A bit about me

Good afternoon, good evening or goodnight. Whatever time of day you are reading this, welcome to my blog! I hope you find the content interesting. I wanted to create something to share my thoughts and experiences with regards to cycling so this is my Velo Blog or Velog. It is very much a work in progress and I welcome comments and suggestions.

Last ride of 2018 - Riding The Mule

Anyway, who am I? My name is Dan, I'm 37, a dad of six and I work full-time for one of the emergency services. Oh...and I like to ride my bike. I live in Hampshire and have done my whole life and like nothing more than to explore the rolling country lanes.

It all started properly about 5/6 years ago. At the time I was working in Petersfield, Hampshire and on my way home one evening my car decided, about 4 miles from home, to die. Basically lots of bits within the gearbox where no longer attached to the bits they were supposed to and it wouldn't move. A couple of weeks and £1000 later, it was all fixed but I still needed to get to work.

So I borrowed a bike and the next day embarked on a planes, trains and automobiles type commute. Only exclude the planes and of course the automobile and instead add a bike and a ferry. Mmmm, that's not gone well.

No matter, the short story is I saved a fair few quid not running a car and I enjoyed a commute to work that didn't involve staring at someones brake lights for what felt like 3 weeks!

Time went on, I used the car less, we moved house and found ourselves about 5mins ride from a train station. I could eliminate using a ferry and could now genuinely get to work, cheaper and quicker than by using a car. I'll gloss over Southern Rails ineptitude and on the whole I enjoyed my trips to work. I needed something a bit more permanent and something I owned so I bought a bike through the Cycle 2 Work scheme, got rid of my car and commuted to work via train with a short cycle ride at each end.

The bike I chose was a Carrera Crixus cyclocross from Halfords, size medium (54cm). It was my first new bike in something like 20 odd years and was my first drop-bar bike full stop. I went with the cyclocross as I was largely uneducated with regards to bikes but felt the larger, more treaded tyre would fare better on Hampshire's rubbish roads and despite my ignorance I was right. I loved that bike - Noble Steed. Aluminum frame, 2 x 8 Shimano Claris gearing, FSA chainset and Tektro cantilever brakes.

Noble Steed

Chopping out a whole lot of nonsense that has no place in the public domain, I left that job in Feb 2016 and started where I work now and I continued with the ride-train-ride commute for a few weeks, then one day we finished early and I had a 45 minute wait for the train. I really couldn't be arsed with waiting about and thought to myself, "it can't take more that that to ride the whole way home?". With that thought, I jumped on my bike and made it home in about 40 minutes (this was before I had Strava, so there is no record but it did happen). Like anything I do, I went in full beans, got the shoes, the clipless pedals etc and within 37.348 seconds of them being fitted I was on the floor......but hooked! I've ridden to and from work pretty much everyday since.

Then Saturday 8th April 2017 happened. I was riding to work, it was a about 11 am, it is a bright, sunny, warm day and I'm travelling down a straight road approaching a left turn. I'm going straight on. However, the car immediately on my right hand side has decided to turn left. No indication and the first I was aware of it was when it hit me. Christ knows how I wasn't seen, I was alongside the front passenger window. Anyway, it's knocked me off but I've fallen towards the car, instead of away, I grab at something, ANYTHING, to keep myself upright. So that would be the £600 wing mirror then, which after all was said and done was still in my arms as I was laid on my back, in the middle of the road with a bent up bike. Thankfully, I was uninjured. Literally not a mark on me.

Long story short (I'll go into details if you wish) the drivers insurance paid out for my losses and decided I'd move away from the fatter tyres and go for an out and out road bike this time. Meet Noble Steed 2...

Noble Steed 2

Halfords again, Carrera again but this time the Vanquish - Size medium (54cm). Aluminium frame, Carbon fork, 2 x 8 Claris gears, FSA chainset and Tektro side-pull rim brake.

This bike was a significant step up from my previous but beset with problems. First the bottom brackets kept failing and I'd had 2 replaced within the first couple of weeks. Whilst in for the second replacement the technician noticed the rear wheel was running rough and found the rear wheel bearings had failed too. To be fair to Halfords and it's staff, they could not have looked after me better but I was unhappy and escalated my complaint with regards to the bike. Again, they were fantastic and offered me a new bike. Not only that but an upgrade to the Boardman Road Sport 2017.

Meet Noble Steed 3...

Noble Steed 3

Boardman Road Sport 2017 - Aluminum frame, size medium (53cm), Carbon fork, 2 x 8 Shimano Claris gearing, FSA chainset and Tektro side-pull brakes and Mavic CXP22 wheels.

This too had a small issue. Again the bottom bracket failed but once replaced has never been an issue since and the spokes kept coming loose. I'm led to believe this was a common issue with the CXP22 wheels, so they were replaced, free of charge, to Mavic Aksium wheels. Since these two little inconveniences, this bike has been a faultless. I have, however, only really been using it in good weather or at the very least, when it's dry. I was donated a Btwin Triban 500SE bike that was decidedly secondhand, which I rebuilt myself using prior knowledge and the internet using any parts I could get my hands on.

This bike has become known as The Mule and I use it to practice maintenance things on and commuting.

Noble Steed 3 and The Mule have gone through quite a few changes recently so I will go into detail with these bikes in a blog in the near future.

So that's me and cycling journey so far. I've had two accidents, one mentioned here, and consider myself lucky given how long I have been riding properly. I have quite a few miles under my chamoix and 2 proper events; The IOW Randonnee and the Wiggle New Forest 100. I will write about these soon and what my plans are for rides this year.

Thanks for your time.

Ride bikes, have fun!

Dan

NB. I know the pictures of the bikes don't necessarily conform to "The Rules" but at the time I didn't know any better. I will try harder.