Author: rolyrouleur

Joyriding

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With Mrs Rouleur deep in to the write up stages of her PhD thesis it means that for the last couple of weekends it has been quite tough to find any real time to get out on the bike for more than my daily commute 1 mile to the train station and back.

However this past weekend was proof that every cloud has a silver lining. The 5am wake up from my son (the future rainbow jersey) constituted ‘The Cloud’. ‘The silver lining’, I could squeeze in a ride before a depressingly small and healthy bowl of muesli (aka dust with raisins).

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VeloToze tall shoe covers / overshoes review

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  • The Good – Very cheap price, lots of colour choice
  • The Bad – Very tight fitting, lack of breathability
  • The Ugly – The look has proved very divisive

With the long hot English summer (clears throat) coming to an end and the damp, nay soggy, autumn fast approaching, one of the essential pieces of kit you need in your cycle bag are a good pair of overshoes. Having neatly destroyed my old pair in a fit of panic as a particularly nasty storm approached I was in the market.

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Released earlier this year to much fanfare the ‘Toze certainly seemed an interesting proposition. Coming in 7 different colours, 4 different sizes and 2 cuts (Tall and Short), it’s safe to say that there’s something for everyone and matching kit and/or bike shouldn’t be a problem. Further, given the really competitive price of £14.99 for the tall covers (£12.99 for the short) I took the plunge and found myself with a pair in red (to match my faithful steed) making their way to me.

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Ch, Ch, Changes, and Ch, Ch, Challenges

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Another weekend is upon us and like hundred and thousands (can you still buy those?) of others I am busy trying to squeeze at least one ride in to a busy schedule of family and work (plus of course the essential activity of sport watching).

Since my cycle Europe challenge and RideLondon I have only been on the bike once and that was a tiny cycle to my local train station and back. This is despite the fact that I still had one final ride to complete for my three part charity challenge.

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RideLondon Weekend – Part 2, Ride Roly Ride

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To be positive or negative that is the conundrum!! Being a rather indecisive individual I think I will play it by ear and see where we end up.

After the build up already described, the dawn broke in a ridiculously warm (and ridiculously small) famous chain hotel room last Sunday morning. Myself and Mr Less Roly awoke ready to join 24998 other gluttons for punishment at the start of RideLondon in the wonderful Olympic Park.

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RideLondon Weekend – Part 1, Build Up

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Finally its here, a year after being stood at a standstill in Richmond park needing a lifejacket more than a cycle helmet, RideLondon 2015 has arrived.

Last year the tail end of hurricane Bertha severely tested the nations (and my) love of cycling to the limit. I honestly can’t remember ever being outside in quite such a downpour as on 10th August 2014. The rain played havoc with the route and before I had even crossed the start line I had heard that what I feared the most, the dreaded Leith and Box had been removed, PHEW. 87 miles in total last year, but this year would be different, this year I had unfinished business!!

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Moules Frites, the sweet taste of success!

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So the Tour de France is over for another year. The dust has settled, the champagne has been drunk and the hangovers are gone. It was a tour where the winner Chris Froome has had to defend multiple accusations of doping, Team Sky continued not to make friends, somehow a Texan continues to get publicity and Peter Sagan continued his merging into the incredible Hulk (in colour at least), some things just never change!!

But wait!! One thing has changed, The Roly Rouleur was finally victorious!! I actually managed to beat Mrs Rouleur in our annual fantasy Tour de France competition……. She blames Quintana.

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I thought I knew hills…..

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Last night I picked up Mrs Rouleurs uncles mountain bike to use for a couple of days for one or two ‘I O U’ rides.

The Roly Rouleur and his future Rainbow jersey winner.

The Roly Rouleur and his future Rainbow jersey winner.

Tires pumped and saddle lowered (Uncle Rouleur is at least 6ft 5in, I am 5ft 9in!), I started to plan my route. From my In-Laws I planned a ride along a gravel path and then up into the Harz mountains, heading for the Josefkreuz (a large iron cross that you can climb, that itself sits at the top of a mountain!), and then back via a lovely winding descent down a mountain road, 25-30k all told and not a bad little ride.

I thought perhaps 2 hours in total and so took just a little water bottle and one gel, and with the words ‘it will be a walk in the park’ ringing in Mrs Rouleurs ears I set off.

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Day 6 and 7 – Reflections

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So its been a little over 48 hours since I arrived at the Rouleur-in-laws after having to call time on the first and toughest of my cycle challenges due to injuries to my fellow Roly.

On arrival there was predominantly a huge amount of guilt to reason with, but added to the mix was a dash of anger, a spoonful of pain and a whole heap of frustrations, which overall meant, that like a cheese that had been out of the fridge too long I was pretty stinky (metaphorically of course).

Of course no option really existed other than to abandon given the injuries my colleague suffered (I am still waiting on the finding of the Doctors report but wouldn’t be surprised to hear that he is now a Eunuch!) but it was still hard to accept.

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Day 4 and 5 – Devastation

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This has been the hardest blog to write so far, but unfortunately the ride was over before we had left Belgium yesterday.

I know some of you have been contacting me to see if everything is OK and I am sorry for not having responded so far but I will explain all.

As you will know from reading this blog for the last few days the ride has not been without incident, and it is one such of these that has ended the ride early.

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