Yesterday was a pretty good day. I had a component-geek-tastic tour of the Hope factory in Barnoldswick. I own a lot of their gear, brakes, hubs, headsets, skewers, etc and regard it as among the best you can buy.

Anyway, we’re doing some work for them so I jumped at the opportunity to meet them.

It’s a really old mill, full of amazing CNC milling machines that cut and mill a billet of ali into a component. Did you know that they’re all then polished with a compound made from walnut shells? I didn’t.

Hopefully nobody saw me dribbling.

I went for a ride last night too – the first one since the duathlon 2 weeks ago. It was tough. It’s incredible how quickly a break from training has an effect. I didn’t feel less fit, just lacking a bit of strength. The rest has done me good though; I didn’t have that niggling pain in my left thigh at all.

I was riding the new singlespeed. I’ve finally sold the Kona and built up a SS-specific frame. It’s cromoly steel so good pound heavier than the Kona but the horizontal dropouts mean that I’m not relying on the tensioner any more.

It does look a bit like a 50’s shopping bike with that high top tube though….

I’m out for a long ride with Phil tonight. Hipflask and mince pies…