New tyres, better ride

Did my second ride post holiday yesterday. The first was a disaster and left me yearning gears again in my usual kneejerk way.

Yesterday felt alot better however and I managed 19.4 miles at 10.7mph average. This was the second outing for my new Maxxis tyres. A Crossmark on the rear and Advatage on the front. The Crossmark is a pure race tyre with very low profile tread so reading the reviews, I thought I'd better go for something grippier on the front, hence the Advantage. This is the grippiest tyre I've had for a while but I think the rolling resistance is decent and the Crossmark on the rear certainly helps with that. Got a double puncture in teh crossmark near home though!!

Still trying to think of ways to make the bike lighter as well but theres not alot of room left for that. Tubeless? not sure. Maybe lighter pedals woulf help but I like the platform on my Times. Carbon bars? I love the Ragley Carnegies I have but stepping up to the carbon version is a £95 expense I could spend elsewhere at the mo. I do still thing silver Thomson seatpost and stem would look rather good however!

I have splashed out on another camera too! a Nikon d7000 dslr and 35mm lense. More on that to come!

Made it to the water tower

Well, after years of working out where it was and how to get there, I made it to the water tower. This is in Babbington Village near Strelley but could be called Kimberley. When I got there, I wondered if I had been there before some time ago.

Nice ride and good to go somewhere new but my legs were like lead weights and energy levels were very low. I've been out alot recently for me and my back is starting to give me some real gip.

Anyway, hols soon to relax and hopefully my back will get better. And I've got my eye on a Nikon d7000 or d5100. and a new bike, I quite like the look of the Ragley Piglet complete x9 bike. We'll see.

How Interesting

Done a couple of 20 mile rides recently. However, been hit by tiredness, lack of time, an attack of vertigo and then a bloody cold! Therefore, riding time has been seriously curtailed. Now I seem to be getting a bit better, I'll try and get out over the weekend but the weather looks shit. Now the weather is supposedly going to be summer-ish, I need to get mote riding in.

I have been spending again though! I've bought myself a new camera, a Panasonic LX5. Its a great bit of kit, allowing point and shoot as well as much more advanced controls than I'm used to. I have been shotting in aperture priority mode alot which is a first for me. The results have been quite pleasing but I need to get the hang of focusing on moving subjects i.e. Posey!

The pictures are very sharp and vibrant and the prints I've done for display look very good. I've added a filter tube and a UV filter for protection and to reduce haze and I may add the viewfinder but that is rather expensive. What I will be buying is Billingham bag, more on that soon. I can see myself really getting into photogreaphy again. Some years ago I had a Canon 500n SLR that I loved but unfortunately had to sell. I may upgrade again soon ;-)

Done a couple of gigs with the Nightwires that went well and we keep getting great feedback. Pity no one will give us a record deal but then again who is getting those apart from arse licking scenesters. I am struggling to get gigs which is the most frustratiing thing. I'm giving it until the end of the year and then will assess things. I still want to do some session work as a route to doing music full time but I haven't got time to do that and the Nightwires. We shall see.

All the usual frustrations then!

A windy ride and no punctures

Went out Tuesday just gone. 18.84 miles 10.9 average mph

Felt reasonably good again even though I'd been up with Posey since 4.15am that morning! After I'd dropped her off I got home at 8.40am so thought fuck it, and work, I'm going for a ride as it would probably be the last chance before I go away for Easter.

It was quite windy but not too bad and the trails were quite dry. I did both my "fall off" hill at Strelley and the desent down to Cossall from Cossall. Neither was that muddy which was nice. I'd not been that way for a while so it was nice to ride somewhere slightly different. And no punctures!!!!

What a puncture!

Ride commenced today with a slow puncture but I was hopeful it would seal, given the wheel has a self sealing inner tube.

It was warm, dry and I felt good. And then I heard a clattering noise and I got the mother of all punctures. a 4" nail through the tread and out through the sidewall! No way that the tube would seal that and the tyre is fooked!

Was looking for a reason to buy some new summer tyres and now I have one.

13.8 miles 11.1 mph average.

Another ride

Not weekend just gone but the one before (26th March) 17.63 miles.

Use Endomondo on my Blackberry which tracks me by GPS. Got a route map and stats so worked well.

Put the 16t sprocket back on and it was fine. In fact I felt really good until my stomach cramped half way round the route. Then had 2 days off work with a bug!

Didn't get out this weekend due to getting over that and my wife being ill. Also trying to get The Nightwires new cd finished. But once thats done, I'll be riding alot more often.

Blimey, a bike ride took place!!

Finally got out for a ride at the weekend. 15.93 miles SS.

This was the first ride for exactly 2 months and I felt terrible afterwards!

I have put a 17 tooth Surly cog on the back and its amazing what difference one tooth makes. Better on some loose and hilly bits but what a pain on flat tarmac. It helped my legs as they had very little in them about half way round, but the 16 tooth will go back on after a few rides, once my strength has come back a bit.

Reasonably dry but the fucking horses have made my favourite bits in Cossall, unrideable.