Father's Day Ride

A fine morning for a ride with a group (David, Justin, Simon, Vicky & Bijan) from Pure Motion Cycles heading out of West Byfleet to Box Hill and back. 

I'd not joined the group before, but was welcomed and appreciated their looking out for me as we rode - turned out to be a pretty fair test for me, having only recently got back to some distance, and I found the pace just a little quicker than my norm. But was thoroughly enjoyable.

According to MapMyRide+ http://mapmyride.com/workout/303809815 

• Total Distance: 44.33mi, 
• Time: 03:10:32, 
• Pace: 4:18min/mi, 
• Speed: 13.96mi/h.

All great practice and much needed training for the upcoming event [PruRideLondon-Surrey100/EIKON] and I look forward to getting out again soon.

Tyre choice - a personal thing

The OEM fitment tyres on my Jamis Zenith Pro Di2 were 700cx23 Vittorio Ribino Pro slicks which have various reviews; ranging from excellent, to some what lacking in grip on anything other than a straight line - My opinion falls in the latter camp, but that is a slightly jaded view, considering my fall earlier in the year.

There is no question that the Vittorio's roll very nicely, and as a result the Jamis certainly feels quick and accelerates very well, but right or wrong I decided to change them for a pair of 700xcx23 Continental Ultra Sports.

Again the reviews were mixed but on the whole the feedback is that they are grippy, reasonably durable and don't puncture any worse than anything else. 

Having now put a few hundred miles on them I would concur with the general opinion; Grippy yes, but I've just had my first puncture in the Ultra's, a thorn straight through the centre - thickest part - of the tread. 

While feeling grippy and giving confidence to the cornering, they also have a tendency to feel sticky on the road in a straight-line, to the extent that I'm considering switching back....

Still undecided, but will keep with them for now....

EIKON - The Worthy Cause?

At Eikon the aim is not just short-term success, but sustained positive outcomes over a long-term period.  Martin is now 22 years old, but was supported by Eikon some 10 years ago; he still stays in touch: 

• “In 1998 when I was 10yrs old my mother passed away due to breast cancer, and subsequently my father became an alcoholic. Consistent with a typical alcoholic, there was depression, drunk-driving, lying, irrational behaviour and increasingly having to go into hospital, so that my sister and I were often left on our own. As a result of this I found it difficult to concentrate in school, and my education and general wellbeing suffered. I first encountered Eikon on a residential trip to an outdoor activity centre in Devon. This was a great opportunity to meet people that had similar problems. 

• Eikon helped me get much needed counselling, and arranged socials that children like me didn’t get in their own families.  As of last year I have just graduated from University with an honours degree in Business Studies. I have since found a job, proposed to my fiancé, and we aim to buy a house together soon.  Having support through Eikon was a great help to my self-esteem and confidence. I think what is really important is that a child’s upbringing shapes the path of their future. If that path strays too far off course, it can affect the rest of their life with sometimes irreversible effects. I feel that Eikon can help change that”.

Thank-you so much for enabling us to support young people like Martin.  Every single penny we raise is important to us, and will help us reach out to even more young people who urgently need our help.

Our children are the future, so lets try to ensure they have as bright a future as possible by helping them through the tough times, when the world around them throws that 'curve ball' some one needs to be there to help. 

Challenge Part One - Finding time to train

As ever work seems to get in the way of leisure activities and finding time to train is a persistent challenge!

With family life and and the activities that go with it, it's hard to take several hours out of the weekend to work on those  hills, despite knowing  I need to all the practice I can get to catch up on lost training time from earlier in the year. So getting in a few short rides during the week has become a must.

When not traveling I frequently work from home so one might think it easy to slip off out for a ride and shirk the pile of emails and project deadlines, but it's often not that easy; conference calls and deadlines tend to have me at the desk for more hours not less - don't get me wrong there are times in the day or week when I take advantage of working from home, but overall it's hard to get a consistent training schedule.

That said, fortunately I live close to the Basingstoke Canal which runs from its junction with the Wey Navigation for about thirty-two miles through the Surrey and Hampshire countryside. So a quick ride, relatively speaking, along the canal towpath on a warm summer evening it's certainly worth getting out for, even if it's rather flat and the amount of other users of the path means it's a challenge to get a consistent pace.

The scenery is quite pleasant, for example the last couple of nights I've seen a pair of swans parading their new family of five good sized cygnets serenely along the water. I'm rather hoping that they'll stay safe and will see them mature over the coming weeks.

There are couples walking, families with their children learning to ride (the next generation of cyclists), dog walkers, youths messing - nothing untoward, just messing, and joggers looking at their watches to check; on their performance, or perhaps just to see if they might stop now without feeling guilty?

Its certainly not what the canal was built for but it appears its modern day use is a good one.