The event draws near…

The realisation of what is to come starts to dawn…

Day 1 – Dublin to Bourg d’Oisans (via Geneva)

Flights at 12, day begins at 7am – because it is a Sunday and buses decide to be in frequent. I guess it is better than last trip where there were no buses. It was made slightly better as Burger King has a Double Cheese Burger, small fries, small drink for the grand low price of €3.50. At 10am, it becomes the breakfast of kings.

Things were continuing along their path of general goodness when we landed in Geneva. I was of two minds about the car however we ended up with a 5 door Toyota Auris. This meant no unpacking of the bikes to fit them into the car – seat folded down and away we went. AC too.

The landmark behind the house

5 minutes from the car park, things did start down hill when the GPS decided it didn’t know the road we were on. Even the main motor way was a different area. Quick food stop sorted it by reselecting the maps. I guess its a case of check PROPERLY before you go.

Food is where things started to fall down. We built up the bikes and went off to find a restaurant. Pizza and chips ordered – pizza arrived. After we finished the pizza, we reminded them about the chips only to be told, sorry forgot to put your chips order in, and the kitchen is closed. Can do desert. I guess they were saved by the Cart D’or ice cream. Very very nice.

Day 2 – Col du Glandon / Col De La Croix De Fer

Today started hungry and tired. Yesterdays mishap with food didn’t sit well. And it seems it gets ridiculously bright here ridiculously early. So all in all, not a good night.

Breakfast consisted of some corn flakes, scrambled eggs and orange juice. Not really the cycling feast we were preped for back in March at Vamos Cycling. (Those guys rock – should want a cycling holiday, look at them in Cadier Spain. Food was amazing as was the cycling.)

The cycle rolled out around 10 and continued down a long straight road until we start up the Col du Glandon. Being me, I really hadn’t spent all that much time studying the profile so the climb mostly worked out easier than expected. It goes up, down, up, down again, back up to the top. With breaks to re-group, it was handy enough.

The heart rate was one difference. First climb, I started by holding my pace to see how I was feeling, wait for the legs to start to burn a little. This stopped quickly about 200m along the road at the first corner. Looking at the Garmin, HR of 175, with no burn in the legs. Stopping at the first corner, we waited for around 30 seconds to re-group after maybe 1km of climbing. Strangely I hadn’t recovered, at all. It took another minute or two before I was back to normal. Immediately my pacing strategy changed to one based on HR, not power or perceived exertion.

The road a head becomes visible

While the climb itself was a near sustained 10%, it wasn’t physically hard per-say, it was the heat that caused the problems. Lots of constant sweating meaning lots of constant drinking, and lots of nuun.

I generally held my own which was nice, actually held my own all day. A Scottish guy who is staying the B&B did beat me up every hill but other than that only two other cyclists passed us. They were fairly milling it along too. Both in the drops working hard. Yes it doesn’t mean much but it is nice to be doing the passing. And yes it’ll be different on Saturday.

The descents were mostly ok however I need to look at my brakes. Rear isn’t working as well as it used to meaning I nearly cooked it on the second corner of the first descent. Loose rocks on the road too. Anyway it is better to relax during the descents and recover.

Overall a nice easy enough ride. Need to watch the water tomorrow. Think it was 3 and half bottles today however the mountain fountains are very cold and very nice.

Food – A nightmare begins

So it turns out no one here eats until 7pm. Yes we had a bit of after ride pasta but it was stressed that it isn’t lunch, and it wasn’t. Walking around the town, restaurants were open, just not serving food. Like honest. A trip to the supermarket resulted in some cans of coke, crisps and jellies. They helped but not enough.

Google came to the rescue in a way by finding a bigger supermarket. This gave us bread, ham and cheese for rolls. By now it was 7pm so off for a burger and chips, mixed tapas to start. However tie in that I normally eat regularly and this was no where close to regular, I didn’t finish the meal, something slightly worrying. Even now, a few hours later, my stomach still hurts a bit and my head hasn’t recovered. I’m also tired from the lack of sleep last night. Overall, the worse I’ve ever felt after a days cycling – last years Wicklow 200 included.

Tomorrow we have sorted some cereal and more bread to food after the ride. Hopefully sleep will work better tonight. And the restaurant we were at again tonight has a restricted food menu during the day. Only hours they don’t serve is 5:30 to 6:30 which I think we can work around.

Time will tell.

The morning shall be interesting.

Day 3 – Col du Telegraphe / Col du Galibier

Luckily today began in a slightly good way. Last night gave way to more sleeping, a bit with the waking 2-3 times for toilet breaks, but that is one of the side effects of drinking so much water. And honestly, I’d not change it. Waking up in the morning without sore legs, or stiff legs, or tired legs really is something.

The morning started downhill from there. My pre-existing stomach cramps / pains decided to make an appearance meaning I almost delayed us leaving in the van for the trip to the Galiber. Our drive took us along the route yesterday and up the Glandon. Strangely it seemed a lot harder in the van than it did from memory yesterday. The decent from the Glandon, well that is another story. While it looked a bit nuts while viewing the first bit, when we started driving it, the insanity hit home. Steep sweeping roads with no walls or barriers.

A photo doesn't do justice - it is a bit drop over that edge

The road from the decent to the Telegraphe, reported by many to be the hardest part of the event, is, well rolling. Ups and downs along the motorway. A group will be useful but pacing more so. Staying too hard along here and you will not recover on the Telegraphe.

Conversation in the van also alluded to how the day might work out position wise. The two new guys who joined us yesterday seemed fit – was is in the UK Navy. However just how fit became apparent when the conversation turned to Ironman events. It wasn’t a case of oh different people have done an Ironman, but just how many they had done. 6 to be exact, including Kona, and posting a time of 9:03 in one, enough to shock one of the other guys who had done 2 Ironman events.

Our day cycling day began in St Michel De Maurienne. Short 2km before we were on the Col de Telegraphe. I remembered some of it from the few ascents I did on the Tacx Trainer that I have. While it was months ago, we did remember there would be trees. Unfortunately, we did the climb between 12 and 1 and well, trees on the side of the road don’t help give shade when the sun is directly above you.

About 4km from the top, I had one of those moments. The times when your life looks like it may end. Luckily I was not in a coherent enough state to fully realise things but basically a truck decided to overtake me on one of the bends. He got the front of the truck up beside me when a jeep coming the other way came into view. This forced him to brake and start quickly moving to the side of the road. But this was a hill, so I wasn’t going fast, and I was at the side of the road. So yes, he started moving right towards me. Not something I ever want to repeat.

Climbing the Telegraphe got easier near the top too. Be this from it levelling out somewhat or the temperature dropping, I’m not sure but it went faster and felt easier.

A familiar sight from the turbo sessions

The decent to Valloire went well. Nice and relaxed, decent pace. Exactly how you want it. We did get slightly lost at the round a bout taking a few spins around before some more cyclists arrived to direct us along the right path.

Starting from 1400m, it really wasn’t all that hot on the Galiber. But this suited me. It was a few km up the road before I needed to start zipping up the top but I never felt cold. Keeping the pace steady is actually easy enough on hills like this as the grade stays constant.

My stomach did make a grumble about 6-8km in, not sure exactly where. But I took this to eat a bar. Out it came and then the grade dropped down to 4-5% for the duration of my eating before going back up to 9%. Honestly, couldn’t have planned it better. I did have to pop a gel further up the hill too, about 40-50 minutes later.

Climbing long climbs like this is strange however. I remember rolling by 10km to go and being like, yeh, getting there. Less than an hour to go. Then I remember rolling by 5km and thinking hey, only a few minutes ago I was going by 10km, but I also remember 9km which is strange.

2km to go was one of the first times I looked up to see where the road went. It took a few seconds to register but the tiny signs at the top became visible. Everyone else in the group actually made a similar comment too. You think you are nearing the top and then you see another 5 or 6 switchbacks. To top it off, the top 1km was closed off to cars due to snow / snow damage to the roads. Local council guys were up their sweeping some stuff from the road surface which was slippy stuff. Fully seated and the rear wheel lost grip at one occasion. I wasn’t the only one either.

That last 1km was the hardest of the lot too. I had stopped for a bit at the fence wondering what was happening before picking up my Gilet and arm warmers and going on up. Didn’t help the legs.

Altitude is a funny thing too. My HR was down. My power was down. My speed was down. My breathing was UP. And quite a bit. During the decent to Lautaret, I could feel the air getting heavier and my breathing getting better. Strange feeling.

Sitting at the hotel in Lautaret, dark clouds could be seen in the distance. Phil (our guide) said there was heavy rain in Bourg d’Oisans. I decided to push on and try miss as much of the rain as possible.

I knew something was up when it started to hurt my head through the
holes in the helmet. I really knew something was wrong when my spokes
started to make a pong noise every now and then. Stopping at road works
and looking down I saw the problem. Pea sized hail stones.

Now the profile from here to Bourg is mostly decent on just about every profile I’ve seen. The reality is that it isn’t a decent all the way. It levels off in places or sits at 1 and 2% which is up hill. Multiple sections were at 5 and 6% too. All told, it was bloody hard. To make matters worse, at one point it started raining. But heavy rain. I knew something was up when it started to hurt my head through the holes in the helmet. I really knew something was wrong when my spokes started to make a pong noise every now and then. Stopping at road works and looking down I saw the problem. Pea sized hail stones.

Pushing on because well what else was there. Luckily I guess it stopped and I started to dry out. Just as I was almost fully dry, it started to rain again. Once I was nice and wet, it again stopped. Again leaving enough time for me to dry out again. Then it decided to really open up. The last 15 minutes to Bourg were wet. Really wet. Similar to the Swords Sportive a few weeks ago wet. Even now, a few hours later, my shoes are still soaked. I ended being able to squeeze my gloves and watch water drip out.

Lets hope the weather on Saturday behaves itself…

Day 4 – Alpe d’Huez

Sometimes a picture say a thousand words...

Today was to be a run up the Alpe d’Huez. We all were of two minds as if we should go all out, or should we relax and enjoy the climb. As the graph above shows, I decided to hammer it.

First think to comment on, something the profile graphs miss, the start is meant to be 10% and then drop to 8% after about 1.5km. Well it doesn’t. It kicks up to 13% from what I saw on the Garmin. So me hammering it along the flats and up the hill a little really backfired for the first while. Took a good 10 minutes to feel settled on the hill.

Overall it isn’t too bad of a climb. Yet I say that while ranking today as the hardest day of the week so far. In the hour climb I took two gels and nearly finished both of my 800ml bottles. 1 had nuun and the other a High5 sachet which also had caffeine. While normally my High5 is great, the caffeine did not sit well causing my heart rate to go up everytime I drank some. Not something you want when you HR is sitting high already.

My time was 1 hour, 1 minute, 10 seconds. And I did try harder near the end to try push when I was nearing the hour mark. On the one hand I am slightly annoyed about the time, I did want to break the hour mark, on the other, it was a good time. (For reference, time started at the zebra crossing after the round a bout at the bottom, then stopped at the Arrive Sign beside the Tourist office and the top)

Alpe d'Huez finish

Edit: My time makes me the fastest Irishman who stayed with Tour d’Oisans.

Day 5 – Rest and Registration Day

Today looked like it was started good. I woke at 5am ish, which is the longest sleep I’d gotten so far. Thought I’d be able to get back asleep too until my stomach started at me. Ended up having to go downstairs and eat a bowl of cereal before it would pass. Really a case of not eating enough, and eating enough is strangely hard here in Bourg d’Oisans, a town for cyclists.

Due to the stomach parts, I opted not to go with the other guys out on the cycle they were doing. Had hoped I’d get out later in the day but it was around 12 by the time my stomach had cleared itself. The time was spent washing clothes and giving the bike a good look over, including replacing the rear brake pads. Descending the Alpe yesterday, I could smell the pads during the middle section until I started over taking the cars.

Registration took place at the top of the Alpe, and instead of driving up direct, we decided to head up via the Col de Sarenne and down to Alpe d’Huez. I won’t say much about this climb as it was done in a car except that it was almost as hard in a car as the Alpe was on a bike. It goes on and the road surface near the top isn’t the best. Then from the top to the Alpe, it has small sections of pavé in a deep V like section, used to channel the melt water from the mountain. Not something I’d like to cross on a bike.

As for the registration, it was surprisingly smooth. Not too big of a queue and what there was moved very quick. Once inside, we took a look at some of the merchandise available (I got a Marmotte Jersey and T-Shirt), then signed in by giving the form and medical cert in exchange for a bag. On the way out you scan the timing chip to ensure it is working and then you are done.

Day 6 – Recovery Day

A short spin, less than 15km with a small gentle uphill near the end, then back the same way. 30km Total. Or so they said.

I did my usual sit in to warm up for a few minutes then started some shortish, fast speed buildups. Then onto two larger sprints. One of them allowed me to set yet another Personal Best for power output, this time in the 30 second grouping (according to PowerAgent for my PowerTap). Below is one of the sprints. Small downhill allowing the speed to go up before a slight uphill. I built up the power and give the final push near the end of the cycle before relaxing out.

Power vs. Time for the sprint

There was also two or three high cadence drills before we turned a corner and started uphill on switchbacks. For those of you who have never climbed in big mountains, switchbacks mean steep. Immediately we were climbing at 10% leaving me slightly suffering due to the above output. Not fun. Lucky the climb only lasted about 5 minutes before we reached out stop point.

Stats for the Prep Week

224.54km
10:04:10 of cycling time
22.3km/h average speed
9559 (PowerTap) Calories
5142.6m of climbing

Roll on to the day. Starting. Finishing. Celebrating.

Windows 7 brought around a number of different improvements for my system administrator job, most notably the fact that it connects to the Win2k8 servers while the old XP system didn’t. However this morning during a mass patching, the Aero Peek feature really has shown its true nature.

Right now I’m installing patches on 6 identical machines to bring them up to date with the patches from our WSUS server. (There are reasons why we don’t clone the boxes to get patches on.) But picture the only, XP way, of doing this. 6 remote desktop sessions and randomly switching between them to see the progress. Switch to the Windows 7 way and it becomes open 6 Hyper-V connections, then mouse over the taskbar icon to get the image below.

Completely wonderful. Total time saver.

In the time normally spent flicking between machines, I’ve written this post, added some more nagios alerts in, and checked on a few other servers.

The M3 Sportive was to be a 100km trip along the M3 road before it opened. Most likely being a very fast, very fun day working in pace lines. And things looked up right from the start with the amazingly quick turn around from applying on-line to getting the welcome back. Things really started looking up upon reading the welcome pack. A neutralised start, the usual broom wagon, and the first food stop at 7km! Yes, this was shaping up to be good event.

Along came the morning and with numbers of 1000 cyclists, then 1200 cyclists being floated, we determined heading a little early to the number collection point was in order. Don’t want to miss the start while queuing for the number. As it turned out there was no queue, and with 6 or 7 people doing the sign on, we had our packs and were out in less than five minutes. After sitting around being quite bored, we headed on down to the start area. And this is where it started to go downhill. Instead of being let in on the ramp at the start, we have to continue on up the road for 2km, go over a bridge, and return 2km back to the start. Annoying to say the least. Over the next hour of waiting, we started to notice a worrying pattern of cyclists arriving. Quite a few came along with tri bars and there were even 2 or 3 in full time trial gear, helmet and all. Events normally have rules against this kind of thing for a VERY good reason. The number of people with head phones in was also a little shocking.

The event progressed with the usual speeches and golf clapping (cyclists with gloves can’t really clap) before the timer started and we began slowing rolling through the toll plaza. However within a few seconds of going through, it became obvious that a neutralised start this was not. Gaps were already forming and I began sprinting to try bridge between groups. This was the order of the day for the first 5km when I started trying to make it through to the front group. Some guy decided sitting on my wheel was the best choice of action and after another 5km of not taking a turn, and me not being able to pull in the 20-30 seconds the group ahead had, I sat up, looked behind and waiting on the next group to roll up.

This group remaining slightly organised with a bit of a pace line going. You can’t expect too much from groups like this and it is always nice when things work smoothly. However this group was not working smoothly. Two guys were intent on shouting orders at everyone while not following them themselves. After a few km of this I got sick of it and decided to up the pace, burn off some of the stragglers and let whoever came through to come through. Instead, once I hit the front and upped the pace, one of the shouters began shouting at everyone who tried to come through to stop and get back in line, ended my attempt after a km or two.

With that attempt over, it was back in the pace line to conserve some energy and get to the 50km food stop and decide from there. However Mr Shouter seemed to have other plans. He didn’t stop shouting orders at people to pull in quicker, not let gaps form, and not go so fast on the front. This resulted in people getting to the front and then braking off all things. For those of you who have never ridden in a fast pace line, braking it the last thing you want to do. Slowing down can usually be handled by slowing pedalling down for a little bit, or if you need more, simply standing up and letting the wind do the trick. However with the guys getting to the front and braking, the group started to feel like an accordion, really destroying the mood.

And then it happened…

The Crash

For some unknown reason, someone near the front of the group slammed on the brakes, and I do mean slammed. We went from 35km/h to a near dead stop in a matter of metres. In my case, my wheel made contact with the quick reason of the bike in front. My Mavic Cosmic Carbones held up, possibly a little too well and the spoke held locking my wheel. This sent me over the handle bars some how onto the ground. I remember the sudden braking and trying to move out to the left to avoid things, the sound of spokes ponging, and then lying on my back trying to get up. Apparently my first words were “I took that on my head”.

We did all stand up and start getting ready to move again. At this point the damage to the bikes became noticeable. On my bike, the bar tap on the left side of stripped, a chunk from the bars, marks on the shifters with them bent around the bar. A slice mark on the right of the fork with two spokes on the wheel damaged. Some plastic was gone from the quick release too. However some work with a multi tool and a knife, and it was able to be ridden again. Not so for the guy in front. His wheel lost 8 spokes and the wheel wasn’t turning. But as was said, any crash you can walk away from it a good crash. And this kind of thing is part and parcel of cycling. What was annoying was that the group had just started to fragment, so another km or so and it’d probably have settled down.

I don’t blame the event or event organisers for the crash. How could you. What I do take issue with is what happened over the next two hours. It was 15 minutes before the first Marshall was seen – who didn’t even bother to stop. Next one did stop but said he’d call someone at the next stop. Another 20 minutes and a van rolls up but say can’t help, broom wagon is on the way. 15 more minutes another van, again unable to help, but broom wagon definitely behind. 1 hour 10 minutes after the crash, we started walking back. It was 5km down the road at the stop when we meet some more Marshall’s. These hadn’t seen a broom wagon and the organisers were arguing with them that they needed one. He did end up getting a lift with one of the Marshall’s in their personal car which was nice of them. While we were cycling back, we passed a few other broom wagon candidates who were walking and obviously had bitten off more than they could chew.

To top all that off, the food was crap. It consisted of water and some elevens bars. The end did had some sandwiches but no one was going near them as no one could tell what was in them. Oh and some biscuits but not great ones.

And this is why I held off writing this for two weeks. I wanted to somewhat calm down about the event. Sure if we’d have gone through without crashing, we’d never have known about the lack of a broom wagon. We’d have cycled more than we walked, and it’d probably just have been confined to an event that had some bad organising food wise and contained some idiot cyclists. Note to anyone ever organising an event, tri bars or anything similar to them should be BANNED. They are not safe.

Funnily too I heard that people on the other distance cycles also have some issues. For the 50km (55km?), someone had moved the sign saying it was the turn point letting a few of them continue on past it. We met a few of them while we were walking back. The 15km also had to stop at their turn point before heading back. And the pace actually slowed them down, a bit too much from what was said.

The lessons

The end of the day, some lessons were learned, so not all is lost. For one, I’ll probably not be taking part in one-off events ever again. The organisers really don’t have an incentive to do anything but cut corners. I did weight up saying I’d never go into the first round of an event but going on other experiences such as the Tour of Meath last year, I probably will. For reference the ToM was the first run and had some issues with the placement of the last food/water stop. It was about 10km further than it should of been. None of the Marshall’s close to it had been told either. However everyone we spoke to after, including the guys at it we very apologetic about it, and were very quick to explain that the mobile water truck had to be used to help with a crash that had happened earlier. Since we weren’t in the main group, I really can’t say anything bad about that. It was more than made up by the friendly nature of everyone there and the huge amount of food. Never had I eaten so well at an event!

The other lesson learnt it that next time I attempt to break up a group, say it to someone before attempting it. Two or possibly three people is enough to pick up the pace, create a few seconds gap, and basically burn off those who were struggling to begin with. While I would have been one of those burnt off last year (Edit: who am I kidding, I’d have been out the back long before this point), it is necessary to do this every now and then.

The conclusion

Almost a complete waste of a day. Really. It was a huge amount of money spent on an event that was badly organised. Yes it was for charity, but that does not excuse some of the things that went on. When your own Marshall’s are arguing with you, you know you have some issues.

Start to finish time of 3 hours 51 minutes on a distances of 51km cycled.

Long time users of Komplett already know that they switched warehouses and had a few account problems during the switchover. The whole thing seemed a little rushed from the experience on the website, but then management could easily have been pushing them. Things such as not being able to open multiple tabs by control clicking was when I first started getting worried.

Don’t get me wrong now, I wouldn’t be a massive Komplett purchaser, at least not on a person level. We did put a little bit of the company purchases through from time to time although it was about to expand out. However when I could no longer login in to the site and read about missing orders, I decided to pass on placing the order at the time, go somewhere else and then return when all the problems were fixed.

Today is the day when all that changed. The following email arrived in this morning marking the end to my use of Komplett.

So what now? Komplett have always been a consistent company and decent to deal with. Well basically any company incapable of transferring account or even telling customers openly about the issues isn’t a company I want to deal with. (I had to google it to find out what was going on – to komplett, a graphic at the top of the homepage isn’t enough, especially a graphic that isn’t the default graphic, correct place is a link on the login page)

In the end it has worked out better for me. We ended up with a large account with one of the supplier that the likes of Komplett use. Basically we are ending up saving another 2-5% of komplett prices, and we get things quite a bit faster, generally next day delivery.

While out the other night, it was decided to go to Nandos. My girlfriend being South African decided it’d be good, and friend from the area agreed. They do chicken, so how could it really be bad?

Firstly, the restaurant works differently than others I’ve been to. You go in, get seated and the menu is explained. Yup, it even comes with a small section with instructions. In short, you choose what you want, then go up and order it, pay for it, then return to your seat. Little strange but hey, whatever works really.

The menu itself is simple enough, chicken, followed by more chicken, with more chicken. I will admit I was slightly worried about portion sizes. Prices are high enough and the menu did have options of 1/4 chicken, 1/2 chicken, and full chicken, so who knows. Playing it safe (sometimes we have to) I decided on the chicken burger and fries on the side. So far so good, nothing more than the usual “teething problems” with some Irish restaurants.

The turning point

Our food had been ordered and here it comes. Immediately it becomes obvious that portion size wasn’t going to be an issue. I’ve cooked some skinny chicken fillets, however this really was the skinniest I’ve seen, even after I’ve crushed mine in a George Foreman! But alas, if this was the only problem, the day would have passed off with nothing much else.

The real problems began when I started biting into the burger. I had taken two or three bites when I was abruptly stopped my girlfriend. Interrupting a man when he eats, how dare she! But it was with good reason, the far side had a lovely big hair in it. Being as I am, I was intent on removing it and continuing but I’d been convinced to go up and change it, so off I went. Pointed it out to the guy behind the counter who saw it, said ok and agreed to replace it. Back to the table to continue the meal and joke about it.

From bad to worse to what now?

I’m sure everyone has experienced something like this. Mistakes happen. It really isn’t anything big. What was big was the response. A few minutes after sitting down, the manager arrived over to ask had I removed the hair before giving the plate back up. Yup, I took it as a souvenir. Off she went again to look again with the staff while making comments that the chef was bald. She did greet us again shortly after saying they had found it and wanted to fill out a report. Alright, that works. Hell doing a report is probably a good thing. Keep track of such incidents. Having a form ready for it, maybe in McDonalds, and definitely not something to bother the customer about.

When the food did arrive the second time, some 10-15 minutes later, it was fine. Can’t say it was anything spectacular, but then I’m not one who’ll be over joyed by a chicken burger. Outback Steak House any day. It was sans-hair too this time.

My real issue with the repeated visits was that she almost had me doubting if the hair was mine or not and if I’d accidently gotten it into the burger somehow. It was a possibility. Lucky for me, at the end of the meal we were once again greeted by the manager to complete the form and given a refund for my part of the meal. Food only. (For the record, I wasn’t actually looking for a refund. Replace the food and I’d probably already have forgotten about it and only joked about it in passing.) The manager did run through the form again taking some of my details and explaining that the hair could have come from a supplier and they’d want to follow up on all of this. Being through, the hair was selo taped to the form too. This was my saving grace though, the hair – while not a long girls hair -  was too long to be mine, even a long hair from my arm!

1 + 1 = 17

I do take some issues with the story given to me. As above, I’d have been happy enough for meal to be replaced and that to have been the end of it. Repeated visits to the table and multiple questions, while it may seem through, it really isn’t. Except for the fact that the meal had been paid for, it would have been the time to walk away and go somewhere else. I doubt this is actually why they ask you to pay first, especially since the place did come recommended. What it did create is someone who won’t go back, and WILL give negative recommendations of Nandos. Don’t get me wrong, the manager isn’t so much at fault. She very much looked like she was following some procedure, and trying really hard to make sure everything was right, almost like she was in someway worried as to the outcome?

Could it have been that Nandos had some pre-existing health safety issues outstanding? Possibly.

• The kitchen is out and exposed.
  While this really isn’t always an issue, just look at the Mongolian BBQ where you take your food up and they cook it in front of you, it is a bit of an issue when things are so closely packed and people don’t appear to be washing up between moving from the floor to the cooker area.
• Gloves, what gloves.
  While I may have missed this, it really did appear they weren’t wearing gloves in the “kitchen”. I don’t wear gloves while cooking, but I do wash. I didn’t see washing but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
• Hair net hats.
  They did have them, but they didn’t cover all the hair. So really what is the point beyond looking the part?
• Washing washing washing.
  I could be making more of an issue than there is here, but in the case of the hair, if it came from a supplier, in say the salad, then why weren’t you washing the salad before use? I’m not a salad eater so if washing salad before use isn’t the done thing, please someone explain why.

An end to end all ends?

While the food wasn’t all too bad, I really can’t see myself visiting Nandos again. Too expensive for not so much food. I’d rather go else where.

It does mark the end of my girlfriend picking restaurants. Last South African place she picked, Spur, ranks up there as the single worst meal ever, closely followed by the Eddie Rockets we went into straight afterwards. That really was just a bad night though and I was happy to get home and have some cereal. You can NOT burn cereal when using cold milk!

My new Cervelo S2.
Weights 16.6lbs / 7.52kg in the form seen.

Specs

Cervelo S2 2009 Frameset (2009 for the colour – had considered the 2010 S1 but maybe as a race bike)
SRAM Force 2010 Groupset (As seen, Compact 50/34 and 11-28 – it is for a slightly hilly event)
Mavic Cosmic Carbone PowerTap Wheels
GP4000s Tyres
Speedplay Zero Pedals
3T ARX Team Stem
3T Rotundo Team Carbon Road Handlebars
Fizik Arione Kit Saddle
Fizik Microtex Handlebar Tape and Gel Kit
K-Edge Chain Catcher

I had heard of this message, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. I’d say what site, but even though it was only 5 minutes ago, I honestly can’t remember what site it was. The site lost a visitor, because simply, I’m not going to adjust my habits for you, and neither will many others.

Apologies for the name but it does fit in perfectly with the tone of the review. I guess if you are reading this, you have already heard of a large amount of the “myths” surrounding Speedplay pedals. There is one article in particular that pops up in just about every debate on Speedplay pedals in which the reviewer is completely biased to Look, both shoes and cleats. Not going to link it here, so don’t ask. This isn’t a product comparison but a single product review. Anyway, I finally got my own set of Speedplays during the week and have now done a few rides on them so it is time to report back.

I got myself some Speedplay Zero Chrome-Moly Pedals, the guys on the right. Yes they are the cheapest that Speedplay offers but that would be due to the weight limit of 85kg that they have on their other pedals.
(Note to Speedplay: When customers email asking about the weight limit, perhaps suggesting these would be a good idea!)

The Setup

Unlike the standard SPD pedals I’d been using, some Shimano 105s, these required quite a bit more work to get setup. In part because of the extra mounting plate that is required, but also in part because you need to adjust the float screws independently. Now don’t get me wrong, having independent float screws is a HUGE feature and not something I’d remove. I would like some shoes that support 4 hole mounting and I think Speedplay could do some more in this regard. Not all of us can afford custom sole shoes.

Myth 1 – They are like walking on Ice

When you first put them on and clip in having never used them before, yes they are. The amount of float and the looseness of things is a bit crazy. Hell I don’t know if anyone could leave it on the default anyway. Like all new pedals, the clipping in and out process is a bit stiff for the first while. Since Speedplay have the retention mechanism in the cleat, you’ll need to go through the loosing process more often, but since the base is metal, it’ll be a whole lot less frequent.

But back to the point, the feeling of walking on ice is there, while the cleats are unadjusted, and you are not moving, and you are standing, and you aren’t really putting pressure on the pedals. Adjust the float and it can return back like standard float in other systems. Close the adjustment screws completely and you remove the float completely should you want it.

Once you have the pedals adjusted, most of the feeling goes away. If you are someone who used to have float, but kept the closing method extremely tight, then you’ll most likely still feel some looseness, but if you are keeping things that tight, you loose the benefits of float!

When you start riding these, the whole feeling goes away. Quickly. Really really quickly. By 30 minutes into the first ride, I’d forgotten I was using new pedals, pretty much what you want. When sprinting hard, the pedals don’t move around. The whole platform feels very solid and very attached.

Myth 2 – Speedplays are harder to walk in

This will be highly dependant on the shoes. With my Speedplays, I switches to some Sidi Genius 5 shoes. There are older models of these that have a recessed section for 4 hole mounting, pretty much making the cleat flat on the front of the shoe.

In my current setup, on grippy material, walking is actually easier than the only SPD-SL stuff I used. Foot is flatter and it really doesn’t get impacted by the large Speedplay cleat.

When on tiles however it is a slightly different story. I need to make sure that I do not put pressure on the cleat. Speedplay cleats have a medal base. Metal on tile doesn’t stick. They slide. Not enough to have had my foot actually slip, but enough to feel it. The noise alone is enough to make me be careful so maybe it is just the head playing tricks. Either way, while on the road, it is easier to walk with them.

Myth 3 – No straightening effect

I’m not going to bust this one because it is true. There isn’t one. If you take a ride on Speedplays you’ll quicker realise why. If you have Look Pedals and Shoes and have seen their “memory” positioning for the cleats, you’ll already know why. The angle of the cleat matters. A hole fricking lot. Knock it a degree or two out and your knees with let you know, but only after it is too later.

With Speedplays, you set the laterial positioning meaning how close you want your foot to be to the crank. There is some movement in the forward and reverse positions too. After that, you click in and let your foot find its natural position. If you had cleats that tried to force it, it’ll still try and just strain. Trust me, if you have had knee problems, Speedplays could be just the ticket.

Myth 4 – Smaller area to put the power down

Just because the pedal is smaller, doesn’t mean you loose any power transfer. Look at the size of that cleat! That is where your foot is putting the power into. That then transfers to the pedal into the spindle.

All the arguments about having a smaller area seem to suggest your foot will warp around the pedal which is nuts. First off, your average cycling shoe shouldn’t have a flexible bottom like say a runner. If it does, your off to a bad start and you probably want platform pedals. But after this, the area that the huge cleat is supporting covers nearly the full pressure point on the ball of your foot gathering all that power and putting it where it is needed, into the pedals.

Downsides

Adjustment Screws

Speedplays are not without fault. While setting them up, the little adjustment screws to control the float stripped. Each cleat has two to control the inward and outward float – a great system I must say – but the screws are made of two soft a metal. I did eventually get them to turn to what I needed but a stronger screw would have been nice.

4 Hole Mounting

For Pros who get custom modelled soles, it isn’t an option. Older Sidi Genius shoes supported 4 hole mounts too so that looked good, but the newer stuff doesn’t. It means you are using a converter plate from 3 holes to 4 holes which adds to the stack height. This is still lower than my old SPDs but I would have liked it to be lower again.

Cost

Probably what I hear the most when talking about Speedplays. They ain’t cheap. The cleats are usually twice the price of SPD style cleats too. Part of this is probably who they are aimed at. Speedplays do not seem to be aimed at your everyday cyclist, more the road warrior or racer, which is a pity. If I had known about Speedplays when I started cycling, it’d have been a no-brainier. Proper clipless road pedals AND double sided entry.

Upsides

Which brings me onto the benefits of Speedplays.

Double Sided Entry

Yes there are pedals which have this but very few road pedals, which I find quite strange. I still have marks on my legs from where I didn’t clip in correctly and caught my leg from back when I was starting to cycle. All painful experiences. So much that I can remember the few bad ones pretty vividly.

With my Speedplays, yes I’ve had a few times where I didn’t go in immediately, however not once have I slipped off in the month I’ve been using them. Worst is that I simply can’t pull up but I can push down and get some power in. Means I can move away when in traffic. Getting in properly is usually just a case of wiggling my foot and click, in.

Cleat Life

The base is metal so it should wear better than the plastic SPD systems. Since they are at least twice the cost, they should last twice as long right?

Obviously I’ve yet to be using them long enough to know just how long however I’ve quite a bit of walking in my Speedplays due to the ice of late here in Ireland so they do show some wear. Enough that the fronts and visibly tilted in where they contact the ground. While this may seem bad, I have to compare this to my SPD cleats which were pretty tore apart through a much smaller distance walk to work a few months back, and that was with brand new cleats. True I did cycle on the SPD ones for another 4-5 months, but the yellow rubber was long gone, and I stopped just before the plastic got too thin to hold the cleat into the pedal.

The Speedplays should be the same and continue going, however they have a long way to go before the wearing causes problems. Worst case I think will be if it wears into the screws so I can’t get to the threads, but there are ways to sort that.

Conclusion

After a few cycles I had already made my mind up. I’m completely sold and probably will never use another pedal. I’ve bought another set of Chromos for my new dream bike which I’m building right now, this time in red to match the paint job (its a Cervelo S2 – 2009 colour scheme).

For anyone starting road cycling and going clipless, I’d recommend them. Yes they are more expensive, but they are worth it. If you are commuting mainly, there are cheaper options in shoes that you can walk in normally and they are a better option for the commuter. But speedplays for everyone else.

The entry went up today for the La Marmotte 2010. Go get yours over at http://www.sportcommunication.com/

Makes the event so much more real and keeps the training so much more required.

See you there!

Acronis Backup, a great tool. Backs up files. Lets you set a real schedule (Windows take note). New one seems to compress your older backup files to save space. Forces you to buy new products with every new version. Does not reply to emails outside of maintenance contracts (which you can not renew). Makes it hard to upgrade.

What? Hold on a second. Maybe something is amiss here.

Some Background

I’m a user off Acronis Backup products for close on 18 months now. I’ve been using the TrueImage corporate product. And I’ve been reasonably happy with it, but then I haven’t used it to do any full restores. I did try to pull a large file from a backup in the past. But that didn’t work. it repeatedly crashed while trying to do so. Support, who responded at the time since my maintenance contract was in date, weren’t much help. If the file was critical, I’d have been pissed. Luckily it wasn’t, and a few days and another disk later, I managed a full disk restore, mounted the new disk as an external drive, and then copied the file off. Painful.

Wonderful Search…but only for home users

The lately problem with restoring came from me needing to find a folder on my desktop that I knew existing sometime 5 months ago. All fine I thought, I’ll do a search of the files and it’ll show up. The product doesn’t support searching? Oh your HOME product does but your business one does not. Fine so. I’ll “test” the home version and see if I can switch to that. So in goes the trail version on a blank machine. The initial search looks promising. Finds a few text files in the first backup. I’ll leave it search and see if it can find the files I’m after.

A day later, Windows is still searching, still reading files, sort of, but no results. Watching the accesses, it is bouncing through the individual files in sequence, but then repeating. The Windows search service had also crashed and was unable to index inside the TIB files.

How about Google? They can search everything! And yes, there is an iFilter for Google Desktop. But, and there always is a but, it won’t search the archives either. It craps out.

Again, luckily, I managed to find the files I needed by browsing through a few days in June looking at the desktop each time. Can’t say I’d like to do that for something that went missing randomly.

Upgrades

I don’t know if they make this purposefully hard or not, but finding an option to upgrade took time. Hell I can’t even remember where it was now. All I remember was that the upgrade from the old TrueImage to the new Backup10 costs MORE than buying the home version outright as a new customer. And to add insult, the Home Version has more features, not that you can be sure they work either.

Looking at the upgrades began due to the fact that TrueImage does not work on Windows 7. It has just been added to the DoNotExecute list that Microsoft have in the OS. And it was added by Acronis. There is a way around this list, and everyone who has bypassed it has had NO problems with the program. We can only guess that Acronis have had some reason as to why they did this. Of course it would have nothing to do with their new product coming out. A new product that may or may not actually support Windows 7. The Home one does, but I wanted business style products.

When I didn’t find the upgrade option or any mention of it, I did email Acronis via my customer area. They even replied with one of those auto replies to say the email had been received. All I wanted to know was if the product was supported on Windows 7 and if it could be fixed. If not, what was the upgrade path so I could do it.

Conclusions

Having to wait over a week and counting for a reply to upgrade has left a bad taste in my mouth. It reminded me of the past experiences of the product and it failing.  Also being unable to renew the maintenance support after the initial 12 months is worse. But more so since they operate in a 14-16 month product release cycle going on other people I’ve talked to. That would only be the case to case people to not get product updates under their maintenance agreement and be forced to upgrade or buy the brand new product each time.

It is the lack of support that as sealed the deal for me. TrueImage has been uninstalled from my laptop (not that it worked since I swapped to Windows 7). I’ve already begun searching for alternatives. The inBuilt Windows Backup may do the trick if I can get it to run on weekdays only. One I am itching to trial is inSync by a company called Druvaa. I’ve been testing their new Server backup tool and am VERY impressed with it. So something like this would be overkill for personal use, but it may work. Especially with the dedupe, it may make it a good option. Time will tell. All that is sure is Acronis will not be getting any more of my money, or any from any of the companies I work for. Their loss.