Having attached the rear triangle after the first weld it was time to attach the seat post and suspension. 

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I bought my trek 7200 hybrid about 12 years ago now. It’s a bit like the pick axe the man kept for 20 years with just 5 new picks and 7 handles.

OK – its not that bad – but certainly the back wheel has been replaced a couple of times, the chain, the rear cogs and derailleur and a few assorted cables.

Still rides fine but looking a bit battered. I’ve always felt it was a bit small – not low – but short. I fitted some bar extenders a year or so ago and this helped a bit.

I recently inherited some money. Obviously, my wife spent half of it before I’d got it but this left me with a few hundred pounds together with some birthday money which I have stashed away.

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I had been using MapMyRide for some time but it is annoying:

• website is terrible – I can’t even find my own rides sometimes
• the batteries go really quick
• accuracy problems – I went backwards recently
• seems to just lose sessions.

So I switched to RunKeeper.

Overall – better:

• much better website
• accuracy and reliability seems better
• gives better breakdowns and splits
• nicer, more useable interface

Still eats batteries though.

Signing up.

For some reason I signed up for Lap the Lough 2010.  Actually, the reason was I was just back from holiday so was still full of those exercise and general health living goals we set ourselves while were away and disappoint ourselves  with when we get back. More...

Whilst on the Wacky Wally to Barcelona I noticed that there seems to be a lot more cycling going on in Europe than at home.  Here are some of the things I noticed:

• Lots of cycle paths along both sides of lots of lots of roads.  There are over 100km of cycle lanes in Barcelona.  Holland seemed to have a cycle path beside every road big or small.
  Contrast this with Belfast where, don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of nice paths – the Lagan and the Comber greenway spring to mind – but for main roads and routes the best you can hope for is a shared bus lane.  Some of the cycle routes are appalling.  You can cross the city from North to South along Royal Avenue and Donegal Place dodging pedestrians and busses but in the other direction the incredibly unhelpful cycle path takes you up Alfred Street (I think) with a nice cycle lane to allow you to go the wrong way down the one way street and then dumps you on Chichester Street – 4 or 5 lines of cycling hell that takes you in the wrong direction!
• Bicycle share/hire schemes like the one above in Barcelona where an electronic card releases a cycle from a stand like the one above which were located all over the city.

• Lot’s of different bike types.  On my cycling in Belfast I usually see racers (road bikes) – usually serious bikers out training, cheap mountain bikes being used for commuting – a bad mistake for any distance in my opinion as they weigh a ton and the tyres are just too fat – and “hybrid” commuter bikes – a cross between road bikes and racers – like my trusty Trek 7200.  Europeans seem to have lots of different types such as utility bikes, city bikes and Dutch bikes and folding bikes.  They tend to use hub gears and lights a lot more.  Personally I think hub gears are a lot cleaner and require a lot less maintenance than derailleur's.  Ok so you might have only 3 or 5 gears – but for most people that’s enough.   I have 24 gears on my bike but probably use 3 – “start and normal hills”, “up to speed” and “steep hills”.
• Everybody was cycling for everything – young, old, going to work, going shopping – it just seemed the normal way to get around.

The Belfast Cycle City campaign by Friends of the Earth, Sustrans and the Northern Ireland Cycling Initiative has a “Vision” for 10% of journeys being made by cycle by 2020 (compare to 30% of Journeys currently made by bicycle in Amsterdam according to the report).  The vision is nice, but the strategy to achieve that seems to be completely lacking!

Here are what I see as some of the problems with commuting by bike in Belfast:

• The weather!  Not much we can do about this and actually its not as bad as you might think.  Although it rains pretty much every day it doesn’t rain all the time.  I would say if you were making 10 journeys a week you might expect rain on 3 in the winter and 1 in the summer.  You have 2 choices – wear waterproofs.  This works well for short journeys but is not comfortable for long journeys.  Or wear light clothing and get wet.  Personally I go with shorts, t-shirt and light waterproof, get wet and change.
• The dark.  Get some good lights.  I bought some expensive “cats eyes” a few years ago, the man in the shop said he did mountain biking in the dark with them.  They are pretty light and the battery dethatches and can be recharged.  I’m sure newer ones are even brighter and probably have lighter batteries.
• The traffic.  Actually I find cars in Belfast pretty good on cyclists.  Despite a lack of decent cycle paths, most main roads now have shared bus/cycle lanes which are good.  I like to “occupy” the lane so I don’t get pushed into the gutter and go in front of the traffic at lights so you are not caught by cars turning left.  It’s not as scary as you might think.
• Hair – not a problem for me but probably for some – maybe particularly the fairer sex.
• Sweat.  If you do a short distance this is not a problem.  However, anyone working hard or doing hill work will sweat.  I take a shower and change at work.
• Lack of bike.
• Theft.  Actually I’ve never had any problems with this in Belfast – unlike Manchester where it happened to me twice and others all the time.  Get a good lock and a crap looking bike!
• Hills – not too bad in Belfast – but Four Winds would not be fun for a first time commuter!

Here’s things I think could be done to encourage cycling in Belfast:

• Introduce bicycle share/hire schemes like the ones in Barcelona, Amsterdam etc.  If people started to pick up and use a bike for short trips like from their office to town at lunch then this would encourage them to start to cycle more often.
• Improve bicycle lanes, particularly around the city centre.
• Give people the chance to try it.  Bikes and equipment cost a lot of money – although they very quickly pay for themselves in fuel and fitness.  Either private companies (e.g. bike shops) or local government or both could lend people good equipment (bikes, panniers, clothing etc.) for a couple of weeks so they could give commuting a go.
• Get businesses to fit showers at work.
• Encourage children to cycle to school along the pavements.
• More cycle parking at work or in public places.
• Remove VAT from cycling helmets.  Not exactly going to make people go out and cycle but is a scandal.

While waiting for the wacky rally to start I decided to do a bit of exercise.

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BMX’s came out when I was about eight or nine and everyone wanted one.  Unfortunately, I’d not long had a new bike and they were expensive, so I did what most did and turned the handlebars on my racer upside down and pretended it was a BMX.

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I want to start cycling back into work asap as I’m getting fatter by the day, more stressed, more skint and less fit.  So today I went on a quick ride.

Realised straight away how rapidly fitness – I set off up the Antrim road and was out of breath within about 2 minutes.  Then down through the valley park and along the Ulster way through Braden park.  This was a lovely path next to a river then down onto the cycle path through Gideon's green.

Braden park path – bit worried about slipping on the leaves.	Swans at entrance to Gideon's Green

Rainclouds across the Lough	Looks like night time but is the middle of the day

Up the cycle path towards Belfast was hard work.  Maybe I should have headed the gale force winds.  Then back up to the Antrim road for Fortwiliam.  Tiring.

Finally decided to walk up our hill as its steep!

Never really done much leisure cycling – usually either commuting or out with wife and kids.  Enjoyed it despite the usual NI whether.

Back was a bit stiff after so I did my extensions.  Reckon I’ll be fine for trip to work on Monday back wise.