Progress Log, Week 4. Mixed results...

Here are the stats for week 4:

29/01/2013
7hr 35min cycling
96.4  miles
My weight: 186.7lb
Weekly weight loss/gain: +0.9lb
25.8 lb to go. My weight goal is 160.9lb

Better get the bad news out of the way: a weight gain of nearly a pound is a concern, especially when I've cycled lots. I've found that this can happen shortly into a fitness drive and I think it's related to building muscle mass, which is heavier than fat. Well, that's the best spin I can put on it! I'm sticking to the plan, so I expect my weight to recommence the downward trend very soon.

The cycling continues apace, despite the pretty awful weather, which has only just risen above freezing in the past couple of days. I'm continuing with the Strava Cycling Base Mile Challenge and hope to exceed six hundred miles before the end of the month, which will be good going for me, especially for January. I've sixty miles to go, with three days left, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Equipment-wise, a deteriorating rear gear change quality on the Roberts proved to be due to the gear cable fraying at the bottom bracket cable guide. Luckily it seized just as I got home and didn't leave me stuck in top gear. At the same time, my chain wear gauge showed more than .75mm stretch, so the chain was changed for another KMC X10L, a great value chain, with an excellent split link fixing system. A quick spin round the block shows that the change is superb once more, so I'll keep a closer eye on wear on these mundane but important components in future.

Park Tool CC 3.2

The wear indicator, the Park Tool CC 3.2 is a 'must have': the hooked end rests against a link roller and if either the 0.5mm or 0.75mm end can fit between the rollers at the other end, then that's how much wear you've got. I've ignored chain stretch in the past and had to change gear cassette and chainrings along with the chain, at great expense, so the £10 or so for this tool represents a sound investment.

Rubber fetish

The 'rejects' pile.

Like many cyclists, I've got through a fair few sets of tyres in my time. If I'm objective about it, I would have to own up to an obsession only just falling short of the full Immelda Marcos (substitute tyres for shoes and you get the picture). I recognise, that is probably rooted in a tendency to put down accidents that may or may not be caused by my rudimentary bike-handling skills to my choice of tyre and immediately look for something better. There are those close to me who shake their heads in despair and claim that they can never discern any difference between one set and another and implore me to 'just ride round it'. In my view, however, I believe that tyres are important: they're the only thing connecting bike and rider to the road, after all. Based on a great deal of trial and error, I would like to present my recommendations and save readers the effort and expense of endless tyre swaps:

Road bike (clincher) - Continental GP4000S 24-25 mm

I've been using Continental's current performance clincher, the GP4000 and now the 4000S which improves on its predecessor by using Continental 'Black Chilli' compound with added p'tang yang kipperbangs. It's main attractions are light weight, good grip on wet or dry roads, satisfactory wear and reasonable puncture resistance. It comes in a range of sizes and I'm rather impressed with the comfort and low rolling resistance of the 25mm versions. I can't really fault it as an all-round tyre. If you were looking for something narrower, the Continental 'Attack' front and 'Force' rear combination are very good. They feel a little faster but are more easily cut by flints in my experience.

Road bike (tubular) - Veloflex Roubaix 25 mm

Despite the hype around modern clincher tyres, nothing still touches a good tubular and these handmade Italian beauties are some of the best. They roll really well, have excellent dry road grip and have a wonderfully supple casing, making them comfortable and easy to glue on. I like the natural-coloured sidewalls and they have a puncture-resistant belt, providing security at the expense of a little extra weight. Of course, nothing deflects a determined flint - our ancestors used them to pierce mammoth hides after all, so they are still going to puncture now and again. Although now advertised as 25mm, they are slightly smaller in volume than the Continentals. They are difficult to get hold of from UK retailers and I usually mail order mine from France. Expensive too at £80-90 each. I haven't tried Dugast or FMB, yet, but the Veloflexes will take a lot of beating. Lovely, lovely tyres.

XC bike (muddy conditions) - Bontrager Mud-X 2.0 in

I'm not keen on riding in mud, especially the gloopy clay that builds up in a layer round many tyres, adding a couple of kilogrammes and delivering zero grip. Unfortunately, it's unavoidable for much of the year. These tyres resist clogging pretty well, have a reasonably grippy compound, but do not feel draggy when the course dries out. They are well priced and can be run tubeless on my Stans rims. The width is a good compromise: they dig in in deep mud, yet still have enough volume to hang on well enough over slippery roots.

XC bike (dry conditions) - Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25 in

These tyres are very light, grippy in the dry and have enough tread at the edges to hang on in extremis. The width is a bit of a squeeze under the rear of my Giant Anthem, but as I don't use them when it is really muddy, this is not a problem. Again, I run them tubeless on Stan's rims and they go on easily and stay inflated.

Trail bike - Schwalbe Hans Dampf 2.35 in (front) Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.25 in (rear)

Designed to be a 'jack of all trades' tyre, the Dampfs work extremely well, offering bags of grip on roots and rocks, have enough volume to soak up a lot of shock, yet are not as heavy as a downhill tyre. I use the grippy 'Trailstar' compound on the front and the lower rolling-resistance, slightly narrower Nobby Nics on the back in 'Pacestar' compound, complimenting the fronts very well and giving good traction in a range of conditions. Both tyres have the 'Snakeskin' protection casing, adding a little weight and stiffness, but resisting cuts very well, giving a real feeling of security. Once more, they run tubeless with Stan's on Easton Haven rims with no problems. I go for the 'tubeless ready' versions of Schwalbe tyres, rather than UST models as there's a significant weight saving.

Punctures really spoil a ride, especially off-road, so I've become a big fan of Stan's fluid and use it on all my mountain bike tyres, rarely, if ever puncturing these days. It offers a weight saving too, as MTB inner tubes are a couple of hundred grammes each. It is worth topping up the fluid every six months or so because it will dry out, leaving the tyres at the mercy of flints and thorns. I would urge anyone still using tubes to give tubeless a go: there's no going back!

Progress Log, Week 3. Stop yer wining.

Here are the stats for week 3:

22/01/2013
12hr 30min cycling
149.5 miles
My weight: 185.8lb
Weekly weight loss/gain: +0.2lb
24.9 lb to go. My weight goal is 160.9lb

Specialized Epic: Wivenhoe trail

Well, the cycling is going well, despite a week of nothing but snow and ice. I've used the mountain bikes both on and off-road as it's too slippery to use a road bike. On yesterday's spin around the Wivenhoe trail, I averaged 7.7 mph, but went pretty much flat out for over two hours through the soft snow. Never have I expended so much effort for so little speed!

While the time spent cycling is above target, the weight loss stalled this week, disappointingly and I have to confess that my fondness for food and wine is the reason. Next week there will be no deviations from the programme and I'm expecting the weight loss to get back on track. We'll see...

Irrational Anthem

I would like to think that my bike purchases are considered, rational and born out of need. I have sufficient self-awareness, however to accept that this is rarely the case and my Giant Anthem is a good illustration of this. It's predecessor was a delightful Specialized Epic S-Works, a light four-inch travel, full-suspension, cross-country bike, featuring a carbon main-triangle frame and pretty much all you would need for  bike of this type. I bought the Specialized frame from an end-of-line sale for a good price, around £800 and although I would have preferred the carbon Giant Anthem frame, none were available for less than twice this amount at that time. I was happy enough until some time later, I happened across an advert for a similar bargain, but this time for one of the last new examples of my favoured Giant frame for a mere £999 and had to snap it up.

A light frame...

I have always loved the design: the 'Maestro' rear end of Giant MTB's has been well-regarded and never looked better than on the 3 1/2 inch travel Anthem Advanced. The current version employs a vertically-mounted suspension unit, adds a further half-inch of travel and is built to accommodate the fashionable tapered-steerer forks, but at the time was significantly more expensive. Given that the fork I was to transfer from the old bike had a conventional non-tapered stem, it made sense to go for the older style frame. Older it may be but it remains pretty much state of the art. The main and rear triangles are all carbon, with the exception of the lower link, which is made from magnesium alloy so it remains as light as they come for a full suspension frame. I generally go for a medium frame with an MTB, but the top tubes are on the long side on these frames, so the small size with its 22.6 in top tube suits me nicely.

As new, these Anthems had 80 mm front forks, although a number of riders have fitted 100 mm forks, like the Fox F100 I transferred from the S-Works. This slackens off the relatively steep, by today's standards, 72 degree steering head angle a little, which is no bad thing as the steering is pretty sharp anyway. While the rear travel is half an inch shorter than the Specialized's it does not feel that way in practice and the rear is much more supple than its travel measurement would suggest. Further irrational behaviour is manifest in my subsequent upgrading of the fork stanchions and rear shock to Fox's 'Kashima'-coated versions. The low-friction surfaces look fantastic, but I can't honestly detect any great difference in the function of these already excellent suspension components.


I've kitted it out in the main with Shimano XTR M985 race components. I love the 2x10 setup they now offer and run a 40/28 front and 11-34 rear and find this perfect for XC racing. There is a good range of gears and the change quality is superb. The drivetrain is complimented by the wonderful brakes that are sensitive, powerful and have proved to be pretty much 'fit and forget'. Wheels are Hope XC3 with 24 straight pull spokes and natty 3-bolt discs, a great value, reliable wheelset, currently fitted with tubeless Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25 in tyres. Clearance at the back is a little tight for these tyres, but as I generally use them for dryish XC races, it's not a problem. Finishing kit is Thomson Elite X4 stem and seat post (my favourites), Easton XC90 bars and Fi'zi:k Gobi saddle. It all adds up to a light bike (21-22lb, according to my not very accurate luggage scales) and one which functions beautifully.

The Anthem excels in its primary role, cross-country racing and while heavier than a carbon hardtail, it gets me round XC courses without beating me up too badly. Steering is sharp and the compact frame makes the bike easy to throw around. A sign of its excellence is the way in which it handles terrain it was not really designed for. It's been for thrashes round Nant yr Arian and Machynlleth in Wales and coped brilliantly. Unlike on a proper trail bike, however, I had to stay 100% alert and keep my weight well back on the descents, otherwise flying over the steep front end would have been the order of the day. Needless to say, the bike was a delight on the ascents. In the recent spell of cold weather, the Anthem has allowed me to get out on the frozen roads which I would avoid on my road bike. There is sufficient grip from the wide tyres to stay upright and I find that my average speed is only around 2mph slower on average than my road bike.


I would recommend an Anthem (alloy or carbon) without hesitation: it really is all you could ever need in an XC bike. Furthermore it is worth looking out for 'end of line' bargains, as the old model will still be just as good as it ever was, yet can be picked up for a fraction of it's original cost. Come to think of it, that's quite a rational way to buy a bike!

Progress Log, Week 2. Shut up and ride.

In true New Year Resolution style, I've been determined to keep to the 'lose weight, gain fitness' plan and so far it is going quite well. Here are the stats for this week:

15/01/2013
12hr 08min cycling
175.1 miles
My weight: 185.6lb
Weekly weight loss/gain: -2.5lb
24.7 lb to go. My weight goal is 160.9lb

I didn't say too much about it last week, mainly because it was so painful. It's hard to relay the misery of hauling your excess weight up a steep hill, into a relentless northerly wind, using gears that feel as if they should belong on Bradley Wiggins's time-trial bike, Garmin blinking out a doleful 14.2 mph average, unless you've experienced it, but there really is no substitute for just getting on the bike and putting the miles in. There are many good excuses for not going out:

1. The weather. January in Essex is usually cold and miserable and this year is no exception. The upside is that no two days are the same, so one day you might be riding in freezing fog, the next fighting a biting Arctic wind and the one after grovelling through driving sleet, so at least there is plenty of variety. If you get out a lot, you have a good chance of collecting all the adverse weather conditions and filling up your sticker book that way.
2. Cold feet. It must be my advancing age or something, but after an hour or so of riding in 0-5 degrees C my feet start to go numb. Despite some nice Gore overshoes, the numbness starts at the toes and makes me feel like a bilateral foot amputee by the time I've covered thirty miles. Somebody somewhere must make some heated insoles and if they do, I'm getting some!



Gt Tey to Aldham road. 3 months after resurfacing!

3. The roads. Essex has some excellent minor roads that are generally light on traffic, but are in a pretty awful state of repair. The photo on the right shows a typical road surface that has been maintained by the 'papering over the cracks' technique so beloved of Essex County Council in these cash-straitened times. I observed the road works on this road in action not three months ago and it involved a large contraption resembling something from a Miyazaki cartoon, spanning the width of the road, spraying liquid tar over the existing road surface that may or may not have had potholes filled earlier by some sort of tarmac-firing 'shotgun', while simultaneously sprinkling a thick layer of granite chips over the wet tar. The tar cools and the chips set, helped by passing vehicles pressing the chips down. The manpower costs must be quite low: two chaps operating the road surfacer, with another bored-looking individual further down the road sitting in a van. I'm not sure what he does, but it must be important.
   The only downside of this technique is that it, well, just doesn't work, leaving enraged motorists with smashed windscreens from flying stone chips and traumatised cyclists with numb hands from the vibration of the road surface, broken wheels from crashing into new potholes where the old ones were and broken bones from falling off after getting stuck in the seams from the previous road repairs. It's becoming so bad that Essex could really host it's own Paris-Roubaix type race, say the 'Coggeshall to Nayland'. Thing is, I'm sure that if veteran hard men Eddy Merckx and Roger de Vlaeminck were brought over to promote it, they'd quickly collapse by the verge and cry like babies. Suffice to say, the roads do beat you up a bit!

Nevertheless, I'm pleased to say that I've more than doubled my goal of six hours cycling last week. Apart for the weight loss/fitness drive, the Strava Cycling Base Mile Blast has proved to be a good incentive to get out on the bike. I covered 175 miles last week, more than I rode in any one week last year, bringing my total for January up to 316 miles. I was surprised at how I've recovered day-on-day, avoiding any injuries by keeping the pace steady and I expect to be able to pick the speed up later in the year. Freezing road conditions are definitely hazardous, but I've found that when the roads are icy, my mountain bike, with its 2.25 in tyres pumped up to 'squishy' copes well with the conditions and keeps me upright when my road bike with its 25 mm contact patches would be on the deck. The weather started to get really cold today, mind, so I'm going to need to keep the motivation going, but it's good to start to see progress so soon into the process.

Decline and Fail?

When riding a bike day in, day out, it's easy to get used to parts that aren't working at their best, because degradation is generally a very gradual process. This was brought home this week when my rear Campagnolo Record brake caliper, a 1999 model, seized and left the pads rubbing on the wheel rim. The problem was caused by the caliper bearings becoming clogged up with dirt, a situation not helped by the Salmon mudguards on my Roberts, which offer little protection to the brakes. I was resigned to the internals having become a corroded, irreparable mess, which would serve me right for being vain enough to use twinkly top-of-the-line brakes on my 'hack' bike and consoled my self with the thought that they had at least given ten years of regular service.

Half-disassembled. Time to break out the hammer!

Out of academic interest, I disassembled the calipers to see how extensive the damage was. The process was pretty straightforward, only requiring three allen keys and a couple of open-ended spanners. Disassembly of the pivots was the only difficult part: I was hit painfully on the palm by the main spring pinging free of its retaining clip when unscrewing the first and had a bit of a job with the second one, which required a 3mm allen key which was only just up to the job of transmitting the forces required. A healthy application of penetrating oil and the odd 'tap' with a hammer eventually got it unstuck!

Clean as a whistle!

As expected, the bearings were completely seized, with the races being clogged by a gritty paste. The surprise, however was that once cleaned up, the internals were completely undamaged and the micro bearing races were as smooth as butter once they had been re-greased. The next challenge was to reassemble the parts and of course I had completely forgotten how the various parts went together. Happily, salvation was at hand, courtesy of the 1999 Campagnolo Parts Catalogue which helpfully displays an exploded diagram of the components in assembly order, complete with parts numbers. With the help of the diagram, reassembly was a breeze and I was delighted to find that on re-installation, the caliper action was beautifully light and smooth, so much so that the still-functioning front caliper seemed heavy in comparison. Following a disassembly, clean, lube and reassembly, the front was soon equally light and smooth.


The lesson here is that there is no substitute for routine maintenance, to prevent breakdowns and to keep parts functioning as they did when they were new. The next job is to take a look at the gear levers, which probably have similar problems and would account for the change not being as slick or reliable as I remember when they were new. I suspect there might be some parts damage in this case as the 1999 model lever had changes made to some of the internal parts. I'll order them in, see how the job goes and report the outcome in a future post.

Now that they're fully functional once more, I'm reminded of just what superb components the Campagnolo dual-pivot calipers are. Introduced in 1993, they replaced the achingly beautiful but God-awful Delta calipers (I know because I had a set) and, apart from cosmetic changes, continue in Campagnolo's road component ranges to this day. It's ironic that the Deltas go for funny money these days whenever they come up on eBay, yet the dual-pivots remain relatively affordable. I can wholeheartedly recommend them because they are powerful, easy to modulate, pretty, beautifully made and as I have now discovered, fully serviceable. A five-star piece of kit!

Progress Log, Week 1. The cold light of day

I don't know whether it's a widely appreciated phenomenon, but there seems to be a direct correlation between festive indulgence and weight gain. As a consequence of much eating and drinking over Christmas and the New Year, combined with no exercise, the statistics were sobering:

01/01/2013
0 hr 0 min cycling
0 miles
My weight: 191.3lb

So it's back to the plan. At least 6 hours of cycling a week, three meals a day and nothing else, alcohol no more than twice a week. It didn't quite work out that way, what with a couple of New Year social events, but there has been some progress:

08/01/2013
6hr 14min cycling
83.2 miles
My weight: 188.1lb.
27.1lb to go. My weight goal is 160.9lb

Just to keep up the momentum, I've signed up to the Strava cycling 'Base Mile Blast' to encourage me to get out on the bike. My aim is to crack the five hundred mike mark for the month.