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Had a bit of a 'stupid' one for my first big outing on the Tarmac saturday...! But did a big day on it and it's GLORIOUS! So fast. So comfortable! Must have my fit pretty dialled in as zero pain - other than my hands. But can put that down to low amounts of ride time, some different/fairly thin gloves, some rough roads (everywhere) along with a slightly lower front end likely putting more weight on them. So back to the stupidity! Basically, Flat Di2 when the hills really started for the social club ride over Gospel Pass. So at
around 30km I lost shifting on the front ring... It took me a couple of miles to realise... I hadn't checked the battery! Argh! I'd checked it once a month or so ago - without riding it and seem to recall it at 30-40%. Didn't think much of it at the time with all the stuff to sort out before it was ready to be ridden. I'd paired it to my head unit (as I've done with my 11 speed) and that's quite good to occasionally 'see' it as a reminder. I've never been caught out with the 11speed - even when I hadn't got the wireless unit for several months after fitting! then a couple of weeks ago replaced that head unit... So had only paired my commuters Di2 to the new BOLTv2 head unit and not the new bike. Doh. Idiot!
So after stopping and discussing with clubmates while trying to figure out if I could do the climb without gears (and still with several miles before the real uphill started) decided to head back home instead!
30km of the easiest 'flat' route back (so I could ride it as single speed - as able to move the rear derailleur by hand, but not the front) involved the main A49 road - on a busy saturday. It was pretty busy but only a couple of stupid passes. Hardest part was getting through lunchtime stop/start traffic with only 34*10! Felt like a track rider! I'd arranged to pop into the LBS and check out my Hollowtech bearing preload cap issue, decided to head there instead - knowing they could charge di2 it while they investigated. End cap swapped - they figured my crankset had been sent out with the wrong cap. The R7100 105 is different to the R8100 Ultegra! The Ultegra crank has the 'stopper' in the axle, they say that's due to all the failures and the recall Shimano have done (which didn't impact the 105). So they've fitted an extra cap inside the axle to stop water/dirt getting in, with the R8100 preload cap being shorter. So with around 40 mins of Di2 charge, I headed home... Sun was gloriously warm by then! Gutted to be missing out on a long fun ride...
After grabbing some lunch, seeing a few messages from my clubmates, one of them had snapped a gear cable and was limping to their coffee stop. As my family where away visiting the in-laws I figured 'what the hell, lets go back out on a rescue mission!' (without really needing to or being asked to).
I zoomed off and headed the reverse of their route figuring I'd find them at some point to confirm Mike had been rescued - or go find him and get him rolling again! A few miles short of their coffee destination I saw a couple of messages - they'd come back another way and he had been recued. Carried on to the coffee stop (Drovers Cycles), had a coffee and natter with the girl there
then came back home!
So all in, 80mi/128km in around 8 hours (4.5 moving) very sporadic with random rests/fuelling and really unplanned time+distance. Club social was going to be 60-65 miles in 4-5 hours and with a bigger climb, but weirdly I'd done very similar total elevation as the others by the end. Just a sign of the rolling roads around these parts! I'd not even consider the roads I used as 'hilly'. Just normal! But a good lesson in checking batteries, but also in resilience. Even with that disappointing start to the planned first big ride day on the new bike, stubbonness and 'just wanting to ride' made the most of things and I actually had fun in the sun!
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) before shouting about how cyclists think they rule the road etc etc. I don't commute daily, but it's made me a bit concerned if I see him again and he decides to do something stupid. I've therefore decided to invest in a camera finally. I don't intend to become CyclingMikey but it would be good to know I can also submit footage to the police in the event something does happen.
