Well, here we are again. Hopefully, you'll all be pleased to know that I'm still alive, just, (quiet at the back!). Unfortunately though, it's going to be another rather dull update in this episode of "What's Paul been up to". Hopefully, you will be pleased to know that whilst I'm still not running, things do seem to be improving, and my Knee and Achilles tendons which have been giving me loads of problems are starting to feel a bit better. This has been the first week in a long time that I've actually been able to run up and down the stairs, and instead of getting out of bed in the morning and hobbling round the house like some sort of stiff legged donkey, I've been out of bed and on my feet with no problems. To that end, I've ventured back to lunchtime circuits at the gym a couple of times this week, and whilst my knees feel no where near strong enough to run on, they do feel like things are moving in the right direction, which is a positive and has done wonders for my mental health. I still think there's another couple of months ahead of me before I get anywhere near running again, but even that's better than nothing. The problem now is not pushing too fast and ending up back at square one! Whilst I haven't been running, I have still been keeping up the work commute on the bike, so the bike miles are steadily creeping up, and although I've been struggling a bit for motivation on the bike front, I think that things are improving and unlike this time last month, when even the bike felt like a slog, I'm enjoying the morning and afternoon rides into work and back again, and I'm quite enthusiastic about getting out on some longer stuff in the coming weeks. So I suppose the big question on everyone's lips is "What has he been up to then while he's not been adventuring"? Well, the main focus of attention for the last couple of weeks has been car related. I may have mentioned during my last update that "The Emma's" 206 GTI had failed it's MOT, and not just a little fail either. The main problems being the rear axle suspension arm bearings, and the fact that the fog lights switched themselves off at random. The rear axle bearings are a known issue on these cars, but not an easy DIY fix. The quickest and easiest solution being a reconditioned rear axle. But nothings ever that simple and to get the rear axle out, the brakes have to be stripped down, brake pipes removed, wheel hubs and bearings removed, and shock absorbers removed too, and then the fun of getting a heavy old lump of metal out from underneath the car begins. Never one to shy away from a challenge, it wasn't actually too bad a job, and while it was in bit's I took the opportunity to treat a few more rusty bits, clean up all the removed parts and replace all the rear suspension bits and wheel bearings etc, which should hopefully give it a few more years life. The Fog light issue, well that was another matter, mainly because I listened to "The Emma" instead of doing what I should have done and carried out some proper fault diagnosis. "The Emma" was adamant the the indicator stalk was the problem, so I duly found one on E bay and ordered it. Once it arrived a bit of delicate dismantling and reinstalling had the new one fitted and once back together, yes you guessed it, it was exactly the same. Doing what I should have done in the first place I eventually narrowed the problem down to the electronics unit behind the steering wheel and managed to find a reconditioned one for a reasonable price, which did fix the problem. Just creeping in within the 10 day MOT retest window, it's back on the road again for another year and in far better condition than it was before. Now all I need to do is sort the bodywork out, where it's starting to show a few initial signs of the dreaded tin-worm, and well be good to go for another few years. In other news, the allotments going great guns and after a slow start things are finally starting to come together. We've been eating Broad Beans and Peas for the last few weeks and tucked in to the first of the French Beans this week. There's lettuces ready to pick and I've had tucking in to home grown Cucumber, which is far superior to those tasteless shop bought ones, in my sandwiches for the last few weeks.
The soft fruit is starting to ripen up nicely too. Whilst the Strawberry crop was a massive let down, the Loganberries have been very productive, producing more than enough for a breakfast treat with my cereals every day, whilst leaving plenty left over for jam making. I'd hope that the Runner beans and Tomatoes will be in fruit by next weekend and the Redcurrant bush is groaning under the weight of fruit on it too, so hopefully there's plenty more still to come in the next few weeks.
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You might have noticed from the tone of my recent posts that thing’s haven’t really been going to plan recently. My knees are still a long way from being right, and I really seem to have lost my way a little bit recently. I know that I’m incredibly lucky to be as fit and healthy as I am. But, 3 months ago I was running marathons and cycling hundreds of miles without problems. And suddenly finding myself unable to run any further than the back gate without my knees hurting, and then having problems with my other leg during my recent Audax outings has been a bit of a blow! I managed a couple of short runs (2.5 miles) a couple of weeks ago, with no real problems and thought that things were looking up, but then last week I pushed that up to 5 miles and I’m almost back to square one again, although a couple of days rest over the weekend have seen an improvement. Likewise, I tried moving my saddle position on the bike last weekend in the hope that that would help with my cycling issues. And whilst there was an improvement, things still didn’t seem right and I’m not confident that that has solved any of those problems either. The biggest problem is that the only way to really find out if things are any better is by pushing the distance back up again, but I really don’t want to be stuck miles from home, in pain, with no way to get back again. It’s a catch 22 situation! Add into the mix the fact that my real goal for this year was the Paris- Brest - Paris 1200Km Audax which required a 600Km qualifier ride in the next couple of weeks and everything seemed to be stacking up against me. To that end, I’ve had some hard thinking to do over the past couple of weeks and had some difficult decisions to make. As I mentioned above the main target for this year (once the running went South) was Paris- Brest - Paris, which I had been looking forward too. But as the weeks have gone on and my knees have been playing up, the thought of achieving a 600Km qualifying ride within the correct time window, has gone from being an enjoyable one, to a lead weight hanging over my head. The thought of doing 600Km on legs that could barely get round a 200 the other weekend was filling me with fear, and that time window was just pressure that I don’t need. Plus, when I really started to think about it, I’m not even sure if I wanted to go to Paris in the first place. Paris- Brest - Paris is the big Audax ride, it’s the big one that started all the others and if you look at the Audax UK website you’ll see that qualifying for Paris- Brest - Paris was the whole reason Audax UK was set up in the first place, but does that mean that I really wanted to go and do this ride, or was I just being dragged along in the knowledge that it was the “done” thing? Last year there was no way that I was a going to miss out on London Edinburgh London, I’d have sawed my own head off to ensure that I was on the start line. But Paris- Brest - Paris, I’m not so sure! The whole thing was just becoming unnecessary pressure and a bit of a pain in the backside. Even if I did the qualifying rides, there is still the small matter of getting to Paris and back, and all the messing around that entails, and could I really be bothered with that? As I’ve already said, this weekend was supposed to be a 600km qualifying ride, and I’m guessing that the “supposed too” gives that game away. But. Friday morning, I took my Audax bike in to work to see how my legs felt, and despite feeling Ok over the 22-mile commute, things still didn’t seem quite right. Getting home I hit on the idea of taking my work commute bike instead. My legs have always felt Ok on that and although it wasn’t set up for Audaxing, I could probably manage a 600 on it as a one off, which seemed like a reasonable plan. Friday afternoon, I spent a couple of hours messing around swapping wheels, handlebar extensions, lights and a tyre around and doing a bit of general fettling, with the plan being to try and get the 600 in, even if it killed me. By the time “The Emma” got home it was nearly 16:00 and I was still messing around. I wasn’t really achieving much and was really just wasting time. I should have been getting ready to leave, not just filling in time pottering around and finding excuses not to be getting ready, but my heart just wasn’t in it. When “The Emma” came out with a brew and to see what I was doing we had a bit of a chat, and for maybe the first time I voiced my fears and told her that I didn’t actually think I had this weekend’s 600 in me. 600Km’s a massive distance however you look at it. And the fact that half of it was going to be directly into a head wind, my knees hurt before I’d even started, and my heart really wasn’t in any of this, made it seem like an impossible wall to climb, and not something that I was looking forward too. 90% of any long ride is mental resilience and having the will power to keep pushing on when the going gets tough, and if I was thinking about quitting before I’d even started, then what chance did I have? “The Emma” played the voice of reason, but I knew deep down, as I suspect that I have for a while, that this wasn’t going to happen. I sat in the sun for a while trying to make up my mind what to do. I huffed and puffed, I stomped around for a bit, I had another brew, and then I decided to go out for a couple of miles to shake my legs down and see how the changes I’d made to the bike felt, and hopefully decide what I was doing while I was out. I was only going to go round the block. But once I reached the end of the road, I felt like carrying on. The sun was shining, the wind was on my back (for the minute) and I headed out on a little route that I used to ride when I first got back into cycling properly, 10 or so years ago. It had been a long time since I’d last been this way, and my thoughts turned back to those early days. The hills that I now breezed up, had seemed like mountains all those years ago. Legs, strong from thousands of miles, propelled me easily along, and lost in my thoughts, some clarity started to appear. Paris didn’t interest me enough to put myself through a 600 this weekend, that was just unnecessary pressure. But I realised something else too. I remembered what I was missing and what I probably really wanted to be doing instead of pushing endless distances. The thing that drew me back to the bike was getting out there and exploring, it was stopping to have a sandwich in a field gate, whilst admiring the view, it was stopping for a brew mid ride, it was stopping to get my breath back and just stopping to look at something that caught my interest. All things that had been lost in the endless push for longer and longer brevets in faster times. Those few miles from home on Friday afternoon reminded me what I’d been missing and what I really wanted. I didn’t want the pressure of qualifying rides, I wanted to be riding for fun, and that’s what this was. Mind made up then? Well not really, I was still Umming and Arrring when I got home, but I knew deep down that I didn’t really want to go to Paris, I was just doing it because everyone else was, and it was allegedly the done thing. And I’m afraid that isn’t enough of a reason to push myself around a 600! So, I pulled out of the weekends 600 and I’ve abandoned my plans for Paris- Brest - Paris too. And you know what, it feels like a massive weight off my mind. I suspect that in a few weeks I’ll probably regret that decision. But it wasn’t a rash one, and I think I’ve known deep down, that I didn’t really want to go for quite a while, so I don’t think it’s a spur of the moment decision either. And at the end of the day, if I’m not enjoying the process then what’s the point. Cycling is supposed to be fun, not a chore. What now then? Well, for a start I’ve bought myself some thinking time and the chance to try and get back to some solid miles and pain free training (both running and cycling).
Now that there’s no pressure, I actually feel enthused about other things too. I’ve booked onto a couple of shorter rides in the coming weekends that I can get to from home, which I’m actually excited about, and I’ve got lots of other things that I want to do (not cycling or running) that I’m excited about too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not abandoning my cycling and running plans, and I fully intend to get back to full fitness as soon as possible. There’s still lots of things that I want to do on both fronts, but now there’s no rush, apart from my rapidly diminishing running fitness levels, and I can hopefully take the time to get back to where I want to be without causing longer term damage. To that end, those of you that are just here for the ridiculous running and cycling adventures might have to bear with me for a while. But in the meantime, as I’m allergic to sitting around doing nothing, I’m sure that there will be plenty of other stuff to occupy the odd blog update. A few sneak previews of which are below, just to possibly pique your interest. I’m having a bit of a struggle at the moment and I really don’t know why. Well, actually that’s a lie, I do know why, which I’ll get onto in a minute, but first I seem to have got behind on the blog front again. Normally, I sit down and the words just flow, but recently it’s seemed like a chore and not the cathartic experience that it normally is. I normally seem to have something worthy of talking about, or some observation that’s worth mentioning and recording for prosperity, but at the moment it’s like getting blood out of a stone. You would think that the hard ones would be the weeks when I’ve not been up to much, or nothing interesting has happened, but that’s not the case. Last week's post is a fine example. I had a brilliant time playing bikes at Brevet Cymru but getting that down on paper was like pushing water uphill, surely the words should just flow, but no! I suspect that it doesn’t help that I’m really struggling for motivation at the moment, and I don’t know why that is either, although I suspect my ongoing knee issues and the miserable weather aren’t helping. No that that should be holding me back, springs here, summers on its way, yet I’m about as enthused as a dead slug (and I wish there were a few more of those around). The weather for the last couple of weeks has been awful too, the Saturday of the Coronation saw rain all day and the Bank holiday Monday wasn’t much better, plus I think I’ve got wet on the work commute more times in May than I did over the entire winter months, what’s that all about? The endless rain’s not helping on the Allotment front either. Normally by this time of year, the plot would be dug and most stuff would be planted out and enjoying the Spring sunshine. At the moment though it’s just a waterlogged mud bath that’s far too wet to dig, and the lack of sunshine means that everything's just sat in the greenhouse feeling sorry for itself (a bit like me). I suspect that my ongoing Knee problems are the root cause of my lack of enthusiasm. I’ve made enough of a song and dance about the left one (which has been ongoing for a couple of months and I’m seeing the Physio about), but the right one causing problems during Brevet Cymru was another knock to my confidence and another set back, although it seems to have recovered fairly well, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that, that was only a temporary setback. I’m still not running though and it’s getting to the point now where it’s incredibly frustrating and there seems to be no end in sight. Unlike most of the population I want to run, but I can’t, and I know that as the weeks go on it will get harder and harder to get back to the same level of fitness that I had before (and maybe impossible) which is somewhat depressing. If I can’t run and my knees hurt from cycling then what's the point? That doesn't mean that I haven’t been doing anything though, far from it. Whilst I haven't been running or cycling for the past couple of weekends (apart from the daily 22 mile work commute by bike) I have been trying to keep myself busy. So in an attempt to avoid boring you all to death, and to make my life easier, let’s catch up the last 2 weeks of pottering around and I promise that normal service should resume next week (if nothing else I’m determined to stop being a miserable so and so and get out there and start enjoying myself again). So, in no particular order, over the last 2 weekends, amongst other things I’ve; Here's an easy one to start with, or it should have been an easy one; A few weeks back "The Emma" said that the horn on her Peugeot had stopped working and could I have a look. I had a look and the wires had corroded through at the plug, that should be a quick 2 minute fix. But hold on with your quick fix, nothings that simple. To get at the plug the bumper needs to come off, but to get the bumper off the grilles got to come off, and to get the grille off the headlights have to come out, and to get the headlights out ............ Well you get the idea. While the bumper was off I also fixed the Cooling fan high speed relay, which likewise had corroded into a green mess, and while there's no pictures of any of that lot, there are a couple of the next issue. It's pretty rare that I drive Emma's cars (normally only when they need fixing) so I was somewhat surprised to find that on starting the "Pug" to move it round to the garage, that it sounded like a bag of spanners falling down a lift shaft. I asked "The Emma" how long it had sounded like that and she said "A couple of weeks, it's getting worse though". Closer inspection showed that the auxiliary drive belt was only half on the tensioner and the tensioner looked like it was about to fail completely. A pretty easy fix once you get out every tool you own, and take the wheel, arch liner, and bottom pulley off. An easy enough fix for a Sunday morning, but it's always good to know that the horn not working is worthy of immediate repair, but the sounds of impending engine failure from under the bonnet don't warrant a mention in "The Emmas" world of driving! The front lawns been a bit of an ongoing project for the last few weeks. It's never had much grass, it's just weeds and moss, which whilst it looks awful, does mean that it doesn't need mowing very often. For some unknown reason I decided that I'd had enough of Moss and weeds though and I'd do something about it this year, starting a month or so back with a good sprinkling of Moss killer. That's been followed up over the past month or so with multiple goings over with the lawn rake which did a really good job of pulling up the moss and revealing how little grass there actually was. So this weekend I've marched up and down stabbing the ground to death with a fork (and ruining my wrists) to get a bit of aeration going, filled in all the holes with topsoil, and generally levelled it out a bit and re-sown it. With lots of nice shade tolerant grass seed. Which no doubt means that it'll never rain again and all my efforts will have been a waste of time and we will have to live with a bare mud front garden until the autumn! This next ones a bit of a setback; A couple of months ago I noticed that the ceiling trim next to the sliding door on the van was damp. Now, the door runner, which is attached to the van roof, is the only part of the entire living area which isn't insulated (because it's impossible) and as such it tends to be where the condensation gathers on a cold day. Armed with this information, I assumed that condensation dripping off the door rail and catching on the ceiling trim was the issue. So I dried it out and started watching it a bit more closely. Roll on a few more weeks and it was actually wet, not just damp. So I took the trim piece out for a better look, dried everything out again, and left it out for a better look. Whilst it was in bits I took the door seals off and cleaned then too, just in case water was getting in through the door seal. I left the trim off for a couple of weeks and couldn't find any issues and everything seemed dry, so I put it back together again, and it was fine for a few weeks. Fine that is until a couple of weeks ago when after sitting unused for a couple of weeks there was actually a small puddle on the floor and the trim was dripping wet! I still wasn't convinced it wasn't condensation, as I couldn't see any way for water to be getting in there. The ceiling was dry to the touch, the area where the insulation meets the door rail felt dry and the only other place water could be getting in was around the skylight, but that also appeared to be dry. Any way, last weekend it was wet again, so I finally bit the bullet and started removing things to get a better look. Cutting a long story short, the sealant around the front left corner of the skylight had given way and during heavy rain water was finding it's way between the skylight and structure. From there it was running down the opening and then tracking under the bottom layer of insulation to come out above the door rail. Why it couldn't have just found it's way down the edge of the skylight I don't know, because if that was the case, which would have been the path of least resistance, I'd have found the problem ages ago and done something about it. Now if you've read "the van plan" you'll know that the roof light and ceiling were the first things to get fitted! Que one nightmare trying to get enough room to take the roof light out to reseal it and then refit the ceiling, once it and all the insulation, had dried out. I got there in the end though and only time will tell if it's successful. Whilst I was there I did notice a minor design flaw on my part, which could have played a part in the water ingress, where I'd joined the roof light support on a corner. So I've redesigned and remade that while I was at it, which will hopefully help, and I've added extra sealing to the cut out in the hope that if it does leak again the water will drip off the roof light opening and not track elsewhere, giving me a better chance of catching future problems before they happen. A wet Saturday morning resulted in a few bottles of Chilli oil (made with home grown Chillies which have been drying in the airing cupboard all winter), which can get put away to mature. And a few jars of "Mymalade" "It's just marmalade but made by me". Obviously, despite the weather doing it's best to hold back progress there's been plenty going on in the garden and on the allotment too. While I'm pottering around fixing stuff, I've been watching the coolant on my "Bangernomics" run around for a few months. When I got it in December 2021 the coolant reservoir looked pretty oily (never a very good sign) although I don't remember there actually being any oil in the coolant, but it had just had a new radiator, so the coolant would have been drained for that! Anyway, at the time I serviced it and changed the coolant and gave the reservoir a clean out and thought I'd see what happened. A year later and the reservoir's oily again and there's been a small amount of oil into the coolant (there's an oil and water passage in close proximity at the head gasket and leaking across is a common fault). Now, I know it's probably leaking, but I don't really want to pull the head off if I can help it. So before I do that, lets reset to a known good point and see how much it is actually leaking. To that end then, it's had a good dose of cleaning fluid through the coolant system, followed by a really good wash out, and before refilling it I cleaned the reservoir out again. Obviously now I know it's definitely clean (something I couldn't guarantee when I got it) I can see what happens over the next few weeks / months. If it really oils up again, then I'll change the head gasket while the weathers good, but if I think I can live with it, maybe with regular coolant changes, then I think that's the best option. At the end of the day it's only a run around so it's hardly worth spending the time and money on. While I was pottering around I also changed the rocker cover and seal for one that I got from the "scrappy" and refurbished (cover that is, not the seal, that's new). As they say "a shiny engine is a happy engine" and that looks much better than the rusty, leaky one that was there. Next up, a Sofa story; When "The Emma" and I first moved in together one of the first things we bought was a Sofa, and while we waited for it to be delivered (8 weeks) we sat on 2 inflatable camping chairs - Happy days. Roll on 16 years and 3 house moves later, that Sofa is starting to show it's age. It was still clean and tidy, but it was a bit low for my old back, and one of the springs had gone (It's had a plank of MDF under the cushions for about 2 years to make it a bit firmer) and the time for a replacement was fast approaching. Wasting a Sunday that could have been far better spent, trawling round furniture showrooms and fighting off useless salesmen, finally resulted in an acceptable replacement which was for delivery this week. The first problem was what to do with the old one? I asked around at work in case anyone wanted it, to no avail, so we stuck it on Market Place and Gumtree for free, but had no takers, which is a shame because it would probably have served someone well for a couple of years. Instead, it had to meet it's maker so I took the big hammer to it and took it to the tip. I'd have taken it in one piece but it was a bit unwieldy to move on my own. Now, when we ordered the new sofa, the nice salesperson said "The feet on all these sofas are a bit rubbish. But we can sell you some different ones for £50 a set". H'mmm let me think about this for a few seconds said I. How about "No". She was right though, the feet on the new sofa are a bit rubbish. They're rubbish as they're really small so all that's going to happen is they're going to sink into our new plush carpet and deep underlay and that'll be the sofa immovable and the carpet and underlay left with great big divots where the sofa sits. What they really need is some £50 feet that are a bit wider to spread the load a bit and stop them sinking into the carpet. And I'm sure I've seen some tucked away somewhere. And there we go. 8 load spreaders for the sofa feet to stop them sinking into the new carpet. Total cost, half an hour of my time, a couple of pounds worth of scrap plywood and thousands of pounds worth of tools (but we'll ignore that). Either way it's still £100 in my pocket and not the furniture salespersons! and as they're going under the sofa they'll never be seen again. And one last one before I go. I think I might have mentioned these a few weeks ago, but after the success of the first set, I've since fixed some more. Shimano rear derailleurs (were talking bike stuff now) come as standard with sprockets that run on pins and bushes (no bearings fitted), which is fine. However, as it's just a metal on metal bush they tend to wear, and as they wear the float and general sloppiness increases and the gear shifting starts to suffer. Obviously, you can get Shimano replacements, but a cost effective option is to upgrade to non OEM parts with roller bearings, which seems to result in crisper and improved shifting across the board. And anything you can do to make life a bit better when your 300Km into a 400 Km Audax, it's dark and raining, and you've already changed gear approximately a million times, is a plus in my book. The roller bearings come with their own issues though. Eventually water and dirt gets past the seals and the bearings jam up. I seem to get at least a year, if not two, of all weather riding out of a set of sprockets, but for the sake of a £2 of bearings you end up throwing £20 of sprockets away. Or is there another option? The first set of these that I changed the bearings on have done over 1000 miles now with no problems and I've just done the set on my work bike (and a spare set too) so we'll see how they hold up.
I don't know how many times I'll get away with pressing new bearings in before the plastic sprocket deforms or splits, but even if it's only once, it's bought a new lease of life to an allegedly un-fixable, disposable, part, and that's a plus in my book. If your here for the adventures, cycling or running, then unfortunately I've got bad news for you this week. If however your here for the projects and other capers, then your lucks in, because all I've got to talk about this week is carpet, and that's hardly an exciting topic of conversation at the best of times! As I mentioned last week, the focus of my attentions over the Easter break has been re-carpeting our house, and that's no small undertaking when you've never done it before. I can however confirm that as suspected the worst part of the entire job has been moving everything from one room to another and then back again. What a palaver! This process has also confirmed that we've got a lot of stuff, and that "The Emma" is a ridiculous hoarder of rubbish. I mean, is there really any need to keep the plastic bags that stuff comes in? And do we really still need 3000 CD's? I know that those CD's cost a lot of money when we bought them back in the 90's and 2000's, but were both using streaming services now and we haven't even got a CD player, so what use are they? That's a battle for another day though, and at least I've managed to get her to throw away the draw full of old batteries that are 20 years past their use by date and totally useless, so that's a first little step in the right direction I suppose. I'm not saying that we need to live a sterile life, free from stuff, but if it's no use then what's the point in keeping it. To me the clutter just takes over your life and gets in the way of the important stuff! Anyway, enough of my moaning, let's have a look at some carpet fitting! Lounge Realistically, and unfortunately, this had to be the first room we attacked, as all the stuff from here had to go somewhere, and it seemed pointless dragging stuff over newly fitted carpet into other rooms whilst we did this one. That was far from ideal though, as I was going to have to try to figure out what I was doing and learn as I went along, on the room that's used the most and is the biggest. Also far from ideal was the fact that we couldn't get the sofa out of the room as there was no where for it to go, so I had to work around it. A feat which required humping and dumping it from one end of the room to the other a few million times, or at least that's what it felt like. I got there in the end though and I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. Spare Bedroom I learned a lot from the lounge, but before we got to put that learning into practice there was the small matter of the uneven squeaky floor to sort out. To that end the loose boards came up and were re-seated properly, and every board got screwed to it's respective joist before the whole lot got covered with a full layer of hardboard to flatten out any unevenness. That's the best part of a days work before we even think about getting the carpet back down, but oh so worth it to be squeak and creak free when you wander round the room, and it should have the added benefit of helping with the insulation next winter as all the draughty gaps between the floor boards are now sealed up. Main Bedroom 2 down and were on to the main bedroom. Things should have been getting easier as I got the hang of it. But hold on. Someone decided that we needed the biggest bed you can buy, which whilst being brilliant, weighs more than a small planet. And this time it's definitely got to get moved - Bad back here we come! With all the stuff out it's just rinse and repeat. Floorboards up to mark up the pipe and power runs, then screw the floor down, line with hardboard to flatten out, new grippers, underlay and job done. Now if only it was that simple! Oh, and before we moved the bed back in it made sense to use the extra space to cut all the doors down. There's only 7 to do upstairs! 2 of which are Oak faced and weigh a ton. When I fitted them a few years ago, I lugged them up and down the stairs multiple times, so I know exactly how much they weigh and there was no way I was doing that again. My arms hurt enough from lugging furniture around as it is. The main room doors needed 10mm off the bottoms which just shows how much extra underlay and carpet has gone down! Landing. 3 rooms done in 5 days and I'm getting tired now, but the back of it's broken and the furniture humping and dumping's done. On the negative side, it's all fiddly stuff from here on in which is always time consuming. Either way, there's still work to be done. So, landing floor up for a look underneath. Screw the boards down (that's approximately 700 screws that have gone into the floors of the 3 rooms upstairs), underlay down and crack on. The worst bit here is all the corners and the threshold strips which I seem to struggle with. It takes just as long to do a little room as it does a big one as there's no long straight edges, which is always worth bearing in mind of your getting a quote for work (£XXX for that your having a laugh, it's only a little room!) Stairs The stairs have always been a bit of an issue, mainly because they've always sounded like your about to fall through them as the treads groaned, creaked and appeared to flex under your feet. It's never been very confidence inspiring, and has resulted in some strange contortions when your trying to creep around in the middle of the night (burglars beware, you'll never get up the stairs without us hearing you). Pulling up the old carpets revealed the main source of the problem, the top treads which turn a corner and are therefore wider were cracked (as were a number of the other steps). As you can't access the backs there was really only one solution and that was to fit some reinforcing plates, which seems to have done the trick. Getting the carpet down wasn't easy due to all the bends and twists, but I got there in the end, and to be honest I'm more than happy with the way they came out. Especially as you can now get up and down the stairs without alerting the entire neighbourhood (although now the first I know about the burglars will be when they're getting into bed with me) Hall And that just left the hall, which revealed a nice surprise when I removed the old carpet in the form of a massive crack running the width of the room adjacent to the front door. Looking at it I suspect it's been there a while and it appears to be the result of the floor slab pulling away from the door reveal (or vice versa), which is made up from a solid concrete lintel. It doesn't join up with the floor slab on the other side of the lounge wall and the front of the house is free from cracking, and everything appears to still be straight, true and level, so fingers crossed it's historical and not recent movement. Having set my mind at ease that the fronts not about to fall out of the house, it was just a case of fill the crack and re-screed over the top, to get back to level. Added and unexpected work, but at least I know it's hopefully fixed. While I had some levelling compound mixed up, it made sense to fill all the other gaps where the original floor tiles were missing too. And then it was just a case of more of the same. New grippers, underlay and carpet, and bish, bash, bosh, job done! And there we have it, 6 days for 5 rooms plus the stairs, all done by my fair hand, with more than a little bit of help from "The Emma". Lots of people said that I was mad to be taking this job on. But, I'll stand by me earlier comments that the worst bit of the entire job was emptying out all the cupboards and moving the furniture and then putting it all back again 2 minutes later, and even if we'd payed someone to fit the carpet, we'd still have had to do that.
Plus, I've done significantly more than just change the carpet. I've fixed the stairs and the big crack in the hall floor, I've screwed down every floorboard upstairs and flattened out the floors, and I've rehung all the doors to take account of the new carpet thickness. And they're not jobs that your average carpet fitters going to do, so we'd have probably needed a carpenter too. I honestly don't think that a professional carpet fitter would have done a much better job either. Quicker most certainly, but better, I'm not so sure. There's only one bit that I'm not 100% happy with and that's the tension in the lounge carpet. It's flat, and it was as tight as I could get it when I fitted it, but the rooms 7 meters long, and the sofa was still in the way, so it's as good as I could get it at the time, but not perfect. Now that it's had a few days to flatten itself out, I think I could get it tighter. Pulling it tighter shouldn't be a problem though, so I'll give it a few weeks to finish settling and then see about getting a bit more tension in it. I'll quite happily admit that it was bloody hard graft though. I've got more holes in my fingers from catching them on the gripper strips than I know what to do with and there's aching muscles in my wrists that I didn't even know existed (don't take on a carpet fitter in an arm wrestle). But was it worth the effort? Too right it was! Wandering round the house, I'm more than happy with what we have achieved, and we can look back on this week in the future and say "We did that" and if it's not worth doing a job for that sense of satisfaction, then I don't know what is! Oh. And to all those people that said "You can't do that" - Well "Yes you can" you just need to think about what you doing and get stuck in! Things really don’t seem to be going quite to plan at the moment, something which I’m desperately hoping and praying will be a temporary glitch and not a permanent change! This weekend I was supposed to be riding the 3 Down 300Km Audax on Saturday, but pulled out at the last minute (which is something I truly hate doing). I was all set to ride mid-week, but as the week went on my enthusiasm waned somewhat, and it wasn’t exactly high before (see last weeks blog for my tales of misery). Looking at the weather forecast midweek, Friday and Saturday were looking pretty grim, with long periods of rain and windy conditions forecast, a situation which did little for my enthusiasm or morale. Holding off on making a decision regarding my weekend plans, I got wet cycling into work and back on Thursday and Friday, and checking every weather app on Friday afternoon, things weren’t looking any better for Saturday. Now a bit of rain wouldn’t normally put me off, I’m normally more than happy to get wet, it’s all part of the adventure. But on top of the weather, my knee really isn’t right, and as I mentioned last week, my heads really not in it at the moment. My knees playing on my mind, and do I really want to make things any worse? 15-20 hours on the bike is a big ask at the best of times. Add in what looked like at least the first 5 hours being wet and miserable, and the risk of making my knees even worse than they already are, it should have been an easy decision to make. But it wasn’t! I had a chat with “The Emma”, I checked the forecast multiple times, and I looked out the window numerous times at the teeming rain. But things didn’t look like they were going to get any better. Eventually, reluctantly, I made my decision. There wasn’t much point in slogging all the way to the start if I was just going to be miserable, wet, and not enjoy myself. I might as well stay at home and do something useful and less taxing with my time. Decision made, that didn’t stop me from almost changing my mind after tea and heading out anyway just in case the weather got better. But eventually sense prevailed and I settled in for a weekend at home. My decision appeared to have been vindicated Saturday morning when I work up to yet more rain, a situation which continued all morning, before it finally stopped, and the afternoon brightened up a bit after lunch. That would still have been 5 or 6 hours of being rained on though, and even after it stopped the roads were still flooded with lots of surface water about. My easy weekend hasn’t helped my knees though. As, despite not playing out all weekend, they are both really sore, especially the left one which seems to be the main protagonist. Hopefully a few more weeks of not running and a few days off the bike over Easter will improve that situation and we can soon get back to normal, but for now things aren’t looking great. But I suppose that means than on the positive side, things can only get better. Being at home all weekend did mean that I got a few hours in on the allotment on Sunday morning. Not that I got much done as the ground is absolutely saturated. There are lots of little signs that better days are on their way though. Most of the seeds that I sowed in the greenhouse on the 18th March have germinated (Sprouts, Cabbages, Kale, Leeks, Peas, Sweet peas, Amaranthus, Marigolds, and a few other things that escape me at the moment). Likewise, there’s lots of new growth in the gardens, with Polyanthus in full bloom complementing the Hyacinths and last of the Daffodils, and all of the fruit trees in full bud and about to burst into leaf. The Chillies, Tomatoes, Geraniums, and Petunias that I sowed in pots on the bedroom windowsill have all germinated in the last few days too, so things are certainly looking up! Now that the admin is out of the way, I've explained why I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing, and pottered around on the allotment for a bit, there was still a big chunk of weekend that needed filling. Luckily this little lot arrived on Thursday, which should keep me occupied for a while! Giant toilet rolls? Nope, carpet and lots of it. I've hinted a couple of times that I had plans for my Easter break and this is one of them (and the biggest) and as I've not been out to play, I might as well make myself productive and get on with it. Now, before I even start on this one I'm going to say 4 things. Firstly, I've never laid a carpet before. No actually that's a lie, I did the small bedroom and the bathroom in the first house I renovated many years ago (back in the days when foam backed carpet was a thing), and it didn't quite go to plan. The bathroom was the first room I ever did and I thought this looks easy, I'll take the old bit out, lay them on top of each other, use that as a pattern, and as that fitted then so will my new one. And indeed it would have done, if I hadn't put them back to back, resulting in a perfect mirror image in my nice new bit of carpet! Lesson learned from that one, the replacement, replacement, went much better and the spare bedroom turned out just fine. Since then, I've done plenty of Lino, loads of laminate flooring (we'll ignore the time I helped a good friend laminate their entire downstairs over a weekend only to discover a few days later that the lump in the middle of the lounge floor was a pencil that we'd lost on day one. Que the next weekend taking most of it back up again to recover said pencil) and they all turned out fine. So why not take on re-carpeting the entire house! Secondly, as far as I can see, the worst bit about fitting new carpets is that you've got to empty the room out. That means unloading all the cupboards, packing away all the nick knacks, and disturbing all the spiders that hide behind the sofa. You've then got to put it all back again. In which case, I'm going to do all the really unpleasant bit, then pay someone loads of money to pitch up and do what should be the easy bit, while I put it all back again! And I've got to do it all to their timescales! Which sounds a bit rubbish to me. Thirdly, If I pay someone else to do the job then it tends to get done to their standards and not mine, and at the lowest cost possible. And, as we'll see in a minute, all they're going to do is bang some more carpet down on top of whatever mess is underneath. Which appears to be exactly what whichever professional that laid the current one here did, where the underlay appears to have been made up from a million salvaged off cuts, with all the joins in the highest traffic areas, which probably explains why it's worn so poorly and why the underlay moves around all the time! And please don't take that last paragraph as a slur against all the highly skilled and professional tradesmen out there. It's just the reality of life. As a consumer we all want stuff doing at the lowest price, and if your carpet fitter came in and said "I can do a really good job, but it'll take 2 days and cost XXXX amount" and his mate said "I can do it in a day for half that" you know who's going to be out of business pretty sharpish! So we're our own worst enemies on this one. And finally, everyone we've spoken too, apart from the nice man that delivered the carpet, has said, "Oh, I wouldn't want to do that". Surprisingly though (or maybe not), when you ask them why, the only answers you get are the age old "Well, it looks difficult", "What if you mess it up", and "It looks like hard work". Which I'll counter with, "If it was easy it wouldn't be a challenge, and how do you know it's difficult if you've never done it"? I'm pretty sure that getting to the moon was pretty tricky, but JFK didn't say "Were not going to the moon because it looks a bit difficult" did he! Likewise, if I mess it up (which I won't, but if I do I'll be sure to let you all know), then I'll just get another bit of carpet and still be quid's in on the cost of getting someone else to fit it. And finally, yes it might be hard work, but I'm not afraid of hard work and besides, imagine the sense of satisfaction I'm going to have when I sit down at the end of the job and can say "I did that". I don't tend to blow my own trumpet much (apart from every week here) but when I wander around at home or in the garden and allotment and my eye falls on the things I've made or built it's immensely satisfying, and this is just another little job that'll hopefully be the same. So for a starters lets pull the carpet off the stairs and hallway. Then I can A) Have a look at what were up against. B) Paint the edges and skirting boards before the new carpet goes down and C) Hopefully fix some of the creaks on the stairs. But what's this I spy, hidden under the carpet? I'm hoping that it's historic settlement, where the floor slab has pulled away from the wall at some point in the past, (there doesn't appear to be any other signs of movement, and there's no cracking to the wall's so I'm hoping that it's not structural). Either way we need to do something about it! And that'll do for this weekend, I'll get some paint on the skirting boards and stairs in the week, which will get us a jump ahead, and then make a start on the lounge carpet which is the biggest one and has the most stuff in the way.
Were off to a start though and any progress is good progress in my book.
Another week gone and another step closer to spring, not that it feels like it this week, but we must be getting closer as there’s lots of Daffodils in full bloom and I notice that the Roses and Clematis in the garden have got fresh growth on them, so it must be getting warmer, even if were having a bit of a relapse this week.
The days are drawing out too. It’s just about light when I set off on my daily commute to work now and it’s still light gone 18:00 which means there’s a bit more time for getting out and about and sorting out all those jobs at home that I’ve been avoiding all winter. Having mentioned it last week, I finally got my seed order for the allotment and gardens in last week too, which arrived at the start of the week. I’m starting to think that I might have overdone it a bit though. It all looks so tempting when you’re flicking through seed catalogues on a dull winters evening and there’s so much promise in all those little packets. I’ll give it another week or so for the current cold snap to end and then it’ll be time to start getting the greenhouse ready and sowing seeds. I really can’t wait!
All that’s to come yet though, so more importantly what have I been up to this weekend? Well, for starters you’ll be pleased to know that the little Bangernomics Peugeot passed its MOT with flying colours, which makes the bit of work I did on the brakes worthwhile. On the downside, the possible head gasket leak that I’ve been monitoring for a while looks like a definite case and will need some attention in the very near future.
When I mentioned it to “The Emma” the other day she said, “That’ll give you a nice little project to think about then” and I suppose she’s right. I don’t like making work for the fun of it, but I do like something to get my teeth into and even more so if it makes me think a bit. Hopefully it’ll limp on until the weather warms up a bit but watch this space for a bit more car tinkering at some point in the future! Sunday saw my now annual outing to the Steyning Stinger, a cheeky little marathon length romp up onto the South Downs, by way of a couple of cheeky little climbs, and to that end I loaded up the van on Friday evening and set off into the unknown, planning on a bit of cycling Saturday morning and a quick visit to “Kathryn Stinks” for tea on Saturday evening before the running fun on Sunday. With Saturday dawning overcast and cold, but dry, I managed to get in a few miles (67 to be precise) to add to the years tally. Nothing special, or overly taxing, but it was a nice little route along quiet county lanes, all of which were well adorned with Catkins dangling magnificently from the roadside Hazels, and the odd spattering of wild daffodils and Snowdrops all standing proud against the chilly wind. Sunday looked even better weather wise and after a quiet night I was up bright and early, ready for an 07:30 Marathon start. As I mentioned earlier, this is a run that I’ve done a couple of times now (2020, 2022) and I’m pretty sure that this is the best weather I’ve had so far. Previous years it’s been windy or misty, or both, but this year was just about ideal running conditions, and a distinct lack of mud, making for some predictably fast times (not from me though!). It’s a lovely route too, despite those couple of ferocious ascents to get up onto the South Downs ridge line, the views from the top more than make up for the effort of getting up there though!
Unfortunately, I haven’t got much to say about the actual run, which is probably a good thing. Taking it slow and steady I didn’t push particularly hard and must admit that I probably enjoyed myself more than those previous times.
The slightly slower pace left time to take in the views and enjoy the running, instead of constantly clock watching and fretting about the odd lost second here and there. And with it being pretty much ideal conditions, I know that I can’t compete with the fast guys (especially not having put 60 miles into my legs yesterday on top of a full week’s training) so why punish myself for a fast time? There’s a time and a place for that lark and this wasn’t it. That’s not to say that I spent the morning dawdling along. Somehow, I still managed to cross the line in 4:03, which considering the terrain, is a time that I’m more than happy with. Yes, it’s not the fastest I’ve ever run, in fact I’ve done the same route 20 minutes faster previously, but as I said before, I certainly enjoyed this year’s more than those fast ones. And to top it all off, the customary cooked breakfast at the end tasted just as good! It’s going to be a short and sweet one this week folks, mainly because I haven’t done anything worth talking about. That’s not to say that I’ve been sat around doing nothing, in fact the exact opposite is true, it’s just that what I have been doing isn’t very interesting. I’ve actually spent the weekend stuck in a 2-meter square room with a frosted glass window so I couldn’t even see out whilst working my little fingers off, and before anyone suggests it, no “The Emma” hasn’t had me certified and locked up for my own good! What I’ve actually been doing is replacing a bathroom for my sister, (that’s “Kathryn Stinks” not “the one that forgot she’s got a brother”) and whilst I started off with great expectations of getting loads of pictures for you all to look at, what actually happened is things rapidly went downhill, the easy job we’d planned for turned into a bit of a nightmare, and taking pictures was the last thing on my mind! If I’m honest I’m not even sure how I got suckered into this little escapade. I seem to think it started with a simple “how easy is it to change a bath” text message question. To which I obviously replied with “It’s a bloody nightmare, don’t even think about it!” Anyhow, roll on a few weeks and my stance softened slightly when it transpired that the question wasn’t a vanity project but a real issue. You see some previous lunatic had decided that a P shaped bath would be a brilliant idea in a room less than 6ft wide. However, clearly not satisfied with that bit of stupidity. They had then fitted the taps to the side you get in from, meaning that not only could you not fit a shower screen to the stupidly shaped bath, which also took up most of the room, but you clattered your toes or shins on the taps every time you got in the bath. Brilliant! It may have looked great in the showroom with loads of space all around it, but in reality, ridiculous. As per usual though, just changing the bath isn’t that simple. Not only were all the water and waste pipes now in the wrong position, but the black tiled floor which had been fitted with the stupidly shaped bath, only went to the edge of the bath, meaning that would have to be replaced too! And if you’re taking the floor up, then the toilet and sink have to come out as well. So, you might as well just start again from scratch. A few more messages, a couple of video calls so I could actually see what we were talking about, and somehow, I’d agreed to provide my limited expertise, provided “Kathryn Stinks” provided the labour and kept up an endless supply of brews. Obviously smashing stuff up is the best part of any job, and despite the multiple layers of Silicone sealant that had been used to hold everything together (why use screws or proper fasteners when you can just stick the toilet down with a whole tube of silicone), we had the room stripped out within a couple of hours on Friday afternoon. Leaving time to fit a replacement false floor to take out the uneven floorboards, and struggle with fitting the new lino (cushion flooring) before bedtime. After a good night’s sleep, an early start, and a trip round the DIY shops in the van to collect the new toilet etc, Saturday turned out to be somewhat frustrating. Putting it back together should be the easy bit, but everything we touched turned into a nightmare. For a start, two of the newly soldered pipe fittings leaked as soon as we turned the water back on, a problem I’ve never had before. Then, having remade and re-soldered all the pipe runs, everything else insisted on leaking. The sink U bend wouldn’t fit the new sink and having acquired a replacement it then wouldn’t seal. The toilet cistern attachment bolts insisted on dripping despite having been resealed numerous times and the bath was a bugger to get into position and even once in place continued to put up a fight with getting the waste pipe to line up in the new position. Oh, and have I mentioned having to spend 30 minutes scraping solidified toilet waste off the outlet connection to allow it to seal correctly on the new pan? No, I thought not! After much swearing, sweating and general frustration, by Saturday night we eventually got to a position where the suite was back in and leak free and the floor, complete with replacement skirting boards was finished. I’ll admit that It had been a long and tiring day and may have involved the odd sense of humour failure! However, with little steps we were getting somewhere and we knocked it on the head at about 20:00 on Saturday evening just about able to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
An early start was required Sunday morning if we had any chance of getting finished and to that end, we were back at it for 07:30. In an attempt to make our lives easy and give us any chance of completing such a task in 2 days "Shower panels" were used for the walls. Supplied in 2.4 x 1m sheets it’s just a case of cutting it to size and sticking it to the walls. Far quicker and easier than tiling, and being large, sealed sheets, it shouldn’t allow any water to penetrate into the walls. This was a real-life saver, and brilliant decision, in fact I’d go as far as saying that there was no way we could have done what we did in the timeframe without, as despite multiple trips up and down the stairs as we cut the panels to size and test fitted them by early afternoon we had the 3 bath walls sheeted and watertight, something that would have been impossible with tiles. How well it will wear I’ve no idea, but for a quick, well priced option, it seems ideal. Which just left us to sort out the plumbing for the new shower, fit the new shower, fit the shower screen, bath front, toilet seat and cistern lid, seal all the edges and tidy up. Simples hey! And in fact, after Saturday’s tribulations it wasn’t too bad, and we made some excellent progress. By 17:00 we were wrapping up and working round the room with the sealant gun, and shortly after 18:00 I was back in the van, heading for home. I’m not going to pretend for one second that it was an easy job, in fact I’ll happily admit that it was a nightmare. My knees are sore, my wrists hurt, and my fingers are covered in little cuts. Working in a restricted space is twice as hard as working with plenty of room and doubly frustrating. But, standing back on Sunday evening and looking at what we had achieved in such a short timeframe, I’m pretty certain that I can speak for both of us and say that we were stood there with a sense of self satisfaction and mutual admiration for a job well done. It’s not very often that I get to spend any time with Kathryn and her tribe, and whilst we had a few stressful moments on Saturday afternoon, it was a really pleasurable experience, and one which I’d be happy to repeat (just not for a while, as I’m getting too old for this game). I’ll confess that due to a lack of time, it’s not quite to my normal standard of workmanship, but it’s one that I’m still proud to put my name too and as good, if not better, than a lot of professional jobs I’ve been witness too. And if it’s helped out and made their life just a little bit better in the long run then it was well worth doing. I must say that “Kathyn Stinks” is a real grafter who’s willing to put in the time to learn and have a go at anything. Like me if she doesn’t know how to do something she’ll find out and have a go, without any expectation that someone else will do it for her, and people like that are an absolute pleasure to help. I’ve also got to give credit where it’s due to both her kid’s, who gave her the space to crack on and get involved and to James, who whilst being the first to admit that he’s not mechanically minded, must have made at least 500 brews over those 2 days and kept me fed for the whole time. And as we all know, an army marches on its stomach. Teamwork makes the dream work as they say, and that was a real team effort! All that she’s got left to do now is a bit of decorating and put the skills and confidence she gained this weekend to test in their next project.
Before I start this week, you might have picked up on a bit of a theme running through the last few weeks blog posts. That theme being the fact that it's been a bit damp recently. You might also recall that I commented a few weeks ago about the bucket that's in the garden that was half full of rain.
Well, you'll all be pleased to know that when I looked on Saturday morning it was no longer half full, it was fully full. Now, I mentioned the other week that I know for a fact that the bucket in question was empty on the 17th December, because I used it to wash my bike and emptied it out afterwards. So from that I can confidently deduce that we have had at least 8 1/2 inches of rain in the last 28 days, most of which is in my shoes!
Now I’ve finished moaning about the weather. Sunday saw a return to muddy running fun in the form of The Winter Tanners. A 30 mile circular route from Leatherhead taking in some of the highlights of the Surrey Hills and surrounding environs. Organised, (superbly as always) by our friends at the LDWA.
The real joy of The Winter Tanners, apart from the fact its running and when is that not fun, is that it takes a different route every year, so it’s always new and exciting, and as such I’d been looking forward to this one for a while. Luckily, the weather forecast for Sunday appeared to show that we might be getting a break in the monsoon, before a colder spell next week, so I’d packed up the van Saturday afternoon, complete with options for just about every weather outcome I could think of, and set off for the start after tea, ready for an early night and an early(ish) start on Sunday morning. Obviously, the weather Gods look down favourably on the LDWA. As, just like last year, Sunday dawned dry but chilly. Having sensibly pre-empted just such a situation, chilly wasn’t going to be an issue and after a leisurely breakfast I headed down to the start, complete with multiple layers, Down jacket and some spare dry gloves and other assorted extra clothes, just in case. As the name suggests, LDWA events are set up for walkers, not us silly runners, and as such there’s no rush to get started. Like Audax, arrival times at the checkpoints are controlled (within a set time window) and as a runner it’s fairly easy to get ahead of the first control opening times if you’re not careful, which results in standing around getting cold whilst waiting for the checkpoint to open before you can get checked in. As such there’s no point departing too early, and there’s no point going hell for leather. It’s all about getting out in the open air, enjoying the day and taking in the majesty of what are always amazingly scenic routes. Today was not exception, and I set off at 08:30, still dressed for the arctic, complete with Down jacket, gloves, arm warmers, hat, scarf and kitchen sink, planning on having a steady plod and leisurely day.
A few easy miles in the early morning sunshine alongside the flooded River Mole, gave me a chance to warm up, and within a couple of miles I was stopped removing my jacket and rearranging my layers for some more sensible running attire. An idea which soon proved sensible, as within the next couple of miles things went sharply uphill as we crossed the A24 and started the ascent of Box hill.
Climbing steadily upwards along tracks familiar from The knacker Cracker the views over Dorking and the surrounding countryside slowly opened out as we crawled steadily skywards, both rewarding the effort and providing a justifiable excuse to pause for a while to both get your breath back and take in the view.
Don’t pause for too long though, the view might be magnificent but there’s still work to be done and what goes up must come back down again. So, over the top and start the long descent back down again. Reach the bottom via the unevenly spaced steps, cross the A25 and were on to flatter ground as we skirt around Brockham.
The flatter ground brings challenges of its own though, in the form of waterlogged and muddy paths. Slip Sliding along, we pass the traffic chaos caused by families trying to get parked for a children’s football tournament. Rather them than me and I’ll bet that there were a few Chelsea tractors stuck on the muddy field at the end of the day. Not my problem though, it’s shank’s pony for me today and I’m making steady progress as I continue on towards Checkpoint one, still trying to dodge the puddles and the worst of the muddy bits. A situation which won’t last much longer, but it’s nice to have dry feet whilst you can.
8.5 miles done and the first checkpoint appears. Present my card to the marshals to register my arrival and then refill my water bottle and grab a hot cross bun from the fine spread on offer, before heading back out again. Minimal stop time and push on. Just like on an Audax, stopping is where all the time gets lost. Grab and go, and sort yourself out once you’re moving again is the best and most efficient option in my opinion.
Any thoughts of dry feet were firmly dashed as soon as we departed checkpoint one. Gone are the nicely maintained, if muddy, paths, and were straight into flatter open countryside, hugging the hedge line of waterlogged fields, ankle deep in puddles and sticky, slippery, mud. I’ll admit that the next 9 miles was a bit of a slog, mile after mile of flat, muddy, waterlogged meadows and slippery, recently cultivated fields. It’s all part of the fun though, and you can’t have the high spots and stunning views without the transitional sections. Head down, concentrate on trying to place your feet and push on. With every step your feet sink ankle deep into the soft waterlogged earth and you have to pull them free again, the wet mud clinging to your shoes like icy fingers from below the surface, threatening to pull your shoes from your feet as you wrench them free, the cold muddy water seeping through your shoes and socks and puddling between your toes, before releasing its grip, allowing you to repeat the process with every step. Struggling for grip going uphill on the gentle inclines and struggling to stay on your feet as you slither down the other side again, it's like ice skating on mud, or a new born Giraffe trying to find its feet. Oh, what fun! I spent my childhood being told off for getting wet and muddy, now that there’s no one to tell me off and I’m doing it by choice, the novelty seems to have worn off a bit! Eventually though, legs caked in mud, muddy water squelching from soaked shoes and socks with every step, checkpoint 2 arrives and with it the friendly faces of the amazing volunteers who have given up their Sunday to provide a little bit of civilisation at the side of a barn in the middle of nowhere. Stop for a quick chat, refill my bottles, pick up a couple of salty crackers and rearrange my backpack for the next leg and then onwards before the cold starts to eat at my wet lower body and sweaty upper half.
Things get better for the next section as we make the turn to head back towards the start location.
Leaving behind the flatter waterlogged low laying areas we head back up hill. A mile or so of steady (and steep) climbing sees the top of Leith Hill with its familiar tower, dog walkers, mountain bikers, picnicking families and couples hoping for a romantic few minutes as they take in the stunning view towards the South Downs and the sea beyond. I’ve not seen a single person for the last few hours (apart from those running and walking alongside me) and now I know why, there all here queuing for a coffee from the little shop at the base of the tower. No time to join the Queue or take in the view today though, there’s a long slow descent to come as I head back towards the North Downs and the next checkpoint, the top of which is clearly visible off in the distance as I start to descend. It’s beautiful running this, gently downhill, along soft, sandy, well drained trails. The next few miles come easily despite tired legs, and I take the opportunity to get a few more calories on board as I plod along. Calories that are going to be desperately needed very soon, as I can see the North Downs with the steep climb that I know awaits, looming large ahead. All too soon that long climb arrives and with it some company, as we re-join the walkers on the 20-mile route who are themselves slowly plodding up the hill. Shared acknowledgment of the struggles and joys in hand are part of what makes these events special. It doesn’t even need a word on most occasions, just a shared glance as you pass like ships in the night, each enjoying the moment for what it is and each happy with their own thoughts, the joy of being outdoors on a fine winter’s day, and unspoken company.
Over the top again, through the final checkpoint and there’s only a few more miles of fairly easy running left now. Surprisingly, considering the distance and terrain already covered I’m still feeling pretty good. My slow start and steady pacing, have obviously paid dividends. Why can’t I do that when it really matters?
Those last few miles seem to pass in a blur and before I know it, I’m heading back into Leatherhead. The birdsong, peace and tranquillity of the open countryside, replaced by the noise of traffic as the “normal” people go about their Sunday afternoons. Muddy, wet, bedraggled, but happy, I pause at the roadside waiting for a gap in the traffic and when it finally comes cross, and gently jog the last few meters back to the start. 31 Miles in 6 hours and 7 minutes, not fast by any measure, but today wasn’t about times. It was about a beautiful route through some stunning countryside, it was about being outside in the fresh air and having a great time. And it more than lived up to that billing. There’s no better way to spend your weekend than with like minded people, all of whom are enjoying themselves and creating memories which will last a lifetime. Hopefully I’ve got plenty more running years ahead of me to keep on creating those memories, and all the time I can keep on running in the great outdoors I will, but when I’m too old and tired to run anymore? Well, I’ll just do what the LDWA was set up to do. I’ll walk!
In other news, I had a message from the person that has the allotment opposite mine one evening in the week, to say that all the sheds had been broken in to again. So I nipped up there in the rain, and yes indeed, some nice person had prised the lock off my shed door and all the others in our block.
It's not the first time and I'm sure that it wont be the last (it's actually at least the 4th time in the last 10 years) and for that reason the locks only held on with little screws and it's only a cheap padlock anyway. My thoughts being that if someone wants to get in to my shed then I'd rather they did it without doing any other damage, so the locks only a bit of lip service to a deterrent. Anyway, as with previous incursions, nothings missing from my shed (what does anyone think your going to have in an allotment shed that's worth nicking anyway?). But what's different this time, is the fact that whoever decided that our property should be theirs, came equipped for the job, as they've neatly cut through 2 layers of chain link fencing to get in. Why they thought that was necessary I've no idea, as they could have just climbed over the fence, but there you go. The council will eventually fix the fence, but don't hold your breath, so I've been up there this weekend and carried out a bit of a temporary repair using a pallet and some stakes from my side of the fence. It won't keep out the bolt cropper equipped idiot, but it might slow them down a bit. Oh, and I obviously don't want my pallet or stakes to get rotten, so it's had a liberal coating of old engine oil to preserve it too. I just hope no one tries to move it, because old engine oil is a right bugger to get out of your clothes!
And finally for this week, something completely different.
Last year, when my little run around Peugeot went for it's MOT, it had an advisory for uneven braking on the rear axle, and the tester said that although it was an advisory he had struggled to get a pass on it and it really needed looking at. Anyhow, being the conscientious person I am, I did indeed have a look at it, and replaced the brake shoes, hardware and cylinders and bled through all the old brake fluid. However, whilst I've done all that work, I never actually found anything wrong with it, so I've no idea if it's fixed or not. Which left me with a bit of a problem. Do I just put it in for it's MOT this year and hope my previous work fixed the issue? Or do I do a bit more investigation while I've got the time, and try to prove where the problem may be? Well, I decided that the latter is probably the best approach and the next logical step would be to see what brake pressure we are actually getting at the rear wheels. If both sides are the same we can happily say it's probably fixed, and if not then it's a brake shoe issue. But if they're not both the same then the problem still exists and its something else. The easiest way to confirm what brake pressure we've got is to fit a couple of gauges into the system. The only problem being, the cheapest set of test gauges I could find were £150 and I wasn't paying that for a one off job! So, thinking hat on. All I needed to do was get from the brake cylinder bleed screw fitting, to the test gauge fitting, one of which was an M8 male thread, and the other of which is a female 1/4" BSP. Nothings ever simple is it! After a bit of thinking (running provides plenty of thinking time), I sourced a couple of gauges and a selection of fittings for less than £30 and set too. Now, in the interest of transparency and just to prove that my ideas don't always work, my first idea was to drill out a bleed nipple to fit a bit of brake pipe, solder the two together and then join everything up from there. Which I did last week. However whilst this seemed to work, I wasn't very happy with the soldering, and wasn't convinced that it would hold the pressure required. So I jiggled together a bit of a test set up, and as predicted, the first version started weeping at 500 PSI, and the second one held at 1000 PSI, but I still wasn't happy!
With version one a bit of a non success, I had 2 options. Either carry on down the same route, but the next step would be to braze the fittings which should hold (have you seen the price of brazing rod and flux though), or make a solid adaptor.
So a couple of hours in the shed whilst it was tipping it down on Saturday morning, and;
So now all I need, is for it to stop raining for long enough to actually get under the car without getting soaked and we should be able to see what we've got brake pressure wise, and all for considerably less than the cost of the cheapest off the shelf version I could find anywhere.
Granted I've used thousands of pounds worth of tools to do so, but we'll just ignore that little fact! Here we go again then, the start of another year and the chance to wipe the slate clean and start all over again. Again! Being as we are starting again I suppose the first order of business needs to be wrapping up last year's achievements and whilst I will eventually get around to updating my reminiscing pages to reflect 2022’s happenings, it won't do any harm to just have a quick run through here will it. So in no particular order in 2022 I:
That's not all though, because:
And whilst doing that little lot I spent 57 nights away in the van, which I think fully justifies its expense, and a further 8 nights bivvying out (which is nowhere near enough). Personally, I think that’s pretty good going, especially as I’m not exactly in the prime of youth, and probably explains why I have difficulties keeping my eyes open in the evenings. To be honest, I think it’s going to be pretty hard to get anywhere near those numbers again, but we'll see how 2023 goes, and I’ve certainly got plenty of things in the pipeline, so I guess that we'll just see what happens as the year progresses and go from there. Right then, that’s enough about last year, life's all about looking forwards not back, so let's get on with 2023, and to that end there’s only one way to start a new year off and that’s with the Knacker Cracker! The Knacker Cracker’s become a bit of a New Year's Day tradition for me, although I missed last year due to the Covid Kerfuffle (and that’s missed in both senses of the word (didn’t attend and missed attending)). Missed opportunities aside, it’s a brilliant little run and by my normal standards it is little (10Km). But what it lacks in distance, it more than makes up for in stupidity. It’s always muddy, the majority of the route seems to be either vertical ascent or descent, much of which is so steep that the muddy paths have been replaced with uneven sized muddy steps, and most importantly there’s always a strong turnout of fancy dress. Now what’s not to like about that I ask you? And what a brilliant way to start a new year, muddy running stupidity. Brilliant! Having dug out my Minion costume and trail shoes from the depths of the wardrobe the night before, the late start time (11:00) left plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast and a relaxed drive down to the start. Not that I’d been partying on New Years Eve. I was actually in bed just after 10 having struggled to keep my eyes open that long. I suppose that's what spending the 4 previous days on your bike does for you! I’ve said it before and I’ll no doubt say it again, it’s a glamorous life I lead! Arriving in plenty of time, I picked up my number and joined the other runners milling around waiting for the off. But before we could depart there was the small matter of getting to the start. Previously the start point has been at the top of Box Hill, however the National trust which owns the land has since decided not to allow the use of their car park and as such alternative arrangements have been made, necessitating a short walk to the start. It’s not every day that you get to enjoy the sight of a couple of hundred runners proceeding up the edge of the A24 dressed as Nuns, Minions, Father Christmas’s, Pirates, Wizards and a hundred other silly things, so it’s certainly not the end of the world. Arriving at what should have been our departure point, a further detour was required to alternative start point B. I can think of no better way to explain the reason for this diversion than the words used by the organiser who announced that plan B was being put into action due to “The bridge to get to the start being testicle deep in water” which I think pretty much sums up the spirit of the whole day. Reaching the new start point, a quick briefing covered the alternative routing, ensuring we all knew where we were going (well, some people did), followed by a rousing rendition of the national anthem and we were on our way. On our way slowly, that is, as the first half mile or so took us from the bottom of Box Hilll to the top, up a steep narrow path. Wave to the camera drone on the way past, squeeze past the Nun and fall in for a few steps behind the mexican band, acknowledge the piper complete with kilt whos doing his best to squeeze the life out of his bagpipes (he’s really good really) and crest the hill. Straight over the road for a flatter section, where I gain a few places, passing a christmas present, a wizard complete with long flowing beard and staff, and then get passed myself by 2 top gun pilots. See I told you this was fun! And so it goes on for 10 Km along muddy, rutted tracks. Families out for their new years day walk offer words of encouragement as you pass, their children busy identifying their favorite characters from the multitude of fancy dress costumes, and fellow runners offer their own encouragement as you pass, or cross paths, on the multiple overlapping points. A return to the Piper, now at the lookout point atop the hill, signifies that the day's work is nearly done and offers superb views over Dorking and the surrounding countryside. Just once more down the hill and back up again and we're done. This ones a hard one though with uneven steps cut into the hillside all the way down and back up again. Legs tiring from the effort and with short sharp breaths, it’s a case of head down and climb those steps. Big step, little step, run a few feet, clamber over some tree roots and a few more uneven steps, I’m working my way back up the hill though and there’s not much further to go now. One final push and the ends in sight. Over the line in 58 minutes, a long way off the winning time of 41, but todays not about winning as far as I’m concerned, in fact it’s not even about trying, it's all about having fun and enjoying the day, and enjoy it I most certainly did. Roll on next year is all I’ve got to add, because the Knacker Cracker is certainly the best way to welcome in the new year as far as I’m concerned! In other news and I might have mentioned it a few times in the last couple of weeks, we seem to have had a bit of rain recently. I’ve obviously wittered on today about the bridge to the start at the Knacker Cracker being testicle deep in flood water, and you might have noticed that I mentioned getting wet a few times in my post about the The Full Fat Festive 500. But, even I didn’t realise quite how much rain we have had in the last couple of weeks until I noticed the bucket in the garden, which I know for a fact was empty (because I used it) on the 18th December, which has now got 5” of water in it, (that's 127mm for you metric fans), and it’s still raining as I sit here writing this today! I guess that after the long dry summer we undoubtedly need the rain to refill all the reservoirs etc, but 5” in 15 days, that’s quite a bit of rain!. Just before I go and just to prove that occasionally I do finish what I started and do occasionally do other stuff apart from “playing out” as “The Emma” refers to my running and cycling activities.
Over the Christmas period I’ve finally got around to slapping some paint on the shoe rack which I made back in September and personally, I think it’s turned out ok for the efforts of a talentless buffoon! As they say, you can't rush these things. Oh, and I can confirm that I still hate painting!
Here we are again, the start of December and the first 5 windows on my advent calendar are already open! The end of another year is fast approaching, but there’s still lots of things in the pipeline before we get there.
That’s not going to help with subject matter for this week’s blog though, and unusually I’m a bit stuck for words. It’s not that I’ve been sat around doing nothing, it’s just that what I have been getting up too, isn’t very interesting. Friday afternoon I replaced the final bits of front suspension on “The Emmas” Peugeot that I hadn’t done the other week. Like most things, replacing the worst bits just highlighted things further down the line that were worn, so whilst my previous efforts made a vast improvement, it still wasn’t perfect. New Anti-Roll Bar bushes and Shock Strut upper mounts have finally seen an end to the creaks and groans that would be expected of an 18-year-old car though, and it now sounds better than it ever has. Helpfully, she waited until I’d finished, got changed and put all the tools away, before telling me that the horn’s stopped working! I suspect that’s an electrical issue, and that can certainly wait until it warms up a bit before I start fiddling with it!
There’s not much to say on the running front either. I’ve been running obviously, but it’s been the dull and boring sort (road running) in an effort to get as many miles in over the next few weeks as possible, and the easiest way to do that is up the number of days I run to work.
Covering 10 miles each way, it’s easy to rack up some good numbers. Although, dragging myself out of bed before 05:00, to be out of the door before 06:00, isn’t much fun, and neither is the run home after a full day’s work. It serves a purpose though, which will become clear as we approach the end of the year, and it’s all miles in my legs which will pay dividends in the future, so I'm not complaining!
The most interesting bit of news from the weekend was the The South Of Bucks Winter Warmer Audax, 200km of chilly bicycling fun from Beaconsfield, down to Alton and back, via the outskirts of Basingstoke and the Oxford services on the M40. Even that didn’t go quite to plan though!
Having pottered around with “The Emma’s” car Friday afternoon, it was dark before I loaded my bike into the van, sorted out my life and headed up to Beaconsfield ready for a relaxing evening and an early start on Saturday morning. The drive up was fine, with my late departure meaning I missed the worst of the rush hour traffic, and by 21:00 I’d stopped at the chippy for some tea and was just settling down with a pre bed beer when I thought I’d better check that my saddlebag was good to go for the morning. And that’s when it dawned on me. My saddlebag, complete with puncture repair kit, tools, inner tubes, pump, spare batteries, first aid kit, and all the other necessities that I lug around with me, but rarely use, wasn’t where it normally is, tucked safely away behind my bike, it was on the side in the garage, 60 odd miles away! That’ll teach me for packing in the dark and not being better organised. What now? Well, I had a couple of choices.
As I sat there sipping my beer, with the van heating blowing warmly on my toes, the start of another idea started to creep into my mind. Thinking about it, it’s less than 10 miles to Maidenhead which is right on the route, and Maidenhead’s got a Halfords, which opens at 08:00. That’s a more realistic destination. Whatever happens, it’s only ever going to be a 5-mile walk, whether that’s back to the van or on to Maidenhead where I can stop off and get a cheap puncture repair kit and pump. Granted I don’t really want another cheap pump, but puncture repair kits are always handy, and it might get me out of a pickle! Having slept on the idea, I still wasn’t convinced that option b, wasn’t the best idea, but eventually managed to drag myself from my nice warm bed and got myself to the start in plenty of time. By the time I’d collected my Brevet card, had a quick chat with the lovely ladies manning the control, and said hello to a few other cyclists and familiar faces, all thoughts of not starting had been firmly banished, and I was raring to go! It might have been dark, it might have been cold, and there might be a vicious headwind to contend with later in the day. But I’m an adventurous type, not the stay at home, chicken out at every opportunity type. Not start? like that was ever really an option!
By 08:00 we were on our way, first stop Winnersh for an info control, or in my case, first stop Maidenhead!
As I’d hoped, the miles to Maidenhead passed without fanfare and, as the rest of the pack went straight on, I diverted off route to find Halfords and my saviour. Not for the first time they came up with the goods too! Halfords get a hard time, but they’ve saved my bacon before, (a new wheel at Carlisle during my LEJOG and a new tyre at Newbury when fully laden with camping stuff) so in my opinion that’s unfair. Yes, they may not offer the best product line, or be the most knowledgeable, but for customer service, value for money and getting you out of the brown sticky stuff, they’re great in my opinion! Anyway, 10 minutes and £12 later, I’ve got a cheap pump taped to my top tube and a puncture repair kit, complete with tyre levers, taped under the saddle and I’m back in the game. Thank you Halfords at Maidenhead! Back on the road, there’s not much to add for the next few miles. Not only have I done this ride a couple of times before (2019, 2020, 2021) but it’s not the most interesting route either. As is usual for this time of year, the route tends to stick to fairly major roads. The advantage of which is that they will normally be rideable, no matter what the weather decides to do, but on the flip side, tend to be fast, have rough, worn, potholed surfaces, and encourage getting your head down and just pushing on! So that’s just what I did. Through Winnersh and on to Alton, which was dispatched without fanfare, and onwards towards Basingstoke. In fact, before 12:00 I was on the outskirts of Basingstoke and debating what to do. Should I divert into home to pick up my saddle bag, or just push on with my new puncture repair kit and hope I didn’t have any other problems? Sense soon won, and passing within a couple of miles of home I once again diverted off route and swung in to collect my bag and an extra pair of gloves (it really was surprisingly cold). I didn’t linger at home, grabbing my bit’s, said hello and goodbye again to “The Emma”, grabbed a cold crumpet from the cupboard on my way past (surprisingly disappointing) and pushed on again. From home it didn’t take long to make my way up to Pangbourne for the next control, where a cashpoint receipt provided proof of passage and then the long slog of a climb up Whitchurch hill to test the legs and get the heart rate up again! The next leg always seems a bit of a slog and today was no different. The wind, which as forecast, had picked up was blowing straight into my face, coupled with the rolling terrain and steadily increasing tiredness in my legs, I had a few moments of “what am I doing here” as the afternoon progressed. Feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to get me to the end though, and through gritted teeth I slogged on, eventually rolling into the garage forecourt at the Oxford motorway services to join a couple of other Audaxers who were busily enjoying the now familiar delights of service station sandwiches and lukewarm pasties. Fed, watered and refreshed after a brief stop, things got easier from here on. The route flattens out and that wind was no longer in my face. Picking up the A40 which is now almost deserted, with most of the traffic diverted onto the motorway, it was a case of head down, get comfy on the Areo bars and tap out the remaining miles as darkness gradually descended. A brief pause in Marlow to get my head torch out and note down the answer to the info control, and then it’s only 8 miles back to the start. But not before the brutally steep sting in the tail at Bourne End and the climb up Kiln Lane. Smallest gear, legs spinning, lungs bursting, out of the saddle on the worst bits. Is that another rider ahead in the dark? Keep climbing, chasing the red taillight ahead. Onwards, ever upwards, one more ramp and I’ve caught them, dismounted and steadily pushing uphill, a brief greeting between ragged breaths and I slowly inch past, on my way up that interminable climb. Eventually though the top comes, and I gather my breath and push out the last couple of miles. Finally coming to a rest, back where I started from, nearly ten hours previously. Check back in with the lovely welcoming committee and get my brevet card stamped and then back to the van, where with cold fingers and toes it’s time for a brew and warm up. The feeling slowly returns to my toes as I put dry socks on and sit with my toes in front of the heater, whilst wrapping my hands round a hot brew and reflect on the days adventure. It may have been cold at times, it may have been a struggle into the wind at times, the roads may have been busier than I would have liked at times, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and to think, I even considered not starting this morning. Idiot! Oh, and I didn’t need that puncture repair kit or any of the other stuff I picked up on the way past either. You can guarantee that if I hadn’t got one, I’d have needed it though!
Just before I go, what's this all about. I noticed these on my way past as I cycled home from work on Friday.
Now I know it's warmer down here in the tropical South. But Lambs in December, what's that all about?
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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