A Couple of Days Ride Outta…….

I invited myself to my friend Rashmi’s house. We always joke we can visit each other any time. A very recent weekend gone by Rashmi was at Blenheim Palace but had unfortunately contacted me too late for a meet.

I just called her up on Friday and invited myself for the weekend.

I designed the route and downloaded to my Garmin 810. I had my second Garmin 700 and my phone as backup, what could possibly go wrong.

I woke way too early Saturday morning, 04.00 approximately. So I got up packed the last of my clothes and set off.

20 mins out of Oxford my Garmin turned itself off Grrrrrrrrr. But I stopped and fired it up again. Lucky it all worked.

Then I got the first rough road (despite having set the map to roads only)

I ploughed on regardless.

Sunshine, coffee, Turkey cooked the night before.

Along the tow path in Worcester I believe. Tranquillity abounds. 🤗

Ice cream.

Now when I was setting up my Garmin a few years ago I couldn’t be bothered to download the maps of anywhere north of Birmingham. So somewhere on my route I lost the map but was just following a line that sometimes turned. I got lost a few times especially along the rough tracks I was being taken down.

Then 9 hours in my Garmin ran out of battery and deleted my whole ride.

But I had my backup.

I turned it on, it turned itself off immediately. I turned it on again, it turned itself off immediately grrrrrrrrrr. Backup cocked.

Lucky I had my phone so I was following my Google directions on the phone, holding in one hand along a track. Desperately losing the will to live.

Eventually I arrived at destination after 13 hours. Tired hot and disorienting.

Gotta do it all again tomorrow now but backwards

Thanks for the great weekend Rashmi and Mark. 🙂🤩

I have got to find a place to live. The home I have lived in for the last 15 years, the house has been with the family for the last 55 years, is to be sold and I am destined for a one/two bed flat. To say the least I am unhappy with the prospect. Damn my parents for buying this house, damn my parents for letting me live here for so long, damn my inability to be successful.  Gloom permeates every aspect of my life, and with the British weather the rain the constant rain, the cold. I sleep badly, I eat badly, I am getting fatter, I am getting slower, I cannot keep up cycling with my friends, my friends are sick and tired of me droning on and on about my supposed woes, And to add to this I have started sleep walking I fell down our spiral staircase the other night.

I cannot see myself being able to settle in a flat. I looked at a 2 bed flat that would have all fitted into the living room (well nearly) of my present house. Coming to terms with this is tough.

But I have a plan and I am sticking to it. Buy a flat as a base and then go travelling. Luke, my son, will be able to live in the flat and at least he will be settled.
I will have to sell all my bikes as I will have no storage to put them. My possessions, my paintings, the desk my grandfather gave to me, everything I have collected throughout my life… no idea what will happen to them. My sister has a basement and most will go there. They are worth nothing except to me. Keep your eyes on ebay.

Well the positive I will be able to buy a new bike to go travelling, a flat bared Rohloff Stoater from Shand Cycles. I may be able to complete my world trip which I previously terminated to care for my mother.

Anyway the upshot of all this is that I will not be going to Morocco, although it will still be on my mind, I have to look for a place to buy and live. I am presuming this will take a month or 3. It also seems wrong to love living somewhere and to leave it for the last few months to go travelling, after it is sold I will possibly have all the time in the world to travel, until I spend all the money and have to get a job – – I’ll look forward to that when I am 65.

I read some reviews, ‘I am glad to say you will not be disappointed.’ from the http://www.gpstraining.co.uk. There could hardly be a better endorsement.

So excitement in the Osborne household was palpable. After a few goes with Ben’s Garmin Oregon 600 I took the plunge and bought the newer model Oregon 700. They do a 750 and 750t. But the only assets of these is a camera, more internal memory and the Garmin battery pack. I don’t need the camera and have got a 32gig memory card to sort out the space. The 700 is supposed to have many upgraded and clever features.

 

Now I resent Garmin forcing us to buy their battery pack, this pack pushes down the button in the center of the unit seen in the picture. Their pack is twice the price of other batteries and the Garmin batteries are mcu higher powered. So with the help of my son and Caz I attained a small piece of aluminium that pushes down the button when the batteries are inserted. Not really that exciting but I did it anyway – and it works

I have been playing with my new toy, downloading maps for my trip to Morocco, working with the set up and preferences.  And after really less than a day of full playing I can safely say so far this unit is a load of Shite. It has reset ‘Activity Profiles’ to make it more customisable, personally I think they make it less customisable. The set up process is so unintuitive it is near impossible to work out what I have to do to programme it.

Because it is touch screen it tries to make everything clever and touch screen activated. The Oregon 600 didn’t have a Start/Stop button for any activity (to start recording your activity) so the Oregon 700 has put one in but it is quite hard to find, swipe up from the bottom (yes I know once it is found it is easy to find again) But I did have 2 or 3 hour search (yes really maybe more than a 3 hours) to try to stop the timer from it automatically starting – there is a preference that I found to stop it but I could not find it again. Not that I want the unit to start recording an activity automatically. I think a physical start/stop button really would be an asset. Obviously these things are new and I will get used to them in due course.
The unit is trying to be so much clever than it has to be.
I have been using the Garmin Edge 810 and the Wahoo Bolt both of  which are so much more intuitive. How can they do one unit that is so easy and another that is so complicated.

Garmin Edge 1030 here I come. (Alan I need your advice.)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

 

There can be nothing more interesting on a Saturday afternoon than the researching of insurance for any trip.

Good old GoCompare, for an annual multi trip policy spills out over 100 different quotes from a plethora of different companies ranging from £23 to £167. Unfortunately none of these policies allow you to travel for more than 60 days at a time, so pretty useless for me. Most of these really only cover for what I call ‘paint by numbers’ touring (ie. getting someone else to do all the organisation, booking all accomodation, changing your saddle, changing you punctures, taking all your equipment in a car and so eliminate any jeopardy, or adventure…. well, or any fun – I know each to their own)

You can get single trip insurance cover (70 days) ranging from £46 – £360 but once again not covering cycle touring. I am sure some these do add touring, I just didn’t delve that far.

But there is Campbell Irvine. I have used them before and they are very amenable, why would they not be they are in the service industry.
I was on the phone for about 20 mins, probably paying a premium rate as well Grrrrrrrr.
So a single trip policy (no cycle touring) for 75 days costs about £164 I think there is a 25% extra to add cycle touring.
A Multi trip policy with cycle touring, maximum trip length 70 days costs about £163 (yes yes I know it’s cheaper, it sounds ridiculous but that’s what I was quoted. I may have heard or written it down wrong, there is always that high possibility.
Oh a yearly policy with cycling touring but not returning to the UK for a year (return and it is voided) is only £848  –  Just in case you are interested.
And none of these include the bike, that has to be done separately.

I know of may people who do not insure at all as it it so financially prohibitive.

I so hate that dithering, so many things can get in the way.  I once had a Swiss manager, Mr A. Good (always on formal terms never first name)  who said ‘Make a decision Mr Osborne any decision’,  deal with the consequences and the majority of the time it will be the right decision. So decision made on leaving date.
Should I book a flight, should I leave it till later, cheaper now it will most definitely go up, he who hesitates is lost.

Well that’s sorted. 5th of June. I will be on my way.

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I have been trying to decide whether to buy a GPS device or not. I do have on a Wahoo Bolt, and interestingly I searched out my Garmin Edge 810, which I thought had died, I attached it to my computer and low and behold it fired up, uploaded lots of updates and is now worging (I hope, I’m blaming its demise on Apple computers, it feels safe being back on Microsoft). I have also borrowed Ben’s Garmin Oregon 600. And downloaded Gaia GPS which is a route mapping App, lots of great reviews.
Yes I know I am going overboard in this coz I also have real maps. Never go anywhere without real maps, I love them, spreading them out, looking at the endless possibilities of where to go.
Anywhere the round up is this:
Garmin Edge 810 – I thought it was dead, but it seems to have done a Lazarus impression. But Smallish screen, designed for road biking.
Wahoo Bolt – Very small screen, black and white, mainly for road cycling.
Garmin Oregon 600 – Borrowed to try out for size. Bigger screen designed for on/off road routing. Borrowed to try out, in anticipation of purchasing a Garmin Oregon 700, which is supposedly an upgraded model and with different features but the same size screen.
Gaia GPS – There if all else fails.

I am hoping to charge all these up via my dynamo hub, no not at the same time, in rotation, with all the other electronic devices (GoPro, GoPro remote control, External battery, I’m sure there are mare I just cannot remember right now)

I know it is all a bit setup boring but hopefully there will be interesting things going on later that may be worth a read, please if you are interested ‘Follow’ my blog, there is a button on the right of each blog post, if not hit the ‘Home’ link and the ‘Follow’ link should be there. Thank you Katy for being the first.

Grrrrrrrrr, the Follow link is right at the bottom of the Post page (yeh the very bottom).

Since returning to UK from Portugal in late November last year the frequency of my rides, my enthusiasm for rides, and my enjoyment of rides has plummeted. 5kg put on since I got back GRRRRRRR. It’s been cold it’s been wet it’s been muddy.
Now, there is a sort of enjoyment about riding in atrocious conditions, it’s not really the enjoyment it the overcoming of adversity. – I still prefer the sun though.
For a reasonable amount of time now I can quite categorically say I am in a bit of a fug.  Motivation is low and it seems winter is carrying on forever.
There has been some pretty inclement weather to contend with. First there was the snow and ice covering the roads and paths. Brett lent me his turbo trainer but it got about as much use as a (hmm thinks of an analogy about lack of (no) usage can’t think of one, bugger. Then straight after that I seem to have contracted some kind of virus, first I was supposed to do a FTP test, I did 5 of the 20 mins and gave up, I took a few more days off hoping to cure my ailment then went out with my club on Saturday and did 20 minutes, I waved my colleagues on, turned round and went home. Eating Eating Eating. The irony of wanting to lose weight, being unhappy about failing so eating more fatty food is not lost on me.

I know exercise is the route of all happiness it keeps away depression, it elevates the sole. The shot of endorphins each day is enough to keep me happy.

But there is a small ray of light, it’s a twinkle in the distance. Beautiful aqua mosaic tiles, walls of perfect azure, sand dunes stretching off into the horizon, ornately carved wooden doors, sweet sickly sugar laden mint tea poured from a pot up high into miniature glasses,  the piquant smell of spices rising up into the nostrils so strongly you can practically taste them. Every morning the Mu’addin’s call to prayer for the islamic faithful. And the mighty High Atlas mountains rising over 4000m of elevation.
Josie Dew wrote of her cycling travels in north Africa, she was there in 1985. I remember thinking how young she must have been and how old I was at the time of reading (nearly 40). It finally dawned on me that I was a complete wimp and I needed to buck my ideas up and get a backbone. The tales of her travels spurred me on to get on my bike and tour, Africa was first on my list of places to go to…. it seems my list was out of sync, Australia, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt – yep that is Africa, nearly first on the list anyway.

I know when I leave my house on a tour that I am still scared nearly to death with fear. The unknown is a scary thing, people, dogs, bandits, dodgy drivers, bears, badgers, bombs, voles…. axe murderers who have been waiting behind a tree for 30 years ready to jump out on you when you put your tent down for the night – he’s still there waiting.

Morocco here I come. Not for ages but I am keeping the dream alive.

Start as you mean to go on. Rant all you like Mark it’s your blog.

So for the last few years cycling has been in the forefront of many a middle class guys or girls’ mind. Like a herd of lemmings running towards a cliff edge, discarding their golf clubs into the bunker and ploughing their hard earned cash into a bike…. then another…. then another.

Lighter, more expensive, electric gears, extra large jockey wheels, ceramic bearings. The list of upgrades goes on. But a great source of loved one’s presents adding to the novelty socks, cuff links, ties, budgie smugglers in the never to be used bottom drawer. What more do you want with a F’ing bike on it. The whole clique is epitomised by the Rapha brand, beautifully made, expensive, high profile, in just over 12 years they have conquered the cycling community, I know it’s a Marmite brand. I bought my first Rapha cap and Classic Jersey from Condor Cycles in London 10ish years ago. Personally I’m a big fan.

As with many things in my life, I complain vehemently about something, but very seldom extract myself from the guilt myself. (Another perfect example is: I hate whistling, usually done by men over the age of 40 who think they can hold a note but just sounds like crap, grrrr I am getting angry thinking about it now. But sometimes I find myself whistling, I do slap myself.) I know I am that middle class twat on a bike.

Now unfortunately things are getting worse in our (well my) world . These road cycling aficionado were happy to stick to their road bikes, riding the roads in 2 X 2s formations, executing their stupid hand signals, shouting ‘Hole/clear/stopping’ for all the world to hear. I came from much more of a touring background, now a few years ago the tourist was a shunned person, beardy, weird bike, fat tyres for comfort, a sort of slow dawdling rider.
Suddenly the roadie sector has decided that just riding on the road is boring (Like I have been saying that for many years), they decide that fat tyres are softer and better, (Like I have been saying that for many years), that wider handle bars for comfort and control on rough tracks are better (Like I have been saying that for many years.) You get the picture. My little niche is now inundated by roadies, with their expensive gravel bikes, their Apidura bikepacking luggage, fancy pants made for purpose Rapha gear (bananas in pockets in the legs of bib shorts – stick a caramel energy bar in there and that’s a Banoffee pie waiting to happen) and now riding off into the big unknown yonder.

Get back to the road, get back to your skinny tires, leave me alone in the wilderness.

Yeh yeh I know its the same bike as the one on the blog cover picture but it’s just gonna have to do for the moment.

I know that is just the picture and there are no more details, they are all on the Bike page, soon to be published.