Mini blog, my weekend escapdes.

My weekend escapades, mini-blog if you will.

Saturday i went out for a 50k ride in a patricularly deserted country hilly road. Started late, about 3pm, so i had an hour or so of proper daylight and got half way round the route when my chain, a ****ty Sram effort, decided it was time to sieze up. One link just failed to move resulting in an inability to get round the sprockets and rear mech. Looked for a rock and bashed it a bit. So anyway the chain broke and i chucked the bike over a dry stane dyke into the ravine beyond. Nearly murdered a driver who stopped to offer assistance. Shouted 'ya f****in basta*d' at the top of my voice for a while while hoppoing up and down like basil fawlty. Kicked a stone wall and hobbled off to fish the pick out of the stream. Bike has a flat tyre, where the f*ck did that come from?? Roughly 20kms from home, dark very cold and god has this very funny idea of making it rain for a bit while i endeavoured to fix the puncture. Not a tree or shelter in sight. Whipped out my multitool and shortened the chain, got back on the bike and cycled home. Spent the night in the bath with a chill.

Sunday was curry night and after a bit of shopping went to a friends house who is a catering manager. Makes a lovely beef madras. So Beef madras it was, Stella artois, aussie red wine, cigars, back home and ripped out the malt whisky. Tanned half a boatle and conked out on the sofa, crawled to bed at 5am. Up at 6:30 am with a very (and i mean VERY) dodgey stomach. Camped out on the toilet for half an hour with 'ring sting' and through either bravado or sheer stupidity i went down stairs. The living room was a hell-hole and my stomach just make a funny noise that i have never heard before, sprinted to the toilet (just in time)...wooosh. My head was fu*cked and the pain was indescribable. My mouth had a taste that can only be experienced (i thought) by eating one of FredC's old jock straps after a 100K road race (not good).

must have been that old mutton pie i bought at aulds yesterday afternoon,

Anyway i ordered a new road bike i it will arrive today. A lovely carbon bianchi with campy dangly bits. Take her for a spin tonight..

all in all a successful weekend, how about you?

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HARD
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Pro : it's very frustrating when you get a mechanical problem like that but no matter how annoyed one gets, it doesn't help to chuck your bike over the ditch ! You'll only end up causing further damage.

I can concur about the lack of daylight issue with you : I went for a spin on both Saturday and Sunday.
I did 40 miles on Saturday and I did 53 miles yesterday.
Saturday was a terrible day - wet and cold : three layers of clothes on me and I was still frozen when I got back to base.
Daylight seemed to disappear within 20 minutes.

I went out with my wife on Saturday night - she was dying yesterday morning
(Sunday) with a hangover.
I was fine - went to church, got home, had breakfast and went pedalling.
Nice bright day but it was bloody freezing (worse than Saturday).
It was practically dark by 4.15pm yesterday : and cycling along roads with poor visibility and dense traffic's not to be recommended.

Enjoy the new bike (I'm envious !)

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

it is generally accepted that there is only one allowable reason to miss church: hangover.

does mrs. limerickman cycle? i wish my wife did.

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Hang on MP, what's all this?

Your chain breaks, so you throw the bike over a hedge and buy a new one!

Sweet. I'll cite you as an example of good practice when I try to convince 'er indoors that it's the only way to fix a broken chain.

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www.wheelism.co.uk - Keeping it wheel, every single day.

"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, January 18, 1896, Scientific American Magazine

Mrs Limerickman has zero interest in cycling - I've tried to persuade as to the merits of going out on a freezing day for a 3 hour spin but she won't budge.
I wonder why ?

She's more of a health club type fitness person.

Missing church for a hangover - I've done that in the past, MP.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

perhaps the chain was sabotaged in some way...we'll never know. I threw it into the neighbours bin.

dont buy SRAM products, just dont okay. Thats not a request, its an instruction. Dont even look at thier wbsite or even say the word. thier stuff is utter wank.

i dont have to convince the wife to buy me a new bike. she wanted to get me the more expensive one...!

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I had the quintessential cyclist's weekend:

A 24 hour mountain bike race with my mates.

What a wicked tway to spend a weekend - noon Sat to noon Sun doing laps of a fairly mundane course with your friends, sharing war stories and poking fun at the other teams.

Activities included: tossing the road bike (never fear it's always a sad old machine that life has not been kind to), the underwear lap at 23H00, sending the road bike to roadie heavan at midnight (burning above mentioned piece of scrap), riding the "reverse" bike (they rig the bars up to turn the front wheel the opposite way (i think some guy managed about 5m), listening to a DJ pump out some wicked tunesand generally having a good time.

Today the body is ok but the brain is on go slow....

FWIW my lower jockey wheel decided to disintegrate itself this weekend. I went over a bump *crunch*, stop, note that the chain is off the lower jockey wheel, I check everything over, looks fine, but the chain links seem to stick to the lower jockey wheel a bit. On closer inspection the jockey wheel's teeth are flattened at the tips so they have a T-shape cross-section. That's after just 50 miles... Apparently genuine Campag C9/C10 wheels (although they were grey and the originals were black)... The originals were a bit chewed up after a good 2K miles or so (which still seems too low after my previous tourer's 10K without any running gear changes).

Sigh... I've ordered some new ones, in the mean time I'm going to take a file to the brutes and see if I can salvage some riding while I wait. I guess that begs the question : How long do folks here expect a chain & jockey wheels to last on the road ?

i've had a shimano stx rear mech since 1996. jockey wheels are still on there and it has done many thousands of miles touring and off road. If you dont crash and damage it then it should last you quite a long time.

i've always found the cheaper stuff to last longer. XTR (dura ace for you roadies) has a certain 'get you through the race in the quickest time' aspect about them, i dont think they are designed to last years. Like F1 cars, built to race and nothing else.

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Right, the retired bike has '95 vintage Sachs Duopar *Eco*, and
it's working well outside it's capacity (a wide range triple on the
front rather than a double) but it still runs fine...

Struggling to work out why the Campag rear mech is eating them
damn Jockey Wheels. I am using Campag Veloce C9 gear all the
way through (including the chain) aside from the front hub, brakes
and the front mech which is a Racing-T. The bike has *never*
been dropped either, I've been lucky so far.

I think I have seen "Bike Toss'n" at a few Scottish Games events in the past.

Some how I get the feeling the Bianchi will never be air-mailed into the ravine beyond.

Sorry about the hangover. Enjoy the new bike.

Lw

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If your traveling to the LakeTahoe, Apple Hill, Folsom area ? Then check out Charles Lee's site for some great information on rides, maps and events in this Northern California area. .
http://www.beautifulvista.com
Great wine !
http://www.chevalierwinery.com/

Here is the bike, arrived today...the rear stays are carbon as are the forks..

Attached Thumbnails

       

 

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You lucky bugger !
Very nice machine there Pro : enjoy the ride !

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

Schwwweeeeeeeet!
Enjoy.

Nice. Campy eh What size frame' & chain Again, nice machine

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I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
George Carlin
US comedian and actor (1937 - )