Ditching road cleats completely – marginal losses. Views & Opinion by MuddyGoose - December 29, 2021January 18, 20220 There are times when you do something because 'that's the way it should be' or because 'that's what everyone else does'. And because it seems to be right or best you never bother to question it. Then maybe you have one of those moments of realisation and decide that actually, 'there's a better way'. That's what happened for me when I questioned why I was riding single sided road pedals, road specific shoes and LOOK Keo cleats. When I bought a road bike back in 2012 to have alongside my mountain bike, I actually started off with mountain bike pedals and cleats on it but for the reasons mentioned I changed to 'proper' road shoes, cleats and pedals. I guess it
The Annual Yaxley Riders Hunstanton Ride East Anglia by MuddyGoose - July 16, 2021July 16, 20210 Many, if not all cycling clubs and groups have their key rides of the year. It may be a specific much loved route, it may be a particular event like a reliability ride, a particular TT or hill climb or something on a certain weekend or day of the year. For many who have recently joined the club or group these rides can often become rite of passage. Rides that will be talked about throughout the year on other rides. The journeyman riders may even speak of 'the time we had gale force winds and driving rain all the way home' or 'the inaugural year when there was only 3 of us' and such like. Well for any
Added a SRAM AXS power meter to my Force groupset Maintenance Product Reviews Views & Opinion by MuddyGoose - June 1, 2021June 1, 20210 Should I buy a power meter? It's one of those questions that has been discussed amongst friends, within clubs and across internet forums for decades. The experts will tell you that you'll see bigger gains if you train by power. All the pros use power meters, at least in training if not also in races. You can more easily regulate your efforts with the use of power data, to ensure that you don't blow up before the top of that long climb or before the final run in of your race. Of course all of this just explains the usefulness of power meters but doesn't answer the question of 'should I buy one?' as that question surely boils down to
I may have found my dream tyres – Vittoria Terreno Zero 700x32c Product Reviews Views & Opinion by MuddyGoose - October 7, 2020October 7, 20205 Tyres, tyres, tyres. (or even tires if you're from the US). This won't be the first time that I've blogged about tyres and it may not be the last time either. But when this set of tyres wears out, it may well be the first time I replace like for like. So have I finally found a tyre that I'm happy to keep buying and riding year after year? Very possibly. Towards the end of 2019, I decided to buy some tyres for the winter which could double up as suitable for light gravel riding. At the time I struggled to decide between the Vittoria Terreno Dry and the Vittoria Terreno Zero. The Dry being more treaded and classed by Vittoria
Park Rash and other Yorkshire Hills Yorkshire Yorkshire Dales by MuddyGoose - March 28, 2020March 28, 20201 A few weeks ago I went up to Scotland for work. Yes, back in the days of being able to leave the house! For anyone reading this in years to come - that's a reference to the restrictions currently in place for the CovID19 pandemic! And as I always try to do, I went for a ride as a break to the driving on my way up. On this occasion it saw me stopping in Grassington with the aim of riding up Park Rash - Hill #45. Park Rash is a hill climb north of Kettlewell. So I chose Grassington as the target for my start point in order to give myself a little bit of a warm up prior to
Review: My new Garmin Venu Smartwatch Product Reviews by MuddyGoose - March 19, 2020May 10, 20204 Anyone who knows me will also know that I don't conform to the norm just because everyone else does. I also don't conform because it's the trendy option or it's written in 'the rules'. Hence why I've never chosen to invest in a Garmin computer for my bike. I've never understood why I'd want to spend more money for less functionality; so I bought an android smartphone instead. It does the same job only better. So, a Garmin smartwatch; have I had a change of heart? 1864
Vittoria Bottle Cage Case/Bag Review Product Reviews by MuddyGoose - October 25, 2019October 25, 20190 I was glancing through my blog pages the other day and I realised that my focus has been very tyre based. New tyres, tubeless tyres and so on. OK so I broke that pattern by including a new bike build but there's a definite tyre heavy balance on the blog! Well, I've just bought some more tyres, so expect a 'gravel tyre review and opinions' post soon but in the meantime enjoy something a little different! This is my first ever review of a bottle cage case! Bottle Cage Case? I hear you say. What's a bottle cage case! Well, it's not a case to pack away your bottle cages in when their not in use. You can't get them yet
Tubeless Tyre Update – repairs and top ups. Maintenance by MuddyGoose - October 7, 2019October 7, 20190 Some people seem to have an impression of infallibility when it comes to tubeless bike tyres. I guess it makes sense having seen some of the marketing hype. Unfortunately some of that marketing hype makes other cynical types call it all hype and set their stall out at the other extreme. But in some ways I think that's just indicative of the days that we're living in today. The extremes taking entrenched positions and backing up their own views with a narrow slice of internet 'evidence'. Enough of the philosophy though, let's get back to bikes! I like to give an even and reliable account, so here's an update of my recent tubeless tyre experiences. When I was out riding
Hardknott Pass, Wrynose Pass and other such Lakeland Hills Lake District by MuddyGoose - September 9, 2019September 9, 20190 If you google Hardknott Pass you'll get plenty of pages about 'the hardest climb in Britain'. If you continue on into the forums you won't go far before you then reach discussions on which direction is harder; east or west? These latter discussions refer to Hardknott and Wrynose as a pair because you go up one side of them and there's kind of a plateau in between. Generally the discussions, as with so many internet arguments, come to no conclusion with plenty of support for both sides. So when I managed to get a few hours to ride in the Lake District I decided to plot a route that took in both directions of both climbs. To be honest I didn't
My Kinesis RTD Build Product Reviews Views & Opinion by MuddyGoose - August 15, 2019August 15, 20197 So in my last blog post I wrote about my new frameset and the fact that I had chosen a Kinesis RTD as my new bike. However what I didn't go on to talk about was the build - the parts chosen to complete the bike. So let's delve into the world of bike components and take a look at what I've put together. And I might even indulge you and give you the build weight too. As mentioned in my previous post (or at least I hope it was), the RTD is a frameset only option from Kinesis. If you see it available in your local bike shop, or online as a complete bike it's the bike shop's build, not