…are the days you don’t expect. Tuesday was one of those. I had the bike and my gear prepped from the night before and a route in mind. I had a morning window to get out but it was cloudy, windier and way colder than expected. I was severely unmotivated to go out in 5°C with wind chill taking that down by at least 4°.
Eventually just after 10am the sun came out and it was a case of “fuck it, this is too good to waste!”. Clothes on, a change of route and off I went.
Clothing was crucial, skull cap, buff, double layered gloves, mesh base, long sleeve thermal base layer*, Perfetto, Club gillet, bib shorts, thermal bib tights, thick looped socks, winter shoes, Endura overshoes. It takes a lot of time to get all this on but on this run it was worth it and I never felt the cold at all.
I headed down the Finn Valley to Clady making hard work of the SE headwind to climb up over Gleneely, dropping down to Victoria Bridge. Turning for Strabane I now had a tailwind and some kind of assistance all the way home.
Views from the top of Gleneely were great, looking down over Sion Mills with Knockavoe looming above. Further West were clear views of the Sperrins.
view over sion mills
Dropping into Victoria Bridge I couldn’t resist stopping to enjoy one of the nicest bridges in the local area and probably the best river views.
Coming close to home I was feeling great. Plenty of energy in the legs and perfectly dressed for the weather. Time was against me though as we had family plans for the afternoon and I needed food and a shower before heading out. Back home only 10min and there was a prolonged and heavy, wintry shower that would have ruined the whole ride. Settling for just under 47km now brought a smile to my face 😊
click the image to view on strava
*the thermal base layer is a long sleeved ski base layer from Lidl of all places. I hope to review this properly in the next couple of weeks.
After a long morning and early afternoon of consistent heavy rain it was nice to get out and take advantage of a short break in the weather for a rare afternoon run.
All my runs for the last couple of months have been early morning before work so it felt very unusual to be running in daylight.
Ironically mainly because I have no patience being unwell. I just want it over with. I can’t abide it when a sickness creeps up and then hangs around like a particularly smelly fart.
My personal challenge for November was an activity every day: a walk, run or cycle. I was finishing up the month with a cycle on Sunday and a final walk on Monday morning with possibly a short walk either evening to get me to 100km walked for the month.
click the image to view on strava
It was a decent distance, there was a reasonable amount of climbing, with one pretty big climb about 3/4 of the way through and I deserved to be tired after. I was more than just tired though, I was beat for the rest of the afternoon and even managed to fall asleep on the sofa for almost an hour which isn’t like me.
The next morning I rose early as planned and somehow managed to drag myself around the shorter 4.5km walk loop with legs like concrete. I went to work as normal but felt like shit the whole day with no energy, total lack of enthusiasm and a progressively worsening sore throat. It was time for my annual fight with the more familiar but less media savvy rhinovirus.
not as pretty as its chinese cousin
Monday night I was awake off and on the whole night and come morning I was in no shape for work and had to call in sick. Great timing with it being the first day of the end of Lockdown v2.0 but I wasn’t even fit to drive to work never mind be there.
A day of fluids, paracetamol, decongestant, bed and sofa with regular injections of TV and comfort food followed by an OK night’s sleep and I’m a lot better today. I was scheduled to be off today anyway and I’m ready to face the public again tomorrow.
As sickness goes it’s definitely been one of the shorter and nothing in the realms of proper man flu. It has, however messed with my plans of continuing my daily challenge into December and possibly even making it a full year 365 day challenge. I do plan to get back out tomorrow evening for a walk after work and maybe I can make it a 2021 challenge instead.
Unsurprisingly my social media ads are mostly filled with cycling related products and websites. Over the last few months PlanetX has been showing up a lot and due to the nature of ads, even more regularly once I clicked on one of them!
👆 this is a screenshot and not a real ad 👆
Having perused a number of categories and products for a while I finally made a jump last week and ordered a few items.
Base Layer
I’ve become a baselayer convert over the last year or so but needed a slightly heavier option for colder winter days. PlanetX do a sleeveless, short and long sleeve version. I don’t like my arms too warm so I opted for the short sleeve.
I wore it on Wednesday for the first time and was very impressed. It’s a very close fit but not tight or restrictive. I didn’t feel clammy at all so felt that it wicked away sweat pretty effectively. I definitely think I’ll buy another to have a spare as I think it will be getting good use over the winter.
I have lots of pairs of gloves due to a constant search for the perfect pair. The 365 race gloves caught my eye as they’re described as:
Light, warm and snug fitting, with a nice tacky palm grip to boot
I don’t like bulky gloves so was interested in something that was both light and warm.
I also tried these for the first time on Wednesday. It was very cold so I layered them over a pair of Sealskinz merino liner gloves as I really didn’t want to have cold hands. This turned out to be a perfect combination. I had no issues with the cold and when I stopped for lunch at the 50K mark my hands were dry with no dampness in the gloves. The layering also gives the option to lose a layer of it gets too warm.
The only issue I had was when the rain turned heavy and prolonged. Eventually the rain soaked through both layers and I started to feel a bit of a chill. At this stage it would have been a good idea to have had my waterproof Sealskinz gloves. In fairness to the PlanetX gloves they’re not marketed as water resistant. As a bonus they look good with my Perfetto jacket.
I really dislike carrying stuff in my pockets so flying in the face of Rule #29 and 31 I’m a fan of saddle bags. My current dhb wedge bag is getting a bit worn after a couple of years of use. They’re discontinued now so I’ve been looking for an alternative.
Podsacs seem to make good bikepacking bags so I decided to test them out starting with a saddle bag.
I haven’t got organised yet to get this onto my bike but I’m impressed by the quality so far. It has a pretty heavy duty feel with good straps and a dry bag style closure. It’s also bigger than I expected. I hope to test it on the bike this week.
My bike came with basic plastic bar end plugs that I dislike. One of them also comes out far too easily so I want to replace them with metal screw-in ones. It may look like I buy everything black but I do like a little splash of colour and picked red ones to match my helmet and bike trims.
I’ve unsuccessfully tried to fit them once already but I’m not sure if they don’t fit or if I’m doing something wrong. Another go during the week but I might be sending them back.
I’ve been a Wiggle fan for many years now but PlanetX are showing some competition so far. My only issue is that I hate paying a delivery charge and there’s no free delivery option. Returns also have to be sent via standard postage with no free returns option. The value of the items I’ve purchased outweighs this considerably but it still irritates me.
The links above are standard links and I have no affiliation with PlanetX and don’t receive anything for them so click away if you want to see more details on the website.
The theme of yesterday’s spin was checkpoints and road works. Officially the country is in the last week of Level 5 lockdown and we’re supposed to stay within 5km of home unless it’s an essential journey. This also applies to exercise. For cycling this is totally nonsensical, as well as impractical. Compared to Lockdown v1 virtually nobody on my Strava feed is paying any heed to this restriction including some of the most compliant people I know. I’m still cycling solo but seeing as I meet so many people through work I don’t see the point of cycling close to home. Part of the non-compliance is the lack of enforcement. I passed through 3 “Operation Fanacht“ checkpoints and barely got a glance from the Gardai at any of them. The multiple stops for roadworks created more of a restriction and annoyance, especially the last one which I only realised was a hedge cutter at work at the very last minute. Glad now I’m riding tubeless tyres.
The aim of yesterday’s spin was to reverse my November ennui and keep my 2020 Metric Challenge streak alive. I’d been watching the forecast all week and despite some fluctuations Wednesday looked about as good as could be expected for the end of November.
I finally made the break and removed the Brooks C17, going back to the factory fitted Selle Royal Seta RS. Before leaving I took the time to get it perfectly levelled and exactly back to the same position as the fit done at the shop when I bought it. It meant I was an hour later leaving than planned but definitely time well spent despite spending more time in the rain at the end of the ride.
When I did get away shortly after 1030am it was bright and cold but I was kitted out in wooly socks, Winter shoes, overshoes and Winter tights over my normal bibshorts. Three layers up top, base layer, Perfetto jacket and Club gillet. Extremities protected with a skull cap and Buff and a double layer of gloves meant I was well insulated.
I’d decided to ride pretty much the same route as August with a small adjustment. The first 30km was very enjoyable with a slight tailwind all the way to Nixon’s Corner before turning for Newtowncunningham. I didn’t really feel the breeze with the protection from the high hedges for most of the road. The good weather lasted until the last 5min when I was hit by a short, heavy shower just before my lunch stop at Kernan’s at the 50km mark.
level 5 =takeaway only 😔
While making my tea an older American guy was making some small talk and when he followed me outside I thought I was about to share my lunch with a bit of a PITA. I was wrong. Turns out my talkative friend was pretty interesting. Bob is originally from Washington State, close to Seattle and living in Ireland for just over 30 years. He’s retired on a disability pension after a nasty accident involving his right arm and a printing press. He showed me the gruesome result which must have been insanely painful at the time. We had a good yarn while enjoying our sandwiches in the cold November air. One of the interesting stories was the origin of the name of “Seattle’s Best Coffee” brand and their rivalry with Starbucks.
Leaving Bob I was feeling the cold and added an extra layer using my Sportful gillet. The lingering dampness of the shower, disappearance of the sun, spray from the passing traffic and an increase in the now cold breeze was multiplying the cooling effect of the food stop and the extra windproof layer was much needed.
layered up
The road from Newtowncunningham to Letterkenny is a busy main road. Its only saving grace is the wide hard shoulder almost all the way. I wasn’t looking forward to it as I figured it would be a slog into a stiff breeze but it wasn’t too bad after all. The biggest challenge was spray from passing lorries as the road was now quite wet.
Dropping down past Manorcunningham towards the start of the dual carriageway is where my route diverged from August. I’d decided to use the back road I was familiar with from the Audax route, albeit from the opposite direction and avoid the busy dual carriageway. I’d also decided to go on further and climb out of Letterkenny via the Cullion Road instead of Dromore. This is a much better surface and only my second time up this road by bike. It means crossing the main road close to the top of Lurgybrack but traffic was reasonably light and getting across wasn’t a problem.
Shortly after this, with approximately 75km done, was when the rain started in earnest and I really started to feel Winter’s bite.
brief break in the showers
The showers started coming pretty heavy and close together. The road was very wet spraying my feet and legs and spray from passing traffic killed any breaks between showers. It was at this stage I was really cursing not having stuck on the mudguards and not packing a proper rain jacket. The cold was biting and slowly but surely the wet was soaking into my feet and hands as the overshoes and gloves became overloaded. It was a long 25km back to home but at least I had a tailwind for about 12km between Stranorlar and Castlefinn before finishing with a slow 5km into the headwind and the usual climb to home.
Despite the final conditions it was a great spin. It was mostly comfortable and even with the wet and cold finish I was soon sorted with a hot shower and food. I was just glad to be able to finish having let my mileage slide over the last 6 weeks or so. Only December to go and that will be my 2020 Metric Challenge complete.
Nine-year-old Emily Anne Toussaint is fatally shot on a Montreal street. A North Carolina teenager disappears from her home, and parts of her skeleton are found hundreds of miles away. The shocking deaths propel Tempe Brennan from north to south, and deep into a shattering investigation inside the bizarre culture of outlaw motorcycle gangs — where one misstep could bring disaster for herself or someone she loves.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was pretty good and I zipped through it pretty quickly. It’s the kind of story that just picks you up and keeps running. We get to see a little bit more of Tempe’s personal life and family and get some education on the Hells Angels and other Motorcycle Gangs.
I didn’t really like the Ryan element of the story. It felt too contrived and seemed to be used to fix something broken in the story. It’s more of a gaffer tape fix than precision surgery as it still feels wrong but not enough to spoil things.
There’s nothing too complicated about this book or story. It’s just good.
Really struggling to get motivated to cycle this month. I have lots of excuses. The biggest, and only genuine reason, is that the weather has been horrible, really horrible. My days off have coincided with wet and windy weather. I know it’s possible to go out with the right clothing but it’s not enjoyable.
just another difference between myself and sean kelly!
Since my Audax ride in the middle of October I have only been on the bike six times and my distance for November is as low as it has been for a while.
Despite my lack of cycling motivation and excellent excuse generation I have been moving. I decided at the start of the month to try and reverse my declining activity by committing to at least one recorded activity (walk, run or cycle) each day of November. 22 days in and so far, so good.
This week I need to reverse my lack of cycling motivation as I’ve only got two more opportunities this month to complete my metric century for my 2020 challenge. It would be a shame to give up on it now with only two months left to go.
If there’s one brand synonymous with Audax and long distance endurance cycling then it’s Brooks England. They manufacture traditional bags and saddles with the majority of their original designs made from leather.
b17
challenge saddle bag
They’ve also moved into more modern materials.
scape saddle roll bag
c17 cambium
Ever since I’ve come across Audax and started researching bikes and gear I’ve wanted to get a Brooks saddle. The traditional leather versions don’t react well to prolonged exposure to rain so not suitable for Irish weather. The Cambium range is made from rubber to give the same comfort benefits of the traditional models but more weatherproof.
There are a number of models in the Cambium range. They are pretty much the same design in various different widths for different riding styles. There are also “carved” versions with a central cut out to reduce pressure for anyone prone to numbness. The most popular options seem to be the C15 and slightly wider C17.
C17 L 283 x W 164 x H 52 mm Weight: 446 g
C15 L 283 x W 140 x H 52 mm Weight: 432 g
I’d pretty much decided that the C15 would be the best option for me but there was a discussion on the Audax Ireland WhatsApp group and one of the guys had an almost unused C17 for sale for €50. As this is a massive saving I jumped at the chance to try out a Brooks without gambling too much money.
My first ride was a simple 40km and it was quickly apparent that this saddle required a very different position compared to the original one that came with the bike.
My main issues were that I was sitting much too far forward on the saddle, putting way too much weight on my hands and over stretching at the bottom of the pedal stroke. This was creating discomfort in my lower back as well as numbness in my hands. Advice from the group and tinkering over the next few rides improved all of this but on my last 75km ride I decided that unfortunately Brooks is not for me. I’m unable to get rid of the hand issues but I’m sure I could if I got my bike fit tweaked professionally but my major issue is that I can’t seem to prevent sliding forward. The saddle has a scoop shape that seems to disagree with my posture on the bike. The only way to prevent this is to tilt it up at the front which then creates numbness in a more sensitive area and something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to contend with.
Shortly after buying the saddle one of the other guys posted the GCN video below that discusses flat v curved saddles for different postures. This confirmed my feeling that the curved saddle won’t suit me.
If the current spell of wet and windy weather ever passes I’ll be switching back to the original saddle that came with the bike (Selle Royal Seta RS). Thankfully I took lots of photos and measurements before removing it. There was a lot of interest when the C17 came up for sale so I should have no problems selling it on for what I paid for it.
niall harran 