Suffolk Sunrise 2013 - My ride report

After staying up late the night before to fit mudguards to my road bike (because according to the Met Office even Noah would have gone for his tools if he saw the type of rain we were promised) I enjoyed at least five hours sleep before getting up to head off to to Brandeston Hall for the start of this year's Suffolk Sunrise sportive.

I don't mean to make it sound like I'm experienced at these sort of rides, in fact I've only ridden over 100 miles once before in my life and it cobbled up my innards and outers for a few days afterwards.  But at the start of the year I decided that I needed goals to help keep me excited about cycling through  the grim Hoth-like winter we were gritting our grits through at the time, and as I enjoy going weeeeee on a bicycle a 100 mile Sportive seemed like a reasonable goal.

In view of the fact I'm generally better off too cold than too hot I wore bibshorts, a longsleeve base layer and my rather fetching shortsleeve Adnams cycle jersey.  As I stood in line at 6.15am with many other riders waiting to register I appeared to be the only cove not in long bibs, thermal top, neck gator and wooly hat.  I tried my best not to let the side down by shivering, but I decided to let the shivers happen in the hope that the involuntary muscular activity would act as a pre-ride warm up.

Before being unleashed on the highways we were given advice and wished well, and then set free in groups of twenty.  I started the ride with a couple of friends (Jon and Simon) who like me were both embarking on their first sportive.

Over the next hundred miles I really pushed myself hard, and apart from far too long spent eating at the rest stops I kept myself spinning as close to the edge of my ability as I could without cramping.  Somehow, and I mean this with the utmost respect for Jon and Simon, it didn't seem to matter how hard I pushed they were always miles ahead of me!

I spent the final twenty five miles pushing forward by sort of leapfrogging the groups I found ahead of me.   Just before Framlingham this method was starting to take it's toll but I felt proud of myself for giving this ride everything I had.  Then up ahead I spotted someone mid-group spinning their legs like they rode so many miles every day.  I gave myself a shove and when I caught up it was none other than Jon!  A said a few genially-expletive words when I caught up, mostly to enquire how he managed to be so far ahead in the field, but he just laughed and kept on spinning his pins.

The last few miles weren't much fun physically; my legs were fine but the lovely food I gorged on at the lunch stop had churned into a giant cannonball in my gut.  But I did it.  I did it.

My bike GPS crapped out at the 85 mile mark so I don't know exactly what my moving average was, but sums done to remove the time I spent scoffing at the food stops puts me at about the 18.2mph mark (thanks to Jon for working that out!).

I've tasted Sportive events now, and I want MORE!

You can still sponsor me by going here - https://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/AndrewCulture

P.S Special mention goes to my mate Simon who go THREE punctures and a tyre failure and yet still rode the full 102 miles - nice one!

How to fit modern style oversize handlebars to a threaded quill type headset

I've recently been posting about a singlespeed bike conversion I've just completed, but I thought it might be worth me making a blog post just about fitting the handlebars, mostly because they caused me to expend the most brain power!

The problem I had was that I wanted to use the forks that came with a vintage frame I bought with the modern handlebars I already had.  So I fitted the forks using the correct threaded headset with no issue, but modern handlebars and stems fit a different way to the old threaded forks. In basic terms the steerer on old threaded forks is much shorter than modern forks - on modern forks the handlebar stem bolts to the top bit of the forks (known as the steerer).

How to fit a threadless stem and handlebars to threaded forks.

First of all you'll need to buy a quill stem adapter like the one shown in the photo below:

Slide the adapter into the top of the threaded forks and use the hex bolt on the top to fix the adapter into the 'steerer' of the forks.

When you measure the adapter diameter compared to the internal diameter of your handlebar stem you might notice there's a bit of a gap (see below).  Apparently this is normal.

ID (internal diameter) of my stem

OD (outside diameter) of the top of the quill stem adapter

You can buy shims to bridge to the gap, and to be honest I reckon that's probably the best way forward, but if I didn't finish this bike build today I wouldn't be able to cycle to work tomorrow, so I made a shim by carefully cutting open an empty beer can.  The inside of the can appeared to be coated so I roughed it up by rubbing in on the old stone steps by my back door.

Pull the shim around the quill stem adapter nice and tight, and then use a tiny bit of tape to hold it in place while you slide the stem fixing over it.  I really like how this beer can shim looks, it's almost a shame it won't be on display!

All done!  Some folk think modern stems look terrible where they are replacing an old quill stem, but I think this looks just fine.  Please do make sure you get everything set nice and tight, a loose set of handlebars can be very dangerous for obvious reasons!

Read about the rest of this singlespeed build...

SS Blue Bimbler - Singlespeed | part 2

I am currently building a singlespeed bike based on an old Dave Lloyd frame.  In part 1 of this tiny record of this singlespeed bicycle build I fitted a threaded headset.  I've gathered together all the bits I needed and this morning I had a couple of spare hours to myself (a rare thing indeed) so I got cracking.

The donor bike was a singlespeed that I built using bits from bins, bits from friends and a naff modern frame I bought off ebay after consuming a bottle of wine.

I had to drill out the rear stays in order to fit the modern style dual pivot brakes I'll be fitting.  Due to the way the brakes fit you only need to expand the hole to 8mm on one side of the frame, unfortunately it's the rear side that you need to drill out.  Because it's almost impossible to drill out the rear of the stays I drilled out the front and fitted the brakes in front of the stays, which is unconventional but better than trashing an old frame by drilling at a dodgy angle.

My first job was to remove the crankset from the doner bike and measure the width of the bottom bracket.  I was hoping  it was the same width as the one that came with the 'new' frame.  It was.  Happy days.

Huzzah!  Also huzzah for the five quid a spent on a set of vernier calipers on ebay, they are very useful indeed!

I'm getting really cheesed off writing this post on a netbook screen, Blogger SUCKS on a small screen; it's almost impossible to position images where you want them and if you edit more than a couple of times the images move back to the top of the post.  Anyway, where were we...  well I needed to fit a modern pair of handlebars to this old frame so I needed to use a quill to threadless handlebar adapter, but I'll cover that challenge in a new post.

The crankset went on really nicely, I'll check it every few days for the next few weeks to make sure it doesn't loosen, because a loose crankset is the quickest way to destroy a crankset!  The wheels needed a little cajoling to go into the frame, but not so much that I'm going to worry about bending (or cold setting) the frame to fit.  The seat also went on easily, but that's not very exciting to report is it.

The old frame stripped of anything useful to the new build.

There was no way the chain alignment was even close to being acceptable...

...but fortunately I previously converted this rear wheel using loads of freehub spacers so I can make quite precise adjustments to get a nice straight chainline.

This chainline looks pretty straight to me!

I LOVE this look!  I had to use a cheap gear hanger as a chain tensioner on my old singlespeed and always hated it.  No need now I have nice horizontal wheel mounts!

Fitting the modern style handlebars took a bit of brain power, but it was worth doing if only to save me remounting the brake levers and bar tape!

I would have preferred to use a quill stem that was in keeping with the age of the frame, but it wasn't possible, that being said I don't think the headless stem looks too out of place.

All done!  The brakes were really easy to set up, although I can't seem to be able to get them very tight.

What a lovely looking bicycle!

Thrashing my thighs for charity - sponsorship needed!

On the 4th of September 2011 I was sat in a delivery suite in the maternity block of Ipswich hospital being given the news that my unborn child was potentially loosing oxygen, and my poor beautiful wife's life was potentially in grave danger.

The story had a happy ending and I will be eternally grateful for all the hard work and expertise of the medical staff who cared for my wife and daughter in those difficult first few days and hours of our life as a family.

I can never adequately repay the gratitude I feel, but I can do something to try and raise some money to help a relevant charity. On Sunday 12th May 2013 I will be riding over 100 miles to raise money for Action Research. It will hurt.

Please visit https://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/AndrewCulture to find out about this charity, and to sponsor me :)

UPDATE 13/05/13

I have now completed this ride, click here for my Suffolk Sunrise sportive report...

SS Blue Blimbler - SingleSpeed project, episode 1.

I've been commuting to work on a singlespeed bike for about six months now, and the reasons I love riding with just one gearing is a list that is as long as it is uninteresting to anyone other than me.

My current singlespeed is built around a modern frame that has vertical rear wheel mounting slots, which means I have to use an ugly durrelier hanger as a chain tensioner.  The tensioning of the chain is only the tip of the discontent, I've never liked my current frame even although theoretically there's just nothing wrong with it.

After a few false starts I finally found a nicer frame for my bike, a lovely old Dave Lloyd frame (with horizontal rear wheel mounts).  I'm not sure exactly what what the tubing is made of, but it's fluted in all the right places and butted where you'd want to see butting.  A better man than I has guessed that this frame is probably made of Reynolds 531.

Today I started the joyus work of preparing the frame to take the kit from my current bike, and as an aide-memoir as much as anything else I've decided to log the work I'm doing for this conversion.

I took the wheels off my current bike (seen in the background, named 'SS FrankenFreak').  The front wheel fitted better than it does on my current frame, but in order to fit the rear wheel I had to apply a little bit of muscle to gently pull the mountings outwards to get the wheel in.  It's snug, but hopefully not so snug that I need to adjust the frame.

So that I can use the original forks I decided to add a threaded headset, I now need to find a way of fitting my modern handlebars to this old frame.  As you can from this photo I added plenty of grease!

Here's the nice Campag headset that a friend helped me out with from his spares box.

I fetched some Campag brakes off eBay but the rear fixing was larger than the hole I had on the back of the forks so I had to carefully drill out the rear hole to 8mm.

The front brakes are now in place.

The rear brake mount still needs to be drilled out, but I can't get to it with a standard drill bit because the seat tube is in the way.  A friend has a flexible drill bit and has offered to help out with this bit of tricky drilling.

I've got some cheap vernier calipers coming from ebay so that I can measure the handlebars on my current bike, then hopefully I can find a quill stem with a front hinge or removable plate so that I can fit my handlebars without removing all the tape and brake leavers.

Go to part two of this singlespeed build...

Andrew's profanity sauce - hot sauce recipie

I've even mucking about with my own hot sauces for a while now, and in much the same way that brewing my own beer has given me the opportunity to create some tastes that can't be bought, so has making my own hot sauce. Here's the recipe I made up as I went along this morning. It takes moments and doesn't involve any actual cooking!

INGREDIENTS
2x packs of dried habaneros
1x pack of dried naga chillies
3x tins of peach halves in syrup
2x tablespoons of ground cumin
1x tablespoon of ground coriander
1/2 tablespoon of turmeric
1/2 tablespoon ground white pepper
1x tablespoon salt
3x tablespoons sugar

HOW TO MAKE HOT SAUCE FROM DRIED CHILLI PEPPERS
1. Soak the dried peppers in boiling water straight from the kettle for about half an hour.
2. Drain the water and put the chillies in a food processor and add the rest of the ingredients
3. Blend the whole chuffin' lot until smooth.
4. Consume!

This sauce is pretty brutal, so watch out! If you like Jalfriezi then you'll probably love this sauce,a even although it doesn't have an obvious curry flavour.

P.S Don't try whizzing the chillies in the blender on their own, I made that mistake and within seconds my eyes started streaming and I could hear my daughter start coughing (she was the other side of the house!).

Prison governors agree that the war on drugs isn't working

The 'war on drugs' is not only destroying thousands of lives in countries around the world, it's also costing UK taxpayers money by packing full our prisons.  The origins of prohibition (in America at least) were founded on good old fashioned racism, partly to drive minorities back south of the border, so not for public protection as is often assumed.

Today the Prison Governors Association (PGA) added their voice to the growing call for a major rethink on drug laws.  The last 100 years of drug prohibition have done a LOT of damage, and there may not be an answer to the drug problem, but this problem was in no doubt partly exacerbated by prohibition fulled scarcity.  Making drugs illegal has made a lot of criminals rich, and a lot of drug users very dead.  The current drug laws have also made criminals out of many who otherwise may have led law-abiding lives:

"PGA president Eoin McLennan-Murray said it believed "a substantial segment of the prison population have been convicted of low-level acquisitive crimes simply to fund addiction".

"The current war on drugs is successful in creating further victims of acquisitive crime, increasing cost to the taxpayer to accommodate a higher prison population and allowing criminals to control and profit from the sale and distribution of Class A drugs," he said."

Source (BBC)...

A common response from law-makers is that 'drugs are illegal because they are dangerous', which is in no doubt, but it's interesting to see the PGA that current laws may also be doing some financial damage.

Some countries are showing the world that there might be another way forward.  The path has been far from smooth, but in the ten years since Portugal decriminalised all drugs there are been some interesting developments:

“There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal,” said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.

The number of addicts considered “problematic” — those who repeatedly use “hard” drugs and intravenous users — had fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the figure was estimated at around 100,000 people, Goulao said."

Source (Forbes)... 

So why are we still fighting this un-winnable war?  Who is really profiting here?  What is the real motivation and when will our government be brave enough to radically change drug policy?  Hell, when will they be brave enough to even talk about it without coming across like patronising Victorian governesses?

New Black Sabbath... actually pretty good!

Big riffs, somnambulent head swaying pace, crunchy bits, smooth bits, tumbling chord progressions.  Even Ozzy sounds pretty good!

If you're a fan of 'old' Sabbath give this a listen, the six minute mark is where things get really great.  The riff at the eight minute mark made me stand up and throw up the horns.  YES!

Kudos to all involved!

Listen for yourself - http://www.iheartradio.com/player/?mid=23086234

26" Inch Dawes frame - ideal for fixie or singlespeed conversion

I recently bought this Dawes frame off ebay, but due to getting a bit confused with my metric / imperial math this frame is too large for me to use (see last photo).  So my search for a new frame for my singlespeed goes on!

Seat tube 62cm
Top tube 56cm
Head tube 20cm.