Feel-Good Week, Post 2, What does “2 Quid” (or £2) Buy You ?

Well, if you know where to look, one of these (The batteries were almost 100% exhausted, and still it pruduced this much light)

Thats winter sorted now I have a few of them, thats a Feel-Good factor ‘n half !

 

“Feel-Good Week”–Post 1, Gaz & Oscar Brogden

I have decided to declare this week as “FEEL-GOOD Week”.

Things round here have been ultra focused in recent times, now, its time to enjoy it, look at what inspires me, look at what/who inspires others.

Oscar Brogden, is someone who I have know for approx 12 years now & someone who I class as a good friend and a great person, for those that don’t know him, allow me to explain:

WHEN a bicycle gets broken and chucked away, it’s a great idea to . . . recycle it. And that’s just what Oscar Brogden has done with an astonishing 3,000 of them. Then Oscar, an engineer who’s a dab-hand at repairing bikes, has given them away to local youngsters.

Oscar devotes much of his spare time to fixing broken and damaged bikes that have been thrown away and are destined for the tip

Today, after a meeting , I caught up with Oscar, he told me that he was just a few bikes away from handing over his 3500’th !, that’s amazing and I take my hat off to him, I have never owned one of his bikes, they are for people in genuine need & youngsters. People who cant afford to pay for one, and that’s something in this day and age, that is just amazing !

Oscar, its been a pleasure knowing you for all these years, long may it continue, YOU are someone who has done more for cyclists and promoting cycling than I could ever hope achieve !!!

 

It’s Back, To The Future.

As I mentioned the other day, I am in the middle of refreshing my bike stable.

 

See, for a while there, I lost my way, I was so ultra focused that I became a PURE roadie and nothing else mattered, thing it, It lost a bit of the fun factor. This week, I have rode 4 different “Types” of bike, each one of them has put an AMAZING smile on my face, so, The stable ?

Its important to note that this “Refresh” has cost me NOTHING !!!

Enjoy this post and keep an eye out for an inspirational post coming up this week:

 

A few weeks ago I finished my FM015 build, and inspired by how AMAZING Team Radioshack are, I “Tarted it up”  a little with some tyres and decals.

 

 

Turned out quite nice eh ?….Well, yes it did and I am sure the new owner will LOVE it (I  DIDNT Make a profit or a loss from this project, but I gained a LOT of knowledge building it)

I rode a full canal commute on the repaired Planet-X Uncle John one day this week, damn that bike + mud = FUN !!!!

 

 

Then it was time for some Single Speed action on the Langster, this too was so much FUN, I managed a couple of 16.5Mph average commutes despite a relatively small GI , Sadly, Gaz the Bike KILLER Struck on Friday and the left crank became lose, being second hand, its one of those things, its not gonna cost a lot for a new one and I know what I am doing to sort it, so it should be back , ready for action next week.

 

This weekend, I did something that I didn’t think I would do again, I got a MTB and again, taking life a little less seriously, I had sooooo much fun down the canal and even up BHOD

So, for now, that’s the stable refresh done.

 

So that’s where I stand, no more “Just road bikes” for me, it is, once again, all about the PURE FUN FACTOR.

 

Gaz

 

RideHARD

but

HaveFUN

It’s Time I Re-Joined The SS

Does this man look part of the SS to you ?

No, Clive, not black boots, but the Single Speed Club.

See, last year/The start of this, I had a very sexy, retro SS bike that improved my climbing bar none.

However, after a few months, I felt (wrongly) that I had made SUCH huge strides that I couldn’t get any better ( I know I know, I’m new at all this still and we ALL get things wrong)

I have yearned after one since, so this week, I took the opportunity to move on 1 or 2 of my existing bikes to free up some cash and space and got myself a very nice (and HUGE) Specialized Langster Single Speed bike and AREADY its helping me with my climbing and cadence etc.

In another bike-themed-point, I got my Cyclo-Cross sorted this week, with another HUGE Thanks going out to the A6 Cycle  Warehouse for getting it sorted, I am not overly impressed with Planet X for allowing a bike out in the state my CX was given to me in (it needed the threads re-machining,new pads and the wheel truing) , that said, the bike itself is AWESOME Fun , I did 20 Canal miles on it yesterday and LOVED them all, I do need disk brakes tho !!!!!

So here is the Langster and the Uncle John (Both in DESPERATE Need of a clean) there will be better pic’s of both at a later date.

& Let us say a goodbye to this !

I’m feeling VERY Olympic Today !

Yes yes yes, its a line from the SUPER Cool (See what I did there?) Cool Runnings but I can draw parallels from that film today…more on that later though.

Smile and the world smiles with you.

Its been said, I don’t smile enough in pictures and while I hope that is now put to bed, due to the fact that 99% of my pictures now includes a smile, I wanted to show that I can NOT smile if you REALLY Want me to

LOL – I make myself chuckle

but joking aside, I can  & do smile

That Olympic feeling:

Today, I found out I had made it though to the  next (final) round of judging, after being nominated to carry the Olympic Torch for London 2012 …. I’ll keep you posted but how AMAZING would be it for someone like ME to get such an HONOR !!!!

 

Sunny August

Well……… Sunny ? maybe not, so far I have been either SOAKED or frozen every day in August this year.

Today not only did I wear a long sleeve Jersey but a THERMAL one too.

 

MMMMMM a Virgin !!!!

 

Oi you lot, get your mind out of the gutter

I got texted a picture from Mr-Dean-o this week……I was immediately jealous

 

Maybe Sir Richard and Virgin holidays would sponsor this blog with a dream holiday to America for us?…..I can but wish….

The Next Challenge

A 55 Mile (Approx 90km) RACE over the following terrain…..I don’t have long to train for this and its gonna be HELL but I’ll give EVERYTHNG to ensure I make you and I proud !

 

Manchester Riots 2011:

Well, what can I  say DISGRACEFUL !!!!!

I have stuck a few pictures of both the aftermath and the clean up effort on my Picasa

As some of you know, I work for Manchester City Council, the day after the riots my office was getting calls at 8am, the second our phone lines opened, from members of the public, offering there time to clean up the city, after the disgraceful events of the previous night, it was really humbling to hear all these normal, every day folk, cleaning up some SCAMBAGS Mess…Well done Manchester

Picasa

 

Im off work for a much deserved rest from tomorrow, so this weeks update is now DONE, stay safe, LiveSTRONG.

Gaz

Wideawake – LiveSTRONG – Video–Photo (s).

LiveSTRONG:

I heard this song at the weekend and thought, Time to do a "New" Video. Turn your sound UP, Sit back and enjoy the celebration of my journey and the start of my next fight, one I don’t intend to lose, one I have already given a bloody nose to,now I am ready to go in for the kill.

 

 

 

 

 

The Building Of My Second “Cheap Chinese Carbon Bicycle”

My FM028 project turned out much much better than I had ever hoped.

It has become my daily commuter, its been crashed, twice and even “Chavs” stop and ask me “Eeeeer mate, is that a f*****g Trek Madone, or wot” ……It really is a stunning bike and a real pleasure to ride.

and because its been such a joy, I decided that I wanted, no, NEEDED N+1 in the CCCB stakes, well, that and a little bit of compensation helped from last years accident too.

I got the following parts:

Shimano 105 2011 Groupset £350

58CM FM 015 Frame, Fork, Seat Post £250

Wheels £80

Bars, saddle, cables, tyres etc £50

Total £ 630

I went with a FM015 because I like the sheer aggression, its very much like the CAAD9

Now, I wanted, no, needed to keep the cost as low as I could on this build, so I wasn’t really up for giving Crown Point Cycles £160 to bodge another build, so with the advice of some good friends and the amazing place that is the internet, I set about building this myself, now, I’m a total idiot, this would be a HUGE HUGE achievement for me to actually be able to finish.

On the Crown Point Cycles note, before I started, I put right, the (what I hope is) final mistake:

Crown Point Cycles Version of Aggression

Real Aggression

With that sorted I set about the FM015 build.

First off, an uneducated Neanderthal like myself needed to get properly equipped

Ice Toolz

There was going to be 2 potential “Show Stoppers” they were the BB and Cranks and the Headset.

Within a few days of getting the frame, I had the right tools for the BB and, like a car bonnet, I was, on it.

FM015 BB and Cranks installed

Major hurdle one, overcome.

Next came the headset and in fairness, with the help of the “Internets” I had it sorted superquick.

Now the Work Stand and Ice Toolz were to come into there own.

within an hour I was at this stage.

So that’s the wheels, front and rear mech, shifters and brakes all installed.

I needed that Steerer cut tho, as mentioned last week, I got that done at A6 Cycles.

I flipped the stem, then installed a shorter one.

Next was the cable installations and gear indexing, something that im REALLY poor at but again, with the “Net” and YouTube, I got it sorted.

With that done, it was just a case of adding my SPD’s and bar tape and having a test ride.

I am going to make a few minor changes in the coming week and a few Major additions too 🙂

But for less than a middle of the road hybrid, I now have a Carbon road bike with Shimano 105 AND what I have learnt while building it has been/will be invaluable in the future, although at times I got a little stressed  I REALLY enjoyed this and am actually a little sad its finished, tho I still need to finish off my SS project (Nothing like this tho)

I would encourage any serious cyclist to build a bike, it gives you a real appreciation of  your machines.

Anyway, here she is, note the TdF Yellow :).

Now, where did I put those Radioshack decals ? 🙂

Thanks Lidl ….

So , Lidl, a supermarket (Grocery store) , why am I thanking them ?

Wellllll….a couple of weeks back, they had a “Cycling Thursday” where they sold a selection of, cycling stuff, most of it was of no use to me, stuff like cheap computers, jerseys etc etc

However, for a BARGAIN price of £29.99 they had a work stand, now, this was something I had wanted for a LONG time but I’ve never been willing to pay the high prices everyone else wanted.

I wasn’t sure if it would be any good at over 50% cheaper than even cheap places but it was worth a punt as they seem to sell on eBay for £50, so worst case would be throwing it on the “Bay”

I needn’t have worried , its TOP QUALITY !

It even makes CLEANING a bike a pleasure

and for all you cassette, porn, freaks out there 🙂

Clean cassette

Now we all know that a workstand would be overkill for just cleaning a bike……So……I thought I’d better get a project going to make that worthwhile.

The project is finished…………I’ll post about it in the next update 🙂