Spat me dummy out

Been a bit quiet over the last week, and that is because I have spat my dummy out.  Any of you unfortunate enough to know me for any period of time, know I am prone to the occasional mard.

This time it was brought on by my good old trusty steed Jack.  After the killer trail that is the Mary Towneley loop, my MTB has been in storage recovering.  As the weather turned last week, it swapped places with the road bike.  This first journey was a nightmare.  The forks have seized solid.  I had know they were screaming out for retirement, so it was to be expected.  The chain is so beaten up that it has eaten up the rear cassette and the jockey wheels on the rear derailleur.

The ride home last Thursday was awful.  As soon as I put any power down the chain simply slipped.  This was nearly my demise as I crossed a busy crossroads, and was left in the middle of the road trying to get some sort of traction.

I spent Friday evening trying to procure the replacement parts, and managed to order most of the parts from Chain Reaction Cycles, but the forks were just so far away from where I wanted to be price wise, I therefore had to dredge through Ebay to try and find some forks.

I saw a set but they were at the top of my budget, and being a true Northern lad I like to get a bit of a bargain.  So I waited for the auction to end and then offered them £20 less that the £80 starting price.  We settled on £65 which included the front wheel, tyre and tube.

This new set of forks brought a whole new set of problems, I never even knew of a 20mm through axle.  So I had to get back on Chain Reactions website and order some parts to make them fit.  Not expensive stuff but its just time I don’t have.  I have not ridden since Tuesday now and the weather looks like it is going to be wet over the weekend, so I may not get out until next week.

This has meant I have had to turn the volume up on my running a bit, which in fairness I have needed to.  I am pleased to say that it starting to feel a little less traumatic on the body, and dare I even say, I am starting to look forward to running?  OK maybe that is a bit too far.

Fingers crossed my parts arrive on Monday and I can get back on the bike.

In the meantime here are the abbreviated stats for the past weeks exercise escapades.

Friday 26^th

Bike
Duration – 21:32
Distance – 6.81miles
Rode home but no stats for that as I did not set the watch off going.

Saturday 27^th

Run
Duration – 1:11:26
Distance – 7.71miles
Also went swimming.  Managed 33 lengths before getting called off by the kids.  Still no front crawl though, but watch this space…..

Monday 29^th

Bike
Duration – 49:43
Distance – 12.61miles

Bike
Duration – 17:41
Distance – 3.07miles

Tuesday 30^th

Bike
Duration – 27:28
Distance – 7.57miles
Rode home too, but again my watch did not pick up a GPS signal quick enough for me, so no times.

Wednesday 31^st

Run
Duration – 58:54
Distance – 6.82miles

Friday 2^nd November

Run
Duration – 26:40 (PB run to work this one)
Distance – 5.13km

Matt