Sunday morning spin down to Roker, Sunderland n back via the C2C

The forecast was looking very good again so Jane wanted to head down to the coast. We started the ride with the Garmin reading 1.5 degrees and very foggy. The sun was not burning through at all. Once we dropped down to Sunderland you could not see the other side of the river bank. We stopped at Roker pier for a cuppa and cake at Sue's Café. First time we have stopped at this one and we will defo be going back. The drink and food was spot on and very cheap! On the way back the fog had started to lift a little and we could see the other side of the river bank now. The amount of broken glass, dog poo and thorns from the bush cutting was unreal. I must had a puncture in the rear and the Stans took a while to seal so had to stop and get pumping to get it back up to pressure. It never went down again after that. The lines were quite busy with dog walkers, cyclists, runners and horse riders. Once back home it was glorious sunshine, typical! Below are a few snaps, enjoy and hopefully more soon.

Fresh Goods Sunday - Hope Technology Pullover Hoodie - Charcoal

When we were over in the lakes I decided I would like a new jumper / hoodie. I looked at some Fox ones and a few others from some walking shops but ended up buying this Hope Tech one from Biketreks in Ambleside. The thickness / quality of the material made my mind up. I did see them on Inspiral Cycles website a few months ago and noticed the comment about slim fitting and size up. Well they are defo on the slim jim side of fitting despite the "standard fitting" on Hope's website. It is lovely and warm / soft to wear and hopefully should wash well. The hood is big enough even for my fat head! the only downside is the front pouch pocket. It is not very deep and stuff tends to fall out very easily. The rrp is steep but it is made in the UK but £49.99 would make it a more eye catching price.
RRP £55 and I paid £55 (I was going to use my bonus points that I had earned but they had expired!)

Manufacturer's blurb - We're proud to make all our components in the UK so why not make our clothing here as well?
Well we've started the ball rolling with our new pullover hoodie which has cotton woven in Leicester and is sewn together in London.
Fabric - 50% Cotton / 50% Polyester
Fabric weight - 330g
Note these are standard fitting  LINK

 

 

Saturday morning road ride from Stanhope inc Chapel Fell etc - Cannondale Synapse Neo Al 1

Well you may or may not have noticed that I had a test ride on Cannondale Synapse Neo - E road bike when we were over in the Lakes. Well I have only gone and bought one from Jason / Paul at Westbrook Cycles and this was its first shake down ride. I have been wanting to get back out on the local roads for a while now and get back into the hills etc. I have done a few road rides on the E mtb and it is ok with the forks locked out going up the hills, ok coming down the hills but anything in between is slow and very draggy after the 15mph limit. I have been looking at the e bike road scene for a couple of months and read into the various motors / batteries etc.
Cannondale have opted to use the Bosch Active Line Plus 250w motor and a Powertube 500wh battery. We now have three e bikes all with the same battery so that will be handy for swapping around, spare battery if required etc. The Active Line plus is lower wattage compared to the Performance line cx motor on the mtb's which is a good thing for the road and the one thing I was concerned about was the amount of drag after the 15mph limit. Well after the first ride I can say it is defo way better than the mtb but there is still some there which you would expect. This model also comes with the new Bosch Kiox display unit, way better than the Purion for the road
I will not go into too much detail at the mo about the bike until a few more rides are under my saddle. As for the ride will I covered over 5000ft of climbing in the 33.5 miles and there was still 24% of charge left. There is a reason why I took it up to Weardale, it was not only try out the bike but to also check to make sure I could get up the hills with the 11-30t on the back. The 2 model that I tried in the lakes has a 11-34t and so does the 3 model below. Well I climbed up to Rookhope, Scarsike Head, Middlehope Bank, Chapel Fell & Crawleyside. On some of the 20+% sections I was in Turbo and the 30t and it climbed spot on, even into a massive headwind. Here is a link to my ROUTE and Crawleyside on the way back to Stanhope. Below are a few snaps, enjoy and hopefully more soon -

First climb of the day, up to Rookhope

Yes that dead straight road in the distance is what I am going to climb up!

No Alston today but there are plenty more days for a trip over to Alston.

Top of Chapel Fell

Took these couple of pics before heading up Crawleyside.

Now I was going to take it steady going up Crawley but a 8 to 9 stone climbing machine passed me right at the bottom so tried to keep with him, he was in sight all the way until right at the top after the dipper he pulled away. Turbo all the way!

Below should be a video clip from the top of Chapel Fell