Disclaimer: Roady extended ride report incoming. If you wish to avoid it skip to the next quote!
To be fair to the BBc weather it did say there was a vast amount of uncertainly when the front was going move up from spain.
The forecast changed every time I looked through the week so really didn't know what to expect... The weather was fantastic on saturday morning for my ride, then around 2-3pm we had some horrific biblical torrential rain, enough to smash all the flowers left on my lilies
. Sun came out again before more rain from around 5-8pm (with enough of a break for me to refit my mudguards!). Perfect for an after wedding party!
My ride on saturday went well, the furthest I've ridden! I'd done a flat 50 miles before so this fairly hilly charity ride was a good test for me. There were around 100 riders out so they started us in staggered groups, the previous ride there were nearly 300 so that was a more organised affair than this one. With the weather forecast I'd taken my packable, knee warmers (waterproof), 4 gels, bag of haribo, museli bar, soreen with jam and munched a breakfast bar before setting off. Breakfast was a bowl of porridge and a bowl of museli. I was stuffed before starting!
It was a fast ride out, my garmin died when loading the route on the way out of town so stuck with a group of triathlon guys, we had a good
climb/descent 'race' and totally missed the first main turning
. They pulled over on the A449, I assumed to wait for the rest of their group, so I turned right (knowing it was a right turn) but soon realised I was riding alone and totally off track (seeing a sign for the M50 & knowing I shouldn't be near it!)... I rode around the roundabout (a busy 3-4 lane bypass road) and pulled over to retry my garmin... No joy.
Another guy had been following me and we realised we were quite a way off track,
we concluded to ride along the dual carriageway bypass/link road (A40), a very busy & fast road before
turning north on the A49 to refind the correct route. Thankfully we both made it unscathed - mostly through luck as part of it included crossing 2 lanes of 50+mph traffic to turn right... He'd only been cycling 3 months (was a runner) and hadn't ridden in traffic...
When we were back on course we caught a few slower riders and took it easy chatting for a stretch, at a crossroads most of the slower riders were turning right (35 mile route) while we turned left (50 mile route).
I said I'd go on alone as fancied a good dig and leg stretch, some great climbs and fast descents!
There was a brutal
climb into Gosmont I hasn't really expected and it was soon after this I felt my legs starting to tire.
I took it fairly easy through Pontrilas and Abbey Dore (fantastic scenery) and ate the last of my food. Climbing towards Cockyard I half knew where I was so stopped for the loo & set myself up for the slog towards home. My legs had semi recovered so I felt fast and
began pushing again on the familiar roads passing several riders on the run back into town. Stationary traffic through most of Hereford so I used
my filtering skills passing several other groups of less confident riders (some of which probably not on the same ride!). grudas would've been proud!
All in all a great ride even with my 'detour'. My legs felt fine on sunday (& today, back to commuting) no more tired than say a faster 30 which I've done regularly. The route was fantastic, I'll learn one day to test routes on my garmin before leaving the house! We were really lucky with the weather, enjoyed some fantastic cakes and raised a bundle of money for a local charity. Result!
great fun even with the constant feeling of wanting to be sick.
Sure you were pushing hard enough?
Decided to complete Sufferlandrian National Day this morning.
Good effort and dedication! Was far too warm here for anything like that!
a truing stand is best but you can do it in a bike too
Very easy to use a bike/frame inverted, just tape a ruler to the bottom of the chainstays for your guide/measurement.
Thanks for trying, it was £51 quid, so provided I was not ripped off, I am happy
<snip>
I figured whatever I do eventually, replacing and fixing a dud wheel was good for understanding the bigger picture of building a wheel back up.
Anyway if I do that, I will need to buy a new rim for the ultegra. The only reasonable one I can find in 16h is this..
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/images/cole/c24-alloy-700c-16-hole-rim-ec028912
Is that a well known brand?
Wheelbuilding is quite an art, I've never done it 'fully' (ie had to relace from scratch) only replaced a few spokes, all the nipples etc. It's a great way for understanding how a wheels structure works, the hardest part I found was knowing how much tension to put into the spokes. Just take your time and read lots of guides online.
The time it took me to 'rebuild' and learn how to get a wheel right (10+ hours after I'd done it three times) lead me to see how cheap my wheels/rims were (on a £900 bike!). I quite happily bought a £100 wheelset to avoid using them again & I would advise anyone else to do the same!
Also be aware that building a bike isn't always the 'cheapest' option. You could find a complete second hand bike for the costs involved with tools & rims. Certainly if you're looking at a £30 rim with a £50 frame you're not far away from £100 with a few tools. Facebook local Buy/Sell groups are a great place to find deals, you can check things out before buying most of the time along with local pickup.
