Yeah fond memories of riding abroad, especially on closed roads and in the Alps. Good luck for that monument sportive. There are a few people I know that have ridden Flanders gets mixed reviews, my best bud rode Flanders the day before the cheapskate as it was already signposted. PR was good but we’d already been out there a few times over the years and ridden sections of PR. We watched LeTour the first year in modern times that PR was included, the speeds the peloton came through was pretty impressive. The sportive was the only time I’ve cleaned the Arenburg Trench, the cobble sections were unbelievably rough. Lord knows how the Pro’s ride them in a peloton…….. I only ride very casually these days just using whatever time I can but nothing like I used to, no more rides to Church Stratton from Brocton and back. Only on my motorcycle these days.
As my Cateye front light doesn’t have enough battery for a weekend ride, I’ve ordered a Garmin varia to go with the 1030 plus and rear. They are a few £ off at Amazon & Sigma, hopefully will be able to test it on Friday.
I'm hoping to do some cycling/cycle touring soon, once the world comes to it's bloody senses! Really fancy Italy/Tuscany.
Always fancied doing this just never got to it unfortunately, it’s an Italian sportive but they sell a map of the route for around 10 euro. https://eroica.cc/en/gaiole/permanent-route A little more on the back roads around Tuscany @Nelson: https://gfstradebianche.it/en/route/ https://www.bella-toscana.com/strade-bianche-of-tuscany/
well, that was an interesting ride... rode through dusk and into the dark - on the way back about 4 miles from home the lugs on my light mount failed so I ended up riding home holding the light in my hand ! But lovely scenery just after sunset
Knacker cold pedal tonight. Ended up riding around the estate twice to make it up to the 20 mile mark. Why?
Does anyone know if it’s possible/ practical to repair a cracked aluminium frame? My local bike shop have refused to service my bike because they found a hairline crack at the bottom of the seat post (health and safety!!)
sounds sensible - I do that/would do that with me, it's when my heart isn't quite in it, so can shorten length of ride if need be.
If you can find someone with the skill to repair aluminium so thin then yes it’s possible whether it’s practical is the question. I know of 1 person that repairs aluminium frames he’s in Leek iirc, if you want me to find his contact details let me know. It mostly boils down to is the frame worth the cost/trouble on a personal or financial level to you.
I’ve been wearing a pair of 2021 Northwave Celsius XC GTX Winter Boots, which are a step up from the previous older pair. Recently i noticed that one of the Boa adjustment knobs was loose and on closer inspection the screw was coming out. It’s so small I could see it for sure but my wife (better eyesight) advises it’s a hex. But despite having a lot of hex keys I don’t have anything that small so trying to buy the right one. Anyone know what size, is it likely to be metric or imperial?
. You need someone who uses a TiG welder, likely to be a specialist welder, they will probably need to prepare the crack by grinding out a vee shape before welding. It’s not going to look the same as it did before.
about four years ago we rode down to Tuscany on the GSA and stayed at Radda in Chianti for a week, wonderful place, highly likely to return but wife doesn’t cycle so it will be on a motorbike.
I did a Mountain Mayhem 24hr solo once absolutely no idea how many laps or miles I did as I hated every long bumpy sodding minute of it. But I’ve done two Newcastle to London rides (315 miles) in 24hrs (the first one we did in 18 hrs 28 minutes as a peloton of about 10) and then a 350 miler as a peloton in just under 24 hrs which were completely different, great fun.
I've had an alloy frame welded by a guy local to me (Isle of Man) - a very very good welder used by a lot of local motorbike guys for bits, did a great job but the frame failed again in exactly the same spot a few hundred miles later.
That pretty much sums up my first couple of 24 hour races but once I got me and my riding gear dialled in I loved them.
Just an addition to my original reply TBH they did the right thing IMO, they could have serviced your bike and still told you of the crack.
1 mm hex, put a little locktight Blue IMO to prevent a repeat of the loosening. You can buy replacement wheels should you loose them or the lace breaks which seems a common problem.
