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02-11-07, 09:49 AM
8 am this morning and a bit breezy but sun was out and it looked as though it would be an offroad ride to breakfast. By 9 the rain had come and as there were only two of us- we decided to wait till the rain cut back a bit. Quick look at the sky and it was black. No sign of Blue or light colour in the clouds and the wind had got up. Bit pointless waiting as it was not going to let up for quite a while. Did not fancy the open hilltops in the wind and rain so quick change of plans to check out the road bike. Yesterday I put a 12/28 cassette on and I wanted to see if it ran OK with the Tiagra R. derailler and I can assure you that it does.
I wanted to see if it would give an appreciable difference to my lowest gear and To be honest-I don't know. The only hill that I went up had a Headwind and I could not tell you if it felt better as I used it well before I should have done. Top of the hill and look for another hill. Decided to do the long drag of about 2 miles up to Beachy Head as this is about 6% with a couple of sharp increases at a couple of corners. Only problem was - I now had a tailwind. I did not even get down to granny. That wind was blowing me along and just to find out how much- I slowed to a crawl at the flat bit at the top and let the wind take me. In 1/4 mile I was up to 15mph without pedalling.
Testing was absolutely pointless so it was time to get down to the cafe for a coffee and a bun. Just as we got to the cafe the sun came out but with that strength of wind- I wimped out and went inside instead of sitting out watching the world go by.
Only around 35 miles today but I think this was the easiest ride I have had in a long time. That tailwind made it so easy but I did not achieve the "Testing" I wanted to do on the Cassette or on myself. One interesting point though- We only saw 2 other cyclists in the whole of the ride. One roadie and one MTB. No one was on the MUP on the way home. No groups of roadies on the road and no MTB's on the hills. Where was everybody? Only thing I can think of is that they do not fancy riding in the rain and the wind. They do not know what they missed.
The attachment by the way is of the long drag up to Beachy Head- taken from near the top. I can assure you that it is long.
I wanted to see if it would give an appreciable difference to my lowest gear and To be honest-I don't know. The only hill that I went up had a Headwind and I could not tell you if it felt better as I used it well before I should have done. Top of the hill and look for another hill. Decided to do the long drag of about 2 miles up to Beachy Head as this is about 6% with a couple of sharp increases at a couple of corners. Only problem was - I now had a tailwind. I did not even get down to granny. That wind was blowing me along and just to find out how much- I slowed to a crawl at the flat bit at the top and let the wind take me. In 1/4 mile I was up to 15mph without pedalling.
Testing was absolutely pointless so it was time to get down to the cafe for a coffee and a bun. Just as we got to the cafe the sun came out but with that strength of wind- I wimped out and went inside instead of sitting out watching the world go by.
Only around 35 miles today but I think this was the easiest ride I have had in a long time. That tailwind made it so easy but I did not achieve the "Testing" I wanted to do on the Cassette or on myself. One interesting point though- We only saw 2 other cyclists in the whole of the ride. One roadie and one MTB. No one was on the MUP on the way home. No groups of roadies on the road and no MTB's on the hills. Where was everybody? Only thing I can think of is that they do not fancy riding in the rain and the wind. They do not know what they missed.
The attachment by the way is of the long drag up to Beachy Head- taken from near the top. I can assure you that it is long.