The Annual Lunacy (aka "I Don't Do Winter") Challenge Chatzone

[ColinJ]

If you like them a lot, you are welcome to one of mine, if we meet on a forum ride this year, as I don't think the weight of the 'chill' bit is worth it. The tops, on the other hand, are excellent, and I don't use anything else. I have at least one chill verision going spare, and probably two. One's green and one's purple so either would clash nicely with your orange bike :-)

Very nice of you. Is that the 710 mL size?

The bike here is a mix of the Belgian flag colours. The bike that you are familiar with (<---) is RED.

I would keep white bottles for the red bike oop north and (a) coloured bottle(s) for Devon rides.

Worrying developments since my previous post. I will go and take a photo...

Here you go - I spotted signs of the front tyre on my bike delaminating?! (Plus some little splits appearing in the side sipes.)

That tyre has only done about 800 km. It is a Lithion 2 Reinforced. I normally ride plain Lithion 2s but thought I would try this version to see if it was more suited to Devon lanes. Apparently NOT, unless I just happen to have a bad one. I have another back home which I have not used yet and am now concerned about using that. I was thinking of changing to bigger and better tyres. Maybe now would be a good time! If so, I think these will be assigned to future turbo trainer duties.

I have a pretty worn but otherwise sound old tyre here which I have put on for now. It only has another few rides left in it. I will replace both tyres with some 30Cs when I come down again.

I am happier now I have the older tyre on. I would have been worried about the disintegrating Lithion every time I picked up speed or cornered.

I had a good look at the Lithion once I had removed it. Its underlying structure is still sound but those splits would only have got wider & deeper; shortcuts for gravel to get into the carcass of the tyre and cause punctures.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Very nice of you. Is that the 710 mL size?

The bike here is a mix of the Belgian flag colours. The bike that you are familiar with (<---) is RED.

Yes. At least,they are bigger than the 620ml ones I use normally so 710ml seems highly likely. I'm sure either would go very 'nicely' with the red bike. Do remind me, in the event that we do a ride later in the summer.

 

[ColinJ]

Super, thanks. The current ones are 750 mL so 710 isn't much of a reduction.

Hah... I thought that 710 mL was an odd volume. It turns out that the volume IS 710 mL - filling the bottle added 710 g to the weight - BUT... when I screwed the lid on, 15 g of water spilled out. The actual usable volume is therefore nearer 695 mL. Which begs the question 'Are the old SiS bottles actually 750 mL?'

I will check... Oh, 795 mL after the 'fill and spill' test! 100 mL reduction per bottle is a bit more significant! Never mind, once I get fitter I won't be drinking as much anyway.

 

[Alex321]

I'm going to be joining in this challenge now for this year, having dropped out of the metric half century challenge after my smash in March.

I've never done a ride over 43 miles, and only 3-4 over 35, so I'm going to set my target for this year at 50Km. And I'll post my rides to date in the proper place - I had several in January & February. Next year, I'll set my target for the next round 5 mile value above my final figure for this year.

 

[ColinJ]

I did another metric century yesterday, on my now worn front tyre bike. I got onto the nice Dartmoor Way path down to Bovey Tracey when I had a very stupid thought, which I should have immediately dismissed from my mind...

"This is a slightly rough surface, but no worries - it is ages since I had a punctu..."

Hissssssss!!!

Drat!

While I was fixing it an elderly*** couple walked up with their dog. The man asked me questions about my bike, and both then told me stories of how they toured on a tandem in their 20s and 30s, including the tale of a scary brake failure on a descent in the Cotswolds! Nice people. Off they went.

Another dog-walking woman walked behind me as I was bent over the punctured tyre. She mumbled something to the dogs. Then she coughed and spoke louder... "Excuse me, do you need a hand with that?" I apologised, saying that I am half deaf. No help needed but thanks for offering. That is the first time that a woman has ever asked. Most men don't, but never a woman! Friendly people in Devon!

I am definitely buying new tyres for my next visit.

*** More elderly than me! 80-ish.

 

[Fiona R]

I'm going to be joining in this challenge now for this year, having dropped out of the metric half century challenge after my smash in March.

I've never done a ride over 43 miles, and only 3-4 over 35, so I'm going to set my target for this year at 50Km. And I'll post my rides to date in the proper place - I had several in January & February. Next year, I'll set my target for the next round 5 mile value above my final figure for this year.

Welcome. Sounds like you have the perfect approach for this challenge. Thinking about next year already is impressive.

 

[Fiona R]

I did another metric century yesterday, on my now worn front tyre bike. I got onto the nice Dartmoor Way path down to Bovey Tracey when I had a very stupid thought, which I should have immediately dismissed from my mind...

"This is a slightly rough surface, but no worries - it is ages since I had a punctu..."

Hissssssss!!!

Drat!

While I was fixing it an elderly*** couple walked up with their dog. The man asked me questions about my bike, and both then told me stories of how they toured on a tandem in their 20s and 30s, including the tale of a scary brake failure on a descent in the Cotswolds! Nice people. Off they went.

Another dog-walking woman walked behind me as I was bent over the punctured tyre. She mumbled something to the dogs. Then she coughed and spoke louder... "Excuse me, do you need a hand with that?" I apologised, saying that I am half deaf. No help needed but thanks for offering. That is the first time that a woman has ever asked. Most men don't, but never a woman! Friendly people in Devon!

I am definitely buying new tyres for my next visit.

*** More elderly than me! 80-ish.

Laughing at the more elderly than you. Not commenting on the puncture fairy inevitability.

I always ask anyone if they're ok and it looks like it's a mechanical, and there's not a group/companion. LocallyI don't carry spares but then again locally it's not far to my house for a track pump, spares etc or just dry inside. Nobody has taken me up on the offer, good job as it takes me forever to change a puncture and otherwise that's my limit. I can always hold a wheel up/hold the bike or whatever makes it easier. It's lovely having conversations, and often the best ones are when you're least expecting them.

 

[ColinJ]

Laughing at the more elderly than you. Not commenting on the puncture fairy inevitability.

I always ask anyone if they're ok and it looks like it's a mechanical, and there's not a group/companion. LocallyI don't carry spares but then again locally it's not far to my house for a track pump, spares etc or just dry inside. Nobody has taken me up on the offer, good job as it takes me forever to change a puncture and otherwise that's my limit. I can always hold a wheel up/hold the bike or whatever makes it easier. It's lovely having conversations, and often the best ones are when you're least expecting them.

I keep forgetting that I am pensioner now!

Once I had finished my chats the puncture didn't take long to sort out. The tyre/rim combination is one of the very easy ones. I got the tyre off and back on again without needing levers.

Why can't they all be as easy as that? I had one combination which was a complete pig. I got a puncture in Spain which took me about 40 minutes to fix and I almost snapped my tyre levers in the process.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm on a bit of a roll now... A very SLOW roll, admittedly, and I am avoiding really hilly routes until the easier ones stop hurting so much! So... an unspectacular metric century today, but it will play its part in getting me fit again. Its 1,350 m of ascent hurt about as much as double that did on really tough routes when I was fitter.

I will do my best not to let my fitness drop again as much as it did during Covid-troubled 2020/2021. If I live long enough then eventually old age will make itself felt, but I don't need to give it a head start!

 

[lazybloke]

RideLondon yesterday for my 6th lunacy excursion.
Up at 4am for the drive into South London. Said goodbye to my better half in Stockwell and set off for the start line. Did the event at "full gas" , which put me back in London with time to spare, so I did the Freecycle too.

Total distance 186km; my longest ride yet.

 

[ColinJ]

I tackled another metric century yesterday. It was a forum ride over pretty flat terrain, my usual Garforth metric century route, but changed to go via Tadcaster. Only about 650 m of ascent in 101** km but that was easily made up for by tackling what lumpiness there was in my 52/19 singlespeed gear, and battling strong blustery winds all day.



** The extra 2 km that I logged were to and from Todmorden railway station.

 

[ColinJ]

Ride 2, Jan 15 - Nelson, Burnley, Keb's Rd, Shore, Cornholme, Todmorden, Walsden, Rochedale Canal towpath, Littleborough, Hollingworth, Milnrow, Shaw Side, Higginshaw, Moorhey, Glodwick, Taunton, Ashton Under Lyne, Dukinfield (total 34 miles plus 1,975 ft of ascent and 3,000 ft of descent)

I just spotted something odd in that...

The highest point above Nelson is (say) at Clarion House at about 320 m (1,050 ft) and the lowest point in Dukenfield is at about 95 m (310 ft) so the maximum difference between ascent and descent would be around 740 ft, and probably a lot less than that. Your figures give a difference of 1,025 ft... I can't see how that is possible unless your GPS was giving you some funny readings!

PS Well done on your rides - you are making me feel very lazy!

 

[FrothNinja]

I just spotted something odd in that...

The highest point above Nelson is (say) at Clarion House at about 320 m (1,050 ft) and the lowest point in Dukenfield is at about 95 m (310 ft) so the maximum difference between ascent and descent would be around 740 ft, and probably a lot less than that. Your figures give a difference of 1,025 ft... I can't see how that is possible unless your GPS was giving you some funny readings!

PS Well done on your rides - you are making me feel very lazy!

I can see how you might think that, but one descent goes from c400m down to c200m so that's 656ft on just one hill. Without giving away my exact starting point, I did start at just over 300m. Clarion is actually only c210m, Newchurch is higher at c270m. That said, I don't think any GPS or app I use is exactly exact.

 

[ColinJ]

I can see how you might think that, but one descent goes from c400m down to c200m so that's 656ft on just one hill.

The thing is - it doesn't matter how much you go up and down during the ride because everything cancels out except for the difference between the start and finish points! (It obviously does matter in terms of the effort required, but not for the difference in overall ascent and descent.)

Clarion is actually only c210m, Newchurch is higher at c270m. That said, I don't think any GPS or app I use is exactly exact.

Ah, you are talking about the Jinny Lane Clarion House at Newchurch-in-Pendle. I was looking at the one at the crossroads on Shelfield Lane between Trawden and Nelson.

 

[FrothNinja]

The thing is - it doesn't matter how much you go up and down during the ride because everything cancels out except for the difference between the start and finish points! (It obviously does matter in terms of the effort required, but not for the difference in overall ascent and descent.)

I'll have to see if I can still access the ride record & check the start/finish height difference, grrr

The thing is - it doesn't matter how much you go up and down during the ride because everything cancels out except for the difference between the start and finish points! (It obviously does matter in terms of the effort required, but not for the difference in overall ascent and descent.)


Ah, you are talking about the Jinny Lane Clarion House at Newchurch-in-Pendle. I was looking at the one at the crossroads on Shelfield Lane between Trawden and Nelson.

Ah, the one I used to try and start a photo challenge, not very successfully. That hasn't been a Clarion for over half a century - and it's spot height is 318m according to my OS map, which is about the height I started at