25 May 2003 - 25 May 2011

It seems much longer, but it's exactly eight years since I attached a computer to my old GT road bike: I no longer ride that bike, but I still keep track of how far I go when cycling. In the past eight years I've taken a few breaks off the bike - most notably a long stint between 2009-2010 - but I've still clocked up a fair few miles. Indeed, in total since 25 May 2003 I have cycled:

34568 miles

That's 4321 miles on average per year, 360 miles per month or 83 miles per week. It means I've cycled around 11 miles per day on average for 2922 days... even so, I've slipped a fair bit from this time three years ago...

... in fact, since 25 May 2008 I've (only) cycled 6685 miles (i.e. only 2200ish miles per year on average), and around half of those miles have been cycled since 26 August 2010 (i.e. the last 9 months). In fact, given I hit 30,000 miles on 14 September 2008, it would appear that between that date and 25 August 2010 - i.e. nearly two years- I only cycled 1261.1 miles.

Anyway, the miles-per-bike stats are:

GT (purchased 1999, but only kept stats from May 2003 - now broken): 10300 miles
Trek (purchased summer 2003, awaiting resurrection): 17801 miles
Condor (purchased January 2008, used as a general runabout/training bike): 5824 miles
Cervelo (purchased October 2010, TT bike): 643(.4) miles

King's Lynn CC 10

Bike: Cervelo
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 24 minutes 08 seconds
Average speed: 24.861 mph

Result: 21st out of 81

Burrgerrs

Had I decided to record eating instead of cycling on this blog, this could very well have been my fate:

"When I was 19 years old I had eaten my first 1,000 Big Macs and I was kind of like, I thought how long before I hit 10,000?" he said before eating the world record 25,000th burger on Tuesday.

[...]

Mr Gorske says he eats a Big Mac in 16 bites and keeps track of his consumption on calendars.

I knew an angry poet from Fond du Lac a few years back, it seems living there does strange things to people.

In Dreams

Am devising an 'old 45s jukebox' playlist in iTunes so that I can have some 1950s/60s background noise when working, but whenever I hear Roy Orbison, I either think of Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive.

Ipswich BC Open 10

Bike: Cervelo
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 26 minutes 13 seconds
Average speed: 22.886 mph

A bit disappointing: I was going OK for the first half of the race, then the guy who started a minute behind me overtook me and this threw me a little. It then started raining a bit, and I was over-cautious on the corners and descents. I was also shocking on the climbs. So, I lost a lot of time and did not give a good account of myself. Nice day out though: probably overdid it on the ride out to the HQ because I was running slightly late.

Last night I fixed my seatpost at a slightly higher position with the carbon assembly paste and a torque wrench, and it has - so far - stayed up. I think the new position will be quicker when I finally get my act together.

Did a short 25 on this course back in June 2005 :(

Shotley - Ipswich - Gosbeck - B10/32 TT course - Gosbeck - Ipswich - Shotley

Bike: Condor
Distance: 52.96 miles
Time: 2 hours 59 minutes 47 seconds
Average speed: 17.7 mph
Maximum speed: 33.5 mph
Odometer (at end): 5743.9 miles

A nice late afternoon/early evening ride to the north of Ipswich, testing out the circuit for tomorrow's TT. The B10/32 is twisty and turny, and quite hilly. If it's wet, I may choose to ride it on my road bike.

Stopped off at Elmy's to buy new gloves: this is only my third pair of 'summer' gloves in 8 years of cycling.

Would definitely recommend the Westerham road, from Ipswich up to Ashbocking, for cycling - great training, with lots of ups and downs.

Had a weird 'flat' with 17 miles to go: tyre began to go down, but when I pumped it up again, it stayed pumped up. I presume something had gone wrong with the valve... perhaps related to Friday 13th?

Godric CC 10

Bike: Cervelo
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 23 minutes 29 seconds
Average speed: 25.550 mph

Result: 16th out of 61.

Best race of the year so far, mainly because even I cannot mess up the pacing of a 10. My legs were hurting after 30 seconds, and were hurting even more on the tortuously slow final mile, but I didn't really let up, and was hovering between 24.5-26.5mph for most of the race. A bit of crosswind, and a couple of drags, but generally a pleasant course. Probably lost a little time on the turn, as I still find the handling of the TT bike to be a bit dubious, but confidence will come with time. Also, my seatpost had slipped en route to the race: I had put it up earlier in the morning, but obviously had not judged the torque properly (the Cervelo TT seatpost is really fidgety - it needs tightening to a very specific (and low) torque. I am going to order a torque wrench and some carbon assembly compound tomorrow. I think an extra centimetre or so of height on the seatpost will make a difference, and having a torque wrench so that I tighten all the bolts of my handlebar/seat components properly will give me a certain peace of mind which I have lacked since my succession of mechanical disasters back in 2007.

Interesting trip to the race: train from Ipswich to Brampton (nearly flew into a rage when somebody literally threw their bike onto the rack next to mine), then trying to find my way from Brampton, deep in the Suffolk backwoods, to Alburgh - also deep in the Suffolk backwoods - with an extraordinarily vague map and even vaguer signposts. Encountered a couple of interesting looking breweries, but sadly could not stop off for a closer look. Similar problems/temptations beset my post-race cycle back to the station, and this time some BMXs on the train nearly scratched my bike's delicate paintwork... anyway, clocked up around 65 miles for the day, most of which were completed with a slipping seatpost.