Early morning damp and cool spin around Durham City Centre & Maiden Castle

 

Defo no sun rise on this mornings early spin out on the bike. It was overcast / cloudy and miserable. The Garmin was reading 10 degrees but wind made it feel a lot colder. The overnight rain made the tracks n trails damp under tyre and quite slippery in places. It was lovely and quiet first thing with very few others out n about. First time I have used my lights this autumn with my Lezyne small flashing front led on my bar bag and Lezyne rear led light flashing on my seatpost and my USE Exposure Sirius on high beam on my helmet dropping down brightness as daylight started to come through. More than enough brightness / visibility for the loop. All in 14.5 miles in 1hr 15mins with 700ft of climbing. Enjoy the few snaps below and hopefully more soon - 

Langley Park to Bishop Auckland n back inc pit stop at Infinity Cycles.

 

No ride yesterday due to the rain and other jobs to sort out so back out today for a spin. I hoped onto the old railway line at Langley Park and headed over to Broompark picnic area. I did the bedding in procedure on the new Sram disc pads and the front brake was still squealing. At the crossroads I turned left and headed for Bishop. When I reached Meadowfield sports centre's fields I crossed over to Infinity Cycles at Langley Moor for some advice. After putting the bike / front wheel onto the brake bedding in machine he popped the bike into the stand and cleaned the disc and re aligned the calliper and the thing was still squealing. I asked if facing the mounts might solve it, failing that there is only the calliper and adapter left. He checked the face of the bosses and took off a small amount on the bottom one, back on the roller machine, realigned the calliper and cleaned the disc again and it sounded a lot better. 

From there I crossed back over onto the old railway line to Bishop in the sun and a headwind now. The squealing was a lot better so looks like the facing tool has sorted it. After a loop around the market place and a quick stop for a bit to eat & drink I headed back to Langley Park with a tailwind. All in 27.5miles in 1hr 59mins with 920ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Specialized S-Works Creo 2 - Front Brake Squeal - LOUD!!

 

The front brake started squealing on my S-Works Creo 2 front brake a few weeks before it went into Infinity Cycles to get the rear wheel sorted out. I tried sanding and cleaning the DT Swiss pads and swapping front to back but it did not work. I tried rubbing down both sides of the disc braking surface on both discs, cleaning them with Isopropyl Alcohol and swapping front to rear and it did not work .I took the calliper off the adaptor and the adaptor off the forks and cleaned everything down and refitting, still did not stop the squealing. 

I fitted the original Sram pads and realigned the calliper ready for breaking in on the first ride as per Sram instructions. Some how I don't think its going to work! That just leaves a problem with the adaptor or calliper. I did Google if facing the boss mounts would stop any squeal and come back with mixed results but it be the next thing to try. More on the next Blog after I do the Sram bedding in procedure. 

A local ride of two halves due to closure on the old railway line - gravel and country roads from the Durham Beast

 

The photo above is my life behind the bars in the sun! It has been a while since I have been out but today I made the effort for a steady spin out within the local area. I had planned an out n back along the old railway lines from Langley Park but the line was closing at 8am from the start of the woods leaving Langley Park to Malton picnic area for resurfacing so I could not get back the same way. SO when I reached Consett I did a loop over to the park  at Blackhill then over to Hownsgill viaduct before hitting the old roads from the Durham Beast back to Langley Park. It was a good test of legs and lungs on the steep climbs. I was loving the descents on the back country lanes. The gravel tyres were singing along! 

Below are a few snaps from the ride inc the route map. All in 31.5 miles in 2hrs 25 mins with 2400ft of climbing. Enjoy and hopefully more soon-