Yesterday was
National Field Day, an important event in the Amateur Radio world.
In my wisdom - or absolute stupidy - I decided to cycle from home (Stafford) to Pole Bank on The Long Mynd. Telford and District Amateur Radio Society (TADARS) had 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm, 23cm stations set up and my brother was manning the 70cm station. He wanted me to pay a visit and I thought I could squeeze that in if I combined it with my weekend bike ride. What could go wrong? I'd done 80 km in a day so 144 km, paced to keep the heart rate down in zone 2 and zone 3 should be okay, right?
First off, the weather. It was marginal. I had original planned to take the CGR Ti because it's a more comfortable bike and it's much less effort to propel such distances. But, as bands of heavy rain were forecast and I run a waxed chain on that, I took the old hybrid instead. And this was a mistake. It's heavy and I don't have the position tweaked enough to make it comfortable to ride that far.
The outward journey was a
real slog. My second mistake - route planning. I used Komoot to plan a route, which should have been 100% asphalt / paved. I had to negotiate 3 fords, one of which was very deep and full of badly churned up and rutted mud. With no way around it and a long detour back on myself to avoid it, I waded through. Another had a pedestrian footbridge bypassing it - but I didn't see that until I had waded half way through it. This was block paved with bricks - but it was very uneven and I couldn't see a non-risky route through it.
The route also took me along a private road, which turned into a rocky track - a fary cry from smooth gravel - that lead the way into Lilleshall. I'd have been right at home on my mountain bike, but it wasn't really ideal with skinnier tyres and higher tyre pressures.
And then there was the headwind. I was either climbing or battling that headwind and sometimes both. It was much stronger for the most part, than forecast which meant even going downhill, I was pedalling into it.
I averaged 16.3 kph on the outbound leg arriving grumpy and tired. I didn't think I was going to make it back.
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Surprisingly, I managed to ride most of the way up onto the Long Mynd, only walking the steepest section because I'd had to stop and let a car pass. It was too steep to get going again with the weight of the bike and what I had packed onto it.
And yes, that's a 2m/70cm antenna. Which worked surprisingly well, but the headset I MacGyvered onto the helmet let me down and I couldn't be heard over the wind noise for mobile contacts. I gave up on the radio for the return leg, but it was nice to hear a few amateur stations on the outbound part of the trip.
I sheltered in the 70cm tent, ate my sandwiches and recuperated a little, whilst neglecting to take a photo of the bike with the TADARs antennas/tents in the background which I had meant to for the 'Your Bike in Front of Something Different' thread. It was cold and windy up there. Made me wonder why anyone would want to go bikepacking!
I was starting to conclude I had over-extended myself and I was verging on giving up. I wanted nothing more than a hot shower and a lie down at this point. If there had been a hotel I could book and pay for on-line in the vicinity, I may as well have checked in. That didn't seem like an option, not unless I set-off toward either Telford or Shrewsbury. So I figured, if I could make it back to Telford, I could make it to Newport. And if I could make it to Newport, I could make it home.
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Reluctantly I set off for the return leg. I cycled around the Wrekin as the golden hour fell upon us and it was very scenic. It was dark by the time I'd left the outskirts of Telford, which was fine as I had the opportunity to test out all the blinkies. I didn't get a single close pass as I travelled from Newport to Stafford on the main roads - avoiding those fords.
Somewhere around Telford I suffered a minor mechanical mishap. A front derailleur shift completely jammed everything up. And after that, using the centre chain ring resulted in what sounded like the chain rubbing on the derailleur twice per crank revolution. I couldn't see what the problem was - the chain wasn't rubbing the derailleur - so I ignored it and carried on.
I rolled in at home just after midnight. The average speed for the return journey was just shy of 20 kph and it was a lot less work than the outbound leg - thankfully.
I have had a quick look at the bike today. I think I've knackered up the middle chain ring in two places. The noise is made when the chain is wound onto the teeth in the two problem areas. I also checked the chain for wear and it's gone just past 0.75 on the chain tool. It was just below 0.75 when I last checked it and the bike has only been used for this ride and two short ( < 2 km rides) since, although one of those was in the pouring rain and involved towing a weeks worth of shopping home from the local supermarket. Even so, that seems like some rapid wear for an 8 speed chain.
I think it's time I took
@raleighnut 's advice with this bike and swapped out the finishing kit and the boat-anchor chainset anyway.
It's a route that I've ridden a few times before that involves dropping down the escarpment into the Severn valley (30+mph freewheeling 
) but unfortunately means you have to climb back up the scarp again later in the ride (about 5mph and definitely not freewheeling 
). I had to battle with a very strong and blustery side wind for most of the ride so I stopped at the old Aust services by the original Severn Bridge for a coffee and cake 
. No problem with the FD so hopefully I have got the adjustment right at last.
I promise to try harder in future.
