Monthly Archives: August 2011
Big wheel convert
I have spent the last 3 years thinking about getting a new mountain bike, but 3 weeks ago I finally collected my shiny new steed from Moonglu in Ripon.
Here’s a picture of it:
The new bike, all shiny and clean - only ever ridden round the block!
The two most important features of this bike are:
- It is a 29er (i.e. it has big wheels!)
- It is made of titanium
Why?
After spending a long time thinking about investing in a full suspension bike (everyone said it would be more comfortable and I would ride technical trails more easily), for some reason I made a sudden switch to insisting that my bike had to be a hardtail, with big wheels and made of titanium.
My logic was that it would be lighter, need less servicing (no rear shock) and that the big wheels would be faster over non-technical trails (like roads (!), fireroads in the forest and some bridleways). A skim through a few forum posts convinced me that those same big wheels combined with a titanium frame would give me a plush ride.
So without having ever ridden a 29er (it’s hard to find demo versions at all, let alone ones in a women’s size), the decision was made. Sometimes you just have to have faith!
Spec
I am not the sort of person who enjoys trawling through Bike Radar and assessing the pros and cons of ever new bit of bike kit that comes out. I really only want my bike to ride well, and not wear out at the merest hint of a bit of mud and water. So with some help from my friends a starting spec was assembled and sent over to Neil Dunkley at Moonglu for him to make sure everything would fit together, source the parts and turn it all into a bike.
If you really want to know what went on it, you can see the full specification here.
First Race
Crossing a deep river - I didn't want to fall off too early in the race!
It took a while for everything to arrive, but I collected it just in time to test it out at the Trans Wales, a week-long mountain bike event riding over just the sort of terrain and distances I often face when adventure racing. I’ve heard there’s some sort of rule that says you shouldn’t use untested kit for the first time in a race. 😉 I ignored that and arrived on the start line fresh and ready to go, having practiced on my new bike all the way home from the station and back again. That’s about 7km, but there were a few potholes to negotiate!
Verdict
First I should say that this bike replaced a much-loved 10-year old Cannondale F500, complete with V-brakes and a Thudbuster suspension seatpost, which saved my posterior on more than one occasion.
But this bike is AMAZING!
One-finger braking!
After a day or two, I found it inspired confidence on the steep downhills (maybe that was the new disc brakes), whizzed down the long straights, was more comfortable than anything I have ever ridden before and was especially good at rocky stuff. I noticed this most when we had to do a whole series of river crossings. On the occasions when I accidentally came to a near-standstill in the river, just a little push on the pedals and I would pop over the rocks and onwards. Much better than falling off and going for a swim!
I think the bike has had an unexpected side benefit to my riding. I started to approach tricky looking sections thinking ‘well, my new bike will be able to ride that!’. I’d then cheerfully set off and clear the obstacle. I put this entirely down to the investment in a new bike 🙂 (though I’ll secretly admit that perhaps the little extra dose of confidence meant I rode things I always should have been able to).
The sealed gear cables did the business – perfect shifting for 7 days through muck and water. I just couldn’t get used to gears that worked! My only small niggle is that they don’t go low enough – I want to spin up those hills! With a 2×10 set-up I might be able to adjust this next time I get a new cassette, but I’ll see how it goes. Maybe I can just learn to ride faster?!
Only a whole load more riding will tell me how well the components stand up; how soon until I need to change the brake pads, replace the headset bearings or get a new chain?!
Testing it in the Trans Wales night stage
Drizzle and Mizzle
Something about language, but not Italian this time! Though it did come up during in conversation with some friends from my Italian class 🙂
Drizzle and mizzle are an interesting pair of words.
They mean practically the same thing, depending on your interpretation of the words ‘fine’ and ‘small’. This from my Chambers dictionary:
- Drizzle, vi to rain in fine drops n a small light rain
- Mizzle, vi to rain in small drops n fine rain
And they sound the same.
You might think they come from the same place or that one was just made up as a variation of the other. But they’re not. They come from completely different roots.
- Drizzle [Frequentative of ME dresen, from OE dreosan to fall; Gothic driusan]
- Mizzle [Cf LGer miseln mist]
I’m not an expert in etymology, but I can see that drizzle comes from Old / Middle English meaning fall, whereas mizzle comes from Low German meaning mist. Very interesting, isn’t it?
Tapa Coffee and Bakehouse
This review is for the Tapa Coffeehouse on Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow.
I visited Tapa for the first time last weekend and loved it! Having got out of bed early enough to get over there from Edinburgh in time for Sunday brunch with a local friend at 10.30, I was not disappointed. I had the mushroom and spinach eggs Benedict, followed by French toast with maple syrup and banana, accompanied by a very good cup of coffee and then a fantastic chai tea. My friend had the full veggie breakfast.
My only regret was that I couldn’t stay even longer and move onto the fantastic sounding soups (beetroot and tomato or butternut squash and coconut), inventive sandwiches, ‘real’ bread from their own bakery and an array of good looking cakes. The puy lentil and pine nut burger was also crying out to be tasted, so I think I’ll be back soon.
A relaxed and friendly atmosphere prevailed, with attentive service (though we were nearly undercharged by half – since the food was so good we made sure that was corrected!). If it looks busy when you get there, you should know there are also tables hidden downstairs.
Broughton Delicatessen
I can’t believe I didn’t know this café /deli existed before now! I went for my first visit at the weekend and was bowled over.
Vegetarian options abound. This time, my partner and I had the fantastic bean enchilada on toasted flatbread (one of the two special main courses) and a mushroom, gruyere and spinach crêpe. Both came with a selection of the salads which were definitely not your usual limp lettuce. On offer were: quinoa and green bean, beetroot and egg, carrot and pumpkin seeds and fennel, courgette and pea. Servings were generous so we both got a full plate of food for only about £7 each. Bargain!
It took us a long time to choose our lunch and we’ll have to go back to sample some of the other items on the menu, including; adventurous baguette fillings, soup of the day (salsify and potato when we were there), a vegetable ramen noodle soup, flatbread pizzas with a choice of toppings, a daily tart or tortilla and a veggie breakfast. You could also order a full plate of just the salads, which change regularly (even whilst we were there, in fact!). A look at the twitter feed on their website will give you a taste for what has been on offer recently.
To finish off our meal we had a large slice of freshly baked cake, plus homemade granola with Greek yoghurt and fruit compote. The latter was strictly part of the brunch menu but I fancied it for pudding!
There was an informal atmosphere and you order at the counter when you’re ready, or you can go for the takeaway option. It is also now open until 7.30 pm if you want an early evening meal. Finally, a nice touch was the fact that every customer was asked if they had enjoyed their food when they paid, and the lady seemed genuinely interested in the answer! Highly recommended.
Trans Wales 2011
The Trans Wales became one of my ‘3 big events for the summer’ after I was persuaded to enter by fellow adventure racing friend, Elizabeth. We were riding as a female pair, with Rachel Henderson also putting in an appearance in the solo category. And so it was we lined up in Builth Wells last week to start what was to be the last edition of this classic race.
The format was 7 days of mountain biking place to place. Each day consisted of a long ‘linking stage’, which was not a race but had a cut-off time. If you got back on time you were given a ‘race time’ equivalent to the cut off. If you got back late you accrued penalty seconds at the rate of 1 per minute. There were also six short timed race sections which ran at some point out on the course during the day. These ranged from 2 to 8km long, were mostly at trail centres and included a hill climb, a descent, some up and down loops and a night stage. For team pairs, the result was averaged and added to the overall time.
The racing added a bit of spice to the event, but we had gone to enjoy ourselves, ride somewhere different and, in my case, give my shiny new bike (Lynskey titanium 29er hardtail) a proper testing out! I never anticipated how this event would feel – there was a great sense of camaraderie, the food that appeared in the inflatable marquee every night was plentiful and tasted good and everyone had tales to tell at the end of the day. The laidback feel extended to the publicised distances (I learnt that every day was pretty much the same; 60-70km, 5-6 hours in the saddle and the profile would go something like up, up, down, down, up, up ….) and the social events. On one night after we had finished riding it was announced that the band would start at 8pm. This was the first we had heard of a band and was when we were at the most remote camping spot in a field full of midges!
My favourite days riding included one wet drizzly moorland pedal where we got into a fantastic rhythm and it felt just like home, and a ‘big country’ ride, complete with awesome views and a long, speedy, hilly special stage in the middle of it. I had a couple of emotionally fraught moments, but as Rachel so cheerfully put it: “if you don’t have at least one ‘moment’ in the Trans Wales, then you haven’t tried hard enough!”
After a day or two of riding under my belt, I found that the new bike (and disc brakes!) inspired confidence and I was cheerfully cruising down and over stuff I wouldn’t have dreamt of riding before. I also discovered the terrain it was perfectly made for when we rode a rocky byway with many stream crossings. I had been told that big wheels ‘roll better’ – but would I really notice anything different? The answer was a definite ‘Yes’! I could come almost to a standstill on a rocky riverbed, then give a little push on the pedals and suddenly pop over an obstacle and onwards. My body can also vouch for the total comfort of this bike as nothing is now hurting!
As for the racing, we found ourselves in first place in the female pairs category following the initial stage. After dropping to second following the downhill third stage we regained the lead the next day and held it to the end. Longer stages, hilly stages and dark stages all worked to our advantage. We rode well as a team and managed to finish the week still on speaking terms – not bad considering we have only actually ever ridden together (socially or otherwise) once before and had quite different approaches to pitching a tent! Elizabeth did a great job of inspiring confidence and making me relax, enjoy the ride and save my energy on the linking stages or, as she put it, “getting ready to chop my legs off” if I didn’t slow down …
Rachel also made a reputation for herself and climbed onto the podium on the final day to collect a popular special award for being the ‘toughest and most cheerful ever tail-ender’!
All in all, a fantastic event and a great result. Next year they are changing the format, but if the atmosphere and organisation is anything like this one I would highly recommend it.
Me and Elizabeth showing off the leader's jerseys!
Planet Byde 