LEJOG Blog 3: The Bike.
Well, I managed my long ride yesterday. 71 miles between Perth and Newtonmore. I have to admit I was a bit out of my comfort zone - found it difficult and was ready to pack it in at Calvine with 30 miles to go. A couple of sandwiches and High 5 calorie drinks helped and I pushed on. Actually quite enjoyed it then.
The big problem was the wind. The weather forecast had suggested it would be light and from the south-west but it wasn’t. It was strong and from the north-west. Between Perth and Dalwhinnie I was riding into the teeth of it and, curiously, after Dalwhinnie it vanished, just when I could have done with it behind my back. It’s also a long climb from Perth up to Drumochter summit - my bike computer, a Garmin Edge 200, reckoned I clocked up almost 3000ft of climbing. After Drumochter it was pretty much downhill, but that’s only for 17 miles. The rest of the time I was going uphill, and it felt like it.
Anyway, that’s the furthest I’ve cycled yet and it’s given me a bit of confidence. The only problem is I have to do that kind of distance for 14 consecutive days. Ho-hum…
The good news is that I’ve become fairly comfortable with my touring bike. It’s a Ridgeback World Panorama. It’s certainly heavier than my road bike but its heart is a frame made from butted Reynolds 725 tubing, which is light yet strong enough to carry me and all my kit, with ease. This is coupled with a light and springy triple butted cromoly fork. (I’m not sure what that means but it sounds good.)
The frame and the wheels are designed to cope with all the load permutations associated with 2 large rear panniers, 2 small front panniers, a bar bag and 3 bottle cages. The Shimano XT, Deore and Tiagra mix delivers as low a gear as you could want, and even on my long climb yesterday I never had to drop into the granny gears. The Panorama has 27 speeds with a low bottom gear, Tiagra STI shift levers, light and strong wheels and a front rack, which I may, or may not use. It took me a few rides to break in the saddle and I think I might have to shorten the front stem a tad - feel I’m reaching forward a bit too far on the brake covers. Other than that I really like using the Ridgeback. I hope I still like it by the time I reach John O’Groats.
The pedals on the Ridgeback are Shimano M324 SPD’s, which have the cleats on one side only. I like them a lot because I can just use the flat side at traffic lights or roundabouts or whatever. I’m still enough of a beginner cyclist to get the hot flushes trying to extricate the cleats from the pedals in tricky situations. More than once I’m managed to get my left foot free only for the bike, with me on it, to topple over to the right! Can be embarrassing at traffic lights.
On my feet I’ll be wearing Shimano M123 shoes. These have recessed cleats which allow me to walk reasonably properly which might help when, inevitably, I end up pushing the bike on some of the big Devon hills. More important, they’re very comfortable and in recent weeks I’ve been using them with neoprene bootee things, which have managed to keep my feet both dry and warm. I can’t think of much worse than cycling with cold feet - horrible!
I’m still trying out combinations of bib shorts and bib tights and leg and arm warmers and various soft shell jackets so I’ll give you my final choice on the next diary entry but for the moment let me finish with a note of optimism. On my ride yesterday a couple of times I caught the whiff of newly cut grass and sure enough, there were people out mowing the lawn. There were snowdrops everywhere and the signs of spring were all around me - and it’s still only February! Can’t be bad, unless you’re a skier!