Le Tour de Fitness...

Hey all

I know it's been a long time since i blogged last, so i thought i'd better blog! Mainly to ensure my 2 followers that i'm still alive :) So what have i been doing instead of blogging? Well mainly working, being out on my bike, fixing bikes or watching bike related stuff.

 For the past week its been Crankworks Les Deux Alps, basically the worlds biggest mountain biking festival Crankworks has spread across from Canada to france for a week. The second Crankworks is mainly aimed at the European mountain bikers who can't get to the mecca of mountain biking which is Whistler Canada. The other more popular cycling event taking part in France this month is the Tour de France. Finally the Brits have a reason to watch this spectacular portable circus with two Brits fighting for top honors, the highly coveted Yellow Jersey. At the moment Bradley Wiggins is holding on to the Yellow Jersey, and barring no major incidents is set to win the tour. The reason i say this is that the second place rider, Chris Froome is riding on the same team, Team Sky. Team Sky have been the dominant force this year and look set to make Wiggins the first English rider to win the tour. however if Wiggins does have an upset and losses the Yellow Jersey, the second place rider Froome is also English, so this year the the Brits have a strong hold on the tour! Which is good news considering road cycling is an Olympic sport and at the moment the three top road cyclists are British! "Three? but Lawrence you have only mentioned two..." i hear you cry! Well the third man is the current world cycling world champion Mark Cavendish, last years sports personality of the year! Cavendish has had a rather disappointing tour so far, after his stage win on stage two Cavendish has been a rather ghost of his last years self, where he was a driving force in the race for the sprint title and won the Green Jersey. Whilst this is very worrying news one of the greatest British cyclists of all time is having a bad run in to the to the Olympics. But he has a injury sustained from a fall on a stage and is resting for the Olympics, which is good news :D and whilst talking about the Olympic team currently 4 out of 5 of the British cycling team have won a stage of the tour, which i see as a good sign :D

Now, i've seen many people catching Tour de France fever and the amount of Road Cyclists has definitely doubled this week! I also have caught Tour fever and wanted to get out and crank some miles on a road bike. Unfortunately for me, i don't own a road bike... however i know some one who does :D However,  it was in a bit of a rough state... queue before photo...

so i decided to rebuild it, and return it to its former glory :) it needed practically needed a new rear end, i had to rebuild the rear wheel, replace the gear cable and the jockey wheels, got a new chain and fitted it, set up the saddle so it suits me and fit some new pedals. today i bought some new brake blocks and brake cables to make sure stopping ain't a problem :D  queue after photo... 

I'm thinking i might re spray it and make it look a bit less tired... but it is in one piece XD

My final plans for it are after my ride tomorrow, to make sure everything works, are to use it to improve my fitness :D get rid of my beer belly, or as my older brother pointed out my "success ballast" like in the touring cars :D I simply pointed out that i have a six pack but I prefer to protect it with a layer of fat... so i thought it was about time i got rid of the layer of fat... its just a matter of time...

Anyway i shall get out tomorrow in my new roadie frame of mind and let you know how the bike works :)

ta ta for now  

she lives!

Hey all!

It's been a hectic couple of days for me, starting work full time has meant that i haven't had much time to do, well anything! But avoiding the topic of full time employment for a minute the best thing has happened in a very long time to me! Georgina's wheels have turned up! in all there glory! After a quick strip down and clean up they where on her! BY GOD THEY LOOK GOOD!!!!! Also i should mention i have been out for a quick ride on them and they feel even better than they look :D so i decided i would include a few snaps for you lucky guys to look at! :L enjoy!

here's the front wheel, Its a Trialtech Sport disc hub in white on a Echo TR Rim in turquoise although its more metallic blue if you ask me! laced with SAPIM spokes :D

Here is the rear wheel, again its a Trialtech sport hub in white but its a non disc hub. The rim again is a Echo TR in turquoise, all laced with SAPIM spokes by the wonderful people at www.Tartybikes.co.uk

Before

so here is a few shots of Georgina before the new rims...

After

Like i said before i stripped her down, back to bare frame, i had to do it inside as the Great British summer has taken over this week!

i stripped the wheels down, took the tires of the rims and put them and the inner tubes back onto the new wheels, don't the already look amazing?!

so here she is! Georgina the final edition WOW!

Also got to fit my new 4Jeri chain tensioner 

Amazing Trialtech front hub, which looks sick!

The front end looks sick! The Maxxis High Rollers looks much bigger than they did on the old wheels

The same goes for the back wheel! FAT TIRE XD

I like to think the Blue rims suit the the silver frame! 

The white hubs match the white bars and grips and tie the whole colour scheme of the bike together a treat!

My white Funn Fatboy handlebars mated with a sweet B'Twin comp stem looks the dogs!

My new favorite grips of all time! My Sunline V1 Loc-ons :) 

so here is the final spec of my beast (to the best of my ability)

Frame: GU Typhoon 26" (silver)

Forks: Alpinestars

Stem: B'Twin Comp

Handle Bars: Funn Fatboy (white)

Headset: Tioga 

Bottom Bracket: Trialtech ISIS 

Cranks: Truative Blaze (black) 

Pedals: Wellgo V8 (white)

Front rim: Echo TR (turquoise) 

Front hub: Trialtech Sport Disc (white) 

Rear Rim: Echo TR (turquoise) 

Rear Hub: Trialtech Sport non-disc (white)

Spokes: SAPIM race (silver) 

Tensioner: 4Jeri 

so there you go folks my latest and greatest bit of news! 

oh and on a serious note a bike was stolen today at poole train station, it was locked up and the thieving bastards cut through my lock and took the bike! the bike in question is a Specialized XC comp, the only noticeable feature is the bright orange DMR V8 pedals! oh and the fact i have the saddle here at home, so if you see some dick riding around on this Specialized notify the police as it had been reported stolen! some people ay?! 

any way hate to end it on a sour note! 

will blog again soon! 

Ta ta