Frank Kinlan's Blog

I’ve decided to back date the Theme to Twenty Ten in the interim as the width of Coraline was a bit too restrictive in a world where everything seems to be widescreen.
Still on the lookout for a new Theme, must have pages and custom menus.

Updated various sections of the blog including The Dummies Guide which seemed to have lost some of the content.
The new wider width has mucked up the Vita image but now has the link for the 2013 Ten minutes of Hell Tunnel Time Trial.

Strava,  the great new cycling, running app.  As good at it is there are a few bugs in it. You can log all your rides to you’re hearts content. I’ve done a few and you can get to a point where you think why bother.
Part of the problem is that there are too many worthless segments out there.

It’s about time we started putting Time Trial courses up on Strava rather than 500m PB,s. Only stipulation is that you start from a standing start at the designated point.

There are a fair few out there that don’t want to step up to the mark and be tested in an organised event. Just tick the private button on Strava and ride the Course as if it was an event.

Locally the event to do is : Northend 7.1. It is a club eventand would normally be  ridden as a member or private trial.

In any event a Strava log of the same distance should be valid.

For those on the Wirral it’s one of the last TT courses on the Wirral, goes through Thornton Hough  and finishes just before Benty Heath Lane.

Post ride refreshments would normally be at the newly thatched, “The Thatch”
otherwise called the  Wheatsheaf.

Strava segment coming up.

Last week I was struggling to get on a spinning class, the only class I could get on was a Trixster class at the Wirral Tennis center. There was a reason for this.
1. It follows one of Tex,s notoriously hard circuit training classes.
(If your a woman looking for a bit of sympathy go elsewhere, there is no differentiation  between the sexes) everyone came out wrecked.
2. Your going to get a 45 minutes of instuctor led class where the instructor isn’t on the bike. This means your going to have Tex barking instructions at you for the whole class.
3. This only adds up to one thing “One seriously Hard class”. No video,s to keep you entertained, just 45 minutes of hard work.

Cue Friday morning and Tex,s overbooked Spinning Class at the Oval which I managed to get on. Tex has to give up his bike which means only one thing, “A hard time for the rest of us” and indeed it was.

A newcomer on doctors orders found it tough but I remember my first class and it was as hard as it gets.

Back to the Trixster classes it’s a spinning class but based on a Mountain Bike layout, the bars move side to side to generate an upper body workout. These are damped via an adjustable damper to increase or decrease the workout.

If you do the Video version (crazy video,s)  you will burn more calories purely because you won’t realise your working that hard.

The downside: The bikes need a good bit of maintenance  (in an age of none). A Trixster bike should always have a bit of resistance in to give a proper workout.
No resistance = No gain.

I would suspect >90%  of most of most spinning class,s are not running the correct resistance  levels. Most are going through the motions and I can’t knock them for that, but occasionally you meet someone that can match or better you.
They will eventually waste you but you wouldn’t guess it by the look of things.

First thing the Garmin Edge 705 has a new home. It had to go, next is all the stuff I’ve hoarded over the last 30 years.
Next to go is a Raleigh Dynatech MTB  from 1990-1991. Fitted with the first Rockshox air forks, 50mm of travel. Really clean for the age of it. This was a £999 MTB in 1990.
Wednesday:  Rode out to the Eureka for breakfast, saw the Mayor (4Square) then headed out to Cheshire Oaks then onto the EPort. Called in at Vita Cycles where Phil seems to have taken the hump with everyone that uses a Garmin or for that matter a cycle computer, which must mean just about everybody that comes through the shop door.
To a certain extent he has a point, it’s good to go out and ride something just on “feel” but to avoid the clock at any cost is a tad shortsighted. Don’t even mention  Helmets. 37 miles.
Thursday: Beckys Morning spinning class at the Oval followed by another sort out.  Managed to get on what turned out to be Tex,s Trixter class at the Tennis Center. Tex and I go back to secondary school and I’m sat outside listening to him dish it out to his Circuit Training class.

The thing with Trixter bikes is that there should be no easy ride, unfortunately the Council bikes aren’t maintained to a high standard so suffer from not enough resistance at lower level. With only three of us in the class it was going to be a tough class.
And so it turned out to be, no videos of nutters going mad on the streets of London, New York or for that matter Liverpool. Just a straight instructor led session where there is not let up as you are under Tex,s beady eye.
Friday: Texs morning spin class at the Oval. Overbooked 14 in the class with only 12 on the sheet. Similar to last nights class. As Tex had to give up his bike I knew we were in for a hard time and so it was……
Shower at home then took my mum upto Heswall and onto the Ship in Parkgate for lunch.
On the subject of Helmets, John from work touch Barbara,s back wheel went down hard and split his helmet in two.

He only had the helmet a week and even he says it was a good job he was wearing it as he was somersaulted head fist into the kerbstone.
Tried to get on an evening spinning class to no avail and ended up going out for a  network storage drive. I’m going digital mainly because the old media takes up so much space and you need the player to play it.

Saturday: Planned a new Course out to the Eureka to test Coursepoints in various versions of the Edge 800 maps. I was expecting to get turn directions but got none, when riding the Course a completely different set of screen options come up, a lot of them based on the non existent Coursepoints.

On another note I’ve had some contact with an advertising agency about “A cyclist called Frank” unfortunately the message was stuck in a Facebook message for nigh on 3 weeks and has been given to another Frank. I’m going to kick myself long and hard over this one.
Looks like I’ll have to continue blogging.

Signed Tom Boonen jersey.

13 May 2012:   Rode out to the Eureka knowing that the road was closed due to the Chester half marathon. Had breakfast with the Seamons club rolling in. This was the same time as a dad and lad first timers now found themselves at the back of the queue.
Bumped into Dave on the way out as he was just back from a 6 AM start out to Llandegla MTB centre which looked to be closed as he was that early.
Woodbank was free of runners and by the look of things Sportive organisers  have a good deal to learn from them. All the bottles from the water/feedstation in Woodbank were in a large wheelie bin. Top marks to the organisers, in contrast a Sportive is an opportunity to discard all your gel wrappers along the route.

I can get really pissed off at this as it’s obvious  where the Gels have come from, we’ve just dished them out at the start.
I started off doing pure charity rides, where a portion of the entry went to the charity. This has turned into an event where your entry goes to the organisers and you are expected to make a donation to the charity.

There is a massive following for Sportives  for some reason and as far as I can see it’s the sort of rider who doubt’s their ability to join a club.

We all get dropped, if your not up to the A group it’s because your not ready to race.  A slower group may include a cafe stop, either way you usually get to ride with a good group and it doesn’t cost you £25  for the purpose of it.

Feedstation, in real life it’s a village shop once your out in the sticks. The pubs close during the day as there is no passing trade. Midweek the lanes are your own, there is no traffic. Once past the school run there is next to no traffic  on any indirect routes that don’t involve an A or B road.

Back to the ride, Eureka Cafe for breakfast where a section of the Seamons came in, then off to Chester via the Dee, Chester race course and on to the  ICF via Saighton where the road race was on.

Spent a couple of hours with Paul and the grandkids at the Ice Cream Farm then it was on to continue a new section of the ride by just playing it by ear.

Forgot to press Start on the Edge 800 after the restart so lost out on a mile or so. The route headed out to Beeston Castle dropped down to the Shady Oak then headed up to Tarporley which must be one of the few places to avoid the supermarket onslaught.  All the better for it, also noticeable for a lack of charity shops once the supermarkets move in.

Shocking road surface on what should be a fast steep descent to the junction at Willington Hall, no wonder there are accidents there.

Widnes bridge from Hale Bank.

Trying to get back into the thick of things lately with a ride out to Chester when others thought better.
Started to go back to the spinning classes at the Oval and West Kirby. The Oval having a load of bikes out of action and West Kirby being incredibly full.

Merseyside CTC Spring TT proved to be a bit of a disaster with what must be my first DNF of an event. Spent an age planning the route too.

Paul at the start of Merseyside CTC Early Season TT

Turned up at the start after a wet drive in with the winter bike in the back of the car. Lots of familiar faces at the start with some thinking of bailing out at the last minute. Swipe card sign in means no waiting these days at CTC events.
Garmin Courses were in short supply with moi probably having the only one. Unfortunatly you can’t swap Courses between devices on the 800 that and I don’t think the file formats are the same as in the 705.

5.5 miles into the ride there is a load bang as the front tyre let go in a big way.
I coasted to a halt in a farm drive way and set about assesing the damage.
The tube had a split in it along with a hole in the tyre that needed patching.

The Sunlight sailed past with Gary shouting “Lend us your Garmin”, things then got steadily worse. I only had one tube and managed to nick that too, it’d been bouncing around the bottom of the tool container too so may have had some other nicks too. It didn’t hold air for long too and a trip into Winsford for a branch of Halfords proved fruitless.
Nothing for it but to abandon the ride and make it back to the start in 1/2 mile stops.
Called in at the Ice Cream Farm to see the grandkids on the way home so the day wasn’t a total disaster.

A post mortem of all my spare tubes wasn’t good, 18 month old repairs had lifted. All leaked, all binned along with the Conti UltraSport tyre.

Wednesday: Went with Andy to one of the wholesalers an picked ip a few bits. Found my lost passport in the great cleanup. Plenty of stuff to go including a few bikes. Now I’ve got my passport back a trip to the Tour could be on the cards.

Thursday: Spin class at the Oval, gave the shower a miss as you’d come out worse than you went in. Not impressed with the mould in the grout.

WordPress Ads are now on the site, finally secumbed  after all these years.

Spinning class at West Kirby, shower  and home.

More in a bit.

Not been very active due to Vals mother passing away recently  after being diagnosed with an inoperable lung tumor. The service went well not withstanding cemetarys are busy places these days.

Not got enough miles in but other than that I think I’m OK ish.

More later including Andy,s 2 bin bags  of weed find on Wirral streets.

What hasn’t made it to the blog but did appear on Twitter was I had a big off on last Sundays ride (18 Mar) out to the Ice Cream Farm to see the grand kids.

Had a leisurely ride out to the Eureka catching up with things with one of the CTC.  Gary from the Sunlight came past and in normal circumstances I would have grabbed a wheel but let it go this time.

Had breakfast at the Eureka before setting out along the Dee cyclepath to Chester. Now it had thrown it down during the night but I awoke to rapidly drying roads so had set out on the Trek.
I’d passed three guys after Saltney Ferry bridge and the plan was to go around the Roo Dee Racecourse cyclepath using the River Dee Promenade whch is at the back of the new appartments and the racecourse stables.

Turned of the road and went past the first block of appartments but where it links to the back of the stables is a stretch of wooden decking. I thought nothing of it as I passed a woman walking a dog. Bang, a slit second later I had hit the deck and hard too.
I got up, with the dog walker coming back to see if I was alright, I said I was but I think I was putting a brave face on it.
I’d lost a water bottle and saw my Iphone skittle across the decking. The bike didn’t seem damaged so it I thought I’d continue the ride.

The cause was the sun hadn’t dried out the wet decking and it was like an Ice rink. I didn’t stand a chance. I’d managed to stop the tree cyclists from the cyclepath meeting the same end and continued on calling in at the Bike Factory to look at some bike.  There’s a nice Madone 5.9 with Ultegra UI2 on it that caught my eye.

Got to the playbarn hurting a bit but nothing to bad. Had a few hours with the grandkids and opted to ride home, refusing a lift from Val.
Taking the canal path at Waverton proved to be a mistake as the sun had brought out all the prams and dogwalkers so I didn’t get anywhere fast.

Apart from the sore leg and and elbow, I had a pain in the chest every time I came out of the saddle. I threw the towel in at Upton by Chester and rang for a lift home.  The damage is a massive bruise to the thigh an abrasion to the forearm and what seems to be a cracked rib as it hurts when I sneeze etc even a week later.

Final sections of the kitchen refurb on Friday and Saturday with two larder units being cut down to size. The back room resembling a sawmill. I missed a cracking ride day on the Saturday but planned to get out on Sunday.

Sunday Rose early to clean and fettle the bike. Hadn’t planned to rush out but one thing led to another.  New brake blocks for the front with the chain getting cleaned with TF2.

6700 Chain I’ve read all the forums and tech articles about chain cleaning or the lack of it (Shimano recomend you don’t) and after using a good portion of a tin of TF2 I still wasn’t happy.
I’ve been using wax,s for the last couple of months but the slots in the link plates appear to by blocked up with crap.
The chain went through a 4 phase ultrasonic clean as follows.

1.  Water and Fairy liquid. Removed grit but not too effective on oil and grease.
2.  Water and Fairy liquid. Removed more grit but not too effective on oil and grease.
3. Water and Gunk. Starting to get somewhere now but not 100%.
4. White spirit. The chain came out clean but there are still residues that settle.

Lubed with Goldtop oil and set off for a test ride.
When I say test ride, it’s a test for next weekends CTC spring 50.
It starts with a mile and a half uphill drag out of Kinnerton and if I’m having trouble climbing I may as well not start. More later. 

What a day, I volunteered to be turn marshall at the Liverpool end of the Vita Cycles ” 10 Minutes of Hell ” TT a new unique event through the Mersey Tunnel.
Talk about diving in at the deep end for your first Time Trial.
Time Trialing is usually up and down a miserable dual carriageway with lorries thundering past at 60 mph and the “tester” hoping to get a bit of a draught.

This was a full road closure, chip timed, event that even made made the BBC Northwest news.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

From the Vita Cycles site.

Ten Minutes of Hell’ proved to be just that,  with each and every competitor giving their all, but only 9 managing to break the ten minute barrrier.  Julia Shaw ripping through the tunnel in 9.59 to win the fastest female prize – £1,000 and Swift TT frame set,  National Time Trial Champion/ Team Sky rider Alex Dowsett,  with a staggering finishing time of 8.28 lifting the fastest male prize – £1,000 and Swift TT frame; confirming his superiority with a lightening 4.08 mid point split  to also lift the fastest mid point prize – £500 and £3,000 Limited Edition TAG Heuer watch. Our congratulations to them both and to all the runner up prize winners.

The day was a great success and we thank each and every competitor for supporting the event, Calder Kids charity and for giving your all in facing Ten Minutes of Hell.   The devil awaits you next year !.

Thank you to everyone that gave up precious time to assist, help and marshal on the day, to sponsors ‘Sportful, Swift, Torq, Cyclops turbo trainers and to Mersey Tunnel Police and Mersey Travel for granting Vita Cycles permission to hold the event at such a unique venue and for their kind assistance in planning and staging it – Thank you all.

Pictures will be released shortly. Complete and verified finishing times are below.

http://road.cc/content/news/52976-ten-minutes-hell-racing-underground-big-prizes

Sunday: 60 miler today, much like last week but a lot colder and with no tail wind. Nice trip out to the ICF to see the lad and grandkids. Called in at the Tap on the way home and read some sages Xmas scroll on the noticeboard, it was brilliant. Magicshines on the way home and I was done.
Switched to a set of Bioracer winter bibs, which where a lot better than Coolmax which I have been having difficulties with.

Next up is: Vita Cycles “10 minutes of Hell” which is a unique Time Trial through the Mersey Tunnel . Some big guns signed up and I’m down as the turn marshall at the Liverpool end. Contact Vita on the  Link if you can help.
Raffle prize up for grabs for willing marshalls.
Open to all.
If we can sort it, a fastest downhill speed , radar checked if possible. It all depends on the day.
We need bodies, the tasks aren’t onerous  but You need to stay at your post for the duration of the event.  It is a unique event and we hope it will go smoothly for it’s inauguration.

Times flying at the moment and I was in work until Wednesday and generally can’t do much when I get in from work.
Thursday: Barbara,s spinning class at West Kirby. Thought I had the wrong day/time or some as there was nobody waiting for the class. Parking space was difficult to top it off.
It finally twigged when the Zumba class emptied out at about 10:30. There is only one PA system and the spinning class can’t have it until the Zumba class has finished. Decent class and I didn’t get a water bottle poured over me this week.
Friday: Tex’s spinning class at the Oval , more suited for blokes and cycling as there is more work out of the saddle and no chest presses. Weight machines and 2km on the Concept 2. Shower and home.
Saturday: Tempted to head out on the bike but stuck it out in the kitchen most of the day. At that stage where things need to be spot on before the worktop goes in. Cleaned the chain in the ultrasonic bath for tomorrows ride, lubed it with Goldline lube as it doesn’t pick up grit like some of the other lubes.
Forecast was windy and already a few were crying off on Twitter.
Chocolate cake was ordered on Twitter, if you don’t follow @EurekaCafe on Twitter this will all be over thew top of your head.
Sunday: Ride day, out at a decent time with the forecast being very windy.
Hit Talbot Avenue going to Thornton Hough and felt really rough, pedaling squares and I’m only a mile into the ride.
Thing’s were looking a bit better on the Chester High Road with a wind assist to the Eureka.
Ann had the Chocolate cake pre chilled when I got there with another piece taken already. This cake wasn’t going to last the day at this rate. Sat down with Vita Paul and Chris, Chris had been doing some Ten Minutes of Hell training in the Mersey Tunnel. Paul is taking it easy after going down with 2 others on the ice last weekend. All in all that was 5 falling in frosty conditions and just reinforced my view about cycling alone when it is bad.

Paul suffered a flatened Giro Atmos helmet when he went down along with some other damage, the new bike was Ok but a Sram lever damaged. Can’t stress the importance of having one even if ‘s a £30 low end one.  Saved me, saved Paul it’s not about the car accident it’s about the impact from what may in the end be your own fault.

Should have had the breakfast at the Eureka as in the long run chocolate cake was not the ideal start to a 63 mile windy ride. I headed out with Bobs CTC ride towards the Dee rail bridge where the Sunlight overtook us so I grabbed a wheel off them. My mind had been made up before hand about riding into the wind.

Instead I headed off down the Dee to Chester, saw 32 MPH on the Garmin and set a new Strava segment time of 47 KPH even beating Springy. Posted it as a wind assist but it still looks good.
Called in at the Specialised Concept Store and the Bike Factory and headed of to the Ice Cream Farm after picking up some carbon assembly grease. Good to chat with the staff as they speak the same language.

Cruised to the ICF where things are subtly changing, cyclists no longer keep the place open in the depths of winter. The playbarn, Sunday papers and free WiFi are starting to attract families in increasing number. The Ice Cream Parlor was pretty empty today.

Headed out towards Beeston Castle where the road down to “The Shady Oak” was closed which can only mean the bridge was closed. Did a loop around with a few bits I didn’t recognise, called by the Lock Gates Cafe but didn’t stop.

Next stop was the “50 p Shop” where I managed to spend £5.50 and had a hot chocolate drink at the Cafe. Nice place, if your into “Full Englishes” this is probably one place you ought to try. Clean inside with great service.

From here on there is a distinctly darker side to the ride. There is no hiding from a headwind and I’ve a fair bit to go. A sign of the times is that closed pubs are now becoming Tea rooms, a decent location is still worth riding to if it can survive.

Pics are on Facebook or G+, will include on this stream.

more to come, I’ve had the best of it.