Gratuitous Bike Porn!

I've had another go at taking a photograph of the new Etape that hopefully shows the current position of the handlebars and brake hoods - also the bike's shape and geometry generally. There is still a zero-setback seatpost to be fitted, but otherwise this is feeling really comfortable.

Thanks to Dave of the Yurtville blog for passing on some very useful bike-photography tips!

At the Mercy of the Wind

Having posted a 'backup' coffeeneuring post yesterday, I looked out the windows this morning and thought "Hmmm, looks bit breezy but at least the sun is shining, I'll give it a go. Maybe it's time for a Coffee Shop Without Walls coffeeneuring ride?"  I decided I'd just pop out to the new portrait bench on the Upper Lea Valley portion of NCN6 - only about 5 miles round trip but it'd be a lovely spot for a hot drink and a few photos.

Coffeeneuring Challenge: Ride 3

Destination: The Gary Cooper, Grove Park, Court Drive, Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU5 4GP
Date: Saturday, 26 October 2013

Hot drink of choice: Cappuccino

Total mileage: 15km (including my commute)

Ride details/report:

Heads up, this ride may not qualify, as it was on a working day. However, as the country is facing a severe "superstorm" warning tomorrow and Monday (my normal "weekend") and the winds are already picking up, I am almost certainly not venturing out on a bike in the next two days. I therefore respectfully request a substitution day this week. Of course, if this "superstorm" turns out to be a damp squib, then I'll be out on my bike and more than happy to submit another ride as a conventionally qualifying one in place of this.

Isle of Wight Holiday - Of Roman Villas, Aeroplanes and Windmills (Day 5)

-- More adventures on the Isle of Wight in August --

Day 5 dawned clear and sunny (again) with the promise of being a bit of a scorcher. We prepared to leave the house for another glorious day on our bikes. While wheeling my bike from the living room to the front door, I noticed the front brake block rubbing on the wheel.... turns out my little clipless moment had buckled the wheel! (As well as damaging the rear mech - something I didn't discover until a few days later when I really needed that 34x36 gear!)

Thankfully, Adam was able to re-true the wheel. The alternative would have been to take the bike to a bike shop by car.

We set off through Shanklin and Lake, where we turned off and picked up part of the Round the Isle route as far as Brading. Our destination: the Roman Villa.

Titanium #2: Finally! A Test Ride

This post is the next in my series about my journey to having a custom bike built. It covers my first visit to Enigma on 30 July 2013, which was while I was still in negotiations with Cyclefit/Seven.

In July, I began going through the design > order > build process at Cyclefit with a view to buying a custom Seven Axiom S frame. However, I was pursuing that avenue essentially on the basis of Seven's incredible reputation for quality workmanship. There was no possibility of test riding a Seven anywhere. Having not seen one of their bikes in the flesh, I suppose it was a form of blind faith.

However, I hadn't given up altogether on the idea of a test ride of a titanium bike -- any titanium bike. As the weeks went by (and with some frustration with the Cyclefit/Seven process beginning to creep in), I set out to contact a few UK manufacturers of titanium bikes (whether stock or custom), to see if I couldn't at least have a little ride on one of their bikes, to see for myself what titanium feels like to ride.

Coffeeneuring Challenge: Ride 2

Destination: The Blueberry Cafe @ Breathing Space, 2a Thompson Close, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 4ES
Date: Monday, 21 October 2013

Hot drink of choice: Cappuccino

Total miles: 20 km

Today I did a bit of fettling on my new bike and of course had to take her for a spin just to see how things are working. Answer? Brilliantly!

The Blueberry Cafe serve the most delicious coffee. The cafe is part of the private fitness centre where I do Pilates. My job has kept me so busy, I haven't been to a class in nearly three months! Something that will be rectified soon. In the meantime, I've really been missing the cappuccino....

Good Advice on Solving Fit Issues with a Custom Bike

(c) John Weirath, PT http://www.bicyclestudiogj.com/

A call-out to one of my favourite bloggers:  Bike and Body in Grand Junction, Colorado, U.S.A.

The writer is both an experienced fitter and a qualified physiotherapist. I have particularly enjoyed and benefited from his thoughts on Women's Specific Design (key posts here and here) but the entire blog is worth a browse - tons of insightful, detailed yet clear and concise information and advice on performance training, correct bike fitting, physiology and ways to identify and address common problems like knee pain, neck/shoulder pain, also bike reviews, ride reports... and how to approach having a custom frame designed and built up!

This post yesterday chimes exactly with what my own experience has been, both in terms of fit problems and appropriate solutions, resulting in a new bike completely customised for me. I'd love to have had this particular post as a reference at the beginning of my custom-build experience but perhaps it's just as well I didn't, in case I took it too prescriptively. Nonetheless, as it happens, I've done almost exactly what he did here for one of his clients with very similar issues.... except that the custom bike for her turned out to be a Seven after all. 

A Tour and An Introduction

Yesterday, I travelled down to East Sussex to collect my new bike.

Enigma are open only 9am-12.30pm on Saturdays and not all the staff come in that day, but it seemed the only day that Adam would be available to come with me, so I decided not to wait until Monday as originally planned. As it happens, Adam did the Friday Night Ride to the Coast to Whitstable in Kent, then took a series of trains to get to Enigma, arriving at 12.15pm!

As for me, I left home at 6.50am (by taxi as there are no buses from our village that early) and arrived at Polegate station at 9.30am. Paul Smith, the new head of sales who did my fitting and who has been overseeing my build and keeping me updated over the past 2-1/2 months, met me at the station to drive me to the factory.

It was kind of a funny arrival. Paul said "I know you're wanting to see your bike" but took me around the factory on our way up to where it was on the showroom floor. Along the way, he gave me a little tour of all the stages a bike goes through during its construction. While at first I thought "why are we not going straight to my bike?", I quickly began to appreciate that the tour was a form of introduction, building a little suspense but also "preparing" me for what I was going to see when we got there. It was absolutely fascinating to see bikes at every stage and I am very glad Paul took the time to explain each step. That kind of background "briefing" was a great little journey towards meeting my new made-for-me bike.

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

And at 4.30pm - it is now DONE. Or as done as it can be til I go down tomorrow to collect it, taking pedals and saddle. They'll then cut the steerer tube and wrap the handlebars. And I will then pootle off down the nearest Sustrans cycle path.

Gosh. I am very excited, in a stunned had-the-wind-knocked-out-of-me sort of way.

Spoiler Alert!

3pm today - it's very nearly done.