Funny Week

I just cant be arsed!!!

All the bollocks with the tour, the weather in London, tons of DIY, busy at work, Asthma and hay fever, no dynamo or dulwich this week

I have still managed to ride 5 out of the last 7 days

3 x 45kms commutes
2 x 110kms solo surrey hills rides

nothing very fast, ave around 26kph for the whole week, but i have burnt plenty of cals around 9000.

Heading back to France in a few weeks, not planning any major rides, just want to get up every morning and get out for 3-4hrs in the morning sun

I was in Nice in march to watch contador win Paris-Nice,I was really impressed with his breakaway on the final day, But there is just something about the tour this year that stinks of shit!! I just hope for the sake of cycling he has kept his nose clean!!

Roll on summer

Ronniethescot

www.xacd.com.cn finished bike

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Where to start? I really fancied a custom made frame but no way i could afford a go for a serotta,seven,moots,roberts, setavento I had heard about xacd on the web, £350 for a custom frame seemed like a bargain, if its shit some fool on ebay will buy it from me!

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I emailed XACD around the last couple of days in May 07, Porter got back to within a 24 hrs, not the greatest command of English, but pleasant enough, Told him what I was looking for, roughly a 56cm audax frame, semi sloping top tube,clearance for mud guards and 32mm tyres(for cyclo-cross) bosses for touring racks, Emailed me back with an engineering drawing of a frame, I swapped a few emails over the next couple of weeks changing and tweaking a couple of mm's here and there, Got a final drawing which I was happy with, Told him I was keen to go ahead with the purchase, Sent me the bank transfer details and final price, £302 including shipping, I sent the money via my current account, halifax charged me £25 for the pleasure, 15 days later the frame was in my hands, no problems with import duty, customs, shipping.

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The build

frame,shipping,bank charges £327

10 speed dura ace triple from ebay £320 (no brakes, bought it bit by bit)

frogs legs canti's from ebay £32

Bonty race x lite wheels 2nd hand £200

Bonty carbon stem,bars 2nd hand £75

ITM vista cross fork wiggle.com £80

odds and ends wiggle.co.uk £35

stickers (see link) great service £12

seat,post,pedals from my spare box

total £1081

total bike is around 8kgs

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Still over a grand, but surely at least £1500 cheaper than anything from one of the custom builders.

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Not done many miles on it yet, but so far my thoughts are,, mega comfy, really easy to ride on the drops, BB area is a little flexy, back end is stiff no brake rub when out of the saddle, so far so good, rest assured if something goes wrong, I will post the details.

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LINKS

http://www.xacd.com.cn/

www.wiggle.co.uk

http://www.anothercyclingforum.com/

http://www.bikenames.com/

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I hopefully this post will be useful, I'm no way connected to any of the company's, Just a tight arsed Scotsman in hunt of a cycling bargain.

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DISCLAIMER

If you purchase from any of the links provided and your not happy, tough shit

UPDATE 4/5/09

After almost 2 years and 10000kms the bike is still going strong, No problems.

Update 5th December 09

Still going strong, I had it custom painted, and stuck some Sram red on it

To join or not to join????

I went out on the London Dynamo park ride on Saturday, Which is a lot closer and easier than getting over to Crystal Palace to join up with guys from dulwichparagon, Not sure what to do!!! unlike Dulwich they are not to keen on people turning up regularly without joining (£40 membership) which i guess is fair enough,,,,,,,, I might go out with them again next Saturday, then decide when the fat fucker GT gets back from Nice, reckons he is beating all my times on a the climbs around Nice, So i have just booked a flight, I cant have that fat fucker giving me grief for the rest of the summer, Not only are his shoes more BLING than mine, he can now beat me up the madonne and col d'eze.

Ride facts from Saturday

Out on the chinky import(need to buy some sensors for the polar) so very few digits!!!

Distance kms 42.1
Ave speed 29.7kph
Duration 1hr 24mins
Cals burned 1570
ave heart rate 171 bpm-max 194bpm

Heart rate is mega high??? I didn't feel too bad, Almost 30kph ave speed on the chinky import(pleased with that) , short but enjoyable ride.

Great to watch the tour today, roll on Tuesday,,,, when the fuck is summer gonna turn up?

The building has started

So far so good, I'm building it up with a dura ace 10 speed "shock horror" triple groupset, using frogs legs brakes, have gone for an ITM vista cyclo cross fork, Bars n stem are bonty race x lite, seat post is a spesh carbon, and a Ti flite saddle, No problems fitting anything yet, frogs legs are much easier the second time, the same goes for Nokon cables, Waiting on some cable stops from wiggle, Royal mail have lost my parcel!!!!! More like some work shy cunt still has it in the back of his van.

Cracking tour so far.

Ronniethescot

Its here!!

Its here!! well packaged, No problem with import duty, Thanks to the guy's at XACD marking it up as $30 bike frame parts, " Ah right touch"

I plan to build it up over the next few days, Its going to be a "one bike does all" club runs/cyclo-cross/touring/commuting/sportif's

Its in England!!

2007-06-29 16:53:00
UNITED KINGDOM COVENTRY PF
Released from Customs

It has left China

Timing
Site
Status
　
2007-06-25 19:00:00
City of Xi'An
Posting
　
2007-06-25 22:39:39
City of Xianyang
Despatch from Sorting Center
　
2007-06-25 22:49:39
City of Xianyang
Arrival at Sorting Center
　
2007-06-26 23:13:53
City of Beijing
Arrival at Sorting Center
　
2007-06-27 02:46:49
City of Beijing
Despatch from Sorting Center

Chinky for Mr Gallacher

Keep checking !!!!!

I have ordered a xacd custom frame!!!

Paris-Roubaix

Great ride by the aussie....But what about Boonen? Looked to me like he had shit himself, Poor fucking soigneur, Some jobs are just plain shit!!

Arctic monkeys new album

I will have a listen tomorrow

Fill yer boots!!!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/73kd0u

Thou shalt post more!!!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoN6XfyQsr4

January over

Well January is now over, Training wise it went fine, plenty of long slow miles,,, The last couple of weeks the weather was a pain in the arse, My last 4 rides I have got soaked, Also got snowed on twice
I have dropped 3 KG's since crimbo, So well on track for a total loss of about 12kgs for the gran fondo campag mid June

On Thursday 15th feb it's all change, It will be my last day working for the bank, And i will fly to Cape Town in the evening for the wedding on Sunday,,,, Rest assured i will be trying my hardest to get a free upgrade from the airline, last time i used the line"were off to get married" it worked a treat!!!!
The divorce was messy but flying 1st class was a right fuckin touch!!.

I had planned to get my 1st sowing of the year done before i headed off,,,, But the cunts at Thompson and Morgan are so fucking slow at dispatching orders i had to cancel my order, They managed to take the money from my card in 2 minutes,,, but posting 2kgs of seed potatoes within 4 weeks was to much of a challenge for them,,,,,,,,, gardeners beware Thompson and Morgan are fucking shit!!!

On a brighter note i have done about 250kms on my new bike(look 595) So far so good, It feels very stiff and pretty responsive, looking forward to taking it to France in March, I will be able to report how it feels on longer rides with plenty of climbing and fast descending, It fit's into a bike case no problem.

Hopefully my next post will be from SA.

Bangin tune!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH7C8cr10KA

Feb brings many changes for RTS

Axel Mercx and Saul Rasin, couldn't believe it when we dropped them, Saul put in a dig, But he just couldnt handle the pace, Tugboat and Andy 35st between them, are no match for a couple of out of shape pros,
Axel took the picture, saul was in the huff after we dropped him, So refused to have his picture taken with us.






February is looking like a real month of change for Ronniethescot

Newlywed
New bike, Look 595
New job, large city law firm
Honeymoon in Hermanis SA
New lawn, and the new tatties are getting planted next weekend
And a new addiction to painkillers, due to a wisdom tooth making me suffer like a fat bastard on alpe d'huez in the middle of summer!!

I will get a photo of the new bike up over the weekend,,,,,, And it does fit in a bike case before you ask.

So far i have signed up for 2 Gran fondo's
http://www.felicegimondi.it/welcome.html
http://www.granfondocampagnolo.it/

Not been out on the bike much this week, been busy working, plus loads to do around the house

Have a good weekend

Ronniethescot

Love this

Cracking ride

Distance kms 93kms
Ave speed 22.9kph
Duration 4hr 41mins
Cals burned 3673
Ascent 1180metres
ave heart rate 153 bpm
ave cadence 75 rpm
ave temp 6 c
min temp 0
punctures 0
pain au choc 0
cadburys picnic
can of diet coke 2
cramp wee bit right thigh
left 8-22am
returned 1.03pm

Really good ride today, pretty much the same route as last Saturday, done Westerham hill instead of Brasted, Lovely crisp winters day with no wind, not much mud on the roads, good group of 6 guys, no punctures, no moaning and no shooting off the front, Upped my cadence a bit, also nudged up the ave speed a bit, all in all a cracking ride.

Only 1 photo today, burgh beech reservoir Kent in the back-ground





YEAH YEAH I fucking wish!!!

Foot of duex alpes July 06

Its been a good week (so far)

So far so good, i should clock up over 300kms this week, I have cycled to/from work 3 times this week 45kmx3 =135 all on the fixie, I'm starting to really enjoy riding the fixie. No polar sensors on it, been trying to pick up a speed and cadence sensor of ebay no joy yet, If anybody has a speed+cadence sensor for s-series polar HRM get in touch


Going out early on Saturday with a few friends from Dulwichparagon 90-100kms, I'm going to work on my cadence try and getting it up a few RPM, I'm still only putting in the slow miles, feeling good for it.

Sunday i plan to head down to the Surrey hills on my own for 80-90kms, avec mp3 I have stuck loads of music on to my Ipod, mostly 90's indie stuff that i havent listened to in ages, stone roses, definitely maybe, parklife, all change, moseley shoals etc etc, Plus a couple of new albums, Razorlight,Jamie T,Klaxons, Tokyo police club.

My cycling calender is filling up fast, so far

• March 6 days cycling/training around Nice, watching the last 2 stages of Paris-Nice
• May Gran fondo felice Gimondi
• June Gran fondo campag
• July cycling/watching TDF in the Alps
• August Cycling/holiday South of France? avec wife
  
  Will try and take a couple of pictures this weekend when out riding
  
  Have a good weekend
  
  Ronniethescot

I'm back

Saturday 20th

Good long slow ride today, I was out with the dulwichparagon splinter cell, Pissing down as we set off this soon eased but returned just in time to soak us as we climbed brasted, The ride included the joys of Woldingham,Ide, and Brasted, Not really hills,,,I only call it a hill if i have to drop down from the big ring,

Ride facts

Distance kms 92kms
Ave speed 21.5kph
Duration 5hr 11mins
Cals burned 3954
Ascent 1180metres
ave heart rate 151 bpm
ave cadence 71 rpm
punctures 1
pain au choc 1
cadburys picnic 1
1/2 can of diet coke 1
wet arsehole 1

Fucking love this!!! (apart from the wheels)

New world champs bike

GRANFONDO CAMPAGNOLO

I'm registered

who fancy's joining me

http://www.granfondocampagnolo.it/

New years day

Distance kms 80.6
Ave speed 22.5kph
Duration 4hr 11mins
Cals burned 2954
Ascent 780metres
ave heart rate 144 bpm
ave cadence 72 rpm
punctures 1

meet up with dulwichparagon, good ride, not very fast but i'm starting to feel better, good crisp winters day, no rain, done star hill for the 1st time, good way to come back from pilgrams way,,,, stiff headwind from west wickham home.