Week 52 metrics

21st - 27th December:

• Total distance: 1.01mi
• Total elevation: 52ft
• Longest ride: 1.01mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 7m

Ha ha! Not zero! For the first time since I got back on the bike in earnest, I manage a ride in Christmas week. Just barely. Hooray for me.

How it started... and how it's going

2020 was going so well, right up to lockdown, as these Elevate stats show...

How it started...

...how it's going

And let's not draw attention to the fact that I clocked 1,248km in two and a half wintry months and only 1,502km more in the following nine and a half mostly clement months...

Week 51 metrics

14th - 20th December:

• Total distance: 2.55mi
• Total elevation: 30ft
• Longest ride: 1.26mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 17m

Honestly, I'l get back on it next year...

Week 50 metrics

7th - 13th December:

• Total distance: 1.65mi
• Total elevation: 56ft
• Longest ride: 0.58mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 17m

Let's be honest, it's almost worse than nothing, isn't it?

May does bike stuff

We all know how to pump up our tyres, don't we? But it's James May, so let's watch anyway:

Week 49 metrics

30th November - 6th December:

• Total distance: 11.47mi
• Total elevation: 256ft
• Longest ride: 7.01mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 59m

Better than nothing (just).

Week 48 metrics

23rd - 29th November:

• Total distance: 0mi
• Total elevation: 0ft
• Longest ride: 0mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 0m

Don't say anything. Just don't. Say. Anything.

Week 47 metrics

16th - 22nd November:

• Total distance: 19.37mi
• Total elevation: 430ft
• Longest ride: 10.76mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 29m

Money well spent ... and not so well spent

My latest weight reduction/upgrade was to replace the OEM bar-ends on my bike with some Extralite UltraEnds. Extralite have replaced these with the CyberEnds now, but I got the UltraEnds on eBay from a bloke in Italy for a bargain price, because one bolt was missing. Thanks to Extralite's excellent spares policy, I was able to source an original bolt (also from Italy). All told, I spent about £40 buying and completing these - not bad considering they would have been (a slightly mad) €99 new, and even better when you consider the g/£ weight saved to cost ratio, as evidenced by the Scales Of Inaccuracy™, look:

  

So, money well spent.

Less well spent was the £17 I parted with to buy an IceToolz Ocarina torque wrench. I'm usually a bit sceptical about such bargains, on the basis that they're probably cheap for a reason, but I was swayed by this complimentary review from the usually reliable BikeRadar. What arrived, again from an eBay seller, certainly looked the part, and I was glad to finally have the chance to use it. Turns out that gladness was short-lived. Yes, the Ocarina correctly tightened the bolt on the right bar-end to a torque of 5Nm. Fixing the left bar-end in place, the Ocarina got to about 4Nm and then something inside let go, so that the shaft now turns freely from side to side in the handle ... rendering it completely useless.

So is a £17 torque wrench that covers a range of 1-10 Nm too good to be true? Seems that way. Whilst there are certainly some areas of bike upgrade and maintenance where economies can be sensibly made, it turns out that torque wrench purchase is probably not one of them. Buy cheap, buy twice...

Week 46 metrics

9th - 15th November:

• Total distance: 24.42mi
• Total elevation: 961ft
• Longest ride: 5.34mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 12m

Week 45 metrics

2nd - 8th November:

• Total distance: 0.92mi
• Total elevation: 7ft
• Longest ride: 0.92mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 7m

Somehow, this pitiful sum is even worse than the zero recorded for last week...

Week 44 metrics

26th October - 1st November:

• Total distance: 0mi
• Total elevation: 0ft
• Longest ride: 0mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 00m

That's right, a big fat zero. In my defence, I went away for the week (whilst I still could, Tier 1 to Tier 1) and didn't take a bike with me...

Week 43 metrics

19th - 25th October:

• Total distance: 8mi
• Total elevation: 318ft
• Longest ride: 4.25mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 54m

Week 42 metrics

12th - 18th October:

• Total distance: 7.11mi
• Total elevation: 85ft
• Longest ride: 7.11mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 28m

Not sure why I'm bothering to even record this.

Week 41 metrics

5th - 11th October:

• Total distance: 11.78mi
• Total elevation: 541ft
• Longest ride: 4.89mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 08m

Pathetic, frankly. Not sure why I'm even bothering.

Week 40 metrics

28th September - 4th October:

• Total distance: 16.46mi
• Total elevation: 449ft
• Longest ride: 12.04mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 21m

Week 39 metrics

21st -27th September:

• Total distance: 7.82mi
• Total elevation: 7ft
• Longest ride: 4.9mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 40m

...okay, so the weather has been atrocious but this basically marks the nadir of my cycling training, as the realisation that I was supposed to have done the LEJOG by now really drills itself into my tiny mind...

"He's a boss, he's a VIP, he's a championship..."

I have a new top cap. Here it is on the the slightly dusty Scales Of Inaccuracy™, look:

The claimed weight, bolt included, is 2.9g - as you see, my kitchen scales aren't refined enough to prove or disprove this. Certainly doesn't seem to be overweight, at least.

This is an Extralite HyperCap - not cheap (no Extralite gear is, sadly), but I got this at a factory-special reduction because of "very small cosmetic imperfections". Works for me, because the one that was delivered (all the way from Italy) looks absolutely flawless.

So is it worth it? The cost and European postage? Well, it replaces a stem/bolt combo that weighed 17g, so I only strayed slightly the wrong side of the "£1 per 1g" cost/weight trade-off. Plus, I mean, come on, look at that hollow bolt... (don't look too closely at the design, I had no choice in that, it's the only one they do...)

So, swapping out a top cap to save 14g at a cost of €19... the transition is complete. I am officially a bike nerd.

P.S. The title of this post is a punning reference for readers of a certain age... because "top cap" sounds very much like this...

Week 38 metrics

14th - 20th September:

• Total distance: 35.04mi
• Total elevation: 659ft
• Longest ride: 8.98mi
• Time in saddle: 3h 07m

Week 37 metrics

7th - 13th September:

• Total distance: 24.89mi
• Total elevation: 525ft
• Longest ride: 13.98mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 40m

Week 36 metrics

31st August - 6th September

• Total distance: 7.81mi
• Total elevation: 108ft
• Longest ride: 4mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 54m

Pathetic. No other word for it.

Week 35 metrics

24th - 30th August:

• Total distance: 10.5mi
• Total elevation: 207ft
• Longest ride: 10.5mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 57m

Week 34 metrics

17th - 23rd August:

• Total distance: 8.5mi
• Total elevation: 293ft
• Longest ride: 4.47mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 43m

What a difference a year makes

I went for a long bike ride at the weekend. Longish, anyway, a shade over 77 miles. And it trashed me. Yes, I had an off within the first ten miles; yes, I got soaking wet within the first ten miles; yes, there was a swirling, circling wind that only ever seemed to be against me; and yes, there was an unplanned route deviation that added ten miles to the route I'd planned. But still, it trashed me. After 60 miles, I was genuinely starting to wonder how, last September, I had cycled 142 miles in one day, without any real problems. Yes, I had been tired. But I hadn't hurt in the way I was at the weekend. Indeed, when I had arrived at my destination I had a quick shower, a bite to eat, and then headed off into the city for a few pints with my best friend. So, aside from being a year older and a bit creakier, what has changed?

This. This has changed.

This shows cumulative mileage. The orange trace represents 2018: you can see where I started cycling to work, mid-May. The green trace is 2019, the blue trace is 2020. By March 12th this year, I had clocked exactly 200 miles more than at the same time last year. As lockdown kicked in, that advantage was eaten away and, by April 23rd, had turned into a negative. As of this morning, I've clocked 343 miles less this year than last, so yes, that's a turnaround of nearly 550 miles.

And it's not just the distance, it's the regularity. The beauty of cycling to work every day was that I was cycling at least five days a week, every week, even if only ten miles a day. The side-effect of so-doing was that cycling became second nature, almost incidental - as natural as breathing. It was easy, in other words.

I've tried to keep the wheels turning during lockdown, and even now, less tightly locked but still working from home. But it's not the same, and its not easy at the moment. I need to remember this next year, if I'm still working from home, as I try to train myself up for the postponed LEJOG marathon. I will need to find a way to cycle most days, in 2021. You'll see, right here, whether I manage anything close to that.

Week 33 metrics

10th - 16th August:

• Total distance: 82.9 mi
• Total elevation: 2,451 ft
• Longest ride: 77.58mi
• Time in saddle: 6h 07m

Week 32 metrics

3rd - 9th August:

• Total distance: 17.3mi
• Total elevation: 558ft
• Longest ride: 5.7mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 31m

Week 31 metrics

27th July - 2nd August:

• Total distance: 18.76mi
• Total elevation: 453ft
• Longest ride: 11.23mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 19m

Frankly pathetic.

Stem subject

Before...

...and after...

I had got to the stage where every gram of weight saving was costing me £1, so to save 37g with this Specialized stem, bought secondhand for £15, seems to be good value.

Week 30 metrics

20th - 26th July:

• Total distance: 35.66mi
• Total elevation: 965ft
• Longest ride: 25.07mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 53m

Week 29 metrics

13th - 19th July:

• Total distance: 42.63mi
• Total elevation: 951ft
• Longest ride: 41.53mi
• Time in saddle: 3h 41m

Week 28 metrics

6th - 12th July:

• Total distance: 13.56mi
• Total elevation: 95ft
• Longest ride: 6.54mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 07m

Blimey. Hardly worth it.

Week 27 metrics

29th June - 5th July:

• Total distance: 41.51mi
• Total elevation: 1,447ft
• Longest ride: 21.15mi
• Time in saddle: 3h 10m

Trigger's broom

In Only Fools and Horses, Trigger famously opined that, in his job as a council road-sweeper he's had the same broom for twenty years... just with seventeen new heads and fourteen new handles.

Only a totally unrelated note, I've been running the same bike for more than twelve years, but with a few new heads and handles...

Still original	Replaced or upgraded
Frame Fork Headset Stem Seatpost Front derailleur Rear derailleur Gear shifters Brake levers Brake calipers Grips Bar ends Top cap	Wheels (M/U) Tyres (M/U) Inner tubes (M/U) Cassette (M/U) Brake pads (M/U) Brake cables (M) Shifter cables (M) Bottom bracket (M/U) Chain (M) Crankset (M/U) Chainrings (M/U) Handlebar (U) Pedals (U) Saddle (U)
Key: M = maintenance, U = upgrade

I've got a set of Ultegra brake calipers waiting to go on next time the bike is serviced, plus I may yet change the bar ends and top cap (and possibly the stem, though that's a lot of money for a tiny gain, so...)

Anyway, as Del once asked, how can it be the same broom? But on the plus side, my bike is unique...

Week 26 metrics

22nd - 28th June:

• Total distance: 34.68mi
• Total elevation: 801ft
• Longest ride: 15.59mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 08m

A lot of Kit-Kats

Since I started modding the trusty old bike, I've reduced its weight by more than 30 Kit-Kats...

Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headphones

I know there are cycling clubs, with lots of members, and that they do club rides - who hasn't seen a group of cyclists barrelling down the road together, in amiable, social conversation? Except I'm not like that, really. I tried a cycle club ride once - nobody spoke to me from the moment I arrived at the RVP to the moment I went home. Besides, I'm an introvert. Most of my cycling is done alone.

No, it's fine, really, that suits me down to the ground ... except it can be a bit quiet occasionally. Sometimes I'm quite happy to drink in the sounds of the surrounding countryside, especially recently as lockdown has seemed to turn the man-made volume down and the natural volume up. Sometimes ... but not all the time. So how to listen to something - music, podcast, audiobook - safely on the road? Doesn't matter how clearly you can hear the ringing chimes of Johnny Marr's Fender Jaguar if you can't hear the Transit van bearing down on you from behind!

Fortunately, this is exactly the dilemma that the subject of today's review aims to solve, for Aftershokz make bone conduction headphones, the ear-pieces of which sit in front of your ears rather than on them. Sound is, as the name suggests, conducted through your cheekbones, leaving your ear canals free to hear traffic noise. I've just treated myself to a pair of their Trekz Titanium headphones, at some expense, so I'm pleased to be able to report that they work brilliantly.

First off, forget the fancy conduction stuff - at the most basic level, this is a Bluetooth headset. I'm happy to tell you that it is, hands-down, the best Bluetooth headset I have ever had. Easy connectivity and no dropped connections, even on the move, something I can't honestly say for any other Bluetooth headset I've tried. Using them for making and receiving calls is clear and reliable too, with dual noise-cancelling microphones. Ease of use is another big win - there are only three multi-function buttons in total, all of which are easy and unambiguous to find, and all of which work intuitively, and in a pleasingly context-sensitive manner.

So they work well as a set of Bluetooth headphones (very well, in fact). But what of their USP, the bone conduction? Well, it probably says something about me (pessimist... sceptic... cynic... all the above) that I was expecting to be underwhelmed, but far from it, I am mightily impressed. Sound quality is good, with plenty of depth to the low end and detail at the top, without being tinny. Full, and well-balanced, in other words. I don't know what the frequency range is (doesn't say in the packaging or on their website) but whilst I'm guessing it isn't 20Hz - 20kHz, it probably isn't far off. I'm also impressed at how well the sound translates into my head - this conduction malarkey really works. If I was to quibble, I'd say that maybe the stereo imagery isn't quite as pronounced as it would be through conventional headphones, but that's probably just me betraying my audiophile past. It's unlikely to be a problem in 99% of use, and definitely isn't when you're out on the road, with the background noise of your bike and other traffic being heard conventionally at the same time.

What else can I tell you? It charges quickly (two hours or so), the battery lasts for around six hours, and the headphones themselves only weigh 36g, in part thanks to having a titanium head-band (hence the name). Oh, and they're IP55-rated (sweatproof) - when I get caught out in the rain, we'll find out how much better they are than that too. Oh, and they even make a "Mini" version, for people with small heads! Is it possible they've thought of everything?

Any minor quibbles? Well, it takes a bit of fiddling to get them comfy under the straps of a helmet, a problem compounded, I suspect, by the arms of my glasses. But when I say a bit of fiddling, I'm talking about five seconds or less, so ... no drama.

Oh, and these are the bottom of the Aftershokz range (not cheap, with an RRP of £69.95) but really, why pay more? Maybe if you're a pro, you might need IP67 or IP68, you might need Bluetooth 5 rather than 4.1, you might need eight hour battery life or to shave a few grams off the weight of your headphones, but otherwise ... I'll say it again, why pay more?

TLDR: well-made, high-quality Bluetooth headset with the added attraction of bone conduction, so you can listen to your favourite tunes and still hear the traffic around you; this cyclist could not fault them, and is very pleasantly surprised. ★★★★★

Buy: Aftershokz Trekz Titanium, currently £69 from Amazon (but top tip - at the time of writing, these are reduced to £50 in larger branches of Sainsbury's, so what are you waiting for?)

Saddled

Yes, that's a picture of my nice, new saddle, the Prime Primavera, on The Scales Of Inaccuracy™ (formerly The Scales Of Truth, but GCN called dibs on that), registering a scarcely credible 137-138g. For comparison, the saddle it's replacing tips those same scales at 345g. How is this kind of weight-saving possible, you might ask, and the answer is ... carbon. Lots of carbon. The body of the saddle is carbon. The rails are carbon. Everything that can be carbon, is, basically.

Also pictured, the little packet of Haribo those nice folks at Wiggle sent with the saddle. No, they didn't pay me to say that (though I'm open to offers, Wiggle et al.), they just seem nice. Plus they had a 43% reduction on this, bringing a saddle that weighs the same as three and a quarter KitKats into the realms of affordability. Still not cheap, but it's so light it's hardly there, for goodness sake...

Inevitable flip side? It appears to have less padding than the stock Giant saddle it's replacing, so it remains to be seen how comfy I find it on a long ride. As soon as I actually get my lazy, locked-down arse into gear and have a long ride, I'll report back here and let you know.

Week 25 metrics

15th - 21st June:

• Total distance: 14.74mi
• Total elevation: 499ft
• Longest ride: 13.79mi
• Time in saddle: 0h 52m

Dieting is hard

It's getting harder and harder to shed the pounds. This was a hard-won tenth of a kilogram...

Two changes - first, I finally got around to fitting the new (to me, it's secondhand) carbon handlebar, a Truvativ Noir T40, which, as we have previously established, is so light it would blow away in a stiff breeze. However, it turns out that the original bar was pretty light too, for aluminium, and this only yielded an 83g saving, if the Kitchen Scales of Truth™ are to be believed. Never mind. Also pictured is the newly fitted replacement aero bracket for my GPS, which quickly failed in the same way as the original. Never mind.

The rest of the tiny weight saving came by putting on these excellent Shimano PD-R8000 Ultegra SPD-SL carbon pedals. I didn't buy them to save weight, I got them to enter the world of cleats and clipping in... but even so, I got a 14g weight saving across the pair. Yes, I weighed pedals to record a 14g weight reduction. You ought to feel sorry for me really.

Where else can I shave some weight off? Well, I could get a carbon stem, but that's going to be a lot of money for a tiny saving. A better bet might be to treat myself to a new saddle, maybe with carbon rails. Other than that, I'd just have to buy a new bike...

Week 24 metrics

8th - 14th June:

• Total distance: 14.2mi
• Total elevation: 487ft
• Longest ride: 14.2
• Time in saddle: 1h 12m

Week 23 metrics

1st -7th June:

• Total distance: 14.6mi
• Total elevation: 371ft
• Longest ride: 9.1mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 08m

Frankly pathetic.

Week 22 metrics

25th - 31st May:

• Total distance: 20.9mi
• Total elevation: 505ft
• Longest ride: 13.4mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 45m

Strava and lucre

If you're even half-way serious about cycling, you probably use Strava already. As we all know, if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen, right?

One of the great things about Strava was always that you didn't need to pay for it unless you had quite specific requirements - the free version was very feature-rich. Sure, there were upgrade options - Strava called them Summit packs, and there were three, Training, Safety and Analysis, each offering specific functionality. You could also bundle them together if you wanted everything. Plenty upgraded, and got the little orange chevron next to their name, but plenty, myself included, had everything we needed from the free version.

You'll notice that a lot of that last paragraph was in the past tense. For Strava have ditched the Summit packs and moved to a much simpler model - you're either free or you're a paid subscriber, simple as that, with all subscribers getting everything.

Now here's the rub. Strava is not yet a profitable company, and that has to change, I get that. So, to coincide with this change of pricing model, Strava has moved some of the previously free features to sit behind their subscriber paywall. Yes, they're also rolling out new features for subscribers, but let's be clear here, they need to have more paid subscribers and so are making some popular features "premium". Here's a list of what was free that no longer is:

• Overall segment leaderboards (Top 10 view is still free)
• Comparing, filtering and analyzing segment efforts
• Route planning on strava.com, with better maps and support for segments
• Matched Runs: Analyze performance on identical runs over time
• Training Log on Android and strava.com
• Monthly activity trends and comparisons

Now monthly activity trends and matched runs - big deal, can live without those easily enough, and I suspect I'm not alone in that. Similarly, the Training Log... well, that was more useful but, if I'm honest the only thing I used that for was to summarise the previous week's total distance, elevation and longest ride for this blog. And - top tip - you can still get those three metrics from club leaderboards, although they are limited to the current and previous week only, whilst the Training Log lets you go back to any point in your history.

Route planning is another big change. They're softening the blow by saying that their new route planner integrates segments better, and that's great but not enough to make me get out my wallet. Not when ridewithgps.com does route planning every bit as well and arguably better, since it generates cue sheets right off the bat, and talks to my GPS just as seamlessly as Strava, without charging me for the privilege.

The real kicker, then, in the changes to the Strava pricing model is that they make so many segment features subscription only... Strava is segments, segments are Strava. It is Strava's defining feature, what distinguishes it from its competitors. Yes, the Top 10 leaderboards are still visible but for me, and most others, Top 10s are usually out of reach. The leaderboard I was always most interested in was for the people that I follow - how do I compare against my mates, in other words. That's gone now. And in terms of a bigger picture, Top 10s are nice (I do have a few) but realistically I was more interested in knowing if I was in the top 250 for a segment, and I can't tell that any more.

Now there is a partial workaround for this, for now. The Elevate App for Strava is a Chrome extension that gives you a passable training log substitute and also integrates some segment stats into Strava itself, like this:

I really can't recommend Elevate highly enough, it's terrific and integrates seamlessly with Strava, at least when you're using the .com through a browser (it's no help for mobile Strava apps, obviously). But even Elevate is going to change imminently, and it won't be long, surely, before Strava pull up the drawbridge on their API, especially around segments, as they seek to turn users into subscribers.

There is some good news, at least; Strava are giving users a 60-day free trial of the subscription service. Of course, if you forget to cancel the trial before the end then you start paying full whack. And I guess that's the other good news - that "full whack" is only about £4 per month, so falls squarely in the "cup of tea and a slice of cake" price bracket. But if you're already paying for other cycling subscriptions, such as simulation software for your turbo trainer, then all these little amounts add up: £4 here, £10 here. Where does the line get drawn?

I do love comparing segment times with people I follow though... think I might wait for lockdown to lift, then try the 60-day trial. I'll report back here if I do.

Week 21 metrics

18th - 24th May:

• Total distance: 56.24mi
• Total elevation: 1,854ft
• Longest ride: 20.04mi
• Time in saddle: 3h 58m

Bar none

My new handlebar arrived today. As you can see from the kitchen scales of truth, it's quite a bit more than the claimed weight of 110g (nearly 13% more, maths fans)...

...but it's still so light it feels like it would blow away in a stiff breeze.

Week 20 metrics

11th - 17th March:

• Total distance: 14mi
• Total elevation: 614ft
• Longest ride: 7mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 01m

A new low...

Week 19 metrics

4th - 10th May:

• Total distance: 39mi
• Total elevation: 1,093ft
• Longest ride: 20.14mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 48m

So, pretty pathetic, really... but two KOMs, at least.

Week 18 metrics

27th April - 3rd May:

• Total distance: 40.1mi
• Total elevation: 627ft
• Longest ride: 10.77mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 45m

Yes. I gave myself a break on elevation. So?

Week 17 metrics

20th - 26th April:

• Total distance: 48.9mi
• Total elevation: 1,844ft
• Longest ride: 11.67mi
• Time in saddle: 3h 45m

...more through stubbornness than inclination or enthusiasm.

Week 16 metrics

13th - 19th March:

• Total distance: 22.2mi
• Total elevation: 1,299ft
• Longest ride: 12.02mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 33m

The COVID lockdown continues to rob me of commuting by bike, and of any motivation. Currently not feeling any inclination to spend more than 45 minutes in the saddle at a time...

Little by little

It's been a while since I last weighed my bike, but since then I've had a new bottom bracket, new chainrings, new crankset and new pedals, so I thought it was probably time for an update. If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting too much - in fact, I was even braced for an increase, because I've had to use distinctly middling components. But it turns out I was replacing middling components too, and they were twelve years old, so... Anyway, using the time honoured method of standing on the bathroom scales, taking a reading, picking up my bike, taking a second reading, and then subtracting one from the other, I concluded that my bike, my knackered old relic from another life, is now down to...

About black hoops

Earlier this year I switched tyres, replacing Schwalbe Durano Plus with Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech. In other words, I replaced wired tyres with much lighter foldables. Strava tells me I've done very nearly 400 miles on the new rubber now, so what's the verdict?

My primary concern with tyres is always puncture resistance. There's nothing that grinds my gears more than squatting down at the side of the road in the pissing rain, getting covered in cack whilst trying to get tyre levers under tight-fitting rubber. Honestly, if I'm within five miles I'd rather walk home, pushing the bike. So I was a little bit disappointed, if I'm being honest, to pick up a puncture in one of the Hutchinsons, despite their move-touted Kelvar-iness. Reader, I walked home, pushing the bike and silently swearing the whole way. But punctures happen. This, like >90% of all the punctures I've had in the last three years, was picked up on a cycle path, where detritus of all sorts accumulates. Honestly, is it any wonder I prefer the road? But I digress - the Hutchinson's puncture can be written off to bad-weather cycling, I hope.

Beyond puncture protection, what else can I tell you? The Hutchinson tyres are much lighter than the Schwalbe, less than half the weight. This, I guess, is down to not being wired... and, you know, not having the extra 5mm of rubber that the Schwalbe's start off with. As it is, I coupled the change of rubber with new lightweight tubes and a shiny new and (guess what) lightweight wheelset, and can really feel the difference. And that's not all - being foldable, the tyres feel a bit more forgiving, more pliant - they soak up the bumps a bit better, is what I think I mean. I say "think" because the difference is marginal... but it is there. This takes a bit of getting used to - I've cycled over bumps and thought, "Uh-oh, tyre feels a bit flat," but it isn't - it just gives a bit more going over whatever the obstacle is. This pliancy probably means they won't last as long as the Schwalbe, but time will tell on that score. One thing I can tell you already though is that they are much harder to get onto the wheel - you might want to think about three levers, rather than two, unless you have thumbs of steel...

Oh, and there's grip. I don't think the Hutchinson's are quite as grippy as the Schwalbe were. Whether this is down to the more pliant rubber or some other characteristic, I'm not sure. What I can tell you is that there are corners I've had to ease off slightly for, in the wet, that I didn't before. Of course, this could just be because I'm arriving at them faster, on my new lighter wheels...

TLDR: lightweight, comfortable hoops that promise much and, thus far, are delivering. Not perfect though: hard to get on, and could be grippier through wet corners. ★★★★☆

BUY: Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech, currently £33.99 from Wiggle

Week 15 metrics

6th - 12th March:

• Total distance: 33.6mi
• Total elevation: 1,168ft
• Longest ride: 10.57mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 51m

And motivation? Less than zero...

About postponement

The reason for this blog was to document the training, the bike upgrades, the sponsorship push and everything else related to my attempt to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats, 980 miles in 9 days... in September 2020.

At the weekend, I received email confirmation that the event (the Deloitte Ride Across Britain) is being cancelled this year, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. September sounds like a long way off, but the organisers have (correctly) realised that it's going to take a long time to get through this, and a long time afterwards for life to return to even a semblance of what was considered normal before.

My place on RAB has been rolled over to 2021, so I'll still be doing the ride, but now not for another 17 months.

I understand the reasoning behind this, it's the right decision, and of course I get that everyone has more important things to be thinking about at the moment. But at the same time, if it's alright with you, I am just a bit gutted. Delaying by a year means that my already creaky body is going to be even creakier. Nobody gets fitter or stronger as they advance through middle age; the decline might only be slight, but it'll be there. And it's not like it was going to be a doddle this year, so next year...? Plus I bought into the idea that this year's RAB dates meant that I would be celebrating a landmark birthday slap bang in the middle of the ride. Not so, next year...

I suppose there are plus sides. I suddenly have an extra twelve months in which to raise much-needed sponsorship, should anyone's thoughts return to charity at any point (I haven't attracted any sponsorship in the last month, for obvious reasons). And maybe, assuming I still have a job and there are still functioning bike shops, maybe I'll have time to save up for a super-light race bike. Maybe.

Even so, here's where I insert an appropriate visual metaphor for my current mood...

Week 14 metrics

30th March - 5th April:

• Total distance: 15.3mi
• Total elevation: 171ft
• Longest ride: 10.8mi
• Time in saddle: 1h 00m

...and motivation? Zero.

Climbing out of the rut

Trying to, at least.

Week 13 metrics

23rd - 29th March:

• Total distance: 66.3mi
• Total elevation: 3,202ft
• Longest ride: 30.24mi
• Time in saddle: 4h 40m

In a rut

Training has tanked lately. First of all I was away for work, with not a bike in sight, then I had a weekend away, similarly bike-free. And now I'm working from home, so haven't even been commuting on two wheels either.

The bottom line of all this is that my weekly stats have gone through the floor, which is not great. Motivation levels have followed suit, not least because I'm doing all this with the expectation of cycling from one end of the country to the other at the start of September, i.e. in five and a half short months. As things stand, I'm assuming/hoping the event will go ahead...but who knows?

Week 12 metrics

16th - 22nd March:

• Total distance: 50.9mi
• Total elevation: 1,572ft
• Longest ride: 18.2mi
• Time in saddle: 4h 10m

When cyclists go insane

I'm in the fortunate position of having a turbo trainer. Less fortunate is the sweaty mess I leave on the conservatory floor after a hard session. Not to worry, I thought to myself, I could get a mat to go underneath it - would protect the laminate from my sweat and have the added benefit of reducing vibration noise (turbo-ing is pretty loud).

Now Argos is generally a pretty good value shop - it's certainly not known for being pricey. So imagine my happiness at discovering they sell some cycling gear, including a mat to go under a turbo trainer...

Imagine my subsequent disbelief at seeing the price - 75 quid for a small synthetic mat.

Lucky for me Planet X currently have a range of sizes, £10 - £20 until Sunday...

Cycling, like golf (and, I guess, a lot of sports), is a pursuit that enables you to spend increasingly barmy amounts of money in pursuit of increasingly tiny gains. But don't do it. Shop around. It doesn't have to be this way..

Week 11 metrics

9th - 15th March:

• Total distance: 28.4mi
• Total elevation: 1,001ft
• Longest ride: 6.05mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 20m

Week 10 metrics

2nd - 8th March:

• Total distance: 78.1mi
• Total elevation: 2,402ft
• Longest ride: 10.43mi
• Time in saddle: 6h 47m

Week 9 metrics

24th February - 1st March:

• Total distance: 86.2mi
• Total elevation: 3,005ft
• Longest ride: 17.29mi
• Time in saddle: 6h 57m

I hope it's worth the weight...

...and that I'm not just ruining my bike with all these mods...

About stats

Very few people are reading this blog, but if you're one of those few you'll have noticed the weekly metrics posts that list how much training I've done in the previous seven days - distance, elevation, longest ride, that sort of thing. I'm eight weeks into training now, so here's a self-explanatory graph:

I tell myself (and you) that I had an off-week last week - for reasons that I won't go into I could only cycle on four days out of seven, and adverse weather meant that outdoor rides were short. Yes, I still clocked over 60 miles in total, but that's not actually very much, especially when you factor in that 20 of those (the longest ride bit) was indoors, on the turbo trainer. Despite all that though, I could look at this and still feel that things are going okay. Except...

Except anyone with basic Excel skills can add trend lines to graphs. Here's what the same graph looks like with trend lines to the week before LEJOG...

So what's that, about 220 miles per week, with a longest ride of 85 miles, and a weekly elevation total of about 4,400 feet? I don't think that's enough. I'm behind where I should be and I need to up my game...

Week 8 metrics

17th - 23rd February:

• Total distance: 62.5mi
• Total elevation: 1,362ft
• Longest ride: 20mi
• Time in saddle: 4h 58m

Week 7 metrics

10th - 16th February:

• Total distance: 90.8mi
• Total elevation: 3,182ft
• Longest ride: 29.93mi
• Time in saddle: 7h 0m

Some new bits

A flavour of some new bits for old faithful...

Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech

Schwalbe Extra Light

SRAM PG950 11-28T 9-speed

Week 6 metrics

3rd - 9th February:

• Total distance: 87.3mi
• Total elevation: 2,582ft
• Longest ride: 18.97mi
• Time in saddle: 6h 50m

Shedding the pounds...

I don't have a fancy scale like this...

...not me, the bike. When I bought it, mumbles indistinctly years ago, I was told it weighed 9.8kg. I was quite pleased with this back then, though of course I never checked. But for the sake of argument, let's say that was accurate.

In the intervening years, I've added some bits (light brackets, a Rear Guard mudguard, the fitting for my GPS) and some bits have come off (the front reflector, the toe straps on the pedals, that kind of thing). The net effect of all that is that, until recently, it still weighed about 9.8kg.

At this point I should add that I don't have some fancy schmancy bike scale like the one pictured. I just hop on the bathroom scales, take a reading, pick up my bike, take another reading, and calculate the difference. Maths, in other words.

Anyway, I've recently started looking at ways to reduce my faithful steed's weight, in advance of the challenge that lies ahead. So far, I've changed one tyre and inner tube for lighter equivalents, and swapped my bottle cage... said faithful steed is now down to 9.6kg. I have another tyre and tube to put on the back, plus I have just ordered a new wheelset that should be quite a bit lighter. On the flip-side, I've also got a new cassette waiting to go on, that might actually add a tiny bit, due to the size of the largest cog...

The upshot of all this is that I'm starting to wonder if I can trim the bike down to under 9kg? Maybe even 8.8?

Of course, anything is possible. With some of the carbon and titanium goodies available from Extralite I could probably get Old Faithful down to about 7.5kg... if money were no object. But money very definitely is an object, and an object in short supply at that. My total budget for all bike mod's is probably about £400 (and with the wheelset ordered, I'm up to about £300 and counting), so I'm going to see how low I can get without going crazy. I'll keep you posted.

Week 5 metrics

27th January - 2nd February:

• Total distance: 100.7mi
• Total elevation: 3,100ft
• Longest ride: 22.65mi
• Time in saddle: 7h 43m

It's not all about the length...

...although in this case, it is.

When you're measuring stem length, where do you start from and go to, I wondered? End to end? Head tube to handlebars? Or somewhere else entirely? Turns out this is the answer:

Source: mountaintreads.com

When is a bottle cage not a bottle cage?

When it's a chocolate bar.

Before:

After:

So yes, I removed the old bottle cage that came with my bike, twelve years ago, and replaced it with a sliver of carbon fibre. I know, I know. It was only a tenner though, so don't think bad of me.

Anyway, look - I just saved 46g. That might be a bit pathetic, but it's also more than a KitKat, so I can now carry an extra one of them - bonus!

Turboman

No, I didn't clean my bike before mounting it.
Yes, that is an old-school static exercise bike in the background.

In which I ramble on at boring length about the Bkool Smart Pro 2 turbo trainer...

Okay, I'll try not to ramble on. Can't make any promises about not being boring. But anyway, I've had this turbo trainer sat in its box, making me feel guilty for not using it, since my last birthday. But the cool weather, a recent spate of punctures and the fact that I really need to step up my training finally made me do something about it at the weekend.

Assembling the Smart Pro 2 is so simple, you don't even need to open the instructions (watch this if you don't believe me). The hardest part was getting my QR spindle out, so I could put the Bkool one in (which probably tells me mine was done up too tight). Installing the app was simple too - it was on my tablet in no time. Even connecting the two together was a doddle, via Bluetooth and ANT+ (I checked both). The only problem was making the damn trainer work properly ... because, whatever I tried, it was permanently stuck at maximum resistance. I could barely turn the pedals.

Much Googling ensued. Much reading of forums too, both Bkool and independent. It seemed to be a comparatively common problem, and yet there didn't seem to be a definitive answer. A surprising number of people had resorted to taking the trainer apart to look for physical problems but I felt that, being box-fresh, it was more likely a software problem. The app was supposed, I read, to tell me if the trainer required a firmware upgrade, and it wasn't ... so how to force a firmware upgrade, that was the question.

The answer was to download a companion app called the Bkool Toolkit (er, why can't the two be combined into one app, Bkool?), which checks for firmware upgrades on demand. And yes, my trainer, needed one. Sorted, right? Not quite. Because what neither the forums, the Bkool website nor the Toolkit app tell you is that for the firmware upgrade to work you need to have location services enabled on your tablet/phone. Only after I had tried and failed to install the firmware upgrade eight or nine times did I, in desperation, enable location services and get a result. Because yes, as soon as the firmware was up to date, the trainer resistance recalibrated and I could actually get on and use the thing.

First go was Giro del Lago Grande di Avigliana, an introductory 3mi loop around a lake in Italy, on my todd. It was fine, hard work in the right places, although I think the resistance ramps up a bit too quickly but maybe that's just me. The graphics were good, and a little less cartoony than all the Zwift screenshots that friends have on Strava. There's also a choice of map or real video, but I think I'll be sticking to the video animation.

The next morning I had a go at something a little more demanding. And because I wanted the social (by which I mean competitive) aspect of simulators like Bkool to kick in, I chose a scheduled session - basically an ordinary route that lots of users ride at the same time. I chose La Senia-Roquetes in NE Spain, partly because it was rated as being relatively easy but mostly because the distance meant it would fit into my narrow window of free time. I missed the start of the scheduled session but joined late and got pedalling.

And this is where I think the turbo trainer is really going to work for me, because I am quite competitive (more so than my level of ability warrants). When I joined the session, the app showed me that I was six minutes behind Oscar from Spain (whoever he was). I had the 19.5mi of the route to catch him ... and I was off, like a scalded cat. As it was, I caught him at the half-way point, so then had the challenge of first maintaining, then building a lead. By the time I crossed the finish line, I was five minutes ahead.

I was also a sweaty mess. With turbo training in the conservatory there's no breeze to cool you, or help your sweat evaporate. My top was off and I was down to shorts only after about seven miles, and my handlebars were uncomfortably slick with sweat (I hadn't thought to wear my gloves). I could probably have used a towel too. I can quite see why many users of this and other turbo trainers also invest in a desk fan for their training space.

But the Smart Pro 2? Once patched to the latest firmware, faultless. It feels really well made too. The Bkool simulator app isn't quite so slick - the UI is clunky and takes some getting used to, plus the Toolkit app functionality should really be built into the core app - but the actual simulations are excellent. I'm using a voucher that came with the trainer to get myself three months of the premium service, so I get the full range of available routes, sessions, velodromes simulators (yes, really) and seamless Strava/Garmin integration. When the three months run out, it'll cost £7.99 a month to continue. There is a free service, but the choice of routes and sessions is very limited, and there's no integration with other services. So we'll see ... three months is long enough for either the novelty to wear off or to become an absolute disciple. Watch this space.

TLDR: really well made bit of kit, software needs work, but the simulator is very good and subscription is competitively priced. Could be the making (and/or breaking) of me.

Week 4 metrics

20th - 26th January:

• Total distance: 83.2mi
• Total elevation: 2,910ft
• Longest ride: 19.5mi
• Time in saddle: 6h 16m

Real-world cycling

A snug isotonic sports drink, yesterday

In the vast and profitable world of online cycling, it's all 20-something men with washboard stomachs making Lycra look good as they belt up hills on 6kg wafers of hand-crafted Italian carbon. The real world, or my version of it at least, is not like that.

As a middle-aged man with a bit of a paunch, I look an absolute tool in Lycra, and wear it as little as possible. And whilst I would, of course, love a 6kg wafer of hand-crafted Italian carbon, life (and finance) is not like that, so I continue to eke a few more miles out of my 12-yr old flat-bar.

And if, as I do, you store your cycle helmet up on a shelf in the garage, you have to accept the possibility that, one day, a spider may take up residence. And that, as a consequence, when you're cycling into the city later that evening, the spider in question may crawl down over your face as you're trying your best to keep your speed up on an icy road. And that, being cold enough for you to wear your serious gloves, you might not be able to easily pluck your arachnid friend from your face. And even when you do get rid of him, you'll be imagining you can still feel him there for most of the rest of the journey. Doesn't happen to 20-something washboard-man, does it?

Another thing that doesn't happen much in the vast and profitable world of online cycling is real-world tests, by which I mean tests that I approve of. Example: have you ever seen a review of a bottle cage that tells you whether it will securely hold a 500ml bottle of ale isotonic sports drink? Another problem from last night, the bottle in question was not a snug fit and I was concerned that it would fall out and break, spilling all the hoppy isotonic goodness out on the road. Cue a real-world solution - fold your buff scarf in half lengthwise, to double the thickness, wrap around the bottle and Bob's your uncle, you have a nice tight fit. You don't get that kind of cycling tip anywhere else, do you?

Week 3 metrics

13th - 19th January:

• Total distance: 44mi
• Total elevation: 1,532ft
• Longest ride: 5.6mi
• Time in saddle: 4h 01m

Sweet ride

It's no accident that Wiggle are doing so well, is it? As well as delivering a wide range of quality cycling products at competitive prices, they throw in a little packet of Haribo when they pack up your order.

Yes, it's a 10p bag of sweets, against an order that was over £100 (reviews of the contents may follow, by the way). But it's the little (sweet) things that make all the difference, isn't it? Or am I just a sucker for gelatinous gummy treats?

Less is more

There are whole corners of the cycling web devoted to weight reduction. Go on, Google "weight weenies", I'll wait.

Quite a rabbit hole, isn't it?

Now I'm not going to get into a bespoke set of bike-weighing scales (yes, they exist) but I have been quite inspired by the thought of upgrading my trusty old road bike, in part inspired by this excellent video. The final push has come from the recent spate of punctures though, prompting me to replace my somewhat worn tyres. So out go the brilliant (until this week) Schwalbe Durano Plus, which have put in well over 2,000 miles in the last nine months. And in come... what?

After extensive Googling, in will come Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech. Yes, you read that right. Kevlar! Whereas the Durano Plus relied on an extra 5mm of rubber on the outer surface to provide sterling puncture protection, the Hutchinson have Kevlar. That, and the fact that they're foldable tyres, rather then the wired Schwalbe, should equate to a fair weight saving. Ditto the new Schwalbe extra light tubes I'd ordered.

That's what I thought when I went to bed last night. This morning, I got the scales out, to see whether this was rational in the cold light of day or whether I was falling down the weight-weenie rabbit hole. The results are in:

Part-worn Schwalbe Durano Plus 700x25c wired	494g	(Unscientifically weighed with, er, kitchen scales)
Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech 700x25c folding	215g	(Claimed)
Potential weight saving of (494g-215g) x 2 tyres =	558g
Schwalbe 700c 18-28c 60mm Presta tube	113g	(Kitchen scales)
Schwalbe Extra Light 700c 18-25c 60mm Presta tube	80g	(Claimed)
Potential weight saving of (113g-80g) x 2 tubes =	66g
Potential total weight saving =	624g

Now part of me thinks brilliant, that's a great saving! And part of me looks at my old-man's paunch and thinks that there are much bigger weight savings to be made, if I could only stay off the flapjacks and Minstrels. But the point is, I may save nearly two thirds of a kilogram just by judiciously replacing things I needed to replace anyway, and without breaking the bank. That's a win, surely?

Next consideration - the wheelset. I weighed the Giant IOU333 front wheel that came with the bike, twelve long years ago, and it clocked 865g with the quick-release spindle in. That's not bad, actually. But I've been looking at the Prime Baroudeur SE Road wheelset from Wiggle (Prime being one of their in-house brands), where the front wheel weighs in at 661g. Assuming a pro-rated saving on the heavier rear too and I could be looking at another 465g of weight saving, just by upgrading my wheels. Except, brilliant value though the Prime wheelset is in the Wiggle sale, it's £175 that I don't actually need to spend...

Diagnosing punctures

Yes, it's puncture season. Yes, my excellent tyres have ~2,000 miles on them. But having repaired an inner tube last night, today's fresh puncture crop seems excessive, look:

And yes, I have checked that there's nothing inside the tyre causing this ... this outbreak of punctures. Four on a five mile ride! Gah!

I've ordered some new tyres, and some brand new tubes. Until then, I've got more patches on the go than a smoking cessation clinic...

A small prick

5mm of thorn, cut from a hedge and left lying on a cycle-path, that's all it takes. And people wonder why I don't like cycle paths...

And I've got good tyres, with excellent puncture protection and durability, and the one that took this thorn only has about 2,500 miles on the clock...oh well.

Week 2 metrics

6th - 12th January:

• Total distance: 74.7mi
• Total elevation: 2,713ft
• Longest ride: 18.6mi
• Time in saddle: 6h 05m

Contrasts

The day started with two punctures, one in each tyre. It ended with unforecast rain on the commute ride home. Not a great day of cycling then, one way and another. And yet...

...and yet a new sponsor (thank you, Sensei), after a fallow period in which my running total had flatlined, and talk of LEJOG training rides and summer sportives have put the spring back in my step pedals. And if that isn't a thing, it ought to be.

Sort of thinking I might set up the turbo trainer (in its box since receiving it last birthday) this weekend, pop the road bike on that and commute on the veteran MTB whilst it's puncture-season... in which case, watch this space for a turbo report.

The joy of brakes

After one too many near misses, I replaced (and upgraded) my brake pads recently.

Here are the pads that came off. They had done about 5,000 miles, in all weathers, and were shot.

Frankly, it's a miracle I hadn't stacked it...

These were not visibly branded but are likely to have been bog-standard Tektro pads, since that's what came on the bike when it was new, oh so many moons ago. Time for an upgrade then, I thought, and splashed out on these from the Clarks Elite range, which promise great performance in all weather conditions and have cut away carriers for weight reduction. I like the idea of weight reduction, even when it's only a couple of grams. Pathetic, I know. Anyway, here's a side-by-side comparison of old and new:

Yes, white carriers. What of it?

This isn't an in-depth review but I can tell you the new brake pads stop an old man on an old bike as well as any pads can reasonably be expected to, and allow you to feed pressure in nicely. Equally, it is once more possible to brake so hard that the back wheel locks up. Which is nice. Will be interesting to see whether I get 5,000 miles out of these...

TLDR: decent pads at this price point, docked a star because the carriers really show the dirt (who'd have thought?) ★★★★☆

BUY: Clarks CPS240 brake pads with extra cartridges, currently £10.99 per set from Cycle Replublic

Full disclosure: I bought these with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.

B'TWIN 900 Urban waterproof overtrousers

Proper cyclists, the hardcore racers, sportive-chasers and MAMILs, don't wear overtrousers. They wear some sort of Lycra concoction and dry it when they get wherever it is they're going. Now I have been known to have a Lycra moment or two, and that will increase over the next eight months, but historically most of my mileage has been clocked up commuting. And since my journey to work is only around five miles each way, there seems little point in donning sports wear for it. Of course the trouble with cycling to work in your work clothes is that sometimes it rains...

I got sick and tried of drying out in the office, as you can imagine. Lining your desk chair with paper towels before you can sit down gets old pretty quickly. So this winter, I bit the bullet and invested in some waterproof overtrousers.

I researched the options, of course. And before I go any further, I should make a point that applies to just about all cycle clothing out there - yes, there are cheap, unbranded versions (or unheard-of brands) of everything you need on eBay, imported from some far-flung sweatshop, resplendent in their polyester glory. But caveat emptor - nearly all of it's crap. I love a bargain, who doesn't? But if you're relying on a piece of clothing to keep you warm or dry or windproof, best not to look at something that's coming from Shanghai for £7.

That said, there are relative bargains to be had. Take these range-topping overtrousers, from B'TWIN, currently available for £24.99. Yes, there are cheaper models, but these are so well thought out, and well made. From the top, these have an elasticated waistband, popper fastening and velcro fly - they're easy to get on, in other words. Then, have have pocket openings! I can't overstate how important this is. Not actual pockets, but pocket openings, so you can get to your actual trouser pockets underneath; you can get to your bike lock keys and money easily, without having to take the overtrousers off. And these are zippered openings - so many cheaper overtrousers just have slits for accessing pockets, completely ignoring the fact that the purpose of overtrousers is to keep you dry, and a gaping pocket slit just lets water in...

The side of the lower leg is zippered too, making it easy to put the overtrousers on when you've got shoes on. And the backs of the lower legs are bright yellow - a nice safety feature, as is the clip on each lower leg allowing you to attach small lights for added visibility. And finally, the legs end in elastic under-shoe straps to keep the trousers from riding up and - brilliantly - waterproof caps to keep the worst off your shoes too.

Finally, the whole lot folds up into its own back pocket, which is again that hi-viz, fluorescent yellow/green colour, and has integrated velcro straps so that you can tie it onto something (your frame, for example) if you've run out of pockets and bag space. Yes ,they really have thought of everything.

I haven't been out in a torrential downpour, but I've been out in some pretty heavy, persistent rain, and these have done their job brilliantly. The Decathlon website (for B'TWIN is Decathlon's house brand) states a very modest hydrostatic head of 2,000mm for these overtrousers, but also claims they are tested by simulating "an average downpour": 60 litres of water per square metre per hour for 2 hours. All I can tell you is I have yet to get wet, and that includes around all the seams and zips. And whilst the trade-off for good waterproofing is usually poor breathability, these are pretty good, with a stated RET value of 12. So when I say I have yet to get wet, I'm including my own sweat in that.

TLDR: these are well-priced, well-made and brilliantly designed overtrousers, ideal for commuting through rotten weather. It's rare that I lavish praise, but these are terrific. ★★★★★

BUY: B'TWIN 900 Urban waterproof overtrousers, currently £24.99 from Decathlon

Full disclosure: I bought these with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.

Week 1 metrics

30th December - 5th January:

• Total distance: 39.1mi
• Total elevation: 1,388ft
• Longest ride: 8mi
• Time in saddle: 2h 59m

The what and the why

In September 2020 [EDIT: now postponed to Sept 2021, due to COVID-19], I will be cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain event - cycling 980 miles in 9 days. I am a not-particularly-sporty middle-aged man, fairly new to long-distance cycling, and will be doing this on my clapped-out old bike - so this will be a massive challenge for me. Thus far, I've only ever cycled 100 or more in a day twice...so what could go wrong?

I am fundraising for the Alzheimer's Society, a charity that seeks to transform the landscape of dementia forever. Until a cure can be found, the Alzheimer's Society works to create a society where those affected by dementia are supported and accepted, able to live in their community without fear or prejudice.

From a personal perspective, my aunt passed away recently - her last years were blighted by dementia. Other friends and family are also affected. This has influenced my choice of charity - no-one should have to suffer from this wretched, awful condition. Anyway, if you'd like to sponsor me, that would be lovely, thanks.

I've got eight months to get ready for this, during which time I'm going to use this blog to record my training and document any kit I buy/use. Maybe it'll be interesting. Let's find out...