saturday 1st february - sou' wester

given the 30mph sou'wester forecast tomorrow morning we'll head off in that direction.

if the weather is kind, we'll do a cannington loop and take in the delights of the new cafe that andy, mars et al found a few months ago.

I will be late setting off on Saturday but do not want to miss the opportunity of meeting up with the boys and girls for a nice ride through the leafy lanes of Somerset.

Which way will you be heading out of Weston? If you are heading along the sea front I will wait for you around Clarence Park.

A late start - are you on a promise :-)
I'm sure we can find a cafe in Somerset where we don't have to cross a flood to get to.

i'm not normally happy for EVERYONE to go out of their way to accommodate the selfish needs of latecummers.

but seeing as we're going down the seafront, passing sanatorium villas i guess we'll find it difficult to prevent another rider from latching on, especially given the likelihood of spoke breakage or similar

About 15 hardy souls were at Priory for cold start with predicted heavy showers. We set of towards Cannington via the toll road, and then in to a strong head wind along the beach road. When we got out on to the A38 Ivan decided to spice things up and head south via Bleadon instead of Brent Knoll. Jeanie had a mechanical around Shiplate where her chain broke. Once everyone realised she was not in the peleton we went back and it was soon fixed. We headed south towards Mark via some muddy wet lanes. The road from Bason Bridge to Woolavington was particularly windy. Mars and Kiara turned back soon afterwards. When we got to the A39 the group split up and Merion had a close experience with a car that decided he should clip his arm with his car!!! We negotiated Bridgwater and headed up towards Spaxton where we came across Steve who took a shortcut from Mark down the A38. It was then down to the A39 and into Poppys cafe.
This was a new experience for most of us. The service was quick and very friendly, however the regulars were a bit shocked to see a bunch of lycra clad cyclists. The highlight of the stop was seeing the contents of Andys rack bag! Not only does it contain a change of clothes but there is the most amazing set of tools! You can't beat a 18" adjustable spanner and a set of wrenches. He claims its to add extra weight to his bike for training, if thats the case he should use my bike which is way too heavy. I'm sure he was really on-call as a mobile plumber.
When we headed back we were treated to an excellent tail wind although the heavy showers finally apppeared. It was the usual high pace back up the A38 where a few of us got dropped.

TTC - toast, 2 x large coffees all for £3 so got to give them 9/10
OJC - 2?
KF - 8.5 (got dropped)
Stats - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2206088

I think I enjoyed the ride back! Was happy at 27's but 31/32 mph was killing me.
After I got home I decided to take a look at my head set bearings as they were showing signs of rust etc. After a struggle I resorted to the good old trusty hammer and managed to knock the forks out leaving the bottom bearing in place. Took the same approach with that and eventually knocked the bottom bearing out. Unfortunately it appears I only knocked out half the bearing resulting in a bent ball race and a load of ball bearings scattered across the floor!
What followed was somewhat akin to a CrimeWatch re-construction. The evidence was collated (that is to say a significant number of ball bearings and various other bent bits of metal) and a photo fit was shown of a sheepish/guilty looking person with the caption "It's okay - I know what I'm doing."
After a few glasses of wine an attempt was made to re-build the bearing. As Oscar Goldman once said - "We have the technology". After several hours of failed attempts I finally managed to re-assembly the bearing and headset ready for next Sat. Hopefully everything went back in the same place......

Richard, I do believe that the concept of maintaining ones bike with a hammer has already been patented by Mr Burns. I hope to see a series of bike advice tips appearing on YouTube in the near future.

On a more sympathetic note; I have also experienced a headset nightmare involving rust, a rubber mallet and some Polish Jocks whilst on the John O'Groats run back in my youth . . ..

well, ok, it was 2009.

  

i'd be most grateful if richard could post a headset maintenance guide.

given that the last time he had his head(set) examined was summer 2012 on the shaftesbury 100, we could all do with an insight into the magic formula that ensures an enviable 18 month component life.

without appearing a smart alec, i suspect that the regime was not troubled with inspection, cleaning products or grease.

Headset maintenance guide will be posted on FAQ's in the near future. Don't miss it - all the top tips for trouble free cycling coming up!  

Not in FAQs - could not access folder. Headset maintenance for beginners is now in Notifications and Events!