Author: frankkinlan

Monday: Off for 12 days. Time to catch up on a few things. Barbara’s spinning class at West Kirby and then the gym. Ran a mile at 10 km/hr, cross trainer and intervals on the Technogym side stepper, weights shower and home.  305 Course question about this weekends Cheshire Cat. It’s on BikeHike. Started to sort the flat out which dragged on to 7 with another trip to Wickes. Quantum of Solace £7 in Tesco but not on BluRay, grrr.
Tuesday: More of the same. Spinning class at West Kirby, more work on the flat and it looks like I have missed the good weather. Booked an X bike class at Guinea Gap for 7 so dining late tonight.
This weeks ride video were New York and San Francisco, only being part of the class the rest being instrctor led.
Saw Lances twitter about picking the Times up and there being nothing in  it about Mark Cavendish,s Milan San Remo win. Radio 4 picking up on it. Plenty of press about him crashing and breaking his collar bone.

Managed to get Stans Horseshoe Grimpeur into the Edge after a bit of work. With two climbs of the Horseshoe pass and a lot more it will test anyone. Haven’t worked out if I’m off or not.
Wednesday: Ride day delayed due to a call system fault.  Winter bike and a water proof jacket out to the Eureka with only Merseyside CTC (who start late) and Keith Boardman left. They had been to the Plassey too and had a tale about it.
Home via the missing link but diverted on to the Wirral Way as I’d never ridden the Hadlow Road section. It’s all hard surfaced to Heswall now with no mud or puddles. Left it at Parkgate and stopped for some water. Then it was back into the wind with the Edge showing 7.5 mph at one stage. Then it started to rain and this was a cue to take the Wirral Way again by the Boathouse.
18 miles, should have toughed it out as it turned out brighter later and Eurosport dropped the Track champs.
Thursday: Car is getting a new cambelt, bikes going in the back and going to treat it as a ride day. Too risky not to change the belt when you’ve heard a few horror stories.
Dropped the car off and headed off along the front at Hoylake. Not many people about but it was early and blowing a gale.

Vale park Cafe was closed with Woodside closed for refurbishment. Looks like they are doing a good job of the U-Boat there.
Called in at Europa pools to see what spinning classes are on and the good news was that Louise has started doing her classes this week after beaking her leg on a run.
Out via the Missing Link to Ness Gardens for a Cafe stop, the rain clouds blowing over the Dee meant it was time to move on. I’d stopped to take a picture on Denhall lane and virtually had to ride downhill the wind being that strong.

Took to the Wirral Way at Parkgate  and followed it through to West Kirby. No phantom tacker this time.
The Council were doing work on the track at Thurstaton and had left the gates open. Next thing a car is going down the Wirral Way with a kid asleep in the back.
His reversing better be good as there is no way of turning around.
Picked the car up from Hoylake put the bike in the back and gave it another clean when I got home. 45 miles not a bad day after all.
Bike chain went in the ultrasonic bath for a clean as although there is no spray from the front guard the rear guard was pouring water over the chainset on the wetter parts of the morning.
The goldline chainlube is not attracting the grit like the oter lubes.
Pauls Twe2.com backup and running with a load of texts coming through wishing Lance Armstrong a quick recovery.
Watched the World Track Champs on Eurosport and Team GB is not having it all their own way.
Friday: Easy day, read “It’s not about the Bike” until I had to put it down to go to the cinema with Val. Watched “Knowing” but felt shortchanged by the ending.
World Track champs on Eurosport when I got home and refitted the chain to the winterbike. Twittered a bit too.
Saturday: Sorted the flat out, no ride.
Sunday: Antony Gormleys “Another Place” was busy but you couldn’t see anything as the tide was in.
Barbara’s Spinning class at West Kirby.

Rode out to the Eureka Cafe with the intention of doing my first decent ride of the year. Rode out on empty for Franks Breakfast which was going to have a bearing on the first part of the ride. CTC were going to Trevor Arms and Carol had The Plassey by Bangor on Dee in mind.

While waiting for the ride to assemble Allan Negus turned up on his recession busting new toy. Rode with Allan with the CTC, always immaculately turned out, slows down before the cafe stop so not to arrive in a sweat. Lots of summer bikes out now mine included. Amazing what a bit of sun can do. Picked up a set of car keys on the A540 on the way out.

Seventeen on the ride and I nearly missed it as it was off up the road after this picture.
Went down the outside of the traffic to catch them up at Woodbank an oncoming lorry driver flashing me onto the back of the group.

All was going well with me playing tailgunner with John on the back. That was until the roundabouts at Rossett where a lorry gaped us from the group. We fell of the back with Vicky leading the charge up the Gresford hill.

John called it a day further on and headed to Holt. I was playing catchup until Llan-y-Pwll.
Last through the lights at Cross Lanes the elastic snapped again with Barry going for it on the rolling road.

Once a ride gets to a certain size the front has no connection with the back.  There were times when we held up traffic because those on the front didn’t hear the shout to single out. This was on solid white lines those at the back did but the message didn’t reach the front.  This time it was OK  but there are times when the motorists get agressive. Usually ending in them speeding past and chopping up the front outside rider.

Turning up the drive to the Plassey I glanced down to the Edge to see the gradient at 10%.

Parked the bike up and joined the others on the benches outside to order.

This was my cake stop, it tasted as good as it looks and that is without the optional ice cream or cream.
I’ve already had a Eureka breakfast in me so anything more will be too much.

This was Barry’s Lasagna, you can’t fault the place for any of the food.  Got berated by Lisa for not taking pictures of the views “Why’s he taking pictures of the food”.
There were shots I wanted to take like the two lambs running along side us bleating away but the windshell meant I couldn’t get the camera out. 

 

 

  

Took a turn on the front on the way back, there is another shot with Barry on the front but as I sped off to get a shot from the roadside he chased me down and nearly ran into me as I pulled up sharply.

 

 This was the resultant picture.

   

That little dot in the distance is Barry going off the front. I’m off the back a bit.
I join the back again to see Barry going off the front again.
Had another stint at the front and came of at Aldford as the Saighton 10 I haven’t ridden yet and wanted to see what it looked like.
Carol and Barry were on the back with a car or lorry between us next thing they are gone. Lisa goes back.  I thought there had been a mechanical but no. The camera case wormed it’s way out of the pocket and Barry thinking it was my wallet stopped for it. Thanks Barry I owe you one.

Carol and Lisa opt to take the cyclepath through Chester and avoid whats coming next. Backford Hill. It’s not the hill that is the problem it’s what goes on up it. Not a problem for me as five of us missed the lights but you know whats going on up front.
True to form there is a break and it’s hard enough getting on the back of the group after a change of lights.

It’s steady then to Chapel Lane where my rattling bike (unthreaded valve stem rattling on the rim) takes a change of tone, like something is going to drop off. Found nothing and met up with the others at the Eureka. Everybody has had a good ride and it’s been a great day. Rode home via the Missing Link with Barry and Vicky until she turned off.
72 miles, best ride of the year so far but there will be others, a lot more others.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2616698 use the player button, it’s really good.

Monday: 88.2 kg this morning, so yesterdays short ride and spinning class did have a result.
9.30 Spinning class at West Kirby followed by the gym. HRM had me doing 500 calories in the class but it was more as it stops counting when doing chest presses.
One of the class mentioned how hard it was and I’d tend to agree.

Gym afterwards for weights, 1 mile run and the crosstrainer and another 2km on the rowing machine.
I’d set the crosstrainer to count calories and see how long it took to burn 284 calories off ( a Mars bars worth). The resistance was set midrange with the display showing 150-160 watts. 32 minutes later I was done. Part of my problem with weight gain was hitting the vending machine at work because I wouldn’t be getting anything to eat for a couple of hours.
Two Mars Bars a day will make you gain a pound a week or 52 pounds a year (3stone 10pounds if you prefer Imperial) .
Sort my dads Skype out.

Booked an X bike class at Leasowe. Hopefully this will see me through the 88 kg Colnago weight limit in the next day or so. It will also give me a chance to see if the leg muscle soreness returns.

Only six bikes and a shorter class at Leasowe with a bike empty from someone that booked and never turned up. The Liverpool and London videos were played after some exercises to get newcomers used to the moves. Saw the icons that tell you whether to increase or decrease the resistance this time around.
As the bikes are brand new I didn’t have any problem with slippage this time. Can’t give you a calorie figure as I forgot to wear the cheststrap. Shower and home.
Tesco finest pizza for tea 620 calories, always read the label.
Tuesday: Booked in for the second spinning class at West Kirby as the first is full. Probably the gym beforehand like last week.
87.6 Kg this morning so the trend is still down.
A few weights in the gym before the class.
I was under the impression that this was going to be an empty class but all the women from the Pilate’s class piled in.
This turned out to be one hard class partly because of the fast tempo throughout it. One section was the closest thing to climbing at speed which is just what I need. The HRM hit 184 BPM on this stretch.
Shower and home for lunch.
Had problems with Outlook only getting it sorted after 5.
Another spinning class at West Kirby not as intense as this morning but still gave it a good go.
No Barloworld for the Tour.
Wednesday: Ride day. Report coming up. Route http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2616698
Thursday: Work for the next four days. Back up to 87.6 kg so I was dehydrated on yesterdays ride. The scales read 87.2 kg yesterday.  More writing for yesterdays ride and updated a few links for the CTC page.
Friday: Work. Wrote the above post. Sorted out a washing machine. Need to sort out some after work routine even if it’s half an hour on the bike once the clocks go forward.
Saturday: Work. Deleted 240 odd texts that twe2 had sent me and flattened the battery. Sorted a few more links out here and there and checked my spelling on a few pages which can be patchy on some words. Hope to stay up to see Cavendish on Milan SanRemo. Did some pressups and I’ve lost form.
Sunday: Work.

Monday: Waited in all morning for someone who didn’t turn up. Watched Paris-Nice on Eurosport and washed my kit and that was about it. Should have jumped on the Tacx. Blogged
Tuesday: The right side of 89 kg this morning so the weight is slowly coming off. Weather looked a bit grim for the day so it was off to West Kirby for a Spinning Class and a session in the gym.
No space for the first class so it was off to the gym to hit the machines.
Sidestepper for 10 mins, ran a mile which felt OK. Cycled at 100 rpm for 10 mins to see if I’m cut out to be a Lance style high cadence rider. Guess I’m not.
A gel before the spinning class which went well then a 2km Row which took 10 minutes. Some weights and then a shower. Took a Rego recovery drink to see if they work.
Weather nice and bright when I got out so perhaps I should have chanced it.
Settled down to watch Paris-Nice on Eurosport. Rang up about an X bike ride and was told to turn up 15 mins early and enjoy the class.

Turned up at the Sports Centre in Everton Valley paid my £4 and did my first class. I ended up burning 850 calories which is a new record. It is more like mountain biking with the added advantage of SPD pedals.
Friction is controled by a twistgrip. Couldn’t quite get the hang of the freewheel as needed all the resistance in to stop it slipping.
A video is projected on the wall which in parts is computer generated similar to a Tacx Catalyst ride.
Other parts are filmed in Liverpool and should be put on YouTube, they are brilliant. Must have been done by a courier with no fear. Jumping red lights and a host of other transgretions it is really good to watch and sure beats the hell out of staring at a spot on a wall of a squash court.
Wednesday: Work. 88.5 kg this morning so the Christmas excess is coming off but at a slow rate.
Legs know about it today so yesterday wasn’t a waste.
Lifestyle and Weight Management Followup class tonight so I’ll be off early.
11 turning up.
Had to modify my Twe2.com settings as the texts were getting out of hand. Deleted over 500 with someone mentioning LanceArmstrong in, the setting is now @LanceArmstrong so only his should come through. TourdeTweets on twitter gave good updates on Paris-Nice with RaboBank dishing another battering to the peleton.
Thursday: Work followed by Northend club night. Signed up for the Time Trial series again so I’m going to have to get my finger out now. Also thinking about track accreditation (pink slip) as I’ve already done the taster sessions. Daves got a new 705 for his Majorca training camp using BikeHike to plan his courses.
Caught the end of the Tirreno-Adriatico on Eurosport. An interesting point came up at the meeting regarding the recent Eddie Soens race, average speed for one of the riders was 26 mph with a max of 37. Now I know why I keep getting dropped in TLI roadraces, they are fast events right from the off.
The Club has a good facebook page with Barrys excellent training ride writeups, the club website is not being updated. The only problem I foresee is that you can’t get to see what’s happening on facebook without being a friend.
Friday: Work.
Trixter vids on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFJtIlu5kNs&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=327B2BB593DD0297&playnext=1&index=18

Deleted the Trixter search comment as I’d spelt it wrong and entered Twixter which is probably due to too much time on Twitter lately.
Saturday: Work.
Last Wednesday at the LifeStyle and Weight Managet followup class I picked up some of the British Heart Foundation booklets there are 23 in the series dealing with all aspects of the heart and health. Here’s a link to the High Blood Pressure one.
http://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/view_publication.aspx?ps=1000140
The legs have finally recovered from Tuesdays efforts, the X bikes hitting a different set of muscles.
Paris-Nice on twitter had Alberto Contador blowing up 4 km from the end. No evening repeat on Eurosport means I’ve missed it. The Toy is getting an airing early tommorow as the trainer tyre is coming off tonight.
The bag got a dose of looking at removed a tube, a spoke key and a pair of pliers. The long nose pliers came out when I found the tweezers tucked away.
Sunday: Ride day, well a short one.

 

The Toy came out today, out for 8:30 and I set off for breakfast. Headed down to Parkgate and on towards Neston. Here I picked up Chicago Dave in his Barloworld kit. He thought I was Barry and we stopped at Neston Cross for Barry to arrive. Barry on his best bike too. Barry is leading the 9 oclock group ride so the Eureka was fairly empty. Took the group photo above and went back in to see the others. Spoke to Ray and a few others I haven’t seen for a while.

Come leaving time there as no space left for parking your bike and Allan took my spot bringing out his Scott CR1.  It was best bike weather today and I’m heading back via the Missing Link on National Cycle Route 56. I’m heading back as others are heading out and everybody is enjoying the fine weather.

The rest of the day was a Jack day with a trip to Loggerheads and Royden Park for the minature trains. Steam this week and busy it’s a slick operation running 4 engines and three trains.
Home for Paris-Nice finish.

Margarets Spinning class at West Kirby, tough class. Mentioned the X bike class I did at Everton Valley and how many calories I burnt.  Had a good day today, thinking about the next three days off now.
Paul has had 500,000 texts through Twe2.com with steady growth.

Monday:  Last day off. Restday as I can’t get out. Picked up Cycling Plus at Tesco’s along with another 3w LED torch. The torch was the better buy as C+ fell short this issue for me.
Might set up the Tacx for tommorrow.
Tuesday: Work folowed by some flatpack office furniture assembly without instructions. Sorted out my entry for the Spring 50.
Eureka is CLOSED tommorrow.
Need a new cassette for the Iceni after Saturdays ride as the new chain on a worn cassette was nothing but trouble. Chain riding up the sprocket teeth as it was loaded up.
Had to turn the audible text alerts of for Twe2.com 184 unread.
I’m spending far too much time looking at bling kit  like this.  http://www.sub7bikes.co.uk/product.asp?pID=156&cID=41

An absolute bargain at £97 for a mere 18g, a similar price to a class A drug.  What must my saddlebag @ 1 kg be worth. Priceless actually as I’ve only abandonded one ride and that was when the chain split and ripped off the rear mech. Great days as the bike was only a couple of weeks old. I nearly cried. (hanger bent too)
The late Mel Vasey had me back on the road in two days.
Didn’t patronise me when I was big and asked whether wheels would take my weight.
Two years since he passed away, a while since I stopped crossing myself as I rode past the site. 
UK roadside shrines haven’t taken off in a big way as they have in some countries, but they are there.
Wednesday: Work, jumped on the Toy when I got in had a look through the ride and came up with the Mortirolo TT. Only 5.8 miles but it took me an hour and 2 minutes. A lot of it is around 11% with some 15% bits. The I-Magic doesn’t support much over 6% so it slows your roadspeed down. Down to 4mph in places which is about right as the other day I was going up Grange Road out of West Kirby (10%) and I was down to 5-6 mph. The Gavia is which is on the same DVD is twice a long and a bit much after 12 hours at work.
Used the Cycleops front wheel riser for the first time, works, offering 3 or more height options.
Looks like a base for a traffic cone.
Thursday: Work, comic on the way home. Looked at some Time Trial items on Ebay. Janices comment below proves what a small world we live in. Lance Armstrong now up to 276 thousand followers, unbeleivable the power of Twitter. Other than that it was Darwin night on TV so watched most of that, the Beeb doing what it does best at at times.
Friday: Work, last day.
Saturday: Read the comic from cover to cover, good stuff on diets and Steve Cummings training plan for the week. The price of Shimano stuff is going through the roof with the strong Yen. A new cassette from Wheelbase sorted out the Iceni chain jumping under load. Two rings worn the rest looked OK.
The Polo sidelight was even worse than the first one. Battery had to come out for this one along with the housing.
Called in at Quinns, not a lot of road race bike stuff in there since Mels demise. New houses around the back shows how long it is since I last called in. Looked at laptops as this one is full to bursting and can’t hold any of the Tacx DVD’s.
Sunday: Was going to go out for an early ride but picked up Lance Armstrongs book “It’s Not About The Bike” and didn’t put it down.
Minature trains again this week at Royden Park.
Barbara’s Spinning class at West Kirby wrapped up mixed week.

Monday: Work first of four days in. Woke up to the phone going daft with texts coming in about Lance Armstrong. Pauls new site WWW.Twe2.Com doing the business and steaming them through. This has the making of something big. I’m up to 200 texts in two days now.
Tuesday: Work, booked most of July off, phone going daft again. Added BarlowWorld to Twe2 searches.
Wednesday: Work, got told a headlight and a sidelight were out so it was a trip to Halfords on the way home. Now the £100 bulb change is with us it’s time to loose some more flesh by changing them myself. The sidelight bulb proved to be a right struggle and the headlight needs the fuel filter removing. Sceduled in Friday Morning for that one. Phone going daft with Twe2 texts.
Thursday: Work. Picked up the comic on the way home.
Friday: Sorted out the blown headlight bulb on the Polo, not a five minute job on modern cars. Then turned my attention to the Iceni. Fitted a new freewheel I picked up from Colin at Wheelbase and then replaced the front brake block which were worn. Proved rather difficult as the locating screw was seized in the alloy housing.
Margarets spinning class at West Kirby, 650 calories a great stretching routine.
Asked about the Twixter bike classes as no one seems to be doing anything about them.
Saturday: Ride day, my only real opportunity for a ride this week. Got to make the most of it.
38 miles to Chester and back, Eureka for breakfast and then on to the River Dee cycle path.
Met up with the NorthEnd at the Eureka, sorted a map problem out on a 705 and showed Chicago Dave the 705 maps. Was told the story of how he got lost in europe following a stage and didn’t know where and the name of the hotel he was staying.
Sunday: Jack day, minature railway ride in Grosvenor Park, Blue Moon Cafe for lunch and back to feed the squirrels which are really tame. Booked a spinning class at West Kirby.
Twe2.com has really taken off for Paul with over 200,000 txts sent.

Monday: Work. Tour of California on late, a bit too late after a 12 hour day. Lance got his TT bike nicked, he’s now got 105,000 followers on Twitter.  Levi had a good ride after loosing a minute to Mancebo of Rock Racing bad boys on Sunday. Good to see it on Eurosport Live.
Tuesday: Work. 3 years ago today I was 19 stone and signed up to the lifestyle and weight management course, I’ve never looked back.
Wednesday: Work. Final day, desperately need to get out on a bike but it’s not to be. Watched the Tour of California when I got in. Sprints are going to be good this year with Cavendish and Boonen both in form.
Thursday: Spinning class at West Kirby followed by the gym. Row 2km run and weights. Did another session on the side stepper and it does seem to verify that high cadence is better. The machine ask you to step at a certain rate to varying resistance. Higher resistance demands slower stepping. At a low resistance it sets a steprate of 186 spm. This had me at the 400 odd watt level. Upping the resistance and lowering the steprate had me back down to 325 watts. Its still hard work and the heartrate is just below the red zone. Picked up the comic on the way home and there is an article on Lance and his high cadence technique. They also had a pop at him for Twittering everything and cutting them out of the loop. I’ve got news for Cycling Weekly, Lance has over 120,000 followers now which is twice the circulation of the comic.

Not only that the letters page is full of the usual British mentality of lets knock anything that gets to the top. This week it’s the track team. 
Sorted the Iceni chain out by giving it an ultrasonic clean and lubing it with some fancy chainlube I got from Eureka Cyclesports. Testing it out tomorrow. Don’t EVER EVER buy Finnishline Wet Lube it is truly useless, it’s taken me four years to reach this conclusion. It attracts every bit of grit and dirt that the front wheel throws up and this on a bike with extended front mudguards.
Starting to think about what rides I’m going to do this year which maybe a bit late in the day. Time trials are on the list as I need to do a 10 in less than 25 mins.  The Tour is at the top of the list and I’d really like to be on the Ventoux, that and the time trial at MonteCarlo.
This years Team Kit (any team) is looking expensive now with the bottom dropping out of the pound. £80 for a jersey takes some justifying.
Friday: Ride day, got a few things to sort out a few things on the way. Delayed the ride for an hour to let the frost thaw. Took Route 56 and had a trip up Resthill for the first time in a while, picked up a prescription and then called in at Wheelbase to order a new freewheel for the Iceni. The rebuilt freewheel is still noisy. On then to Hamilton Square which is very quiet these days and then on to Seacombe to pick the prom up. Tea and cake in the park and then on to New Brighton and Leasowe.
Called in at the Leisure Centre to see about the Twixter bike sessions. Took my bike in with me as it doesn’t look like an area to leave even a locked bike outside.
Maybe something next week as they have to get someone to take the class and then publicise it.
On to see Brian when I managed to get out of the estate, turned on the map to see where I was. Then on to Hoylake to see about a price for a Polo cambelt change. Then onto Morrisons at West Kirby for an Afternoon Tea.  As I was locking the bike to a post two were having a go over a disabled parking bay. One guy has been waiting 10 minutes for it and someone in a scenic drives straight into it.
Inside it’s not much better, with slow service and lack of seating. Morrisons in West Kirby must have the oldest customer base anywhere.
The woman opposite me is having fish and chips and when I look around nearly everyone is having them.
Call of nature and then head out to unlock the bike. Just about to get on my way but  give another cyclist the nod and see his bike, a Trek. Chat with him about the bike which he got from Harry halls in Manchester.
It’s an early Trek Madone that he’s had for about 10 years and still looks good. Turns out he’s 80 years old and still riding a carbon bike. Goes the shops on it and rides to Chester on it. He makes my day.
Straight up the hill and down the other side at 30 mph and then up Thurstaton cutting which can be scary with a lorry on your wheel. Pulled in to let the lorry pass which was greeted with a toot.
There no need to wind everyone up just because your in the right all the time. This is a narrow road with double white lines. Cycle path past the Cottage Loaf with a stop at Tesco pharmacy. Had a few strange looks while I was waiting, mind you I was in the Discovery kit, could have been worse it could have been the Slipstream Argyle.
Home for 32 miles.
Gave the bike the once over when home only to discover the chain worn out. New chain from Wheelbase went to CycleSurgery for The Lance Armstrong training manual and had a look at the Pearl Izumi kit with  40% off. A bit plain when when you like team kit.
Borders for Cycle Sport and then home. Settling down to watch the Tour of California time trial.
Saturday:  Fitted new chain to the Iceni, changed a tyre on the motor to keep things legal and had a look in a few bike shops in Chester. Can’t justify £5,000 for a time trial bike to do a few club 10,s. 20% off Treks for Feb at the Edge.
Sunday: Jack day, Paul’s  http://www.twe2.com doing well with an article in the DailyPost last week and a conference call with venture capitalists next. Called in a Formby Cycles to look at some nice bikes and kit. Specialized Transition TT bike for £2k but with Aksium wheels. Armstrong now at 152,000 followers. Can’t really justify another bike for time trials but I can dream.
Had some mail from Dave about the Liverpool-Chester-Liverpool 2009 ride now with a 90 mile option.
http://www.pennineevents.co.uk/Events09.html
looks like it clashes with a certain event that starts in Monaco that I want to be at.
Anyway it’s a great event if your looking to ride an organised event for the first time.
Various distances, go for it and surprise yourself.
Wild Wales entries are now open, 600 entry limit, not for the fainthearted. About as hard is it gets without being in a race. A piece of welsh slate that you value at the end of it. Triple or Compact reccomended.

Monday: Work. Other than that had no central heating as the boiler had packed in on Sunday. Really missing a ride now but it isn’t happening.
Tuesday: Work. Just when I’m thinking about a Wednesday ride the bad news is British Gas are coming to fob me off again. Can’t be the pump that was replaced 3 and a bit days ago. We’ll see.  Another way of looking at it is a week to today 3 years ago I made the decision to turn things around. Been a great success, even today I got told by one of the canteen staff at work that I’ve managed to keep it off. (totally unprompted)
Wednesday: Should be down at the Eureka but this clashes with British Gas giving me the run around. Hope to get out on some sort of ride. Life style and Weight  Management Followup, a month off my first class 3 years ago.
It’s raining but the central heating is sorted and off out to the Eureka. Nothing big today but at least I’m out on the bike.
Got to the Eureka with only a few non club riders there. It soon filled up with Weaver Valley riders most of whom were in a right mess. The lanes being particulally snotty at the moment.
Rode home via Denhall Lane and Parkgate with a stop for water and a view of the snow on the welsh hills. 18 miles.
That’s the thing with the Eureka, it’s a local base for Wirral and Chester clubs  but a destination for clubs further afield.
Iceni rear mudguard bridge got replaced when I got home. Then it was off to Eureka Cyle Sports for some wheel bearings, some chainlube and front wheel support for the Tacx trainer. Cyclops 9701 Climbing Block. Had to buy it when I saw it as I had just been telling Keith about my trip up the Ventoux.  
Follow up class this evening,  6 turned up including moi. Two women had just finished their twelve months. Just 2 out of 25 starters. In my case it was 1 out of 25. NEXT CLASS IS 11 MARCH.  That’ll be my third aniversary of starting this life changing course.
Talk after things were sorted revolved around the PCT funding a lot of which is going into free classes for the overweight plus the equipment for the obese kids. Those big buck spinning bikes all paid for by the NHS. Along with the dance mats and it goes on.
The problem is that they have no one trained up to supervise the use of the kit.  I hope it takes off as there has been an awful lot of money invested in it. Can’t attend the roll out on Saturday as I’m at work, a four letter word.
Thursday: Comic day. Spin and the gym.  No central heating yet again, thought it was third time lucky but it was not to be. Off out for a spinning class. Gym afterwards, ran a mile at 11km/hr. 2km row in under 10 mins some weight machines and I was done. Threw away a lot of my 8 bit and 16 bit computer past. The start of a major sort out. There was a lot of it and there is more to go from the loft.
C64s, Spectrums, Amstrad mother boards and my first 386 machine went to the tip. The 386 had a clockspeed of 33 mhz which was quick at the time.  Iceni rear wheel got new wheel bearing and the freehub serviced. The freehub wants replacing even with some shims removed. Good to see how it all works. Bought an ultrasonic cleaner from Aldi and it worked really well. dunk the cassette in and it comes out like newish.
Northend Club night.
Friday: Rest day, put the wheel in to the Iceni change another tyre a piece on the cars and I’m off out.
Went to the Trafford Centre, wondered who would spent £20,450 on a mobile phone when there was a similar one for a bargain £4,000 pounds next to to it.
Found this on Twitter.

Just the thing for a club 10.
Didn’t see anything like it at Decathlon in Stockport, undergoing a refit they have lost some of the cycling lines. Came out wih some Btwin tyre levers as getting the latest tyres off rims is becoming hard work. Bendy nylon ones don’t cut it anymore. It’s not the place it was and as it’s a French group the Euro is starting to hurt it. Some items appear to be a third dearer than they once  were.
Two tyres from Costco on the way home. The guy in front of me spent £960 for tyres for his BM and that was with 20% off, I got off lightly.
Saturday: Work. Going to watch the Tour of California when I get in. Managed to stay awake for most of it.
Sunday: Work. Someone has robbed Lance Armstrongs time trial bike and three race bikes from the team lorry. Barloworld had 21 nicked last week in Italy. You wouldn’t have thought it could happen in the USA. Lance up to 105 thousand followers now, the bike should be easy to spot. It’s plastered all over Twitter.
Managed to get the Times at 8 pm, this is unusual, there were loads of papers left which seems to suggest that everybody is cutting back on luxuries first. I’d like to see the circulation figures as I think they would be vastly down. The Times on Saturday is now £1 which is about right seeing as the format has changed, @ £1.50 it was too much for what it was. Good to Lance laying into Paul Kimmage at the TOC press conference and then answering his question, he should sue and see if the Times backs him up. Walsh article with Nicole Cooke was OK but wasn’t what it was billed as. A clean champ, no news there.
Lance’s bike only has a couple of km’s on it and he hasn’t ridden it for more than 5 minutes.

Monday: Work, last day. A couple of inches of snow on the ground and no central heating means no faffing around thinking about exercise. Update blog and wait for the Tour of Qatar on Eurosport.
No British gas until Wednesday sometime. Booked in for a spinning class in the morning, at least it will get me out of a cold house.
Obviously no ride planned for Wednesday as I’m in but I could ride the Ventoux on the Tacx.
Following Bradley Wiggins at Garmin Chipotle seeing as he won the opening team time trial.
Tuesday: Spinning class at West Kirby followed by the gym. This was one hard class, lots commented on it. 830 calories worth. Forgot the water bottle and had a fruit drink out of the machine. Problem was it had a screw on lid. Pity I haven’t got the Garmin HRM sorted as it was around 170 bpm for a lot of it.
Gym afterwards, tried a different program on the sidestepper which was hard. It had me into the red a few times.
2 Km row , some weight machines and I was done. Shower and Aldi for lunch.
Tour of Qatar on Eurosport with Tom Boonen taking the win and time bonuses.
Costco for a tyre for the Polo, while waiting for that  to be fitted it was a trip to Cheshire Oaks. Looks like the recession is starting to bite. Loads of space, shops empty, staff looking for sales.
Came out with 3 cycling mags which should keep me occupied for a while.
Managed to get a place on tonights spinning class at West Kirby, a couple of newcomers. Only 696 calories tonight. Same class as this morning which even Barbara admited was hard.
Now if you if you think I’m overdoing it with the cardio one of the women has done three classes today. Two on the bounce and one this evening.
Wednesday: Got to wait in for British Gas so no ride. Mind you the slush froze overnight so it’s not high on my list.
Promised myself I was going to ride the Ventoux on the Tacx. More to come.
88 and a bit Kg this morning so yesterday was a success, the important thing is keeping it off. The odd ache is telling me I should take this as a rest day.
Tour of Qatar on Eurosport at 11.30 am.
Set up the Tacx for the ride but found the wheelbearings shot on the rear. Had a trip out to Deeside with Val but no joy with the bearings. Came home, measured them up and bought 3 off Ebay for £1.30 a throw. Paid £11 for the last one. Ceramic ones next.
Some nice bikes in Deeside including a Dolan time trial bike with Hed wheels. Lots of carbon.
Spinning class at West Kirby 525 calories and I’m done for the day.
Thursday: Waiting in for British Gas to replace a pump on the central heating. Tacx set up for the Ventoux.
Tour of Qatar interesting to watch on Eurosport with Dave Harman trying to comment on featureless stages with no spectators, a bit like the Tour of Spain. Comic day. No morning spin as it is full.
Central heating now sorted.
Just about to try the Ventoux on the Tacx. 12 miles. It starts off  pretty easy and I’m in the middle ring for this one. The problem with this is that it gets you nowhere fast.
An hour in I’m only 6 miles into the climb. So its looking like a 2 hour climb. Heartrate was about 120 for most of it . After 1hr 45mins I had to stop to go to the spinning class I managed to get on, This was a really flat class for me and I still had 3 miles to ride when I got home.
They were a hard 3 miles as I wanted to finish it. You should have seen the state of me at the end, drenched in sweat, even my arms were sweating. 2 Hrs 2 minutes.  54 miles of this is going to take me all day by the look of it.
Team GB have destroyed all the GB skinsuits which is a pity as I was offered one of them but didn’t take it up. Damn.
Barloworld have had all their bikes nicked in Tuscany.
The indoor training is harder than you would think, watching pros go up climbs like the Ventoux and then emulating it in your front room is hard work. 2 hours on one climb means I’m going to have to set aside more time to do them.
Friday: Last day of the Tour of Qatar and my last day off. Sorted a few bits out, picked up a mudguard bridge for the Iceni from Wheelbase.
Gym and a spin at West Kirby. 2km row at 148 watts. 1 km run at 9.5 km/hr and some weight machines. The women on the reception gave me a leaflet about the new Twixster machines they are getting at a few locations.

http://www.trixter.net/

Sounds a bit like a spinning bike with a Tacx I magic attached to it. Supposed to give an upper body workout too. Margaret took tonights class and mentioned the machines too. They have had the training and they go live next Saturday. Bit of a dilema here as It’s a Northend ride day.
Reception mentioned something about Wirral PCT funding them so there are probably going to be classes for those starting an exercise regeme on the NHS.
Margaret said you’d burn 500 cals in half an hour on these bikes as some cheat on the spinning bikes. (quite a lot actually) Interval based class from Margaret with a good stretch at the end. 550 calories, god knows what an Twixter is going to be. Not much more as you can’t give much more as your best on any given day.
Shower, home.

Edited a few links to the BHF diet and also had cause to look at the NHS BMI calculator.
Saturday: Work. The rear wheel bearings for the Trek Racelight wheel arrived which was quick. At £1.30 a throw there should be one left for a rainy day. Something to do next week.
Sunday: Work, now with no breakfast service, I could go on but why waste time.
Home to try and sort the wheel out, missing a cone spanner and then the central heating threw it’s hand in 4 days after having a new pump installed. Reassembled the cassette put it back in the frame and it was fine !!!!. Could have been a slack skewer as the bite doesn’t seem too good compared with a Bontrager one. Using the Tacx skewer for the Imagic.
Not best pleased with British Gas as they only replaced the motor and not the pump body too.