Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => PBP => Topic started by: FifeingEejit on 08 August, 2019, 11:29:22 pm
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A post for all those last minute nightmares and pains as we build up to departure for France.
My list is building...:
Don't have as much flexi time built up as I planned for = long days at work.
Discovered broken sole of shoes I was going to wear; necessitating buying a new pair of shoes.
New pair of shoes found in sale arrive with incorrectly assembled buckle pins; Pair of shoes were end of line. Fix bodged.
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My last minute ball aches started in February or March, shall I start:=
Broke numerous spokes, more in February, March and April than probably over past 10 years.
Two wheels called it a day.
March, Broke my PBP bike, frame snapped. Frame to be replaced under warranty.
Got my new replacement frame and bike rebuilt for PBP, broke within a fortnight.
Got my bike back, and qualified for PBP. On a 600 the week after my last qualifying ride, my best PBP rear wheel hub broke.
Got a new rear wheel built for PBP, after a few weeks something wrong with it bearings had play which you could not get rid off. Also spokes not holding tension. Wheel to be rebuilt.
Chain rings worn out and replaced.
On the same day, snapped crank clean off the PBP bike just as I had finished a ride and going up my drive. Needs a new crankset.
Got it all repaired, found new crank wobbly and no reason as to why? and unrideable, back to shop
Got my wheel back, found when I spun the wheel, the bearings would unscrew, back to shop.
Got the wheel back, took it for a test ride, mystery rattle, finally traced it to the cassette, it was very loose. Rode home, locknut was tight so stripped it down, incorrect amount of spacers on the cassette.
When putting my PBP best socks on, put my finger straight through the back pulling one round my ankle and ripped the hem off
Buckle broke on my shoe.
The bike that I am going to ride PBP on in the past couple of days is now playing up with the rear mech and do not know why with phantom skips, pondering on has the hanger become bent or jockey wheels on the way out.
Weather now changed for the worse between now and Wednesday when I set off, hardly any time for anything to change on the bike and give a good testing out. In 2015, I was ready to go in June, riding my 400 and 600 qualifiers with my bag all packed with everything for PBP to get used to it, this year, I am no where near ready with hardly anything packed through all the misfortune.
In reality, I just cannot see it happening this year, the above is just the tip of the iceberg of everything that has gone wrong. I may set off, but my morale is now that low, I just cannot see me finishing, everything I look at on my bike now, all I can see is it breaking on the ride. So having spent a fortune already, I may not even go just to cut my losses on fuel, accommodation and food etc that I will be paying for, or just go to watch and don't ride.
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In 2007 a friend of mine and his wife qualified with their tandem. A week before PBP his boss suddenly decided the company had urgent need of him and cancelled his holidays. His wife couldn't do it on her own, being only partially-sighted.
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As long as the broken ankle behaves and the new bike arrives, I should be fine.
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I snapped the lead of my pencil while sharpening it. I may need to take a new pencil, but no opportunity to break it in before the event :facepalm:
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Fitted new Brooks B17 in June. Ball aches have begun to reduce to an acceptable level.
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Was hoping to ride a 200k this weekend. Saturday is out with the forecast, Sunday may be ok.
Lots of work to get done and network at work appears to be down. (Actually fixed by a reboot of my laptop).
BB reseated and bearings replaced on Wednesday - hopefully less creaking now. Not had a chance to test ride yet.
Haven't worked out how I'm getting me and my bike to Bristol for the ACB coach meet-up yet.
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As long as the broken ankle behaves and the new bike arrives, I should be fine.
If that makes your ball ache, you probably need to drop the saddle a bit.
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My last minute ball aches started in February or March, shall I start:=
If that's all with the same shop I'd consider changing shop.
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As long as the broken ankle behaves and the new bike arrives, I should be fine.
If that makes your ball ache, you probably need to drop the saddle a bit.
The scrotum-sized lump on my ankle is slowly diminishing.
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As long as the broken ankle behaves and the new bike arrives, I should be fine.
I stubbed my toe this morning. It still hurts now.
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I snapped the lead of my pencil while sharpening it. I may need to take a new pencil, but no opportunity to break it in before the event :facepalm:
But how will you complete the Infos just announced on the PBP FB page?
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I snapped the lead of my pencil while sharpening it. I may need to take a new pencil, but no opportunity to break it in before the event :facepalm:
But how will you complete the Infos just announced on the PBP FB page?
I really don't know, starting to brick it ???
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I'm starting to wonder when I last saw my trusty Audax Uniball pen with added layers of gorilla tape.
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As long as the broken ankle behaves and the new bike arrives, I should be fine.
I stubbed my toe this morning. It still hurts now.
Can't you just give it a rub with a guinea-pig or something?
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As long as the broken ankle behaves and the new bike arrives, I should be fine.
I stubbed my toe this morning. It still hurts now.
Can't you just give it a rub with a guinea-pig or something?
We’re all out of guinea pigs at the moment. Cat will probably attack it during the night which may or may not prove helpful.
Toe is now completely purple. Doh.
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Boris Johnson owes me 20 euros.
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With that inclement weather yesterday morning and things to do in the afternoon, I took advantage of not being able to ride in the morning as rain was lashing down in bucketfuls. Instead of trying to tweak thinks with lubrication and adjustments etc and not getting anywhere, I gave my rear mech a good degreasing followed by a good blasting with the hosepipe from all angles to get into every corner of the mech and had the jockey wheels spinning as fast as I could with the jet of water and repeated the process a couple of times more, far more than its usual cleaning it gets. Also gave the whole bike a wash for the sake of it. When I was finished, dried it all off with a cloth and then soaked everything in GT85 and left overnight.
Up at dawn this morning for a ride before this storm hits later for a test ride. Oiled the rear mech properly and everything else. Within half a mile, I had to stop and readjust the rear mech, that was a good sign that something had changed. A quick adjustment on the cable tension and everything is now perfect. Not even a rattle or creak on the bike and gone are the "clunky banging " changes that the chain makes when I was changing gear and no phantom skips into another gear, everything silky smooth as it was a fortnight ago. The blasting of the rear mech must have dislodged something or flushed something out. Maybe there was a build up of summer dust and grime around the edges of the moving parts which could not be seen, but, maybe it was also soaking up any oil I tried to apply to the moving joints and non was getting to the working parts so the mech was sticking slightly.
So, its all green lights now on the bike front and for the first time feeling a bit happier.
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Haven't worked out how I'm getting me and my bike to Bristol for the ACB coach meet-up yet.
If ACB's coach is Bairdy then the meet-up will be in a pub. IGMC.
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Lost my mojo. If anyone finds it, please let me know. At the moment, the only incentive in cycling/training to Newhaven is the 12 points.
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Lost my mojo. If anyone finds it, please let me know. At the moment, the only incentive in cycling/training to Newhaven is the 12 points.
What's your plan. I'm on the night ferry from Newhaven on the Thursday night, are you doing the same?
I'm getting the train from Tring to Three Bridges on the thursday afternoon and cycling from there if you want to meet up and your plans are similar?
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Boris Johnson owes me 20 euros.
I topped my currency card up this time last year when it was 1.09 to the quid, and then the pound promptly recovered to 1.16
If I spend all the euros on it then I've will have had a very expensive trip...
I'll probably empty it buying bike parts from the german discounters at some point...
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Lost my mojo. If anyone finds it, please let me know. At the moment, the only incentive in cycling/training to Newhaven is the 12 points.
What's your plan. I'm on the night ferry from Newhaven on the Thursday night, are you doing the same?
I'm getting the train from Tring to Three Bridges on the thursday afternoon and cycling from there if you want to meet up and your plans are similar?
Same 11pm ferry as last time. Plan is to cycle from home if organised or, like last time, catch the teatime train from MK to Newhaven (more expense).
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Half a day of work.
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Lost my mojo. If anyone finds it, please let me know. At the moment, the only incentive in cycling/training to Newhaven is the 12 points.
I hope you find it. I have opted for the mk-Portsmouth route. See you in Paris
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Packed bag... heavier than it was for the 600 I did on the basis of carrying "everything"
a travel towel and passport can't be all "that" heavy... can it?
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EHIC card out of date!! - Applied for a renewal today you never know it might be processed in time.
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Half a day of work.
I’ve got to make it to Friday lunchtime.
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It's what I liked about the ride down and back last time. It bookended PBP really well and you settle in riding in France on the way down before the shock of the huge pelotons of PBP at night.
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Bloody hotel won't take my pre-paid card for on-line check in.
Must find away to save that (currently) 8 quid...
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It's what I liked about the ride down and back last time. It bookended PBP really well and you settle in riding in France on the way down before the shock of the huge pelotons of PBP at night.
I'm hoping the ride down gives me the chance of
1) getting used to being on the wrong side of the road
2) getting used to Prioritee a' droit
If 200km isn't enough for that... I'm in trouble.
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I'm hoping the ride down gives me the chance of
1) getting used to being on the wrong side of the road
2) getting used to Prioritee a' droit
If 200km isn't enough for that... I'm in trouble.
If you're struggling just drink more Normandie Cider and it'll come right. Which ferry are you on?
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Thursday night to Ouistream.
I'm teetotal so Cidre is out the question.
Iroiromono is riding down with me as far as Houdan and is more than used to being on the "wrong side" so hoping he can keep me right until I get the hang of it.
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EHIC card out of date!! - Applied for a renewal today you never know it might be processed in time.
Same here, I always thought they were for life, till I saw your posting and mine expired 12 months ago. So applied for a new one and got all the details that will cover me as you do not need the card, so long as your registered.
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You don't need the physical card, as zacklaws has noted. So should be fine. You should have suitable travel insurance as well, don't rely on the EHIC alone.
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Cleaned up the bike last night in preparation for boxing it up.
Checked the chain. Bit late for that, isn't it dear?
It's off the scale on the wear gauge!
Ride into town today and pick up a new chain.
I expect the cassette is goosed too, but I have an almost-new 10-spd cassette which got taken off my TT wheel when the wheel went onto my new 11-spd TT bike.
I'll give it a horse round a short hilly loop tomorrow.
I have plenty of plan-B hardware.
Nothing like leaving it to the last minute!
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Thought my cassette was good when changed chan ride last night proved otherwise. Thought I had order 24h delivery for new cassette which when I pressed Collect+ changed to normal delivery time which will be too late. Just done a dumpster dive for the old chain. It was not too worn so with an old cassette should be no problem.
BB
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You don't need the physical card, as zacklaws has noted. So should be fine. You should have suitable travel insurance as well, don't rely on the EHIC alone.
Check insurance carefully, some say you don't need the EHIC, some say you must have it, some will simply ramp up the excess if you don't have one.
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Topped up tubeless sealant, and oiled chain, adjusted disc brake pads. Only a ball ache as I was waiting for the rain to stop before I could do it outside.
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Train I'm getting to Aberdeen (sleeper costs the same from Aberdeen or here so...) is running 40 mins late.
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Train I'm getting to Aberdeen (sleeper costs the same from Aberdeen or here so...) is running 40 mins late.
:facepalm:
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Made it with 13 mins to spare.
Di2 stopped working last night, but seems to have given it a kick start now.
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Snapped one of the headlight wires going into my dynamo plug last night while parking the bike, just as it was getting dark. It’s a captive SON coax that I specially reterminated a few days ago.
Swapped my camera mount and Di2 status screen in the hope of creating a bit more handspace on the tops. Instead I have a wound on the bottom of my right thumb from the sharp corner on the Di2 thingy.
The right bearing on my Shimano dynamo hub is completely knackered - seriously considering acquiring a plain wheel or a Decathlon cheapie dynamo.
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Discovering how difficult it was to remove the excess seats from the ‘box on wheels’. Finished getting them out near 11pm but the tandem and solo fit in upright without removing their wheels. Only minor blood loss in the process.
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Wire has been repaired. Spanners have been acquired and successfully took the play out of the dynamo hub. Handlebars rearranged. Things are looking up.
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Uber did not turn up to take me to the ACB coach meet up. My friend Josh who I stayed with overnight in Bristol gave me a lift and saved the day.
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ACP have announced a route change in the final stage due to roadworks.
#Pbp2019 Change of course!!! Due to recent work, the return journey between Dreux and the Bergerie Nationale de Rambouillet has been adapted, at the height of the municipality of Marsauceux, Centre, France. Even if the new arrows has been deployed, and the new trace is online from the pbp website, each participant must be very careful.
Of course my garmin is already loaded. But I was able to find the revised route on open runner, download on my phone, upload to ride with gps and trace it to generate cue points. Will download to the garmin tomorrow.
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Anyone know where I can get a rear derailleur hanger in paris today??
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Have made a plan, but am going to be late to the bike check now. How late does the bike check go on for?
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Which derailleur hanger? There are lots of shapes to choose from.
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Sick in bed yesterday, and this morning, so missed my Eurotunnel and PBP again. :sick: :-X
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I had a soldering failure on my hub end son coax in london, gaffer tape seems to have come to the rescue, however I bought a small rear spare incase the rear light coax wire (which I deliberately set up so this was an option) needs to be switched in, I lose the USB werk at night if I have to do that but that's for topping up my USB charger thingy.
Of course the USB werk is a power the if and it was stelling the light from the dynamo when I was at the bike check... Thankfully easy to disconnect to demonstrate the front light does work.
Bike checker spotted the saltires my saddle bag and got the French "Scots?" followed by nod and smile response to my "oui"
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Sick in bed yesterday, and this morning, so missed my Eurotunnel and PBP again. :sick: :-X
Bugger, and commiserations.
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borked my right ankle slipping off the wet stairs. might be a very different pbp to what i've planned.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190818/945d50f9e7829fc591a4788ae53f2cb1.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190818/ae435c0726cb14712b30762b2889233d.jpg)
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Flint in the rear tyre leaving registration. Took three dynaplugs to fully seal it. Now looks to be ok. I might try to get a spare at the start later.
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borked my right ankle slipping off the wet stairs. might be a very different pbp to what i've planned.
Oh feck man.
Sorry to hear it.
Hoping things are looking better and you’re managing to get it sorted.
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borked my right ankle slipping off the wet stairs. might be a very different pbp to what i've planned.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190818/945d50f9e7829fc591a4788ae53f2cb1.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190818/ae435c0726cb14712b30762b2889233d.jpg)
Oh hell. Fingers crossed that it goes down during the day and you can still ride.
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Sick in bed yesterday, and this morning, so missed my Eurotunnel and PBP again. :sick: :-X
Bugger, and commiserations.
+1 (at least!)
GWS!
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borked my right ankle slipping off the wet stairs. might be a very different pbp to what i've planned.
Sorry to read about that Zigzag.
Doesn't seem to have held you back though by the look of things.
I notice you've just passed through Villaines, averaging 32.8km for the first 217km.
Rock 'ard :thumbsup:
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Sick in bed yesterday, and this morning, so missed my Eurotunnel and PBP again. :sick: :-X
Bugger, and commiserations.
+1 (at least!)
Indeed.
Not that it helps, but at least you got sick here and not over in France the night before you're due to ride!
GWS!
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borked my right ankle slipping off the wet stairs. might be a very different pbp to what i've planned.
Sorry to read about that Zigzag.
Doesn't seem to have held you back though by the look of things.
I notice you've just passed through Villaines, averaging 32.8km for the first 217km.
Rock 'ard :thumbsup:
:thumbsup: Keep 'er lit!
I did a 300 on a buggered ankle in 2011 and it was bloody murder.