A late evening blast and a City Bike expereance.

The evening rides are becoming more popular. It started off a few weeks ago with just me and Paul and last night we had our biggest group of 6 going out for a late evening blast. We rode out to West Kirby, at a reasonable pace through Meols and Hoylake, to do some loops of the Hill before heading up Thurstaston to Heswall and back through Irby.
It was the first time I had given the new Moon Shield 60 a proper outing. As with the X-power 500 front light it helps the confidence riding at night  knowing you are clearly visible to other road users, even if you do have to put up with moans from others in the group that you are burning their retinas!



We are planning on going out again tomorrow night. 7.30'ish at the 12th man on Greasby road. (sunglasses optional!)

Ride details: http://app.strava.com/rides/3972721

Today I had to go to Crosby Leisure Centre for a meeting. It is a bit off the public transport network, so I decided to use a pool bike instead of the Bus! It certainly was an experience. I can't remember the last time I rode a bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gears and a sprung saddle. The position felt a little awkward, very different to the racing bike, and also different to my mountain bike set up. But fundamentally a bike is a bike so off I went. It didn't take long to miss the smooth Ultegra gear changes and the range of gears available on my other bikes. I soon ran out of usable cadence!! The one advantage of riding to a meeting is being able to use cycle paths, especially the coast path from the docks to the Leisure Centre. It was great seeing the Tide come in to cover the Iron Men.

Dawes Haarlem City Bike at Crosby Beach

Riding back to the office wasn't as pleasant. There was quite a strong headwind, and it was slightly uphill. Add to this the wrong clothes, Suit and fleece lined coat equals a rather sweaty ride!!
I will definitely be using the pool bikes again, but maybe need to rethink the clothing and request that a Cervelo S5 is maybe added to the fleet!
I used the Garmin app on my phone to record the ride, It worked well, but drained the battery significantly, but that could have been the two and a half hour pause between riding there and back! I'm not sure how I hit 33mph either!!!

Ride details: http://app.strava.com/rides/3994500

 If you have been reading the blog for a while you will know that I use Purple Harrys Cleaning Products to keep the bike clean and shiny! If you have used it too why not give the company some support by commenting on a thread on Wiggle's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/WiggleCycling/posts/10150635010455429?notif_t=feed_comment_reply

Finally, the Ten minutes of hell time trial is nearly upon us. There are still a few places left, so if you haven't signed up but wish you had, it's not too late, and it's only £25!
If you live on Wirral and read the Wirral Globe, please ignore the journalistic mess they have made of promoting the event! I'm not too sure how they managed to mess it up but they did.
It is definitely not a Motorcycle Time Trial, although on a personal level I wish it was. The web site has been updated, and next weeks paper will have the correct details.
For info on the Challenge: http://www.vitacycles.co.uk/pain_suffering_glory_a_new_year_challenge