https://www.strava.com/activities/675071002
Before I get started, one of the local guys Everested over the weekend on a beast of a climb (
Gospel Pass) that I've not even attempted once (from that side). Supreme effort! 20 hours. 200 miles. 29000 ft.
No onto more humane efforts...
For my 'rediscovery of form' I opted into a local easy ride with 'Hereford Wheelers' on sunday @9.30. Had a busy saturday so the option of a 40+ mile ride @15mph seemed like a good way to get some good miles into my legs. I'd not ridden with them before so it was a bit of an interesting one - especially as I had no idea of the route other than a mention of 'Malvern hills' on Facebook...!
Turned up nice and early and had a bit of a play to reindex my gears while I waited, guy & girl turned up as I finished and got chatting. He was just 'delivering' her - as last week she'd turned up and ended up on another (faster) club ride which had turned into a bit of a smash fest! She (
Carolyn) was from Tenerife and was back visiting parents for a month. She was a bit of a demon on the climbs (as expected!)
Rolled out of town as 9-10 of us, 3-4 of us a similar ability, the others much more of a 'leisurely persuasion' with the ride being lead by 'Dave' who was in his late 60's! Quite enjoyed the social aspect of it steadily chugging along. Easy miles. Just out of town we turned towards
Haugh woods, a local climb I'd set myself a segment goal on! A nice surprise and put a good effort into it, beating my 9 minute goal by a few seconds. 1 guy peeled off soon after. The main climb
through Colwall to our cafe stop was relentless, not 100% sure I've done that particular climb before but many of the climbs around the Malvern hills are very similar! Had a good chinwag for ~30 mins (and some great cake!), learnt much about Tenerife & the amount of pro teams that spend months out there. Carolyn had met Contador a couple of times (as he spent nearly 2 months there last year!) and had a picture of herself with Froome. Totally jealous! Was quite interesting to hear how much of the north coast was largely unspoilt with very few tourists, making it great for riding! Maybe one day...
After the cafe stop a few of us decided to go our own ways, 4 of deciding that the estimated return to Hereford 'sometime after 3pm', was a little too late! We took the main roads back. The
descent from 'British Camp' was superb, I really must ride up that some day! One guy took a long
15 minute turn on the front (he knew the route back), once I semi-knew where we were
I took a long pull on the front myself. My power levels felt good and not far from what I was outputting a month ago, quite chuffed! Once dropping back one of the others who knew the roads well
into town took over, making some great progress (always great to follow a wheel who knows where all the drains & potholes are!). I put a
bit of an effort into one of the last climb segments but my legs were pretty toasted by then. I took it pretty easy solo back through town/traffic towards home.
13.5mph avg out (several climbs).
20mph avg back. Total 3 hours, 47 miles @15.6mph. 3000ft climbing.
You don't need friends when you're first to finish the climb
Burnt!
Benny, not enough electrical wires. Also get rid of that white tape and saddle!
Seconded.
it looks like it should just push fit onto the axle, doesn't look like it's broken off, and it isn't threaded.
This.
I think it would be worth while taking the cassette off to properly refit things, although I wouldn't be surprised if the cassette being 'forced' off the freehub by the chain hasn't damaged the lockring/stripped the threads (unless it's the freehub which has moved?). Worth looking closely at the spokes to make sure they seem ok where the chain was rammed against them - most branded bikes come with a 'pizza plate' to protect spokes from this kind of thing exactly... But we all remove them!
