My Microadventure in York

Alastair Humphreys, one of Alberto's favorite cyclist authors, has this concept called the microadventure. The idea is that you don't have to travel to exotic lands to have an adventure. His examples include things like cycling after work for as far as you can go, then camping and cycling back to work the next morning.

I didn't set out to have a microadventure last Friday, but it ended up meeting all the criteria of one!

First, a little background. Alberto and I wanted to join the FNRttC group on their York to Hull overnight ride. We thought it would be convenient that I had to go to York on Friday for work, so I could just bring my bike--and also save on train fare! In reality, having to sort out the logistics of it all proved quite challenging. It turned in to quite the microadventure in a lot of ways:

• Navigational challenges: I brought my bike with me to York on the train in the morning (with my work clothes in a backpack). Several of my colleagues were coming up to York as well as we had to run a workshop at the University of York. When we arrived, they got in a taxi and I told them I'd see them soon. The university is only 2.5 miles from the city centre so I figured we'd probably arrive about the same time. Little did I know that the city of York has very few street signs, and google maps directions are not always that clear! I didn't actually make many wrong turns, but I had to get off the bike all the time to consult the map. On the last turn of the route I actually did completely go in the wrong direction, ending up in a completely different area of the University (which is quite spread out). All this time I was stressing out about not being there to help my colleagues prep for the event. All in all, it took me almost an hour to get to the right building!



View Larger Map

• Travelling alone: After the event finished, I said goodbye to my colleagues and headed back into the city centre. Once I arrived (it only took 20 minutes, I might add), I suddenly thought to myself, "what now?" I was alone in a city that I don't know very well, it was 5:00pm and Alberto's train wouldn't arrive from London until after 11pm. I felt the same way I feel whenever I travel alone... this feeling of being in charge of how I spend my time but also the responsibility of looking after my stuff and making sure I take care of myself.
• Sleeping outside: Sleeping outside is an integral part of the microadventure and I attempted to do just this after making my way back to York. I went to the park next to York Minster and found a nice bench, which I then locked my bike to and laid down on, hoping to get some sleep before the all night ride. This didn't really work out too well as there were tourists walking through all the time, the bells of the Minster ringing periodically, and it started to get cold after I laid still for too long a period. I think I probably got about 20 minutes rest though.





This is a picture from the University of York website, but I'm pretty sure that's the exact park bench I tried to nap on!

• Eating alone: Eating alone is kind of a caveat to travelling alone, but I honestly don't think I have gone to a restaurant for a dinner by myself since travelling on my own to Barcelona two years ago. After finding a place to lock my bike, I went into a restaurant and sat by the window so that I could look out on the bike at all times (I've never left it alone before!). I didn't even have a book with me so I basically spent two and a half hours in the restaurant eating carbs and drinking caffiene. (While wearing lycra and carrying my front wheel I might add!). I then moved to the pub across the street, which also had a view of the bike, to drink (Coke) alone for the remainder of my time. It can actually be very nice to just sit and think, rather than havingy the TV, computer, ipod, or book to distract you. 

It was difficult to make sure I took care of all my needs before the ride in an unfamiliar city, alone and with a very valuable piece of equipment to look after, but I actually did enjoy the challenge of it.

After all this, 70 miles through the night to Hull seemed positively mundane! But we'll put up a blog post about it soon just the same :-)

A night ride in the mist (London to Brighton overnight)

Our last Friday night ride to the coast, which was part of a charity ride for the Martlet's Hospice, has been a little different from previous ones. This was the second time we've ridden to Brighton overnight, but the very first time that we've cycled in extremely foggy conditions since pretty much the M25 (outskirts of London) until the very end in the Brighton seafront.

Getting ready to leave home.

Highlights

• Felt super-awake. More than ever on a night ride. The secret: 1h siesta beforehand!
• Misty conditions made an interesting ride, and even more interesting scenery. Complete lack of scenery I mean. We actually had no clue where we were, even though we had done this ride a million times. Luckily we had our GPS and the Fnrttc marshals to point us in the right direction

Fog before we have even gotten past the M25!

• Lonelyness of the ride, despite the large number of riders, we were riding solo for quite prolonged periods of time. It really feels magical to be on your own, without seeing much more than 15 m ahead of you, lit up by an LED light. Looking backwards is scary, and competely dark.

Foggy

• The absence of cars. Only around the Gatwick area at ~3am we saw a few cars rushing to the airport.
• The climb up Ditchling Beacon. Although usually a proper hilly section of road, with awesome vistas of the South Downs, tonight it seemed like a rainforest. It was so foggy and damp that it truly looked different.
• Lucy made it all the way up the Ditchling without stopping. And all in one piece. And I managed to climb without standing on the pedals, in preparation for the long hills of the Etape Cymru.

That's Lucy's bright light coming up to the top of the Beacon!

At least she's still standing.

• The home-made cakes delivered by the Martlets volunteers! That surely propelled us to the top of the Beacon!
• Getting an earlier train and home by 9:15 am was the earliest we've ever made it back. Neither of us felt like having a fry-up breakfast, and the weather was not appealing...

Heading to the station.

Lowlights

• A fight involving plenty of police and even a few FNRttC-ers in Balham. We later learned that the FNRttCers invovled were police as well who got off the ride to assist before backup arrived!
• Not being able to use our glasses due to the fog. I got drops of mist from trees straight into my eyes as a result...not a nice feeling
• Lucy's stomach cramps and sleepyness at the half way stop. Mate, gotta get used to sleeping in sports halls in preparation for our Super Randonneur 2012!
• My very own stomach got also upset towards the end of the ride. A combination of food and exercise maybe? Need to remind myself to eat home-made only (with the exception of home-made cakes...of course!)
• The ride itself starts to feel quite short after all the long routes we've done this year. We barely rode 90 km from the official start. Perhaps we should aim for a Saturday morning ride post-Friday night ride?

Stats: 112 km door to door, 5 h 52 m riding time, 19 km/h average, 51 km/h max speed.

We'd like to thank all the people from the Martlets Hospice and all the Fnrttc marshalls (standing by themselves in the fog for hours!!!) that made this ride one of the most memorable ones to date.

Around the world by bike? Maybe some day!

Just came across this amazing video by Going Slowly (via Travelling Two)... a five minute video summary of their trip around the world by bike!


Going Slowly: Two Years of Travel from Going Slowly on Vimeo.

Alberto and I have always wanted to do an actual cycle tour, but so far we haven't managed more than a long weekend away. Hopefully we'll be able to complete the Camino de Santiago  this year and LEJOG in the next few years... and after that, who knows?!

Watching La Vuelta a España from the top of a hill

Last weekend, we went to Madrid to visit Alberto's family and spend some time in a place where summer actually exists, unlike the UK! As luck would have it, the Vuelta a España (like the Tour de France, but in Spain) is on at the moment and Stage 8 on Saturday finished in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a beautiful town outside of Madrid and only about 20 minutes drive from where Alberto's family lives. We knew we had to go check it out!

About 500m from the finish (and no, we didn't write that!)

We've been to see a pro cycling race before, but this one was different in a number of ways:
1. It's the Vuelta a España, one of the three Grand Tours and a major event on the cycling calendar, not a dinky little classic in the UK! There were a LOT of big names.
2. We were at the finish of the race (we stood between the 200 and 300 meters-to-go banners), rather than a random spot along the route. This meant much more excitement and bigger crowds.
3. It was an uphill finish. And when I say uphill, I mean UP. HILL. The slope reached 27% at some points. This meant we could watch the riders go past slowly. The final 1km went straight up a narrow, straight road -- so the riders came past us in little bunches and we had enough time to see the names on their backs and shout out at them.

View from close to the finish line.

We arrived in El Escorial in the early afternoon, and the riders weren't expected until 5:30 or so. We had time to walk up the race route (and it was steep enough to be difficult to walk!), take in the atmosphere, and have lunch in town before heading back to the route to find a spot to watch. It was quite busy already by 4:30 but we eventually found some space. Unfortunately, it was right next to a guy holding the Madrid flag who thought that it was funny to hold it out in front of everything that went passed...not just cyclists but cars and motorbikes as well! It was annoying because it blocked the view for a lot of the time.

For a sense of the angle. Note struggling children in background. 

While we waited, we were entertained by a radio announcer who stood near us broadcasting the race. Those of our readers who understand Spanish may find the video amusing. (Ok, those who don't understand it might still find it amusing!)



Anyway, we waited in anticipation until eventually we could see a helicopter overhead and a few official cars and motorbikes flew past. Finally, we saw him -- Joaquim Rodriguez of team Katusha, or Purito as the Spaniards call him, flying up the mountain, followed closely by Lampre's Michele Sarponi. As the main peloton passed I shot this video. Apologies that it starts a bit slowly -- I really didn't want to miss the riders coming by! The riders arrive at about 1:15 in the video. (You can even hear the point where I spotted Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins and shouted out his name. A few days later he took on the leader's red jersey and at the moment still has it!)



Because of the hill, the riders were very spread out so we had a chance to see lots more cyclists come past and some of them really needed the moral support as they suffered up the mountain.

When it was all over, we walked back down to the exhibition area and looked around. I was excited to find a bike that had been signed by Jens Voigt, probably my favorite pro (and blogger)!

And to top off a great day, while walking through town, we even caught a glimpse of Purito as he cycled back down to his hotel after he had won the stage and took the leader's jersey for the day!

Our very first experience on recumbent bikes (and trikes)

I have known the existance of recumbent bikes since I went to Luxemburg to visit a friend a few years ago. Before then, I really had no clue that those funny bikes existed. But of course, in central and northern Europe, cycling is more than a hobby. While walking through the EU area in Luxemburg, I counted a good number of recumbent bikes (and trikes!) riden by commuters, with their mandatory panniers.

After that trip, I had completely forgotten about those couches with wheels. It was only recently that I have come across a few more of these bikes through the Friday night rides. In those rides, a few people ride recumbents, and we first noticed them on one of the downhills into Reigate, where two riders flew past us. Wow, they were fast, really fast. I had no idea that those machines could go so fast. But it makes a lot of sense. The pros of the Tour, Vuelta and Giro are always talking about aerodynamics and wind tunnels. So, it seems that we use about 80% of our pedal power on cutting through the air while on a bike. Riding a recumbent means that you are way more aerodynamic and generate less turbulence that you would on a normal upright cycle.

Ok. I then figured out that there´s not just one type of recumbent. In fact, there´s loads. The racers, the tourers, the trikes, the audaxers, the cheap ones...and of course, their respective tandem models. Oh dear. If I was not obsessed enough with regular bikes...I was now getting into reclinadas (recumbents in Spanish!). I read a few facts, such as that all the speed records have been beaten on recumbents such as this one:

On some of our rides, I have had the opportunity to see a few different models and riders. They all agreed that I should try one. They seemed to be extremely comfortable...especially for those looong days on the saddle that we have been enjoying so much recently. When I googled the magic words in Spanish, the 3ike website of Jason from Madrid popped up. Conveniently, we had planned a trip down south in August. After a few emails and phone calls, we arranged for Jason to show us a few models in the outskirts of my hometown.
One of the few things I knew about these vehicles was that you need to re-learn how to cycle. Lucy and I were a bit nervous about this as we did not fancy crashing. After a morning of hiking in the Madrid mountains, we met the recumbents in the evening. I was the first (brave) one to try the two wheeled models, as Miguel and Lucy went for the trikes.
First impressions were...errr...weird. I could not cycle it for more than 5 m without falling or heading in the opposite direction that I wanted. I also did not know how to act before an imminent crash (apparently you need to move forward from the back of the seat, or else...you do fall on either of your sides...). I fell at low speed. It felt frustrating not to know how to cycle anymore after all these years!


Luckily, after a few more attempts, I got the hang of it and could manage a few meters on my own. Starting from stopped proved a bit tricky. The first pedal stroke has to propel the bike at enough speed to keep you going until you reach the other pedal...other than that is actually not that difficult. Steering is both with body weight and handlebars, although again, it feels weird. I guess we´re so used to normal bikes that we forgot how to ride and balance them...

Once you manage to balance yourself, they seem to be great fun. The bike I tried, in particular, had double suspension and was extremely comfy. The handlebars being under the seat make it so natural for the arms. I also tried the cheaper version of upright two wheels recumbent, with a different handlebar configuration, being over the seat, like a go-kart. This one was also nice, but perhaps because of the lack of suspension, the ride was not as smooth.

Then it was the trikes´turn. Jason had brought two models: a delta (one wheel at the front, two at the back), and a tadpole (two at the front, one at the back...the most common ones!). Both were very easy to get used to, although at speed (not that we reached more than 20 km/h this time!), you´ve got to be careful or else you may flip over. Obviously there´s not balance problems here! They both felt very fast and responsive, although I still prefer the classic two wheels. Both Miguel and Lucy loved the tadpole and the delta respectively.

There are a few downs to bear in mind with trikes: they´re bulky, wide (for filtering through traffic), and heavy. On the positive side, they seem stable and fun to ride, and apparently they´re better climbers than their two wheeled brothers (although I am sure this depends mostly on the rider itself!!!).
Lucy also tried the recumbent bike and mastered it in 10 min. I recorded a video while I was going on the delta trike:


Overall, we had a great time and loved these machines. Although we still need to try them for a longer, proper ride, we are already researching into options and I have asked my parents and Lucy to get me a recumbent after I complete the PhD. They better start saving...!
We would like to thank Jason and his dad for their time and help in introducing us to the recumbents world. It is not so common these days to find such good customer service! Keep up the good work guys and hopefully see you soon in Madrid!