The Long good weekend

I took a five day weekend (Thursday to Monday) with the intention of testing my endurance, seeing some of the country and unburdening myself of some of my worries. I’m always happier when I’m thoroughly exhausted and fully occupied. Fortunately both Julia and Chris were about to share the experience of feeding my ADHD.

The first goal was to compete the David Ryan Circuit of the Cotswolds route (a very good cause). At 100miles and added to Woodcote this would give almost 200miles for the week. This was intended as preparation for L’Eroica but I shied away from using the Holdsworth and from battering round the whole lot in a day. It is greatly more pleasurable to do over two days than one and I got to lift my head and look at the lovely scenery. I also got to stop for tea and to eat something other than pure sugar.

The scenery was definitely worth looking at and the wildlife was abundant. I saw at least three species of raptor and a 'Brock' hole at Brockhampton. We stopped at Whichford Pottery more in the hope that it would have café than anything else but it had the most wonderful courtyard garden I’ve ever seen. What is more the pottery is a real manufacturing concern producing really high grade ceramics for home and garden. I was amazed to see commercial throwing in the UK. I would certainly have bought a rhubarb forcer had I not been on the bike.

We did 56miles on day one before holing up at Wesley House in Winchcombe. The rooms were excellent as were the kippers but we ate dinner at the pub just up the road which did quite a line in sausages. Day two was fairly faithful to the spirit of the route with the exception of one climb which I accidentally circumvented (ahem). By the time we dragged ourselves back to Witney we were about three miles short of the hundred and in no mood to do an extra loop just to make up the difference. The Cotswolds are hilly and, pretty as they are, I've seen enough of them for one year.

On Saturday Chris and I went for a tour (my third) of Bletchley Park. This is always fun and I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to know what the guides have missed out. Afterwards I cleaned and adjusted the bikes and we did a 16 mile loop out through Stewkley (stopping for a pint) and back via Newton Longville. Four hours later (after a tactical kip and a two mile walk) we were back in Newton Longville for dinner at the Crooked Billet. It was generally excellent though I wouldn’t have the pigeon again. The lamb was much superior.

Maj and I were somewhat weakened on Sunday (maybe a dodgy Pringle) but we dragged ourselves off for a six mile run before lunch. It was fairly fast out and fairly measured coming back but when he eventually left for some glamorous London party (by rail-replacement bus service) I was thoroughly pooped and retreated to the sofa with some Jeeves.

On Monday I successfully avoided any exercise for most of the day by pottering about the house, cooking and gardening; and by buying frames for various artworks. By mid afternoon there was no avoiding it however and Julia and I set off on our weekend ‘long run’. I can’t say that I had weak legs, pain or even CV problems but it was certainly hard work generating the inner oomph to go faster the eight minute miles. In the end we did a total of 16miles; ten of these were at sub 3:30 marathon pace. That leaves six miles which will have a veil drawn over them

I’m now officially pooped.

Woodcote cyclosportif

While our athletes were bringing home the bacon from Beijing yours truly was ploughing a furrow at the less glamorous end of British sport. The Woodcote Sportif was Matthew’s idea and, as is often the case when other folks are in charge, I turned up unprepared. Last minute snacks from the garage and air from a borrowed track pump saw me through scrutineering (or is it scrutinising) in a somewhat muddy field and before I had time to say “I’ve just cleaned this bloomin’ bike” we were off.

Actually I did have time to say just that but we were off in any case. The route seemed largely unmarshalled but it was very well marked with lots of orange signs and little bits of orange streamer tied to bushes to confirm that one had taken the correct route. The hilly course is more or less cupped in a meander of the Thames between Benson and Shiplake and passes through Sonning (although some way from the river). This proximity to my old boating ground gave it a lovely, homely English feel. By contrast the arable uplands were very Tour de France in feel with bright yellow fields of corn and the odd wizened field of nasty CAP alien rapeseed.

The very brightness of the open spaces made the narrow tree covered lanes seem dark and introduced a genuine element of danger. The recent heavy rain had washed lots of gravel onto the road arranged it in unpredictable rivulets. In some cases you had to just point the bike and hope that nothing was coming the other way. The flint component of the local geology was playing havoc with tyres. One chap we met had had four punctures and the roadsides looked like something from the retreat to Dunkirk – scattered as they were with partly dismantled machinery.

Performancewise it was something of a curate’s egg. El Punisher was somewhat faster than me on the flat and Matthew D was perhaps a slower on the descents. I was generally pathetic on climbs. My biggest humiliation came when I was tipped into a thorny thicket by the draft of a passing white van and the prize for ‘most like the set-up scenes from Casualty’ goes to our encounter with a huge piece of farm machinery and a highly volatile tanker.

On the whole I think we did relatively well to knock off the 75miles in five hours something (which included a lot of cake eating).

Amsterdam marathon preparation: part two

We have a little over two months to go to Amsterdam Marathon. My personal training has been fairly solid but not very dynamic. I have neither the flat speed nor the endurance I would like. I'm currently outside my half marathon, 10k and 5 mile PBs by a small but important margin.

With a reasonable base of fitness 'now' is the time to get serious. I have begun to address my dietary regime - reducing fats and increasing carbohydrate, protein and quality micro nutrients.

In training terms I intent to include one quality speed session (MMKAC interval session), one strength session (one minute hill intervals) and one long run (now over 13miles). I'm also trying to maintain my core strength and wellness by cross training (biking and tennis).

Rest is also important so typically I'd like to do:
Monday: Rest or Volleyball
Tuesday: MMKAC intervals
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Hill or interval session
Friday: Tennis
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Long run

The Holdsworth, the guerrilla and the loo

A few things are coming to glorious fruition. The Holdsworth project is looking good. The bike came back from Phil Corley Cycles with trued wheels, a set of fully operational mechs and some nicely re-routed cables - using the retro Campagnolo cable guide I provided. On getting it home I replaced the original toe clips with some more comfortable Christophe ones. The clips themselves are new/old stock but are historically compatable with the bike and the straps (which are now properly routed) work better with the retro bike shoes than the shabby originals. I've also ordered some wingnuts for the back wheel. They are nowhere near as pretty as the huret ones on the front but they'll do - if they fit.

With the exception of the paintwork (which I am still uncertain about) the bike now looks great and runs a treat. I've now started to do some short 'efforts' on the bike on the way back from work and I hope to give it real run out into the country soon. I made my payment to L'Eroica at the bank this weekend and I’m starting to think that Dave and I may just make it round L’Eroica in the autumn.

The 'guerrilla' garden I have been creating between my house and Bletchley Sainsbury looks a treat at the moment. Both the crocosmia and the hollyhocks are in full bloom and various other low-growing flowering shrubs are expanding to fill the space previously filled with trash. What is more, Mum was down last weekend so even my own garden is looking good with the addition of aherb collection and a fig tree and the removal of lots of weeds.

The bog painting is also nearing completion. Mum’s critical analysis was that it “looks like it is full of concrete” so I spend an hour or so contouring the shading and adding some highlights. I’m hoping to finish this off next week and hang it in my newly heated bathroom.

Amsterdam marathon preparation: part one

I started my Amsterdam marathon preparation last week with Milton Keynes 10k. At 45:10 on the watch I was about 2mins 40 seconds slower than my PB but it was marginally faster than my other competitive 10k this year – so it an SB! I was held up by traffic in the first mile and 44:30 would have been a realistic reflection of my fitness level.

I still have a long way to go to achieve a 3:30 marathon and really need to get some structure back into my training. Tonight I intend to devote to RICE (Rest Ice Compression and Elevation) and tomorrow I'd like to do a hardish speed session over five miles (aiming for 36mins).

A total of fourteen of us will be travelling to Amsterdam; some to do the 7.5k, some the Half and some the full Marathon. Having done a longish walk with Gareth last month I arranged to do a longer walk/jog with three of the aspiring half marathon runners yesterday (Gareth, Verity and Julia W).

I thought that a session that addressed the reasonable fear people have about the distance would be most beneficial so we agreed on a long slow interval session. We did 20 x 0.5miles of alternate walking and jogging in a loop around Oxford.

The route was quite picturesque (see above with thanks to Google Maps) and, distracted by it, we got round in 2:09 with no stopping, spewing or moaning. That is c.2:50 Half Marathon pace and easily fast enough to vanquish the lady from Twyford.

Bog art

I've had a blank canvas staring at me from the corner of the room for the last four years. Last night I finally decided to do something with it.

Ideally I would have created a rich landscape full of majesty and human interest - a kind of Field of the Cloth of Gold affair. Sadly it was raining so I painted the lavatory instead. Here is stage one (the initial sketch with the floor blocked in) and stage two (some enamel tones roughly brushed in).

I forgot the at the central heating engineer was coming back this morning. I suspect that he thinks I'm a bit odd now.

Medieval and early modern books

Remaining books:
Egil’s Saga (Paperback)
Hrafnkel’s Saga (Paperback)
Beowulf (Paperback)

Bikes, bats and blokes dressed as ghosts

Things have been lively recently. Budd’s birthday bash and Laura’s Gypsy affair were both hilarious and produced some amusing photographs. I like the ‘Light Programme’ comedy look of the picture of me, Dave and Gareth.

This photo of Laura’s colander dance has a rather Braqueian quality to it I think. The light on the kitchen window and the positioning of the figures enhances the sense of abstraction and conveys exactly how drunk I felt – which is unusual.

I’ve attempted to draw a line under recent events by focusing on sport, fitness and work and I’ve really been enjoying myself. The Dragon Ride in Wales proved to be a real challenge but somehow the further in the past it gets the more fun it was.

Dave, Matt D and Matt H and I rode a killer 180km through South Wales and the Brecon Beacons on a stunning June day. I was clearly the least well prepared but I was pleased with myself for finishing our adapted 190km route (we got lost). I particularly enjoyed the flat sections where, riding in a group, we touched 30mph. It is easy in those situations to think you are riding like a pro. The hills proved otherwise and I hated some of the long slow climbs.

Nina has been attempting to teach me tennis and I was surprised that my hand-eye coordination is actually quite good. I seem to be able to hit the ball forehand and backhand and from the serve. My problem is control and direction (I have neither) and I managed to bury four balls in a bramble thicket last time out.

What amazes me is how physically demanding I find it. I think of myself as relatively fit but simple fact that tennis involves moving sideways (cycling and running being inherently ‘forward’ sports) seems to be crippling to the back and gluteal muscles. What is more the necessity of bringing my arms into ‘purposeful action’ gave me chest pains which made me think I was having a coronary. I really am enjoying it however and it has got to be doing me good.

As I noted back in the winter I fancied having a go at cricket and I did at least take part in a competitive match in the OU six-a-side tournament. This mostly involved running after balls but I regard the ambition as more or less achieved. Having tasted the action we then went to the Northants 20/20 game at Campbell Park to watch the pros do it properly and taste the beer – which was expensive.

I now have to focus on the serious goals of the year. I would like to record10km, half marathon and marathon personal bests.

Blackwell reading group

Back when the world was young and I was working at Blackwell Publishers (before it was Blackwell Publishing or Wiley Inc.) we had the idea to start a reading group worthy of our significant intellectual pretentions and capacious appetites for alcohol.

To this end, and like the United Kingdom, we developed an unwritten constitution to distinguish us from other middlebrow Oxford literary societies. We decided to focus on not focusing, to meet regularly, and to snorkel our way through short books of all the genres and sub genres of literature. Soullessly munching through the Booker Prize shortlist was not for us.

In back-forming a list of our books I see that we have read literary fiction, chick-lit, philosophy, poetry, classics, women’s erotica, travel, adventure, crime and psychology. As time has passed we have become less drunk and less combative but hopefully more also usefully analytical.

Here are the titles we can remember
Madam Bovary, Simone de Beauvoir
Dirty Weekend, Helen Zahavi
Henry James, A Turn of the Screw
Michael Moore, Stupid White Men
J.M.Coetzee, Disgrace
Miguel de Cervantes, Exemplary Stories
Evelyn Waugh , Decline and Fall
Thor Heyerdahl, Kon Tiki
Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
E.L.Doctorow, Ragtime
Flann O'Brien, At Swim Two Birds
Knut Hamsun, Hunger
Graham Greene, The End of the Affair
David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars
Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Christina Lamb, The Africa House
Bernard Schlink, The Reader
W.B.Yeats, The Tower
Hugo Hamilton, The Speckled People
Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library
John Banville, The Sea
J.G.Ballard, The Drowned World
Ian McEwan, Saturday
Plato, The Symposium
Oliver James, They F**k You Up
Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Magnus Mills, All Quiet on the Orient Express
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace
Mick Brown, Spiritual Tourist
Joe Simpson, Touching the Void
Iain Banks, The Crow Road
J Lloyd and Rees, Come Together
Matthew Lewis, The Monk
Georges Bataille, Story of the Eye
Louis MacNeice, Autumn Journal
Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep
Tabitha Flyte, Coming round the mountain
Raymond Queneau, Zazie in the Metro
Maurice Blanchot, Death Sentence
James Ellroy, The Big Nowhere
Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths
Ian McEwan, Atonement
Thomas More, Utopia
James Meek, The People's Act of Love
R.J. Ellory, A Quiet Belief in Angels
Val McDermid, The Mermaids Singing
John McGahern, The Dark
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the campaign trail of '72

Forthcoming books are:
Per Petterson, Out Stealing Horses

September 2008

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

Life laundry and bike stains

There is a bit in Three Men in a Boat where J implores us to ‘Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need.’ I’ve been trying to do that a little recently. I have given away some books to work colleagues, some chairs to Nina and some bike parts to Julia. I’ve also been furiously recycling and disposing of worn out clothes.

As you will have noticed my Achilles heel is currently bike paraphernalia. I have three bikes of my own and sit-up-and-beg bike of Julia’s cluttering up my house. I have to admit that one thoroughbred racing bike and a quirky cool hack bike would probably be sufficient. Must… keep… that… in… mind.

My general fitness is coming along slowly but surely. I have now done two 14mile sprints to Stewkley and back on the Bianchi. I seem to be stuck at 19.5mph however. I’d like to break 20mph average this year and maybe even push on a little from there. I managed a run of about 6 miles on Tuesday and a mile or so of jog/sprint on Wednesday. Sadly tennis didn’t happen today because of the rain so I ate chips instead. Oops.

Breakfast in the reed beds

We had a wonderful little interlude this morning. Nina, Julia and I met at Unsatisfactory Bridge on the Ouzel at 5am to experience the dawn chorus in the reed beds.

The morning was idyllic with a clear sky overhead and the reddening glow of morning on the eastern horizon. There were two hides in the reeds but one seems to have been burned down by under-stimulated morons so we used the other one. The hide is situated between an area of woodland, some relatively open water and a patch of dense reeds. Each of these tiny habitats had its own distinct soundscape.

The woodland singers were chaffinch, woodpecker, robin, wren, blackbird, sparrow, dunnock and thrush – many singing heartily from the top of trees and shrubs. The reeds were a dense twitter of unseen small birds, including what may have been reed warblers, with an amazing variety of calls.

For the birds on the open water and at its margins breeding was obviously in full swing. A pair of moorhens (moorhuhns) had already laid a clutch of six white and brown speckled eggs in a lovely nest elevated just above the water while a male coot was fiercely defending his territory against even the most harmless passersby.

The geese are clearly not big on early mornings and the canadas and greylags swam in sleepy circles. A lugubrious heron hovered in and landed expertly on a dry tuft in the margins then appeared to spend the next two hours closely watching an enormous nesting swan – a prey surely too large to eat?

We watched and listened; ate a hearty breakfast; took some photos and botanical samples and made some recordings – and were still in work by 07:15.

Julia also spotted a flock of gold finches which have haircuts almost as impressive as A Flock of Seagulls.

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The joy of spring without its cleaning

The evenings are getting longer, the flowers and the trees of Buckinghamshire are coming to their best, and the hedgerows are alive with the sound of birds. Green growth is bursting from the soul’s dead wood and like Badger I am ‘fidgety and wanting to be up and doing’. I can’t wait to get out to run at lunchtime to cycle after work or to get my hands in the soil of the garden.

Over the long weekend I was in Champagne with some friends but as soon as I returned I took the Holdsworth for a test ride from Bletchley via Stewkley to Wing’s magnificent Anglo-Saxon parish church. I was surprised how quickly I settled into the rhythm of the bike but I did note some areas for improvement. The bell got in the way of my knee when climbing. The set up of the toe clips left my ankles too close to the cranks and the front mech wouldn’t allow me to select the largest chain ring and the smallest cassette ring at the same time. All these are fixable and I am confident that the bike will be useable for L’Eroica.

I need to push my fitness levels up for Town and Gown on the 18th and for an upcoming sportif in Wales next month so I thought I’d see if I could push my record for Bletchley-Stewkley-Bletchley above an 18mph average. I took the Bianchi obviously and had a glorious ride out into the wind and back with the gradient and the thermals behind me. My reward was an average of 19.5mph and that wonderful feeling of deep muscle tiredness that speaks of performance improvement.

The Yorkshire three peaks

Richard had been threatening to organise a walk round the Yorkshire three peaks for some time but boy was he organised when he finally got round to it. He picked thirteen of us up in Oxford and Milton Keynes and drove us up the M6 (via the horrors of Pizza Hut) to Bolton Le Sands where we stayed at his aunt’s cottage and (for the overspill) The Blue Anchor.

Bright and early and each carrying a packed lunch lovingly crafted by the Jones’s we registered at the Penyghent café and ‘kerchinged’ our cards in the machine about 08:15. The registration thing is half safety and half marketing but it does help to build a sense of occasion.

I think it is fairly normal to start with Penyghent but it is something of a shock to the system as the walk in is short and boggy and the climb gets quite steep towards the top. Gravity was also augmented by a strong easterly wind. The rock on this upper section has a lovely graphite colour and a heavily layer texture. Sadly it also featured a lighter grey excrescence by the name of G Prior. The Poet/Accountant had been charging along merrily until arrested by the increasing gradient, a history of fags and booze and the onset of an asthma attack. At one point I thought we might be doing the no peaks and a funeral challenge but once nursed to the top he rallied considerably.

Penyghent is only steep at one side and the walk off the back was billed as long and taxing. It was certainly long but I think it gave everyone chance to get their breath back, get the blood pumping and admire the flora and fauna (including a whole lot of spawn much to Julia’s concern). It also proved to be an excellent place to fall into bogs and streams. Laura and I were both sporting fairly muddy patches by the time we reached the magnificent Ribblehead viaduct where we stopped to indulge in our packed lunches.

One of the good things about this walk is the ease of navigation. We could see the second and tallest peak (Whernside) for most of the walk from Penyghent. One of the bad things is that it seems never to get closer. Indeed it was some time after crawling out of our shelter by the viaduct that we started to see the detail of rock and crag in the great flank of Whernside.

Passing alongside a railway rewarded by the Princess Royal for its dry stone walls and over Blea Moor we began to weave up the mountain’s approaches before emerging onto the great fin of Whernside itself. By now the wind, which had been a considerable obstacle on Penyghent, was starting to attempt seriously to blow us into the next valley.

Nina just about maintained contact with terra firma but lost her hat in the process while Richard and Iended up throwing snowball (boomerang fashion) at ourselves. The sheer effort of making progress into the wind burned the face, taxed the sinew and left Gareth with a gait not unlike Heir Flick of the Gestapo. Eventually however we dragged ourselves to the top and spent a couple of minutes looking smug before pressing on down the long descent to the valley.

Another good thing about the route is the number of bailout points and the valley after Whernside is where a good number of us had planned to stop. Those of a more sensible bent retired to the pub on the B6255 while John, Verity, Richard, Jackie, Julia B, Julia W, Gareth (who was now proving to been a man of steel) and I pressed on across the boggy open ground towards Ingleborough’s apparently sheer side.

It was only when we closed within a few hundred meters of the face that we saw the zigzag path ascending it. This was the steepest and windiest part of the walk and almost qualified as scrambling. At the top John and Ms. Whippy almost graduated from walking to flying as they leaned at 45 degrees into the wind atop the summit cairn.

Jackie and Richard led the troops from the summit and down to the Promised Land and I followed with Gareth who was still dressed in the pink pulsating brain mujahedeen pie hat.

We finally ‘kerchinged’ our cards with some time to spare and returned to the pub for a heroes’ welcome. Actually, the two peak posse just pointed and laughed and exclaimed that ‘you look like wurzel gummage’. Hmmm…

Cycling developments and Holdsworth restoration: stage eleven

It has been a bike heavy week. As well as the normal commuting I’ve been knocking out a few miles on the Bianchi on the light evenings and drawing the innocent into 'bikeworld' over the weekend.

The Punisher and I took Dunc out for a couple of hours of wheel sucking through the Oxfordshire countryside. I managed to rein Matt and his new De Rosa back to a reasonable velocity although we did touch 21mph on the flat a couple of times (with Dunc embraced in the envelope of the peloton). Apart from a little light complaining about the discomforts inflicted by the saddle he was the very essence of a brick and performed really well. I’m hoping to arrange something a little longer next time; although possibly with an improved seating solution.

The Holdsworth project is also back on track after all that annoying puncture nonsense. I found a small stone inside the tyre which probably accounted for holes in the inner tubes and the tyre says up perfectly. I dismantled the sticking pedals in an attempt to free them up and one now works fine while the other requires further attention.

I've made some further progress with the clothing for L'Eroica. I've added the Holdsworth logo to the side of my cap and (to be perfectly honest) I'm very proud of the job I've done.

I’ve found corks for the bottles and whittled them down to size and (hopefully) found someone to sell me some size 44 retro cycling shoes. All in all the bike looks good now and is certainly a massive improvement on the oily heap I bought a few months ago. Here are the before and after shots:












The next things to focus on will be:

• Making sure the wheels run true
  
• Stripping off as much weight as possible


• Replacing the front brake cable


• Replacing the footstraps


• Adding rigidity to the bottle holder

Gary Nelmes

Holdsworth restoration: stage ten

Things have moved on a little with the bike project. Mum and Dad came up trumps on the accessories front.
Having been provided with the materials courtesy of Fabric World in Bletchley Mum created a 50s style cap in white and ‘Holdsworth’ green. I’m now poised to add some 50s advertising to it.

Over the bank holiday weekend Dad and I created a bespoke bottle holder body using some 1mm stainless plate, a jigsaw and a set of engineer’s files. Uncle Des provided hose clamps to attach it to the bars and this seems to have worked admirably. The holder is going nowhere but keeping the bottle securely in it will be tricky.

I’ve modified a briefcase strap to bind the whole shooting match together but I think further modification will be required before road testing. I've also identified a supplier of demi-john corks for the tops of the bottles.

On the negative side I have had repeated problems with the back tyre blowing out or puncturing. Pumping the tyre to 6 barr is definitely not a good idea. It peels off the rim and the tube explodes like a rifle shot (leaving shredded remains). I established this after two tubes went the same way. Sadly the current tube also seems to have sprung a fastish slow puncture. This may be bad luck or it maybe a spiky bit in the tyre. I certainly won’t be taking it to P&D cycles to find out.

Cricket and other pastimes

In an effort to break out of the mundane meaninglessness of this veil of tears I like to try new things. Sadly for my friends this means that they get dragged along to things they might not otherwise choose to waste their time on.

This week's new horizon was full of leather and willow. Not (as you may assume) a bondage session in the Milton Keynes dungeon but a nets session with The Open University Cricket Club. Apart from chasing a few balls around the cricket ground at Jordon Hill I have never been involved with the national summer game so I was, to say the least, a bit clueless.

Fortunately Tom Argles and the OUCC people were very helpful and encouraging and we all got to have a go with both ball and bat. My bowling was a bit varied but I did claim my first 'victim' just before the close of play (see how I'm getting into the lingo). Batting came slightly more easily and I managed to hit most of the balls in a collection of random directions. We all enjoyed ourselves tremendously and would like to go back for another go.

The act of doing something new (allied with my own personal need to keep busy) stimulated a bit of pub brain-storm last night and we came up with a further list of things to do. They were...

Narrow boating; crayfishing; fly fishing; conservation volunteering; swimming; six a side cricket; sailing; wind surfing; trampoline; kick boxing; archery; shooting; listening to live music; tennis; crown green bowling; golf; road cycling; mountain biking; skiing; whistling; football kick about; badminton; table tennis; motor racing; horse riding; pub quizzing; pot holing; rafting; ballroom dancing; playing music. I also refer you to my previous list

Customer service

Emily's Dad is a big one for customer service and i always think of him when something goes wrong in the customer services department. Being a cyclist he would have hated my experience today. The tyre on the back of the Holdsworth comes loose from the rim and the tube explodes spectacularly when it is pumped up to the 6.5 Barr recommended on the tyre.

I took this in to Evans in Milton Keynes who offered to replace the rim with a modern one featuring the lip one gets on modern rims. Sadly they called me ten minutes later to tell me they couldn't get the Campag freewheel off because they (understandably) don't have the tool. They were pretty nice about it really.

The horror came at P&D cycles in Fenny Stratford. Having told him what was happening he looked me straight in the face and said "so what do you expect me to do about it"? I had been quite prepared to pay for a wheel rebuild, tube and tyre (and was very kindly disposed to small retailers) now i think the sooner people like that go out of business the better.

This is their address should you ever be looking for a bike shop not to go to:

P&D Cycles 35 Alyesbury StreetBletchley Milton KeynesMK2 2BQ01908 642203

Holdsworth restoration: stage nine

Today has been a horrible day with a long term state of being very dear to me coming to an end. Sadly I am not one of those soul-bearing bloggers so you don't get to hear the heart rending and messy detail of it all. Instead I'm going to draw your intention to the furtherment of my career as a cycle geek.

As every self respecting retro cyclist knows a bike is not a bike without aluminium drinks bottle mounted on the handlebars. Unfortunately, getting hold of anything that is both authentic and hygienic is all but impossible. Consequently I have obtained a pair of new SIGG drinks bottles in a suitably plain and pleasing finish. As with all things Swiss they are fearsomely hygienic and look just the ticket. This leaves two problems; the production of cork stoppers (which are an aesthetic ‘must’) and the mounting of the bottles in a suitably authentic 'cage'.

It seems remarkably difficult to get hold of a bottle cage which looks like anything other than a rusty chicken cage. Consequently I've been endeavouring to design one of my own. The pictures here show my paper prototype. The idea is that the body could be cut from aluminium or tin; bent into shape; and secured with suitably aged looking leather strapping.

Holdsworth restoration: stage eight

The Holdsworth took its first trip today. I rode the bike the three miles into work to test the set-up. There are lots of things that will need attention before October. The seat height and angle are wrong; the left pedal sticks slightly and the gear and brake cables are stiff, gummy and badly routed. These things I can fix. (It doesn't warrant a posting of its own but as you'll see from the close-up I've already fixed the most annoying fault by clamping the flapping brake cable to the top tube with some nice little campagnolo clips bought from ebay.)

Some things I’ll just need to get used. The bike is twice as heavy and half as stiff as my Bianchi 928 and there is also much less ‘attack’ in the riding position. I’m hoping this will prove conducive to slow steady riding over 205km. The bars feel very narrow and spindly and the metal hoods are a bit unforgiving. I don’t want to change the look of the bike but I’ll need to experiment with bars, tapes, hood covers and gloves to see what works – especially on the strade bianchi.

Other than that the bike rides well, tracks nicely (at a fairly conservative pace), shifts properly and appears reasonably responsive.

Holdsworth restoration: stage seven

As I mentioned I've been wrestling with the to-paint-or-not-to-paint decision. This weekend I took the bull by the horns and decided to try applying the decals to the existing surface. The transfers slid quite easily into place and I think the over all effect is quite pleasing. The problem comes with varnishing over the decals. This is necessary to stop them scratching off but problematic because of the chemical base of most spray varnishes.

I experimented with acrylic varlish on the campagnolo sticker (which is a little more robust than the water slide transfers) and even here there was a slight melting of the surface. Consequently I decided to brush paint over the lettering with a very thin oil-based humbrol polyurethane.

I bought a small pot of Humbrol 35 varnish and let it down with about 30% white spirit. I left the bike to warm in the lounge for a while and then applied a thin coat over the decals with a small brush. The effect is pleasingly low key and the decals are (I hope) secure without looking new. I am going to give the varnish a couple of days to dry and then I will apply a second then coat.

The next stage will be to get the bike back into workable condition. The Campagnolo Gran Sport gear levers need to be refitted and the gears adjusted. One of the pedals needs to be removed, lubricated and put back into place and the toe clips need to be reassembled and refitted. After that I'm thinking of taking the bike back and forth to work a few times to assess the riding position and the set up. Will it really be possible to ride it 205km and unmade Italian roads?