Birthday Ride 2013

It has been a couple of years since I last went on a bike ride to celebrate my birthday the last being my trip to Afan Argoed in Wales for a day on the local trails so when we started to plan our trip to Padstow I was quite excited. The plan was to cycle to the train station here in Plymouth and take the train to Bodmin Parkway station then cycle trough to Bodmin using NCN 3 and turn off down the Camel Trail NCN 32 to head down to Padstow for our overnight stay and return using the same route the following day.
Our journey started with me feeling less than great, nothing serious just a cold so we took an easy 4 mile ride to the station armed with our small mountain of tickets for both ourselves and our bikes, we arrived on the platform to find a couple who with bikes who had been refused access to the previous train with their bikes despite like us reserving the limited bike spaces on board, a real shame as they were due to be starting their Lands End to John O'groats a trip I am eager to try myself. To make things worse while we were waiting a fifth cyclist turned up who was also on his way to start an end to end ride, so now we have 5 riders and bikes for only 2 bike spaces, how the train companies manage to mess this up is beyond me and let us not mention the laughable space for cycles on board as it is woefully inadequate for bikes being at least a foot too short to easily fit a bike into. All these issues aside we all managed to get on board and arrived at Bodmin Parkway station ready to begin our ride.

Our ride took us through Lanhydrock Park and up an awful climb that saw us taking many breaks on the way up but soon we were on the flat and stopped for some lunch ready for the decent into Bodmin to pick up the Camel Trail, the steady down gradient made for fast riding down the trail stopping only to see an old steam engine from the Bodmin & Wenford station leaving for Bodmin.

With the rain chasing us we pressed on towards Padstow, stopping for a quick pint in Wadebridge, well cycling is thirsty work, the stretch from Wadebridge to Padstow is my favourite part as it follows the edge of the estuary affording some wonderful views.

We finally arrived in Padstow and made strait for the Roskillys Ice Cream shop right on the waterfront for our fix of their incredibly good ice-cream, I went for Ginger Fairings, Apple Crumble and the incredible Gooseberry flavour while Sam went for Malted Mystery, Ginger Fairings and Gooseberry.
It was about this time that the rain caught us up so we made out way to the bed and breakfast to get warm and changed ready for our evening meal.

The walk back down into the centre was quite welcome as it helped to loosen our legs off from the day riding, by now the rain was falling quite steadily although we stood out quite well in our bright yellow cycling jackets, we arrived earlier than expected so took a wander around the harbour, the weather was not great and it looked quite choppy outside the harbour walls.

Our dinner reservations were at Rojano's in the Square, a small but revery well reviewed Italian restaurant and we were not to be disappointed, the food and wine was incredible so we soaked up the atmosphere for a while before heading to the pub next door for another drink and then back to the B&B for some much needed sleep.

The following morning we woke to sunshine and black clouds outside the window as we tucked into a full english breakfast with extra toast before packing and saying farewell to our gracious hosts and pedalled into the harbour area once more to soak up the sun and pick up a pasty from the Chough Bakery for lunch on the way home.

Leaving Padstow behind we headed out along the sunny trail back towards Bodmin and some fair sized climbs up through the town, the path was now quite wet in places making it quite slippery, but with the sun out and a slight tail wind this was soon forgotten as we pedalled along the tree lined path.

We stopped for a pint at the Bodmin Prison pub for a pre hill climbing pint of beer dreading what we thought would be a terrible slog, instead we spun up the climbs with relative ease, the hardest part of the climb was some idiotic and impatient drivers, sooner than expected we found ourselves back on the bridge to cross the A30 near Bodmin and paused for a quick photo as we were well of time.

With time in hand we stopped for our lunch in Lanhydrock Park and enjoyed the views around us before the final short climb up to the station, while we were here we had tea and cake in the station cafe, it was here we saw the arrival and departure of the steam locomotive we say the day before on the Bodmin Wenford steam railway, this time I managed to get some video of it's departure, shortly after our own train arrived and the too many bikes too little space debacle reared it's head, the regional railways really need to modernise their rolling stock so that more people can make use of the great trails and paths we have here in the south west, but the trains aside we had a wonderful trip, we only covered about 40 miles in total but we met some great characters and saw some wonderful things plus it was great to get out on the bike.

I hoped you enjoyed this entry, I felt I did not take enough photo's and part of me felt I rambled on a lot, I have so much to learn when writing this blog. Part of the reason we did this trip on my birthday was to try out cycle touring and weekend breaks together, even with the inclement weather we both really enjoyed the trip, to be able to interact with the people we met along the paths was wonderful, experiences we would have missed had we simply driven down not to mention the health benefits and cake/beer consumption prospects, so will we be doing this again? Well yes we are, we are starting to plan some long weekends away and even a trip to France in the early planning stages, having a ferry port so close to home makes it easy.

More to come next week if this cold shifts from my chest and lets me ride, but for now thanks for reading.

Si & Sam.

N+1

Hi everyone, another post and so soon after the last, well I felt Norway needed it own albeit short post.
In previous posts I have said that I have wanted to start moving away from using a car for day to day trips and commuting to work, well recently that idea has really started to take shape, my car was sold and a new bike ordered from The Bike Cellar my local Trek dealer.
There is a formula that helps calculate the ideal number of bikes a person owns and that is N+1, N being the number of bikes you already own, you get the drift of the formula and just over a week ago I took delivery of the new bike, a 2013 Trek Crossrip, I did consider the Elite version but the finish and the lack of a triple chain set did put me off given the intended use for the bike (a sensible choice, I must be getting old). After an initial bike fit to check it was set up right for me I headed out and met Sam for a ride up to Clearbrook for a meal and a few drinks, a perfect test run for the bike.

The bike has been fully decked out with full length mudguards and a rack for my Ortleibs and I run an Altura rack top bag for light days, the triple chain set, disc's and the huge clearances mean it will run all year round without an issues, right now I have 25mm road tires on there but I am considering reverting to a larger tread pattern maybe even a cyclocross tire for a little more comfort and to reduce the damage from riding over the roads around here.

This past few weeks I have been doing quite a bit of planning for my daily commute into work, getting kit lists together and working out the best route in, my locker now resembles a small bike/grocery store but I have almost everything I need in case of mechanical of food breakdown. My ride in is a 4.8 mile ride, once half flat the other half is a nice long climb, it was this that had me worried and to be honest it has put me off doing it before now, so Friday I set my alarm 15 mins earlier than usual, my lunch and bags packed the night before I left almost on time for the ride in, a previous test ride on a different and much harder route saw me take 40 minutes to get in, today on the marginally longer but easier I was in just under 35 mins, I was happy with that and my first day of cycle commuting had started.

My ride home is where things really get fun, I have the easy option of a spin down the hill to home or I can head out for a longer ride, the office is place near to the edge of Dartmoor so I can easily head up to Yelverton and beyond should time and legs permit, on this day I took a 10 mile spin home giving me a nice 15 miles for the day and a huge feeling of accomplishment and well being, this is going to be the start of a good thing, the plan is to start with riding twice a week and build up to 3-4 times a week hopefully before winter sets in, my body should have adapted to the miles and the routine by then.

Recently Sam and I have been looking into cycle touring, our proximity to the train station and ferry port gives us great access to the UK and more importantly France and Spain, the bikes are more than capable although we will be glamping (using bed and breakfasts) rather than camping. A taster run was needed and as it is my birthday next week I fancied a trip down the Camel trail in Cornwall, so we are taking the train to Bodmin then cycling down to Padstow, over night in a  B&B then cycling back the next day, if everyone is happy and enjoys the ride we will look into a week next spring to France.

All this for two people and two bikes, madness

Well that is all for now, another blog next week to see how the commuting is going and to see how the trip to Padstow went down so for now har det bra or in non norwegian, have it good.

Si

Norway

Hello everyone, as you may have noticed my blog has changed a little, I felt it was time to update the site as it has remained unchanged since the blogs creation back in 2009 and given the changes in my life I felt it was time, so for now a little catch up.

March saw Sam and I embarking on a cruise to see Norway to hopefully see the northern lights something I have wanted to see and do for many years. Our trip was not the smoothest but when you are traversing the north sea at this time of year you are almost certain of having a rough trip and we were not disappointed, the swell being bad enough to damage the stabilisers on the ship, the condition of the ship aside we had a fantastic time.





Sadly thanks to the weather we missed our first scheduled port of call in Stavanger so our first port of call was Ålesund, from there we stopped at Narvik next, along the way we stopped to see the Svartisen glacier before crossing the arctic circle on our was up to Alta our most northerly stop on the trip.










Up at Alta we enjoyed to trips, one was driving a Husky sled which was absolutely incredible and on our second day there we visited the Igloo hotel, a building made entirely of ice and snow filled with beautiful ice sculptures. On the way back south we visited Tromsø, Ådalsnes before our final port of call Bergen, all the photos can be found here Norway Photos, just click and enjoy.

Traveling

Hi everyone, I am writing a new blog entry so that must mean that yet another week has passed and Monday is due to rear it's ugly head tomorrow morning, the uniform has been pressed and lunch box prepared in readiness for the day ahead, on the upside it is another day closer to our holiday and I can tell you we are both looking forward to it.
Exercise wise I will admit I have done very little in fact only one that being our now regular Wednesday circuit training session, we are certainly enjoying the sessions and have included sit up's and press up's into our daily routine, slowly our bodies are adapting to the new exercise although I did have some issues with my calf muscle pulling and becoming very uncomfortable, I think the sheer amount of running might have been the issue, that or the fact my legs were cold, either way the sessions are good and I can see us carrying them on when we return from Norway.

Recently I made a tough decision regarding my cameras and decided to sell my pro lenses, I still have some regrets but I feel I have made the right choice, although I loved my 17-55 f2.8 it was large and quite heavy as was the 70-200 f2.8, I think the fact we are traveling away more really helped sway my decision as my gear will need to fit into carry on luggage plus it wont stand out so much as we walk around and most of all the while kit will be lighter and more compact.
I spent ages reading reviews and I eventually decided on the Nikon 16-85 f3.5-5.6 ED VR and the Nikon 70-300 f4.5-5.6G VR giving me a good range and wide angle.

Nikon 16-85 f3.5-5.6 ED VR

Nikon 70-300 f4.5-5.6G VR

I have only had one outing with them both and so far I am very impressed, the VR does a wonderful job making up for the slow aperture, the only thing I am struggling with is the reversal of the focus and zoom rings compared to my 17-55 and lastly with the hood reversed on the 16-85 I cannot use the zoom ring at all, a bit of an inconvenience but in time I will adapt.
In about three maybe four years once my bills are paid I want to change formats and leave DX behind and possibly Nikon too moving to Canon full frame and their lovely range of f4 L series lenses, we will see, technology evolves and in four years things might be different but I shall decide then.

Saturday we headed down to Looe for a wander around with the cameras, the weather was a bit grey but I thoroughly enjoyed the day and spotted a few ideas that I want to revisit when conditions are "just right"

Err I will have the fish please.

Looe is a lovely place and for a seaside village it was not as cheesy as I expected it to be, some how it has retained it's dignity and not succumbed to the flood of arcades and cheap souvenir stores that often litter other seaside locations, there were little alleyways that I like wandering down and exploring.

MINE!

Gonna need a bigger boat!

Sam

I rounded the weekend off by ordering some more gear further refining my kit bag for the next few years, a new bag to carry my camera, lenses and laptop plus I have had to invest in some newer filters and a nice new camera strap too, I still feel a little uncertain but I know I have done the right thing.
Well that is all for the time being, weatherman is saying that we have a dry but cold week ahead so lets hope I can get some bike and photo time in.

Simon

Solar Power

We humans are amazing machines, take cyclists for example a brilliant mix of mechanical and biological engineering we can travel for miles fuelled by tea and cake, we move with unparalleled  efficiency and grace. But come the right conditions we surge forward with more vigour than normal, those conditions? Sun, regardless of our solid and liquid fuel (tea & cake) sources we run at our best when the sun is out, we are solar powered.

As you might have guessed the weather this weekend has been wonderful and sunny, we kicked off the weekend with a valentines meal at an american burger grill here in Plymouth JD's Grill and the food was simply amazing, I cannot recommend them enough, it was more food than I could or should have eaten but a feast now and then is good for the soul.

Saturday we awoke to a lovely sunrise and after getting a load of chores done early we packed a lunch and grabbed our walking boots and headed off to Wembury for a walk along the coastal path, when we got there the car park was busy, it seemed everyone else wanted to visit the beach today.

The conditions under boot were very muddy and it made progress a little slow to start so for a while we dropped onto the beach and walked on the sand and rocks it was so warm we found ourselves removing fleeces and stowing them away to enjoy the sun, as we walked we could see lots of different birds about including a couple of birds of prey, I am not sure what they were but they looked so majestic riding up high on the thermals, now and then as the path rose and fell they would be almost at head heigh flying by us.

We eventually made it round to Heybrook bay and stopped for a while to have some food and enjoy the view before heading back to Wembury across and increasingly muddier path, all along the path you could see quite a few sections fenced off due to erosion on the cliffs, the effects of climate change were all to alarmingly apparent, a reminder just how precious our land is, we must do more to protect and preserve and not keep consuming our resources.

I has been a few days since my last ride, my recent cold and having post circuit training soreness has left me barely able to move up and down the stairs let alone head out for an hour or two on the bike, we now have our second session under our belts and are already feeling the benefits physically and mentally, I am and feel stronger already.

With this in mind we headed out on the bikes Sunday morning, after discussing routes over breakfast we decided to head out and try a new route, the route was fairly hilly but we managed really well, Sam only really struggled on one area, I am really proud of her, looking back a year when she first got her bike and seeing her now is a transformation, neither of us shrink away from hills anymore, I even enjoy them once again.

Well that is all for now, the weatherman is saying it will be dry but getting cold again, fingers crossed for a solid week of riding as I dearly need to get some miles under my belt. Take care out there and happy riding.

Si.