Just another quiet Rubery Sunday...

Went to my local the Dodford yesterday evening, just for a swift couple and watched the Barbarians beat the All Blacks, a very entertaining game and with a bonus of the Kiwis losing. It's good that Richard the Gaffer is a Rugby nut like me too, so no chance of soccer getting in the way!

No pedalling to report today. Took the Spawn of Satan to the playground this morning, just to give wifey a break, chucked him over all the kit, picked some watercress with him that grows in the stream at the back of the playground, then took him to see the motorbikes at Streetbike at Halesowen. He loves them, plus I enjoy it too. So a bonus.

Wifey did a fantastic Sunday Roast, chicken this week and a cracking pud to follow. Small portions naturally! Highlight of the week for me is Sunday dinner, everybody sat round the table. A bit of a Chapman tradition that I hold very dear. It'd be nice to think the kids might keep it going.

Just sorted my bike kit out for the commute tomorrow and after getting back out on my Rapidfire equipped MTB I am toying with the idea of converting my commuter over to them. So much more slicker changes than the original Gripshift on the Ridgeback. That might be a Christmas holiday project.

A new low gives a new high!

Well, who would Adam and Eve it? At my weigh in yesterday afternoon while I was expecting a gain due to the injury lay off I actually lost the 4Ibs required to get to the 3 stone lost milestone. I can't tell you how chuffed I was! I'm now 19st 4Ibs from a 22st 4Ibs starting point at the beginning of July.

I did get out for an off road pedal this morning, just an 8 miler over Clent and the Waseleys, very wet, very muddy, very slippery. Some tracks I'm guessing will be unrideable soon. The reason for the short trip was a need to be back, degunked and ready to rock at 1000hrs so we could all go out.

Mission accomplished. We've just got back, my lad having been to his first Santa visit (that he understood) and he had the time of his little life. My daughter buggering off up Merry Hill with her mates which was just as well as she'd have been bored witless. So a nice restful aftrenoon, wifey is making homemade watercress soup for lunch and I might pop to the pub this evening for a swift couple.

TGIF!

Nothing much to report about the pedal in, all quiet on the Western Front as it were. But it's a big day today for me weight wise though. While I wasn't stupid with my calorific intake while I was off with my bad back and hip I didn't step on the scales. So this afternoon is truth time. I'm expecting an increase...But by how much????? A bit worried if I'm honest...

As I was involved with my Rugby a hell of a lot this week I'm having a weekend off much to Wifey's delight and we are planning a bit of a day out tomorrow, somewhere to let the lad run amok and let my daughter indulge her female passion for clothes shops. What is that all about then? So it looks like Evesham Country Park it is.

Anyway, back to bikes, it'll be degunking my commuter this afternoon to get it ready for the abuses of next week, and I'll see if I can get a cheeky off road pedal on Saturday morning before the family are ready to rock. But I must get some proper winter tyres for my Marin though, last week was just too slippery for comfort.

Hopefully (family allowing) I'll have another post about my off road exploits tomorrow.

My Commuting Bike...

The piccy above was taken for the "Bikes in Bogs" web site, but as it's the most current photo of my commuter it'll have to do.

It's a Ridgeback 704 Competition, a chromoly steel framed bike circa (I'm guessing) 1990. It was my first proper MTB and has gone through many incarnations in it's life to arrive at the bike it is now.

The photo below was taken about 1991 and shows it and a very young and thin me in the mountains above Aberdovey in Wales.

Anyway, after much componentry changes and various suspension forks being put on and taken off, we arrive at 2009.

The frame is a good steel frame, with Mavic rims built for me by Paul at "On yer Bike" in Solihull in about 1994 and they have never gone out of true or let me down once. I've some 26" x 1.75 slick tyres fitted, Halford specials actually, but they seem fine.

The gear set is Shimano XT rear and front mech, with original Gripshift changers, The chainset is Shimano LX with Shimano SPDs hanging off the end of the cranks.

Brakes are again original Shimano LX V brakes with Avid levers, totally fine, always managed to bring me to a halt when they need to.

The forks are Kona Project 2 items, they're pretty springy and steer very acurately. As the bike is my commuter I felt a fully rigid set up was the way forward. I can't see the point of suspension for a road bike to be honest.

I had to fit an adjustable stem when I started this effort as my original stem was just to low and with a too aggressive a posture for comfort. Especially with my bad back, pinned shoulder and massive belly! But I'm hoping to get back to a more lower position as I improve.

As for the bits'n'pieces, 2 water bottle cages, Riser bars, nice and wide to accomodate my girth with Ergon grips, a very basic computer with the usual functions and a cracking set of LED lights, the rear one especially is excellent.

I've a bog standard rear mudguard, from Halfords again, with a Crudcatcher up front doing the keeping me dry thing.

My saddle choice is made after the result of many years pedalling and it's a Brooks B17 leather saddle. The only saddle I've found to suit me. I can heartliy recommend them. After they've broken your arse in (Ooh er missus) they're as comfortable as a comfortable thing with comfortable sauce.

And finally Esther (you have to be of a certain age to get that one), my saddle bag, with the usual tools, allen keys, a puncture repair kit, a spare inner tube and a MTB pump fitted to a bottle cage.

I hope you found that interesting. In the absence of a pedal in today due to coaching I thought that might be a good thing to do. I want to Blog every day if I can to keep my motivation going. Because I know how easy through bitter experience it is to let things slip. Let me know guys. Cheers Clive

Work gets in the way...

A good pedal home last night. The cut wasn't frozen, but even if it was I would have gone that way, as dicing with death through Birmingham City Centre at 1600hrs wasn't very high on my list of things to do.

The only incident being a number 61 bus forcing me onto the pavement just before Frankly, which I could have done without to be honest. I'm looking forward to getting my Muvi all rigged up after Christmas.

A downer though, at about 1730hrs last night the boss rang and said I needed to be in Bristol for 1000hrs today for a client meeting which was set up at the last minute, so I'm in the car today. I will be tomorrow too as I'm going straight from work to Bromsgrove for 1630hrs as I'm coaching the Worcester School of Rugby lads, then going straight to Bees to coach our Advanced Player Development Group.

Two days off the bike. Looking forward to Friday though and I'm already planning another off road foray for the weekend.

As there won't be any pedalling to report tomorrow I think I'll do a "My Bike" feature. I was having a think on the way home last night and wondered if we all could do a "Kit that works for me" kind of thing in our blogs? Might be of some use? What do you think?

As always your views are very important to a me as a newbie...

There's always a before picture...

As there is always a before piccy, here's one I just found while clearing out some old emails. Me September 2008 with my lad (spawn of Satan) Dan. And my other 2 wheeled love.

Ice breaking...

At least I didn't have to scrape the frost off a windscreen this morning, but by crikey it was a tad chilly! The roads fairly predictably were not gritted, which when you consider the area I live has its own micro climate and suffers with very bad hard frosts might be a little surprising. But hey, let them use our Council tax and Road tax for whatever they want don't you think?

The upshot to the conditions meant I didn't chance the tow path for the first time ever, as MTB slick tyres, a very wet path and ice in close proximity to a canal do not good cycling conditions make. So decision made, carry on along the Bristol Road past Selly Oak through Birmingham City Centre out the other side and up into sunny Smethwick.

I wouldn't fancy that trip in the rush hour though, I think I'll be going back down the cut this afternoon that's for sure.

On a plus point, the enforced lay off I've had recently seemed to have done me some good. I felt very strong last night on the way home. Even to the extent of getting out of the saddle on the climb up Cock Hill and arriving home being able to speak, which is pretty much a first. I think later on today I'll have a look at my log and maybe think about scheduling in some rest time in my plans.