I have been getting on so well on the trainer with my Time RXE pedals that I plumped for Time pedals on the Roubaix. Cycle Surgery had the carbon version of the RXS pedal in an offer that was too good to pass up.
The RXS version is the same as the RXE but with adjustable float tension. They look very cool.
Categories: Cycling
Turbo training has been going well. I’ve been using a combination of a Spinervals DVD (Aero Base Builder 3) and Climb, Climb and Climb Again from Carmichael Training Systems. I need to add some more variety though and create a proper programme. I haven’t been outside on a bike since December 12th!
The trainer bike has got a new saddle which has helped enormously. It’s from Planet X and is essentially a cheap imitation of a Fizik Arione. Nice for £25 though.
Categories: Cycling
Trained for an hour on the turbo last night – my longest session yet. The time passed quite quickly with music from the iPod (Sensuous by Cornelius, and 5 Days of Heineken by Underworld). I really can’t wait for the saddle from Planet X to arrive though: the one that came with the bike is terrible.
I must remember to take a towel with me next time!
Other things to do to aid training:
Categories: Cycling
I setup my new turbo trainer bike last night. I fitted new Time RXE pedals to and set the saddle height and position. I hope the new saddle I’ve ordered from Planet X shows up soon because this one is horrible.
I had a quick spin with the new pedals and initial impressions are very good. For one thing, they are much easier to clip out of than SPD-SLs. I also have what I call a wonky foot and I was able to adjust the cleat to compensate for this. Obviously I’ll need to have a longer session to see if this is of any real benefit
Categories: Cycling
I watched Steve Jobs’ s Macworld keynote last night. At first I was taken in by the iPhone – mainly by the interface which has a huge “wow” factor. But then I began to wonder about the iPhone and some of Steve’s proclamations regarding mobile phones. According to Steve, existing mobile phones are so hard to use that people don’t even use their contact list, preferring instead to enter numbers manually. That’s absolute nonsense. My friends and colleagues all regularly share photos and videos with each other, set different ringtones for different callers, send loads of text messages and even make calls.
The actual iPhone itself is too big for me. I want a phone that I can slip into a pocket in my jeans. And for a product that’s aiming to revolutionise the mobile phone industry, it’s 2MP camera looks a bit low tech.
The touch screen. Wow. This is great but… the screen is going to get scratched. Worst of all it’s going to very quickly get pretty greasy and mucky. Someone’s already pointed out that Apple will probably sell us the iCloth at $39 to deal with this. The other thing about the touch screen interface is that it looks like it will be pretty difficult to send text messages with one hand, ie. using the thumb of the hand in whch you are holding the phone. That will at least stop people texting while driving (you would hope) but I can see that being a bit of a turn off for some of the younger generation who’s mobile looks like it’s been grafted onto their arm.
The Internet Communications Device (snazzy name) aspect of the iPhone is fairly underwhelming. Leaving aside Steve’s assertion that Safari is the world’s greatest web browser, the biggest problem with surfing the web on a small screen is all the scrolling and zooming you’ll have to do. The iPhone makes that process easier but it’s still a pain in the arse.
Finally, the iPod capabilities. Well it is an iPod and probably the best iPod apart from the fact that the storage space is too small. Personally I don’t want my iPod combined with a phone – I like my gadgets to be focused on their key purpose and for them to peform that function very well. But already you can see right there what the next generation iPod will look like and I can only see Apple’s (MP3 player) market share increasing even more when that hits the streets.
Categories: Web/Tech
I need to start increasing the duration of my turbo trainer sessions. Half an hour or so a day isn’t doing me any harm but for actual training purposes and, just as importantly, losing weight, I need to do much more. I also have to prepare the crappy Raleigh Airlite to use on the trainer.
To help make the sessions more enjoyable, I’ll have to knock up some playlists for the iPod. I’ll use Tangerine on my Mac to calculate the BPM of my iTunes library then I can pick tunes with a high enough tempo that my cadence won’t drop in time with the music.
Categories: Cycling
During my lunch hour I went to my local barber, Robertos, for a haircut.
The barbershop is small and quite scruffy but they do a decent enough job and it’s handy being able to go there during the week. Robertos is owned and run by Roberto (Rob) who I would guess is a second or third generation Italian immigrant. There is a big Italian community in Peterborough where there was a nearby POW camp during WWII and many stayed on afterwards. There are photos on the wall: stills from The Godfather, photos of Old Trafford, traditional barbershop posters. There is usually at least one of Rob’s mates in the shop, sometimes more. They talk about all sorts of things (women, drinking, deals, other mates) but are always very opinionated and very loud. Sometimes I can’t understand a word they’re saying as it descends into a series of grunts and shrugs. Today, an Asian lad came in (a friend of Rob’s) and was obviously pleased with himself after only being fined for a driving offence. Interestingly, during this exchange Rob’s accent took a strange turn towards that of a stereotypical Italian gangster (think Fat Tony from The Simpsons). Normally he speaks in the typical Peterborough mixture of Fen and generic southerner (I’m a Geordie so anyone south of York sounds like a cockney to me).
Anyway it was a bit weird – like he was trying to out-immigrant the Asian lad or something.
And I didn’t give him a tip today because mid-haircut he spent 5 minutes on his mobile grunting his way through a conversation.
Categories: Uncategorized
Yesterday, HP and I went on a looking at bikes tour.
First we went to Ely to look at the Wilier Mortirolo. It was very nice and quite understated for an Italian bike. My only disappointment was the fact that I could not get the frame with the red highlights together with Campanolo Chorus – it had to be blue highlights with that groupset. While we were there, the very nice chap also showed me a Pinarello F4:13 which, to my surprise, I was quite taken with. With it’s funny shaped seat stays and forks it had looked rather ostentatious in photographs. In the flesh, it looked superb. However, I was in shopping mode and we had a Cannondale to see somewhere else.
Next stop was Evans at Milton Keynes. They had a 2006 Cannondale Synapse Carbon. Unfortunately it wasn’t the matt black model that a lot of dealers currently have in their sales. They also had a nice Lemond bike but to me they are too closely indentifiable with Trek to consider. I’ve nothing against Trek, a Madone 5.5 was also on my shortlist for a new bike and I’m replacing a Trek 1400. Evans also had a titanium Bianchi which looked very classy. Not classy enough to tempt me though. So on the way home, I suggested going to Terry Wrights which is much closer to home and thinking they may have the Madone or a nice Orbea. They also sell Specialized and despite being made for my purposes, it hadn’t made my shortlist because it was only available in red and white. Yuk!
What was on offer was initially a little disappointing. Only one Madone (a 5.0) and no decent Orbeas but one bike shone out above all others. At the top and back of a display rack, well out of fondling reach, was a Specialized Roubaix Expert finished with gold and red touches to the natural carbon frame – way, way nicer than the red version. It also had Mavic’s Ksyrium ES wheels fitted which are black with some red graphics, red on the hubs and a single red spoke (in amongst many black spokes). I was transfixed. I said to HP that I was drawn to it but it would probably be incredibly expensive given that wheels alone can cost £700. I asked one of the assistants if I could get a closer look.
It wasn’t long before I was getting the personal attention of the shop’s manager (owner?), Paul, and he explained why it was a different colour and why they’d upgraded it (the stem had also been replaced with a £200 carbon job from Time). I hadn’t intended to buy a bike yet; today was just window shopping, trying to narrow down my choice. If I did succumb it was supposed to be something that was available online with a two year’s interest-free offer. But this bike was just screaming “buy me”. I couldn’t hide the fact I was incredibly tempted and Paul offered to revert it back to it’s stock configuration to bring the price down but how could I give up those beautiful wheels? Then I came to a decision. Fuck it, I thought and bought it on my credit card.
Categories: Cycling
Oh dear. I’m too fat. Having to retire from football (dodgy knee) and winter curtailing my cycling, I seemed to have crept up to almost 15 stone. I can get away with it to a certain extent because I’m 6′2″ but that’s only when I’m in “normal” clothes: figure-hugging lycra is a different matter!
But this week I’ve had two sessions on my turbo trainer and last night, HP and I went for a 30 minute walk. I’ve stopped eating anything at work apart from lunch which should also help. I’m taking part in a weekly weigh-in on a cycling forum so that should provide some extra motivation.
Now if I could only motivate myself to start exercising my core muscle group…
Categories: Uncategorized
Here’s a brief summary of stuff that’s happened or changed in the meantime.
Jack ran away. We got Tilly
I sold my Honda and got Herman
I sold my house and bought another one nearer home.
I replaced my two aging PC’s with a 24″ iMac.
Between us, me and HP have 7 bikes.
We are now officially into camping. We even have two tents.
Categories: Uncategorized
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