't have to pay for any of today's activities, that was good. That written, I must be getting old as I had to put my fingers in my ears during the first two films as the volume was too loud for me. Even Jour De Fête was a tad on the noisy side for me, although none of the other nine people there complained.

Now I'm going to bed to continue reading Rough Ride. Who says I'm one dimensional?

Talar Made

After a few months of using a Lidl ice pack stuffed into an Endura kneewarmer, I decided to upgrade to a Talar Made 'Compression Cold Therapy - Knee' ice pack about a week ago.

After waiting Amazon's customary 'couple of days' for delivery, I was excited (no, I'm not joking) when my new ice pack arrived and I got the opportunity to try it out. Almost immediately upon returning from one of my usual short cycles, I whipped the new Talar Made ice pack out of the freezer (where I left it, having removed the pump section first as instructed), attached it to my troubled knee, fitted the pump on and pumped it up to compress and freeze my stinky joint into submission.

On first impressions (I've only used it about three or four times) it's great. As you might expect, it's a world of difference from shoving a wee basic pack into a kneewarmer. I didn't think the compression would help as much as it does. Upon further thought, it's kind of obvious that cooling and compressing potential inflammation would be a good combination. It's not, however, something my little mind thought of.

In summary, I'd recommend it to anyone who has similar problems (mine seem to relate mainly to around the patellar tendon). It will be £30 GBP extremely well spent if it continues being as effective as it has so far.

Should there be any revelations to add from further usage (either positive or negative) I'll likely stick it on at the end of this.