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?)

Saggy Brooks

I'm getting slightly concerned about my Brooks Swallow saddle

Old gits on bikes

It's autumn and I'm not as young as I used to be. Getting a soaking has never really bothered me that much but this year I thought enough is enough. As I sat in my fairisle sleeveless pullover, brown leather brogues, moleskin trousers and Harris tweed feeling rather comfortable I realised it was time to bring some of that comfort to my commute. The mudguards that came off of the blue Pearson when I first started my dalliance with the whole Ironman thing back in 2007 went back on.

 The Brooks saddle that was on the Carbon bike for the Le Mans 24 hrs  then took a trip onto the fixed wheel bike and is now on the blue Pearson too. The handlebars have been double wrapped with bar tape to cushion my old hands and there are more lights on the thing than there will be on Heathrow's runway three (when it's built).

The bike is looking as it was intended to be used. A old man's bike suitable for touring amd leisurely commutes. The next thing we know the rack will be going on --NEVER!!!!!

When the mid-life crisis get too much for me I just reach for the fixed wheel bike and burn some rubber.

Transitions SBR shirt makes it into the Tour of Britain

Spot the Transitions jersey on ITV4's coverage of the Tour of Britain? With the summer of cycling almost over (the world championships start later this week)and with yet another major cycling event on my doorstep I made one last trip out into the Surrey countryside to cheer on Cav Wiggo (well perhaps not) and the new boy Jonathan Tiernan-Locke. I chose the short, but steep, Crocknorth Road which had the peloton almost stopped in its tracks. In the end both Cav and JTL did the business. I think my shouts to JTL of 'come on Jon do it for Devon' clinched it. If anyone would like to recreate the climb with the SBR team before the winter sets in just let me know.

Match the backside to the bike ride

A few more pictures from the longest night

Trying to sum up the Le Mans 24hr velo is quite tricky.

You would think that when people ask you what it was like the focus would be on the speeds, distances, cornering etc. Not so. My abiding memories around about the small hours, eating and heading back to the pit area. The range of food rustled up by Kristin was awesome, I had no idea you could eat so much and still be hungry. But as the stats show 26,907 calories is a lot to put back in.

There always seemed to be a specific reason to go back in to the pit and I remember it as a crowded and busy place. Although some of us in there were more active than others.

From the photos it looks calm and quiet, not the feeling at the time as there was usually a heated discussion going on about something. Usually pace and who kept disappearing up the road.

I suppose minute for minute we did spend more time in that room that at any single point on the course.

Banging on about food and the pit lane does elicit some unusual looks. 'Where did you sleep?', is the usual question. How great to be able to say: 'we didn't.' I'll be dining out on this ride for years.

Lies, damned lies and statistics

I always knew that my Garmin readout from the 24 heures velo was going to be a little strange, tracking the same squiggle for a whole day. My Forerunner only has 10 hours of battery life and I wasn't convinced that charging it during the race would work, but it did. Stupidly I forgot to start it at the beginning of the race but the readout below still offers intresting numbers. My personal favourite is the total of 26,907 calories burned. It makes me feel much better about stuffing my face every time we came back to the pits and trust me, that was often. Second favourite has got to be the climbing, 31,098ft of ascent, astonishing even for someone who cycled it. Good news comes in the form of my average heart rate 103bpm, very low I thought. From the graph below you can see how it varied. The shape is a classic bathtub curve. When I was a student of engineering this kind of graph would be used to demonstrate the life of light bulbs and the like -- MTBF, Mean Time Between Failure. I think this is also true of cyclists, you either blow up early and die or hang on in there but eventually wear out and die. My burn out was self-inflicted as I blasted a lap at the end to celebrate. I should imagine the shape of my fellow riders' heart rate curves would be more of a chaise longue profile, much more civilised.

Elsewhere Andrew has tracked down this great video at 6.45 there is a team of three Transitions riders speeding along in close formation. I think I need to take another look at my riding position.