Up at 0500hrs as per to the sound of the Spawn of Satan doing his best fire engine siren impression. better than any alarm!
Got my togs on asap and dived in the garage for the Giant and set off at 0515hrs on a 20 miler via longbridge, West Heath, Wythall, Shirley, Hall Green, Sparkbrook, City Centre to Smethwick,route here:
The pedal through Longbridge and West Heath was a quick warm up then I hit the lane to Shirley, this is the bit of the route with the only hill to speak of. Pedalling through the countryside at dawn, especially heading east towards the sunrise is a hell of a way to start the day. It was very beautiful and accompanied by a soundtrack of the dawn chorus and various farm animals and the smell of Spring, just fantastic.
All to soon I was pedalling over the drawbridge over the canal just before Shirley and my rural reverie was broken with the thought of doing battle with the Stratford Road commuters. Not a problem though, at that time I was still the only thing on the road and the pedal along the A34 then down Fox Hollies Road came and went without a drama.
On the Warwick Road and really hitting the inner city now, traffic starting to build although nothing major and I turned onto the Inner Ring Road which leads down to the Bristol Road and onto my usual City Centre route in.
I got to work after a 1 hour 15 minute pedal feeling as fresh as a daisy to be honest. The only negatives were the biting cold which has frozen my feet and my numb hand and arm thing which is starting to concern me a tad.
I'll pedal back home via Frankly Beeches and hopefully the Muvi will function as it's a very pleasant ride and view. Apart from the killer climb over the Beeches!
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After reading your blog daily, I've finally broken out the bike to cycle to work - you shamed me into it! I rode in on Friday (25 mile round trip). I was also suffering the frozen foot and numb hand thing. Frozen foot was solved with some neoprene overshoes (£15 off ebay). Numb hand thing was helped by getting some Ergon GC2 grips (Google them). As a fellow large cyclist (I'm 23 stone currently) I also spotted that weight distribution on the bike is very important. I seemed to be hunched over the bars, so when our not inconsiderable weight is supported I think it either traps nerves or squashes blood vessels or something. I was also getting stiff shoulders and neck (which I believe you also said you were getting). I fitted an adjustable stem so I could raise the height of my bars, my bars are now the same height as my seat. I'm 6'2 so my seat is quite high, but from the side the seat and the bars are now the same height.
ReplyDeleteNow that you've got a full blown racer, I don't know how much you can change on its setup. You need to try and aim for a 50/50 weight split between what's going through your arse and what's going through your hands!
Well done Clive u seem to b going from strength to strength also the fact that u cycled 20 miles was in the saddle for 1hr 15 mins feelin fresh as Daisy shows how much fitter u r
ReplyDeleteI can only dream of 20 mile rides when I leave work at 6 am I think to meself I will try a longer route which I av done but as I live jus a tad under 2 miles from work it still isnt very far I think my motto has 2 b much try harder
Anyway m8 keep it up u inspire me 2 try longer routes
Big 'Un, The issue with the numb hands go back to damage playing rugby I think, the Ulna Nerve is copping it. I've been recommended some some Fizik gel tape for the roda bike and I've gone down the ergo grip route on my MTB. Well done on the 25 mile round trip!
ReplyDeleteLes, ta v much, small steps mate, small steps. It's a marathon not a sprint.
Thanx m8
ReplyDelete