Cycling up Bison Hill, Bedfordshire

Posted on 29 July, 2013 by doug

Last time I tackled this hill was in the company of my friend Jeremy. On that occasion he had no difficulty in leaving me behind as he stomped his way up Bison Hill, occasionally looking back to make sure I hadn’t past out and then continuing to the top. I well remember getting to the steepest part in a lowish gear (36/26) and being tempted to drop down to the granny ring. No flippin’ way!

Despite my lungs feeling as if they were going to explode and my legs burning like anything, I was determined to press on and reach the top. Sure enough I did and I managed to compose myself and stop panting for breath as I was greeted by a grinning Jeremy, politely checking I was alright. He was waiting by the car park entrance to Whipsnade Zoo and was ready to zoom on just as soon as I got there.

“Yes I’m fine, thanks”. Gasp.

“Great, fancy going back down for another go?”

I can’t quite remember my response, strangely enough.

So yesterday, I decided to tackle the hill again and see how I might have improved my fitness and hill climbing ability. Firstly, as a reminder, here’s a few bits of info about Bison Hill:

Runs from the junction of the B4506 near Dagnall up to Whipsnade Zoo.
0.6 miles
Average gradient is 8.2% but the steepest is just under 25% (1 in 4!)
At the time of writing the Strava best time is 2.25 by Jonathon S.
The quickest female cyclist is Melanie W with the [still] excellent time of 3.59
Nor far from the Whipsnade Zoo is the Gateway Visitor Centre, run by the National Trust and well worth a visit, an excuse not to immediately go back down to repeat the torture
Counts as a category 4 hill climb (the easiest!)

Stunning summer scenery at Bison Hill, Beds.

So for this ride yesterday I didn’t really go out with the intention of taking on the Bison, although I probably thought I might have a go. I had ridden about 10-12 miles before I got to Dagnall, the nearby village and this included swooping down a nice lane, by the Whipsnade Golf course. I can tell you this has proved interesting for its wildlife in the past – deer, frogs, squashed frogs and this time clouds of midges / gnats. Just as well I had my sunglasses on as I could feel them splattering against my face as I shot through.

I got to the bottom of the Bison and just started to plod my way up. From the T junction and heading towards the hill, there is a straight and gentle incline, ideal for getting into a good rhythm. I went past a gate and a footpath on the left leading to some steps that follow the road – I have run that way before and yep that was steep. Just as it was starting to get steep I could hear the roar of tyres and a group of mountain bikers came down the hill, each one grinning as they leaned down to be more aerodynamic. They were soon followed by a bunch of roadies and they were rapidly catching the other guys up.

By the time you reach the car park the steep part is over and I wanted some photographs, so this was a great place to stop. Another cyclist on his own whizzed down (see above photo) and then I carried on, clicking into some higher gears.

While I was tacking the steepest bit of the hill I was doing about 5 – 6mph and still sitting down. Physically I was fine, not at all at my limit so I am feeling encouraged by that. All these recent miles are starting to pay off so my leg muscles weren’t burning at all. I have a pretty good cardiovascular capacity through running for the last few years, with interval training on the hills.

As for whether I stand any chance of catching up with Jeremy some other time? No, I wouldn’t stand a chance. I know he’s even fitter than before and he’s been doing plenty of hill climbing training. Maybe if I stripped my bike down a little that might help – seems a bit daft having lights, mudguards and a pannier rack fitted and trying to go fast!

So as for getting the timing sorted…. I know Jeremy has his timing for this hill. I guess the start line is the T junction but where is the finish line? I guess 0.6 miles is somewhere around the Zoo?

The rewards of this ride were tremendous, just like a good run. If ever there is a time when I got the “cyclist’s high” this was it. I can’t think of a better way of spending an hour or so before breakfast!

Posted in cycling, great rides, people, Thorn Audax | Tagged cycling uphill | 3 Comments

Why [some] people hate cyclists

Posted on 20 July, 2013 by doug

Leisure cyclists in The Mall, London

I recently blogged about my friend Jon (here) who amongst other things I described as a “good egg”. You might generally assume this is a complementary term. He’s a runner and also has his own blog Cobbies Collective Contemplations where I’ve spotted he’s laid into cyclists a bit. How could you do this Jon? C’mon, really? Surely you’re doing this as a ‘wind-up’? Simply can’t let this go unchecked! Sorry, this just ain’t on pal.

Here I am going to address each of the issues he has with cyclists and I trust all my readers be agreeing with me!

Undertaking

This is where Jon is showing himself as a wound-up typical motorist. They sit in their cars at rush hour, crawling along in a stop-start fashion, burn loads of fuel, make little progress. They are dealing with red traffic lights, a large volumes of traffic, the stress of the day is bugging them. To make matters worse for these motorists, cyclists get past them by under and overtaking and get to the front of the queue by the red lights. Many motorists can’t stand being out-done by a cyclist and become frustrated and need to make sure they are in front and making more progress.

My response? In an ideal World, we’d be more enlightened in this country, perhaps like the Netherlands who are more cycle friendly. This is where cyclists are catered for by design. However, we live in the Home Counties and things aren’t like that. The solution is for the millions of motorists like Jon is simply r e l a x a little. I know that many will have a longing for being on who wheels but they can’t for one reason or another. Many will be fat overweight executives who are secretly jealous of cyclists enjoying a fit, healthy lifestyle. They’ll be in great shape. Just because you are frustrated by crawling along in your over-priced, expensive-to-run executive car, please don’t take it out on a cyclist who actually has just as much right to use the road!

Cycling two abreast

This is when you might see a group of cyclists riding along side by side each other and making it even more difficult for faster cars to over take them.

Yes Jon, you do have a fair point to make here. My comment on this is that you would only very rarely see this. The vast majority (99.9%) of cyclists will hear a car coming and pull so they are single file. So just keep it in perspective Jon!

Jumping red lights

Shouldn’t do that on a bike, agreed, period. Outside London that’s an urban myth and just the kind of snowball motorists like to throw at cyclists. As for London cyclists, most are trying to get ahead so they stand a bit of a chance ahead, instead of being harassed even more by you motorists. Once again, you motorists just need to r e l a x a little!

Cycling without bells etc

Are you trying to say the sound of my creaky saddle isn’t loud enough?

Cyclists and runners are rude, especially in affluent areas

You might, just might, have a point here Jon but don’t get carried away with it. I might even join you with this rant! Saying “hi” to another cyclist or runner seems the most natural thing to do; fostering a good brotherhood and commaraderie. Besides, your help might be appreciated one day by someone stranded by the side of the road for some reason. Expressing a greeting is also an encouragement, especially if someone is slogging up a hill. No need to over do it, generally I think a smile, a “hi” or a “morning” is sufficient.

But, like Jon, I have noticed that there are plenty of cyclists and runners around. Being “in the zone” is all very well but a bit of common decency isn’t going to hurt you! Maybe there’s a kind of pecking oder based on how many Kg’s a bike weighs, or how many thousand of pounds it cost, how fit you are and so on. You get the drift?

Whether Jon is right about affluent areas being more snooty, it’s hard to know. After all people run and cycle through many different areas and I can’t believe their behaviour changes according to whether there’s nothing less than a year old BMW in the drive, or at best a 12 year old Toyota.

So what do you think?

Jon might have a point about some cyclists being a bit snooty. Otherwise c’mon Jon, relax, take it easy. Better still, buy a bike. But don’t stop running!

Posted in cycling | Tagged attitudes, friend | 9 Comments

Cycling to work – sweat, grit and bumble bees

Posted on 17 July, 2013 by doug

Here’s a few highlights of yesterday’s 43 mile round trip to work:

This has to be the best possible weather – hot, sunny and still. Rachel, meanwhile, is wilting a bit in this glorious weather;
Didn’t get that possible downpour the weather forecast said might happen. I didn’t have a waterproof jacket and couldn’t have cared less. Shame we didn’t get a deluge, I was looking forward to it as it could have been simply wonderful riding along in a warm monsoon, soaked to the skin;
97% on relatively quiet country lanes, hardly anything was flat. I always seemed to be going up or down, I almost longed for a bit of normal pedaling;
Cramp once again in both feet, though thankfully not at the same time. Remember cramp+SPDs x2 = not good;
In places the tarmac was soft because of the extreme heat. That sticky sound of the tyres rolling on melting tarmac is, er, sticky and weird. Not to mention grit sticking to the tyres and then clogging up the mudguards with fine grit;
I got overtaken by a Hummer. Man, these are even more obscene, stupid and ridiculous than black Range Rovers which I have blogged about before. Have you seen those rear view mirrors? Design of bolt on mirrors are simply awful for cyclists. I will need to investigate what kind of people choose to drive these things and why.
A bumble bee flew into the vents on my helmet `nd buzzed around for a bit, then managed to escape. That was a close thing;
Coming home I rode, alongside a fella from the Hitchin Nomads for a few miles. Seemed we were equally paced and I wish I’d caught his name. Specialized Roubaix, an entry level full carbon fibre frame and pretty good by all accounts.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Frank Bars

Posted on 15 July, 2013 by doug

Great snack bars from The Frank Food Company

We have just completed a review of these interesting snack bars, which included our super picky, dubious and questioning eldest teenage daughter. We talk about the company, their range of flavours, whether they are excellent or absolute garbage and generally what we think about these bars priced at 85p each.

Want to know our verdict? Simply click here.

Posted in food, reviews | Tagged food, review | Leave a comment

Cycling and muscle cramps

Posted on 13 July, 2013 by doug

“Flippin’ heck this is bad news” I thought as yet again I got cramp in my right foot while I was cycling to work yesterday. What made it even worse was my left foot followed a few seconds later in exactly the same place. What’s happening to me? Would I make the 22 miles?

What made this disconcerting was whizzing down a hill at the time AND my feet were locked in with the Shimano SPD clippy pedals. Believe me, getting cramp in both feet while cycling down hill is seriously bad news. This has happened to me in one foot or another quite a few times over the past few years but rarely both together like yesterday. I have had leg cramps quite a bit lately as well: these are either in my feet, calf muscles or rarely quads (upper leg muscles). These cramps most commonly happen at night while I’m asleep and cause me to wake up in a dramatic way. Even more dramatic is Rachel’s reaction as I leap out of bed shouting in agony but that’s another story and not for this blog.

What causes cramp?

On surfing around, there doesn’t seem to be any one single explanation for what is happening. Medical opinion seems to be inconclusive and it could be a case of simply accepting it as it is. It appears it could be a case of Exercise Associated Muscle Cramp (EAMC) but that doesn’t explain the night time occurances. So there could be a few broad reasons why this may happen to me or anyone else for that matter.

If occurring during exercise EAMC may apply. This explanation could be because of a lack of glycogen. It is easy to dismiss that because I am a seasoned runner and I have never experienced cramp while running. My muscles, especially waist down, seem quite efficient in terms of using their various fuels.

It has been suggested that too much dairy products can cause cramp. Thats’s faintly possible but I would doubt it. While I am a vegetarian, I’m not a vegan. Each day I have milk in coffee and tea throughout the day, plus the odd bit of cheese but nothing excessive.

Other dietary gaps are possibilities. Suggestions of a magnesium shortage have been suggested as a cause of cramp. While I think we only need small amounts, I have a few nuts most days – little and often. Lately I have been working my way through a huge bag of broken Brazil nuts as eventually they will go ‘off’ (natural oils going rancid). So, I reckon I am unlikely to be short of magnesium.

I don’t use electrolyte drinks unless they have been given to me. Sometimes you can pick a few of these up at races etc. This could be an issue because when we exercise, we sweat. We turn our clothing into soggy smelly rags and some people go further and allow their clothing to dry with drying stains on. You get the drift. But while I sweat, I don’t sweat that much. Nevertheless it’s a possibility but I can tell you I potentially get cramp throughout the year, through the different seasons.

Anecdotally people often say adding some simple salt to food or drink is a good cure, or perhaps a packet of salty crisps. As unscientific as this sounds, this is the most plausible for me. We get bombarded and urged to cut down on our salt intake and perhaps I have gone too far? I am under the impression we should get salt naturally through our normal foods and we shouldn’t need to add anything to our food. Rachel adds a little salt to our home made bread which I love scoffing every day. My intake of “processed” food is minimal and this is where those immoral manufacturers turn out rubbish to make fat unhealthy people even worse.

So there y’go. Out of those possibilities, a bag of crisps – junk food laden with salt and loads of disgusting rubbish might be the cure. I think I’ll skip that and simply have a pinch of salt on tonight’s fish and chips.

Posted in food, health | 8 Comments

The Pros and Cons of cycling Coast to Coast

Posted on 12 July, 2013 by doug

You might have seen I am toying with the idea of doing the C2C in 2014. That is the 150 mile route involving 4,500ft of ascend / descending. It seems a terribly daunting thing to do but I can’t put the idea down; every time I ride my bike I start thinking about it. So I thought I’d blog about it and see if it helps me work through the decision. If you have done it, or are thinking about it, please leave a comment and help me along, pleeeeaaase?

The Pros

A sense of achievement, satisfying
Something to look back on and think “I actually did that!”. You see, I don’t want to have too many regrets when I’m a grumpy 100 year old bloke wishing I had done things while I had the chance
Stunning scenery
I have a year to prepare
I have the right bike already (Thorn Audax – steel frame – not the lightest bike but comfortable and with great handling)
I enjoy a challenge
My friend Jeremy is likely to do it and therefore a nearby training partner, coach, motivator etc
I like cycling, especially in different places
I have a turbo trainer for clocking up miles when the winter weather is too bad outside
I ran a marathon in May and achieved a satisfying time, so why not aim for a different challenge in 2014?
Plenty of other 40 and 50 year olds appear to have done it
It’s only a day. I can’t devote time or money to do LEJOG or anything like that

The Cons

I have never ridden 150 miles in a day before; how do I know I could do it?
What happens if I can’t? Who rescues me from the middle of the route?
Impact on my family as I’ll need to clock up lots of miles in training
Rachel says “bonkers doesn’t even start to describe it”
According to Jeremy (who is already bonkers, in the nicest of ways) says it is 100ft of ascent per mile. Furthermore it is 25 times a local hilly ride and still short by 2,500ft. Phew.
Jeremy is umpteen times fitter than me right now, 10+ years younger and will leave me behind on the first hill. That’ll be the last I’ll see of him before the finish line. By the time I wobble across the line, he will have spent ages chatting to people, had a shower, a three course meal and written a book about it
While I have a decent bike, I need to buy some more cycle clothing (£ouch) and no doubt some other bits for my bike – tyres and so on
Logistics looks a bit of a challenge
I will be 52 years and 6 months old by then. Surely this age is “getting on a bit” for this?
The weather could be really horrible in northern England – even in the end of June. That would make it even more difficult

In my mind, I’m leaning towards doing it. I’d be really pleased to hear from anyone who has done this or are thinking of doing it in 2014. Please leave me a comment or use the Contact tab above. Thanks in advance.

Here’s the link to the event’s website – click here for Open Cycling

Posted in cycling, great rides | Tagged Coast to Coast | 8 Comments

“Not the best start…..” update

Posted on 7 July, 2013 by doug

New shiny Mavic Open Sport rim

Okay you will already know from the previous post that I have been in need of a new rim, following last weekend’s “mishap”. So I collected my repaired bike from our LBS and was delighted with the price tag. All in – that’s the cost of a new Mavic Open Sport 32h rim and rebuild – £35.00. Wow I think that’s pretty good.

As with all newly built rims, you get a “ping, ping, ping” as the spokes settle into place when the wheel is first used. Also some re-truing is the norm once everything has bed into place. Having completed 27 miles today in the blistering heat of our long-awaited summer, I can see some re-truing is needed. It was a real joy to be back on the Thorn Audax after the last 100 miles on my creaky vintage Dawes.

I also have a claim form from Hertfordshire County Council, which I can now deal with and send off. There seems to be some divided opinion around as to whether I stand any chance of getting any money out of the Council, with most suggesting I am unlikely to succeed. We’ll see!

Probably a good stage for me to comment on the actual rim itself – for an entry-level rim, this is pretty damn good. In the 4,000 miles these have been used, they have given nothing but good service and remained remarkably true. At 490 grams they are not the lightest but still not bad at all. Also, while they are simply pinned at the join, I have never been aware of any brake judder. I did toy with the idea of up-grading but it seemed pretty pointless as these are so good for the price.

What is disappointing is that the road defect is still there but perhaps it is awaiting a repair since I reported the problem last week.

In case you missed last week’s post, here’s the reason why I needed this new rim….

Posted in cycle maintenance, cycling, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Not the best start…..

Posted on 29 June, 2013 by doug

This morning I went for a pre-breakfast cycle ride but didn’t get very far…

I had a sinking feeling just before I fell off!

I was so disappointed. I was only a few miles into my long-awaited Saturday morning bike ride when disaster struck. Before you say anything, no I didn’t see the danger lying ahead of me as I was carefully turning the corner, eager to avoid a milk delivery van coming the other way. He was trying to avoid me. It was a weird kind of feeling as my back wheel simply sunk from under me and in a flash I was tumbling onto the road. The damage seems to be confined to replacing the rim and my scraped knee. So no big deal; thankfully.

Interesting experience followed in trying to report the fault to Hertfordshire County Council using their web-based road defect system. Needless to say there isn’t an option for “badly fitting man-hole covers designed to trap cyclists” but I hope I got the message across by uploading some photographs for them to see. Naturally once I’d done that, I then explored their website looking for something about making a complaint or submitting a claim to the Council. Unsurprisingly this is not easy but we’ll see what happens. Once home, a nice mug of coffee, a shower and breakfast had a calming effect as I was a bit shaken.

This is another reason to carry a mobile phone for obvious reasons. Thank you to Rachel who lovingly dropped everything and came to rescue me.

And to the LBS – funnily enough I had planned to take my bike in today as I had a bottom bracket problem (will do a blog post about that soon). Anyway, when I arrived carrying my bike in they looked a bit alarmed. Naturally they were eager to know what had happened and eventually got ’round to asking if I was okay (but then it’s important to remember they concentrate on repairing bikes, not people).

The nice thing a decent LBS is that you get a straight forward response. Yes, no problem we can get that rim, no problem at all but the sticker might look a little different (I can live with that). Refreshing from what others might say i.e. you can only buy a pair, it’ll take 6 weeks to get that wheel built for you. No, none of that. Simply a case of “we will order the rim on Monday and it will be ready on Thursday afternoon. No you don’t have to buy two, we’ll supply one and build it for you”.

That’s cool, plus they’ll fix the bottom bracket as well. Hope Hertfordshire County Council will be as nice in fixing the road defect and paying for the wheel rim and rebuild. I will blog later on about the response I get on this – watch this space!

But I miss my bike already! Strangely I feel a bit lost without it, grrrrr. Nevermind, I dusted off ye olde Dawes Galaxy, pumped up the tyres and fitted my SPD pedals. Now there’s a nice relaxed kind of bike, a 1984 Dawes Galaxy with easy-going Reynolds 531 tubing. I’m planning to ride to the annual church picnic tomorrow and then to work on Monday, so that’ll be a few unexpected miles on the Dawes.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Top marks for Kara Dolman

Posted on 28 June, 2013 by doug

Cycling in London isn’t always this idyllic

Earlier this week I was in London; lots of cyclists buzzing around as usual. Picked up a freebee copy of the Evening Standard and there was a little article which entitled Why are drivers so impatient to kill cyclists? Naturally that caught my eye. Kara Dolman, the journalist, has been having a brave go at becoming a cyclist in London. Not a bad time of year to tackle this but in spite of this it seems to be turning into a bit of an ordeal. She describes some pretty scary examples of being cut-up, intimidated, virtually run off the road and of course, being abused by drivers of those ridiculous 4x4s. She points out to motorists that cyclists actually have the same rights in using the roads, although you’d find that hard to believe at times.

The tales of motorists being threatening are pretty realistic, especially for a cyclist still getting to grips with two wheels powered under her own steam. The marvellous thing is that despite all those horrible things, she has stuck at it for a month and remarks “just one month of cycling had made me feel happier and healthier than in years”. That’s wonderful.

Reflections

If you’re tempted to start cycling in order to commute to work and you’re in a busy urban area, do some research about the best route. The ideal route will probably be different to the route you’d go when driving or travelling by bus;
Starting when the weather is calm and pleasant is ideal. Riding into a monsoon is enough to put any novice off forever;
Talk to any cyclists you know about the optimum route, especially if they work in the same place. If they’re friendly they may even be willing to escort you until you feel confident to tackle the ride alone;
If you can cycle at about the same speed as the traffic, you’ll flow along nicely and they’ll be fewer opportunities for drivers trying to squeeze past you. Having said that some drivers assume all cyclists travel slowly and may appear surprised if you appear sooner than they expected;
At junctions where you have right-of-way always try and make eye contact with car drivers you are wanting to stop and let you pass;
Do look out for any offers from your local authority about Bikeability schemes or other ways of improving your Roadcraft on two wheels;
Know your rights and the recommendations for cyclists. An example pointed out by Kara Dolman was allowing sufficient space for drivers to open their doors as you ride past. Doing this often annoys motorists wanting to overtake a cyclist – hold your nerve – but don’t assume everyone else knows the rule
Listen to your gut instincts about any situations which may become dangerous
Believe that the more you cycle, levels of confidence, speed and ability will increase. This in turn will melt many of those anxieties away having replaced them with a confident (but not reckless) presence on the road

So there’s a few thoughts for new cyclists in commuting in London and other busy urban areas. Please don’t become a cyclist who flouts the law (shooting through red traffic lights) and other things that get motorists irate and gives cyclists a bad name. Take good care, stay safe and look out for each other. Enjoy being part of the cycling movement which is wonderfully on the rise in many places.

Posted in confidence, cycling, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Coast to Coast C2C conversation

Posted on 26 June, 2013 by doug

Last year we rode one of the Coast to Coast routes as a family, from Silloth to Tyneside. What made it special was doing this with another family who we are friendly with. It was a fairly gentle, easy going journey and I remember thinking I ought to do this again but with a bit more of a challenging route i.e. more hills and a little faster.

I must have mentioned that to another of my friends. This was Jeremy who, it seems, has a better memory than me. We had vaguely discussed possibility of doing such a ride this year but with running low on my annual leave allowance, it was not possible this year. However, it did crop up in conversation which went a long the lines of….

“Remember you fancied doing the Coast to Coast again Doug?” asks Jeremy

“Oh yeah, I do. Just ain’t gonna happen this year, maybe next year”

“How does a 150 mile route grab you?”

“Sounds okay Jeremy, I had in mind a longer route anyway”

“Yep but do you remember saying you’d like a slightly quicker pace?”

At this point I’m wondering if I ought to start getting worried as I can feel I’m being led into something. Thoughts of our last ride together and being left seriously behind ascending a hill sprung to mind. I remembered feeling so unfit on that particular Sunday pre-church ride with my upper leg muscles burning like crazy. In spite of this, curiosity got the better of me.

“Sure that would be great, we could do a lightweight and minimalist “credit card” tour”

“Nah don’t worry about that. How does doing it in a day seem?”

“150 miles in a day? Hummmmm that’s quite a distance but not impossible. Go on…..”

“Well I came across an organised C2C which looks pretty good and I’m tempted to do it next year. Oh by the way, you fancied a more hilly route? This one involves 4,500 metres, so how about it?”.

My easy answer is yes but now I’m thinking 150 miles is quite some distance in a day. Flippin’ eck! And 150 hilly miles at that! I have cycled over 100 miles in a day before, several decades ago, including going from Elmore (near Gloucester) to Tooting in London. Plus in 1984 I cycled the 300 miles from Mombasa to Nairobi in three days on a heap of junk with camping gear – that included climbing 6,000 feet. At 51 I’ve recently run a marathon in just under four hours so surely I can do the 150 miles? Afterall I have a year to do the training.

There is something strangely attractive for me with endurance events – distance, not speed. This proposition from Jeremy has got me thinking and I do like the sound of it. End of June in 2014 would be a lovely time of year with such long hours of daylight and a fair chance of some good weather. I just don’t want to be a 90 year old sitting in a nursing home with regrets I didn’t do the things I could have done when I had the opportunity.

What’s on offer is an organised cycle ride / sportive by Open Cycling, providing it is organised for 2014. It goes from Seascale to Whitby and travels through some stunning scenery. There’s some logistical back-up and support with sign posts, feeding stations etc along the way. It’s not a ride for the feint hearted but has real potential for being amongst the all-time great rides.

If you have done this ride or maybe thinking of doing it, could you either leave me a comment or use the ‘Contact’ tab above? It would be great to hear from you.

Here’s a link to the Coast to Coast in a Day site.

Here’s the link through to the gentle 2012 family C2C adventure.

Posted in cycling | Tagged Coast to Coast | Leave a comment

Quick review – Shimano PD-M424 pedals

Posted on 21 June, 2013 by doug

Double sided SPD pedals and can be used with ordinary shoes

My daughter is not having too much luck with SPD pedals. Last year we had the disastrous Raleigh Outback SPD pedals which are never getting fitted to any of our bikes again. While most converts to SPD pedals experience few problems beyond probably falling off just the once, my daughter has fallen off a couple of times and has been a bit wary and spooked by this design. So we’ve had conventional pedals on her road bike during the winter.

Now summer has finally arrived there is the urge to get out there and clock up some miles. With this in mind I got her a pair of Shimano PD-M424 pedals. These, we thought, were going to be a good comprimise in allowing ordinary shoes to be used or her stiff-soled cycling shoes when we’re peddling further. Actually she was quite excited when these arrived but less so when we tried them.

The problem

We found that her Specialized cycling shoes were incompatible owing to the deep tread running around the edge of the sole hitting against the black resin cage around the outside of the pedal. Oh dear! We fiddled around and it just wasn’t going to work. I tried my own shoes, also equipped with a SPD cleat, and this worked fine.

The pedals themselves

Fundamentally there’s nothing wrong with these pedals. At £23.99 from Wiggle they are pretty cheap and no reason why they shouldn’t give great long term service. After all, I have a pair of Shimano A520 pedals (previously reviewed) and are still running smoothly after many thousands of miles and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were made to a similar standard. The advantage of the M424s is that it’s easy to wear ordinary shoes and ride the bike, a nice bit of design as the SPD clippy part swivels out of the way so you’re not aware of the cleat part underneath.

As with other SPD pedals, the in/out tensioner spring is adjustable
They come supplied with cleats, ready to screw to your cycle shoes. Worth remembering these cost about £15 to buy on their own. Yes I know, a real rip off. Annoying, isn’t it. But there you go. Makes buying a new pair of pedals more cost effective when the cleats eventually wear out?
They are double sided, allowing for easy shoe entry
the spindle is chrome-moly, should be hard wearing

Moral of the story

Check to make sure your new or existing shoes are compatible with the actual pedals you intend to buy. Simply getting SPD compatible shoes or pedals isn’t sufficient. This is probably another example of where your LBS (that’s your Local Bike Shop) can help advise on these finer points.

Posted in reviews | 1 Comment

Christians, cycling and sport

Posted on 14 June, 2013 by doug

Ministry to Bikers: Pastor Cliff Beckett

Last night I went to ‘homegroup’. This is quite common in churches nowadays and it’s a mid week meeting arranged at someone’s home. They’re normally fairly informal gatherings of people and there’s a load of these going on in our church. Last night we all got handed a copy of the FIEC magazine called “together”.

I looked at the index page, saw “Ministry to Bikers” and I couldn’t help but take a look there and then, never mind my cuppa tea going cold or missing out on the biscuits being passed around. The “then” being while everyone else was chatting about the ups and downs of life before we got started with our Bible study. Strangely it’s not exactly a common occurrence for cycling to weave its way into church things so this was gonna be interesting as I found my way to page 26.

Then I got a dose of disappointment; I should have known, “bikers” referred to the motorbike world. Hummmmm. Nevertheless it was an interesting read. It’s about Cliff Beckett, Pastor of Irby Evangelical Church getting into motorbikes and then finding this was a way of reaching out to the local biking community. Seems a brilliant vehicle for sharing the Christian faith with others who might not get the opportunity to consider what it’s all about. Through his efforts he connected with the Christian Motorcyclist Association which in turn has led Cliff to establish www.biblebikes.com and has gone a step further and recently started a blog. That’s cool.

Well this is all very well, good Christian greetings to a fellow believer of course – but motorcycling just ain’t cycling, is it? I know those motorbike folk enjoy the thrill of the open road, their journeys on two wheels and their general biker scene but I’m sorry cycling under your own steam has to be more rewarding, surely?

This got me wondering about Christians who are cyclists connecting up and whether something’s going on which I have failed to spot. There’s not much I’m afraid to say, here’s what I’ve found:

Christians in Sport – cycling UK and part of the wider organisation

International Christian Cycling Club (IC3) based in the US but with some spokes elsewhere

Freewheeling to Heaven which is a nice article at Verite, the International Sport Ministry and highlights some other possible groupings. Fascinating and amusing to read how cycling has not always been favoured by the church. Outrageous!

If you know of something which I’ve missed, please leave me a comment and let me (and others) know. So here’s wishing Paul every blessing with his ministry. Shame about the engines but never mind I think I’ll wait until in my 90s and too old for proper cycling before I go and treat myself to a Harley Davidson!!!!

Posted in cycling, people | Tagged cycling organisations | 3 Comments

Quick review – Dawes Century SE

Posted on 11 June, 2013 by doug

Dawes Century SE 2013

One of my colleagues has one of these, albeit a 2012 version. After work one day we cycled for about 15 miles until we went off in our separate directions and during that time I picked up quite a few helpful comments about the bike. First of all it’s worth mentioning my colleague, Tony, has run through the winter with me as I was getting ready for a marathon. We ran together through all kinds of horrible weather and so having a bike ride in perfect conditions around the quiet lanes of Hertfordshire was perfect.

The Dawes Century is billed as an audax type bike. This means it is a road bike with slightly more forgiving features compared to a hard-core time trial bike. The frame angles are a little more relaxed and the gearing is wide enough for some light touring. It is also pitched at around the £1000 mark where the competition is stiff (like the frame itself) and attractive for those thinking of acquiring one through the Cycle to Work scheme.

The 2013 model appears to be a bit of a downgrade from last year, almost certainly to bring the price down. The most obvious difference is the substitution of the Tiagra groupset down to Sora. This gives you a triple chain set with 27 gears, all useful. By the way, I have only ever used the small granny ring on my own bike once or twice in all the thousands of miles I’ve had it but it’s nice to know it’s there – especially after a long day’s cycling. Sora is a modest groupset in the Shimano scheme of things and doesn’t quite have the same finesse of Tiagra or 105 (or even higher) but it does the job. My colleague has his eye on upgrading his Tiagra components when they start to wear out and you’re certainly not wasting money by doing this.

The frame is very traditional in being constructed with Reynolds 520, although again this is modest compared to some frame materials, it does a very competent job. There are useful braze-ons for racks etc and these are neatly done. It is combing the age-old use of Reynolds tubing, modern components, slightly retro-look which Dawes does quite well these days. The carbon forks are, of course, very contemporary and contribute to saving a bit of weight and add to the feeling of nimble handling.

What would you change if you were buying again?

I was half expecting a long list of things to upgrade but after a moments pause, he said “not much really”. The pedals are a cyclist’s personal choice and we’ve already covered the scope for upgrading the drive chain, when the time comes. Probably the most significant gripe were the handlebars – the original equipment ones were simply too narrow. Changing these is straight forward enough for anyone with allen keys and a basic tool kit. Getting the handle bar width right is important and, to a point, down to personal choice but it is reasonable to expect these to be in proportion to the frame size when you buy the bike in the first place. In spite of that minor issue, it is an opportunity to upgrade the bars for some lighter ones.

Overall

A good bike. Not the lightest but it’s important to keep this in perspective (i.e. what’s the point in fretting over saving a few ounces here or there, when many of us cyclists could do with shedding some surplus weight ourselves!).

The Dawes Century SE is an excellent all-purpose bike. Having mudguards as standard equipment makes it ideal for day-to-day use as is the comfort of the bike itself. Being able to attach a pannier rack you could go touring providing you didn’t overload it too much.

This bike is undoubtedly aimed at the UK recreational cyclist who’s a bit of an enthusiast – and there are so many with £1,000 to spend. I doubt anyone would have many regrets in buying one of these.

Posted in reviews | 4 Comments

Pedalling around Penestin, France

Posted on 9 June, 2013 by doug

This gallery contains 9 photos.

Recently we had a weeks holiday in Penestin which is in southern Brittany and on the coast. I like this bit of France! A really pleasant journey getting there, including the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and … Continue reading →

More galleries | 3 Comments

The Cycle Hub