road bike

Arrival of the third Thorn

| Zapfly

After taking the bikes out for a spin, we settled down for some decent pub chow

Last Thursday I journeyed over to Guernsey to collect my new Thorn touring bike. The first thing I was struck by was the sheer size and weight of the bike. My Specialized road bike is a lightweight speed machine. I can lift it with two fingers and have hit 50mph on it. Although I may have a backpack on most of the time I am cycling in London, the bike is awesome out on the open road. 50 miles in 2 hours is well within the realm of possibility.

The Thorn on the other hand, laden with two rear panniers full of my possessions and a bar-bag is a completely different proposition. The steel frame is so much heavier and less responsive than my carbon / aluminium Specialized. Tackling hills is all together a completely different affair.

Pete and I took the bikes out for a spin on Friday night. Although we only clocked up about 7 miles, I was impressed by the sheer workmanship of the Thorn. Everything felt just so, mechanically pleasing. Although much lower geared than my Specialized, it was very comfortable on the winding Guernsey roads.

We spent most of the rest of Thursday customising the bike, adding all the additional kit I had brought over and testing the brakes, which are incredibly squeaky!

Quick outing in Devon

| Zapfly

After my longer cycle ride on Thursday, I managed to do something silly to my knee. I ended up having to forgo my cycle ride on Saturday and cut short my Sunday ride to just 30 miles. Ideally, I should have paced myself a lot better, rather than hooning around on my road bike like I was on fire. No matter, the virtues of having a partner who is an acupuncturist prevailed as my knee was duly needled up and restored to health.

Google map of today’s cycle route

I plan to reduce the overall length of the cycle rides, instead, increasing the frequency as I am more concerned about the day by day rigour then the duration of these cycle rides.

Back in the UK and time to train!

| Zapfly

My trusty steed - A Specialized Allez Elite road bike

So, after a fantastic week in Mallorca, learning how to sail a catamaran, I am back in the UK. I have headed down to Sussex for a few days to start my cycle training. The South Downs offers plenty of hills to the discerning cyclist and the weather is a balmy 20°C with an abundance of sunshine.

I think I will start with a modest ride today as I have not been on the bike for a couple of weeks, perhaps 20 miles or so. Tomorrow, I aim to knock out a longer 2-3 hour ride, so perhaps 40-50 miles. The one thing I will need to make sure of is that I do not get too used to cycling on my lightweight road bike as my touring bike is a darn sight more sturdy, being made of steel instead of aluminium.

On that point, I ordered my Thorn Raven last week via Pete. I cannot wait to receive it! I did a tally of all the various items I would like to take touring with me and I will have to trim down the list as otherwise I’ll never move under the oppressive weight of so much stuff!

I have also bought a mini-tripod set up for my handle bars, so I will be able to see how the camera will sit on my bike. Hopefully, I will have some test images from the next few days that I will upload to Flickr and to this blog.