I wandered out to Chris’s garage around 07:00, my planned start time. I had simply to check the kickstand that we had attempted to adjust the previous day, tighten the bolt securing the front derailleur and then head off. The problem though was that once I had tightened the bolt and rolled up the driveway at 07:05, I found my gears weren’t working; only the smallest chain-ring could be selected. There was no way I would be able to make it all the way to London, at least not in time, like that, so I quickly doubled back to the garage and got down to some frantic repair work. Unfortunately the repair of a bicycle is a matter which calls for more haste and less speed. After 45 minutes of grappling with the problem I had managed to get only a degraded level of utility; the middle and lower chain-rings were now available. This meant I had no high gears, but with some high cadence could at least make a reasonable speed.
Feeling the pressure of time I set off and despite the limitation of not being able to select any high gears I was doing well... doing well that is until I lost my way. I must have missed a turn somewhere and I found myself heading into London via Wimbledon... home of a world famous tennis tournament, which happened to be going on this very day. I got caught in the various diversions and heavy traffic associated with the event, and at one point took to walking, because I was otherwise unable to negotiate the traffic with my touring load which is both long and wide (for a bike). My Westward drift continued and I eventually crossed the Thames at Putney; an approach which added around 4 miles to my journey to Victoria rail station.
When I made it into central London the frequency of traffic lights became maddening... not quite so maddening though as the commuters on road-bikes who would jump ahead of me when the lights were red (presumably because they didn’t want to get stuck behind me) and who then turned out to be slower than me when we moved off!
Delay stacked on delay mean added to a longer route meant that I arrived at the station just as my train was due to depart (and I still had to reconfigure it to a train-friendly configuration). By the time I was ready to board it was some 10 minutes after the train had left. Fortunately I had planned for this possibility and knew of an alternate train that should still get me to the port in time.
To be continued...
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Day 1 - A beginning
I opened my trip with the short ride to Newport railway station. Early indications were positive when I (sat atop my six pannier, three wheeled bike) convincingly overtook two older gentlemen on road bikes as I ascended the hill past the rising sun pub. At the station I was pleased to find that I was still proficient with my bike-disassembly drill (a necessary step, as in its full road-ready configuration it won’t fit inside most standard lifts).
The train trip was not especially comfortable, but was mostly uneventful.
From Paddington I meandered over to Victoria, where Chris had arrived by train to meet me for the ride down to Epsom. As I cut across the parks towards Buckingham palace, I added to my overtake count by swooping past ‘Boris bikes’ and golf carts carrying the park staff about their duties.
After some, less than optimal, but good enough urban navigation I arrived at Victoria and soon found Chris. As we were ready to depart a heavy shower opened up on us, but we pressed on regardless heading for ‘any bridge at all’. Soon though the weather cleared, almost as it were bowing to our combined will. As we headed out of London Chris, on his high specification road racer, certainly put me through my paces as we headed out of the city. I mostly managed to hold his wheel (though I suspect he was setting a pace which was intended to be kind to me), but the on the sharper inclines the weight of my touring bike was too big a handicap. Even so with Chris acting as my ‘sprint train’ we managed to storm by many a Londoner who had ‘the bike’ but lacked ‘the legs’. Clearly though the effort was putting me into some sort of delirium, as I kept imagining the synthetic First Great Western announcer calling out ‘your sprint train is formed of Chris...Vyse’.
We stopped for a snack at the very same McDonalds restaurant where we had supped last time we had done this ride (at the end of my 2011 Tour de France trip). As we did so a very heavy down pour happened, though it had subsided by the time we had finished our food. Though Chris complained bitterly at the likely impact the spray off the now wet roads would have on his newly installed and tuned gears.
A quick stop at Maplin in Epsom for the last component I needed for my second attempt at constructing a USB dynamo charger. The curious looks at my three wheeled bike aside it was a relatively uneventful trip, of some 15 miles.
Once we were back in Epsom we had a meal of Quorn chilly and mash, strolled back to the commercial street for some ice cream and then took to a few last minute repairs on the bike. Though we managed to get the dynamo USB charger working, a new front tyre fitted and a new saddle position set we were unfortunately unable to get the pesky kickstand to cooperate. We put on some grease and left it overnight so I could try it in the morning.
We rounded out the evening by renting Alien from 4OD, a perfect film to watch before several nights of sleeping alone in a tent.
The train trip was not especially comfortable, but was mostly uneventful.
From Paddington I meandered over to Victoria, where Chris had arrived by train to meet me for the ride down to Epsom. As I cut across the parks towards Buckingham palace, I added to my overtake count by swooping past ‘Boris bikes’ and golf carts carrying the park staff about their duties.
After some, less than optimal, but good enough urban navigation I arrived at Victoria and soon found Chris. As we were ready to depart a heavy shower opened up on us, but we pressed on regardless heading for ‘any bridge at all’. Soon though the weather cleared, almost as it were bowing to our combined will. As we headed out of London Chris, on his high specification road racer, certainly put me through my paces as we headed out of the city. I mostly managed to hold his wheel (though I suspect he was setting a pace which was intended to be kind to me), but the on the sharper inclines the weight of my touring bike was too big a handicap. Even so with Chris acting as my ‘sprint train’ we managed to storm by many a Londoner who had ‘the bike’ but lacked ‘the legs’. Clearly though the effort was putting me into some sort of delirium, as I kept imagining the synthetic First Great Western announcer calling out ‘your sprint train is formed of Chris...Vyse’.
We stopped for a snack at the very same McDonalds restaurant where we had supped last time we had done this ride (at the end of my 2011 Tour de France trip). As we did so a very heavy down pour happened, though it had subsided by the time we had finished our food. Though Chris complained bitterly at the likely impact the spray off the now wet roads would have on his newly installed and tuned gears.
A quick stop at Maplin in Epsom for the last component I needed for my second attempt at constructing a USB dynamo charger. The curious looks at my three wheeled bike aside it was a relatively uneventful trip, of some 15 miles.
Once we were back in Epsom we had a meal of Quorn chilly and mash, strolled back to the commercial street for some ice cream and then took to a few last minute repairs on the bike. Though we managed to get the dynamo USB charger working, a new front tyre fitted and a new saddle position set we were unfortunately unable to get the pesky kickstand to cooperate. We put on some grease and left it overnight so I could try it in the morning.
We rounded out the evening by renting Alien from 4OD, a perfect film to watch before several nights of sleeping alone in a tent.
Touring to The Tour again
Late the week before last a change was made to our schedule at work. The activity planned for this week is now happening later in the month; to my mind this creates a vacuum in the schedule... and what do vacuums in work schedules get filled with in July? The answer you are looking for is Trips to le Tour de France.
Once again I’m travelling as a lone adventurer on my bicycle, but this differs from previous tour de France epics in a few important ways. Firstly this plan was thrown together very last minute (I actually started proper planning a week ahead of departure). Secondly on this occasion I started with a time I was available and picked which stages I could watch based on that (instead of picking the stages I most wanted to see and working out a trip around that). Finally this trip will be to see stages which are ‘plain’ and ‘medium mountain’ stages, as opposed to the ‘high mountain’ stages I’ve favoured previously.
On my first Tour de France trip I rode from Paris to Leon via Switzerland and the Tour’s High mountain stages in the Alps. Last year I started in northern Spain, then rode across France from its coast on the bay of Biscay to its Mediterranean coast at Montpellier via the Pyrenees (including, of course, the col du Tormalet). This year my schedule allows me to watch stages 3 and 4 which are in the Pas-de-Calais and Normandy, two areas altogether untouched in my previous tours. They are also conveniently close to ferry terminals. Alas though, the biggest climb of the route is a poultry Cat 3, so I’m not expecting the same level of challenge as previous years. Another difference is that this time I’ve gone for a relatively light load-out, having concluded that just three days in France aren’t worth the overhead of carrying cooking gear etc, so its cafes and snack bars all the way for me; vive le cuisine François!
This is the inaugural cycling adventure for my current mascot duck (his previous adventure having been backpack-full and bicycle-less).
Once again I’m travelling as a lone adventurer on my bicycle, but this differs from previous tour de France epics in a few important ways. Firstly this plan was thrown together very last minute (I actually started proper planning a week ahead of departure). Secondly on this occasion I started with a time I was available and picked which stages I could watch based on that (instead of picking the stages I most wanted to see and working out a trip around that). Finally this trip will be to see stages which are ‘plain’ and ‘medium mountain’ stages, as opposed to the ‘high mountain’ stages I’ve favoured previously.
On my first Tour de France trip I rode from Paris to Leon via Switzerland and the Tour’s High mountain stages in the Alps. Last year I started in northern Spain, then rode across France from its coast on the bay of Biscay to its Mediterranean coast at Montpellier via the Pyrenees (including, of course, the col du Tormalet). This year my schedule allows me to watch stages 3 and 4 which are in the Pas-de-Calais and Normandy, two areas altogether untouched in my previous tours. They are also conveniently close to ferry terminals. Alas though, the biggest climb of the route is a poultry Cat 3, so I’m not expecting the same level of challenge as previous years. Another difference is that this time I’ve gone for a relatively light load-out, having concluded that just three days in France aren’t worth the overhead of carrying cooking gear etc, so its cafes and snack bars all the way for me; vive le cuisine François!
This is the inaugural cycling adventure for my current mascot duck (his previous adventure having been backpack-full and bicycle-less).
A fresh start
After the demise of my mascot, for which my previous cycle touring blog was named, I thought it time for a fresh start. I’ve stayed with the duck mascot theme, but I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to relying on a single duck trip after trip, as ducks can be fickle creatures.
So begins my new cycle touring blog, sister blog to my general travel blog.
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