Back to business

Yeh, It's been a while since my last update. I'm going to dig up that old favourite of mine "I've been really busy at work...."

I'll happily report that it's definitely not just an excuse, which is great for all of us riders and our clients. More businesses in our city are understanding the bonuses of using bikes as part of their day to day logistics. What could be better than having one of us turn up showing off our standard issue smile, with your consignment faster than you expected and quite considerably cheaper than the next guy? Maybe it's the fact we're super environmentally friendly (obviously) and really do go out of our way to make our service work for you.

Things have been so busy on the work front that I've pretty much hit racing this winter on the head. The daily work load, plus riding my legs off at the weekend's just got too much. This Sunday however, I've managed to make an exception. Last week saw me spend some time in the office covering the chief's holiday and this week I've managed to squeeze a couple of days off, to do normal things, like, clean the bath and bake a cake. Soo I'm heading East to ride in the Brass Monkey 4 hour race. Goodness knows what is going to happen: I haven't been on my MTB since the Welsh Champs in early September and I didn't actually ride much of that race; I've only been on a bike with a freehub twice since then!! But I am feeling REALLY fit, just through millage accumulation I'm guessing. Sunday will show if I have any zip left from this year's XC season!

Keeping it busy and to do with bikes. I run a small workshop in Canton / Pontcanna fixing bikes. I've put ten years of cycle mechanic experience to use (why not!?) by offering the flexibility and fast turn around that a bike shop cannot. Check out "Kings Cycle Studio" on Facebook, @KingsCycStudio on Twitter or just drop by; there'll be a man with a spanner in there most evenings, and all day Saturday and Sunday.

I'll be sure to report back more regularly. Assuming I survive in Surrey!

Si.

CX Sunday!! Welsh Cyclocross Rnd 1 - Cwmbran

That was an almighty shock to the system! My poor heart was leaping out of my chest from the gun trying to take its buddies, the lung twins, away to freedom as well. No idea where I placed today but I'm happy with the performance.

The past few weeks have been tough. The couriers, as usual, have been unrelentingly busy, requiring many miles of my legs leaving them numb by Friday afternoon. It's far from ideal to try and go racing at the weekend after that amount of training / miles at work! Getting up to Coed y Brenin for the Welsh XC Champs was a logistical battle; a tough and technical course greeted all who did make the trip. Unfortunately, not my best ride. A stunning start but then a double puncture left me mid pack and stuck in traffic. I made lots of errors, had plenty of crashes and was generally frustrated with myself! But it was a useful learning experience on how not to do a bike race!

I arrived back in Cardiff from North Wales completely SHATTERED. More tired than I've ever been. The next day I woke up with what felt like indigestion but within half an hour my head was in the loo doing some serious weight loss. I spent the rest of the week in bed, not eating, barely moving..

As quickly as my illness came, it went. My 'gentle' reintroduction to couriering was a week of not epic miles, but enough to leave that familiar drained, empty feeling come Friday afternoon. I slept in until almost three o'clock on Saturday but still saying 'ouch', 'oooh' and 'darn' walking down the stairs when I eventually peeled myself out of bed..

That brings us back to today. Not a top ten finish like I'd have otherwise hoped for, but a reasonable effort and no blowing up!

Si.

Busy busy busy!

Well, yes, that was a rather busy weekend. On top of a busy week 'in the office'.

I knew that I'd be having some travelling adventures to get along to the last round of the Nationals in Essex . There was also a slight oversight by my good self in that the race was unusually, on a Saturday, rather than the traditional Sunday. The only option to get me to the very East of England on time was to get most of the journey out of the way on Friday evening, as I was unable to take any time off from my work, then have a smaller stint of car driving Saturday morning, pre race.

Sooo after a 62 mile work day on the road, a bike ride to Cardiff Central, an hour and a half on a train, a quick break at my folks house in deepest darkest Wiltshire, then unknown quantity of hours and miles in Dad's car which was kindly loaned for the purpose of bicycle and rider transport for the weekend, I finally rocked up at my good friend, Clara's, to enjoy the hospitality of her lovely flat near the middle of London Village, leaving me just less than an hour of my journey to complete in the morning. Thank goodness for GPS. I'm sure I'd still be lost somewhere in the vastness of our capital without said gadget!

The race itself was pretty uneventful to be quite honest! I arrived in plenty of time, had a good warm up and pre-ride of the course with George and the guys from CCW RT. The course suited me perfectly - not too many long or steep ups, with the downs being fast and swoopy. The only items I forgot to pack were some muscles for my legs. These, I believe, were left on Caerphilly Mountain during one of the two ascents I made on Wednesday at work. Still, the purpose of the mission was accomplished - very happy to finish the race and coming eighth was a massive bonus!

I'm now looking forward to the season closer at Coed y Brenin for the Welsh XC champs this weekend. It promises to be a really tough course. Having viewed the preview video I'm even more excited. There's some long down hills and we all know who enjoys a nice down hill... All I have to do is keep myself out of trouble this week and recover those legs!

Big thanks to all my friends, family, colleagues and employers who supported, provided shelter and transport, food and direction this weekend! It all goes greatly appreciated!

Si.

Things I like

I've had a couple of days off work preparing for this weekend's race. Part of what I like to do is get all my kit sparkly and polished, washed and dried and then suitably packed up nice and early. No last minute panics; we've all spent too much time doing that, haven't we!?

Some of my favourite bits of kit surface the week before a race. Some are little tiny things. Others fairly major pieces of equipment. Here's a few to begin with:

Gore Ride On sealed gear cables. I fitted these things a YEAR ago to my Superfly. I have treated them to zero maintenance and they feel just as smooth and as light in action as the day they were first put on the bike. Yes, they're at least twice as much buck compared with standard cables but I think the fit-and-forget nature of said item more than warrants it and when considered in the big picture of the go-faster, all the bells and whistles race bike, the price is not such a big outlay. For the record, I replaced the rest of the drive train half way through the season as it was ruined beyond use but kept these cables!

Bontrager tubeless tire system. I have enjoyed the on-trail benefits of using tubeless tires for many years. Bontrager's system is the first group of products I've actually enjoyed setting up. Without naming names, I've used most of the big competitors offerings but none have been so simple in set up and as reliable in use as Keith's. Semi-solid rim strip, valve and compatible tire. Providing you're running Bonty wheels you cannot go wrong!

ESI Chunky foam grips. I started using these a couple of years ago after seeing loads of pro's use them. The blown silicon grip slides on with a little bit of a battle, following the manufacturers guide and using window cleaner is a big help here, but they're still tight when new. But once they're on, they're on. I've used ESI grips on my courier bike (as well as my MTB's) in all sorts of weather and suffered only minor 'throttling' only toward the end of wet Welsh deluge days. There is an asymmetric cross sectioned version, Racer's Edge. I'm not sure if its that our riding in S. Wales is tough or if it's just me having wimpy arms but I prefer the fat-all-over version - Chunky. In short, these're super comfy grips which you can use bare hands on if you really want to.

Inspired

I made a last minute visit to London to see the ladies Olympic XC MTB at the weekend. I pretty much spent all of Saturday with my jaw hanging down near my knees somewhere, overwhelmed by the incredible volume of bodies going to see a mountain bike race, the atmosphere, the scale of the event.... I'm still buzzing from the experience, an experience that I'll probably not ever get the chance to have again, certainly not in the UK.

Since coming back to reality, I've watched both the guys and girls races on the (fantastic) BBC online player thingy and although the TV coverage was awesome, the cameras simply do not do that course justice! The only flat part of the 5km loop was the start finish straight. Everything else was gnarl.

At the total opposite end of the mountain bike racing spectrum, there's little me. I've been hooning it thanks to my boss having a week and a bit in the sun, allowing me some time off the road and in the office. Time away from my 'normal' day job gives me the opportunity to really concentrate on specific training tasks, by the looks of it, George reckon'd I needed to go and ride my bike fast, which is exactly what I have been doing! This culminated in a monster of a ride on Monday that I was lucky to make it home from without passing out. It's the sort of training I really love and tells you exactly what needs work.

It's a little bit smaller than the Olympic MTB race but this weekend is the final round of the Back On Track Bash. I'm leading the series in the Sport category and hope to come away with a win this weekend! It's back to Tracy Moseley territory for the super tight and twisty woody course, as used in Rd1. I'll be there with one of the Priority Express Courier vans and as ever, I'm extremely grateful for their ongoing support!

After this weekend it won't be long until the Welsh XC Champs then cyclo cross begins. CX this year will be intersected by some enduro events like Margam Madness, Oktoberfest and maybe a SPAM race.

All exciting stuff!

Si.

Olympic mobile pics below - so close to the action. Rio you have a big task to match this.

Annie!!

Emily Batty.  Superfly rider. Broken collar bone before she started. Hard as nails. 

Julie Bresset got the win.

Cycling overload!?

Not possible!

This weekend was a fantastic one for the armchair cyclist. So many people on two wheels on the traditional teleovision competing in two Olympic Road Races, then on the other moving picture box, the compouter, some ace racing by the off road bunch in both XC and DH. Not to mention some fantastic results there for our British Ladies! (Miss Atherton, Last and ArmiTstead congratulations!)

Sadly, all of these inspiring performances have happened in a well and truly quiet part of the season for me it feels like an eternity since i last strapped a number board to the Superfly! My next race is in about three weeks, the last round of the BOTB in Worcester then after that there'll be a mass exodus from South Wales up to Coed-y-Brenin for the Welsh XC Champs.

Good news is that my battered shoulder has fixed itself, much to my delight! A couple of kettle bell sessions with my Ninja courier friend Tom at the Pontcanna Dojo seemed to correct an injury I was pretty scared about. There's still ever such a slight twinge coming from the joint when I'm really "sending it" (Adam Price et al, 2012) down hill but nothing like the agony of a month or so ago.

I've been a bit slow on updating my blog of late, I'm sure that'll change once I get back into the swing of racing again.When there's no blogging, I try to entertain and keep my followers (Mum, Dad, sister Zoe) up to date via my twitter feed and the occasional Facebook post. One important update you may have noticed to the blog pages is my acquisition of a dedicated Cyclocross machine. It doesn't take too much reading between the line to work out that I LOVE CX but this season, which isn't that far away, I should be slightly more competitive aboard more suitable equipment!

That is all for now, I'm off out on my bike!

Si.

Absence...

Yes, It's been a long time since my last update to this public diary of mine. Apologies to those who've missed it!

There's a small pile of reasons why the ramblings have been thin on the ground of late:

1 - I've moved house, which is always stressful. This move was one of the least wrinkle inducing but still far from pleasant! I'm fairly settled in now, there's still a couple of bags to unpack and other sortings out to do, I have only been here 3 weeks!

2 - I'll use possibly the most repeated phrase throughout this blog: "I've been really busy in both of my jobs..." Which actually makes me really happy. The increasing participation numbers and general popularity of cycling are sending The Bikeshed from strength to strength, just when we think there can't possibly be any new people to put on bikes in Cardiff, more appear at our door needing help! (A small sales point here - if you work for the NHS you now have a cycle to work scheme and we're signed up to it so come in a have a chat, it's THE best way to buy a new bike and make a huge saving, roughly 30%!)

I won't even get started on trying to describe how busy the couriers have been. We used to say that our average day was 70miles. That average figure is now our minimum expected distance during a shift. It's nuts... And hats of to all of my colleagues, everyone's really putting in some great riding at the moment!

3 - I've actually been carrying a shoulder injury for the past few months and stupidly, not done anything about it. It started off as just an irritating little joint pain that would be sore after a ride. Then I had a crash a few weeks ago that I'd class as the hardest, least forgiving landing of my life. How I didn't break anything I do not know. It's pretty well healed up and I'm back on the MTB again with only minor soreness. Now that the swelling has gone down, I think I'll get it checked out just to be safe!

Enough of this post. It's getting on for a bit of an epic. I'm back racing next weekend in Essex for the BMBS series round there. I need to get some points as I'm still looking to move up to Expert next year. Then we have the last round of the BOTB and my season finale, the Welsh XC Champs! Most excited!

Good night!