Well that was truly quite horrid getting wet pretty much the entirety of my commute today. What I really hate about wet days is the increased amount of traffic and the way that wet weather seems to inhibit the average motorists ability to see cyclists, it would seem that two rear lights and reflective material still make me nearly invisible to those in cars.
I’m just hoping that it’s drier tomorrow…

Back to work today after being ill, I still felt a bit pants this morning but everyone I seem to chat with online seems to have been sick as well and at work I wouldn’t be able to sit and wallow with them. The ride in was horrendous despite huge quantities of drugs I was suffering horribly, not daring to risk overtaking in my usual places, having to wait in traffic and being passed by the people I routinely race and beat. After a few hours I felt a bit better and going for a walk at lunchtime gave an added fillet to my condition which was nice. Getting into my Lycra I thought the ride home would really hurt but actually it was fine, I wasn’t fast by any stretch of the imagination but held my own things were getting better.  Then I needed to go to Brick Lane bikes where ten minutes and a fiver later they’d removed a freewheel that hadn’t been greased when I put it on and had abandoned for over a year, I left the chain I bought in the shop, on the counter they ran after which really was rather good.
I got home to fit my 20 tooth white industries freewheel ready for a cross ride at the weekend, now is there enough room in the sliding dropouts on my Voodoo Limba, did I think about this kind of thing when I built the bike up……?
Turns out I did five minutes later new freewheel is fitted wheel is flipped  and the chain is tensioned, another five minutes and both brakes are fettled ready for a ride at the weekend, magic. Swiftly followed by Tesco’s turning up with my shopping early and with chilled bottles of Badger and Black Sheep ale, great…

Well finally I put Cross tyres on my Voodoo Limba and it’s now even better it’s the best Cross bike I’ve ever owned, so I guess it’s third time lucky, anyway it’s draggy heavier and harder to ride with the 37c Continental Twisters, however the fun factor has increased ten fold….

I’m hopping up and down kerbs with ease and not noticing cobbles or dodgy road surfacing, I even rode down a set of three shallow steps this evening which has convince me that I need to run it with a freewheel for proper off road use.

I’m off to Sam’s in ten days time to ride it all weekend I really can’t wait, I’ll put a 20T freewheel on and a new chain and it’ll be ready to rock.

So I guess it’s a huge thank you again to Tim at Sideways for sorting it out for me in the first place.

Is now complete and very lovely thanks Tim, it’s very quick indeed certainly with road tyres on it, I intend to fit Cross tyres as soon as the weather gets really nasty.

The final specification is
Chris King Headset
Ultegra cranks single 42 tooth ring and bottom bracket
Shimano  R600 brake levers
Shimano XT Cantilever brakes
Easton EA70 120mm long stem
Bontrager Crosslite bars (drop bars that fit in a MTB stem what a clever idea)
Thomson Elite seatpost (to be swapped for  an Easton EA50)
Avid cables (with M part adjusters that let me tension my brake cables as I ride along)
Paul High Flange Hubs  and Mavic Open Pro rims with DT spokes make lovely wheels.
Rolls saddle

so far I’ve only used it for commuting at which it excels very stable and very fast, and a slightly higher position than I’m used to that let’s me have a better view in traffic which is just fantastic. The Thomson post needs to be replaced with a black layback post to make the bike look just so and also to make the position spot on. The Rolls saddle although very old school and very heavy by modern terms is incredibly comfortable, so comfortable I’ve had to buy a matching one for my Voodoo Aizan 29er. My favourite thing on this bike are the inline brake cable adjusters that let me adjust both brakes on the “fly” they just work and allow a slightly less torturous cable roting than normal on a cross bike.

The joy of the cycle commuter are the summer months, when the shroud of waterproofs and lights can be dispensed with. A lightening of the soul ensues along with the evenings at the joy of a pretty much guaranteed commute both ways in daylight and if your really lucky sunshine. It’s been a mild winter so happily at no point did I need to resort to the myriad of layers I usually wear, getting away with a nice windstopper jacket and base layer on even the coldest of days. There’s very much a grizzled respect amongst those who commute in the winter almost always nonspeaking but the odd grudging nod and wave are given away to show the solidarity shared against the elements.

As the lights and the weather improve, it’s then that the interlopers, the very Cuckoo of the cycle commuters world appears, the fair weather cyclist, a seasonal creature although occasionally sighted out of season if the weather is unusually clement, resplendent in their random assortment of clothing and badly maintained bikes they take to the roads for between two and three months every summer.

The fair weather cyclist can also be identified, if your in any doubt by a number of behavioural abnormalities that easily confirm a sighting of this special creature tehse include; pulling in front of other cyclist at junctions; riding up the inside and into the blind-spot of HGV’s; swerving wildly and erratically; chatting on a mobile phone and or listening to music on some sort of portable device.

It’s enough to make for you to long for the cold and dark to return, well almost