Saturday morning road ride around Durham Villages and nipped over to Easington Lane / Hetton

 

Its finally the weekend and time for some miles. I was planning on doing a mainly off road loop but changed my mind as I was up early and thought the roads would have been quiet so took the road bike out for a local road loop. I did my Durham Villages loop with a trip over into the Sunderland district before coming back over into Co Durham. As I hoped the roads were lovely and quiet when I started the ride just after 6.30am. There was overnight rain but the roads were drying up nicely. The temperature was not to great but just got into double figures by the time I got home. On the plus side the wind has gone again. The bike was going well but at High Pittington I noticed Stans had been spraying out of my rear tyre and covered the back of the bike. I think its time for me to fit my new spare pair of tyres! All in 36.60 miles with 2300ft of climbing in 2hours 11 minutes = average speed of 16.7mph. 

Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon - 

Once back home it was time for some man cave fettling on the bikes - 

Creo Gravel - adjusted the indexing on the rear mech. Oiled the chain and lubricated the cassette, rear mech and pedals. 

Creo Road - injected some more Stans in the front tyre. Cleaned and oiled the chain. Lubricated the cassette and rear mech. Washed the Stans off the bike from todays ride. Charged the battery, Garmin, camera battery, front and rear lights. 

A short quick spin up and down the C2C from Consett

 

I was in Consett today so decided to have a spin down the C2C line from Consett for half an hour then turn and head back. The forecast was heavy rain so wore my jacket just in case but it never came. I had the dark overcast clouds and spits of rain but the warm strong wind must have kept it at bay. All quiet up Consett / Leadgate / Annfield Plain & Stanley way. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Back out on the old railway lines of County Durham

 

Well that is another bank holiday weekend over and we had a couple of days away down in Ripon / Harrogate. It was lovely and quiet with the weather very hit n miss. Today the temperature finally got into double figures but it was a very mixed bag again of some sun, cloud, overcast, wind cool and warm. The Garmin varied from 12 degrees to over 16 degrees but felt a lot warmer and colder than that if you know what I mean. I just did a short loop taking in two of Durham old railway lines and one inter linking road section between Crook & Willington. The lines and road were lovely and quiet with not that many others out n about. After yesterdays heavy rain the ground was not that wet and still rock hard under tyre. All in just under 23 miles with 1500ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon including some new bling goodies! 

Fresh Goods Sunday - Shimano DURA ACE / XTR RT-MT900 Disc Rotor Ice-Tech FREEZA (160mm Centrelock)

 

With buying another pair of DT Swiss wheels for my Creo gravel set up I needed another pair of 160mm disc rotors. I have a couple of pairs of Dura Ace SM RT900 but Shimano have stopped making them since they launched the updated Dura Ace groupset. They are now using the MTB XTR rotor and renamed it RT-MT rotor. Some riders had problems with the previous Dura Ace model rotor but I cannot say I have have had any issues. 

So I took the rotors off my road bike and fitted them onto the new 650b wheelset so they match the rotors on my 700c wheels for the same bike. I then fitted the newer model onto my deep section DT Swiss road wheelset on my creo set up for the road. Fitting is simple with the splined locking, dont forget you need the Specialized speed sensor lockring for the rear. 

I cleaned them with cleaner before using but they squealed like a pig on the first ride. I cleaned them again and the second ride and they were quieter. The third ride very little squealing. I cannot notice any difference in performance or stopping power between the models. I did not suffer from over heating on the older model either. Time will tell how they perform. In my eyes the older model looked better on the eye but he ho. 

RRP £59.99 and I paid £54.49 from Merlin Cycles in 48hr p&p - Discount 9% 

Manufacturers Blurb - 

• XTR RT-MT900 Ice Tech rotors providing consistent braking performance through energy control, using revolutionary stainless steel / alloy 3-layer sandwich construction that manages heat while riding
• The clad steel / alloy / steel rotor construction allows heat generated from braking to radiate quickly through the aluminium core achieving surface temperature drops of around 50 deg C. When used with Ice Tech pads surface temperatures can drop from around 400 to 300 deg C, this provides great improvements in performance all round
• FREEZA rotors allow the alloy core to extend out from the braking surface as a fin to providing added cooling
• Ice Tech rotors achieve long pad life, less noise and less fade due to improved heat dispersion
• Rotors are durable lightweight and rigid, using the proven Shimano Center Lock system giving increased strength and security with an easy set-up
• Precision cut braking surface improves pad clearing in muddy conditions while aiding cooling under high load
• Large alloy spider is a highly rigid and lightweight support for the rotor surface
• Super polished braking surface gives excellent braking performance

I found an old XTR rotor in my spares box and popped it onto the scales for a comparison

All kitted out and ready to rock n roll over the country lanes of Co Durham and beyond!