Just in time for the 3 Peaks this weekend, the Rodwell arrived in a big brown box yesterday. Last night and much of today I’ve been building and fettling and this is the result…

The canti brake hanger for the front brake hasn’t arrived yet so I’ve fitted the fork, front wheel and disc brake from the old ‘cross bike but to be honest this is ideal for the 3 Peaks (a brake that works I mean). The Froggleg brake on the back is awful! Maybe I need to spend more time setting that up. I’ll be fitting the Ragley fork and front canti for ‘normal’ cross racing later in the year as I reckon the whole setup will be over a pound lighter at least.

The chainset sports a 50t big chainring, a bit tall for cyclocross racing but again pretty useful for the long road sections of the 3 Peaks.

Once again, a big ‘Yay!’ to Cooksons Cycles for saving the day – this time smashing a rounded bolt out of the chainset so I could get it off the road bike.  

The ceramic Hope BB, ‘peace’ canti hanger and white bar tape are essential items, before anyone tries to tell you otherwise 😉

More pics here

I’ve been taking things very easy this week since a couple of hard training sessions last weekend in preparation for the 3 Peaks on Sunday. Usually tapering does my head right in, but this time for some reason I’ve been really enjoying having the evenings to sit down and relax, no pressure to get out for a ride either late at night or really early in the morning. I’ve started to feel like a normal, everyday Joe in fact.

The madness will return soon enough though – I need to keep my eye on the fact that I’m planning to ‘enjoy’ a full cyclocross season this winter, I’m racing in the pairs category of Dusk Til Dawn the weekend after next and I’m also hell-bent on racing solo in January’s Strathpuffer.

Back to the 3 Peaks though – it’s clear that whilst I’m perhaps more prepared than I was last time in that I now know what to expect, I’m not completely happy with my ability to scale steep slopes on foot whilst carrying a bike and it’s also clear that at least 2 friends, one of which is taking part for the first time, will more than likely display their natural talent on these sections as they have done in training. You’ve either got it or you haven’t.

The weather looks like it’s going to stay dry as it was last year. I can’t imagine how horrible a WET 3 Peaks must be. I’m sure Mr H will be along soon to share an anecdote though…!

I will be (hopefully, customs permitting) riding a NEW BIKE on Sunday. The new Ragley Cyclocross bike will arrive sometime this week in all it’s chocolate brown glory. Watch this space for world-exclusive build pics 😉 Assuming of course I can get mine built faster than Twinklydave builds his. Everything’s a race! I am (as I’m sure Dave is) really looking forward to racing on the new bikes in muddy fields this winter.

I’m in a group of about 15 riders, hurtling along a flat road, chasing the leading pack who are also hurtling along at a hell of a rate towards the first climb (and offroad section) of the race. This is quite unusual. First of all, we are all riding mountain bikes, even though up until now this has very much felt like a road race. We’ve been riding for 12 miles with another mile to go and we’ve not yet ridden on any dirt. My Garmin says that my average speed is 23mph. Our group is desperately trying to keep the leading pack as close as possible, but they’re definitely pulling away. We’re all taking our turn on the front and luckily we all seem to be comfortable with riding in close formation and general road riding ‘etiquette’. For that authentic roadie effect, nobody is talking or communicating either, save for the occasional helpful hand gestures to indicate parked cars, potholes and emerging farts (perhaps).

The Isle of Man End to End is a very unusual event. Well, for the first 13 miles or so anyway.

The effect that this elongated ‘warm up’ on the road has on my overall position in the 1062 people that started is a long-lasting one. The lead group of perhaps 30-odd (fairly fast) riders are mostly too far ahead to be caught in the remaining 27 miles of offroad – while any attempt to catch the lead group whilst on the road results in being swallowed up and dumped to the back of the chasing pack so we are all content to keep motoring along like this and wait until the hills sort the men from the boys – whilst I wasn’t going to catch too many people I thought that if I could at least avoid being overtaken I’d finish in a ‘respectable’ time in a similar position to the one I was in at this stage….

The first climb was a bit of a brute. Starting on a narrow tarmac road and eventually following a broken rocky track to the top of the hill, the gradient seems to get ever steeper until many are off and pushing to the first of many false summits. At last I’m able to catch and pass a few other riders who have maybe overdone it at the start…

Once at the real summit, the trail winds down the hillside on a very rocky track that was brilliant fun but was so rocky I can’t say I had chance to look at the scenery much. Despite the rigid fork on the Ragley 29er I was keeping up with the bloke in front who was riding a Yeti full suspension thing anyway. Perhaps I was going to little bit too fast though as a rock flew up off my front wheel and belted my shin. I squealed like a girly. It was a big rock though.

Apart from chucking rocks at my legs the bike was great – I’m running my front 2.4” tyre at quite a low pressure so despite the rocky ride I was comfortable plus I was having no big problems with maintaining control or traction. It was also proving very handy to be able to just stand up and climb out of the saddle without the fork bobbing up and down.

More climbing followed, as did more downhills though forests, open moorland and muddy rutted fields. One climb in particular sticks in my mind for being an utter swine – steep, narrow, rutted and rocky. A real leg-burner and a delicate balancing act between smooth pedalling and maintaining traction (loads of standing up until the back wheel starts to slip then sitting back down again quick, in other words).

The final descent towards Port Erin in the south of the island (and where we were staying) through a series of fields was followed by a shortish road section with a big CLIMB to the finish line. How nice. 

I finished in 3:18 in 27th place. Pleased to have beaten my 3.5 hours target but a bit frustrated that I couldn’t move even further up the final placings. Next year I’ll hang onto that lead group somehow 😉

Despite the bank holiday weather being as rubbish as ever (unless you like wind and persistent rain), the last few days have been good fun. Barbecue on Saturday where I consumed a year’s supply of protein (no rippling muscles have started to appear yet, which seems like a bit of a swizz) then a ride over to Macclesfield on Sunday down some of the Pennine Bridleway. I remembered to do some running with the cross bike on the way too; getting some funny looks from the walkers that I went past in the process, bike on shoulder whilst running up Lantern Pike. It was fun though despite me really needing to spend some time getting the brakes working as they should before I do another big ride on this bike.

It’s funny how disc brake manufacturers would have you to believe that their products are relatively maintenance-free. In the last couple of years I’ve had to almost constantly lavish attention on the Avid cable brakes on the cyclocross bike because if I don’t (and I haven’t been), they get all underpowered and noisy. This is in spite of adjusting the pads before a ride to make sure that the brake levers don’t reach the bars before the brake actually starts to slow the bike down. Still, I’m guessing that they’re still a lot more powerful than the cantilever brakes that I’ll no doubt be using before long….

 Yesterday we took the girls for a ride on the East Lancs Railway for the Teddy Bears’ Picnic in Ramsbottom. Kids go free as long as they’ve brought Teddy. We shared the afternoon with some Morrismen and some gun-toting cowboys from Bolton. They weren’t very good at all – only one gun seemed to work properly.

Thankfully I was mistaken when I thought I was meeting Phil at Rooley Moor at 5am, the meeting time was actually 6 so I was afforded an almost-human setting off time of 5am rather than an inhuman 4am. Phil was late anyway. We started the climb of Rooley Moor (and thus began another circuit of the Mary Townley Loop) at about 6.20 after exchanging hello’s and Phil had ooohed and ahhhed at the Ragley for a few minutes…it was cold but so far the weather was looking ok. The only concern we had was that the big tailwind we were enjoying would eventually be a crippling headwind. That was hours away though. Crack on.

I had forgotten my glasses and neglected to fit a Crud Catcher. This meant that every wet trail was resulting in grit in my eyes and fast descents were being made especially interesting by the fact that I sometimes couldn’t see too well. No idea why I forgot my gigs. I just did. Like most things that appear to be potential disasters though, they seldom are.

Inevitably the rain arrived and in the space of around 10 blustery, eye-squintingly gritty minutes we were both immediatly soaked. Jumping off our bikes to feverishly pull from rucksacks and then don goretex jackets seemed necessary but also somewhat futile – once you’re soaked to the skin you can’t get any wetter after all…

As predicted the last 10 miles or so of the route were ridden into the wind. Not too much to worry about normally but the conditions had somehow made this ride seem much harder than usual so it really wasn’t welcome at all. Still, we got our heads down and dug deep and finally reached Rooley Moor once again. We said our goodbyes and ‘well dones’ and I set off down the road, 12 miles through Rochdale and Bury past numerous chippies and bakeries that tortured me with the lovely aroma of stodge all the way home.