Well that's it another weekend over and hopefully the bulk of the planning completed. We have decided to start at Lochailort and then work our way across to Roybridge and then Aviemore. Hopefully arriving in Aviemore on the Thursday to meet up with Peter who is a buddy from our previous challenges. Then the three of us will walk together over the Cairngorms to Breamar then Ballater and on to the coast. There will be no stop at Tarfside this year as we want to finish further north. The plan I think is to stay accommodation in Roybridge, Aviemore, Ballater and camp or bothy the rest. Overall I am very happy with this plan and will report back when I have done the more detailed planning on the computer.
This weekend there was also a couple of walks completed. The walk on Saturday was from Hathersage up onto Stanage edge and then Burbage with a short loop back to Hathersage. This was shorter than I would have liked to have done, however the weather was not the best so it was ok. Today we walked from the village of Litton down Cressbrook Dale to pickup the Monsal Trail, at the Monsal viaduct we headed south west and looped around and eventually ended up at Litton Mill where it was a short walk back to the village. This was a really nice walk through lovely steep sided valleys with a fantastic little brew stop at Cressbrook Mill.
I am now on the train on the way home.
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Sunday, January 23, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Buxton walking and TGO Challenge planning (blog)
It's now the weekend that I have been looking forward too for quite a while now. It is the TGO Challenge planning / walking in the Peak district time. I have decided to get the train down to Buxton and then a bus to the little village of Litton where we have a cottage booked. There will be five of us this weekend, my TGOC buddy Natasha, her partner Paul and a couple of their colleagues
Will and Richard. I have met all of these before and they a good bunch.
So here I am now on my second of three trains this one to Manchester Piccadilly. It is an hours journey and there is no heating or toilets on the train. It feels about minus 5 sat here and I have to sit next to an obnoxious woman who has told me 5 times that she has a first class ticket but is slumming it in cattle class because it is warmer. Do us all a favour and bog off back to first class. The plus side is that I have managed to buy a coffee on the train so all is not woe.
I will keep you up to date over the weekend about our planned route.
Went for a really nice bike ride on Wednesday after nights. I had a few hours in bed got up at lunch time and went out to Knott End. Th weather was perfect, sunny hardly any wind and warm enough to get out in shorts and a short sleeve top. It was just great. I managed 43 miles at an average of 17.5 mph so I was very happy with that. The other us side is that for the first time this year I am leading the Merlyn Cup, I have just over a 10 mile lead from Robert. No doubt he will be out this weekend and retake the lead, but it's nice to be out there for a day or two.
My Wiggo cycling top.
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Will and Richard. I have met all of these before and they a good bunch.
So here I am now on my second of three trains this one to Manchester Piccadilly. It is an hours journey and there is no heating or toilets on the train. It feels about minus 5 sat here and I have to sit next to an obnoxious woman who has told me 5 times that she has a first class ticket but is slumming it in cattle class because it is warmer. Do us all a favour and bog off back to first class. The plus side is that I have managed to buy a coffee on the train so all is not woe.
I will keep you up to date over the weekend about our planned route.
Went for a really nice bike ride on Wednesday after nights. I had a few hours in bed got up at lunch time and went out to Knott End. Th weather was perfect, sunny hardly any wind and warm enough to get out in shorts and a short sleeve top. It was just great. I managed 43 miles at an average of 17.5 mph so I was very happy with that. The other us side is that for the first time this year I am leading the Merlyn Cup, I have just over a 10 mile lead from Robert. No doubt he will be out this weekend and retake the lead, but it's nice to be out there for a day or two.
My Wiggo cycling top.
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Thursday, January 13, 2011
Bike upgrade/repair (blog)
Well it was reasonable weather today so I decided this afternoon to try and replace all the running gear on the old bike. I had a new bottom bracket, crankset, rear cassette, rear derailleur, chain, and rear gear cable. The front derailleur was only changed last year.
Getting all the old gear off the bike proved to be the hardest part of the task. The pedals would not come off the crank arms, the crank would not come off the bottom bracket and then this would not come off the frame, well not without fighting every step of the way. Eventually I managed to strip it all down apart from the pedal on the left hand side which seems to be seized solid (I will take to work to use a vice when on nights). So then I had a pile if old parts like this.
The rebuild then started with the BB going in with a generous coating of anti seize on the threads, the crankset next then the rear cassette, derailleur and chain. I have now run out of time / light for today so the cable and the final set up will have to wait until next week. Here's hoping that we get no snow as I will be using the bike for work all weekend.
All the fitted components are looking good.
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Getting all the old gear off the bike proved to be the hardest part of the task. The pedals would not come off the crank arms, the crank would not come off the bottom bracket and then this would not come off the frame, well not without fighting every step of the way. Eventually I managed to strip it all down apart from the pedal on the left hand side which seems to be seized solid (I will take to work to use a vice when on nights). So then I had a pile if old parts like this.
The rebuild then started with the BB going in with a generous coating of anti seize on the threads, the crankset next then the rear cassette, derailleur and chain. I have now run out of time / light for today so the cable and the final set up will have to wait until next week. Here's hoping that we get no snow as I will be using the bike for work all weekend.
All the fitted components are looking good.
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Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Winter walking (blog)
Yesterday I went for a walk with Simon in the lake district. We originally planned to park at Scales and do Sharp edge, however when we arrived there the weather was very poor. This meant a different walk was called for, so we went round to Glenridding and the weather was looking a lot better. The walk then became a nice plod up to the base of the north side of Catstye Cam. We then scrambled / climbed up the north side to the summit. A quick lunch just of the summit led us the to drop down to Swirrel edge, thus was a lovely icy winter ridge to walk along. The photo below is me on Swirrel edge. Onto the summit plateau of Helvellyn where the sun came out. On the summit there were plenty of other walkers out enjoying the winter conditions, including 4 lads running in shorts, brave fools. A brief stop to take some photos and then the descent via Striding edge. Striding edge was just a treat to walk on in crampons, most of the rocks were covered in a nice layer of ice which gave perfect conditions for the scramble. After Striding edge we continued onto Birkside moor and then glissaded (Bum slide) down the snow gullies. An easy finish into Glenridding back to the car and then a beer at the Eagle and Child in Stavely capped off a great day. The only down aide if the day was that my sore right ankle is still hurting whilst going up or down no pain when walking on the flat, not sure what I have done or how to fix it, I have stopped running to give it some rest.
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-Hope you have enjoyed this and if so tell everyone if not tell me
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy new year (cycling blog)
Well folks happy new year.
The old year finished with crowning of a new Merlyn Cup cycling champion, Andrew won with a total of 3481 miles for the year. Robert was second with 3475 and I came in third with 3171. Until I had the mechanical problems before Christmas I was hoping to have covered 3400 by the end of the year so still would have been third.
So new year, new Merlyn Cup. I went out today and covered 60 miles including the hill at strawberry bank, Cumbria. I could tell that I had not done any big bike rides for a few weeks as my legs were aching for the last 10 miles. Still a good start to the year as last January I only covered 180 miles all month.
There were a few problems today first I got a puncture after only 5 miles, new inner tube fitted and back on the road. Second I think that I had a tight link on the chain which caught on the derailleur causing minor damage to the chain. So a link was taken out at Bowland Bridge. This is where I noticed that the rear rim looked like it has a small deformation on it. This may have been caused by the over-tightening of a spoke when I had one fitted back in the summer. So it looks like I will have to buy a new rim, bummer.
Does anyone know somewhere in north Lancs or south lakes that supplies 700c rims suitable for disk brakes on a cyclocross bike.
Speak again soon.
Jayme
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The old year finished with crowning of a new Merlyn Cup cycling champion, Andrew won with a total of 3481 miles for the year. Robert was second with 3475 and I came in third with 3171. Until I had the mechanical problems before Christmas I was hoping to have covered 3400 by the end of the year so still would have been third.
So new year, new Merlyn Cup. I went out today and covered 60 miles including the hill at strawberry bank, Cumbria. I could tell that I had not done any big bike rides for a few weeks as my legs were aching for the last 10 miles. Still a good start to the year as last January I only covered 180 miles all month.
There were a few problems today first I got a puncture after only 5 miles, new inner tube fitted and back on the road. Second I think that I had a tight link on the chain which caught on the derailleur causing minor damage to the chain. So a link was taken out at Bowland Bridge. This is where I noticed that the rear rim looked like it has a small deformation on it. This may have been caused by the over-tightening of a spoke when I had one fitted back in the summer. So it looks like I will have to buy a new rim, bummer.
Does anyone know somewhere in north Lancs or south lakes that supplies 700c rims suitable for disk brakes on a cyclocross bike.
Speak again soon.
Jayme
-Hope you have enjoyed this and if so tell everyone if not tell me
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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