Look Mum No Gears!

Picked up my new Singular Swift yesterday.

Was originally supposed to have an Alfine hub but delays in delivery broke my patience and I had it built up as a single speed.

Went out for a short ride to test the setup this afternoon. A lovely ride, fast responsive and stable; the first bike I've had in 40 years that I've been able to ride 'no-handed'.


Initially I had doubts about the compatibility of single speed and my knees off road but I'm beginning to reconsider the idea of gears at all!

Enjoy the Silence

"Listen to that noise"


"I can't hear anything."


"Precisely."


I dug my single speed out of the shed yesterday, pumped up the tyres and checked the brakes and took it out for a ride this morning.


I'd forgotten how quiet it is!!


Great to ride along with just the sound of the tyres on the road.

The Pitter Patter of Tiny Wheels

New Bike on the Way!


On Saturday I test rode this:

And in best Victor Kiam fashion I bought one!


It's a Singular Swift. Now I just need to wait for the frame to arrive and Shimano to launch the Alfine 'Spinal Tap' hub. It goes all the way to 11.

Riding the California Hills - Pt 2 Laguna Beach

My final few days were spend riding in the hills above Laguna Beach. My landlord kindly lent me an old Cannondale, technically his daughter's and formerly his wife's. A little too small but it got me out. 

I must have been doing something right because on the second day I was stopped in town by someone from "a couple of cities away" asking my advise on what trails to ride. All I could do was tell him where I'd bought my map.

The terrain round there is steep; long climbs sometimes too steep or dusty to ride up but once up there some great rides along the ridge. My favourite area was Moro Canyon and Moro Ridge. Riding along the ridges when the visibility cleared really gave a "top of the world" feeling with the Park to one side and the Pacific to the other.  

Just a walk in the park then!

Yeah right! (truth be told I was going the other way had no suspension and minimal brakes and as it was too steep to ride up. But on another day...)

The ridge once I'd climbed it

Riding the California Hills - Pt 1 Ojai Valley

"He says you can't ride that bike, give him a ring and he can sort you out"


That bike being my brother in law's early 90's Carrera Gryphon, an old school rigid mountain bike. I'd already experienced the joys of its old brakes and lack of suspension on a quick ride that morning. Going downhill was fine, it was the stopping that was more of an issue!


"...you'll need suspension and some decent brakes on the trails. Meet me at the shop and I'll show you round"



So the next morning I met Kelly, father of a friend of my nephew and owner of Project Ride for a quick tour round the local trails. Kelly took this off the back of his car:

Kona 'Hei Hei' 29er

A quick fettle to swap the brakes round and change the pedals - the last thing I wanted to do was to grab a handful of the 'wrong' brake - and we were off. Despite his comment about suspension Kelly was riding a rigid '69er' and ripped my legs off uphill and downhill all morning.


The first short drop to the river bed looked easy enough and I followed Kelly down only to encounter a hazard not normally faced by British riders: dust! The trail was so dry that the tyres left a 'smokescreen' behind them making route finding almost impossible. Fortunately the big wheels and full suspension lived up to their reputation and I drifted easily over the rocks. The next 90 minutes contained more of great trails: rocky riverbeds, singletrack through the woods and fireroads. I finally admitted defeat when it was obvious that my legs would carry me no further.


The next couple of days were spent on local trails. I gave up on one described as "the first quarter of mile is a bit technical, but you'll be alright" I gave up when I had to put the bike on my back and climb but found another easier route.


My final ride was an hours hard climbing (almost 1500' in 3 1/2 miles) followed by 15 minutes rapid descending.

Ride Profile

A Shadowy Figure

Think I got pwned today

Took my mountain bike out for a quick spin this morning on the closest that my part of London has to offer in the way of singletrack. Relatively steep with a few roots and ruts thrown in for good measure, not much possibility of a loop so I ride out for a few miles and then come back. Not what the experts would call technical but challenging enough for me and makes me glad of the suspension.

Anyway on the descent on the way back I passed a chap with a Surly Cross Check coming the other way. The only slight consolation that I can draw from the encounter was that he was pushing his bike up the slope that I ridden up 20 minutes earlier. We stopped for a chat which was when he told me he was going to ride down the other side!  The slope that I'd been thanking the fact that I had suspension for!

Chapeau to that man!

Early Morning Ride

Early Morning Ride
Originally uploaded by paulfulford

Quick picture from yesterday's ride.

Do gears cause laziness?

I celebrated the start of 'Summer' by switching from my singlespeed to my geared Peregrine and noticed that my average speed dropped significantly. The Peregrine is a little lot heavier but I don't spin out at about 24 mph so the 2 should balance each other out. Looking at my riding I realised that whereas on the singlespeed I just push harder when the road got steeper or the wind blew on the geared bike I'd just drop a gear or 3 and spin. So today I deliberately pushed myself, staying in a higher gear and managed to achieve a higher average speed (I also achieved a new top speed of 80 mph but suspect that there might be a degree of measurement error!!).

Run in with the Rowdies

Clearing my e-mail and found an e-mail I wrote to the Club President last year complaining about the behaviour of some riders from New York's Century Road Club. In short I accidently became entangled with some racers on one of their regular races in Central Park and experienced aggressive over- and under-taking, threats and abuse. For a club that "provides coaching and friendly competition for all ages" nearly a year on I'm surprised not to receive a response

Sir

I would like to bring to your attention the behavior of some of your riders this morning which I feel detracts from the good image of your club.

I was riding in the Park this morning at the same time as your race - I passed the start/finish just as the bell was rung for the final lap. I ride at a reasonable pace and at the left side of the road, just to the edge of the recreation lane as directed by your marshals. There was a stroller in the road which I had to move to my right to avoid and at this point the race passed me. Rather than make a sudden movement at this point I felt it was safer to maintain my position, about 6 feet outside the recreation lane so that the racers would not be unduly delayed by my presence.

The lead rider overtook me very aggressively cutting so close that his rear wheel was directly under my handlebar. As the rest of the group passed abuse and threats were shouted at me.

I ride regularly in Central park and have been passed your race on many occasions without incident so I hope that this was a one off occurrence but I feel that it may be appropriate to remind your racers to leave a safe space when passing non-racers even if they believe them to be on the racing line. Whilst his behaviour is acceptable within a racing group he did not know my experience, had I swerved suddenly there could have been a serious crash. The behaviour of the other riders needs no further comment.

Regards

2010 Cycling Goal

Well the plan is to ride 3650 miles in 2010 which works out as ten miles a day!

Fun in the snow

Picked up my new bike and was supposed to ride straight home but the common looked a little inviting.

Coming down was fun and going back up nearly as easy until the wheel started to spin frantically in some deeper snow and whilst I stayed upright I wasn't going anywhere fast so I had to get off and push!

First time that I'd ridden on snow but the bike handled really well the suspension taking out the worst of the bumps and the brakes stopped effectively on the hard pack. May be a little different once the pads have worn in.

Hopefully give it another go tomorrow if the wind stops and I finish decorating