Busy Doing Nothing

An enforced day of doing sod all.

Torrential Rain and Gales. 60kt winds would make for some 'difficult' cycling so am sitting around being idle. Which after the last few weeks is actually quite welcome.

Won't be completely idle though as I've just discovered the beamer class for LaTeX so I shall be trying to figure out how to write presentations using nothing more complicated than Notepad++. At last, no more PowerPoint, no more Impress

I've had mine...

Last week I had the Seasonal Flu Jab

Today I had the Pandemic H1N1 (Swine Flu) Flu Jab

Keeping my 100% Record

Whilst I was a out on the bike on Thursday, my latest student was sitting her Final Clinical Assessment. (I had the week off (arranged before the exam dates came through, I hasten to add) as annual leave - my first break since February). My colleague had to sit in as the placement assessor, which she wasn't happy about beforehand.

I heard today that Student passed, and I keep my 100% record, as every student I've had on placement has passed at first attempt.

I now have a week of respite after the current placement student goes back to Uni to begin the fourth year and we get the next batch of third years coming through.

Well, that was strange

Have been using the Fixie exclusively over the last month, clocking up a thousand kilometres at the weekend. After a shaky start I'm really into the rhythm of riding fixed.

Over the last week I've been doing some general fettling on the geared bike, having swiped a couple of components for the fixie. Everything is now back in place and I've got both bikes set up and ready to go. Took the geared bike out on a quick spin around the block (okay, about 12km) to check the gears were properly indexed. Only a very slight adjustment needed and it's all okay. Chain's a bit sticky and I'll need to replace that tomorrow.

Felt really odd though, didn't want to stop pedalling. Very odd having gears on the hills and went up in a much higher gear than I used to use. Kept pedalling on the descent. Strange feeling.

Health Advice

If you notice that a loved one has recently - over the past week - become pale of face, twitchy and withdrawn, and has developed calloused patches over the surfaces of their thumbs, it is quite possible that they may be suffering from an excess of Arkham Asylum.

It took me just over a week (Poison Ivy slowed me down), but I finally beat the crap out of The Joker. Great game, very nearly as good as Bioshock.

Around the Chilterns on a Fixie 1

Another good long ride on the fixie yesterday - though the leg muscles are complaining bitterly today. From home I took the bike up to Hyde Heath and from there across the undulating roads to St Leonard's. Then it's a slow gradual climb up to the top of Aston Hill. The other side of the hill is the scarp slope of the Chilterns and I set a new PB here - on the descent I had a cadence of 141. My legs were a blur, but my suppleness is improving and I wasn't bouncing around in the saddle so much. Aston is a steep slope - there's no way I would attempt the climb on the fixie. One person who did regularly do the climb of Aston was a certain Mr Martin, who thought it the ideal place to test the new sports car he was developing. There's a small monument, the pillar seen just behind the bike's saddle


Very flat, Buckinghamshire. Technically I think this is actually the North Oxfordshire Plain, but I was still in Buckinghamshire (possibly just into Hertfordshire) when I took the photo. This is where the Fixie excells. It's not really quite as flat as it looks here, more of an undulating terrain.


Flat terrain is perfect for canals, and this is the (now disused) Wendover branch of the Grand Union Canal. Over by Tring the Canal is still in regular use - but no more cargo transportation these days, it's almost all recreational use now.


At Tring there is a group of four reservoirs, although these are not providing supplies to the water mains. Tring is the highest point on the Grand Union Canals, and as water only flows downhill, every time a boat goes through the Mermaid Ladder at Marsworth, water drops down into the next lock. These reservoirs are to keep the canal topped up. At the height of the tourist season the canal needs to draw about 4 million gallons a day to keep the boats crossing the summit.


So now the Bike is finally looking as I want it. As with any bike I own, I change the three point of contact - saddle, pedals and bars. Clipless are an absolute must-have, especially on a fixie. At a cadence of 141 your feet will come off the pedals if you don't have some form of foot retention, and when that happens the cages will beat your calves to a pulp. I favour Look pedals, but on this occasion I'm using Shimano, platform on one side (for regular shoes when I pop down to the shops) and SPD the other side. Saddle is a Brooks B17 Special in Green. Inordinately comfortable out of the box, and yesterday I did 85km and the saddle still felt great. If the legs had been up to it I felt I could gone on for another 30 km. I also swapped the flat bars for drops and fitted proper brakes.


If I'm going to have the Brooks saddle I should also have the Brooks on the bars - Brooks Leather Bar-Tape. Cateye OptiCube lights front and rear, and a Trek i11 stem-mounted computer round it off.


Also fitted an MKS chain tug; it's a right bugger trying to get the chain really tight without one and I couldn't believe how easy it became with the tug fitted.

Recommended Reading

Around Aldbury

Out for a good long ride on the Fixie today, out towards Aldbury and then a loop round Aylesbury before heading back home. Starting the breaking in process for the Brooks. Glorious sunshine, though quite a stiff and shifting wind that made things rather tough going at times.



Went into London yesterday and had a hunt around for the saddles I had narrowed the choice to - either the Team Pro Copper or the B17 Special. Condor had both, but only in Black. After much traipsing around I eventually found the B17 in green, and that now adorns the bike. Quick blast yesterday evening, then out for a longer ride today. In total 100km, and I can't believe how comfortable the B17 is, straight out of the box. Had heard tales of the braking in process for Brooks, but this was great from the start. Huge improvement over the stock saddle.



Long time since I saw quite so many bikes out on the road, everyone taking advantage of the sunny weather. The canals also were very busy, with a long queue of Narrowboats waiting to use the locks at the Startop's Ladder.




No nutters in cars for once. Guess everyone was in laid-back mode given the weather.

Saddle started to get a little sore after three hours, but by that time I was almost back home. Stopped at the sweet shop in the old town for Ice Cream (Blackcurrant today) and then home for a cold shower to cool down.

Fixie Pain

I am in a fucking serious amount of pain.

Been out on the new fixie every evening last week (except Thursday when it was pissing down). Spent most of Saturday in London getting stuff for the fixie (pedals, shoes, 'puter) and still went out for a ride in the evening. Culminated in a 70km run going over a couple of hills including Wendover. Not the biggest hill in the country, but the biggest in the area - and hey, this is still my first week on the fixie.

Okay, the pain.

First, fixie legs. Obviously. Going up, hard work, real burn in the legs. Going down, hard work trying to control the speed, real burn in the legs.

Second, fuck, but that's an uncomfortable saddle. Seriously painful. Charge Spoon. That has to be the worst saddle I have ever used in my life.
Fi'zi:k Arione is my benchmark. I have two. They are wonderful, can't find anything bad to say about them (okay, apart from the price).
Charge Spoon? Shit. ShitShitShitShitShit.
So guess what's on my shopping list for next Saturday...
Half-way around I'm thinking that I'd be in less fucking pain if I was sitting on a brand-new Brooks, and by the end of the ride I am definitely tempted to go for the Brooks; if I'm going to be in this much fucking pain then I might as well have the long-term goal of a broken-in Brooks. I edging towards the Team Pro Copper or the B17 Special

Oh, and the quality of the flapjacks at The Cafe in the Woods at Wendover has plummeted over the winter

On the good side...
Got rid of the flat bars and fitted drops. If I get the Brooks saddle I may go the whole hog and get the bar-tape too.
Pedals - Shimano A530. Got them because they're flat on one side - easier for strating. So much easier getting into clipless than faffing around with clips when the cranks keep spinning around. Still prefer my Looks, but they don't do dual sided. Shoes - NorthWave Cliff Pro. Very comfortable on and off the bike.
Computer - Trek i11. With cadence. Holy Fuck. I never thought that my legs could spin that fast. 155rpm going down Wendover.

Embarassing moments - going into Condor to get a pair of baggy shorts and having to ask for size Large. Then taking them back and asking for Extra Large.

The rationalle for getting the fixie is weight loss (Okay I just wanted a fixie, but I had to rationalise it to myself). Over the last year the weight has slowly been creeping up. Because work has been quite intense I've been getting home and collapsing in the chair in front of the TV. My regular weight a couple of years back was 72kg. When I hit 85kg I knew it was time for action. With a fixie I'll have to work harder and work continuously (no freewheel) so am hoping this is going to help.

Ooops, I did it again

I seem to have acquired another bike...

This one's a fixie.



That makes for the full house - more or less - of road bike, tourer, mountain bike, folder, recumbent and fixie. The complete full house would include a tandem and a recumbent trike, but I'm lacking a stoker for the tandem and storage for the trike.

Parliamentary Expenses

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers

Thomas Pynchon*
Gravity's Rainbow**

Who cares about who paid for dog food, what happened to asking for an inquiry into the War in Iraq?

---

* Favourite Author

**Favourite Book

Silent Running

I thought things were busy in work before...

It's unlikely there will be any further updates here in the foreseeable future. Forget April, maybe I'll be back in May.

Playing around with Browsers

Thought that I'd give the new browsers a go, see if they lived up to the hype.

Think that I'll stick to Firefox.

Forget IE, even with 8. Only time I ever use it is if I'm testing HTML for the work browsers. Don't trust it for my own general browsing use.

Opera. Don't like it at all. Can't figure out RSS, doesn't do what I am used to doing, and suddenly the Web is awash with adverts. Now I understand why people complain about advertising. Plug-ins (widgets) are very odd. Don't like it at all, and I've uninstalled it.

Chrome. Bit spartan. Looks okay, fairly fast. I could live with it, except the same complaint about adverts and RSS. I'll keep it on the 'puter, mainly for the sandbox feature, but I don't think that I'll be using it on a regular basis.

Early Release

What with April Fools' Day being just two days away, I can't help but think that this is someone's prank released early into the wild. A helicopter big enough to provide hotel facilities. Now I know that the Sikorski SkyCrane and the Sikorski Jolly Green Giant are capable of generating substantial amounts of lift, but this just looks a bit too big wrong to be functional. And it's supposed to be based around the Mil-12 Homer. That's just asking for trouble.

Doesn't get much better on the inside views. This is, apparently, illustrative of the soundproofing the suites will enjoy. To my eye, this looks remarkably similar to the sleep studies unit at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals.

I call prankster with too much time and a copy of PhotoShop

Oxymoron No94

Ahem

(Which site, incidentally, has a poll that doesn't need pharyngulating; with a 93% yes vote, it's doing just fine. That's anglicans / episcopalians for you.)