A less muddy shakedown number 2 ride to Roker, Sunderland n back

 

After the last few rides in total slop feast conditions I had a change of plan today for a drier section of old railway line. I joined onto the C2C at South Pelaw / Lambton Worm and headed down towards Sunderland. There was only a couple of muddy sections through the woods and the last section towards the A19 junction which has some massive deep puddles. The bike was still covered in mud but not as much! I reduced the power percentage on the app last night for Eco and Sport settings, see the photos at the bottom of the blog. With the cassette having a much larger range compared to my older 11 speed / 44t I don't need to use Turbo so much and when I do it is for shorter durations. The downside to the larger cassette is the big jumps between gears near the middle going up to the 50t. The bike went well again and had no problems. The motor is smooth in the power delivery and very quiet across all three power modes. 

There was a few other people out and about but Roker was very quiet. There was a baltic strong wind coming in straight off the north sea! I had a quick cuppa but it was that cold I just wanted to head back up the line. There are two diversions in place, the section just before you go under the Wearmouth bridge and the section in front of the glass centre is closed. The glass and dog dodo was not too bad today for a change on the last part heading to Sunderland, pleasant surprise to be honest. I had a headwind all the down and a tailwind coming back up. All in 27.5 miles in 2hrs 19 min with 1300ft of climbing. I had 44% battery left for reference. Below are a few cold looking snaps, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Factory standard settings

My tuned settings, 10% less than my Creo 1 settings

First shake down ride on the new Specialized Creo 2 - with 29" x 2.2" tyres!

 

As you may or may not have worked out I have bought a new Specialized Creo 2 last week. I will post a blog on the new bike soon as I have swapped a few parts over from my Creo 1 and bought some new parts as well. 

This is the first shake down ride on the new bike. I have not adjusted any of the power percentages on any of the modes yet as I wanted to see what it was like on standard settings from factory. Yes the new 1.2 motor has defo more power and is a lot quieter. The new TCU display on the top tube is way better than my older version. I am running 700c / 29" wheels with 2.2" (54mm) tyres and there is still ample clearance on both the forks and rear end. It was simple out n back ride along the old railway line with very little climbing / hills. The lines are still completely up the naff's with the rain and I was covered in grinding paste as I call it. There was loads of other users out, not sure why as it was just above freezing, overcast and mainly cloudy. On the plus side there was no rain or wind. All in 20 miles on the nose with just under 700ft of climbing and I used 44% of the battery. My old battery extender works on the new bike giving an additional 50% when required. Enjoy the few snaps below and hopefully more soon- 

Todays ride on my original Specialized Creo gravel might be my last ride on it.

 

It has been a busy week one way or another and this is first time I have managed to get out on the bike since New Years Day. I decided on one of my regular mainly off road loops taking in two of Co Durham's old railways lines. As you would expect with the recent storms and near continuous rain the tracks are up the naff's to say the least. Just as well I bought and fitted the new Ass Saver Win Wing 2 rear mud guard. This was its first outing and it had a real good testing. What can I say, probably the best clip on mudguard I have ever bought over my 40+ years of cycling. It does not rub on the tyre / wheel. doesn't make any noise. You cannot tell you have it fitted and the back of my jacket did not have one spot of mud, unreal. Also it was the first ride since I have swapped the rear mech inner and outer cable and you can tell its Shimano's best cable kit - Dura Ace. Back to super smooth shifting up and down the cassette. Th tension needs a half turn of the barrel and jobs a good'un. Also first time out with the new Cannondale bar tape. Still cannot get over over how bright the blue is! Back to the ride, there was a few others out but not many. The weather was overcast, no wind, no rain but misty in places. The Garmin dropped to near 0 degrees so it did not feel warm in any way shape or form. 

As the title states this could be the last ride on my original Creo which is set up for gravel. I have had the 2019 model for four years now and covered 6350 miles on it. The battery and motor have never let me down once and the health check on the battery is still 100%. When I was out on todays ride I cannot believe just how enjoyable / comfortable the bike is. Out of all the bikes I have owned over the many years of cycling this has been by far the best bike I have ridden. I cannot fault it in any way apart from the mud clearance is a little tight on the forks with a 2" tyre fitted. Yes I know there is not many original components left on it apart from the GRX 11 speed shifters / rear mech and stem. I have swapped the saddle, seatpost, wheels, disc rotors, tyres, handlebars, bar tape, crank arms, chain and cassette.  

More soon in an up coming Blog as to what is going to replace the old girl. 

Below is a few photos from todays ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

New Years Day local road ride - cold and windy but sunny

 

Hope you have all had a lovely Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I have not been out on the bike since my last blog post, the weather has been crap and lack of motivation again! We have been away for a few days in North Yorkshire - Harrogate, Thirsk & Helmsley. First day was the weather was canny and made a huge difference but it was back to normal the second day, lashing down the whole day. Yesterday we went to the railway museum at Shildon to see the Flying Scotsman - now that is an impressive lump of metal close up. 

We don't celebrate the New Year so I was looking at some old routes on my Garmin to see if I could get  a road route roughly planned in my head. The forecast was dry and sunny but again a stiff wind. there was  no sun rise and it was overcast and miserable looking out through the window. I stopped in bed for a while longer and the sun came out so I dragged my arse out. I did not do the route I had planned in my head so did a shorter local one instead. It was not warm even with the sun and the wind was killing my lungs on the way out. The roads were quite busy with traffic, not like the old days. I bumped into Tony Fawcett (Nowt Daft - YouTube) walking Buddy his dog and aka the lovely Alison. Not spoke to Tony for a good few years but his last video inspired me to get back out on the road bike today to be honest. All in just under 22miles in 1hr 30 mins with 1700ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps, enjoy and hopefully more soon-