34/27 Marks Cycling Blog

Wow It's been How Long???

2011-09-15T22:10:00.002+01:00

Mid July was my last entry, eight weeks... Why have I stopped blogging? simple really, I've not been on my bike. Why? Well it's all to do with these bones of mine and events. Bones that are weak due to osteoporosis and the event? well some of you may think I'm being silly but it was the death of my faithful companion Zach as I made mention of in my last entry. I've been on edge when I've been

Zach - 2000 to 2011

2011-07-14T16:14:00.003+01:00

Quite a few posts back I made mention of my loyal Dobermanns that I've had the privilege of owning down through the years with Zach pictured below being our current Dobermann, well I'm sad to report that Zach passed away yesterday with what looks like heart failure. Over the last few months he's started to display signs of his old age, he was 10 years 7 months. His walks at times were getting

Hello World...

2011-07-03T19:22:00.009+01:00

Yes hello world that's how I feel right now after being 6 months in the dumps so to speak, I feel fit and healthy and that feeling is the best feeling in the world, you really do miss it when something happens to rob you of your hard gained fitness but enough of that you must all be getting fed up of reading about me going on about these things... Friday Sooo, today or rather this weekend has

Six months...

2011-07-02T20:59:00.011+01:00

January 2nd to July 2nd 2011 It's six months today since my spill in January which resulted in a broken hip, radius and ulna (elbow) bones and I think I've had a remarkable recovery. I'm not blowing my own trumpet in saying that, I put it down to modern surgery and recovery techniques. This last six months has had me go from lying on my back in a bed wondering if I will ever get back to walking

Sunday 26th June - a great day for a ride...

2011-06-26T18:09:00.002+01:00

Sunday was the pick of the weekend as far as the weather forecasters were concerned and by Jove they certainly got it right (eventually). I had made arrangements to ride with old cycling buddy Phil M for a lazy jaunt in the flatlands of Cheshire. We met up at 11am and at that time it was overcast but very warm, we set out heading out towards Comberbach riding at a steady 16 mph and as time went

NCC Club Road Riding Skill Session 18 June 2011

2011-06-25T18:27:00.006+01:00

The North Cheshire Clarion has 3 recently qualified British Cycling Go-Ride level 2 coaches amongst its ranks Geoff, Paul and James and today all club members were given the opportunity to participate in some road riding skill sessions held on a near empty car park in Birchwood, Warrington. A good turnout with 25 present all looking forward to who knows what. After the coaches had set up all

Bloody Rain Has a Lot To Answer For...

2011-06-12T12:11:00.003+01:00

Bugger it I was apprehensively looking forward to today's Sunday ride, a relatively flat 50 miler into the heartland of Cheshire. I got up nice and early as usual and it was all calm and sunny outside, ate my beans on toast, pumped my tyres up, got all my gear on and looked at the weather forecast hmm... DayFromUntilTempFeelsUVRainCloudDirSpeedGustWeather Sun 12 Jun7:009:5911 °c9 °c30.0 mm86 %

North Cheshire Clarion club run 4th June 2011

2011-06-04T23:11:00.013+01:00

Wow I've not been able to write those words above for quite a while and it feels great to be able to do so now just 2 days after the 5 month 'anniversary' from my crash. Today for me was another Saturday ride from North Warrington on a beauteously sunny and warm day - the warmer and sunnier the better for me. Another large gathering of 20+ riders had us split into 3 groups of 6 to 8. Off we set

Windy today init!!

2011-05-28T18:20:00.006+01:00

I'm really looking forward to Saturdays North Cheshire Clarions club run after last weeks successful jaunt but I'm being plagued by knee pain from Mondays physio and whilst I didn't think it would have a major impact there is a bit of a blustery wind knocking about and that combined with my dodgy knee plants a seed of doubt in my mind. Saturday morning comes along and I look out of my bedroom

No Pain, No Gain...

2011-05-26T09:01:00.005+01:00

It's Thursday today and I'm stiff in my left leg. On Monday I had my physio 'knee' class that I've already written about a few blog posts back. I made mention of how one particular exercise, the one legged knee over toe thing had my left leg shaking like I had been thrown naked into a freezer resulting in my hip continually hurting for a couple of days after. Well on Monday I'm sat on the warm up

North Cheshire Clarion - The Early Days Photographed...

2011-05-24T18:06:00.010+01:00

I have hundreds of photo's that I've taken over the first eighteen months of the clubs history so I thought I'd share. Here are some taken from the clubs inaugural ride on the 4th October 2009 up to December 2009 and the Christmas run, all pre club kit days. (click on pics to enlarge) 4th Oct 2009 - Inaugural run & 1st p*nc*** Dr Tim, Antnee, Giles, Sarah, young indecipherable scot's lad, Phil

139 Days...

2011-05-21T18:12:00.028+01:00

January 2nd to 21st May 2011 = 139 days or 4 months 2 weeks and 6 days, this is the period of time that has elapsed since I broke a few bones on black ice during the first club run of 2011 to the day of my North Cheshire Clarion club run return. I have been awaiting a club run that was billed as flat or nearly flat and up to 30 miles for a few weeks and today was one such ride. Sunday rides are

Things are starting to look up!

2011-05-17T15:52:00.005+01:00

Yes they are at last starting to look up. Last week I started a 6 week one day a week 'knee class' generously provided by the NHS, this class is basic but is helping me to get strength back in my leg(s). As I said It's basic in that it's simply circuit training through 10 different exercises and it all starts with a quick warm up on a stationary bike then it's 2 minutes on each exercise and the

Hello fellow sufferee..

2011-05-11T17:09:00.014+01:00

In my previous blog entry I received a comment and a couple of questions from Gordon who in answering him is worthy of the main page and not a line or two in that little reply box so here goes. Gordon's comment: Hi Mark Just found your blog today. I broke my hip 8 weeks ago today on my bike and our stories are similiar although I am 49. Back wheel went out on some diesel? at 25 mph and I came

Week ending 8th May...

2011-05-08T20:04:00.006+01:00

Sunday, today, was a good day for me on the bike, It's been a couple of weeks since I've dared venture out onto the roads and today was a good day for me to do just that. Yes it's windy but at least it's warm so I pumped the tyres up on my Scott, stuck my water bottle in it's holder, switched on my Garmin and set on my usual training loop around Aston and Preston on the hill. The last time I rode

SportTracks Plugin :Training Load

2011-05-05T17:52:00.004+01:00

I've had this plugin installed in my copy of SportTracks for quite a while now but have only recently realised it's worth. This plugin uses data from your Garmin to give you a record of not only your workout but also how hard you've worked over the short term (ATL), long term (CTL) and how these workout affects your fitness. Heres a chart of my recent cycling activities to illustrate; Ok now

North Cheshire Clarion Audax...

2011-04-25T17:40:00.003+01:00

My club have put together what looks like an entertaining Audax that runs on Sunday 25th September 2011. There has been a lot of thought put into the route, a route that starts and finishes in Lower Whitley South of Warrington and takes in Tatton Park, the climb up the Wizard, Prestbury (cobbles!), Bollington and Llamaload Reservoir to name a few. It's an Audax so it's not a race and with a

Roweclan club run...

2011-04-24T20:12:00.004+01:00

Todays weather was gorgeous, the sun's out and it's warm, really warm. The club (North Cheshire Clarion) are off on a hilly jaunt out towards Winter Hill and Rivington, a nice ride but hilly and that drag out of Horwich brings back horrible memories from the last time I rode it. With my recent form I was under absolutely no illusions that this ride was for me in fact I wasn't bothered whether I

A picture can say a thousand words....

2011-04-22T16:36:00.003+01:00

One of my photo's from this weeks Kilton '10' TT. Two blokes riding the TT, one with all the gear, one without. Its clear to see who is much more aero and why. Here's an interesting no-nonsense article on how those positional changes and more aerodynamic gear shave precious seconds off your time...

Kilton 8.75 mile TT 2011

2011-04-20T23:50:00.014+01:00

It's that time of the year again when the testers are out in force, competing against the clock, against themselves, against each other. I'm in no fit state to participate but with camera in hand I head over to see if I can catch a few shots from the first Kilton TT of 2011. The day had been hot hot hot, it's only April but it may well have been the depths of summer, it's going to be hard out

Might just as well had been a 100...

2011-04-19T19:47:00.004+01:00

Can I, Can't I? Should I, Shouldn't I? I look at the clubs route (North Cheshire Clarion) for the coming Sundays club run, it's a flat 43 miler and I'm wondering if this ride is where I make my comeback club ride on. I'm thinking back to last weeks ride where I manage 20 miles and felt a lot stronger than previous attempts for a road ride and I wonder if 43 miles is 'doable' for me. I know I'm

Another new post!!

2011-04-10T18:07:00.015+01:00

What's with me these last few days, within a week 3 posts!!! must be the ace weather we are having, the heat, the sun, does things to people, it makes them happy, makes them want to get outdoors after many months of yuckness and I'm no different, I love the sun, so much so that after an hour on the turbo yesterday in the sun with no resulting pains I decided that on Sunday with its as warm and

My Bikes...

2011-04-09T19:02:00.002+01:00

What a nice day today is, 17'C - it was so nice I thought I'd treat the bikes to a bit of the good weather... Focus Variado Expert, 2008 Ultegra SL - My first road bike, now used as winter bike and as photo'd as a turbo bike with blue turbo tyre on Shimano RS20 wheels. Mudguard needs attention... Specialized Langster Steel, single speed with flip-flop hub Ribble TT build. Just need to

Rehabilitation and bike stuff...

2011-04-04T12:26:00.038+01:00

'Put aside your crutches and walk' Yes it's been all rehab for these last few weeks, exercise after exercise from my physio which if I'm being honest I haven't completely followed to the letter, some exercises I've followed some I haven't so much because they are so bloody boring. Three weeks ago I had my consultant follow up who looked and squinted at my CT scan from the week before, walked

A Sad Day...

2011-03-15T17:19:00.020Z

Today I had 2 hospital appointments, one at the Royal Hospital in Liverpool for a bone density scan and another at Warrington Hospital a couple of hours later. Whilst waiting for my scan I picked up the local hospital magazine and had a browse.Midway through the mag I started to read of a fund raising walk in memory of well known surgeon Mr Ali Bakran, what!! Mr Bakran, this can't be the same Mr

Rehab Weeks 7 & 8

2011-03-08T17:00:00.009Z

Well what's happened over the last couple of weeks? erm only a couple of things the first being that I'm now allowed to put 3 stone through my bad leg which is a good thing but how do you judge what 3 stone feels like? It's easy enough using a pair of bathroom scales to get a feel for what 3 stone feels like but out in the real world walking with crutches on variable surfaces it's hard to 'feel'

Rehab Weeks 5 & 6

2011-02-22T17:28:00.009Z

Week 5 was a partial repeat of week 4 with physio exercises to perform at my own leisure on my arm and now starting this week, my leg. You see I went to visit Joe my physio and although there was to be no progress with my arm, I asked for and received a set of exercises for my leg. When we were practising the exercises there was one particular exercise, 'the side leg lift' I knew I would have a

Rehab Week 4

2011-02-10T17:21:00.006Z

Tuesday 8th Feb, week 4 of my rehab and week 5 and 2 days post spill. I have a pivotal hospital appointment whereupon it will be decided whether or not I can start weight bearing on my gammy leg. Arriving at the hospital and sat in the waiting room I over-hear the nurses saying that the consultant I am to see is on holiday and also his registrar is off work ill and I know immediately from years

Wattbikes...

2011-02-09T20:34:00.009Z

I've only had the opportunity to ride a Wattbike on one occasion but in that one session I quickly realised how marvelous these machines are with the range of info you can have displayed regarding your power and cycling technique. On the digital readout there are 3 or 4 screens to scroll through and one of them is a graph that shows how much power you are putting out anywhere on the pedal stroke

Rehab Week 3

2011-02-05T15:19:00.006Z

It's groundhog day, day after day and I'm getting seriously fed up with the monotony of it all but at least I had my rehab session to look forward to on Wednesday however what a waste of time that was, after measuring my progress I was told to carry on doing what I'm doing and come back in 2 weeks when they will start on my leg. No new exercises, no hands on, nothing new, I have however made

Rehab week 2

2011-01-25T15:05:00.015Z

It's nearly a week after visiting Joe my physiotherapist and there is nothing much to report because I've done virtually nothing. I have a bed set up in the middle of my living room with everything I need to hand and with the help of my wife, daughter and son I can stay comfortable but more importantly I have control of the remote of my Sky+, a real bonus. I have a ton of Star Trek episodes

Rehab...

2011-01-20T10:31:00.008Z

I'm back at home now and have set out on a journey along a road called rehab. It's a long road that will take me many weeks if not years to traverse. When I was in hospital I had been given a few exercise to do within the confines of my bed which I have described in a previous blog entry and mostly for my leg, the result being that my leg has near full range of motion but virtually no strength.

Oh dear, what I have I done now - part 2

2011-01-16T10:52:00.036Z

It's the morning after now, Monday morning, bank holiday Monday the day before I'm due back in work and I'm on my back with my left arm in a half cast and my left leg immobile and unmovable with lightning bolts of pain shooting up at the slightest of movements. I have had 2 more cannula's inserted into my right arm, it's a good job I'm a skinny git with veins like railway tracks, it makes the

Sunday 2nd January 2011 - Oh dear, what I have I done now - part 1

2011-01-12T12:04:00.033Z

The new years here at last, the mince pies, xmas cake and booze are all done with and it's Sunday which can only mean one thing, yup it's the club run. A 40 odd mile flat route was decided upon bearing in mind the extra calories (fat) some of us may be carrying around the midriff and the blunted fitness of the overindulgers. I was looking forward to this ride as I had been doing mostly turbo

What a difference a day makes...

2010-12-29T15:58:00.009Z

Just 24 little hours and I declare the lanes of North Cheshire to be well and truly open for business....Yes just 24 little hours after my last visit to the North Cheshire countryside I had a fantastic time and hardly a slush deposit in sight, what a transformation. This piccy is a shot of the same stretch of road as yesterdays photo but as you can see the slush has mostly all gone.

28th December and slush

2010-12-28T15:30:00.016Z

Yup slush. Slush is what we have left of the snow that has coated our roads and ruined our rides over the last couple of weeks but slush is a HUGE improvement and it's too tempting to pass up the opportunity of an actual real bike ride.So setting off from home the roads were wet but very ridable until I turned off onto the cycle path that takes me through to the country lanes I love riding - it's

Post 'Bimbling on Ice'

2010-12-27T19:01:00.009Z

My last time on the bike on a real road was the ill fated attempt of a 40 miler a couple of weeks ago and since then it's been turbo turbo turbo grrr. I know I'm not unique in this as the snow and ice has had a dramatic affect on everyone's training not just mine. So what have I done on my bike on my turbo in my garage since 'bimbling on ice'?From 12th to the 22nd Dec:6 Turbo training sessions,

Base Training - Why?

2010-12-14T12:04:00.010Z

I've been asked quite a few times as to why 'base' train? Why would anyone deliberately take a step back from the high tempo rides they had been riding for the previous year? It seems a silly idea. Well for me I had lost a lot of fitness due to ongoing sickness between September and November now that's a long time to be doing virtually nothing on the bike so fitness, strength and endurance takes

Bimbling on ice - 'Bimbles' ride 12 Dec 2010

2010-12-12T17:55:00.026Z

Today's Sunday ride for me was another 'bimbles' ride i.e. a ride designed with the sole purpose of riding in heart rate zone 1-3 regions. The day didn't look promising from the start as looking out of my window in the morning revealed white roads and my car was all iced up with big globules of ice as if it had rained during the night and the rain had instantly frozen upon contact with the cold

Training - Week 4

2010-12-05T18:52:00.013Z

All turbo stuff this week what with the snow and if not snow, ice making any riding on the road a big no-no so all my workouts this week have had me confined to the garage and it was so cold even in my garage that I had to wear overshoes and thin gloves to stop my extremity's from turning to blocks of ice - still wore bib-shorts and short sleeved jersey so not a complete wuss.No need to go into a

Training - Week 3

2010-11-29T16:43:00.018Z

This last weeks training was a welcome rest week. Rest week doesn't mean do nothing take it easy with your feet on the desk easy, no. All it means is that the workout intensity of a rest week is the same as the previous week but the duration is nearly halved. last weeks workouts were on Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat & Sun, and 7+ hours - this week just Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun and 4 hours, I bagged an extra day

Training - Week 2

2010-11-22T16:02:00.012Z

I'm only into my 2nd week of training but I'm already starting to see some benefits to the base riding I'm doing. This second week consisted of workouts on Tues, Wed, Thu, Sat and Sunday, all base riding stuff with some speed drills thrown in, all in zones 1 and 2 apart from the speed drills. Some of it was on my turbo in the confines of my garage but come the weekend it's out on my lonesome into

Don't Be A 'Zone Drone'....

2010-11-14T14:09:00.018Z

A really good bit of advice and advice well needed on today's club ride. This ride was billed as flat but flat doesn't necessarily mean easy and whilst the start of the ride was well within my desired zones 1 & 2 as the ride went on my heart rate gradually rose as the pace rose slightly on some undulating terrain. Nothing much happened today, 13 of us to start off with but Dave had to turn for

Training Week 1

2010-11-13T19:47:00.010Z

I had planned on starting my new training plan a couple of weeks ago but guess what, somebody gifted me a cold which I luckily managed to get rid of before last Sundays 'bimble'. I can pinpoint the exact time when it was gifted me by some bloke at work who sneezed twice when he was sat opposite me on friday, 3 days later it started but luckily after some intensive cold remedy's it was gone in 3

NCC club run - sort of

2010-11-07T13:59:00.015Z

The boys and girls of the North Cheshire Clarion are off on a hilly run today, off to ride/slide Swiss Hill and then onto the Cat & Fiddle but there are a handful of us that want to take it easy because some of us want to follow a plan, a training plan. In my case it's the Joe Friel plan as worked out from his excellent training book. last year I decided to follow Chris Carmichaels 'The Time

North Cheshire Clarion club run Halloween 31 Oct 2010

2010-10-31T16:34:00.012Z

Another Sunday 50 miler the same as last week but that's where the similarity ends, last week it was 50 miles with a few hilly climbs today it was 50 miles but relatively flat. The weather turned out to be fairly mild with only a few spots of rain as we started out from Stretton. A new start point today took us away from the road edge by the pub to the Fir tree Close side road that leads to the

Well I did ask for it...

2010-10-24T16:55:00.025+01:00

Today was a club run 50 miler out into the hilly region north of Bolton setting off from north Warrington with nearly 3000 ft climbing. A cool start had me wearing 2 base layers under my windtex jacket, £35's worth of Sealskinz winter gloves (thanks to the Mrs), shoe covers and hat - all kitted out for winter. But would I be too warm considering the climbing we had in store with all this gear on,

Sunday 17th October - Solo run

2010-10-17T16:23:00.018+01:00

Yes I'm under the weather again. I'd been improving all week so was all excited for the Sunday club run however Friday morning I woke up coughing with a really rough throat also shivers that lasted throughout the day so as soon as I came home from work it was straight to bed. Felt a little better later on but I just knew that once again I would not be going out on Sunday. Saturday comes and it's

North Cheshire Clarion club run 10 Oct 2010

2010-10-11T15:08:00.009+01:00

I'm was really looking forward to this ride as the weather forecast was for 17'C and little wind, I'm feeling quite good, good enough for a flat bimble in the beautiful back lanes of Cheshire but recently how I'm feeling prior to a ride isn't necessarily a good indicator as to how I will hold up for the duration of the ride. So bike in car, kit on ready for the coolish start and off to

Catch up time....

2010-10-08T20:13:00.013+01:00

Well it's long time no post from me and my excuse is that I have nothing much worthwhile to write about. I still haven't recovered properly from this cold/cough that has plagued me for nearly a month now and that has seriously impacted upon my fitness as I found out at the Manchester Velodrome last week. In the preceding week before the 'drome I put in a few turbo sessions, nothing fancy

A week-end of the NCC

2010-09-19T23:07:00.016+01:00

As you may have noticed there has been no blog updates for a couple of weeks from me and that's simply cos I've been slightly ill but I'm nearly back to normal now and looking forward to a full weekend of planned cycling activity. So down to the w/e's nitty gritty...Saturday's ride with the North Cheshire ClarionSaturdays flat ride was a great way to test my fitness in preparation for the

North Cheshire Clarion club run 29 Aug 2010

2010-08-29T19:01:00.007+01:00

What a day, wet, wet, windy wet more wetness and wind. Twelve of us set off from Stretton on a supposedly 'flat' route dressed in our wet weather gear with a cafe stop 30 miles into the ride.After yesterdays Velodrome effort my legs today were still a little tender so I looked forward to a nice 'feels like no effort' flat route however first came the rain which isn't a big deal it just made the

Velodrome session No2 Aug 28 2010

2010-08-28T19:40:00.035+01:00

An open invite from the Bury Clarion to attend a track training session held at the Manchester Velodrome went out to other Clarion members and the North Cheshire Clarion with myself and Anthony rallied to the call. I set out a little early because of the media predictions of travel chaos over the bank holiday weekend so I and my son Adam arrived an hour early - the roads were clear after all.

North Cheshire Clarion club run 22 Aug 2010

2010-08-22T20:22:00.009+01:00

For a change the sun was out for today's North Cheshire Clarion's club run to the Tattenhall Ice Cream Farm. Twelve of us gathered at our usual start point in Stretton then we were off through Frodsham, Alvanley, kelsall, Beeston, Tarpolay, Weaverham and back to Stretton.The route included a few hills, not really hard ones but hills nonetheless and I found them a little easier than normal. I

Kilton ‘10’

2010-08-19T17:07:00.014+01:00

My last TT on this course was way back in May and I did fully intend to get into some sort of training regime and make my road bike as much ‘aero’ as I possibly could and I did make a start with the acquisition of a set of Deda bars; that however was it, something in ‘real life’ got in the way. Moving on a few months we are at the last opportunity of the year for a ride in this TT so I wanted to

Seamons 25 mile TT & North Cheshire Clarion club run 14/15 August 2010

2010-08-15T20:15:00.019+01:00

Potentially a busy weekend, firstly a Saturday 25 mile TT to ride then maybe a Sunday club run.So firstly the Time Trial. As I said in my last post I was quietly excited by this 25 mile TT but I don’t know why I should be seeing as my one and only other TT was the Kilton 10 (8.75 miles) and it nearly killed me. Thinking back to the Kilton effort I think I went off too fast and was suffering far

North Cheshire Clarion club run 8th Aug 2010

2010-08-08T16:02:00.009+01:00

I've not been around for the last few weekends, the hot beaches of Greece have had my full attention so today was my first time back in the saddle for a club run in 3 weeks. Today's route intentionally included 75% of next weeks Seamons CC open 25 mile time trial so that allowed us to examine corners, potholes, junctions etc and gave us a good idea of what to expect for next week. The pace on

NCC Take to the Boards...

2010-07-22T20:26:00.009+01:00

The day I had been looking forward to had finally arrived, today 15 of the North Cheshire Clarion descended upon the wooden boards of the Manchester Velodrome in an attempt to emulate our Team GB cycling heroes in a one hour taster session. The icing on the cake would have been a glimpse of Sir Chris if by some remote chance we bumped into him but alas that wasn't to be...Arriving at the 'drome

North Cheshire Clarion club run Saturday 17 July 2010

2010-07-17T14:52:00.018+01:00

No Sunday ride for me this week so I thought I would try out the Saturday club run. The Saturday run is designed to be shorter and a little slower than the Sunday run to encourage people into the club so rather than going solo as was my intention for today, I thought I would give it a go.The weather wasn't the best today with rain forecast, not heavy just a little light rain however not long into

North Cheshire Clarion club run 11 July 2010

2010-07-11T15:00:00.018+01:00

Re-reading my club ride reports I've come to the conclusion that they can make for some tedious reading at times, the majority of people reading this blog will know exactly what goes on on a club ride so why the need to go into blow by blow or mile by mile details, no need at all...So starting today I'm keeping my reports short and getting more personal - unless something out of the ordinary

North Cheshire Clarion club run 4th July 2010

2010-07-04T19:51:00.094+01:00

Today was the clubs 'long' ride and it was decided that the Eureka Cafe at Two Mills in Chester was the cafe destination of choice. I was the route planner for this ride and I was bricking it slightly as the only other time I had been to the Eureka was with another club over a year ago and as a 'guest' I was just enjoying the ride rather than taking much notice of the route, however I did record

North Cheshire Clarion club run 27 June 2010

2010-06-28T23:18:00.006+01:00

The best week-end of the year by far weather wise with temperatures into the mid 20’s and with this in mind I decided to ride out to the start point in Stretton from Runcorn. It’s only 7 miles so at a nice steady pace I manage it in less than 30 minutes. At 8:30am the sun was out and warm already, lovely stuff and with not an arm warmer or gillet in sight, just the bare minimum without riding

Halfords Tour Series comes to Chester - Part II

2010-06-23T19:06:00.010+01:00

More shots from Mondays race...Is this huge ginger bread man really pre-race food? may have to try this sometime

Halfords Tour Series comes to Chester

2010-06-22T18:43:00.030+01:00

Jack Bauer came to Chester yesterday, no not that Jack Bauer - it was the other action man that rides a bike very very fast and with not a weapon in sight; he must get comments like that all the time...I took nearly 200 photo's, here are just a few of them...???Malcolm Elliot and ?Rapha-Condor-Sharps Kristian HouseEd ClancyEd Clancy and Scott ThwaitesChris Newton & Rob HaylesSprint near the end

North Cheshire Clarian club run 20 June 2010

2010-06-20T17:38:00.007+01:00

A cool start gave way to another gloriously warm sunny day - that makes two really sunny warm club rides this year, aren't we doing well! For the start I had my gillet and arm warmers on and took a little bit of gentle ribbing for it but I didn’t care as I was suitably warm; everyone else was wearing full summer gear right from the start, hardy people these NCC'ers. Only seven of us out today,

North Cheshire Clarian club run 13 June 2010

2010-06-13T18:37:00.021+01:00

Mrs Mark reminded me later on today that braggarts will not inherit the earth - that's not how it actually goes however I hear what she is saying but I'm going to ignore her just this once by pointing out that today I managed to win not 1 not 2 not even 3 but 4 yes 4 sprints. Granted there was only me trying for the first three of them but the fourth, well I won that one fair n square - I will

Week End ride Sat 5th June 2010

2010-06-05T21:56:00.008+01:00

This weekend myself and Phil M went solo sans the NCC due to the fact that Saturday was the only day available for a ride over the weekend. The route we chose was on the back roads of Crowton with a quick cafe stop at Delamere then onwards to the west of Mouldsworth before heading back through Frodsham. The plus points from today was the many car free lanes and the great weather. It was so nice

North Cheshire Clarion club run 30 may 2010

2010-05-30T14:43:00.016+01:00

Arriving at the start point for today's club run I sat in my car and I felt like I just wanted to go home, I really wasn't in the mood for a bike ride this morning and I don't know why but I suspect it had something to do with the blustery winds and a lack of sun. It wasn't really blowing a gale but it was certainly windy nonetheless, winds of 15mph gusting to 18 mph and I wasn't looking forward

North Cheshire Clarion club run 23 May 2010

2010-05-23T15:05:00.069+01:00

A great start to the weekend with temperatures hovering around 24-25 'C on Saturday and Sunday's forecast was for much of the same - really good stuff so dressed in just short sleeve shirts and bib-tights, proper summer stuff (at last) 11 NCC members and a guest set off from Stretton in an anti-clockwise loop through Frodsham, Kelsall, Willington, Delamere and Acton Bridge.It was a slow 15 mph

North Cheshire Clarion club run 16 May 2010

2010-05-16T16:19:00.039+01:00

Not a bad turnout today 10 regulars and 2 guests assembled for a as requested flat ride around north Cheshire. The weather was cool to start and the only thing that warmed us during the ride was hard work with very little sun and a good amount of wind to cool us down. At times the pace was fairly high and one of those instances of speeding was down to me, sorry guys but you can blame &#'% for

Kilton 10 TT

2010-05-12T21:23:00.072+01:00

The Kilton 10 is not actually a full 10 miles but at 8.75 it's close enough for me. Today I was a bit apprehensive as this was my very first 'proper' time trial. I had to think things through before setting off for the event deciding what to take with me - do I take a water bottle? how about my seat saddle full of spare inner tubes levers and a heavyish multi-tool? nah leave that in the car, but

North Cheshire Clarion club run 9 May 2010

2010-05-09T17:08:00.055+01:00

What a difference a week makes, last week was just cold, this week a cool start that soon warmed up to a gloriously nice day. I had a good feeling for this weeks ride seeing 14 of us assemble at our traditional meeting point, I enjoy company and the more the merrier so today got off to a great start, a quick start as always, 18+mph for long stretches which is great for the flats but eventually we

North Cheshire Clarion club run 2 May 2010

2010-05-03T12:42:00.009+01:00

That was flippin hard work....A cold day in May saw just 4 of the Clarion faithful assemble at the usual place and time. As soon as I saw who had turned up I knew I was in for a hard time and I wasn't to be disillusioned. As soon as we set off we set a pace of 19+ mph and for the duration of the next 70 miles that speed was maintained on the flats of Cheshire and there was many many miles of flat

North Cheshire Clarion club run 25 April 2010

2010-04-25T18:24:00.071+01:00

Today's highlight was a cobbled lane somewhere near Alderley Edge called Bradford Lane. Thirteen of us set off from Stretton at 9 am heading out to the Wizard Tea Rooms via this Bradford Lane. Heading out we set off at a good easy pace of 16-19 mph on a mild dull day with the promise of some rain later on in the morning. With this in mind I left the Scott plastic bike at home and brought out my

North Cheshire Clarion club run 18th April 2010

2010-04-18T19:54:00.050+01:00

What a lovely day Saturday was and I was really hoping for a repeat Sunday - wasn't really disappointed with the cool(er) Sat start as the sun did come out to play not long into our ride. Today I had to ride into Stretton as my car was in the garage because of a naughty fuel pump; why do cars always seem to break down when out shopping and then when called for Mr AA man spends ages wandering from

North Cheshire Clarion club run 11 April 2010

2010-04-11T16:49:00.021+01:00

Saturday, what a gloriously warm & sunny day it was for April and I was hoping that Sunday would be just as glorious, I wasn't disappointed - eventually. A cool as in a fairly cold 9 am start had only six of us out from Stretton for a flattish 40 odd mile run, I was out in my new dhb bib knickers for only the third time but today would be the first time I was to use them for over an hour and I am

New Toy Part 5

2010-04-07T13:17:00.048+01:00

Now it's time to put all the bits together.Firstly the bars and shifters set up in an approximate position. No reason to be first on the list other than I wanted to see what they looked like mounted on the bars. Unlike the previous version of Ultegra, the bolt to tighten the shifter onto the bar is located in a completely different place that requires the rubber pulling up as far as it will go to

Nothing, a positive and a worry...

2010-04-06T12:24:00.006+01:00

Yup nothing, that's more or less what I've done since the Cheshire Cat. Granted it's only been a week since the cat but seeing as I've been training 3 or 4 times a week for 2 months prior to the cat it seems extremely strange and demotivating doing nothing. Well when I say nothing I did actually go out for a quick 25 mile ride on good Friday but I felt weak and feeble for much of the ride and

Cheshire cat 100 miles 2010

2010-03-29T17:10:00.038+01:00

A good number of us from the North Cheshire Clarion resplendent in our distinctive garb graced the start line/queue on a cool but dry morning. The aim of today was to treat the ride as a glorified club run complete with club peloton, signaling, the full club run thing, we rode at a steady pace, we wanted to complete not compete...Start time was 8.30 but by the time we crossed the timing mat it

North Cheshire Clarion club run 21 March 2010

2010-03-22T10:51:00.027Z

Today's ride was billed as a flat 40 miler in contrast to last weeks hilly 40 miler and yes it certainly lived up to it's billing, flat definitely flat, oh on second thoughts I think there was maybe one tidger hill along the way (or perhaps I imagined that bit). Thirteen of us set of from Stretton eleven members and two guests heading east in a clockwise direction heading for Tattenhall as our

Turbo Week 8

2010-03-18T19:50:00.022Z

WednesdayMissed Tuesdays workout as I needed to take my daughter to the dentist for treatment so completed Tuesdays workout a day late.Today's workout consisted of fast pedalling which I thought would be a piece of cake, after all the instructions are to select an easy gear and just concentrate on a smooth circular motion with a cadence of 108 – 120 rpm and only 1 set of 4 x 3 minute intervals

New Toy Part 4

2010-03-17T18:30:00.023Z

It's now time to decide upon the groupset. I'm a bit of a Shimano fan simply because I have Shimano on my Focus and I do like it. I also have Campagnolo stuff on my turbo/commuting bike, an 8 speed steel Graham Weigh with old Mirage that's ok but slow to change compared to my Shimano equipped bike. I have nothing against Campag in fact I do like them aesthetically those campag shifter are really

North Cheshire Clarion club run 14 march 2010 & Turbo week 7

2010-03-14T18:30:00.035Z