Combing my hair….

Four weeks that is – And here is Julia back on the bike – two flat circuits of Rother Valley on her Tikit, very chilled first thing on Sunday morning – with a cap from Roots adding a jaunty Canadian touch to the outfit.

So Floyd Landis, having spent the last four years lying about his drug use and blood doping, now tells us he is telling us the truth and that we should believe him because he knows that Lance Armstrong is a liar on this score too. I personally don’t think Floyd is what our learned friends would call a credible witness. People will make their own minds up about Lance, most probably have already. My conclusion was that in his glory years he made the Tour de France boring. In this respect he redeemed himself significantly last year when he injected a considerable measure of interest with the ‘who’s the team leader?’ game.

I’ve stolen the fabulous image above from an award winning set by American photographer Elizabeth Kreutz – you can see more and her talking about it here (scroll down)

‘….many professionals all over the world are finding that cycling is as good as golf in terms of making business contacts.’

So now you know. More here

I’ve signed up for the World Championships, I’ll be riding in the Barnsley Hospice A team. This sounds good but I think the ‘A’ stands for ancient.

There will five of us and timing is on the third rider, so we can afford to drop two riders. As I have learnt to my cost, team time trialling on a folding bike requires concentration and a knowledge of the fellow riders, so I have been trying to pick up tips from this video (and failing). Meanwhile there is just one small problem, the absence of a Brompton. The plan is to buy one from eBay and then to sell it afterwards, thus keeping the costs down. We’ll see.

The trusty Tifosi (bike not my hoards of Italian fans) has seen me through the worst winter in years and was looking ready for some TLC. On the evening of Saturday 24 April I decided to renew most of the drive chain and the tyres. Now I am a big fan of my LBC but I do like to do some maintenance myself and was tempted by an email from Wiggle promising a big discount. I checked carefully that everything was in stock and promptly ordered:

2 x Vredestein Fortezza TriComp Road Tyre 700 x 23 Black/Black
1 x White Lightning Clean Ride Lubricant 240ml Bottle (recommended by Steve – many thanks)
1 x KMC X10-L Silver 10 Speed Chain (recommended by Andy – many thanks)
1 x Campagnolo Centaur 10 Speed Cassette 12-25
1 x Park Tools Campag Cassette Lockring Tool
1 x Campagnolo 12T Lockring

Now most people will recognise this as a drive chain plus lube and a pair of tyres.  I naively thought that since everything was listed as in stock it would be delivered to work during the week and I could set to the following Saturday. As it turns out events got in the way and it was hardly a priority. However two weeks later, lets review what I have:

I have the chain, the lockring, the lockring tool and the lube, but Wiggle tell me:

‘We’re sorry but we’ve just been informed that our suppliers are currently out of stock of Campagnolo Centaur Ultra Drive 10 Speed Cassette (12/13T Up) 12-25. Our suppliers have told us that more stock is due into the UK in Late May Your order will be despatched as soon as the goods arrive.’

Since this part renders all the other parts useless until I have it I cancelled, but in doing so I decided to ask about the ETA of the tyres, to which I got the following reply:

‘Thanks for your email. The cassette has now been removed. I’m afraid the Vittorias (sic) will not be with us until Late June, let me know if you’d like these removed also. ‘

Late June? All very polite, but a pretty poor show. When I emailed to this effect, they did not reply. Meanwhile I notice that the tyres are still listed on their site as ’10+ in stock’

So it does seem like the best thing to do is go to the shop, see what they have and make your choice. At least that way you can see if they have it in stock or are just pretending.

Knitta Bike (Photo by Gamma Blog on flickr)

Julia is out of hospital and I am responsible for cooking and cleaning for the next few weeks. Actually the weather has gone damn cold for May, so I am not at all tempted to go out on the bike. Surfing the web she found this photo by our friend Michael (aka GammaBlog), just what you need for the cold days. I love the way the passerby can’t resist turning to look.

While I cannot see how you would ride this Knitta Bike, there are other examples on the web which do appear to be roadworthy. The disadvantage is obvious; when it rains the bike gets heavier, but I guess it does serve to cover up the £4500 Time carbon frame.

Update: In a strange piece of synchronicity  (ie a coincidence) I discover from Greg’s blog that the technical term is Yarn Bombing

In the early hours of Monday morning my wife had a Non ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. You might be more familiar with the term heart attack. Thankfully she is now recovering in hospital.

We didn’t call an ambulance at the time, it didn’t follow the pattern you see in films (no falling to the floor clutching left arm) and it didn’t cross my mind that this could be serious. We had organised a party the day before and I put it down to heart burn. I feel pretty damn foolish about this now.

Thing is, it didn’t occur to me that it was even a possibility. Julia is an active person who walks to work everyday and has always done so, a cyclist who while not quite so obsessed with two wheels as me, swallowed the healthy eating bible before it was written – no red meat for at least 45 years, three of the five a day by breakfast time, non-smoking, and no alcohol without polyphenols

So despite all the evidence of the protective benefits of active lifestyles, we cyclists can’t assume we are off the hook on this one. It’s largely down to genes apparently and it seems a bit churlish at 50 to start blaming your ancestors. So I’ll be off for a cholesterol check, just as soon as I have worked out how to use the washing machine.

For about two years people on the Sheffield Forum have been debating which is the steepest street in Sheffield. Blake Street is apparently the winner. Definitions matter, it is the steepest street (ie with houses along it) but other roads may be steeper. Anyway, today I thought I would see how difficult it was. The answer, not very difficult. It is steep, but it is not particularly long, so the cumulative effect of oxygen debt doesn’t have a chance to build up.

It has been a tough winter and although as I commute to work I see that Sheffield and Barnsley Councils have made a start on filling the holes, it is nevertheless necessary to keep the eyes peeled to avoid wrecking the front wheel. Elsewhere The Pothole Gardener is taking direct action.

Andy posted this photograph with the title ‘Gareth riding French Style’. It took me a while to work it out. Was it that I was sat down? That I had my hands together on the bars? The fully unzipped jacket? The vague whiff of garlic from last night’s snails? Nope, simply the fact that I was on the wrong side of the road.

The full series is viewable here.

Bad news from yesterday’s ride; Paul, Peter’s son, broke his arm in the chute. Hopefully it will be a quick mend and will not put him off.