Saturday ride in Kent

I took the opportunity of a 3 hour respite from the rain to go for a ride on a route I have not done in a while
When its summer, we are on our carbon wonder bikes, I am 10lbs lighter and 40 watts fitter this ride can be an attack-fest
Now it was just an achievement to get to the top of these hills !

We start by taking the country lanes around Farnborugh that lead to Biggin hill. Here there is a very cool replica of a RAF Hurricane that was used in WWII





This is Pligrims way - if you are feeling fit you can absolutely smash it along here and not see a car for miles



Triathlon anyone?



This was definitely a day for the winter bike, with 25mm tyres and full mud guards. The only problem was whenever it went uphill (and this here is 15%) I felt like a bag of cement...



The classic 2 hills of the area are Toys and Ide. You can climb both from either side and they meet at the top, so if you are feeling frisky you can make patterns of 8 as you did your hill work


This is the reward you get from the South side of Ide - in the distance is Bough Beech nature reserve



This is the last climb of the day - Star Hill



I swear the photo does not do it justice - for some reason I seem to find this hill far worse than 'harder' hills in the area. some of the racing snakes do hill repeats up Star - the most I have done is 3 before I gave up. To me the whole idea of climbing quickly is to get to the top so its over (and your friends are still suffering) - I cannot seem to push as hard if I know I am just going to do it again !

Ideas for 2010 Team kit

Here is the latest proposal for the new club kit that I am trying to get designed
Your thoughts, as always, are strongly welcomed

Black shorts are a must (I have seen too many Euro horror shows) but can't decide on the black or the white top
Ideally would get both for the 'home and away' look, but given I have never done a clothing range before, and have no idea on sizing demand etc it may be safe to do one colour now and then another in the future?
Or like the Cervelo TT, have black now and then bring out the white one for a summer special.....

Decisions !

Sunday ride

Despite my best intentions, this was not a day to take out the Z5. For one thing I have 23mm racing tyres on it and would have punctured within 5 minutes
So I decided to take out the old faithful, my Kent Eriksen fixed
It can look gorgeous when its wearing its summer finest, though at present its slightly less glamarous but infinitely more practice
with the addition of a proper frame pump, some good lights and some 25mm Panaracer tyres that ride like cement but have been puncture proof for 2 winter seasons now




The old adage that 2 hours on a fixie is the same as 3 hrs may be debated by some, but I am a convert. There is nothing better than going out on a bike with no electronic gadgets, HRMs, speedometers etc
Just ride on feel....
A fixe is great for building leg strength on decent 5% gradient climbs, and is also perfect for improving that most intangible of goals: Souplesse
Now Bartoli I may not be, but when you get into a groove and everything seems to click, there is a wonderful mechanical simplicity about fixed gear riding.
Even better is when you come home and you can throw some water over your bike, give it a quick clean and you are done. No mechs to worry about
A Ti fixed gear bike is an indulgence, but if you do treat yourself it will become your 'go to bike' far more often than you think
And when the weather improves and the main cycling season starts you can look forward to getting back on that carbon wonderbike that you have pampered all winter !

Z5 in the flesh

This weekend I have the Z5 all to myself. Dave Arthur from RCUK was demo'ing it over the last 2 weeks and returned it on Thursday. So I thought I would take this opportunity to put some decent miles on it over the weekend.
First impressions are great- I knew it would climb well but what is really noticeable is how stiff and planted it feels in the front end
More thoughts to come

Busy, busy, busy

Its been a very good last 10 days or so
As I used to say in my old job, we have a full pipeline
Now its been great that we are getting the Z5s that people have pre-ordered.
Its been an even split between SRAM Red and Campy Record/SR so far
Not much takers for DA 7900, though two people may be getting Di2 (with some gentle encouragement from me!)

Brian also came down from Scotland to do a final fitting on his Parlee TT bike, and Hugo also did a fitting for a TT bike
Pics to come soon