SPD Pedals

When I bought my new bike it came with toe clips on the pedals, I have been trying to get used to the toes clips for 3 months. One of the straps on the pedals broke on Thursday and I have been thinking of getting a set of new pedals.

I have been looking into what type of pedals to get and a lot of people like SPD (Shimano Pedaling Dynamics) pedals. Basically you have a pedal like the one in the picture and you have special shoes that have cleats on the bottom. The cleats on the shoes lock into the pedals making your pedalling more efficient as essentially your feet are stuck to the pedals. To release them you have to rotate your heal outward and you can then lift your foot off the pedal.

Andy at work recommended Shimano A520 pedals which are SPD pedals. I ordered them and they came with the cleats. After I received them I went to the cycling shop to buy shoes to put the cleats in.

I needed to buy a special spanner to fit the pedals as I didn't have one that would fit. The pedals are too narrow for you to use an adjustable spanner, as I scratched my pedal stems trying this.

When I received the pedals and spanner, Andy helped me fit them. It is important to use non-ceasing grease to make sure that you can get the cleats out of your shoes and the pedals off again.

Once they were fitted it was a learning curve trying to use them, you have to think in advance of stopping to make sure that you unlock the foot that you will be landing on. I have been assured that eventually you get used to it and it comes naturally.

Since getting the pedals I have only fallen off once, this was because someone in a car tried to knock me off and I had to swerve to avoid them, as I was falling I managed to unlock my foot, but hurt my leg in the process. If you are thinking of getting these, I would think why you would need them. If you are travelling quite a long distance e.g. several miles with very few stops, I would recommend them, however, if you plan on just doing city cycling it would not be advisable as you would have to keep locking and unlocking your feet every few minutes.

You can get pedals that are normal pedals on one side and SPD's on the other side. I would probably recommend these for most people as you do not need special shoes to use them.

Think carefully before doing it. I would not go back now, but given the choice again I would probably get the double sided pedals instead.

Sonic Boom Birthday

Last Sunday was my birthday, so on Saturday I went to the cycle shop and bought a track pump with a gage, as my bike tyres seemed to be very low. When I bought the pump I asked the guy that sold me the bike what my bike tyres should be pumped up to. He said that he thinks it is 85psi but it says on the side of the tyre.

I have been told the the more you pump up your tyres the easier it is to ride, and the less effort it takes, so I planned to inflate them as high as possible.

On Sunday I was doing some bike maintenance, I got my bike out of the garage and realised that I had a puncture in the front tyre. Perfect time to try my new pump. Swapped the inner tube with my spare one and I checked the tyre and it said max 85psi, so I thought the guy was right, I pumped it up to just over 80 psi then started to fix the puncture in the other tyre.

I then heard what sounded like a sonic boom, and the front inner tube had exploded with such force that it blew the tyre off the wheel. I wondered if I had inflated the tyre too much. When I removed the inner tube it had a split right down it.

The first puncture was called a snakebite puncture and it is when you get two holes about equal distance apart on your inner tube, this is due to your inner tube hitting your wheel whilst you are riding. the inner tube gets trapped between the wheel rim and a curb or something. I repaired this then but it back on the bike and pumped it up, I learned from the last time and pumped it up to 70psi, this is 15psi off the maximum.

As I was putting away my tools and I heard another sonic boom sound, the other inner tube had exploded. I didn't want to keep going through inner tubes without a reason, so I drove to work on Monday and took my wheel, two burst inner tubes and the pump with me. I took them back to the shop for an explanation, they tested the pump and said that the gage was 20psi out. So when I thought I was pumping up my tyre to 80psi I was actually pumping it up to 100psi. No wonder it exploded. The said unless you spend a lot on a pump the gage is usually inaccurate and used for a guide. He gave me another pump that he said was about 7 psi out and told me to inflate my tyres to 60psi, which should be enough.

I felt quite nervous pumping up the new tyres and ended up pumping them up to 50psi, on the ride to work this week they seemed slightly lower than I would like them, so I think I will take it up to 60psi.

Good Friday, Bad Catholic

Good Friday seemed to be nice weather, a little windy but not more than I could handle. As I was not at work I decided to try out the unorganised cycle group on Friday lunchtimes (http://www.camcycle.org.uk/events/) By the time I could set off I was late. I went to meeting place as fast as I could (http://www.camcycle.org.uk/map/location/8526/) but I was not fast enough and arrived there 10 minutes late, my average speed for this 7 mile trip to the meeting place was 16.4 mph.

When I got there I decided to explore some of the cycle routes down by the river, I cycled around for about 5 miles. I then decided to set off and return via Waterbeach, down by the river route.

During my return trip I thought I was going to be blown into the river Cam a few times, the wind was beginning to really blow hard. Once I got to Waterbeach, the wind was blowing against me so hard that I went down to 8 mph.

I decided to take refuge in a pub called 'The Bridge' I went in and realised that they had a marquee with a mini beer festival and a hog roast. By this point I was starving, so I decided to get a hog roast dinner and an ale.

I went in the marquee and they had a bouncy castle, I decided to phone Yvonne (my wife) and ask her to bring the kids. We ended up spending most of the afternoon there.

After a couple of pints, a hog roast dinner and one and a half giant hot dogs and some shared crisps, Yvonne reminded me that I am a catholic and it was Good Friday and I should not be eating meat. I decided it was time to go. Thank you Emily for taking this picure and making the chefs stand there for a minute while you were taking it.

Yvonne brought the cycle carrier and offered to transport me and the bike back. I would feel like I failed if I had had excepted, so I set off by myself and the wind started blowing really hard. Then the rain started and the 5 miles journey ended up taking me 30 minutes of hard cycling. I wonder if someone was trying to tell me something. I ended up cycling 21 miles all apart from the last five miles were great, the last five miles was just exhausing, when I got home I was freezing and tired.

It is a good job I cycled so far on Friday as this weekend we have seen high winds, hail, heavy rain and even half of Sunday was snowing so much we had a white covering and the kids had a snowball fight outside, This picture was taken Yesterday, by late afternoon all the snow had gone and apart from a few little patches you wouldn't have known it had snowed. Fabulous weather from mid-March.

Catch up

Last Weekend

Last weekend I didn't do any cycling as it the weather was so windy it would have been a mistake to try to cycle anywhere. I had a break from it and I am glad I did.


Last Week

Last Monday was the first time that I did not cycle into work, as it was incredibly windy and stormy. It was so bad that lorries were being blown over on the M1 and M11. It was a good decision because of that it meant that I had to do a little more cycling at the weekend to make up for it.

I did make good use of my waterproof over trousers towards the end of last week. It just meant that I only cycled to work 4 days last week.

Make your own Electrolyte Sports Drink

People that do a lot of sports tend to buy expensive electrolyte sports drinks to help them compete at their optimum performance. I got a tip from a book that you do not need to buy expensive sports drinks, you can make your own.

I am not saying that this will do everything that an expensive sports drink does, but it will help and at a fraction of the cost. The point of a sports drink is that it replaces the fluids that you loose in your sweat through your training. These are mainly water, sugar and salt.

You can easily make your own sports drink by filling your water bottle with fruit squash and water all you have to do then is to add a couple of pinches of salt.

This will help, obviously if your sports give you an edge over your competitors then continue. However, if you want a cheap drink that will replenish you as you fluids while you train, this may be for you.

Hope it helps

There are interesting things to see on a cycle ride

Last Saturday was a lovely day, so I decided to go for a river cycle ride, to Waterbeach down by the river, to Cambridge and back.

I set off with very little, a little hardcase strapped to my pannier with a waterproof jacket and a puncture repair kit in, and onto my bike was a pump and my water bottle filled with my electrolyte drink (see my other blog post on how to make it).

I set off cycled to Waterbeach, whilst going through Waterbeach I saw a Church that I have seen a few times before, but I never stopped, so this time I decided to stop and take some pictures of it.

I set off again and rode down the little path next to the river Cam, I found that although I was only on a thin path I was able to take some video of the ride. About half way down there I saw a rowing boat race and decided to take some video of it (click here to download it). It was very good timing, that I was riding down there at exactly the same time as it began. I stopped for a while and then I needed to continue, so I did.

I cycled to Cambridge and then on the way back home I went over a bridge that is quite steep. I am quite used to going over this bridge the amount of times that I have done it. I remember the first time I went over it, I really struggled. Cambridge is the flattest place on the Earth, so I have to find some hills to practice on, if not I will not have any hill practice for the London to Cambridge Ride. So, when I approached the bridge I decided to cross it 20 times, I managed 5 times, I think I will have to build up to 20. Some people thought I was crazy and I crossed the bridge 5 times in the time it took them to cross it on foot once.

After that I rode home and did some weight work. All over body conditioning is very important, if you do not just want to loose weight but also gain muscle too.

I am not paranoid but...

Last week travelling to work and back I discovered that a lot of people are either ignorant or they just don't know what wing mirrors are for.

When I cycle down the street there is always one or two vehicles that are so close to the pavement it makes it impossible for you to pass them. If you park that close you are likely to get your car damaged by cyclists trying to get past, cyclists also have no registration plates so if they kicked you car as they pass and you are stuck in traffic there is nothing you could do. It is just not worth it, be nice to cyclists and they will be nice to you.

There was one car last week that came right up behind me and then beeped his horn whilst over taking so closely he was about a foot from me. That got me a little concern as I shook my fist at the git, if I wasn't as stable a rider I would have come off my bike. Why would you do that to a cyclist, that could have very easily ended in disaster with him being so close.

The weather last week was so cold that my face was freezing all the way to work, I thought I would have got frost bite. It is March, when is the weather going to improve. I cannot go cycling as far as I want to because of the wind and cold, as they make it quite uncomfortable.

Friday was the worst day of the week for me, I checked the met office weather forecast for the day it showed sun, sun, sun all day. I got ready and got my bike out of the garage and noticed that the ground was wet and it had been raining, but it was not raining at the time, so I thought it must have been raining over night and it has stopped now. There were no rain clouds in the sky, so I set off.

I was cycling for 5 minutes when it started drizzling a little, It was freezing rain with the cold wind blowing against me. My forehead was freezing so I had to pull my skullcap down to protect me forehead. After cycling for about 15 minutes it just poured it down so I continued. By the time I got to work I was freezing and soaking wet. My trousers looked like they were two-tone khaki. I had to wear some over trousers that I had whilst my trousers dried on the radiator, so that I didn't catch a cold.

My trousers dried in an hour or so and I didn't have any meetings, so I could get away with waring plastic over trousers for that time. I will wear my over trousers if there is even a sniff of rain in the air.

Cycling in the rain with wet trousers and a very cold wind makes you feel terrible, it is not very nice and I would do anything to avoid it again.

The sun was out all day on Friday apart from that, it was a lovely day with a very clear sky. As I was leaving work on Friday I looked at the clear sky and wondered how the weather could have been so bad today.

When I was half way home, it started pouring down again. The perfect way to end a perfect day. When I got home my trousers were two-tone again, not as bad as that morning but still not nice.

I cannot wait for the good weather to come.