Ride Reports

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

Stop the press. Did my first weekend ride, Wales trip excluded, since May. Six laps of RP in 1:54:30. A PB by 3 minutes, not sure where that came from :? Last ascent of Sawyers into the wind was hurty.

Saw a very rapid lady on a Cervelo Soloist in Pinarello bibs, the only person I saw going anti approaching my pace. Most seemed to be going clockwise today...

The park wasn't very busy but a lot of cars were doing 18mph :roll:

Good time! What was the time for your fastest three laps?

Rich158

Just had 50 mins on the bike, the first significant ride since my off the other week

It was nothing special but god it felt good, averaged just under 17mph, and touched 26/27mph at times which isn't bad on the fixie

However it has confirmed my shoulder is completely fecked. By 20 mins it was an effort to hold on to the bars (I'm seriously considering duck taping my hand to the hoods), and every bump in the road hurt like mad. My left arm then started to cramp as I was putting all my weight through it, which made cornering interesting :shock:

Shoulder problems aside the legs felt good, and the CV fitness doesn't seem to have suffered too much, so there is light at the end of the tunnel

attica

itboffin wrote:

Just back from a cheeky last minute ride with Attica phew! now that was a tough one talk about hilly fecking nora!

We managed 64 miles 4200ft ascent across large sections of the Highclere sportive route and round about lots of single track, avg speed 16mph - trust me that's a good pace for here, in fact the pain in my thighs when I got home prove just how much we pushed it.

We battled through the wind and drizzle/rain attacking the "hills" again and again - Chapeau to Rob he motored away from me on the 4 mile ascent from Tangley nice steady slog, although we both wisely chose not to tackle Walbury Hill today, after 50+ miles of relentless climbing and descending the thought of a 1000+ft climb into the wind and rain didn't appeal.

Still what a fun ride with great company, always a pleasure matey looking forward to the next one

A fab ride, rounded off with a most agreeable sunday roast courtesy of the ever wonderful Mrs ITB, most excellent and thoroughly needed, a big thank you to you both.

One thing ITB didn't mention is that whilst I did pull away on the two long climbs yesterday, he dropped me like a stone on any of the shorter hills, very different riding styles and that meant that we both pushed each other. A shortish (2 hour but no idea how far as my pooter packed in half way round) ride this morning hurt like hell, may well have to horizontalise for a bit this afternoon, must have done about 145 miles in three days now!

Thanks again for the grub and hospitality.

itboffin

NP matey it was a pleasure if it makes you feel any better i'm just back from the worlds slowest and most painful ride, thankfully the indexing on my CX is shot to pieces so I had good excuse to crawl :oops:

I foresee an afternoon of fettling and Guinness

jonginge

cjcp wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Stop the press. Did my first weekend ride, Wales trip excluded, since May. Six laps of RP in 1:54:30. A PB by 3 minutes, not sure where that came from :? Last ascent of Sawyers into the wind was hurty.

Saw a very rapid lady on a Cervelo Soloist in Pinarello bibs, the only person I saw going anti approaching my pace. Most seemed to be going clockwise today...

The park wasn't very busy but a lot of cars were doing 18mph :roll:

Good time! What was the time for your fastest three laps?

Ta. Was a struggle, way off the peaks of april/may, but somehow faster :? Fastest lap was only a 18:30 and the fastest 3 were the last at a rather modest 56:32. Bit breezy yesterday and a lot of slow-moving cars on the tailwind sections

@Rich, doesn't sound great Got a turbo to keep the fitness up?

@ITB, Attica sounds like a good ride, jealous

Edit: Ah, now I remember: the 1:57 was on my red/white hack, the ride yesterday was on the scott

gb155

Had an enjoyable but very short one today

http://gazzasblogs.blogspot.com/2009/08 ... -lane.html

roger_merriman

gb155 wrote:

Had an enjoyable but very short one today

http://gazzasblogs.blogspot.com/2009/08 ... -lane.html

have you thought of TT's I personally can never get my act together and don't have the competive gene really, but if your doing 4 miles of bridle/sustran type tracks in 15 mins then a flat 10 miles might well be sub 30mins which isn't to sniffed at and who knows maybe 25mins even?

gb155

roger merriman wrote:

gb155 wrote:

Had an enjoyable but very short one today

http://gazzasblogs.blogspot.com/2009/08 ... -lane.html

have you thought of TT's I personally can never get my act together and don't have the competive gene really, but if your doing 4 miles of bridle/sustran type tracks in 15 mins then a flat 10 miles might well be sub 30mins which isn't to sniffed at and who knows maybe 25mins even?

I have to admit the muscles I have build up really do me well over a short distance, I indend to visit Manchester Velodrome soon, Depending on how that goes depends on if I take it further but I was flying today and it was a shame I could stay out longer

cjcp

I can only report in with a meagre 22.6 mile effort this afternoon i.e. three and a bit laps of the Park - four times up Dark Hill. Made sure all the hills were out-of-the-saddle-and-hammer-it efforts. Average speed was about 19 mph. Blew away the cobwebs a treat.

benno68

Went out last night fueled with some lovely mixed seafood stew from another foody festival on Cardiff Bay.

Went around Roath Park Lake and pootled around Penylan then back to the Lake and into Rhiwbina. Someone mentioned Rhiwbina Hill last week so I gave that a go and got up it, then went down into Tongwynlais for a cup of tea at a mates, he was out so I went back up past Castell Coch and nearly got off the bike as it felt like I'd blown (heart rate at 179) - just about scraped up it and then went back down Rhiwbina Hill hitting 45mph max.

Back though Llandaff and home via Leckwith Hill.

30 miles overall. My computer messed about so had to reset after the first few miles, recorded 26.5 miles in 1 hour 48 :oops:

I dunno if I've hit a plateau as I don't feel like I'm improving - still using 34 - 25 more than I feel I should and 20mph on the flat although I can push it to 25ish but can't maintain that for long.

cjcp

Benno - try interval training, and specific hill sessions.

benno68

cjcp wrote:

Benno - try interval training, and specific hill sessions.

Cheers CJ - I'll look up "interval training" and give that a go. At the moment, I just get on the bike without any real focus which could well be the problem - although I realise that I need to improve on hills for your next trip down here .

Roastie

Warwick Cycle Races yesterday. The start was delayed, and so with a mix-up plus, with the benefit of hindsight, a bad decision on my part, I ended up starting effectively a lap behind with the group around 10s behind me.

I gave it all for about 8 laps, then stupidly (again in hindsight) took a break behind some backmarkers I'd caught, only to get caught by the leaders. Not wanting to get in the way I abandonded.

Frustrating, but I impressed myself with the turn of speed I was able to maintain and how hard I was able to hit the corners. Great when you can make the spectators jump! It was also quite cool to make a splash and hear my name over the PA system, even if my efforts were in vain.

One race left this season to do it right then!

(long version in on my blog)

Fireblade96

As mentioned in the "what I've just bought" thread, I've just taken the Wilier touring :shock:

A friend was riding John O'Groats - Land's End and asked me along for the Devon/Cornwall part. This was a couple of weeks ago and I was just off to Seattle on holiday - but said I'd go along if I could.

On my return from holiday I suddenly realised that in spite of jetlag and general knackeredness I was about to leave on this little jaunt. So...I toook the bike into the LBS for its first free service, and gave some thought to how to carry the little luggage I'd need. The fallback option was to take a rucksack (which is what I've always done for MTB touring) but on a road bike I didn't think it would go well with the riding position. The LBS recommended a Topeak RX seatpost mounted rack so that's what I got. It's a nice light piece of kit, weighing in about 400g, but the matching bag weighs more than the rack and has only a 3l capacity.

However, a 10l kayaking dry bag weighs less and can easily be bungied to the rack - and holds all you need, while being waterproof in anything less than total immersion to a depth of a few metres !

Following the discussions in this forum about the Crud roadracer guards I also ordered, received and attached a set of them.

For small items that I'd need on the go I took my Camelbak backpack but without the bladder - easily enough room for tools, inner tube, cereal bars, rain jacket etc. It was light enough that I barely noticed it but everything was ready to hand.



As for the route - I met my friend in Exeter on Sunday evening and we rode 14 miles up onto Dartmoor. We got there just in time to grab some food at a local pub and have an early night.

The next day was the biggie - 80 miles from Moretonhampstead to just outside Truro, with more than the occasional hill ! In spite of the overcast day the ride across Dartmoor was stunning, and there were loads of bikes around. I may well go back to the moor for some luggage-free riding. My mate was struggling on a MTB with BIG panniers, so our average speed wasn't high. I had been concerned about how well I would cope with big hills, being relatively new to roadie riding and aware that there wasn't the same range of low gears as I was used to on my MTB - but I never had to get off and walk, much to my satisfaction (and surprise).

Once off Dartmoor the roads got busier, and there were still a few nasty climbs (out of the Tamar valley on the A390 and the climb from Lostwithiel in particular), but nothing impossible, just long miles in the saddle. Which reminds me - the Selle Italia XR saddle that comes with the Wilier La Triestina is an instrument of torture !

We finally made it to the B&B in Carnon Downs at about 9.30pm after a couple of wrong turns, swigged a bottle of red and crashed mightily.

The final day was meant to be a triumphal, sunny blast to Land's End for celebratory photos and cream teas. Someone forgot to tell the weather or the geography about this plan, and we ended up again doing much more climbing than we had hoped for in thick mist. Leaving Truro at about 9am we made it to Penzance by 12, and guzzled pasties and coffee standing up. We had an unfortunate deadline of 4pm which was then we were booked on the train home, so when we left Penzance at 1230 we knew we were going to be pressed to make it to Land's End and back in time. Against a strong headwind and through the mist we slogged our way to Land's End in 1hour, took the requisite pictures and turned ourselves around for the return trip. And - suddenly it was mostly downhill, the wind was behind us and we scorched along, back to Penzance in about 30 minutes.

And then our train was cancelled :evil: :evil: :evil:

What did I learn from this ?
1. You can do a short tour on a road bike - pack very light and it's fine, and you'll beat your heavily laden mate to the top of all the climbs :-)
2. Devon and Cornwall are very hilly !
3. Taking your bike by train sucks. Outbound, I was given almost no time to secure my bike to the poor excuse for a rack and when I checked on it at the next station, a surfboard (!) had fallen on it. On the return, in spite of my best efforts, and having booked a cycle space in advance, my bike ended up piled up with 3 others in a crowded local train and the scratches so acquired have somewhat detracted from its hitherto pristine appearance

Stats:
Total distance : 145 miles
Height climbed : 11,000 feet !!!
Max speed : 42.7 mph
Ave speed : 9.9 mph (waiting for that MTB! To be fair, my mate had just ridden all the way from John O'Groats and was carrying a far heavier load than I was. On similar bikes over that terrain, I'd have been left far behind as I know from painful previous experience)

Roastie

Fireblade - cool story, the first of more touring jaunts?

And I feel your pain re: taking the bike on trains. I do it regularly, and with the new bike I have been losing hair with all the stress of idiots treating it carelessly!

Fireblade96

Roastie wrote:

Fireblade - cool story, the first of more touring jaunts?

And I feel your pain re: taking the bike on trains. I do it regularly, and with the new bike I have been losing hair with all the stress of idiots treating it carelessly!

You know, I was tempted to just continue past Penzance and carry on towards Scotland ;-) However, I need to sort out a new saddle before venturing further afield - and wait for the strange pain and clicking in my left shin to stop !

I used to tour a lot on my motorbike, and taking the ferry with it used to involve lashing it to a rail at the side of the hold with some oily rope. Ferry companies seem to have realised that they should be encouraging bikers as passengers and now almost all have great provision for motorbikes - individual bike stands that hold the front wheel and allow secure attachment even in rough seas. Surely train companies could come up with something similar ?

Eau Rouge

Hampshire doesn't have hills, not compared to Cork. This much I have learned over the past couple of weeks back home with the bike. It started badly, when I missed the ferry. Rather then worry about that, I took the chance to go for a bike ride around Fishguard. Scalping the Jaguar sports car down the hill (71.4kph!) was fun, the lovely cliff-like roads into and out of the old harbour were less fun.

I took things "easy" on the first ride, eventually arrivingi n Blarney, then heading home. That brought me to a junction. On the left, the flat few km's home, on the right, a climb longer than anything back home, which also happened to be part of the finishing circuit of the Cork stage of the Tour of Ireland, a nasty, hilly finishing circuit that would later pass by my house. Naturally, I took the hill. The circuit is all up and down hills, nasty steep hills, steep enough to scalp another car at one point. The traffic and traffic lights ruined the flow, but I did the circuit, including the infamous 25% St Patricks Hill.

A few days later I headed off down the harbour. It was nice and flat at first, got a little bumpy after Crosshaven up to my favourite little beach, then pretty much 13 miles of a climb to Cork Airport (the last 3 miles of a proper climb nearly killled me) before the "cruise past over 50 cars in the traffic at the bottom" bit and a run through the city and home. All in all a nice but tough 100k that got harder each time around.

A wet and windy 30k yesterday was followed by 93k today. 93k that included the climb of the Vee. It may only be a Cat 2 climb in the Tour of Ireland, but at about 8k and about 400+meters it was by far the toughest climb I've had to cycle. It's a steady gradient though, so it was just a case of sitting in a pace and climbing away. Knowing that it was long, and having an idea of some landmarks along the way made it much more manageable. Watching the two tourists passing me, then stopping for pics, then passing me about 4 times up the climb was fun. It was followed by a horrible decent. It would have been great had the county council employed someone who knew *anything* about road building to sort this one out, but they didn't. "Bumpy" doesn't come close. The same guy did the 10k from Lismore to Ballyduff too, but that wasn't as downhill.
The 14k from there to Kilworth along the banks of the Blackwater was soul destroying. Flat (ever so slightly uphill, the river does flow) but featureless, I couldn't wait for it to end. A final long climb on what used be the main Cork-Dublin road (two lanes, one for me, one for the traffic ) and a run back to my Aunt's house to end a satisfying 93k run.

How will I be happy with the rolling Hampshire countryside after this? (I'll remember the road surfaces, thats how!)

The Running Man

Afternoon all.

Had a torn calf about 5 weeks ago so the physio said I could ride but not run.

I've been taking him at his word .....

Consequently have got back on the bike for the first time for easily 6 years and have been absolutely loving it. 3 or 4 times a week I'm commuting 20 miles into work in Bath in the morning and doing a longer loop home via Melksham and Devizes of around 28 miles in the evening, plus getting some longer rides in on Sundays.

Not entirely sure this is what the physio meant by resting but he'll just have to learn to be more specific in future .....

Did a beautiful ride on Sunday from Calne out to Devizes, then across the edge of the scarp slope past Stanton St Bernard, to Pewsey and out through the lanes to Burbage. From Burbage village there's a steady run up to Savernake forest past the Grand Avenue entrance and down onto the A4 midway to Hungerford.

From there I backtracked along the A4 into Marlborough but cut off up past Barbury racecourse to the top of Hackpen Hill and home through the lanes via Bushton and Compton Bassett.

It's about 50 or so - so I guess in total I'm getting around 200 miles a week in, and suddenly I'm remembering why I loved riding.

Course it'll be a completely different story when the wet Winter nights start kicking in .....

Bassjunkieuk

Excellent work there Running Man, some of those place names look familiar so it might be worth pinging a PM off to ITBoffin if you ever want a ride buddy as he lives around the Burbage/Marlborough area and from the ride he took the SCRer's out on he certainly knows some good roads :-)

The Running Man

Ah - perhaps I should have mentioned that I am very slow as a result of being the wrong(or right) side of 50. It took me a smidge under 3 hours to complete the 52 miles.

Perhaps if he let me tie a bit of string to his seatpost ......

itboffin

The Running Man wrote:

Afternoon all.

Had a torn calf about 5 weeks ago so the physio said I could ride but not run.

I've been taking him at his word .....

Consequently have got back on the bike for the first time for easily 6 years and have been absolutely loving it. 3 or 4 times a week I'm commuting 20 miles into work in Bath in the morning and doing a longer loop home via Melksham and Devizes of around 28 miles in the evening, plus getting some longer rides in on Sundays.

Not entirely sure this is what the physio meant by resting but he'll just have to learn to be more specific in future .....

Did a beautiful ride on Sunday from Calne out to Devizes, then across the edge of the scarp slope past Stanton St Bernard, to Pewsey and out through the lanes to Burbage. From Burbage village there's a steady run up to Savernake forest past the Grand Avenue entrance and down onto the A4 midway to Hungerford.

From there I backtracked along the A4 into Marlborough but cut off up past Barbury racecourse to the top of Hackpen Hill and home through the lanes via Bushton and Compton Bassett.

It's about 50 or so - so I guess in total I'm getting around 200 miles a week in, and suddenly I'm remembering why I loved riding.

Course it'll be a completely different story when the wet Winter nights start kicking in .....

I hoped you left an offering to the PF as you passed through Burbage which is as everyone knows the country retreat of the PF.

We're very close

freehub

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/13010033

Ride out into the Wolds I think it was, keeping my max HR under 165 or trying to, the A1079 was abit scary so I just put the power down to get off that awfull road ASAP, I went up worsendale road which leads up to the A166 and that was a tough climb, I proceeded to go forward into the Howardian Hills, where I fly went straight down my throat at about 20mph. Onto the straight of Castle Howard I went, then off to Bulmer, down Bulmer Bank and up it into Sherrif Hutton and then to Strensall and a stop at Haxby Cycles to fill my bottles up and through york to bishopthrope onto the trans pennine trail up to a bridge onto Cawood road that comes from Escrick, up a bit of a drag, down a nice drag and past stillingfleet to Kelfield, back to Cawood and Home, feel quite refreshed.

The PDF of Peter Reads Black Book that is popular made me try and keep my HR between 155 and 165 and whilst I struggled to do that it certainly helped not going all out for once.

attica

After an absolutelyshitawful day's work (hardware just isn't supposed to fail twice!!!) I managed to grab a quick hour long spin.

Managed to hold 15mph most of the way up Brockley Combe and then on past the airport to the highest point on Backwell Hill Road before doubling back.

Stopped and took this snap as I realised that the sun was rapidly setting


Before dashing for home across the North Somerset levels, held 22mph most of the way (about 6 miles) and got a nice tow from a horse trailer for a good mile before it dropped me. Felt really strong as I arrived home in the dusk, would have loved to have carried on as it was a beautiful evening, alas no lights cut it all short.

_Brun_

Went a bit weird this morning and dragged meself outta bed at 7:30, which for me is almost unheard of.

Managed four laps of North London's hilliest bit, 1100 ft in 8 miles. Could've carried on but traffic was getting a pain and it meant getting down the hill was taking almost as long as up it.

Considering the morning commute is a pitiful 3.5 mostly downhill miles it feels good to have done a bit extra. I like the idea of making a habit of it, probably start that next summer.

Wallace1492

Well, a dry evening in Glasgow meant that I headed along clydeside, cross the bells bridge, and into the dipping sun. Fantastic views along the river with the new Type 42 destoyers being built at Scotstoun. Not too many cyclists about, a few on the cycleway heading towards the west end, but not many on the south side. Great wee blast along past the Southern general, passing a lovely girl on a MTB. Down past Braehead, and along to Renfew Ferry. So relaxing having a small ferry crossing to get back to north side of river with lovely views up and down. Chatted to a fellow commuter on the ferry, then headed up through Blairdardie, skirting Drumchapel and through Bearsden and Colhoun park. Very pleasant 16 miles home. Think i will do it again tonight, but will probably add some on at the end, maybe take in some of Mugdock Country Park. Need to see what Mary Doll is like on the rough....

risi

Well, well, I had completely forgotten to bore everyone with my highly exciting adventures in France. Actually there weren't many, what with 3 small children in tow & me being a soft modern man thought that it should be a bit of a holiday for the wife too, so disappearing for hours on end might be a tad unfair. But enough of me being a pansy-ass.

I was in the Vosges (setting for stage 13 of le Tour this year), close to the Col de la Schlucht which was part of that stage's route. So,
early morning ride up, including a look at the ski area & campsite just to the south of the col. Only a couple of other old boys on their bikes that time in the morning (heading up as I was heading down). Drove up later to have a go on the toboggan at the top of the col (excellent fun) & it was packed with cyclists.

What I really wanted to do was the "Les Ballons Vosgiens" sportive course, but that opportunity never arose, sadly.

What I can say is that the Vosges is a very purdy part of France and well worth a visit. Will definitely return (and have a go on the "Fantasticable" - a 1350m long zip slide where you reach over 100kmh).

Kieran_Burns

Well I was set for a 50 miler on the Trek for the first time but just as I was about to leave I got a call from my Mum asking me to pop over and help in the garden (humping sacks and the like), so I changed the route and took a loop to her place.

WAIH will know the Rangemore ridgeback and the great hill on the way to Barton - I finally managed to top 40mph, the Madone being much more stable than the Tricross - Iooked down as I was near the bottom and saw 44, later confirmed as 44.2 top speed - Gawd it's loud

Really sunny day yesterday and the roads nice and quiet on the way out - what's the FCN of a tractor??? I came up behind one right at the start and towed behind him wondering if I should overtake but thought it safer not to as he would catch me on the hills... only I came to a hill and was still being held up 8) So, I pulled to the outside and glanced forward - long straight stretch; so I tightened the legs and went straight past - gave the driver a cheery wave and got a mouth open look in return

I'm still a little nervous on cleats at the moment, so I always approach roundabouts warily, especially one with 5 exits (5 lanes end) known for accidents... however, there are some considerate drivers in the area Slowing and waving me through... how cool is that? 8)

One thing I love is having someone come up behind me you on the approach to a downhill when you enter a 30 and they get left behind... I know, I know - speeding... but come on :twisted:

Anyway - looped 'round to my Mums and knackered myself out, and time had got on - getting to rush hour and the country roads were BUSY when I got onto them... these are near single track in places and lorries come thundering down even when there is oncoming traffic :shock:

So... I cut short the return and basically went straight home - still a good short loop back and I managed to scalp a commuter... okay, okay I was a full blown FCN of 2 but this guy only lost out as he was wearing track suit bottoms with his road bike

He was holding just shy of 18 and I wound up to 23 and breezed past, with a friendly "Hiya mate!" - he appeared to be in a world of pain, so I don't think I made a friend that day. I held 22+ for a good couple of miles just to push myself and felt better than I thought I would.

38 miles in total - not far, so I may pop out again today and get another 30-40 miler in

itboffin

Just did my first proper ride in a week and damn that was hard work 1.5 miles in and I'm blowing hard just about ready to pack it in turn around and head home when I two MTFU pills and ploughed on.

I might add at that point avg 10mph :oops:

Seems this tummy bug has taken more out of me that I'd realised, total distance 10.45miles avg speed 15mph

That was one of my hardest rides this year, perhaps I'd better get up extra early tomorrow I have a feeling my first commute gonna hurt.

The Running Man

Got out of the house at 7.00 this morning (can do this to ride but have the devil's own job getting up early to run) and did a really nice 30 mile commute into Bath via Bromham, Devizes, Melksham, Attworth and down to Box and in on the A4. Averaged over 17mph despite some heavy traffic through Melksham and the London Road in Bath so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself.

Having what will hopefully be the last physio session tonight on the calf, which should mean I'll be allowed to get out of the saddle at last. Been banned from any aggressive climbing completely but if I do get the all clear it then re-introduces the running v cycling debate.

I've just dropped my bikes into TF in Bath for a service so I can be confident that they'll be ok through the Autumn / Winter so that implies I'm intending to spend a lot more time on them ......

essexian

Went out for my first ride on my new bike “Jordan” yesterday and, er…how do I say this…wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be.

I have been riding an ebay special (£115) for the last couple of years on and off averaging about 200 to 250 miles a month. It’s certainly been a struggle dropping down from 21 stone to 19 over the last four months but the bike riding has certainly helped. I am now averaging between 22 and 30 miles a ride and had managed to achieve an average speed of around 12mph.

Based upon these facts, I thought the new bike (A Specialized Secter Sports) would be lighter and thus, with more gears to choose from, faster and easier to ride….hummm.

I actually found that going up from 12 gears to 27 was a bit of a pain as the number of changes needed to find the right gear took quite a bit of getting used to. I also didn’t think the fact that the gears tend to rub in certain ratios was that impressive. I did find using the Sora changing system easy to get used to however.

Clipless pedals….. hummmm not difficult to use if you give what you are doing a bit of a thought. Almost had one unclipped moment however went faced with an oncoming van on a single track road… It was quite funny when the bloke pulled along side me, wound down him window and reminded me to unclip…must have been a cyclist as he was laughing at the time.

I do like the riding position however as it is more comfortable than before, and surprisingly my, er, man bits, didn’t hurt after 30 miles as normal. The handlebar shape is also very user friendly.

Overall, perhaps I was expecting too much from the bike. After all, it’s still carrying a fat unfit bloke around on its saddle.