Ride Scotland Rally 2022 – West & Islands Bikepacking by MuddyGoose - November 28, 2022November 28, 20220 I can't believe that this is the first blog post that I've managed to write in the whole of 2022 so far. It's not like I've even been so busy that there not been sufficient time, or any excuse like that. Anyway, let's put that behind me and tell you all about this year's RSR and the time I spent with friends old and new, cycling my way around the beautiful Scottish west highlands and islands. Ride Scotland Rally or RSR as it's known to it's friends is a relaxed, organised, but not too organised, bicycle wander around Scotland. Apart from the Scotland part it's actually quite hard to define, pigeon hole or put in a box in any way. And
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
Cycling plans for 2021 Views & Opinion by MuddyGoose - April 1, 2021April 1, 20210 So it's April already. That's 3 months gone and into the 2nd quarter of the year. But in terms of the plans of a cycling enthusiast, it's been 3 months of lockdown and there have been no cycling events going ahead at all. Even club rides and local group rides have been none existent, not to mention organised events such as Sportives, Races etc. Usually on a normal year, by this time I would have ridden the Yaxley Riders Reliability Ride and have been planning ahead to other organised events. And maybe managed to squeeze in a couple of rides in different parts of the UK as my day job allowed. But not this year. Things
2020 Cycling Year in Review Views & Opinion by MuddyGoose - March 5, 2021March 5, 20214 OK, I know. It's now March. I'm a bit late on this post, it should really be completed by the end of January I suppose. To be honest I did think about leaving it out this time around and starting my year on the blog with something different but 2020 was definitely a year with plenty to talk about! So 2020 will be remembered for the year of the COVID19 pandemic. The virus outbreak began in 2019 in East Asia but it was March 2020 before it hit the UK and the affects were felt worldwide. For me, I began 2020 with quite a lot of work trips. Once up to Aberdeen in Scotland, across to the company
I may have found my dream tyres – Vittoria Terreno Zero 700x32c Product Reviews Views & Opinion by MuddyGoose - October 7, 2020October 7, 202010 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
Hills in Halifax, Climbs in Calderdale & the Peaks of Pendle Calderdale Yorkshire by MuddyGoose - September 24, 2020September 24, 20201 In my continued quest to ride the 100 climbs as found in the book by Simon Warren - 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs: A Road Cyclist's Guide to Britain's Hills - I found myself travelling up to Calderdale this week. There are some climbs that get recognition because of their elevation gain, some because of their steepness and some due to the beautiful national park surroundings. The first two climbs of my day in Calderdale get recognition due to a combination of their steepness and their jarring cobbled surface. If you're wanting to test yourself on cobbled climbs without needing to go over to Belgium or Northern France then Halifax is a fine place to start, as I soon found out. Like
SRAM Force 1x eTap First Impressions Product Reviews by MuddyGoose - July 11, 2020July 11, 20200 First impressions are excellent. The levers feel like typical road bike gear levers up until you press them at which point it just clicks and moves by a smaller amount. There is no need to push hard or far as is sometimes the case with mechanical shifters when changing down gears, especially more than one gear at a time. When hard on the brakes, approaching a junction for example, I have found that I can shift down several gears with just my little finger. This allows for great control under braking while still ending up in a suitable gear for accelerating away again afterwards. SRAM Force AXS Rear Derailleur The multi-shift function is good too. Holding down the lever prompts the derailleur to
Upgrade to SRAM Force eTap AXS 12 speed Maintenance Product Reviews by MuddyGoose - May 22, 2020May 22, 20203 When Shimano released their Di2 system I was interested. When I rode my mate's Ridley fitted out with Di2 I was reasonably impressed. But not enough to make me want to buy the system or even add it to my wish list. BUT... then SRAM released the eTap system and immediately I wanted it. Partly because I prefer SRAM anyway but mostly because it's wireless. No physical connections between the derailleurs and the shifters, no cable to route, no cable to snag, no unsightly cabling, just wireless. Add to that the ability to shift up with the right shifter and down with the left and even to allow the system to deal with sequential shifting of the front and