Category: Blog

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I had a fit.

Retul Bike Fitting

I’m 42 and had my first fit yesterday. You might think it’s young to have your first fit. For me, it’s about 26 years later than it ought to have been.

With a mix of health problems cropping up over the last year or so from bad backs to kidney stones to even more bad backs, I took it on myself to see a Chinese Physiotherapist recommended by Alan (crossjunkie). The experience was quite enlightening (aside from the fact that she told me I had a very very weak kidney pulse – prophetic, to say the least, a few days before my diagnosis). One of the major things that Leslie (she herself isn’t Chinese… but the practice is!) mentioned was assumption that I had my bike all fitting me well and I’d been measured up, etc. Time to fess up… I hadn’t. Ever. Been fitted for a bike. Ever.

Time to call Brant.

I’d seen a promotional video about Planet X’s Retul fitting service and decided the time had come for me to arrange a session… ‘just in case’ anything I’d been doing for the last 25 years or so was a bit wrong.

I had indeed been doing things a bit wrong. Well… a bit more than a bit actually.

I called my bike sugar daddy Brant to see if I could book a fitting.

Planet X ShopI’d just taken delivery of a very very handsome Planet X N2A bike so with the brand new bike only a couple of rides old I headed down to Rotherham. Aside from the fitting itself, this whole things was a real treat. Kid in a sweet factory. You get the picture. This is a big shop and a bigger warehouse. Mmmmmmm! The fact that I’ve been riding for Planet X for six months or so but never made the time to get down to their place was playing on my mind, so the fitting made the perfect opportunity.

Last Fit

I was greeted by Chris Last – Planet X’s soigneur and an experienced cyclist who took me through the Retul process amidst a mass of fairly untamed cycling chit chat from both our mouthes. Chris’ experience of local riders over the last few years overlapped a bit of my time in Sheffield in the early 90s and it was great to chat away whilst simultaneously finding out my bike was pretty hilariously adjusted.  Watching a stick man of myself on the screen, live, is a strange enough experience, but watching a cramped up one made it very plain to my eyes that something wasn’t really right.  Through an hour or so of careful adjustment, bit by bit, we corrected all those bad angles, until everything fell within the right tolerances.   New bike or no new bike, I had been riding a saddle that was 35mm too low and it seems I had been for quite some time.  Talk about having a fit.  Shocking, mildly embarrassing (but I’m bigger than that and I can take it), and all in all a bit of a revelation.

So… one day later, I gave the bike a really good kicking yesterday for 90 mins and over a couple of big climbs in a bloody headwind and crappy drizzle. All held up really well and if I could summarize the change I’d say that I feel like I’m getting the sort of power down that I would have done in the past by standing up. Makes sense really.

What a tit

So once you’ve all stopped laughing at my “discovery”, spare a thought for how this bodes for someone who has suffered from lower back pain. Watch out… here I come.  The final word goes to a certain person I know who commented:  “It’s a bit like when I went to get myself properly measured for a bra in my mid 30s.  I’d been wearing a 36C – then I found out I was actually a 32F”.   The minor details count, but the big details count more.

Video below of the experience and if you like my soundtrack you can hear it in full here

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Four Play

“Eeeeehh they all grow up too fast don’t they?”, etc. etc.

Elsie turned four yesterday, much to our amazement and mild mourning of an era in our house starting to end.  She’s our littlest one and she’s pretty much out of pre-school-dom now, and it’s exciting and fun but does make one feel ever so slightly melancholy.

But come what may it’s an achievement worth celebrating. There are many occasions in the last few years when I’d thought she could never get to the age of four without some period in prison.  🙂

She’s certainly living life to the full and making every minute count – a lesson to us all. Happy Birthday, Elsie.

We opted for a smallish get together with a few friends rather than the full troupe from nursery, and were gifted the kind of weather you can only dream of for a party.

I made a film (below or here) – with help from the lovely version of Summertime by Jim Hall and Pat Metheney – and took a few photos here on Flickr.

Happy days.

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Health and Efficiency

I’ve had a back ache.

It’s been a heck of a year so far. I’m reflecting at the moment on a health scare of relatively small proportion but the fact that it happened kickstarts the brain into overdrive.

If you’re not in my SMS circle or following me on Twitter, let me start with the ailment:
In February I went for a run up Ingleborough in fairly tough conditions but nothing out the of ordinary, and pee’d blood. Just a bit, in fact, not enough to even register with me at the time that it was blood, but just a really blackcurrent-dark colour. I put it time to dehydration and being a bit under the weather and tired when I ran hard up a mountain in the cold.

I took a silly gamble in brushing it under the carpet, man-style. That was a bit daft, in retrospect. Last Monday I had a wake up call and the same happened. Really red. I was busy but the gamble hadn’t paid off and it was a no-brainer to get myself checked out. The GP tested and said – yes – very positive for blood, get thee to a consultant very quickly. I’m 42… it’s not like I’m retirement age or something. I just expects body to work. Is that too much to ask?

The NHS experience (all to familiar for me in recent years!) is just fantastic. One of those things that makes me proud to be British. Consultants, nurses, specialists all have been super-efficient, fast, friendly, fantastic, and in the space of just over a week I have been to basic positive test through three (on time!) appointments and a diagnosis. I have a couple of kidney stones. Nothing major, and that is of massive relief, but a little too large to ‘pass’ in the unthinkable common way. So an operation beckons. The chapter is not closed, but I’m a relieved man. I’m expecting a pretty small operation to zap the 9mm bullets stuck in my ureter just above my bladder and that, as far as I can tell, should be the end of it. I’m already very happy, even though I haven’t even had an operation yet. You know how it goes with scares. The big C was preying on my mind, having lost my Dad when I was nine to what started with back ache. He died of lymphoma within 6 months. Unwarranted and knee jerk worrying, I’m sure, but this is the domain of those mind games.

Here’s what I’ve learned, anyway:

  1. There’s no smoke without fire:
    Cliché but if you think something’s wrong with you, and yopu’re normally stoic, there probably is. Get to the doctor, nincompoop.
  2. Kidneys are linked to bloody everything
    I’ve done a lot of reading since diagnosed with these tiny little non-pissable bullets. Flipping heck those kidneys can give people some problems. Reading up on it there is (what I hope!) a strong correlation between kidney stones and lower back pain, hydration, blood pressure regulation, electrolyte moderation, energy levels, etc. As a cyclist it’s totally natural that I moan about bad form, have excuses etc. We all do. But, blimey – this could be a silver bullet type thing. I just might have been getting a bit crap at cycling, running, etc. for a real bona fide reason, heaven forbid.
  3. Hydrate.
    If you think you’ve had enough to drink, you probably haven’t . Fluid is good, water is very good. Lots of fluid and water is very very very good. That way, these little stoney chaps don’t get big enough to take hold on your inside tubey bits. In the last few days I’ve had a pint of water when I get up, and two more pints of water ‘down in one’ during the morning, and a further two pints during the rest of the day. I’m not in the habit of sipping so I stand there at the sink and sink a pint. Easy medication, and free.

So.. heading towards the next few days and this operation thingie, I’m already feeling like I’m over it. Maybe even that I might just stop feeling knackered every time I run or ride a bike, and just maybe I might get over this back problem and be able to put enough watts down through my pelvis again to start feeling like I’m not a past it old guy. Fingers crossed.

Even if nothing else, I’ll get to lose a stone very quickly.

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Ronde Van Oost Lancashire 2012 – the trailer

Bezzy mate Alan ‘Crossjunkie‘ Dorrington’s ‘own’ ride – the Ronde Van Oost Lancashire – is in its fourth year now and growing exponentially in popularity each time round.  It’s on the 31st March this year and I’m getting all little-biy-excited again for a lovely “grovel on the cobble” day out.  Especially good this year is that it’s going to turn out to be a bit of a school reunion for me with – hopefully – Phil (brother), Tolly, Rich Bardgett and Rich Hannaford.  That truly is a treat and I haven’t ridden with some of those people for 20 years!

Continue reading “Ronde Van Oost Lancashire 2012 – the trailer”

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Hit the North 3: It’s not about the bike(s). A science experiment.

So… my grand idea for Hit the North this year was to lay to rest any speculation that it’s faster on a ‘cross bike or mountain bike. In a two hour race, I would race half on one and half on the other.

After a second place in 2011 at this tough-but-cuddly suburban event inside of the M62 circle, I felt in a good position to prove in incredibly unscientific fashion whether the bike you’re riding is key on a course like that…  Continue reading “Hit the North 3: It’s not about the bike(s). A science experiment.”

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Don’t get ‘cross? Get even.

Cyclocross, Shrewsbury

January 15th: The year has ended.

The last cyclocross race of the season and all too soon it’s time to hang up the racing wheels and have a few months of more bike fun and less training.  A glass half full person like me never gets too worried about things like that. No matter how much I just love cyclocross I know it’s good because it’s a limited season. All your round just wouldn’t be right.  Imaging racing your bike and not being muddy and cold.  Yack. Continue reading “Don’t get ‘cross? Get even.”

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Tod ‘Cross: Good old Yorkshire Chipps and Gravy

Rode the Todmorden Cyclocross yesterday – it’s the fourth running since the event’s revival, and it has earnt its place on the legendary races calendar (it’s currently an imaginary calendar but you get the picture). I’m trying to blog a bit less about every single race I do – I know it gets a bit repetitive and loses any story value if I write the same old but it’s just one of those events I get such a buzz from each year without fail.

Continue reading “Tod ‘Cross: Good old Yorkshire Chipps and Gravy”