Frank Kinlan's Blog

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.

Monday: Work Tuesday: Work, holidays booked at work. Had to take 2 days off for the Wild Wales in August. answered a few comments about the Edge 800. Wednesday:  Had planned to get out to the Eureka and join a CTC ride but had a change of plan. Dragged the Iceni out the shed for the first time in a long time. Pumped up the tyres, changed the Garmin mount for the 800 one and I was nearly ready to go. Had a query about the Cadence sensor  so tried to pair it with the Edge 800. It wasn’t having it so the battery got changed, still no joy. No magnet on the crank so that was on the shopping list. The Iceni felt good if a little heavy, it’s on 44cm bars which are a fair bit wider than the Trek and gives the ride a totally different feel. The other thing is the silence, no rattles or the wind noise that you seem to get with bladed spoke wheels. First time out for a long time with a HRM on, found the Edge 800 no problem unlike the cadence sensor. The cadence sensor menu’s are deep within the Edge 800.   http://app.strava.com/runs/3263553/embed/23106e1f678ef5506fd7685b2e98be98da133874

Thursday:  Spinning class at the Oval, Becky’s stand in had us doing some sort of pyramid  technique. It was quite hard but I didn’t expect to have a water bottle emptied over my head while filling my bottle at the cooler. My crime was saying it was “Okay but but would have been better with 8 sets of 8″ .
2 Km on the Concept2 rowing machine and a few weights.

Put the cadence sensor magnet on the Iceni and gave it a test on the stand.
Should be able to give it a try on Friday.  Paid off the kitchen before the interest free credit runs out and cancelled the direct debit.

If your on Google + check out the Rubik Cube solving machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_d0LfkIut2M

Sunday:  Set the cadence sensor up on the Iceni before venturing out into the cold. Temperatures were little above freezing with frost in the shade not thawing out allday.  I set  out to do the Wirral Coastal trail with a loop to Chester in it.
More a bit later.

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First post of the year, the end of 2011 proved to be a very subdued affair with very few prepared to set fire to £10 notes this year (fireworks).
I was in work New Years Day so no ride, proved to be an eventful block in work.

Tuesday: First day off, had a good go at the kitchen with the first all important corner unit going in. Didn’t like what I saw on the scales so time to get back on the plan.
On the website front the Dummies Guide  has taken off hit wise with the site having over 200,000 visitors so it’s time for a few changes.

Wednesday:  It was hard to resist going out for a ride but first things first.
Rather than watch paint dry it was time  for a BLT at the Eureka Cafe.
Signed up for the Wild Wales again, online and with PayPal now. RFID sign in last year just goes to show how far the CTC has advanced.

http://www.wildwaleschallenge.com

Late on I found out where all the traffic was coming from, 4th on a Google search for Garmin Edge 800. That is up against some very big hitters.
Called in at Vita with the newsagent across the road biting  the dust, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

Saw some of Springy’s work, would get a Google +1 from me.
More changes afoot.

Thursday:  Signed up for the Vita Cycles club, quite a productive session on the kitchen with  one of those fancy complicated corner storage units getting installed. It has to be millimeter perfect and you only get one chance.

Friday: Out for a bit of a ride, called in at Wheelbase to see if the tub puncture sealer was in , which it wasn’t and headed out for a loop around the Wirral. Took things fairly steady as I wasn’t getting a wind assist anywhere.  Good to see the Counsel sweeping the roads of all the hedge cutting over the last few days.
Went around the Marine Lake  at new Brighton which was a bad move as I had to wade through drifting sand that was about 4 feet thick with shoes with Keo cleats on.  It was like getting stuck in the Dakar.
Crunch time came in West Kirby, do I take the Grange Road climb out of West Kirby or do I wimp out.
I opted for the climb but boy was it a struggle, came 10th on a Strava segment which wasn’t too bad.
Strava.com is the latest cycling/running site where you can compare your times over a given “segment”.You can upload your entire history at one go to see how your doing.

It’s given me the chance to enter the “Col du Rest Hill” as a segment. Anyone that does it and uploads to Strava will get a time. It starts just after the bend, at a telegraph pole and finishes at the 30mph speed limit sign, 10m before the junction. Average gradient 5.6%.

Saturday: Work, no ride.
Sunday: Work, no ride.

Last weekend I had trouble walking after straining my thigh, an Ibruprofen later and I’m feeling a lot lot better, well at least until it wears off. It dawns on me just how powerful a drug it is. Then I recall riders taking the stuff before a ride and wonder how much damage they are doing to themselves.

Sorted the bike out Saturday night putting the Crud Roadracer 2,s on the back as gales and rain are forecast.  Sunday morning had me up early, looking out the window and putting the front one on too. This proved to be a mistake as apart from the road being flooded at the bottom of Rest Hill things dried out pretty quickly.

The mistake is Crud roadracers are a very tight fit on a Trek Madone and I’m subjected to an annoying rustle as every little piece of grit forces it’s way through the tight clearance on anything but the smoothest of surfaces.

Arrived at the Eureka around 9 with only about 6 in there at that time. It wasn’t to last with the Northend and CTC turning up in force.

I left the Eureka at 9:45 heading out to the Ice Cream Farm along the closed Capenhurst Lane.  Once out in the lanes the traffic was non existant, the sun was up and the wind was dying down. Things were pretty damn good.

Turned up at the ICF bang on 11 to meet up with Paul and the grandkids.
Headed out of the ICF towards Bruera and Saighton, where after passing a group on mountain bikes The Sunlight finally passed me.

They offered me a wheel so I tagged along on the back and got the camera out and took a few pictures. Just about hung on on the rise into Chester.

Tagged along with the CTC on the trip back to the Eureka and got held up by the cows crossing the lane going to get milked. One stood there looking at us for a couple of minutes, must be the dayglo jackets.

Another chance to test the MagicShine copy at the end of the ride, low light photography being an art I haven’t mastered. The 30 mph signs don’t come out well in this picture.

Not been a good week having picked up a groin strain. Haven’t been near the bike since Wednesday week, compounded by picking up another strain getting out of the Mini.
Paul had a Google Developer Conference in Berlin where he met up with the ClimbtheAlps.com developer, Dennis Wegewijs. It now has the 2012 Etape route in it. The views are unbelievable in Streetview.

In my current position I’ll have to give both of them a miss. 

I’ve had a set of MagicShine Bike Lights from DealExteme for about a year now and It’s now time to drag them out and make use of them.

The original 808 light was a copy of a Lupine Tesla 4 but at about a fifth of the price. I paid $75 for mine which is about £50.  For that you get a light that pumps out about 600-700 lumens on high mode from a single SSC P7 Led.

****** In ALL cases remove the screw that holds the handlebar clamp to the light body and apply some “Loctite”, nutlock or other threadlock compound.
Even a secure looking mount will work loose. As always you get what you pay for and in this case it won’t include threadlock.******

Comes with a 4400 mA/Hr battery that is supposedly  good for 3 hours.
Quality is good for the price but there are a few area where money has been saved. On the first generation the battery pack was not waterproof and it is fairly likely they were using unprotected cells. It led to a battery back recall in the US.
Shorting out unprotected Li-ion cells is not reccomended as there are explosive levels of energy involved.

Battery care, don’t let your battery go completly flat, ABOVE ALL don’t remove the charger from the wall while still connected to the battery. It will discharge to a level below  which  it will refuse to take a charge. It’s important other family members know this so as not to unplug the charger to plug in their phone.
This goes for ANY Li-Ion system.

The LED runs at 2800 mA which will quickly bring out any weaknesses in the heatsinking or the battery.  In use on a moving bike the light remains cool to the touch only heating up when stationary.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/p7-water-resistant-ssc-p7-3-mode-1200-lumen-white-led-bike-light-with-battery-pack-set-82734

The above is a copy of the Magicshine 808 copy. The leads are not compatible with the Magicshine being 7.2 mm instead of 8.4 mm on the Magicshine. Waterproofing on the battery is poor and needs looking at before it gets wet. Beam is very similar to a MagicShine if not brighter. 3 modes including an insane  strobe mode, no annoying SOS mode.  Head unit looks well made and the mount looks like it is properly screwed on unlike the Magicshine which fell apart.
See update above, they all fall apart.

Swapping the leads would make it compatible with the Magicshine accessories.

Terrible picture above but you can ride an unlit path at a normal speed and the light is whiter than a car halogen light which are yellow in comparison.

Parts are dirt cheap, a couple of $ for leads, headbands. Upgraded battery packs are available that are waterproof and have a battery charge indicator.

Plenty of chatter about these lights on various forums as you’ll never see them in a magazine light shootout.

For  good reviews and beamshots of the lower price high power lights see Torcheys site below.
http://www.torchythebatteryboy.com/p/bike-light-database.html