Filed under: cycling | Tags: accident, bike, complaint, customer service, Cycle Surgery, CycleSurgery, problems
As regular readers will know, I recently bought a bike through the cycle-to-work scheme, offered by my company. I’d identified the one I wanted – a Specialized Vita Elite – at an little independent shop near home, but they didn’t have it in stock and weren’t prepared to get it in unless I would guarantee to buy it. Reluctantly, I decided to go else where so that I could try before buying (and spent over a hundred quid on shoes and SPD pedals for my racer to assuage my guilt at taking the advice but not buying the new bike!)
And so it was that I found myself at the CycleSurgery store in King’s Cross, who had the bike in stock and were prepared to let me try it out. I wasn’t that impressed with the advice – or lack of it – provided, but I had shopped around previously, so placed my order for the bike alongside more SPD pedals, a rack, panniers and mudguards – all ready for the Newcastle to Edinburgh ride.
I won’t bore you with all of the details regarding the customer service that followed. Suffice it to say, I arranged to pick up the bike on three occasions, only to find that it hadn’t had the accessories fitted and wasn’t ready for me to take home.
CycleSurgery: cause for complaint over customer service and safety
On the third occasion, I arrived to discover that the pedals and rack had been fitted, but the mudguards still hadn’t. I asked if they could be fitted while I waited, and there was some consultation between members of staff out of my earshot. They said the mechanic had gone home, but that it was a ten-minute job….
…and after an hour and a half in the workshop, three members of staff emerged. During that time, they had variously popped out to say it was taking longer than they thought and that there was a problem with some of the fitting screws being too long.
I was a little concerned by the amount of time it had taken, and queried this several times, but was assured they had been fitted correctly. At no point did I demand that they finished the job. In fact, I was beginning to think it should have been left to a qualified mechanic.
My misgivings were justified. On the very first run out, I shifted the back gear onto the highest cog – and my pedals locked out completed – causing me to lose my balance in the road. Fortunately it was not busy. When I picked myself up and examined the bike, I discovered that the screw holding the mudguard in place had been fitted incorrectly and the end of the screw was overlapping the bottom cog so that the chain jammed in between the screw and the cog causing the pedals to lock.
I’ve consulted two independent bike mechanics since, and they agreed the mistakes made were inexcusable, and that I could have had a serious accident if the pedals had locked on a busy roundabout or at speed. I’ve had the problems rectified at my own expense, and the entire bike checked over.
My complaint to CycleSurgery is so far unresolved. They’ve asked me to bring the bike back in so they can look at it, which is: firstly, inconvenient (I can’t take it in on the train during the week because of rush hour restrictions); and, secondly, pointless (since I’ve had the problems fixed). They have vaguely offered me a few CycleSurgery vouchers – which don’t interest me in the slightest – and taken absolutely zero responsibility for the problems caused.
I wonder if they’re reading this.
Filed under: cycling | Tags: bike, cycle, cycle-to-work scheme, CycleSurgery, cycling, Specialized Vita Elite
I think I was still recovering from severe windburn sustained during the Newcastle-Edinburgh jaunt, so I never got around to posting a pic of my new bike: a Specialized Vita Elite, which is a sporty little hybrid with flat bars. It can cope with mudguards, rack and panniers; and is actually a more comfortable touring bike than my road bike, which is just a bit too light and twitchy and doesn’t have rack fixings.
This was taken at Newcastle station, so I’m still looking quite fresh and enthusiastic about the ride ahead…
If you’re in the market for a new set of wheels, it’s worth enquiring whether your company offers a cycle-to-work scheme. My new place of work does, and it means saving around 40%, not only on the list price of the new bike but on all of your accessories too. Highly recommended.
What isn’t recommended, though, is ordering your bike through CycleSurgery. I’ll need a whole other blog post to describe that experience with the detail it deserves…
Filed under: cycling | Tags: bike, coast and castles, cycling, Newcastle-Edinburgh, Sustrans, touring
After the Reading Half Marathon, I moved into cycle training mode, bought a new touring bike (another post on that later) in order to ride – unsupported – from Newcastle to Edinburgh (Sustrans Route 1, “Coast and Castles”) over three days with a bunch of mates. Here we all are at the start of the ride…
It would have been a superb ride during the summer. You know, the one we had in April. Unfortunately, we picked Whitsun weekend when the north-east of England and south-east of Scotland was battered by unseasonably high winds.
One day one, cycling northwards up the east coast from Newcastle to Seahouses – my first ride with fully loaded panniers – it felt like I was towing a caravan. For the record, I should say that I only had with me two spare pairs of cycling shorts, an inner tube, a lock, one pair of lightweight non-cycling trainers, three t-shirts, one jumper, one pair of trousers, a minimal number of tiny bottles of toiletries, mascara, and a bottle of perfume (my luxury item). For five days and nights away from home. So it’s not like I’d over-packed!
I didn’t think it was possible to feel any worse than on day one, but on day two we turned westwards – into the 50mph headwind. Still towing the caravan-like panniers. I can honestly say it was harder even than the longest day on the Barmouth-Yarmouth ride. At some points, I was incapable of cycling at more than 4mph and nearly got blown off the bike on more than one occasion. We arrived at Clovenfords, a tiny border village near Galashields, after about nine hours in the saddle – windswept, to say the least. (The picture doesn’t really do justice to the wind, to be honest, but you get the idea).
The winds dropped a little on day three – the final leg of our trip from Clovenfords via Innerleithen and Dalkeith and into Edinburgh. That was a lovely gentle climb up over the hills north of Innerleithen – beautiful scenery and views over to Edinburgh. We dodged a big shower by sheltering at a caff in Dalkeith, then met up with some of the others for our final ride in the city. Where I had an ice cream.
The Sustrans route isn’t particularly designed for touring – you go around the houses unnecessarily to avoid the roads, which is great for casual day-trippers that aren’t doing serious mileage and don’t like the roads, but less good when you’re trying to cover a lot of distance.
Nonetheless, despite some difficult bits where I may or may not have muttered, slightly frustratedly: “why does everything we do have to be so EXTREME?” it was really good fun, especially with the group. We stayed at some nice B&Bs, had some lovely meals and saw some beautiful countryside.
For more on our epic ride, pop over to Girls on Cogs and Oscar Mike.
Filed under: British Military Fitness, cycling, Reading Half Marathon, running
It’s been a while, dear readers (in the unlikely event that there are any still around).
I left you in March, woefully underprepared for the Reading Half Marathon. Yet I made it round the familiar course though – in an almost respectable time of 2:06, a minute under my first half marathon time ten years ago, aged 24.
So I didn’t collapse or anything (but thank you to those who were concerned for my welfare). No, life has just been a bit busy of late. Phil and I looked at the calendar earlier this week and realised we’d been away from home for eight consecutive weekends – not all of them planned. Nor have we done a full week’s work in all that time, what with bank holidays, long weekends and various other things. Which has meant when we have been at work, we’ve been trying to squeeze five days’ work into four, three or even two days.
I’ve been doing a bit of Audiofuelled running, been back to British Military Fitness for the first couple of times since moving, and been out on the bike a lot – but just haven’t found the time to blog about it all. Perhaps you have to take a break from blogging sometimes in order to remember why you enjoy doing it in the first place. Bit like running really.
Filed under: cycling, food | Tags: Anapo Valley, caponata, Catania, cycling, food, Freedom Treks, holiday, Hotel Soleado, mount Etna, Noto, pasta con le sarde, Sicily, Taormina, Vulcano, weather forecast
It already feels like a long time ago that Phil and I came back from a wonderful two weeks in Sicily. I’d never been to the island before, but was assured by everyone that had that I would enjoy it immensely. Largely because of the food.
And they weren’t wrong.
We spent the first week doing a self-guided cycling tour, which we booked through Freedom Treks. The company arranged a transfer straight from Catania airport and took us to our first accommodation stop (more about that later), supplied us with bikes, helmets, panniers, lock and maps – and left us to our own devices. Our accommodation was booked for us by a local tour operator and our main luggage was transferred each day while we pootled around rolling hills and Baroque towns. It was an ideal setup for us given our limited non-existent Italian vocabulary, and allowed us to explore the area without needing to plan our route in advance of leaving the UK. (The local operator is a company called Siciclando, but it actually looks pricier to go direct to them for some reason, so my advice would be to go with Freedom if you’re travelling from the UK.) One word of warning: we opted for a “level 2″ tour on a scale of 1-5 and thought it would be fairly easy riding. And it was perfectly doable. However, there were parts that were really quite strenuous, up and down switchbacks in temperatures of 30°C or more. I wouldn’t want to have done a level 4 or 5!
We spent our second week in the upmarket resort of Taormina, in the slightly-less-upmarket-but-very-very-friendly Hotel Soleado, run by the charming Roberto and family. We used this as a base for exploring Mount Etna, the Aeolian Islands and also did a bit of loafing.
A few of our highlights:
- The warm welcome by Vincenzo, a worker at the Agriturismo where we spent our first two nights in the Anapo Valley. He was passionate about food, cooking most of it using produce from the farm. We did a cookery course with him, and his put-upon sidekick, Maria – who tolerated him chain-smoking in her kitchen and exclaiming “Mama Mia” at everyone and everything. We learned to add copious quantities of olive oil and salt to every dish.
- Vincenzo’s caponata. A stew containing carrot, onion, celery, aubergine, red peppers, garlic, olives, capers, basil, vinegar and sugar. That description does it no justice at all, because the end result was far far greater than the sum of its parts.
- Eating figs and almonds straight from the trees – particularly on the first day when we totally forgot about the lack of Sunday trading legislation in Sicily and had to ride nearly 70km on a bunch of bananas and whatever we could scavenge from the roadside.
- Being blown kisses by men in trucks, vans and cars along the way. It would appear that the Sicilian men don’t see sweaty English girls riding hybrids all that often. In fact, it all the time we were away, I only saw one female rider. And she looked like a man.
- The ice cream. Sicily is the spiritual home of the gelato. Pistachio, almond, chocolate, cassata, basil, white wine: we tried them all.
- Picnics in tiny towns full of old men sitting on benches (the women were presumably cooking and cleaning). Picnics were comprised of pecorino cheese, tomatoes and bread made from semolina flour creating a dense, yellowy dough.
- Bar Venezia in Scicli, where we took cover during a rare shower. Slightly seedy-looking place, but the beer was just €1 a bottle.
- Noto: the most beautiful Baroque city we visited, and dinner there at the Cantina Modici di San Giovanni, a family-run restaurant, whose olive oil tasted as good as wine from their vineyard. There was no menu, but the food, wine and atmosphere was stunning.
- People-watching in Taormina. I’ve never seen so many people posing for their nearest and dearest in what you would assume was an ironic way. It wasn’t.
- Pasta con le sarde – a local dish made up of pasta, sardines, fennel, capers and breadcrumbs.
- Hiking up and and down to the beach, in a futile bid to shed some of the calories we were consuming every day. Normal people took the cable car.
- Clambouring up Mount Etna, in flagrant disregard of the rules about hiking solo, while other tourist zombies took the 4x4s.
- Cassata – a sponge cake with ricotta cheese, marzipan and candied fruit.
- Bathing in the thermally heated sulphuric waters on the island of Vulcano. Eggy but nice.
Filed under: Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, cycling | Tags: Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, cycling, Great Yarmouth, Norwich
And the end was in sight…
Route:
Out of Norwich on minor roads through Little Plumstead and Panxworth; then onto the noisy A47 at Acle and into Great Yarmouth for a paddle.
23 miles
Fuel:
A more filling, if lukewarm, Travelodge breakfast – bowl of muesli, scrambled eggs and beans on toast. Celebratory fish and chips on the beach.
Other lessons learnt from the Barmouth-Yarmouth trip:
Barmouth-Yarmouth is a jolly long way.
Jude and Paul are mega fit. They arrived three hours ahead of us on the first day, and actually look like they belong on bikes.
Mat and Anna aren’t far behind.
Dave is quietly determined and always prepared for any eventuality.
Tricky, Charlie and Stav seem to be happy to go it alone, whereas I threatened to cry if anyone left me on my tod. Oooh, and Stav always has a nicely stocked tuck box in his bar bag.
Elaine and Caroline are fascinated by the ladies of Llangollen and pudding. Though not necessarily together.
Emma is relentlessly upbeat, even about cycling the A50.
Helen does actually have a third lung.
Filed under: Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, cycling | Tags: Alwalton, Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, Bodney, cycling, Downham Market, March, Northwold, Norwich, Peterborough, Watton, Whittington, Whittlesea
Another crap night’s sleep, but a much heartier breakfast at the Peterborough Alwalton Premier Inn set us up nicely for the next leg of our adventure.
Route:
Out of Peterborough on the A605 to Whittlesea; a wiggle down minor roads (and a peculiar cycle path that took us randomly around a field on bone-shaking rocky, mucky tracks) to March; across the Fens into a headwind to Downham Market; south-west out of the wind a bit to Whittington and Northwold; another minor road wiggle to Bodney; picked up the B1108 to Watton; and on the same road into Norwich.
81 miles
Fuel:
Much better today. A FAB breakfast at the Beefeater next to the Premier Inn consisting of a bowl of granola, seeds, nuts, fresh fruit and yoghurt, plus scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast, and most importantly Lots of Tea; an enormous jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn mayo and more tea at the Downham Cafe; a Tracker and a Snickers bar around about Watton; then a Calzone pizza and Creme Egg (thanks to support crew Elaine and Caroline) for dinner.
Lessons learnt:
Flatter isn’t necessarily faster. Especially when you’re cycling into the wind across the (boring) Fens. I was surprised to find I was missing the rolling hills of the previous day, which provide a much more interesting ride.
How to cross railway tracks on a bike. Or how not to in Dave’s case. Ouch.
Always go for a number two before departure. I was approaching a desperate state by the time we reached Norwich, what with all that extra food I’d been eating and no loo stops since departing Downham Market…
Filed under: Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, cycling | Tags: Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, cycling, Donington Park, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Peterborough, Rutland Water, Stoke on Trent, Uttoxeter
After an average night’s sleep in the Stoke Talke Travelodge – not so much a symptom of a lumpy bed as the start of a sore throat – we were off on day two…and it was a biggie.
Route:
A lengthy crossing of Stoke from the north-west out south-east to Uttoxeter; minor roads through Tutbury, Willington and Swarkestone; past Donington Park racetrack where we had to share the road with lots of chavs and a dangerous Vauxhaul Zafira who overtook us on the outside as we were turning right, but on the plus side caught up with Emma and Helen (aka Girls on Cogs); down to Diseworth and Hathern; then along the interminably long A6006 to Melton Mowbray. From there, south-east again to Oakham; around the top of Rutland Water to Stamford; and onto Alwalton, west of Peterborough (I’m not even sure of the route of the last bit, I was so tired. I was also quite ratty by that point; sorry everyone). Arrived at the Premier Inn at 8.20pm.
110 miles
Fuel:
Paltry Travelodge packed-lunch-stylee breakfast consisting of a handful of dry flakes, some off-tasting UHT milk, a biscuit and some coffee (no tea) – really not enough to sustain a ride around the block, let alone a gargantuan trip to Peterborough; half a Galaxy bar while trying to get out of Stoke; a Greggs cheese and onion pasty in Uttoxeter (home of lovely loos); a hot cross bun and a banana in Willington; various bits of flapjack along the A6006 in a vain quest for energy; a 4pm “lunch” in Cafe Nero in Melton consisting of a BLT sandwich, packet of crisps, Double Decker and a nice cup of tea; jelly babies; then a salmon pasta dinner and banoffee pie at the Beefeater next door to the Premier Inn. So tired I couldn’t actually string a sentence together – sorry again everyone.
Lessons learnt:
Stoke-on-Trent revision class. Don’t go there, just don’t. It took us an hour and a half to get out, and would have taken longer without GPS/Google Maps on Phil’s Blackberry (though I was a bit worried when he led us all down the slip road onto the A50. I think Em was too). Put us waaaaay behind schedule for getting to Melton at anything like lunchtime, and thus stopped me from getting my pork pie because Costa was the only place open. Boo.
Eat a proper breakfast. I was weak as hell by the time we got to the wretched A6006. I put that down to not eating quite enough during the course of the morning.
How to use my gears. Melton to Stamford includes some fairly mega rolling hills and, by this point, we’d already done 80 miles. Thanks to a combination of Em’s positive mental attitude (“attack the hills, attack, attack!”) and Phil’s nagging (“faster faster!”) I worked out how to use my high gears to launch myself down the descents, peddling like fury so I hit the bottom of the ascents at 26-30mph, which gave me enough momentum to get part-way uphill where I dropped down through the gears until I reached the top.
What my limits are. About 75 miles in one day. That is all.
Filed under: Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, cycling | Tags: Bala, Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, cycling, Icebreaker, Llangollen, Stoke on Trent, Talke Travelodge, what to wear cycling, Whitchurch
Route:
From Dolgellau along the A494 to Bala; A5 to Llangollen for lunch; A539 to Whitchurch; A525 to outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent then a wiggle through Alsagers Bank and Audley to Talke (north-west of Stoke).
Undulating from Dolgellau to Llangollen, a bit hilly from Llangollen to Whitchurch, and bloody hilly around Stoke.
89 miles
Lake Bala - wet and cold, and only an hour into the trip
Fuel:
Bowl of porridge at the hostel; Boost bar at Bala; jacket potato with cheese and beans and a pot of tea at Llangollen; Snickers bar at Whitchurch; Hobnob flapjack a little further along; jelly babies; cashew nuts; and steak and chips at a steakhouse down the road from the Stoke Talke Travelodge.
Lessons learnt:
Food is fuel. Like I didn’t know how important food was already… But I was surprised at how hungry I was throughout the day.
Take regular breaks. We scheduled our stops at the beginning of the day, and stuck to them, spending a good hour in Llangollen getting warm.
Wear lots of clothes (a lot more than you would run in). Despite worrying in advance about what to wear, I managed to get it about right. I wore padded tights, a long-sleeved Icebreaker base layer, fleece insulating layer and lightweight shell with some windproofing (which I switched to a proper waterproof Gore-Tex jacket when the rain started hammering down). The only bits of me that were cold were my toes – which were absolutely freezing within minutes of leaving Dolgellau in the pissing rain. We bought Icebreaker hiking socks in Llangollen, and felt instantly better for putting those on.
Don’t cycle into Stoke if you’re not fond of hills. Those last few ups and downs were tough on the old legs after 80 miles.
