Optics shows its heart

The donations to the L2P bike ride are really beginning to roll in now with some fantastic pledges. A big thank you to all of those who have made a donations especially given the short notice.
Even Jeremy Jalie at Vision Aid Overseas has offered to make a donation despite his own heavy training programme and the recipient being the charity he works for.
 
My attention has now been turned to the more nitty gritty aspects of the trip: equipment, food, planning for the weather. I have joined a fellow optical rider for the Paris trip but the core of the trips is already organised so I don't have to worry too much about the route, on-road support, accomodation and food.

For my most recent ride ( the very hilly King of the North Downs) I swapped out my gears for some easier ones to cope with the hills. My quandry now is do I leave them on? On balance I think the idea of messing around with the bike set up at this stage outweighs to prospect of have some big gaps between gear changes.
As long as the speed stays below 35mph I should be OK!

The Editor is on the scrounge again

The Editor of Optician is cycling from London to Paris starting on July 11.

 Support his ride by donating to Vision Aid Overseas here: justgiving.com/opticianawards .

 If you are in the optical industry and have any branded cycling kit, jerseys etc. I would be more than happy to wear it in exchange for a small donation; 500kms and 3 days of expsoure plus coverage in Optician !! You can read my blog here: http://lnkd.in/NW4bw6 less

London to Paris here we come

Having resigned myself to the fact that I had no major sporting event planned for this year I suddenly find myself three weeks a way from cycling London to Paris. I'm officially excited.
Cycling through the plane tree lined roads of rural France, stopping at roadside bars for a Pastis and a croissant has always been something I wanted to do but had never really got around to. Being part of a peloton streaming through France or even Paris must be most cyclists dream.
The chosen route is via Dover so that's 550km of cycling over a three day period so it's still a challenge.

At Optrafair I had a conversation with the students putting together the Optoms Cycling for Sight project. Between August 15 to 25 this year they want to encourage people to cycle 25,000 miles sponsored at a £1 a mile to raise money for Optometry Giving Sight . They are encouraging anyone in optics to do what they can, long or short to help reach the total by cycling and raising money.

Those who wish to get involved in this year’s challenge are invited to email info@oc4s.co.uk to receive further information and sign-up forms. To follow the progress of this year’s event you can join the Facebook group ‘Optoms Cycling for Sight UK’ or follow @OptomsCyclingUK on Twitter

 

 As part of OC4S, student, Fares Hatoum is planning to cycle L2P in 24hrs starting at the OGS headquarters in London and racing through the night to be in Paris a day later. I toyed with the idea of joining him but decided my old legs are quite up to a sprint across Normandy.

It so happened that an old chum from the SBR team ( that's not him above) said he was involved in a L2P ride which might have spare places so I am in. Chapeau Mr S.

Feeling deflated

With the King of  The North Down looming large next Sunday I realised that with a new rear changer and cable fitted and the Brooks Swallow saddle back on the Pearson Palace carbon I should really take it out for a spin.

My old Ironman training instilled in the me the foolishness of riding an event on new kit so a test ride was in order. It wasn't until about eight o'clock in the morning this Sunday on a quiet country lane that I realised how lucky I had been with my carbon bike.
It was at that point, thankfully close to home, when I got a puncture. Not a problem I thought but it was then that it dawned on me that the puncture kit I had with me included the Pro Flate 16 kindly given to me by those nice chaps at Transitions during one of the Swedish Bike Ride events. A carbon dioxide inflator I had never used before.
I'm not scared of technology so I got out the tube and the carbon dioxide inflator and put the little capsule up the right way and screwed it home --nothing. I checked the gizmo over and it looked fine but no hole in the top of the CO2 bomb. Did the capsule have a fault, was it not being pierced? Who knows. All I knew was I had a flat and nothing to pump it up with.This is when you wished you had:
a, Stuck with btried and tested kit
b, taken a busier route so you could flag down a  passing cyclist

I was left with no alternative but to phone Mrs Optician Editor and ask for a lift home.

Once there I decided to take the fixed bike out and bombed around  a few local lanes and even made it up (just) onto Ranmore. Passing hordes of Sunday cyclists on their carbon multi-geared machines as I went.

I was well and truly knackered when I finally got to the top so called the foolish hill climbing ( Box Hill was next on my list) to an end and stuck to the flat roads. I had forgotten how great it feels to ride fixed especially when you are feeling good and most of those around to are just out for a Sunday pootle. My moderate fixed speed was accentuated by my fellow riders' leisurely pace so I soaked up the feeling and returned home.

But how ready will I be for the King of the North Downs? Who knows. As long as it's not raining I will enjoy it all the same.

Hail and hurty

With little prospect of the weather settling down and lots happening at work I am finding myself  bike commuting on days I might otherwise have decided against. This means I have also had to become resigned to the fact that I will be getting a soaking now and again. That's not really a problem as its good practice for a rainy race day. However....

This Monday tested me a little more than expected. I didn't mind getting wet but then the rain turned to hail, quite big hail. It was being lashed around by the wind and ( not wishing to sound like a whimp) it was beginning to hurt a bit. I was cycling into a headwind so I suppose that increased the impact speed a bit too. In the end I had to admit defeat and shelter under a tree while the worst of it passed through.

When it cleared there was a fantastic rainbow, which all goes to prove cycling is always worth it in the end.

Blood, sweat and gears

It's official I'm scared.

After seeing Paul Maxwell's lean physique and rippling muscles at the Optician Awards I decided my bike needed a few more gears.
I had a week at home last week (chores mainly, great weather) but I squeezed in some time to give the bike a good tinkering with. First on was a ludicrous 12-32T rear cassette. Despite frantic fettling with the B screw on the rear changer it just wouldn't get onto the big cog so I had to invest in a longer cage derailleur.

Once arrived and fitted I took the bike out into the hills. It changes like a dream and the range is incredible. But is it enough to keep pace with the Cheltenham Flyer?  We'll find out on June 2.

Pictures and Garmin print out to follow.........

Isn't she lovely...

Although we haven't made it to the track just yet I thought it was about time the fixed had a bit of a mid-life update. It all went pretty well apart from removing the bottom bracket which took a Black and Decker Workmate and a socket set to shift.

After such a successful bit of fettling on the fixed I then subjected the blue Pearson to the indignity of chunky tyres and mudguards. What a thing to do to a bike that has many triathlons (includng an Ironman) the Alpe d'Huez and the vatternrundan under its belt (saddle?)