The cold air brought me round with a jolt.  The sky was blurry, blossom blocking the suns feeble attempts to bring light to the enchanting land.  I reached to put quiet to the manufactured noise that was shattering natures dawn chorus with its technical squawking.  The timer was red with –10 written in the middle.  Memories of an earlier cacophony faded in and out.  I wonder if those Android geeks had envisaged an oversleeping audaxer when they added the auto-snooze to the timer.

I silenced it and rolled off the picnic bench.  Sally was waiting faithfully, leaning against the table, neither eager or reluctant to continue but she tempted me non the less with her soft contoured seat and reliable charm.

I pushed her through the gravel car park that I had entered just fifty minutes earlier to the black road without.

As I resumed my climb I began to shiver, but I knew that with my waterproof on I’d be sweating soon enough.

Ahead I saw a figure emerge into the verge of the road.  He pulled a large object from the hedge and tinkered with it.  Red and white cut the dark.  I was not alone.

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If you get the chance to do a Brevet in France then, based on my experience, go for it!  They are detailed here - http://jeanpba.homeip.net/?page=90&onglet=1&annee=2014.

There is a full set of photos here - https://picasaweb.google.com/113235987186962089648/BRM300Km2014?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPuXyZn8x_K3SQ&feat=directlink#

It’s been more than twenty years since I last cycled any distance in France.  Whilst studying in Toulouse, I was using a “supermarket” mountain bike to get to school and back and some of my “classmates” convinced me to join the college cycle club weekend outing – I think it was a wind up.  They all had road bikes and lycra.  I had flat tyres and cut off jeans.  Still, as usual, my pig headedness dragged me round.

This 300km was a bit easier for me and was certainly worth the effort.  The scenery, weather and surface could not have been more perfect.

During post LEL depression August last year I began to search far and wide for Brevets.    I knew that really it was all in vain and that I had neither time, energy or a hope in hell of getting away for another trip.

But, as soon as ACP released the 2014 dates I did a quick check for school holidays and distance to my parents’ house in Provence and BRM 300 La Garde,  26 May was perfect.   

With @mrsm burning up her holiday and points on the peak of the Irish dancing season taking the kids away BY MYSLEF for a week was not going to be a problem.  I even had no fear in chucking in the Easter Flèche the weekend before.

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Alan: “Hello… how bout that ride in? I guess thats why they call it Sin City Carlow.

You guys might not know this but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home I met Olivier on the Virginia 300, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack, it grew by one. So there… there was two of us in the wolf pack. I was alone first in the pack and Doug Dave joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug  Olivier introduced me to you guys HelenI thought “wait a second, could it be?” And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas Ireland, looking for strippers Mullingar and cocaine.” – The Hangover

 

This was my first Fleche and, thanks to great weather and company, I really enjoyed it.  Possibly my most enjoyable middle distance ride.

Olivier and Helen were great company and the team worked really well.

 

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This was my first time on this ride. It was a busy event - probably the most riders I've seen on an Audax Ireland ride but the support provided by the organisers was excellent. A perfect ride for the many attempting their first 200km and pretty perfect for me too.

Three breakfasts and a medal

I headed down on the early bus and arrived central Dublin 05:40.  I probably could have caught the later bus but that would have meant tearing out to Bray.  Some pretty heavy rain on the way out but I was expecting this.

I arrived Bray around 7 – just as a café was opening.  It seemed rude not to stop for coffee and a Danish.

Tony passed as I was leaving and I road to the clubhouse with him where yet more food and coffee was awaiting.  As an added bonus, Paul had found the SR medal he had definitely posted to me.

Bray clubhouse brought back some memories of the Red Lane but I’m trying not to let post traumatic stress disorder ruin my day.

Let the rain begin

I left in the lead group bang on eight and chatted a bit with Olivier and Helen about our Fleche plans.  The pace was fast with some club riders on the front.  Just short of Arkclow I punctured and kissed goodbye to my fast tow for the day.

As I changed the tube it began to rain so I kept my plastic gloves on and donned my rain jacket. 

I continued on to the first control, joined by (Mick?) who had also had puncture issues.  With no guards he looked to be having a miserable time in the heavy rain – but he seemed happy enough. 

Control was manned, well manned, with cakes.

As I was leaving, Dave, Eddie and Aiden pulled in so I waited for them giving me a chance to talk to Dave about our Fleche route and Eddie about our French BRM.

Lunch brightens the day.

 

Towards Ardattin Eddie took us up the bonus hill, and it was worth it.

The weather brightened and we took in soup and sandwiches at the Ardattin Inn. 

A gentle afternoon

The afternoon stayed dry and we made gentle progress, stopping for ice creams at a garage.  Last control soon arrived as did the clubhouse where yet more food was on offer.

Long way back to Dublin

 

On the way out I'd planned a route but on the way back I just banged my destination into the Garmin and followed it. Mistake. Added in an extra 10km and found 300m of climbing and managed to miss the 9:30 bus.

 

Lessons

Don’t trust Garmin routing.

Last year this was my first ever 300.  It must have been tough as as the only thing I remember was the start, frozen water bottles, being passed just after Virginia by a group who had stopped for a pub lunch, and Olivier buying enough fig biscuits to feed the 500.

Also, last year I broke down on the way home and had to cycle from the garage where the AA dropped off my car to home in the snow @ 6am in the morning.

This year was different.  Despite the hillier route, I managed a reasonable time and had company most of the way round.

The start moved to Slane – which only took me an hour and a quarter to drive to so, having left the house @ 3:45 I was there an hour early.  I had had an early night, for once so wasn’t too tired.

I think there was 35 at the start, compared with a dozen for the same event last year.

There was a lot of hillage from the off, so as I suspected the group were spread. 

Olivier, with gears, some sliding, joined me.  The sunrise revealed lush green rolling landscape.  Towards the North we picked up another group of riders, including Brian who had a broken rear derailleur cable.  Didn’t seem to be slowing him down though.  I relayed to him via his companions that I had a spare that he gratefully fitted in Castleblainey.  I was glad to be rid of the weight.

The group sped up towards the first control, but it was early and I’m wise to such moves so, knowing I would easily catch the group at the next control, I stopped for a call of nature.

 

Café Castleblaney

At Castleblney I refuelled on bacon and sausage bap and a much needed coffee.

From there I left with Conor (who I hadn’t seen since Midlands Miander), Olivier, Barry (not the same one as Kings Mountain), Mick, John and (briefly) Marcello (I think).

We pretty much shared the work into pretty strong wind.

The sun came out and I realised that all the clothes I was carrying were pretty much dead weight.

Towards Belturbet, where we planned lunch, the road started to roll a bit.  Again, I let the guys go, but this time they took a wrong turn and were with me again shortly after. 

Lunch was soup and toasties all round.

Next sections to control @Mohill (163Km) and @Termonbarry (193Km) were pretty much the same.  Into the wind, dropped off the last few km before control.  At Mohill I ate my pasta.  At Termonbarry I just stopped briefly to sign Brévet and continued.  With the wind on my back there was not much to be gained from the group and I wanted to go my own pace for a while.

Olivier passed me an hour or so later, he offered me his wheel but I declined.

Nearly caught up to him on the climb to Granard, but that was the last I saw of him as I stopped for Chips and Curry in the chippy from where I watched John and Barry pass.  I kitted up for the night.

I caught them @Virginia control (262Km) where they were eating.  Virginia was much bigger than I remember.  Conor and Mick rolled in as we were leaving having, like me, stopped at Granard.

John, Barry and I set off together.  I was feeling strong and well fed.  We hit the potholes round about 285Km.  Barry had a flat.  Conor and Mick caught up with us and we rolled in together just after 10pm.

300Km is always going to be a long way, and, of course I had a couple of low points, but I am beginning to see them coming a bit more and take appropriate action, like eating or easing off.

I was probably carrying way too much spare clothing – in fact I had to hitch my softshell to the top of my Carrdice, but Ireland in March is not usually so warm and dry so I figure better to carry more than less.

All in all – for me - much better than last year

Of course they’re not waterproof!

No such thing IMO.

Cost £134 from CRC – now reduced – maybe worth waiting until late spring to see if you can pick up a bargain.

In the weather

But they’re not bad.  I think they’ll keep your feet dry in heavy rain for between an hour and an hour and a half – so good enough for the commute.

As for cold – well the verdict is not bad.  On Saturday I had them on for 13 hours in wind, heavy rain, hail and sleet. 

Garmin temperature recorded +4 to -2°C

Feet were getting cold but not that “cannot feel them at all” type of cold.  More the “bit painful” type. I had no overshoes on.  When I stuck some thick overshoes on for the night my feet were pretty warm for the final 4 hours with a temperature between 2 and 4°C

Annoyances

Have a funny elastic lace with a sliding clip thing.  Not really sure what your supposed to do with all the elastic or the clip when you do them up.

Laces broke straight away and needed tying together.

I went +1 on the size but probably should have gone +2.  Feet fit OK but they dig in on the top of my feet.  Wouldn’t want to walk any distance in them.

You need long socks.

Flaps are obviously the wrong way round.  Top should go over bottom to keep water out.

Conclusion

Expensive but warmer and dryer than standard.  With overshoes will keep your feet OK in the cold.  Get two (European) or one UK size bigger.

A few annoying features – stick to laces – they’ve worked for years!

They say your mind forgets the bad bits – I rode this last year and the only things I remember was crossing the Boyne with Marc and Marc steaming past me on the last stretch.

This year I remember more.  To stop people getting cold, we set off a bit early as it was raining and a windy.

As we left Dublin we split up in the wind.  Rather than chase, I held back and soon was in a group of 6 or so sharing the load nicely.  Just before the first stop I tagged onto a faster moving group who were passing.  This was a mistake as I was dropped shortly after.

Stopped for coffee and a bun at Ballivor, and then set off again.  Picked up a bigger group and tagged along with them for a while.  The weather cheered up and soon we were clipping along nicely in brisk sunshine.

Shortly after Clonmellon it got a bit lumpy and I lost the group but re-found Barry who I’d met earlier.  He had decided not to kill his legs so early in the day either – like we had a choice.

Took my jacket off at Oldcastle before passing through a big puddle at Kings mountain, quick sandwich at Kells and then on into the evening.

 

After a quick stop at Ashbourne for water and chocolate, finished around 8pm – quick chat and back to the airport for a pint and my bus.

Certainly a lot less painful than last year and nice weather to boot.  Good to meet a few new faces too.

A nice interesting route.  I was glad to have carried a spare set of clothes with me.  RRTY month one complete.

The ride down!

Actually I didn't ride down - in a change of tactic I decided to get the Air Coach to Dublin Airport.

In a classic start to the day I rode down to the Coach stop @5am – stood around for a while and then, noticing there was no one else, realised I was on the wrong street.

Moved to the right street, coach arrived and I put my bike in the hold.  As you can see from the track, I forgot to reset my gps – but it was paused so the totals are correct.

Within ten minutes or so I was asleep.

To the start

Arrived Dublin T2.  Journey to Whitehall church was simple enough and I managed not to get lost.  Arrived @ start with plenty of time and not as tired as usual, which was good.

I was surprised to see 40 or so other riders – I thought there would be ten at most!

To Skerries

There was a quick tour of Dublin.  The fools let me navigate for a while but it was good to get a stint at the front with fresh legs and the stop start of Dublin ensuring nothing was too fast.

When we turned around the back of the airport (2’nd visit of the day) towards St. Margarets we felt the full blast of the winds gusting to 35mph.

Luckily it was fairly sheltered from there on and I hung on to the front group, using my usual tactic of sticking with the pack to the first control.

I stopped for a call of nature just short of Skerries.  When I got in and got my coffee and bun, the pack was about to leave.  I knew I wasn’t fit to continue at their pace so I let them go. 

To Drogheda

Marc K and Aidan C were around so we set off together.

Shortly after the heavens opened and the wind was cutting us it to.  We elected to stop and shelter but saw nowhere suitable so drove on.

The shower was brief as the clouds were moving rapidly in the string winds that were now alternately buffeting us from the side or slapping us in the face.

We lost Marc somewhere along the way.  When we got to Drogheda, I suggested a McDonalds which would be quick and dry.  It was very busy bit we were in and out in half an hour or so.

To Slane

We continued up the coast.  I found this hard going as the wind was really annoying and the stretch to Castlebellingham was the low point for me.

However, when we got there we spotted Marc in a cosy looking café by a log fire.  We joined him and were soon joined by others.

A quick coffee and some warmth cheered us and we set off with four or five in the group for Slane.  We had turned so the wind was, if not with us, not completely against us.

The road became a bit lumpy too – which I prefer.

At about 3pm the heavens opened.  I made the call to “cape up”, and it was a good one.  Rain, hail and sleet followed.

In Slane’s chippy we feasted and I changed into dry clothes.  I think I could have got a couple of hundred Euros for my dry gloves.

On to Dublin

We faffed a while before leaving.  We had one GPS between 4.  Turned out that was out of charge so we went off route a bit.  I hadn’t bothered to put batteries in my head torch.  Marc decided to drive into a hole while pressing buttons on his GPS and punctured

I connected up my battery pack and Marc rebooted his and we were back in business.

I’d forgotten how nice a night ride could be and, with a tailwind, we made good progress back to Dublin.  Probably the nicest section of the day.

My search for winter gloves continues

 

I bought these on recommendation from a fellow cyclists.

Cost £30 or so from Wiggle.

They are nice comfortable stylish gloves with good padding and grip.

However, they are not winter gloves.  More like autumn or spring.  They do not keep your hands particularly warm – I would not use them below 5°C. 

As for waterproof – forget it.  They soak up water like a sponge!

Conclusion

I do like these gloves and I would buy them again – but they are not for winter.

After my recent rear hub failure I decided it was time to learn to build a wheel.

I read the following pages over a few times before taking the plunge.

Sheldon Brown’s wheel building pages.

Bike build website - Building Bicycle Wheels

Mike T’s wheelbuilding. 

Stuff

All from chain reaction cycles – which is my LBS – so I went in person.

Mavic open pro rim – a popular choice for Audax - replacing like for like.

Simano ultegra 6700 10 speed hub.

I didn’t do any research on best hubs.  Since I’m generally running ultegra this was to match. The splines on the Ultegra cassette are specific so a different hub would have meant a new cassette or different freehub. 

Spokes – DT swiss competition.  I used pro wheelbuilder calculator to give me the spoke lengths.  According to Mike T “99% of all wheels are laced cross-3 (usually written x3)” so I went for this.

Mavic publish there SSD as 602 but according to internet, add 3mm for the hole separation. (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.bicycles.tech/-YgxGdkvaqo).

Park anti seize for the threads.

I treated myself to a DT swiss spoke key as I’m sure the multi size one I use is not great.

Tools

The spoke key and a screwdriver with a bit of tape on it so it’s easier to count turns.

Have to say a £14 spoke key works like a £14 spoke key should.

Initial Build

I greased the nipples and applied anti-seize to each spoke thread as I fitted.

I followed Sheldon’s instructions (or so I though) but found instructions on which way to thread the spokes (from the inside or out) a bit confusing.

The Bike Build Website is clearer with pictures of the trailing spokes going over the flange i.e. threaded from the inside.  Later I discovered Sheldon does the opposite as he says it makes the leading spokes more difficult to fit, and I can see how, and he reckons the drive action may force the spokes out more with this set-up  He says its of minor importance thought so I ignored it.  I notice all my current wheels are laced the way I did it.

The only mistake I made was while lacing the leading spokes on the left I noticed I’d missed one on the right, so I popped one in of the wrong length!

Of course, when I realised this it was impossible to tell which one.  I just carried on on the basis that either a problem would emerge because of the spoke being too long e.g. run out of thread or poke through rim, or, since the spoke lengths were fairly even, it would just result in out of true after the initial build.

Never did find which one was wrong.

So, I tightened the spokes to the end of the thread. 

I then did an initial dish of 3 turns on the hub side.  Bike Build mentions this, Sheldon doesn’t.  Seemed a good idea.

After a few rounds of tightening (2 turns 3 times round) the spokes were all tense.  I stopped and went for a curry.

Initial true

At this point I fitted to the frame and started to true. 

Once the wheel was true enough to rotate, I checked the dishing by putting an old battery package against the chain ring and looking where the wheel at the valve hole (marked with tape) came to. 

I then reversed the wheel and compared and then trued the wheel to half way between the two “readings”.  (The “readings in this case were literal, the last line of the address of the battery manufacturer that was visible).

I then moved the valve hole to my brake blocks and trued the wheel to this.

Tuning

I took a rest.  I read “Held Up By Downward Pull” which explains how less tense wheels are more likely to suffer broken spokes because of fatigue than more tense ones.  Makes perfect sense to me.  The steel is strong enough to hold the wheel even if you drive into a kerb.  you know this because you do it!  However, the slight give as it roles and as you hit things will lead to metal fatigue.  This will be lessened if the spokes are more tense as there is less give.

So took the wheel off, I did all six of Mike T’s Stress relief methods, tuned the drive side spokes to 440Hz using the “G String” guitar tuner on my phone (see http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/tension.htm), gave every spoke another full turn, did Mike T’s 6 methods again, re-fitted and trued again.

I think I got the horizontal truing spot on – probably better than I ever have before. 

There were a few “hops” but, as Mike T said, no major ones as the nipples were initially screwed down evenly.  I ignored the small ones of less than 1mm.

Fit accessories

I took advantage of @mrsm’s absence and fitted some tape and swapped accessories (tyre, tube, cassette) over in the warmth of the kitchen.

Conclusion

Too early to say if the build is any good, but it was not as hard as I thought it would be.  Took a good 5 hours plus research time. 

Now all that remains is the long ride test – but I’ll have to wait for @mrsm to return to look after the kids!