Author: Cris Bloomfield

It’s not just Formula One cars that suffer from tyre blisters…

The Continental GP4000s on the road bike have been getting a bit battered since the more powerful Dura Ace brake callipers were fitted last year. I’m not convinced it is actually blistering, but locking up the rear wheel isn’t doing these tyres any good.

What happens to a tyre during build up to blistering, is that the chemical composition of the outer casing, begins to change, usually due to too much heat. Road debris is however another common cause. This can rip little chunks of rubber out of the tyre, especially when friction (generated under braking) makes the tyre hot and therefore very soft and easily damaged.

These are often mistaken for blisters, because the visual evidence is similar. Real blisters occur when the tyre gets hot and the outer rubber begins to melt and crumble apart. This usually happens in small areas and the rubber can bubble. This can look like a blister and after it occurs, rubber begins to chunk off and leave little holes in the tyre.

Sometimes you find a product that is just so good that you never want to use anything else. Specialized Body Geometry Pro Mountain Bike Shoes have been my weapon of choice for well over five years. After a couple of seasons of racing and riding including a TransAlp and the Cape Epic the third pair of shoes are now going to have to be retired.

The upper has worn through to holes on the outside edges of both shoes and most of the rubber sole lugs have been cut clear away – that remaining isn’t properly stuck to the shoe any more. When I was out riding last week there were a couple of sketchy moments when, needing grip all the shoes had to offer was slippy plastic and I might as well have been wearing a pair of road shoes. This enforced retirement comes at a bad time, because it’s really too warm to wear the other riding option – a pair of Shimano Winter Boots – and leaves a very old pair of Cannondale Trail shoes (normally used for commuting) to take up the role of appropriate riding wear.

Alex Leigh over at Pickled Hedgehog found a rather amusing link to a chap called Mike Grieve. Mike clearly fancies himself as a bit of a contender for the Redbull Rampage, but unfortunately he’s finding that there is a fairly steep progression curve to becoming a freeride demigod.

With more YouTube madness out there it was interesting to see that the Norwegian behind this video – skiing down Europe’s largest escalator at the Angel Tube Station in London, actually made it into the national news via the BBC website. Finally anyone with any interest in fast cars will find this short clip of American rally driver Ken Block setting an immense 175ft gap jump in a Works Subaru more interesting than watching recent F1 Gran Prixs. I suspect the broken windscreen that resulted from the landing was the least of the worries to the structure of the car…

This came through via email today:

I want to thank those of you that have provided us feedback about out MyOutdoors.net project. It has been quite valuable in developing the site. Unfortunately, we have not had time to continue marketing the site and have decided to see if anyone else would be interested in continuing to develop it and are putting it up for sale.

If you have any interest in the site, please let us know and if you think any of your readers might be interested in it, we would greatly appreciate spreading the word to them. We’ve spent a lot of time on the site and really hate to see it languish. Here is the blog post we made about it, with links to our listings:

http://myoutdoors.blogspot.com/2007/04/myoutdoorsnet-is-up-for-sale.html

Thanks again for your support. With some of your help, hopefully we can find someone who will be able to devote some more time to it.

I did think that for a minute it was Outdoorzy, but then it soon became clear that it was actually a completely different site. I’m sure that things will work out for them. Although it was a US orientated site in terms of content, the application of Google Maps and the added content was a great idea. Other than Google Maps, they use AJAX and XML to deliver info without readers constantly having to reload the page, providing a smoother web experience and an interactive application.

On Friday I took the road bike out and spun around the Cheshire lanes. It’s a familiar route, one that requires no planning or real thought and one that can be as long or as short as you want it to be. From Altrincham, you ride towards Alderley Edge and onwards to Macclesfield and up the Cat and Fiddle towards Buxton. I haven’t really enjoyed riding the road for a few years. I think part of it is to do with the traffic, but I think a big part of it is that there is no excitement. I know the roads. I know where they go. There isn’t much chance of getting lost or discovering something new. For some reason when you’re offroad even familiar trails give a buzz.

Saturday I caught up with the guys in Harry Halls. It’s been a long time since I spent much time in the shop and it was great to find out what everyone is up to these days. Of course since I stopped working there has been an increase in competition. Manchester now has an Evans and an Edinburgh Bicycle Co-Op, but despite the money behind both chains they seem to offer little threat to the depth of experience, field of knowledge and the genuinely ‘passionate about cycling’ attitude of the staff in Harrys.

This afternoon I headed back over to Llandegla. Since my last visit they’ve opened another 2km of black run. If it really is only an extra 2km then I’m surprised, it seems like a lot more. Either way the designers have done another great job of using the hillside to maximum effect to pack in as many swoops, berms, rollers and jumps as possible. The best thing about the forest is that it is so easy to double back and do the best bits again and again. I think it only fair to say that two or three runs on each of the best sections is now compulsory…

After two weeks away the flat has a distinctive smell. Wood and fabric that has been warming in the sunlight. It’s strange to come home after such a long break especially when there is such a big temperature difference between Manchester and Cape Town. The bikes both made it home, so tonight I need to unpack properly and check them over and make sure they survived international travel. It looks like a lot has happened since I left a couple of weeks ago for the race.

Singletrack gave us some lekker coverage via a couple of updates (stages 1 to 3 and 4 to 5) and there has been support from a number of friends including Nick and Chilly. You know what I want to do this weekend? I want to go riding and try and forget about the Cape Epic. I want to see the green hills and lush forests. I want to get muddy. Wet. Cold. It’s great to be home in the UK.