My 1st week on clipless



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Philthy

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Hi, Thanks for all the advice offered regarding going clipless over the past month. Well I eventualy
got some Shimano M515's & a pair of M037 shoes. What can I say the difference is remarkable, hill
climbing is far faster/more efficient & I strangely feel generaly safer all round. I'm mainly
gravel/dirt tracking it between West Newcastle & Prudhoe along the Tyne (For any north easterners on
here) this is a great little route (72 on the national cycle network I think) so far I love them. So
far only 1 misshap, Typical this happened just as I pulled up outside home turned into the garden to
notice my other half had done some planting & put some new edging down, very nice except that the
distraction caused me to forget to unclip & as I stopped a classic comedy topple was performed
CRUNCH, bruised knee & shin but no other damage. So far so good fingers crossed.

Ta for reading the ramblings Phil
 
On Wed, 14 May 2003 09:52:40 +0100, "philthy" <[email protected]> wrote:

>gravel/dirt tracking it between West Newcastle & Prudhoe along the Tyne (For any north
>easterners on here) this is a great little route (72 on the national cycle network I think) so
>far I love them.

Hi Phil,

I regularly do one of the Newburn / Wylam / Prudhoe / Bywell combinations. Has the fallen tree
between Clara Vale golf course and the boathouse been moved yet?

Pete angeltec co uk
 
> >gravel/dirt tracking it between West Newcastle & Prudhoe along the Tyne
(For
> >any north easterners on here) this is a great little route (72 on the national cycle network I
> >think) so far I love them.
>
> Hi Phil,
>
> I regularly do one of the Newburn / Wylam / Prudhoe / Bywell combinations. Has the fallen tree
> between Clara Vale golf course and the boathouse been moved yet?

Yeah it has, spent about half an hour helping a group of old biddies over it at the weekend ;-) but
it was gone last night. I tend to do this route a lot as I only spend 100 meters on the road door to
door (I'm in Denton Burn!) which is great, as after being hit by a reckless car driver in my teens
I've never been very happy on the roads since :-( Phil
 
On Wed, 14 May 2003 12:14:43 +0100, "philthy" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Yeah it has, spent about half an hour helping a group of old biddies over it at the weekend ;-) but
>it was gone last night.
What a gent - that's the stuff :)

>I tend to do this route a lot as I only spend 100 meters on the road door to door (I'm in Denton
>Burn!) which is great, as after being hit by a reckless car driver in my teens I've never been very
>happy on the roads since :-(
Actually I find I don't have to use the roads very much as so much of the pavements are shared now -
you can virtually use the pavement all the way from Scotswood Road into Newcastle. I'm at Crawcrook
so the only roadie bit is through Ryton and down the bank - there's another shared pavement from
there to Blaydon. I used to think it was a cheap plan by the council to put these blue
pedestrian/cycle signs up in order to meet their 'green' quota, but I don't blame them as you hardly
ever see a pedestrian on them.

Pete
 
> >I tend to do this route a lot as I only spend 100 meters on the road door
to
> >door (I'm in Denton Burn!) which is great, as after being hit by a
reckless
> >car driver in my teens I've never been very happy on the roads since :-(
> Actually I find I don't have to use the roads very much as so much of the pavements are shared now
> - you can virtually use the pavement all the way from Scotswood Road into Newcastle. I'm at
> Crawcrook so the only roadie bit is through Ryton and down the bank - there's another shared
> pavement from there to Blaydon. I used to think it was a cheap plan by the council to put these
> blue pedestrian/cycle signs up in order to meet their 'green' quota, but I don't blame them as you
> hardly ever see a pedestrian on them.

As it appens when I cycle to work, all I have to do is nip down Denton Road, to the derelict Black &
white pub (Don't ya love scotswood!) & from there it's cycle track (72 again) all the way to the
quay side & a quick uphill to the Northumbria Uni :). The only dodgy bit is swerving to avoid the
glass on the Scotswood stretch. I haven't tried the Gateshead side of the tyne since I took cycling
up again. I'll have to take a look about. You don't know of any sites/resources that list cycling
friendly routes round our way by any chance. Thanks Phil
 
> >I regularly do one of the Newburn / Wylam / Prudhoe / Bywell combinations. Has the fallen tree
> >between Clara Vale golf course and the boathouse been moved yet?
>
> Do any of you lads know the Runhead in Ryton or Keelman(?) in Newburn? I live in Milton Keynes,
> but come from Ryton. I usually try to ride around there (and always drink around there) when I'm
> up visiting. Along the Tyne etc.
>
> Photos from last time I was up there: http://www.chris.wheeler.name/mtb/corbridge2003.shtml

Hi Chris, I don't know the Runhead, but the Big lamp Brewery (Keelman) is a great stop off, Which
I'm bypassing at the mo due to trying to lose another half a stone to ease my BP*. Once thats done &
doc is happy I'll be stopping off for the odd pint of foaming brown stuff again :)

Pics are great. God your mates do look ****** off ;-) 30 miles in jeans I bet his legs were red raw
after that one. Cya Phil

*I'm 34, 5'10, 12 stone & have the BP of a 50 year old thanks to some hereditary shite...
Lifes a *****..
 
On Thu, 15 May 2003 09:34:43 +0100, "philthy" <[email protected]> wrote...

>
>> >I regularly do one of the Newburn / Wylam / Prudhoe / Bywell combinations. Has the fallen tree
>> >between Clara Vale golf course and the boathouse been moved yet?
>>
>> Do any of you lads know the Runhead in Ryton or Keelman(?) in Newburn? I live in Milton Keynes,
>> but come from Ryton. I usually try to ride around there (and always drink around there) when I'm
>> up visiting. Along the Tyne etc.
>>
>> Photos from last time I was up there: http://www.chris.wheeler.name/mtb/corbridge2003.shtml
>
>Hi Chris, I don't know the Runhead, but the Big lamp Brewery (Keelman) is a great stop off, Which
>I'm bypassing at the mo due to trying to lose another half a stone to ease my BP*. Once thats done
>& doc is happy I'll be stopping off for the odd pint of foaming brown stuff again :)

The Runhead (my start/end point) is on the main drag through Ryton, so it's probably a bit off-route
if you mtb like I do. There are a couple of other pubs on route, but I forget their names.

>Pics are great. God your mates do look ****** off ;-) 30 miles in jeans I bet his legs were red raw
>after that one.

Thanks :) Don't know how he managed to do it in jeans - I started feeling it even with cycling
shorts. Still, we were all dutifully holding up the Runhead bar that evening, so it can't have been
that bad ;-)

I'm going up for the bank holiday weekend, so watch out for a lunatic on an old black Saracen :)

Oh yeah, and to get back on topic, I've got SPDs but not the pedals/cleats. The shoes are a whole
lot better than trainers for energy transmission thru the pedals. I'll definitely get the
cleats/pedals soon.

-Chris
 
> Oh yeah, and to get back on topic, I've got SPDs but not the pedals/cleats. The shoes are a whole
> lot better than trainers for energy transmission thru the pedals. I'll definitely get the
> cleats/pedals soon.

Well I got a set of Shimano M515 from
http://www.cyclexpress.co.uk/products/PDM515_SPD_Pedals_169.asp for a super expensive 19.99 &
they arrived next morning so far build quality & ease of use seems excellent. So now there's no
excuse ;-) Phil
 
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