New Flat!

I have moved! I am now living in a late 60s high-rise about half a mile closer to the tube station than my old place. I'm on the 15th floor, which is a new experience for me (never lived this high before). It's a 2 bed place, so I can put up visitors from afar if any of you ever come over.

From my balcony I have a nice view out over the Thames, and can see from the Gherkin to the north, through Canary Wharf to the east, and onwards down to Crystal Palace in the south.

Pics:


I have taken the whole week off to finish my training for the weekend after next's Etape du Tour, and I took some snaps today while out riding through Kent. Summer has fully kicked in and I have been able to rack up 380km in the last five days:

*Observation: If you look at Balcony pic 5 and Kent pic 4, you can see the Crystal Palace transmitter tower, from opposite sides :-)

Snow - in April!

Woke up this morning and looked outside. Snow! This is very unusual for April. At least this week the weather had the decency to start snowing BEFORE I had headed out for a ride (unlike two weeks ago, when I got snowed on mid-ride).

I took these looking out of my living room window:




Then I walked down to Tower Bridge and took some more photos:

New Bike!

New bike! It's a Focus Cayo Pro. I had been planning to buy a new bike for the upcoming cyclosportive season and this one fit my requirements nicely.

It has a full carbon monocoque frame (that means it's made from one continuous piece of carbon fibre, as opposed to individual carbon tubes glued together). It has a "compact" 50/34 chainset, which is well suited to long steep alpine ascents like the ones I will take on in Europe this year. My existing bike's 53/39 chainset would be too highly geared for such terrain. Besides, I had ridden nearly 14,000km on my existing bike, and felt that I had earned an upgrade :-)

At 7.7kg it weights 1.8kg less than my existing bike, so climbing should be a little bit easier. It's lower at the handlebars too, meaning I will be able to get a completely horizontal flat back when riding on the drops. This will give me better aerodynamics, and therefore more speed into the wind.

Now I have to wait four long days until the weekend...

Photos (the "before" shots):

Capital to Coast (London to Brighton charity ride)

This was a charity ride from Esher (just SW of central London) to Hove. Having completed the 120 mile British Cyclosportive a couple of weekends ago this 60 mile ride was not daunting, but the organisers did manage to put in several quite nasty hills along the way. I didn't personally witness anyone spontaneously combust as was reported to have happened at last year's event, but I did see plenty of people struggling, wobbling, zig-zagging, or walking up the steeper sections.

I rode most of the day with Jason and Pete. Both had completed the half-distance option of last year's event. At the time they both found even 30 miles quite challenging, and were reportedly so far gone towards the end that they were hallucinating about a malevolent monkey stalking them through the trees...

This year, Pete had trained for and ridden the British Cyclosportive with me 2 weeks ago, and was flying along with a grin on his face, enjoying how much fitter he was compared with last year. Jason however had trained by going on a week long cyclo-drinking tour in Amsterdam, topped off by 12 pints of beer the night before the event, and was paying the penalty. That said, Jason still made it to the end in good spirits.

The last major hill had a nasty-sounding name: "Devil's Dyke", and had been built up in Pete & Jason's tales to be a near vertical cliff of cruel tarmac with the dessicated husks of ex-cyclists decorating the sides of the road. To give it its due, it was definitely a steep one, but it was actually over quite quickly. I enjoyed the downhill run into Hove, and drafted off a double-decker bus much of the way like a dolphin riding the wake of a ship.

We were greeted by a cheering crowd at Hove, and I realised that although 60 miles is not a long ride for me anymore, it would have been most of the riders' hardest day in the saddle ever. Congrats to all who made it.

Photos (none of me though...):

Pete, Jason, Pete + Jason, etc.:



















At the finish area:

Smithfield Nocturne - Criterium Race

As part of the Tour de France buildup there was a crit race organised around the area between Barbican and Farringdon tube stations. They ran several fun/silly races throughout the evening before the main event kicked off.

Things started off with a courier challenge. The riders had to stop at places around the course and deliver things, collect signatures etc. It didn't really work as a race, but it kept the crowd occupied:











The next race was the folding bike race. Contestants had to wear work clothing, and they had to start with their bikes folded up. This was a fast and furious race. Very funny!











Then the main event got underway, with the elite racers coming out for a few warm-up laps before the start proper:










The race itself was extremely fast-paced. There was a solo breakaway almost immediately, and the guy stayed out front for most of the race but was eventually reeled in a few minutes before the finish:



















Despite the very wet road there was only one crash that I saw. Fortunately the guy got up and walked away, so he can't have been too hurt.