Mutterings for the Minority

With the original British Heart Foundation 2011 South Wales Bike Ride postponed in July due to the Fforestfach factory fire, it was good to get the green light for the event this time around.

Until this year, the charity ride was known as the British Heart Foundation Gower Bike Ride – I don’t know why it changed – but judging by the numbers involved today it seemed as popular as ever. It’s just a shame the atrocious weather couldn’t have been more accommodating, but I guess that’s the risk you take with a bike ride in mid-September.

The other (welcome) change was the addition of a 50 mile route to this year’s event, which in combination with the 29 and 16 mile route options meant that all cycling needs and abilities were catered for.

This was my 4th BHF bike ride in these parts and I simply couldn’t resist the challenge offered by the 50 mile route. Here is an overlay of the course as recorded by my Garmin:

Basically in order to ‘fit in’ the 50 miles, the route continued along Carmarthen road, through Penllergaer, Pontlliw, Pontardulais, Llanedi, Fforest before looping back through Pontardulais and then onto Grovesend, Gorseinon and Llwchwr before joining the 29 mile route in Gowerton.

As I’d expected – and been told by far more experienced cyclists – this route ‘extension’ wasn’t very forgiving and there were plenty of challenging climbs along the way! The elevation chart below illustrates this perfectly

Whilst it was certainly a challenge, I think the driving wind and rain for the majority of the first 20 odd miles made things far more difficult than perhaps they would have been otherwise. Although having said that, the thought of doing it in July amidst a 25°C plus temperature isn’t exactly ideal either!

I was fortunate enough to escape having a puncture – although I saw plenty who did – but my achilles heel was certainly my continued acquaintance with my cleats! Twice I managed to fall off before even reaching the halfway mark of the route.

The first time was at a set of traffic lights in Gorseinon. I successfully stopped and got my left foot out of the pedal… however, whilst adjusting myself – or rather my shorts – I lost balance and slowly (gracefully?) fell over to my right. Thankfully, the lights had only just changed – so apologies to the blonde lady driving a silver Mazda, I really wasn’t attempting to land on your car bonnet!

The second time was through mechanical failure – honestly. Whilst climbing up Ystrad road towards the B4295 going through Gowerton, I managed to jump gears and my chain came off… the next thing I was in the hedge, well brambles to be precise. Now I was nursing two sore buttocks, dented pride and had a chain to fix

During my downtime fixing the chain, at least half a dozen or so riders whom passed by, offered their assistance or asked if I was ok. Thanks to each and every one of you – it was a nice gesture and shows that there are decent, genuine people out there after all (which isn’t always the case at sporting events such as this).

I’m glad to say the rest of the ride passed without incident and the only items of interest worth mentioning were the fact that the showers began to become less frequent and some guy doing the 29 mile course on a unicycle! Fair play that must take some doing – especially giving the conditions and amount of climbing – respect to you whomever you are.

After all the climbing, it was a welcome (and speedy) descent down Mayals road and it was time to go flat out along Mumbles road with one eye on the clock and the other on the finishing line in the Recreation ground next door to St. Helens.

According to my Garmin, I covered 51.20 miles in 3 hours 47 minutes, averaging 13.5 mph with a top speed of 36.8 mph (probably down Mayals road!) and burnt 4,088 calories in the process.

I was relatively pleased with my time – the fastest I have ever done 50 miles – but no doubt I will pay for it tomorrow… especially if my butt cheeks are anything to go by!

Unfortunately, I have to round off my blog on a sour note. Without wanting to sound as though I’m… (a) a miserable 40 year old git or (b) a do-gooder, I do find it extremely stupid, annoying and contradictory that some people taking part in the event, see the need to stop at various pubs along the 29 mile route to have an alcoholic drink.

Apart from it being dangerous – you are after all in control (allegedly) of a mode of transport on a public highway – it kind of flies in the face of raising money for the British Heart Foundation don’t you think?

This was – to the best of my knowledge – the first time that the Pedal for Parkinson’s event was held in Swansea and it was a shame that it wasn’t really publicised more in the local media, especially as it was for charity.

By the way you can still sponsor me online if you wish – even if it’s only a £1 – via my Virgin Money Giving page.

The event gave riders a choice of two routes – 25 miles or 50 miles and being the competitive so-and-so that I am there was only ever going to be one ride for me – the 50 miler!

I knew it was going to be tough as (a) I’m only a casual cyclist (i.e. less than 50 miles a week) and (b) it had been a number of years since I’d cycled this distance. Nevertheless, I was well up for it and regardless of any pain I felt, it was nothing compared to what sufferers of Parkinson’s would be going through.

A group of around 60 odd riders (between the rides) set off from Swansea university at 10am. I was accompanied by Huw ‘The Cat’ Evans, Dave ‘The Biro’ Brayley and his cousin Chris ‘The Brummie’ Ridge. In fact it was thanks to Dave that Huw and I got involved – through word of mouth.

The weather forecast hadn’t been good – torrential rain and strong winds were predicted, thankfully during the ride only the strong winds materialised.

One word probably best describes the route – brutal. Anyone familiar with cycling around the Gower (unlike me) will I’m sure know of the following “hills” in no particular order…

Up to mini roundabout past Found Out, Gallery at bottom of Cefn Bryn, Top of Llanmadoc Hill, Penrice Castle, up to Killay Roundabout, Welshmoor, Cil Ifor, Llanrhidian village and worst of all Oxwich.

They have now been affectionately renamed the 9 HC Hills. The HC being for Holy Cow! Here’s an elevation profile as taken by my garmin:

As you can see the course was rather hilly – in fact it totalled in excess of 4180ft. I’m chuffed to say though that all 4 of us conquered all of the hills bar one – Oxwich. It really was the one hill that broke this camel’s back.

In fact I had to stop whilst attempting the climb, as when I got out of the saddle to try and push-on, my left inner quadricep just seized up – prompting me to fall sideways against the wall!

That apart we all made it back to base in one piece with The Cat taking the honours some (unbeknown to him at the time) 100 metres or so ahead of me, with Dave and Chris having a photo finish. I was awarded the ‘King of the Mountains’ tag apparently, but don’t quite know why!!

I’m hopeful that the chirpy American lady whom took our ‘team’ photo does indeed remember to pass it on – as it would be great to look back on in years to come.

Edit: 1st August 2011 (Thank you Jessica!) Here’s the promised picture – I’m the 2nd in from the left

Upon looking at my garmin, it read that I’d ridden 52 miles in 4 hours 6 minutes, averaging 12.6 mph and burning 4,172 calories in the process. For the downhill cycle enthusiasts (not me) my top speed was 38.6 mph. Despite really feeling it over the last 10 miles or so I thoroughly enjoyed the event and am already looking forward to my next 50 mile charity cycle in September.

Anyway the most important thing was that I took part and raised money for a worthwhile cause – so please once again show your support for Parkinson’s by making a small donation – every pound really does help.

Having been woken at 5:45am this morning by DDWT Junior, I guessed it wasn’t going to be the easiest of days and how right I was. With the lack of sleep making me grumpy to say the least, my patience was far from that of a saint and perhaps in retrospect I should have left putting a new chain on my bike to another day.

According to all sources that I’d read – in print and on the web – the task of fitting a new chain to a bike was a relatively easy one. Well that certainly wasn’t the case with me. It took me the best part of 2 hours, after first getting the chain length wrong and then managing to damage one of the links due to not aligning it properly with the rivet extraction tool (below).

After finally getting the chain on, I took it for a test ride. The top gears were fine, but as soon as I changed into the middle range the gears started to jump. Bloody great. It was time for a cup of coffee and a sanity check.

Having re-counted the links (again) I changed the chain length as it was 1 link out. My 2nd test ride was no better than the first I’m afraid. I was cheesed off to say the least and decided that it was now best to just leave well alone, until both my mood, patience and luck changed.

I now find that doing some further digging on the internet – via the cracking BikeRadar.com forums and Park Tools repair help website – that in fact the problem *could* lie with the rear derailleur. Having now watched a video and read about it, it seems a little tweak here and there might solve my jumping gears problem.

If it doesn’t that I fear that it could be time for a new cassette and chain ring. I hope I’m wrong though.

Unfortunately, DDWT Junior seemed to bear the brunt of my mood and now (as always) I feel guilty as hell for being so snappy with him. I’m sure that I will ‘feel it’ for far longer that he will though, so at least that’s something I suppose.

I know one thing, tomorrow is definitely going to be a better day and one which will be spent away from the confines of the house and garden. The change of scenery will do us all the world of good. Oh and a good nights sleep of course

Sport was definitely high on the agenda today with my Wiggle order arriving and a lunchtime run.

After my escapades last Friday with my bike chain, I finally got my hands on a new one – Shimano HG50 – and a chain rivet tool as well. So I hoping tomorrow to have a crack at putting it on my bike, the first time I’ve EVER put a new chain on. Oh boy.

The most interesting part of the Wiggle order however were the Shimano MP56 Cycling Shoes – which I’d deliberated on for ages and ages. I decided in the end to get a pair of MTB shoes now for commuting purposes (on my Specialized Hardrock MTB) and then at a later date get some road shoes for when I get around to riding my Focus Variado!

At first I thought the MP56′s were too big and chunky looking – “space boots” I think Mrs DDWT called them and I suppose they are to an extent. However when trying them on fully kitted out I could see that in fact they complemented the rest of my gear quite well and more importantly were a good fit with ample protection – especially on the inner ankle area (as you can see from the picture below).

Now all I need is a repaired mountain bike to try them out on!

I found today’s lunchtime quite tough to be honest and struggled towards the end – which I put down to tiredness or rather a distinct lack of sleep over the last couple of days. Still I managed 28 minutes and 25 seconds covering a guestimated 4,700 metres. The distance might be a tadge generous perhaps – but Gmap pedometer doesn’t lie does it?

What an eventful day I’m having!  I was all geared up to leave the car behind at home today and cycle into work, partly to save money but also to help with my training – not to mention helping the environment of course.

However, no sooner had I gone a quarter of a mile from the house than my chain broke, leaving me to pedal idly along the road.  I grudgingly strolled back home to get changed again and drive into work.  Guess what I’m going to be doing this weekend!

Undeterred by my morning setback, I’ve since gone for a lunchtime run (18 minutes 55 seconds) in order to compensate for the lack of cycling exercise!  It’s the 2nd run I’ve been for this week so far and it’s nice to be slowly getting back into the groove.

What’s even more rewarding of course is actually fighting back the “don’t exercise, just sit at your desk and surf the internet” demons in my head and going out and doing something which (despite the effort/pain) I enjoy a heck of a lot.

On the family front it’s been a day for the diary as DDWT Junior actually eat something during school ‘snack time’ for the very first time since September 2007 – a plum and DDWT Baby is now up to 9lbs 2oz.

Now all that’s left for me to do today is go for a short, back and sides after work