Stupid New Years Resolution!
Discussion
Last night it took me fifty minutes to cover the twelve miles to work. 
Stupid forty plus mile per hour head wind.
This morning I spent a lot of my journey flat out. The side wind was tricky, I had to lean about ten degrees to keep the bike straight. A few head wind sections were trickier than normal because I was in such a hurry my legs were like jelly when they had to work. I made it home in a record thirty four minutes.
Stupid forty plus mile per hour head wind.
This morning I spent a lot of my journey flat out. The side wind was tricky, I had to lean about ten degrees to keep the bike straight. A few head wind sections were trickier than normal because I was in such a hurry my legs were like jelly when they had to work. I made it home in a record thirty four minutes.
aka_kerrly said:
Well done on your ebay bargain hunting and getting bikes within such a tiny budget.
You Sir qualify as a top uncle for your efforts!
Thanks. Another really good thing and to be honest this worked out a lot better than I expected the new bike kids have to sit and watch my nephews have fun because they're not allowed to get their bikes dirty. You Sir qualify as a top uncle for your efforts!
New year.
Sixteen miles into town and back looking for a new job as I may be made redundant soon, and the usual twenty five today for my commute. The morning was crystal clear with a superb view of Mars on the SSW horizon. I was worried this afternoon as from lunch time onward the fog got pretty thick but if became drizzle when the Sun set. I prefer to get wet than ran over.
Happy New Year (again) everyone.
Sixteen miles into town and back looking for a new job as I may be made redundant soon, and the usual twenty five today for my commute. The morning was crystal clear with a superb view of Mars on the SSW horizon. I was worried this afternoon as from lunch time onward the fog got pretty thick but if became drizzle when the Sun set. I prefer to get wet than ran over.
Happy New Year (again) everyone.
Today I learned the value of five minutes.
On the way in this morning as I arrived twenty minutes early yesterday I spent an extra five minute in bed. Thus resulting in my leaving ten minutes later than yesterday and due to the unexpected headwind I barely arrived on time.
On the way home yesterday I had a nice tailwind and hardly any traffic. Today I stopped and chatted with my colleague for five minutes and it was like running a gauntlet. Three left hooks, one drive who failed to signal on a roundabout and got miffed when I pulled out and two drivers who clearly couldn't see me approaching them and decided to pull out.
Oh; and another spoke has snapped.
Dear DT Swiss,
Your wheels are chobe!
Yours sincerely LK
On the way in this morning as I arrived twenty minutes early yesterday I spent an extra five minute in bed. Thus resulting in my leaving ten minutes later than yesterday and due to the unexpected headwind I barely arrived on time.
On the way home yesterday I had a nice tailwind and hardly any traffic. Today I stopped and chatted with my colleague for five minutes and it was like running a gauntlet. Three left hooks, one drive who failed to signal on a roundabout and got miffed when I pulled out and two drivers who clearly couldn't see me approaching them and decided to pull out.
Oh; and another spoke has snapped.
Dear DT Swiss,
Your wheels are chobe!
Yours sincerely LK
Edited by Liquid Knight on Monday 7th January 20:15
63 miles.
Cycled three miles in the Winter wonderland and observed four cars off the road. Two understeered into the curb, suspension and wheel damage, one drove straight into someones driveway hitting their car and the other a bit of a lad decided to try and handbrake his works van around a corner and hit a post.
I thought I'd be far safer if I'm hit in a car than my bike so went home dug it out and drove to work.
Cycled three miles in the Winter wonderland and observed four cars off the road. Two understeered into the curb, suspension and wheel damage, one drove straight into someones driveway hitting their car and the other a bit of a lad decided to try and handbrake his works van around a corner and hit a post.
I thought I'd be far safer if I'm hit in a car than my bike so went home dug it out and drove to work.
98 miles.
Stupid lying butthole weather forecast.
This also happened...
...because the tyres are wider than the mudguards (they were bought with slicks in mind).
Having said that...
...it could have been a lot worse.
The ride home was equally frustrating but only took forty six minutes at least.
Stupid lying butthole weather forecast.
BBC Weather girl said:
Up to 5cm of snow overnight
Turns our it was 5mm, minus five degrees and it was either wet or icy. My nobblies were wasted. It took forty eight minutes to get to work this morning and felt like I was dragging a corpse behind me. This also happened...
...because the tyres are wider than the mudguards (they were bought with slicks in mind).
Having said that...
...it could have been a lot worse.
The ride home was equally frustrating but only took forty six minutes at least.
129 miles. Two commutes and a quick run to the shop.
I'm getting more and more annoyed with the alleged weather forecast. According to them there should be two feet of snow but there has been two centimeters at best.
Snow tyres have been mostly a waste of effort. Times have been down eight minutes due to drag on gritted roads and the one time there was enough snow to bother with it only took three minutes more than slicks on a wet day. Much to the annoyance to the egg shell drivers I was overtaking.
I'm getting more and more annoyed with the alleged weather forecast. According to them there should be two feet of snow but there has been two centimeters at best.
Snow tyres have been mostly a waste of effort. Times have been down eight minutes due to drag on gritted roads and the one time there was enough snow to bother with it only took three minutes more than slicks on a wet day. Much to the annoyance to the egg shell drivers I was overtaking.
So I got fed up of the nobblies feeling like I was towing a caravan and the loss of yet another spoke meant the tyre was touching the rear triangle again so it felt like I was towing a caravan full of water. I'd had enough, this months Payday Fairies were recovering from last months Payday Fairies being mugged by Santas Elves. Next month will be six weeks between paydays as the company I work for have lost the contract and I've been taken on by the new firm. So it's the same crap but a different colour tie. I know that situation could be a lot worse and do appreciate having a job in the first place but...
Okay that was turning into a rant and I stopped it because this is a cycling forum not a washing line.
Great I decide to avert the rant and Thumbsnap is down again so I can't show you what I've been up to.
Next time I'm online I'll try again.
Okay that was turning into a rant and I stopped it because this is a cycling forum not a washing line.
Great I decide to avert the rant and Thumbsnap is down again so I can't show you what I've been up to.
Next time I'm online I'll try again.
Thumbsnap was back, until I tried a photo and it went again.
Good old Facebook eh?
Anyway 4,500 miles of road crap and chain lube removed with a WD40 and an old tooth brush. I've replaced the spokes with ones from the old cats arse rear wheel for now but I will be replacing the rim and spokes as soon as I can afford it. Interesting to see the gears that haven't been used as well. I hope Atomlab still make bombproof double walls in 26 inch fitment. The wheel is as straight as it has been in months but is still nowhere near true and it never will be I'm afraid until I replace all the crap spokes with decent ones. If I'm doing that I may as well replace the rim with one that won't buckle as soon as you think "pothole". Why these DT Swiss wheels are fitted to a cross country bike is beyond me. I've done nothing on the bike that's anywhere near the amount of stress I'd put it through off road.
So a little over a year and a little over 4,500 miles would I buy the same bike again?
Yes and no; yes because when it was all good and the weather was pleasant enough not to worry about the weight of the thing it was a nice ride, no because within a month the forks stopped locking out, six months the rear wheel was knackered due to "lightweight (f
king useless)" spoke nipples, ten months before rear shock stopped locking out and due to the frame design there's no way of fitting a larger crankset to compensate the slow top speed. Don't get me wrong the Camber Comp has been and is a really good bike but for £1,695 I'd expect a great one.
Good old Facebook eh?
Anyway 4,500 miles of road crap and chain lube removed with a WD40 and an old tooth brush. I've replaced the spokes with ones from the old cats arse rear wheel for now but I will be replacing the rim and spokes as soon as I can afford it. Interesting to see the gears that haven't been used as well. I hope Atomlab still make bombproof double walls in 26 inch fitment. The wheel is as straight as it has been in months but is still nowhere near true and it never will be I'm afraid until I replace all the crap spokes with decent ones. If I'm doing that I may as well replace the rim with one that won't buckle as soon as you think "pothole". Why these DT Swiss wheels are fitted to a cross country bike is beyond me. I've done nothing on the bike that's anywhere near the amount of stress I'd put it through off road.
So a little over a year and a little over 4,500 miles would I buy the same bike again?
Yes and no; yes because when it was all good and the weather was pleasant enough not to worry about the weight of the thing it was a nice ride, no because within a month the forks stopped locking out, six months the rear wheel was knackered due to "lightweight (f
king useless)" spoke nipples, ten months before rear shock stopped locking out and due to the frame design there's no way of fitting a larger crankset to compensate the slow top speed. Don't get me wrong the Camber Comp has been and is a really good bike but for £1,695 I'd expect a great one. 
156 miles...
I was going great guns on the way home today. Slick tyres tail wind down hill then...
BANG!
...missing man hole cover just as I reached flat out. The car behind me had to nearly hit the curb the other side of the road to avoid me as I held the bike on the front wheel and rotated two hundred degrees before the now nowhere straight wheel found the floor again. The driver stopped and thanked me because if I hadn't hit the hole in the road he would have. We both put the cover back and carried on out merry way. Another hour or so of straightening tonight then.
I was going great guns on the way home today. Slick tyres tail wind down hill then...
BANG!
...missing man hole cover just as I reached flat out. The car behind me had to nearly hit the curb the other side of the road to avoid me as I held the bike on the front wheel and rotated two hundred degrees before the now nowhere straight wheel found the floor again. The driver stopped and thanked me because if I hadn't hit the hole in the road he would have. We both put the cover back and carried on out merry way. Another hour or so of straightening tonight then.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff