broken.org.uk

Some photos from Sunday’s ride…

User:	DaveMcM
Category:	Mountain Biking
Start:	30/08/2010 09:54
Finish:	30/08/2010 13:23
Duration:	02:38:06
Distance:	11.13 miles
Min Speed:	1.59 mph
Avg Speed:	4.22 mph
Max Speed:	21.69 mph
Avg Pace:	14:12 mins/mi.
Min Elevation:	304 ft
Max Elevation:	980 ft
Total Ascent:	1280 ft
Total Descent:	1290 ft
Calories:	491

User:	DaveMcM
Category:	Mountain Biking
Start:	29/08/2010 12:21
Finish:	29/08/2010 13:54
Duration:	01:27:36
Distance:	7.61 miles
Min Speed:	1.74 mph
Avg Speed:	5.21 mph
Max Speed:	21.98 mph
Avg Pace:	11:30 mins/mi.
Min Elevation:	633 ft
Max Elevation:	1219 ft
Total Ascent:	997 ft
Total Descent:	901 ft
Calories:	336

After two years sterling service as a daily driver – and then a further seven years sat in the garage in bits failing to be restored – it was time for Mi’s old VW Beetle to find a new home.
He was collected yesterday evening and is off to live up in Leeds with a new owner who can hopefully get a little bit further with the restoration project than I ever managed.

User:	DaveMcM
Category:	Mountain Biking
Start:	12/08/2010 16:48
Finish:	12/08/2010 18:01
Duration:	01:12:58
Distance:	12.2 miles
Min Speed:	2.37 mph
Avg Speed:	10.03 mph
Max Speed:	24.61 mph
Avg Pace:	05:59 mins/mi.
Min Elevation:	144 ft
Max Elevation:	682 ft
Total Ascent:	1008 ft
Total Descent:	1075 ft
Calories:	538

My front brake mounting bracket arrived this morning so after work I set to swapping the brakes on the Giant.

The fronts calliper went on much more easily with the proper Avid mounting bracket and only took a couple of minutes to fit, but the rear was a bit more complicated.

The rear brake pipe is clipped to the frame using v clips which hold it in place very nicely… a little bit too nicely as they didn’t want to come out so I could take the old Shimanos off.

In the end I had to resort to a thin screwdriver and carefully prise them off while trying not to scratch anything.

Once the clips were off then the old rear brakes came off quite easily, and the new ones went on even more easily – a bit more fiddling with the clips and I was done.

Now I just need to bed them in before attacking any of the big stuff…

User:	DaveMcM
Category:	Mountain Biking
Start:	05/08/2010 17:15
Finish:	05/08/2010 18:41
Duration:	01:26:01
Distance:	13.08 miles
Min Speed:	2.21 mph
Avg Speed:	9.13 mph
Max Speed:	31.1 mph
Avg Pace:	06:34 mins/mi.
Min Elevation:	156 ft
Max Elevation:	781 ft
Total Ascent:	1066 ft
Total Descent:	1079 ft
Calories:	578

Bought some new brakes for the Giant which arrived today…

The Shimano ones that came with it just don’t seem as good as the Avid’s on the Specialized so I bought a set of Avid Juicy 3s to replace them…

It also makes maintenance that little bit easier as the Shimano are mineral oil based whereas the Avids use DOT fluid and I already have all the necessary bits for bleeding those.

Just need to work out how to fit them now.

Did my first commute on the new tyres today and despite riding into a nasty headwind both ways I managed to up my average speed to over 13mph and cut around 8 minutes off the journey in each direction.

Knackered now…

User:	DaveMcM
Category:	Mountain Biking
Start:	03/08/2010 06:06
Finish:	03/08/2010 17:51
Duration:	02:04:00
Distance:	27.95 miles
Min Speed:	2.25 mph
Avg Speed:	13.52 mph
Max Speed:	31.45 mph
Avg Pace:	04:26 mins/mi.
Min Elevation:	128 ft
Max Elevation:	267 ft
Total Ascent:	2021 ft
Total Descent:	1763 ft
Calories:	1234

User:	DaveMcM
Category:	Mountain Biking
Start:	03/08/2010 16:48
Finish:	03/08/2010 17:51
Duration:	01:02:54
Distance:	13.95 miles
Min Speed:	2.25 mph
Avg Speed:	13.31 mph
Max Speed:	31.45 mph
Avg Pace:	04:30 mins/mi.
Min Elevation:	0 ft
Max Elevation:	267 ft
Total Ascent:	1231 ft
Total Descent:	1033 ft
Calories:	616

User:	DaveMcM
Category:	Mountain Biking
Start:	03/08/2010 06:06
Finish:	03/08/2010 07:07
Duration:	01:01:06
Distance:	14 miles
Min Speed:	2.35 mph
Avg Speed:	13.75 mph
Max Speed:	26.66 mph
Avg Pace:	04:22 mins/mi.
Min Elevation:	140 ft
Max Elevation:	267 ft
Total Ascent:	790 ft
Total Descent:	731 ft
Calories:	618

Now I’m cycling to work a bit more often and using the Giant for the big off road stuff I’ve decided to invest in some semi-slick road tyres for the Specialized to try and make the journey that little bit easier.

I went for Continental Double Fighter II 26×1.9s which get good reviews on quite a few websites and are meant to be nice and fast and grippy on tarmac…

They get their first test tomorrow, so hopefully I can shave a few minutes off the ride in to work.