A very beautiful bug.
Friday, 19 August 2011
Pay attention to your kit......
..... or else it will bite you on the arse.
I had a chain snap on me the other day. Fortunately I was only a 5 minute walk from home. It could have been a lot further. I was also fortunate in that I wasn't honking up hill on the way to work or standing out of the saddle accelerating like a mad thing. If I had been, the sudden loss of resistance could well have resulted in a VERY painful manbits/ stem or top tube interface. That doesn't bear thinking about!
Anyhoo, on examining the chain I found that my maintenance had been somewhat lacking. I had been religiously cleaning and oiling the chain but, my inspection of its integrity was somewhat flawed. I had been suffering a slightly sticky link section which had responded to WD40 application, lateral pressure to loosen the links and much manipulation after soaking in oil. I thought this had solved it. What I didn't realise was that although the side plates had freed up, the rollers on the affected link were seized. Look at the profile of the rollers on this section of chain-
See how they have worn away and deformed.
In this image you can see a small stub of metal protruding beyond the side plate. This is part of the roller also-
Look after your kit folks, then, once youv'e done that, look after it again- just to be safe.
I had a chain snap on me the other day. Fortunately I was only a 5 minute walk from home. It could have been a lot further. I was also fortunate in that I wasn't honking up hill on the way to work or standing out of the saddle accelerating like a mad thing. If I had been, the sudden loss of resistance could well have resulted in a VERY painful manbits/ stem or top tube interface. That doesn't bear thinking about!
Anyhoo, on examining the chain I found that my maintenance had been somewhat lacking. I had been religiously cleaning and oiling the chain but, my inspection of its integrity was somewhat flawed. I had been suffering a slightly sticky link section which had responded to WD40 application, lateral pressure to loosen the links and much manipulation after soaking in oil. I thought this had solved it. What I didn't realise was that although the side plates had freed up, the rollers on the affected link were seized. Look at the profile of the rollers on this section of chain-
See how they have worn away and deformed.
In this image you can see a small stub of metal protruding beyond the side plate. This is part of the roller also-
Look after your kit folks, then, once youv'e done that, look after it again- just to be safe.
Friday, 12 August 2011
London Riots (And Elsewhere).
I haven’t had much chance to get on the blog recently as I have been otherwise engaged. Not on duty dealing with the disorder but helping to back fill and cover other stuff whilst my colleagues have been deployed.
This post isn't about the disorder in particular. I am going to say a little about it before I get on the thrust of this post though.
First, I feel absolutely gutted for the family of Mark Duggan. They are dealing with the loss of a member of their family. I'm not going to post about the circumstances. It is being investigated and to my mind, we should wait until the investigation is complete before saying our piece. No, I feel gutted for them as a result of the objective of the original peaceful protest being hijacked and turned into a number of nights of criminal activity. Shameful.
I also don't want to get too embroiled in the war of words between the Police leaders and the Political leaders about tactics and who did what or what could have been done better. This will also be decided after an investigation. My Bosses probably could have done better and reacted mores speedily. Perhaps they felt apprehension, a fear of being torn to shreds by our political masters if it was perceived we went over the top? I don't know. What I do know is that we need to keep Prime Minister Cameron, Home Secretary May and the rest of them close. Best know where your enemy is. They should have stepped up and backed us up to the hilt initially, when the bricks were flying and the officers were going down. Save criticism for afterwards, when my colleagues have stepped back from the front line and the inquiry into events has provide the real answers, not the knee jerk spin the politicos seem to thrive on.
I'm not going to go into hang em high or hand wringing apologist modes. I have my views about those engaged in the criminal activity and I will save them, maybe for another time.
No, what I DO want to talk about is the good stuff that has come out of these last days of chaos, fear and tragedy.
I will start with one of the most noble and heart rending moments of recent days. In Birmingham, 3 young Muslim men were run down and killed by a car whilst they were on the streets, looking after their community. Tariq Jahan, the father of one of the young men, Haroon, spoke out the other day. Was this in anger? No, it was in grief but, despite his grief, he still had the dignity to appeal to his community to not escalate things, to live together and not allow themselves to find themselves in the situation he was in- the loss of a loved one. This is a man with dignity.
I then want to mention the various groups around the country of all backgrounds who have come together to protect their communities, be they Turks looking after the local businesses, Sikhs and Muslims preventing criminals attacking their temples, Joe Public preventing the attack on local shops. Some may criticise this perceived vigilante action. I applaud it. They are not being vigilantes, they aren't roaming the streets hunting down hoodie wearing looters and dispensing summary justice. They are just stepping up and saying "No. Not in MY community."
Next I want to talk about the Broom Brigade. Recent news footage has included many images of ordinary folk getting together and clearing the streets of the debris of the overnight battles. Men and women of all races, religions backgrounds and ages getting on the streets and trying to restore as much an element of normality as they can. Not in response to some TV request by a politician. In response to a feeling that their community has been hurt and needs to be made well again.
Finally I want to talk about the unknown folk who, having seen the plight of people who have lost their homes to arson, hard workers whose businesses have been looted or destroyed and many other victims who are now struggling to get by after becoming victims of violence and thuggery who have felt compelled to lend their support in the best way they can. In some cases it is turning up at a ransacked shop and offering to help the owner to straighten things out so they can get back into operation. In other cases it is the offer of financial assistance to businesses and families who have lost everything. It may only be £5, £10, £20. It may be more. It doesn't matter. It is help. That is so important now.
Over the last week, Britain, particularly England, has been in the news spotlight. The rioting and looting and destruction isn't Britain. Not MY Britain.
The dignity in adversity. The coming together and saying NO. This will not continue. THAT is MY Britain.
This post isn't about the disorder in particular. I am going to say a little about it before I get on the thrust of this post though.
First, I feel absolutely gutted for the family of Mark Duggan. They are dealing with the loss of a member of their family. I'm not going to post about the circumstances. It is being investigated and to my mind, we should wait until the investigation is complete before saying our piece. No, I feel gutted for them as a result of the objective of the original peaceful protest being hijacked and turned into a number of nights of criminal activity. Shameful.
I also don't want to get too embroiled in the war of words between the Police leaders and the Political leaders about tactics and who did what or what could have been done better. This will also be decided after an investigation. My Bosses probably could have done better and reacted mores speedily. Perhaps they felt apprehension, a fear of being torn to shreds by our political masters if it was perceived we went over the top? I don't know. What I do know is that we need to keep Prime Minister Cameron, Home Secretary May and the rest of them close. Best know where your enemy is. They should have stepped up and backed us up to the hilt initially, when the bricks were flying and the officers were going down. Save criticism for afterwards, when my colleagues have stepped back from the front line and the inquiry into events has provide the real answers, not the knee jerk spin the politicos seem to thrive on.
I'm not going to go into hang em high or hand wringing apologist modes. I have my views about those engaged in the criminal activity and I will save them, maybe for another time.
No, what I DO want to talk about is the good stuff that has come out of these last days of chaos, fear and tragedy.
I will start with one of the most noble and heart rending moments of recent days. In Birmingham, 3 young Muslim men were run down and killed by a car whilst they were on the streets, looking after their community. Tariq Jahan, the father of one of the young men, Haroon, spoke out the other day. Was this in anger? No, it was in grief but, despite his grief, he still had the dignity to appeal to his community to not escalate things, to live together and not allow themselves to find themselves in the situation he was in- the loss of a loved one. This is a man with dignity.
I then want to mention the various groups around the country of all backgrounds who have come together to protect their communities, be they Turks looking after the local businesses, Sikhs and Muslims preventing criminals attacking their temples, Joe Public preventing the attack on local shops. Some may criticise this perceived vigilante action. I applaud it. They are not being vigilantes, they aren't roaming the streets hunting down hoodie wearing looters and dispensing summary justice. They are just stepping up and saying "No. Not in MY community."
Next I want to talk about the Broom Brigade. Recent news footage has included many images of ordinary folk getting together and clearing the streets of the debris of the overnight battles. Men and women of all races, religions backgrounds and ages getting on the streets and trying to restore as much an element of normality as they can. Not in response to some TV request by a politician. In response to a feeling that their community has been hurt and needs to be made well again.
Finally I want to talk about the unknown folk who, having seen the plight of people who have lost their homes to arson, hard workers whose businesses have been looted or destroyed and many other victims who are now struggling to get by after becoming victims of violence and thuggery who have felt compelled to lend their support in the best way they can. In some cases it is turning up at a ransacked shop and offering to help the owner to straighten things out so they can get back into operation. In other cases it is the offer of financial assistance to businesses and families who have lost everything. It may only be £5, £10, £20. It may be more. It doesn't matter. It is help. That is so important now.
Over the last week, Britain, particularly England, has been in the news spotlight. The rioting and looting and destruction isn't Britain. Not MY Britain.
The dignity in adversity. The coming together and saying NO. This will not continue. THAT is MY Britain.
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
90.5 mile!
What a p**s poor month for mileage July was!
I don't know what happened but 90.5 miles is terrible. Only beaten in 2011 by the just over 70 miles in February.
I did have a stinking cold for a few days and a week or so away from work doing DIY type stuff (I HATE gloss painting!) at home didn't help but, 90.5 miles?
Me! You are a looser!
Gah!
I don't know what happened but 90.5 miles is terrible. Only beaten in 2011 by the just over 70 miles in February.
I did have a stinking cold for a few days and a week or so away from work doing DIY type stuff (I HATE gloss painting!) at home didn't help but, 90.5 miles?
Me! You are a looser!
Gah!
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Yet another thing of cycling beauty
When I recently fitted my Brooks Team Pro saddle to my commuter bike, I was unsable to fit the saddle pack I had been using as the rail spacing was too wide. As a result, my spare tubes and tools were carried in my pannier. The outcome of this was them migrating to the bottom of the bag, hiding under the poly bag I use as a waterproof liner. Not an ideal situation so I decided to invest in some new luggage.
After a bit of research, I decided to invest in a Carradice Barley-
Carradice of Nelson are manufacturers of a range of bike luggage, clothing and other equipment. The Barley saddle bag is from their "Originals" range which hark back to their begginings. In the early 1930's, keen cyclist Wilf Carradice was looking for a good saddle bagbut was unable to find what he wanted. He had the brainwave of trying to make one for himself. His resulting bag was so succesful that his friends started to aske him the make bags for them. Carradice of Nelson was born. Their craftsmanship (or craftswomanship) is plain to see. Their Originals (and possibly othet ranges) are all signed by the person who made them. Mine is a Christine
My Barley is made from traditional materials- Cotton Duck, a tight weave heavy duty cotton fabric proofed with naturally sourced waterproofing and leather straps. As I said, it is a thing of cycling beauty and, being British made, complements my Brooks saddle perfectly
After a bit of research, I decided to invest in a Carradice Barley-
Carradice of Nelson are manufacturers of a range of bike luggage, clothing and other equipment. The Barley saddle bag is from their "Originals" range which hark back to their begginings. In the early 1930's, keen cyclist Wilf Carradice was looking for a good saddle bagbut was unable to find what he wanted. He had the brainwave of trying to make one for himself. His resulting bag was so succesful that his friends started to aske him the make bags for them. Carradice of Nelson was born. Their craftsmanship (or craftswomanship) is plain to see. Their Originals (and possibly othet ranges) are all signed by the person who made them. Mine is a Christine
My Barley is made from traditional materials- Cotton Duck, a tight weave heavy duty cotton fabric proofed with naturally sourced waterproofing and leather straps. As I said, it is a thing of cycling beauty and, being British made, complements my Brooks saddle perfectly
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
The boy done good
As did the Aussie!
Well done to Cadel Evans on finally nailing the yellow jersey in Paris. A really gutsy performance in the Alps. I think there are going to be some very overhung Aussie heads for the next few days.
Even better though was Mark Cavendish finishing the Tour with his third Champs Elysees victory in a row and winning the Green Jersey overall. Last year Cav became the first rider ever to win in Paris two years in a row. Doing it three times just confirms what many along with I think. Cav is now a legend.
Congratulations also go out to Samuel Sanchez for his King of the Mountains victory, Pierre Rolland for his Best young Rider win and to Team Garmin Cervelo for taking the Best team prize.
This year has been the most exiting Tour I can remember. The organisers came up with a cunning plan to liven things up. It worked a treat! Roll on next year!
Well done to Cadel Evans on finally nailing the yellow jersey in Paris. A really gutsy performance in the Alps. I think there are going to be some very overhung Aussie heads for the next few days.
Even better though was Mark Cavendish finishing the Tour with his third Champs Elysees victory in a row and winning the Green Jersey overall. Last year Cav became the first rider ever to win in Paris two years in a row. Doing it three times just confirms what many along with I think. Cav is now a legend.
Congratulations also go out to Samuel Sanchez for his King of the Mountains victory, Pierre Rolland for his Best young Rider win and to Team Garmin Cervelo for taking the Best team prize.
This year has been the most exiting Tour I can remember. The organisers came up with a cunning plan to liven things up. It worked a treat! Roll on next year!
Monday, 18 July 2011
Rest day
So our heroes are taking a well deserved rest day today, not that they won't get out and ride for a couple of hours just to keep the legs moving.
The last few days have been very interesting, watching the GC contenders watching each other and apparently not knowing what to do. I expected at least one of them to use the Pyrenees as a spring board and launch an attack on the rest of the contenders and maybe pull out a decent lead. I expected wrong. What the indecision from the favourites has done however, is leave Thomas Voeckler in the yellow jersey. It has now reached the stage where everyone (except Tommy himself) thinks he can do the whole hog and win the Tour. The Alps will be extremely telling. If Tommy can dig in and hang on in the Alps like he has in the Pyrenees, the favourites will have to do him in the individual time trial on the penultimate day.
It was nice to see Jens Voigt doing what Jens Voigt does best the other day. Two unscheduled dismounts and he still gets back on board and makes the rest of the peleton feel pain. I love that guy!
A Layman's (or Laywoman's) guide to the Tour de France part the second.
Some tactics.
Breakaways.
Just about every road stage in the Tour involves one or more riders launching themselves off the front of the peleton after a few kilometres in a break. Why? Well, sometimes this is for commercial reasons. A lone rider (or small group) gets a lot of airtime on TV and this is very good exposure for the team sponsors. Other breaks are for good tactical reasons. The protagonists might be feeling good and believe they have a chance to win the stage. Generally, if there is no one in the breakaway that is a GC threat, the peleton will allow them to build up a considerable time advantage only for a team to start upping the pace to reel them in. More often than not, this reeling in process is completed in the last 3-5 kilometres however, sometimes it can go right down to the wire, with the break getting swallowed up in the final few hundred meters. Occasionally, the break will succeed and one of them wins the stage. I believe this was more prevalent in the days before all the riders were in radio contact with the team cars. A break could launch and the peleton might get its calculations wrong in the chase, or they might think they had caught the breakaway but not realise that a lone rider had broken away from the breakaway. Technology is progress though, right?
Drafting
By this I mean the practice of riders following each other very closely. Why? Well, apart form the sections of a stage where a climb is going on, the most difficult thing for a rider to do is cut through the air. If a line of cyclists are riding along, each rider only separated by a couple of inches between back and front wheels, the lead rider is probably putting in as much as 20% more effort than the rider behind him/ her. If you look at the peleton closely, the riders across the front of the bunch may all be down on the drops of their handlebars, pedalling hard to make progress. Those in the middle of the bunch may well be sitting up on the hoods, hardly turning a pedal, chatting away. This is because their effort level to maintain the pace does not include breaking through the air.
In a small group of riders, you will see them in a file, riding what is known as through and off. In this instance, the lead rider will stay on the front for a few hundred meters and then you will see him/ her flick their arm as a signal for the following rider to come through to the front as they peel off and tag on at the back for a slight rest. As the group progresses they take repeating turns at the front.
Some riders may abuse this slightly to increase their chance of a win by feigning fatigue and either taking very short stints at the front or just hanging on at the back or wheel sucking.
The ultimate exhibition of drafting is the Lead Out Train. This is a tactic used by the teams who have a sprinter to challenge for a stage win. They will probably be the teams that are dictating the pace of the peleton in the chase to reel in the breakaway. In the last couple of kilometres you will see the team trying to hold a line with their sprinter at the back. The lead rider of the line will ride as hard as they can to keep the pace high, limiting the opportunities for a last minute lone rider break. As they run out of steam they break off and the next rider keeps the pace going. This repeats until the last 500 meters or so when the last lead out rider goes hell for leather with the sprinter right behind him/ her. Their mission is to use all their energy to deliver their sprinter to a position where he/ she can kick out from behind them and take the stage win. HTC are prime examples of this skill with Mark Renshaw being the man who delivers Mark Cavendish to the line. Cav can (and does) win stages by following the wheel of other sprinters but, his team have become experts at bossing the peleton and putting mark on the launch pad. He rarely lets them down and his appreciation of their hard work is evident in his interviews.
Echelons
These are diagonal lines of riders combating cross winds. A cross wind is very disruptive to the peleton as shelter from a headwind is easier to find and organise- just get riders in front and swap out regularly. Having a diagonal line only works for the riders in that line. Once the edge of the road is reached, another echelon has to be formed for the tactic to be effective. Because of this, an astute team can cause chaos and, with a perfectly timed acceleration, cause a split in the bunch. The reason a split occurs is because concentration lapses with fatigue and combating a cross wind is hard work.
The last few days have been very interesting, watching the GC contenders watching each other and apparently not knowing what to do. I expected at least one of them to use the Pyrenees as a spring board and launch an attack on the rest of the contenders and maybe pull out a decent lead. I expected wrong. What the indecision from the favourites has done however, is leave Thomas Voeckler in the yellow jersey. It has now reached the stage where everyone (except Tommy himself) thinks he can do the whole hog and win the Tour. The Alps will be extremely telling. If Tommy can dig in and hang on in the Alps like he has in the Pyrenees, the favourites will have to do him in the individual time trial on the penultimate day.
It was nice to see Jens Voigt doing what Jens Voigt does best the other day. Two unscheduled dismounts and he still gets back on board and makes the rest of the peleton feel pain. I love that guy!
A Layman's (or Laywoman's) guide to the Tour de France part the second.
Some tactics.
Breakaways.
Just about every road stage in the Tour involves one or more riders launching themselves off the front of the peleton after a few kilometres in a break. Why? Well, sometimes this is for commercial reasons. A lone rider (or small group) gets a lot of airtime on TV and this is very good exposure for the team sponsors. Other breaks are for good tactical reasons. The protagonists might be feeling good and believe they have a chance to win the stage. Generally, if there is no one in the breakaway that is a GC threat, the peleton will allow them to build up a considerable time advantage only for a team to start upping the pace to reel them in. More often than not, this reeling in process is completed in the last 3-5 kilometres however, sometimes it can go right down to the wire, with the break getting swallowed up in the final few hundred meters. Occasionally, the break will succeed and one of them wins the stage. I believe this was more prevalent in the days before all the riders were in radio contact with the team cars. A break could launch and the peleton might get its calculations wrong in the chase, or they might think they had caught the breakaway but not realise that a lone rider had broken away from the breakaway. Technology is progress though, right?
Drafting
By this I mean the practice of riders following each other very closely. Why? Well, apart form the sections of a stage where a climb is going on, the most difficult thing for a rider to do is cut through the air. If a line of cyclists are riding along, each rider only separated by a couple of inches between back and front wheels, the lead rider is probably putting in as much as 20% more effort than the rider behind him/ her. If you look at the peleton closely, the riders across the front of the bunch may all be down on the drops of their handlebars, pedalling hard to make progress. Those in the middle of the bunch may well be sitting up on the hoods, hardly turning a pedal, chatting away. This is because their effort level to maintain the pace does not include breaking through the air.
In a small group of riders, you will see them in a file, riding what is known as through and off. In this instance, the lead rider will stay on the front for a few hundred meters and then you will see him/ her flick their arm as a signal for the following rider to come through to the front as they peel off and tag on at the back for a slight rest. As the group progresses they take repeating turns at the front.
Some riders may abuse this slightly to increase their chance of a win by feigning fatigue and either taking very short stints at the front or just hanging on at the back or wheel sucking.
The ultimate exhibition of drafting is the Lead Out Train. This is a tactic used by the teams who have a sprinter to challenge for a stage win. They will probably be the teams that are dictating the pace of the peleton in the chase to reel in the breakaway. In the last couple of kilometres you will see the team trying to hold a line with their sprinter at the back. The lead rider of the line will ride as hard as they can to keep the pace high, limiting the opportunities for a last minute lone rider break. As they run out of steam they break off and the next rider keeps the pace going. This repeats until the last 500 meters or so when the last lead out rider goes hell for leather with the sprinter right behind him/ her. Their mission is to use all their energy to deliver their sprinter to a position where he/ she can kick out from behind them and take the stage win. HTC are prime examples of this skill with Mark Renshaw being the man who delivers Mark Cavendish to the line. Cav can (and does) win stages by following the wheel of other sprinters but, his team have become experts at bossing the peleton and putting mark on the launch pad. He rarely lets them down and his appreciation of their hard work is evident in his interviews.
Echelons
These are diagonal lines of riders combating cross winds. A cross wind is very disruptive to the peleton as shelter from a headwind is easier to find and organise- just get riders in front and swap out regularly. Having a diagonal line only works for the riders in that line. Once the edge of the road is reached, another echelon has to be formed for the tactic to be effective. Because of this, an astute team can cause chaos and, with a perfectly timed acceleration, cause a split in the bunch. The reason a split occurs is because concentration lapses with fatigue and combating a cross wind is hard work.
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