Life gets busy

Whoa It’s been a while since i’ve blogged! There are many reasons for this, work life has been exceedingly busy and coupled with the fact that the work firewall has banned access to wordpress then the daytime opportunities to blog have disappeared, evening are family and everything else time so no chance there either!

I managed to resolve my financial crisis, I’ve been enjoying the commute to and from work on the mtb except for the number of punctures i’m getting…. lots!! New tyres are on my Christmas list.

I had an incident in a rather rough bit of Sheffield on the way home the other week which could have been really bad. MY chain snapped as I was setting off from a set of lights…..No big deal you say…. Well at the time I have receiving and giving aggravation to four guys in a nissan micra, they’d beeped me and swerved towards me, obviously thinking this was hillarious, so i gave them my best “go stick it where the sun don’t shine…. oh your so funny…. never had that done before”

Accidents and people not seeing you are part and parcel of the game, but down right aggressive, stupid behaviour is not something we should have to put up with. So i told them so. We were then stuck at the lights together, they (who really could not take any sort of comments back without exploding) were giving it the mouth and colourful language under the sun, whilst I stood there smiling, thinking “there’s four of them, sat in a tiny car shouting abuse at a bloke in tights….. how stupid does this look” SO the lights went green, they set off like they were starting the Dacar Rally, I pushed down, heard snap, smashed my vegetables into the top tube and went no where…..

Thankfully my rescue service was available for a pickup a mile down the road. (thanks love)

That’s the most exciting bike thing of late, I had to run to work the next day… which was pretty good about 7.5 miles from the Rotherham bus station to my office in the city. Felt good most of the way should have eaten more for breakfast though.

Working at the LBS today, missing my kids in nativity and dancing show…. really gutted about it.

Take care y’all i’ll try to post again soon.

Apparently he does own the road!!

This Jag driver (who apparently DOES own the road)is now the proud owner of a dent from a cleated carbon soled shoe

He insisted that get the f*** out of his way & that I was a Bl**dy child for riding a bike on a road….. On a road of all places!!

I believe my real crime was being ahead of him at the lights to a roundabout and claiming the lane (theres 3 available, no other cars and i’m in the far left lane) ……. He then proceeded to move the 3 ton Jag further and further over squashing me to the kerb…. Whilst going round the roundabout……

Eventually when it looked like I was going to be pancake my anti Jag device (aka cleated carbon soled shoe) deployed causing the Jag & driver go away in a cloud of diesel smoke…. Didn’t stop to see if he’d hit me though… which I thought was kind.

Git! 

But I did nearly go no2 thinking that I was about to be road kill. It can be super scary commuting by bike some times. How someone is in such a rush and rage at 6:30 in a morning i’ll never know.

But apparently it’s a rage filled dog eat dog world and we cyclists are pretty much the bottom rung of the ladder in the commuting ranks. So as all ankle biters we need to be tenacious.

However.

Dear Mr Jag Driver.

I apologise for kicking your nice shiny (very expensive) car. But you were about to rob my children of their father and the natural instinct of self preservation kicked in. I do hope you get your car repaired soon.

Regards,

Highway Munky.

P.S.

Your still a git!

Drown Rat!

Oh My Holy WordPress! It ain’t half raining!

By the time I got home yesterday there was about 1/2 a pint of water in my shoes. The water retention properties of carbon fibre are quite impressive, if I was ever in a situation where I was desperate for a drink had a supply of water but no drinking vessel these shoes would serve me well….. that’s disgusting but true. This water which had been cold but by the time I took them off they were fairly warm.. like little baths. lovely.

The rest of me was wet through and I had to go to pick up the little boy from the child minders, so following a superman like lightening change I was out of the door running up the road getting wet again.

This morning when I got up it looked wet but not raining at that moment, so I threw on some clothes dashed out of the door, grabbed the bike and thought…. mud guards would be a good idea to keep me drier.

Grabbing my nice MTB mud guards I quickly attached the front one and then proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes shouting swearing and generally cussing about the fact that the rear one would not go on and when it did it would only sit in the position that rubs on the back wheel.

Much grumbling later I gave up, resigned myself to having a wet arse and set off.

As I stepped out of from the shelter of my garage the heavens opened, well more like all the clouds just fell out of the sky.

You know the look when someone has water dumped on them, they inhale, arms go up and there’s just shock…. it was like that.

Taking the most direct route to the office I made it here in 20 mins but I arrived wet through dripping and looking like a drown rat!

Fortunately my shower room has a heater which in 8 hours can dry my clothes quite nicely to get wet again.

Ah the joys of spring.

Back on the road – Tri training.

Once again i’m making a bid to do a Triathlon this is my 3rd year of thinking about this but the 1st that I’ve actually booked to do it. Yes that’s right i’ve got the completed form and cheque just waiting for pay day to arrive to post it off.
With this in mind my running has restarted in anger, in fact yesterday I did the 400ft climb stretched out to 8 miles home from the my last shift at the LBS.
Changed my shoes & took off on a 3mile run, this is the 1st time i’ve tried to run straight after cycling and it was hard to start with but felt good after about 10 minutes and I managed to stick to my pace of just under 10 minutes per mile.

Stats for the week:
Bike Time:
Time: 4:52’30
Distance: 67.63 + approx 12.5 miles on MTB = approx 80miles
Average Speed: 13.8
Max 31.9
March Odometer: 244.8miles

Running Time:
Time: Approx 2:30
Distance Approx 16miles
Last Run: 3miles
Time: 29:30 (inc. 5 min stop to pick up lunch)

Also for those who have never tried it have a go at running with the rocky soundtrack on the old iPod! It’s awesome and you go so much faster!

I’m now on the search for equally motivating music to train to.

College run

Yesterdays college run was fast and fun thanks to a few days off the saddle I was full of energy and ran hard all the way there into the wind and all the way back with the wind at my back (loads faster)

Really enjoying the single speedness of my bike and I really do prefer it now to the gears!

Stats for the last week,

• Time: 6:10’51”
• Distance: 74.89
• Average speed 12.1
• Max 31.7
• March Odometer: 177.1

Unfortunately due to personal demands i’ve once again resigned from the LBS… Shame but more weekend time with the family will be great!

sub zero Again!!

The weather has lulled me into a false sense of security, It is once again freezing cold and everything is covered in frost, My legs (exposed) were posotively numb by the time I arrived at the office.

[knocking off bank’s look again]

10 minutes under a hot shower and 2 hot coffees haven’t managed to shift the cold feeling yet!

Gorgeous Sun rise though.

I’m away at a wedding this weekend so no rides / posts but a few pic’s scheduled to pop up for you viewing pleasure.

Later Y’all.

1st college commute for the Langster

Well we had a good blast to college and back yesterday shaving 15 minutes off my commute time. I knew the mountain bike was slower but a whole 5mph slower as an average speed! I followed the same route as last time and it was amazing how quickly the ride went by, there were a number of factors contributing to the new turn of speed.

 

• Skinny Tyres – Yes, skinny tyres are fast… who knew!
• Attack! – Other than suffering in the saddle it is the only way to get up the hills!
• Rabbits – Pass no less than 7 other cyclists on my way in but as my Food Chain Number is 4 on the Langster everyone else was lower down the food chain than me.

The track bars are starting to grow on me, I’ve got a good grip climbing position now and thanks to the expertly applied bar phat [Thanks Darren!] they are comfy.

The other great thing about yesterdays ride was that it is warmer! Yes the endless cold snap appears to be over and the need to draped in waterproof has lapsed for the time being. YES!!!

 

Today I managed to get my 1^st puncture and realised I’d forgotten the spanner to take the wheel nuts off…. Eek, I managed to get round this as I found the offending metal staple and patched up the tube using the excellent Park Tool Super patch Kit.

 

I was re-inflated in no time thanks to the co2 air gun pump…. Seriously they are so worth the cost to re-inflate and be on the road again in a minute is a thousand times better than standing there pumping away for 10 minutes trying to get something like the right pressure.

 

So HighwayMunky tip of the day for your saddle bags are:

 

Park Tool Super patch Kit.                                   SKS AIRGUN With CO2 Cartridge

 

 

Snow

Wow this morning was an effort! Eventually kicking the kids out of the house I trudged up the hill to deposit a rather cold snow covered little girl at school and then turn around and a hard ride in driving snow [that little stinging type] which would have made for great photo’s

[shame the batteries ran out on the camera]

What was hard packed ice & snow yesterday was today covered in a fresh couple of inches of snow.

This has the stange effect of making me nearly silent as i run along but without a clue as to what is on the ground in front of me, which is particularly interesting when there are tyre tracks frozen into the ice which act as tram lines to try and direct me off the wrong way.

Again the simple bicycle was faster than the car & 4×4 as i passed all the traffic, dodged the big 4×4 truck slipping and sliding all over the place.

I more than a few stares and looks of disbelief that I rode in today but it was probably quicker than driving, and loads more fun.

Take it steady out there.

Nothing to see… move along

After a full week of commuting i was starting to feel fairly rough, Saturday was a welcome break although I did get out for a ride with the Mrs (her first with the new bike bits I got her for Xmas….. apparently the Hope brakes are awesome)

Sundays mad dash to the bike shop was very cold and following the start of the snow fall the family picked me up….. i’m a wimp I know.

Anyway decided to go for it and deposit has been paid for my new beauty… couple of weeks and she’ll be mine oh yes, she will be mine.

Have riding and snow pics coming tomorrow

And then there was mud!

This is not the path I used but it looks very much like it.

If you add rain and wind, this was my commute home from college.

Following the morning severe soaking being blown to pieces the commute home was a mud bath! The towpath that is usually lovely was a quadmire and by the time I got home I was coverd,

my sand coloured shorts were black,

my white bike was black,

my red/white socks were….. can you guess? Yes black.

I was covered from head to foot in dirty sludge and canal side mud.

How did I feel?

GREAT!!!

Like the jersey said, In Mud We Trust.