Me and 3 of the lads drove to the Lake District today, was up at 5am Got there and its not so clever on the weather front Anyway off we went, 75 miles in all, (3/4's of the Fred Whitton sportive). Up 4 passes including OMG Honister , saw 5 of the lakes and took in some great views. Great day

Good effort Pasty. Bet you are asleep now with that early start.

Easy 55 miler today with the steady group. No real hiils to speak off but very sociable ride.

Nice one Pasty. 3/4 of the Fred is no mean feat. Which bit did you miss - Hardknott / Wrynose?

Honister is scary. Too much traffic for my liking and used to be a very loose, very steep descent. Very, very hard. Not sure I'd be able to ride it these days tbh, so chapeau, especially if you'd already been over Kirkstone.

I had a lazy weekend. Managed to get out for a quick flattish 50 miler early Saturday morning but spent the rest of the weekend doing family stuff.

Boy did I sleep last night, still sore this morning.

We parked up at Ambleside and cycled straight up Kirkstone Pass, cycling through the clouds at the top The decent was pretty spectacular especially when the fog/cloud broke leaving us in a jawdropping valley. We then passed Ulswater and headed up Matterdale which was fairly easy. Had to cut back along a nasty A road for a few miles before hitting Honister. The climb is a couple of miles long with a 25% stretch that makes the Rake seem pfft. I had to get off at one point as the wind and wet conditions made my gearing 36/25 impossible to turn . My mate struggled on with his triple.
I remember my mate telling me to watch the bridge on the way down, jeez I sooo nearly went over it A mile or 2 down the road and we had another pass which imo was just as brutal as Honister, I forget its name though.

Hardknott and Wynrose were indeed the climbs we missed out, given the description I got i was very thankfull The FredW is in a fortnight, if the weather is as it was on Sunday then I dont envy anyone having those 2 climbs to do on top of the ones we managed + 40miles

Were waiting till June before we crack the lot, my mate has the Lakeland loop sportive on his Garmin so that should be fun.....

Riding in the Lakes sounds scarey. One of our riders yesterday who is a bit of a mountain goat was talking about it. He is a youngster from Scotland who rode for his uni, and has the battle scars. He talked of a climb in the Lakes which had a 33% stretch!
I cannot imagine getting up that!
Good ride today. Rain held off but we had a very strong wind. Typically it was in our faces on the only major climb of the day-a 3 miler but not too steep, but the wind made it hard.
70 miles at 17mph. My longest ride to date.
Tour of Pembroke is now 5 weeks away.
A number of us aiming to go from Cardiff and take in the Gospel Pass. 113 miles of riding which will be by far my longest ride. If I manage that i will be confident for the Pembroke event.

Neath that 33% is Hardknot pass, one of the toughest in the UK

Was talked into a long one today, was a bit wary as i haven't done over 30 miles in 3 weeks....

Bolton Lake Windemere
159 miles
10 hours 8 mins in the saddle

Had a huge carvery over looking Windemere which was nice and an 80 mile tail wind coming home which was also nice

Awesome riding Pasty.
A nice steady 45 miler for me today.
33%! I would fall off the bike pulling wheelies!

Quick question for you cycling experts - is it possible to straighten out a buckled wheel? How would you go about doing it?

Depends how buckled it is. You can do it yourself, but tbh it's time consuming and frustrating so I'd just get it down to a bike shop and let them sort it out. They should do it for about a tenner.

You only need a spoke wrench to do it yourself, but unless you've done a few before you can go round in circles for hours trying to get it true.

ps - by bike shop I don't mean high street chains or national brands. Find a small local one and they'll sort it quicker, cheaper and better.

Chapeau Pasty - 159 miles

Did a nice 25 miler last night - mix of on and off road on the MTB, and took the road bike out for a fantastic fast 35 miler in perfect weather on the way to work this morning. Have to grab the miles when I can these days - long weekend ride opportunities are rare so have to do short midweek rides instead. Any time on the bike's good time though.

Thanks for the info

Good 70 miler today through jaw dropping scenery Drove down to Knutsford and set sail for Mow Cop and along the 2009 Cheshire Cat route. That picture of the pub is no optical illusion, i had to get off and take a breather 29% and let me tell you its one killer mile alright... Then over to Macclesfield Forrest. Stopped of in a little Hamlet called Winkle, where the barman kindly topped up our bottles with Winkle water Tasted ok to be fair, even though as we were leaving he told us they dont have running water in these parts Back down to Macc where one of the lads fell off. Only pride bruised as he wasn't paying attention Could have been a lot worse had he trashed his £2k steed. Back to Knutsford for a few beers outside a pub Cyclist tan is coming on a treat

cant believe I forgot about Swiss Hill in Alderly Edge. 500m cobbled climb peaking at 1in6 and yes I had to walk in places Oh and Edwin Van de Sar was having a stroll at the bottom of it

Had a slow puncture today and ended up putting my reserve in. Which would't inflate Borrowed one off the lads and all was well again.

Was only a matter of time

Just back from completing my first ever century ride! 120 miles in fact. Cardiff-Merthyr-Storey Arms at top of the Brecon Beacons-Hay on Wye-Gospel Pass climb (what a bitch on a day like today-Abergavenny-Pontypool-Newport-Cardiff.
The Gospel Pass climb is 8k but what makes it hard is the constantly changing gradient, and the lack of any shade today. I had to stop half way to remove my helmet and get some big gulps of water down.
Delighted to complete this. Average speed was 16.5.
I now have a cracking sun tan!

Well done NB! I'm hoping to do my first half century next week in Lancaster, Yorkshire Dales or the Lakes - waiting for Matt to figure out a route.

I have a great cycle tan - my arms down to my wrists then I have a nice white hand to my knuckles and tanned fingertips. Fingerless gloves.

Nice one Neath, what a day to get your first ton up

Well I took part in my first sportive at the weekend. The Tour of Pembrokeshire. I did the 84 mile version, which I completed in 5hours 12 minutes which was good enough for a silver medal categorization.

Course was very up and down, with some sharp climbs. Freshawater East sticks in my memory about 18 miles from the end. 20% for about three quarters of a mile!

Weather was dry (for me at least) but very windy.

Looking for my next one now.

Good stuff Neath, I kind of bottled out of a ride Sunday myself and would of got a right soaking on the hilly home stretch. Nice to hear you missed it. Must say I enjoyed my Sportive last year even though it was flat as a pancake! Must look into riding a few soon!!
A mate of mine rode the Polka Dot sportive recently, got a soaking and 3 punctures, not the most pleasant experience I would of thought as its also meant to be a bit of a tough one!

Will be up your neck of the woods (I think) on the 27th Of June, we have a 100miler planned (will be driving down!) taking in Horse Shoe Pass amongst other climbs so thats something to look forward to.

Horseshoe pass is a fair way away from me. It is in North Wales. i have never been up it. Be interested to see how you find it.

It should be a lot more pleasant on these bad boys:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=26447

Came this morning, damn they look good Just need to pimp the rest of my ride now

Nice ones! you will fly up the climbs now!!
Good luck.

Horseshoe Pass was cancelled due to some game or other but I did manage a nifty 50 up and over some decent climbs. The wheels ran like a dream and seemed to roll for ever, purring without sounding like a Gatling gun . Be interesting to see how they fair when i get back in the peleton oh I also fitted a new chain and here's the bad news... turns out I need a new cassette as the chain keeps slipping and I'll need a new inner ring on my chainset too, my right pedal has started clicking too 9 i hope its the pedal and not the bottom bracket) Best get back to the poker tables....

get yourself a chain checker Pasty. Only cost a fiver and it'll tell you when to change the chain so that you're not wearing out the cassette and chainrings as well. Worth having a spare chain and cassette in stock. I buy them when they're on offer and keep them for when I need them. Sods law says that if I wait until I need one they'll be on full price.

Not been on any long rides for a while, although have been keeping up the miles with some extended commutes. Probably go out for a 40 miler tonight.

Nice wheels btw

Another bleedin mechanical to report I keep getting this annoying clicking/creaking noise which i think might be my bottom bracket, though im not sure! At first I thought it was my pedals, apparently Look pedals can start to click after a while for some reason- anyway its started to get louder, especially when im applying more pressure ie uphill. One of the guys thought it sounded like a carbon creak and that I grease the forks and rear stays. No luck, still there. Over to you Unc Costing me a fortune this bike

Coming back over Belmont on our club run yesterday and we pass tons of stragglers in the Iron Man competition that was being held in Bolton yesterday. For those that dont know, its a 2.5m swim followed by a very hilly 112m bike ride and for good measure a FULL 26mile Marathon
Now you'd expect the 4000 odd competitors to be nothing short of a)mental and b) at a physical peak most could only dream of. well you'd be right about a) but b) ? Basically 2 of the blokes on our run, they're seasoned campaigners mind but still 60 years old yet they were overtaking some of the entrants on a drag uphill over Belmont. Ok they didnt have a marathon to run afterwards but still... definately some suspect entrants if the faces and spare tyres on display were anything to go by

Creaks are a nightmare. Sorted one out on my road bike last night. Turned out to be from the front drop outs and the bars.

I used some carbon assembly paste on the bars and re-torqued up the stem clamp bolts to 5nM (2 of them were a bit loose).

Check the QR's are done up tight. The wheels can creak in carbon drop outs if they're a bit loose. I used a bit of carbon paste there as well.

Someone did suggest to me that using talc on the pedals might help (put it on the cleats, which are what makes the creaking noise). If you've got a pair of platform pedals lying around then you could stick them on, go for a ride and see whether the noise disappears. I've got Look Keo's and they are renowned for creaking, although mine seem OK at the moment.

Could even be the saddle - does it make the noise when you get out of the saddle to climb?

I'd probably check all that (and check the headset is tight) before moving onto the BB. If the BB bearings are going then it's usually a click, rather than a creak, so it could be that, but I'd eliminate other possibilities before taking the BB apart. If it is the BB then you may well need new bearings (or more likely a new BB). How many miles have you done on it?

Had a mechanical myself last night. Drove out after work to meet some friends for some MTB'ing. Set off and foot kept slipping out of pedal. Turns out the spring in the pedal had broken
Had to get back in the car and drive home. Not happy. Still - I've got spare pedals at home so stuck them on, sorted my creaking road bike out and rode down to the pub for a beer, so the evening was rescued

Pasty - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7935114 ... -bike.html

Healthy body= healthy mind=healthy OPR stats , now on yer bike and get to work on that 'spread' of yours

The Rules:

http://www.velominati.com/blog/the-rules/