Etchasketch

Today’s ride was deliberately split into two distinct sections. The idea was to spend the first half just meandering around, checking out some areas of Preston I’ve lived around all my life but never been down before. This involved quite a lot of stop / start, be it at junctions, or those annoying turnstiles designed to stop cars (I guess). And then the second half of the ride was a more steady paced workout.

What I can tell you is if you are in need of any drugs then Preston’s Guild Wheel is a fantastic place to start your search. I feel I could have got high just passive inhaling as I passed so many clumps of kids smoking weed. Great times.

It was supposed to be a hot one today. That turned out not to be the case. Very overcast. I took my jacket but didn’t need it. The arm warmers certainly helped as it was super windy at times, particularly on the open stretches. 

Whilst I did manage to visit a number of new places today, I can’t say any of them were picturesque or even pleasant enough for me to have regret at not visiting them sooner. Such is life in Preston, I suppose. I did manage to knock the top off my oversized water bottle meaning I had to do a U-turn and go back and hunt for it on the side of the road. Total fail.

It definitely felt good to get a little longer out on the bike today. 30km instead of my usual 20km. Due to the early portion of the ride being so stop / start it inevitably took a bit longer than I’d have liked. Hopefully tomorrow I can get in another 30km or more. Its supposed to be up to 24c tomorrow, so we shall see. 

One thing that I’m really pleased with after today’s ride is to have got a top 10 spot on a local hill I’ve been up and down many times ever since I was a kid. I got very lucky today with no vehicle traffic coming in the opposite direction, and very very light foot traffic to avoid. Also they may have done some light resurfacing or pot hole surgery as last time I went down there it was more like the moons surface. Anyway, pleased with that.

Overall though I found it difficult to consistently ride hard today. I had a few stints at over 4w/kg for several minutes at a time, but by and large I feel like I’m really struggling to find consistent form outdoors lately. I don’t know if this is a mental issue from the messed up Zwift SST session, or physical as suggested by Phil in the comments after that post. Either way, it’s not great. 
Anyway, it’s late and it’s time for a rest. Who knows what tomorrow has in store. 

7 thoughts on “Etchasketch”

  1. Time to get the razor out on those pins, good for an extra couple of watts!

    Those stem bolts look a bit rusty in the pic too, should keep an eye on that, don’t want those puppies breaking on you during a gnarly descent.

    Cheers
    Phil

    Reply
    • Ooof, shaving my legs is a step too far for me. I need the hair, anyway, as it’s cold where I live. LOL.

      Yeah – the bike is rusty is several places. Being completely honest, when I first got it I really didn’t take very good care of it – at all. This was partly through sheer laziness, but also partly because I didn’t know any better.

      I sweated all over the bike and never realised it was rusting places until too late. There’s quite a lot of damage done to it, and I’m not sure where to find the bolts to replace – but that said, I’ve not even tried looking. Again, did I mention I’m lazy? Well, I think maybe I could ring the mobile bike mechanic and get him to pop round and give it a service or something. I hadn’t thought about the bolts sheering tbh, but that’s a very valid point. Yikes.

      My poor bike. At least I treat it with a lot of love now anyway. You’re right, time for new bolts.

      Reply
        • I had this discussion with someone on Reddit Zwift a few weeks ago. From my point of view, spending say £2500 for an upgraded bike, I don’t see the point.

          The only thing I can think of that might be a real world improvement is disc brakes. Aside from that, I figure I’d be paying for lightness. Well, frankly, saving 2 or 3 watts or whatever for £2500 just isn’t good value to me. For me, personally, if it takes me 2-5 seconds longer to get up a hill than it would have done on a more expensive / lighter bike, I kinda won anyway as I worked out harder. Maybe I’m missing the point, or got the science wrong… I dunno. I’m not competing in races or whatever, and likely never will.

          I’ve got a bunch of other things I need to buy before a new bike even comes close. Lights front and back, new bibs and ideally another couple of jerseys are things that immediately come to mind for outdoors.

          In short, I’m just not good enough to warrant a new bike 😀

          Reply
          • Oh, I mean relegate the old bike to the trainer (and means zero setup too), and get a new bike for the road. Yes, you will want discs as we approach winter, but no need to spend over £1k.

  2. You should change your bar tape and inspect your bars too. If the rest of the bike is rusty, it’s a possibility the bars are rusting too. I bought some Burgh tape for my bike and it’s my new favorite. But yeah, google rusted handle bars trainer and see some scary pics.

    Reply
    • Right yeah, just had a Google. Fun times. I can’t imagine mine are that rusted but I bet there’s some damage there at this stage. I’ve got a booking with the mobile bike mechanic to give everything a look see and fix up anything untoward. I’ll get him to check the tape too. Cheers for the heads up.

      Reply

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