ojwithbikes

cheers for the nice comments everyone.

I listened to all the 2024 Silk Road Mountain Race podcast episodes recently, the one hosted by Allan Shaw, it’s really great, they’re a great addition to the podcast. It kinda helped me in a couple ways in regard to my outlook on this cycling stuff. The first and most basic way is in how just breaking down longer rides into smaller chunks can totally change your outlook on finishing a ride when you’re struggling. Now riding from London to Cardiff is no Silk Road, but I’m also no ultra endurance athlete. My quads were having a cramping party on the first day and my left knee was giving me jip all throughout the second day. But by just saying ‘ah I’ll just get to Bath and then see’, and then saying ‘ah well Bristol is right there so we’ll see then’, and then getting there and thinking ‘ah well I’ve come this far, what harm can going the rest do?’ I managed to stick it out and not give in to a train ride to comfort-town.

The second is in how worrying about the ‘perfect bike’ for the ride is kind of just dumb and stupid. It would be easy to say riding 45c gravel tyres across the country on a mostly road route is not the most efficient way to do it. And that’s true. But when you look at the scope of the different terrains that these crazy cats are covering day-to-day on an ultra, it all becomes rather insignificant. Translate that into your average Joe like me who rides for fun and has palid dreams of doing crazy shit like that on a bike, then you kinda understand that ideas around ‘perfection’ and ‘efficiency’ are just a waste of time. Like yes it was probably harder than it needed to be for me for that specific journey, but on Day X of [insert off-road ultra name here] everyone was probably riding 2.1” XC tyres on mile after mile of tarmac. If they can do it in an ultra, I can do it on my weekly long ride - you get what I mean?

You get on the bike, you pedal the bike, you get fitter. You might go faster more easily if you did this or that but for the most part who really cares. I rode to Paris on a Halfords hardtail mtb before I knew anything about cycling, and it was one of the best trips I’ve ever done.

With all that rambling done is time to make it relevant…
That little mini-adventure to Cardiff was the kinda ride that I ride bikes for. Being outside all day, seeing new stuff, going places. I’m feeling really positive and energised about making sure I stay regularly riding this winter after it. Though it did make me realise that my winter riding schedule can’t all be full of winter fixed miles as I had optimistically thought back in September. The limited distance, non-varying terrains, and being a part of constant busy traffic just aren’t things that I enjoy that much. I’m never excited to go out and ride around the lanes around the perimeter of south London and as much as work n life was a bit hectic this autumn, that lack of excitement is probably quite a big reason as to why I didn’t do much riding whilst I was stripping my old gravel bike to then build a new one.

Since getting back, I’ve cleaned the bike up, put some tokenistic lil plastic mudguards on that I’ve had hanging around. I’ve stared into the depths of Komoot to thread as many as I can of what I’m calling ‘mixed terrain’ AKA ‘lanes and hard pack gravel that doesn’t turn to boggy slop in the winter’ routes together. I’ve been planning my post-ride bike wash protocol for living in a garden-less London flat… And I’m avoiding falling into the self-made trap of using the ‘well I don’t have a perfect winter bike’ excuse to assuage myself of guilt for not riding a bike when it’s a bit wet and a little cold out. This kinesis does not have full mudguards and the 45c chunky tyres will be slow and heavy on what will be mostly road rides, but it will mean I’m outside riding a bike, having fun, getting fitter, seeing the sights, and preparing for when the weather gets nice again so I can see more places and spend more time outside.

But for now, my knee still hurts a bit so no riding for a bit, only rambling of the written kind.

Hoping it’ll be fine by Saturday. Gravel bikes on Saturday anyone?