Steaming Surly Rollergeddon

2 x Adults and 6x Cygnets, quite a large family.

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Break out of the woods and the dead end to open basin and Whixall Marina.

Can smell foods here. Towpath reverts back to thick grass.

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Rent-a-sheds

Seen a few others tucked away in fields.

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Foodie shot

Show me the food.

Bacon/beans/cheese on toast and frothy coffee £7.60

Lived dangerously, didn't lock bike.

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Escaped another route that took me through a farm.
Met some large tractors with massive trailers of hay/straw, found tarmac again and fields of Sheeps.

The Black sheep, another odd one out :)

Gentle ride, maxed at 26mph, did 9.3 miles and had food.

Might adjust bar angle. Saddle fine/comfy, gear ratio ok. Tarmac quite smooth too in the lanes.

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That looks delicious!

Countryside/cycle route looks very nice, too.

Been looking on the OS map.

And it appears that National cycle route 455 and 45 cross at Whixall.
Need to look at actual cycle route site.

small Aerodrome not far with a public Cafe too, could boat and plane in one ride out :)

I love your ride reports. They are like slam poetry.

googles slam poetry....

Wow
That's a thing then. Learnt something new today.

I lie

I am Artiste and Poet unwillingly.

I am 'cult'ure

thats right, spelt with "l" and not an "n" :)

Rather than clutter the TT thread I shall stay here.

Did find 2x 10 mile circuits north of Telford, haven't gone for a deep look online to see how active they are yet.

While unpacking and finding things I should have binned.... got 2 saddles, that's a weight weenie trick for the short TT's and hillclimbers to pull the saddle apart.
Going in the bin anyway, slightly bent rails from Tree. Do have the weight written down somewhere. Saddles going on a diet for science.

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Bit of Art and Culture

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Turns out after removing cover and staples and foam this old saddle is still heavier than 2 other complete ones I have.

In space no one can hear you scream.

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For the night owls out there, bit of light music for the witching hour :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEuq6g_RA_A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw51MNAp9IY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymGToGuG-Rg

And don't forget to check the toilet before sitting down.... !

3 months gone quickly.

You know things in life are wandering when your lost, the pub you rode out is shut and your talking to a mutant black sheep for directions, think his name was Mr Paca.
Still he was right in the "go that way" :)

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Spanners

Yep metal sticks that turn nuts and lock rings.

The joy of bolt on track hubs is you need a spanner. After experimenting I have got this down to a sawn off spanner that will very shortly get even shorter so it fits the small saddle pack.

From the top in piccy.
1) random C-spanner that happened to fit lock rings. Chunky, heavy, works.
2) Condor branded Fixed tool, cut the chain whip off as it prevented the tool sitting square against the lock ring, had same issue with C-spanner. After getting the hang of how to lock down a fixed sprocket and the fact that I can't fixie skid so use a back brake, I don't need to carry this.
3) Halfrauds 15mm double end spanner Pro range. Lopped the ring end off, a practical modification. Ring end is better for track nuts and fits the Surly cowled dropouts..... but it won't fit pedal flats, so keep the open end. This almost fitted my saddle pack, it needs grinding.
4) Open end 13mm & 15mm handy for my old bike and wheel set that used 13&15mm nuts.
5) a 13mm and & 15mm nut.

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Without the aid of a ruler I reckon at least 5mm and thinning down the head should avoid the spanner poking holes in the saddle pack.

I aim to grind a bit off the handle. Grind the tips flat and flatten off the outer diameter, then smoothly grind into a smooth flowing new profile with chamfered edges.
Current weight 68grams.

grindy grindy sparky sparky.

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Mug of tea, many sparks later.

3 grams of steel sparked off, could keep going but got wiggle room now when doing rear nuts in the cowled dropouts.
Now fits the saddle pack with no pokes :) which is nice.

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Why not cut the double ended 15mm in half, should give enough leverage for roadside tinkering and then you'll have two of suitable length?

Cut the spanner ages ago..... went with open end is more practical over ring end and no point carrying both.

But yes i came to same conclusion about cutting in half, leverage is not an issue if i can get my foot on the end and slowly load 85kg of downforce...... then track nut will undo :)

Do car/van the same but gently bounce while perched on the end of the wheel nut wrench, needed a fitter or scaffold pole for the lorries as i don't eat enough pies to bounce off lorry nuts.

Sort of picking up where I left off with trying 10mile TT.
Seems to be a couple of 10's nearby but not active, and having seen the roads not sure if I fancy them outside an event.

Could just create my own, just need a clean run out for 5 miles, loop round and back again.

I did change the brake levers and stem after trying the TT'ing, shed some weight and got more comfy.
Got the old Sakae bars from Skinny Erics and some modern bars from a jumble to play with, also aero-bars, can't say I enjoyed any of them so went old school with a Chop & Flop. Don't think it shows but bars are slightly bent on left side.
25.4 38cm C-2-C and 14cm reach centre to centre of brake top.

Got the risers and mtb brake lever set up stashed so can bar swap. Found the oversized bars awkward with the bars being thick and stepping down, awkward to mount things to.

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