Hell of Ashdown is almost upon us!

Another week gone by, and one more 80km training ride done. Less than 48hrs to go before the Hell of Ashdown sportive. Only problem right now is, it's snowing once more here in Guildford! A decision will be made by the organisers sometime tomorrow, as to whether the ride will go ahead... Fingers crossed.

This week also saw me catching up with a keen cyclist who I had the pleasure to meet on one of the charity rides that I had worked on last year. Natalie B, a great girl who many will have heard on the radio at some point. She does a lot a of voice overs and radio shows. A good cyclist she is very active in promoting cycling in London, and also has her own blog too. You can check Natalie's blog out at curlsonwheels09.wordpress.com it's a good blog, written from a female perspective, and very soon there will be a podcast interview that she did with me on the Amsterdam ride.

I hope to get together with Natalie real soon, as we're muting some exciting ideas around, so watch this space... and hers.

Bye for now.

Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th

Hi again,
Well yesterday I finally managed to get onto a club ride... the first one this year, and the only ride I've done that's longer than 15miles since December 28th. We rode just under 80km, in around three and a quarter hours. I found the last hour hard, and guess who was at the back of the group of eight!!

The bad weather and Christmas festivities has certainly taken it's toll on me. One things for sure, I need to get the legs going for next Sunday's sportive or I could be setting myself up for some extreme embarrassment!

Maybe I'm spending too much time fixing and building bikes... and not enough time riding? Oh well, the weather's improved and with the Rapha Condor training camp coming up in in three weeks, I should be fit by the end of February.




























The Bianchi was finally finished today. Shame I can't keep it, I've kinda fallen in love with it during the build (big mistake I know). Anyway it looks good and rides lovely, I hope my friend Marco likes it. The test of time will tell as he intends to use it on next weeks Hell of the Ashdown. I'll be praying that it's all okay, although I've checked it and double checked it. All the fixings are in place with the correct torque settings, so I'm sure it will be fine. I'll report back to the blog after!

Okay watch out for up and coming info on the Rapha Condor Sharp training camp in Malaga, and the Race across America. Both of which I'm heavily involved with!

Snow, Rain, The Bianchi & Hell of The Ashdown.

Well not much has happened since I last wrote. The snow has finally gone, but its been replaced by heavy rain. Therefore not much training has taken place, which is worrying as my first event 'Hell of The Ashdown'' takes place on Sunday 31st Jan. You can check this evil ride out at the following website: http://www.hell.gb.com/

Lets hope the weather improves between now and then! The snow arrived during last year's event which was 1st February. Everyone remembers that snowy day!!!!!

Riding the fixie is great, although these rides have been limited to tiny commutes and one ten miler. It's a lovely bike to ride, and I'm sure she'll be with me for many years.

Finally after waiting, and waiting and more waiting, all the parts for the Bianchi are here, and it should be finished anytime now. I'll post pictures on the blog when it's done.


Until next time.....

The 'Langster' fixie.

The Langster arrived yesterday, and she looks good. Not had a proper chance to ride yet due to the weather, but looking forward to it very soon hopefully.

There is a front brake on it, better to be safer than sorry especially having experienced ''not being able to stop or slow down when you need to'' at the Velodrome last year! It could be more than a cracked rib in the traffic, so if you are in the Guildford area and see this lovely bright red fixie, with silly old me on it.............please be careful, I have no gears and very limited braking.

Temporary workshop & The Bianchi!

With all this snow and the wintry weather a suitable temporary workshop was required. Nothing that a well placed gazebo in the garden, along with Park Tool work stand, picnic bench, tool kit and a much loved small fan heater couldn't provide.

Oh, lots of cups of coffee brought down the garden by my wife Michele, kinda made it all acceptable! I must make sure there is a kettle in the new workshop, when it's finally built in the spring.

Work on the 'Bianchi' began and after a few hours it almost looked like a road bike. Just need to wait for some ordered parts to arrive, then it can be finished.

Lesson learnt, when building your first bike....expect many phone calls and trips to your local reliable bike shop to get all those little peripherals that you forgot, or didn't even know about.

Nevertheless there's a great amount of satisfaction in building a bike from scratch. I'm looking forward to test riding it on completion. I just hope my good friend Marco likes it!!!!! It's his money ;}

Snow, Fixie and the Bianchi........

Loads of snow around at the moment, so more sledging than cycling!

The new 'Fixie' (Specialized Langster Steel) should arrive at the weekend, so I'm hoping that the weather conditions allow me to use it.

In the meantime I'm just about to begin building a high end road bike for a friend (Marco). Using a carbon pure bred Bianchi frame and Shimano Dura-ace groupset. It will be nice when finished............. how long it takes, well who knows..............

Bye for now :}

Fixie...

December saw me sell my fixie, after only having it for two months. Nice bike but the geometry was too similar to my usual road bike. Ordered a retro looking 'Specialized Langster Steel' to replace it, this should arrive 2nd week of January.

November 2009........

Arrived back from India after the 'Norwood Charity' tour early in the month after an amazing eleven days in Rajasthan. Got on the scales at 78kg, that is four less than I was before going!

Later in the month I went on a Wheel Building Course at the ATG Cycling Academy in Aylesbury, Bucks, which I really enjoyed. Once my purpose built Cycle Workshop is completed, I will hopefully be building some bespoke wheels... so get your order in now! ;-)

2009........

So the rides began early in 2009 with entry to 'The Hell of Ashdown', a 100km sportive. My first ever and what a start......anything with the word 'HELL' in the title should be avoided! It wasn't too bad though, lots of nasty hills and it was on the same day that the last lot of snow arrived, Sunday 1st Feb. It took me around 4hours, 45mins.......... I expect to cut a big chunk off that this year!!!

Okay, not wishing to bore you all, 2009 saw me ride in two more sportives, 1 audax, across the Canadian Rockies, London to Amsterdam (twice), and across Rajasthan in India.
These were the exciting ones, there were many more local club & training rides.

Oh, and having tried riding a fixie that was lent to me on one of the Amsterdam trips.....I got hooked and bought my own in October, at the bike show.