Today's Bike Ride

[Graham Breeze]

I’d be tempted to change it now.

Having said that you could always wait until you get a puncture but having a severely worn tyre will heighten the chances of it tearing. I’d suggest carrying, in addition to your spare tube, a length of plastic cut from an empty fairy liquid bottle in order to line your potentially damaged tyre.

I agree.

Waiting until you get a puncture is all very well if it happens near a railway station and you can jump on a train back to Ilkley (in my case) but if it is 20 miles from home on a narrow busy country road in pouring rain and it is getting dark you might wonder what exactly you were saving a few £pounds for.

Brett and I share an anecdote where I had a puncture on both wheels and I was walking the ten miles back home in the rain and he drove past me thinking "Poor ******!"

(Although the story had a happy ending 'cos Brett is a good guy).

[Marco]

So how does the diligent cyclist know when to change a rear tyre? My rear on the winter Dolan has a definite flat surface to it now. I don't care about 'performance' and will happily ride it until the belting shows through; it's a kevlar lined Gatorskin and may have lost as much as 3mm of rubber off the centre area.

I think the answer depends on your financial position, and how worn it actually is.

When it comes to 'stretching things out a bit' I've done just about everything in the book, but I have never worn a tyre to the casing/belting. I run my rear tyres until they have a slick 10mm band forming a flat strip in the middle of the tyre - not saying it's advisable, but I haven't had a problem with doing this. I'm slightly more fussy with the front as it has a detrimental effect on the steering.

As I have said to Graham previously, I tend to switch my front and rear tyres over every year to extend the life of them (the front tyre gets extremely little wear).

Without seeing it it's impossible to say, but if you have any doubt about it I would change it

[Graham Breeze]

I think the answer depends on your financial position, and how worn it actually is.

When it comes to 'stretching things out a bit' I've done just about everything in the book, but I have never worn a tyre to the casing/belting. I run my rear tyres until they have a slick 10mm band forming a flat strip in the middle of the tyre - not saying it's advisable, but I haven't had a problem with doing this. I'm slightly more fussy with the front as it has a detrimental effect on the steering.

As I have said to Graham previously, I tend to switch my front and rear tyres over every year to extend the life of them (the front tyre gets extremely little wear).

I have said (I think) I changed my rear tyre at 5300 miles (there was a thin patch where I had presumably skidded) but friendly Woodrup of Kirkstall recently said my front was still OK and it has now done 6443 miles (too much precision?).

So Good Old Graphene say I!

[Marco]

As I have said to Graham previously, I tend to switch my front and rear tyres over every year to extend the life of them (the front tyre gets extremely little wear).

I have said (I think) I changed my rear tyre at 5300 miles (there was a thin patch where I had presumably skidded) but friendly Woodrup of Kirkstall recently said my front was still OK and it has now done 6443 miles (too much precision?).

It's very hard to wear out a front tyre on a pedal bike; it's usually cuts and punctures damaging the casing that finish them off.

After several years, depending on where the bike has been stored and the quality of the tyre, the rubber content will perish causing the tyre to stiffen and crack. (If you left a brand new bike outside for 10 years without it moving, the tyres would be shot even though they'd covered 0 miles.) This is the reasoning behind swapping the front and rear tyres over periodically - no one wants to throw away a tyre with lots of tread left because it has partially perished.

[brett]

I remember it well!!

I agree.

Waiting until you get a puncture is all very well if it happens near a railway station and you can jump on a train back to Ilkley (in my case) but if it is 20 miles from home on a narrow busy country road in pouring rain and it is getting dark you might wonder what exactly you were saving a few £pounds for.

Brett and I share an anecdote where I had a puncture on both wheels and I was walking the ten miles back home in the rain and he drove past me thinking "Poor ******!"

(Although the story had a happy ending 'cos Brett is a good guy).

[Marco]

After fog in the morning cleared around lunchtime, we had a beautiful cloudless afternoon.

First HIIT session of the year outside, and on public roads. 10 degrees C, and no noticeable wind. Riding on my own, I managed four sprints and topped 24.6mph twice, along with a 25.7 and 26.6mph effort. The faster ones were on the flat, and the slower ones were on a very slight incline. I don't normally wear my Scandinavian heart-rate monitor, but I did to record 174bpm twice, 175 and 178

The session was marred, somewhat, on the way back home on a single track road. I heard a car behind, and it seemed to be keeping a respectful distance for a mile - I even managed to drop it at one point. And then, just before the end of the single track section, I heard a roar and it shot by - so close that had I tried to put my arm out to turn right, my elbow would have hit it (and I'm narrow across the shoulders).

To rub salt into it, 193m later (as measured from my Garmin data) the car turned left into its driveway. Followed 5 seconds later by myself to remonstrate. I duly unclipped and walked up the gravel drive in my SIDI shoes, to knock on the driver's window.

It was at this point that I realised that he was a lot bigger than me, but fortunately quite a bit older too. I realised that a 'WTF was that?' approach probably wouldn't work, so I just told him that his manoeuvre was dangerous, and that he should have given me a metre and a half of clearance (looking back, I probably should have said yards as he would have understood that). I explained that it was to prevent collisions with wobbling cyclists avoiding potholes, and he should bear it in mind for future reference. I must have been on form, or he's even more blunt than I am, as we actually managed to depart on good terms - and I was technically trespassing on his driveway at the time.

[Graham Breeze]

After fog in the morning cleared around lunchtime, we had a beautiful cloudless afternoon.

First HIIT session of the year outside, and on public roads. 10 degrees C, and no noticeable wind. Riding on my own, I managed four sprints and topped 24.6mph twice, along with a 25.7 and 26.6mph effort. The faster ones were on the flat, and the slower ones were on a very slight incline. I don't normally wear my Scandinavian heart-rate monitor, but I did to record 174bpm twice, 175 and 178

The session was marred, somewhat, on the way back home on a single track road. I heard a car behind, and it seemed to be keeping a respectful distance for a mile - I even managed to drop it at one point. And then, just before the end of the single track section, I heard a roar and it shot by - so close that had I tried to put my arm out to turn right, my elbow would have hit it (and I'm narrow across the shoulders).

To rub salt into it, 193m later (as measured from my Garmin data) the car turned left into its driveway. Followed 5 seconds later by myself to remonstrate. I duly unclipped and walked up the gravel drive in my SIDI shoes, to knock on the driver's window.

It was at this point that I realised that he was a lot bigger than me, but fortunately quite a bit older too. I realised that a 'WTF was that?' approach probably wouldn't work, so I just told him that his manoeuvre was dangerous, and that he should have given me a metre and a half of clearance (looking back, I probably should have said yards as he would have understood that). I explained that it was to prevent collisions with wobbling cyclists avoiding potholes, and he should bear it in mind for future reference. I must have been on form, or he's even more blunt than I am, as we actually managed to depart on good terms - and I was technically trespassing on his driveway at the time.

Trespass only matters if you cause damage or material loss. So until you heaved the brick through his windscreen you were safe.

[Marco]

Trespass only matters if you cause damage or material loss. So until you heaved the brick through his windscreen you were safe.

But Graham, I'm a reformed character. Honestly

[Llani Boy]

After the fog cleared yesterday lunchtime I set out on my gravel bike along the Pennine Bridleway from above Chelmorton. Onto the HPT and after feeling something was not right realised that I hadn't got my helmet on!

I decided to carry on as I was going to be mostly off road and in the winter sunshine my two thin base layers under my spring/autumn jersey were spot on. On to the Tissington Trail, looking forward to a bacon sandwich at Herberts Cafe in Tissington, but before I got there I was engulfed in fog and I suddenly felt cold. To add to my discomfort, Herberts was closed and having had my breakfast some six hours earlier was also hungry. All I had with me was a banana so that was wolfed down.

Onto tarmac to the ford through Bradbourne Brook and up to Bradbourne, a "Doubly Thankful" village. Still in the fog to Brassington and as I climbed steeply to the HPT at Harboro Rocks I was also doubly thankful to come into well needed sunshine. Slowly running out of energy I continued uphill into a head-breeze hoping to get a hot chocolate at Parsley Hay but on getting there it was also closed. Bugger.

Another 12 miles on trail and tarmac saw me arrive home well and truly spent. Still having Saturdays LMV race in my legs hadn't helped.

A total of 44 miles, 1,772 feet in 3hrs 9mins. Overall a lovely day, especially for early February and riding without a helmet felt quite liberating but I shall not be making a habit of it!

[Graham Breeze]

There is little point in riding to the Yorkshire tourist promenade hot spots to display one's finely honed physique in deepest February - for want of tourists. Instead a typical pootle is via Addingham to the Craven Arms - the one made famous by Mr Brightside - and then on to Embsay passing under the railway line serving the Cracoe quarry before passing the steam railway that connects Embsay to Bolton Bridge (for Bolton Abbey) and then down the 40 mph long descent to Bolton Bridge and back to Addingham and Heavens Waiting Room (aka Ilkley).


Today I added a loop through the lovely hamlet of Stirton, made famous by RO extraordinaire, Sue Weeden (usually hindered in her duties by Mr Weeden) which allowed a sprint up the sensitively named Bog Lane which was the nasty, brutish and not so short start to races organised by the aforesaid Mrs Weeden. Drizzle from above and greasy dirt splattering from under one's skinny tyres. I love February.

Just 27 miles (2200 feet) but 51 miles in 4 days this week so far.

Cycling - what's not to like?