Ride to Lymington

I've had a good day today. The clocks have changed, the Grand Prix season has started, I watched a 1000 or so runners stream by in the Eastleigh 10k (it was fascinating to watch the runners' styles), I had a rewarding bike ride and Emma and Isobel made some great cakes.


Went to: New Forest wilderness, Beaulieu, Lymington, Brockenhurst
Distance: 76 miles
Total time on bike: 4:54
Average speed: 15.5 mph
Total climb height: 543 m

I met Mark Halliday at North Baddesley at 11 and we headed off to the New Forest. Mark's Garmin Edge 705 found us some back roads to mostly avoid the traffic around Southampton.

Our first stop was in Beaulieu where we enjoyed a full fat Coke. Shortly after we disturbed a couple of pheasants. As they took off they crossed our path and one of them "unloaded" itself, narrowly missing me. Not a hazard we had been anticipating.

We had a little jaunt down to the sea front at one point. We were only about 3 miles from the Isle of Wight. The Spinnaker tower was visible in one direction and the Lymington ferry in the other. There was also a couple of ponies enjoying the beach.

We had a late lunch at Lymington: a Spicy Chicken pasty. I don't think it was just the appetite from a 35 mile ride to get there, but it was the most tasty pasty I can remember eating.

I saw plenty of places in the New Forest that I didn't know existed - lots of potential for family walks.

Cycling on the open parts of the moors when there's a headwind is a bit tiring so we were grateful to find an icecream van at one of the car parks. No icecream but another sugary drink and energy levels were significantly boosted.

When we got back we found freshly baked hot cross buns and lovely cup cakes. Emma had put chocolate in to the middle of the cup cakes, the idea being that if you eat it shortly after its cooked then it'd be gooey. But we weren't back until nearly 5 so by the time I got my cake the chocolate was solid, but it was still delicious. No big surprise, but chocolate-filled cakes taste great.

I'm looking forward to our next ride - which could be an organized event around the edge of the Isle of Wight in May.

Accidental 7 mile run

This sunny afternoon I went for a run, intending to do a loop around Ampfield woods and back.  But somehow I missed the bridlepath to re-enter the woods and ended up going back over the hill past Merdon Castle.

On the plus side, the GPS trace looks much more impressive.

6.96 miles in 58:30 at average pace 8:25 miles/min.   This includes the time hopping through muddy sections so it should be a shade faster when the ground is dry.

A sunny 65.5m ride

Another long bike ride today in gloriously sunny 16C weather. I met up with Mark Halliday, Rich Harran and Ian Vanstone at the White Horse in Ampfield at 9:00. Executive summary:

Went to: the countryside
Distance: 65.5 miles
Highest point: 143m
Total climb height: 640 m
Average speed: 15.2 mph
Total time on bike: 4:19

We went anti-clockwise around the route above. We saw very little traffic and lots of countryside. The detour through Crawley (the most North-Easterly point) was partly to miss out a section of the main Stockbridge road but mostly because it's a really pretty village.

For sustenance I took a packet of Thornton's Belgian chocolates. I figured that the calories wouldn't be a problem over that distance.

The road out of Pitton was fun. It's steep at 14% but not too long - 40m of ascent. It's probably the steepest hill I've done.

Steep hills are particularly challenging on my bike because I have a regular "double" crank, not a "compact crank". This means that my easiest gear is not very easy at all. My small chainring has 39 teeth and my biggest cog at the back has 27 teeth. Everyone else has compact cranks and has the luxury of a front ring with just 32/34 teeth.

We stopped at Mark's house in Romsey and he heated us up a lovely risotto (mushroom, chicken, ham, butternut squash, other veg, stock). He'll make a lovely wife for someone one day.

Riding in a group of four was good. Riding two abreast on the quiet roads meant that we could talk easily and the rear two could draught the front two. I'm looking forward to a bigger peleton when Alan Chatt, Ed Altenburger and Alex Mitchell get their bikes.

Longest bike ride so far - Petersfield

I've just got back from my longest bike ride so far and it was great. Executive summary:

Went to: Petersfield
Distance: 56 miles
Highest point: 220 m
Total climb height: 762 m
Average speed: 12.7 mph
Total time on bike: 4:23
Fastest speed: 40 mph
Punctures: 0

I met Mark Halliday (who is cycling from London to Edinburgh and back again in 4 days later this year - please consider sponsoring him) and Rob Smyth at the Brigadier Gerard pub in Horton Heath at 9:00 on Sunday 1st March 2009. After a quick go on Rob's bike, a Trek Madone 4.5, we headed off at an easy pace. The roads were nice and dry but there was complete cloud cover and it was a bit nippy in my cycling shorts and vented cycling shoes.

We were following a route Mark had planned and uploaded to his Garmin Edge 705, a Sat-Nav like bike computer. This really helped us spend time enjoying quiet country lanes without worrying too much about navigation, although we did take a wrong turn after a mile or so which added an odd kink to our route but it was along a nice lane so a nice little detour really.

After about 6 miles Rob and I had a moment of confusion at 2mph resulting in him falling off. No harm done, although his brakes were rubbing immediately afterwards which made me worry that he'd buckled a wheel. But briefly applying the brakes sorted it out.



Our original route took us almost to Petersfield but by the time we got there we fancied a latte and a quick look at the town. There seems to be a market their on Sundays which meant the town was nice and alive, and we found a Cafe Nero with a free outside table. 3 large lattes with sugar please.



Leaving Petersfield the Sat-Nav took us near "Steep" and appropriately enough we went up a 2.4 mile long, 152 metre ascent, steep-in-parts hill, which I enjoyed but I'm not sure Rob did.

We stopped a couple of times to scoff Mark's home made chocolate brownies and my "kicking about the house" chocolate stash. We figured that with 4:23 of time on the bike we could afford to eat chocolate.

Towards the end of the ride the sun started to peek through and it almost felt warm.

And when I got home I found a box of 12 Krispy Kreme doughnuts so I further figured that I could have 2 of them.

My bum feels a little sore from sitting on the small bike seat and my butt muscles groan when I stand up but I'm feeling really invigorated.

Overall the Orca was a very comfortable ride over that distance - my last outing was 6 weeks ago so I hadn't had a chance to get used to cycling again so once I "break myself in" it should be even easier.

So if you're interested in doing a ride like this let me know. The more the merrier.

I love my bike

The Orca is a lovely bike. I haven't ridden road bikes since I was about 14 so I don't have much to compare it to, but it certainly delights me. I love the acceleration when you get up on the pedals. I look forward to short sharp hills that on a mountain bike would drop me down to a snails pace, but on the Orca I put in a burst of effort in and fly up them at 20mph. I like going down long hills and finding that there are about 2 more small-cog gears than I expected. And it looks lovely.

I remember coming back to Hursley from Romsey after an 18 mile ride and finding that I could put in 3 seconds of effort to go 2mph faster, then maintain that pace comfortably for a few seconds, then again put in the effort to go 2mph faster again, then maintain that pace, and then again one more time. On a mountain bike, putting extra effort in seems to make very little difference to pace, and if you do get some extra then it disappears very soon after. The Orca lets me hold on to the pace for much longer.



I've only done one "long" ride so far - most of my rides are high energy affairs as I find I can't go slowly on the Orca. It just wants to be ridden fast and is so rewarding to do so. The furthest I've been is 38.7 miles. 2 hours and 20 minutes, average speed 16.5mph, average heart rate 158bpm. Total climb height about 1000 feet. I went through lots of picturesque villages including some I hadn't seen before. It was great. My back was slightly sore towards the end but was fine was fine when I got off the bike. I think I just need more practice.



The frame is all carbon and does an impressive job of smoothing out the bumps. The tyres are the thinner ones (700x23) and I pump them up to about 90psi so there isn't much cushioning from them. But most road surfaces feel smooth and I've hit some potholes that I thought would be nasty but the bike took them in its stride. The only surface I don't like can be found along Poles Lane where the surface seems to induce a vibration that feels almost resonant - the space between the bumps in the road must the perfectly wrong for the bike. On a mountain bike you wouldn't think twice but it's annoying on the Orca. But there are very few roads where I've had this problem.



I got a standard double crankset (52&39 teeth) with 10 cogs at the back: 12 - 21,24,27 If I were to buy again I'd opt for the compact crankset. I find that my normal speed on the flat is about 20mph where I'm in the big ring at the front and about the 4th cog at the back. That doesn't leave many cogs at the back to handle slight uphill gradients. It's rare to need the smallest 2 cogs at the back (although it is fun when I can use them). I think a compact crankset would give me a better set of gears for normal riding and a couple of extra gears for climbing. Some hills can be quite challenging with the standard crankset - but then it's rewarding when you manage them.

I cleaned my bike the other day. The shapes and lines in the frame are simply gorgeous, especially at the back end.

SportTracks running data

I had to stop running from April-December in 2008 due to inflamed toe joints so the more interesting SportTracks data is for 2007. How's my pace now? OK: a recent run was 3.52m, 7:38min/mile pace, 26:55min, 169bpm average heart rate.

In 2007 my mileage looks pretty consistent - a mixture of running with friends from work at lunchtime but mostly running from home.


August looks like I took a break but I cycled 179 miles that month so maybe that's why I don't have much running mileage.

Below are my runs sorted by pace but the hard ones were those with a high average heart rate: 177bpm for 32:07 at 7:44min/mile pace for 4.15m (Hurlsey - Port Lane sign and back).

But one month later I ran further, faster, with a lower HR - 164bpm for 36:31 at 7:43min/mile for 4.73m. I must have gotten a bit fitter in that month (and the route was a little flatter).

SportTracks cycling data

I fired up SportTracks this morning and looked at some Activity Reports. The cycling data covers both fun rides from work with mates on my mountain bike, commuting on various bikes, and going out on my road bike.

Distance first:


And average speed second. These are all on my Orbea Orca - I can't go this fast on a mountain bike.



I'm pleased with the 20mph average over 15.57 miles. It is a route that avoids steep hills. Average heart rate over 46.8 minutes was (only) 157bpm. (In 2007 I averaged 177bpm for 32:07 whilst running 4.15 miles, 7:44 pace). In the graph you can see the correlation between gradient, speed and heartrate.

Fartlek training

As someone getting back in to running I've done a few multi-mile gentle runs and I thought I'd mix it up a bit with a Fartlek-like run.

I wore my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS + heartrate watch and my intention was that whenever I felt I'd recovered from one sprint I'd go again.

My average pace on this 2.64m run was 7:34 min/mile which is much faster than it would have been if I'd done the usual constant-effort run.

The graph nicely shows me running faster every time my heart rate dropped to 170, including at 16:00 where I was going uphill finding it tough going but I checked my HR on the watch and it said 170 so I made myself run.

Would I ever have done that without the HR watch to let me know, and the promise/threat of seeing my performance on a graph? Probably not.

My Carbon Fibre Bottle Cage

For Christmas I ordered a Planet X carbon fibre bottle cage. I initially found it on ChainReactionCycles for £20, and it says it weighs 24g - confirmed by their photo.

I then googled for it to find alternate vendors and Planet X themselves were doing it cheaper, plus their photo says it is a 22g version.

I ordered from Planet X. The actual price charged was less than the price listed on their web page.

And when it turned up there were 2 of them in the box. I've looked again and I don't see anywhere that says that they come as a pair, although I do have 2 mounting points on my bike. But there was no mounting kit (2 screws basically). So I've used the screws from the old one and kept the other cage as a spare for now.

I weighed the cages on an electric balance and the old one weighs 64g, the new 22g. Which will send me soaring up the hills with far less effort, ahem.

There's a review on RoadCyclingUK.com which gives it 10/10 for value, 9/10 overall. Sounds about right to me.

Help the Aged

I received a letter from Help the Aged today telling me that the goods we've donated have so far made £42.90 for the charity. That's pretty good - as I recall it was old clothes and toys that we really had no use for.

As I read it (it isn't 100% clear), they're now giving me the option to claim back the £42.90 (less a 5% administration) fee, or I can let them keep the money in which case I have freely donated it to them so they can claim another 28% tax from the government and I can add it to my tax return and save 18%.

It's a shame we gave them 5 bags of stuff at 4:50 this Saturday when they weren't willing to let us in the shop so they didn't ask for my Help the Aged card and neither of us will get the tax benefits.

A good month for QuidCo payments

This lot have turned up in my QuidCo account over the last few days, which should result in an overall payout in a couple of days of £108.49

30 Jun 2008 15:04:55 EmpireDirect £42.54 £0.85 - JCB Pressure Washer

04 Jul 2008 18:52:40 Play.com £79.98 £3.20 - PS2 Guitar Heroes III inc 2 guitars

04 Jul 2008 22:55:56 Purple Parking £57.94 £7.50 - Gatwick parking for Nice holiday

07 Jul 2008 13:55:07 Carphone Warehouse £0.00 £20.00 - iPhone :)

10 Jul 2008 07:58:54 Play.com £20.97 £0.84 - CD and earphones

13 Jul 2008 08:56:33 Prudential Car Insurance £0.00 £75.00

This year's buildings and contents insurance

I won't be getting this year's buildings and contents insurance for free this year ;( The highest Quidco cashback rates have dropped since last year.

But if the cashback comes through then it's still looking free for contents and good value for buildings. Here're the numbers:

Contents: Halifax, £55 cashback, £52.50 quote, £150 excess, unlimited cover (excluding credit cards, mobiles phones and cash). Paid via interest free direct debit.

Buildings: Asda, £68 cashback, £92.15 quote, £200 excess. Paid using VISA as they didn't accept American Express so a missed 1% cashback opportunity.

Note, it's worth playing with the excess because some companies didn't increase the premium when reducing the excess, eg for Asda, it made no difference to have an excess of £150 or £250.

I also checked out Lloyds as they are offerking £120 cashback if you get joint buildings and contents cover but the quote was £197 so it wasn't a cheap as buying separately from different companies.

Update: Checked Quidco this morning and pleased to see:

£68.00 from Asda Finance tracked* on 14/09/2008
£55.00 from Halifax Home Insurance tracked on 14/09/2008

Abbey credit card to charge £10 dormancy fee

I have two credit cards with Abbey - one because it gave 5% cashback on the first £1000 of spend at supermarkets, and the Zero card which has 0% foreign transaction loading.

The Ts&Cs have been updated to say that if I don't use a card for 6 months then they can charge £10.

So that's one more thing to remember :(

Abbey Zero credit card versus Natwest for foreign purchases

I just received two credit card statements, one from an old Natwest VISA card and one from the Abbey Zero card. The Zero card is one with zero loading on foreign purchases. Normal cards like the Natwest one say they add around a 2.75% surcharge.

I see a transaction on each card for purchases in Euros from France that are reported on the same date. The Zero card gives an exchange rate of 1.2609 Euros to the pound, Natwest 1.204

This is a bigger difference than I expected - about 4.6%. I spent £336 on the Zero card so using it in preference to the Natwest card saved me about £16.

Farnborough Airshow 2008

Red Arrows and the Airbus A380

Airbus A380

Apache

On Sunday I went to the Farnborough Airshow. I went with my 2 daughters on the train from Eastleigh to Farnborough station, where free buses took us to the airfield.

We saw lots of static and flying planes and helicopters of which the Vulcan bomber, Eurofighter Typhoon F-35, Airbus A380 and the Red Arrows where the most memorable. The Vulcan was by far the loudest plane of the day.

There was a fair amount of free stuff to collect from the stands, although they were mostly engineering firms doing specialist pieces for planes so it was mostly the likes of Rolls Royce and BAE that had free stuff that interested us. The University of Manchester had a good stall with hands-on puzzles for children to experiment with. They gave us a badge and a keyring, but had run out of bouncy balls :(

There was an IBM truck, demonstrating the various Blade technologies to customers and partners. They also had a PS3 and Wii to play with and the very nice man I spoke to gave my kids a (VGA+, 800k) digital camera, a baseball cap and a folder. We also got to nibble on biscuits, Miniature Heroes and (full-fat) cold Coke.

The Red Arrows closed the show with their full display - it requires a fairly high cloud base - which lasted 30 minutes and was very impressive and polished. But for me, the highlights were the noisiest planes - the Vulcan and Eurofighter.

Even the kids said they had a good day out and would do it again. It helped that they had their Nintendo DS's for when they got bored but they enjoyed the atmosphere of the event - 80,000+ visitors, not including the 1,000s of support staff and pilots etc. Looking forward to going again in 2 years...