Was that summer then?

I got cold and wet on the way in this morning, although I feel my rythmn is starting to return. Another downer is that I was thinking about putting my lights back on my bike. I suppose if I'm thinking about then I ought to do it. Nothing to report incident wise, indeed, I hardly saw a soul. I came in over Frankley Beeches which is a bit of a climb, but more on that particular hill in a minute. Pig of a headwind this morning as well while I'm in the mood for moaning!

Stats here:
Started: 14 Jul 2010 05:44:16
Ride Time: 36:22
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.80 miles
Average: 16.01 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 39.18 miles/hr
Climb: 253 feet
Calories: 475

Last night's pedal home was again wet and windy and I took the route over Frankley Beeches, as I alluded to earlier. While it is quite a short climb in relative terms it is still very steep, I'm guessing 1 in 10 in places and a huge challenge for me. But last night I big ringed it out of the saddle all the way over the thing! I was absolutely chuffed to Naafi Break's and more than a little surprised! Where the hell did that come from? I was grinning like an idiot for the rest of the pedal home.

Just to test it wasn't a fluke I tried it over the other side into work this morning, it's a bit steeper but a bit shorter from my side over there and the steepness won, I had to sit down about 30 metres from the top. I'd completely blown! But, usually I sit and spin on the granny ring when tackling The Beeches. I'll be having another go at cresting the summit from my side out of the saddle tomorrow morning.

Stats here:
Started: 13 Jul 2010 15:03:37
Ride Time: 42:13
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.59 miles
Average: 14.63 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 33.24 miles/hr
Climb: 371 feet
Calories: 799

One of the reasons I very rarely get out of the saddle when on my Giant is that due to frame flex my brake blocks rub on my front wheel, I guess even though they're built pretty tough these days, road bikes still aren't really meant for blokes built like me to be hammering them over climbs. The rubbing while irritating didn't impede my progress too much, but the rubbing did stop me from bashing out over a climb too often.

Until recently.

As you may recall, I've had my share of problems with the wheels on my Giant Defy 2.

Story here and here if you're unaware of the issues I had.

I'd fitted Crud Roadracer mudguards a few weeks ago as the standard Giant ones were starting to piss me off big style, they were very buzzy and rattly even though they did their job on the keeping me dry front. I removed them which involved me having to take the brakes off and refitting them to the frame obviously, then fitting said Crud mudguards. The Crud fit story here.

Weirdly, since then the brake blocks haven't rubbed on the forks! The Crud guards certainly work in bad conditions, but I'm wondering if their unique method of keeping the guard off the tyre is actually helping stopping the tyre rub issue, or if my removing the brake callipers and re-fitting them may have stopped the rubbing? Whatever has stopped it, I'm happy and I can get out of the saddle anytime now without an annoying noise, apart from my excessive panting and creaking joints obviously!