Sam Pilgrim Big Air Invitational at The Cycle Show 2014

I know I know, its been a while!!!

Lots has been going on, The Tour de France has been to Yorkshire and we went to see it, The Tour of Britain came to Liverpool, and certain members of the club, mentioning no names ( Alison, Fran, Pauric) stalked the riders for three days!! The club is getting bigger, as is my waistline, the house is getting done(r) and me and the family have had a great summer doing non bike related activities!

I went to the Cycle Show at the NEC last weekend. I wasn't going to go this year as I have been for the last few religiously, but when the offer of a comp ticket from Madison came along I couldn't resist! The set up this year was different to the last few, showing how popular cycling has become in the UK. There were more stands to see, and definitely more people there! One thing I was pleased to see was a Big Air competition. The first time I went to the Cycle Show it was focused on MTB and BMX with hardly any road bikes, and there was always some kind of Dirt competition. I have attached a video that shows the nutters flinging themselves off the drop off and on to the jump!!

Too many to name them all!!! 

The riders who took part in the Competition with Sam Pilgrim were Sam Reynolds, Matt Macduff, Blake Samson, Chris Smith, Steve Geall ,Ray Samson, Matt Jones, Chopper, Sherwy Pasamonte ,Daryl Brown, Amir Kabbani, Tom Cardy, Charlie Watts, Ryan Nangle, Eric Walenta, Danny Pace and Marius Hoppensack. My interest in MTB may well have been rekindled! (Don't tell Mrs Palefish)

I did have a look around the stands too, and there were too many new bikes to photograph! however there were a couple of special ones. A certain Mr Wiggins winning TT bike, Marcell Kittels bike from the Tour of Britain and Vincenzo Nibalis winning Tour de France bike.

We also saw a couple of famous faces around the show, our favourite was Lord Sugar on the Pinarello stand. I managed to snap a great pic that looks like Dave and his Daughter Sian are giving him some advice!

I am going to do a photo post from the Tour at some point, when I have a spare couple of days to upload the Pictures to Blogger!!!

Watch this space ;-)

Palefish CC Birthday Spin in the wind

I can't believe where the time has gone! A little over a year ago I decided to start the club, and not in my wildest dreams would I have expected it to be so popular!

I can't take all the credit though, the most important people in the club are the members themselves. Thanks to you all for sticking with it, even when we have taken a wrong turn or two, and ended up on an unmade road, we always manage to get back on the smooth stuff and have a laugh about it!! I mustn't forget to mention the members of the Facebook Group who have yet to join us on the road, the community feel on that page is great and there certainly have been some great conversations over the year and a lot of advice shared.

So, to celebrate the anniversary of the club I planned a route that would take us round the Wirral, with a stop at our favourite Cafe at the half way point. When I was planning the route, I was hoping for warm June weather and a light summer breeze! I suppose picking the day before Wimbledon I should have realised that this wasn't going to be the case.
All week I have been hoping the forecast was wrong. We were lucky on Tuesday and had a warm night for our hill climbing 10mile loops of West Kirby (just like the old days doing spaghetti loops over the hill) and even Thursday nights event at The Bike Shop in Moreton was dry. While I mention it, I would like to thank Jay, Steve and the team at the shop for putting on a great night, especially organising the reps that brought the Torq tasting bar, and a favourite of the night, the Shimano Ultegra Di2 bike.


I know there will be a few letters to Santa for a new electronic groupset this year!

Back to today though, and the weather lived up to expectations. I woke to the sound of driving rain and wind, a real tempting combination. I wasn't surprised as my phone began taking messages from sensible Palefishers who were deciding to stay in the warm and dry and not venture out into the wild morning.

There were 28 signed up to the ride mid week, and by the time I left the house we were down to 24, and eventually 17 of us met up at the 12th Man.
We decided that if needed we would adapt the route as we rode along, but as an homage to Ken who couldn't make it today we still rode out to Birkenhead, where we met Steve by the Seacombe ferry. The River was flowing fast, and we knew we were in for a work out when we rounded the corner in New Brighton and headed back towards West Kirby.

Group photo before the Wind hits!

 We were not disappointed, on queue as we came off of the cycle path and onto the road, there was the wind.
To say it was challenging is an understatement. Not only was it a head wind, it was gusting, and grabbing at our wheels, from all sides! I think the average speed along the stretch along the seafront, and then down Leasowe Road was only about 8mph! It was just like riding up hill, but without the benefit of the downhill bit after!!!
This video doesn't really capture the true brutality of the wind!!



I made the decision to change the route as we approached Meols. I felt that for us to actually enjoy the ride, we needed a little respite from the wind, so we diverted down the lanes to Greasby, instead of riding on to West Kirby, and then rode up to Irby and into Lower Heswall. Now with shelter from the elements, we made better progress and it didn't take long for us to get to spin through the lanes to the Eureka Cafe.

I had planned the ride to get us to the Cafe after the rush of all the other clubs being there, and it worked out well. The only problem was that 18 of us descending at one time led to a large queue for Anne and the team to cope with. And cope they did, as usual. It was good to see Eureka filled with Fishes! The next jersey order is nearly here, so next time there should be more Green and White in the photo.

Palefish CC here......

Palefish CC There and Everywhere! 

Palefish CC ready to roll from Eureka Cafe

In the last half mile to the Cafe, Dave C had mentioned that he thought his Bottom Bracket was knackered. I had thought mine was also done in earlier in the week, but it turned out to be my pedals, so I shared this with Dave. As we rode away from the Cafe, it was apparent that it was more terminal for him. It really did sound like there was a bag of spanners suspended under his bike! And it just got worse.
The route was planned to take us back to Birkenead, but seeing as Ken was not with us, and if we did we would have another long stretch into the wind, it was agreed that we would ride back through the centre of Wirral through the lanes. Along the way, as usual, members of the group dropped off on their own routes home, and apart from Steve suffering a puncture, we all made it back without further incident, and those of us going back to the Twelfth Man were treated to a nice tail wind for the last half mile!
Dave also got back ok, but now needs to make a trip to the Bike Shop for some TLC on his bike. The sound of those bearings crunching will stay with me for a long time!!!!
So year one is over, and I wonder what is on the horizon for the next one?
Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be fun, and there will be a shoal of Palefish CC along to enjoy the ride.

The First outing in the new Palefish CC Kit

It has been a hectic week this week. Well it seemed that way by the end of Sunday, which is why I am writing this on a Monday night for a change!

After a couple of weeks off the bike due to other stuff and the typical October cold, It was back to business as usual, even though I still have the remnants of the cold, sniff sniff!
Tuesday nights route was devised by Graham, who also led the ride, which was nice as I could sit back and let someone else take the front. The only issue is that I think I may have created a Strava monster! It was a pretty quick first section out to New Brighton and then a steady pace back through Claughton over the hill and back up Beryl* and down again before a loop round Irby and back to the 12th Man.
(*Beryl road climb)

Thursdays ride was the first really wet one of the season. It rained from start to finish of the 23 mile loop. I was surprised to see 6 people waiting for me and Tim at the 12th Man and even more surprised to see a new rider wanting to join us in our foolhardy session in the rain! Although the pace was slightly slower than usual, we still managed a good average and a few climbs. The only casualty of the rain was Laz who took a corner a bit too fast and lost traction with his tyres but gained it with his thigh! I am happy to report that he got straight up and carried on. I also have to mention that I am very impressed with my Sportful hot pack no rain jacket, which kept me bone dry from the downpour. I would highly recommend this jacket, well worth the money.

The big event of the week, and one of the proudest of my life, after kids, wife etc etc, was getting the message from Ken at Onimpex that our new Bio-Racer Club kit was in the country!

To say that I was excited is an understatement, I was like a kid at Christmas. Friday morning I arranged to meet Ken and collect the kit, I couldn't wait for the great British postal system! As always it was great to see Ken and we had a great chat about all things cycling and how Palefish CC was growing fast.
It was really strange to actually see the kit in the flesh.
The Palefish brand has been in my head for years, and to finally have it in physical form, in this blog, the club and now the kit, it feels fantastic.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again say thanks to everyone who has helped get Palefish to where it is now, Mrs Palefish, Ken who got me started road cycling, Paul and Tim and all the riders in the club, Laura from Lime 26, Shaun and Ade the Wirral Mamils, Ken at Onimpex and all the cycle shops that support us, and I now look forward to the next chapter.

Anyway, back to the kit! Palefish HQ was a busy place on Friday night and Saturday as the lads came to collect their kit. To be honest, I got a real buzz from seeing their faces as they opened the packaging and smiled as they liked what they saw.

Sunday was a busy day for the club, Three of the lads headed off to Hebden Bridge for the Mills and Hills Sportive, a great opportunity to show off the new kit.

Mark, Mal and Rich

Closer to home  Dave B, Dave C and Jon were running the Liverpool Marathon. I'm not a very enthusiastic runner but I have massive respect for the lads in taking on the challenge of running a marathon. Well done.

For those not partaking in Hilly Yorkshire rides or pounding the Streets of Wirral and Liverpool, there was the Sunday club ride. It was the coldest start of the year so far, and I was a little worried that the new kit wasn't going to provide the best protection against the temperature, as most of us had chosen the lightweight Cool Max sub 100g jersey. I am pleased to say that with a good base layer, and the excellent Gillet I ordered, along with some arm and leg warmers, I was toasty! It was great to see 6 other lads all kitted out in the kit, something we have all been looking forward to.
It was great to see Phil from Cheshire Oaks Cycles, one of the shops that supports the club, for his first Palefish CC ride. We also picked up a new member along the way to Birkenhead. Giles had spotted us on Facebook, after a Strava interaction with another club rider. We met up with Ken and Neil in Birkenhead and then Dave on the way to Eastham where we were joined by Tim. Phil was impressed to see so many riders out early on a cold Sunday morning. It has been a while, but we managed to get lost on the way out of Eastham, I blame local knowledge overriding my Garmin instructions!! As I mentioned before it was quite chilly, Phil's Garmin showing 1degree, and unfortunately Dave L was feeling the cold quite badly. Luckily Steve had some mechanics latex gloves in his saddle pack, which were green, so not only did they keep Dave's hands warm, they matched his new Palefish CC jersey!
To add to the getting lost, and Dave's mild hypothermia, we also had our first puncture in a while. It always comes in threes!

We progressed event free for the rest of the ride to the Eureka Cafe, where we all rolled into the car park resplendent in our new kit. It was great to have an Identity at last at the Country's best Cycle Cafe.
We had a good reception to the kit and it was great to catch up with the aforementioned Wirral Mamils.

Dave L and his Latex glove, Owen Andy and Dave F With Graham Neil Chi and Paul in the Background

There were too many of us for one table so we had to spread ourselves out in the Cafe!

Phil and Tim

After our brew I decided to take a team photo outside the Cafe to mark the club kit's first outing.

Palefish CC at The Eureka Cafe

Spot the Mamil?

I wasn't surprised to find a certain Wirral Mamil posturing in the background as I got the lads lined up for the photo!

We headed straight up the Chester High road, as time was now against us for some of the group, and as we reached Heswall we started to split off in our different directions. Before the majority left I managed to convince the lads in new kit to pose for one more Photo.

I hate to say it but it was a bit too sunny to get a great photo, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities in the future for Club kit photo's!

It was also a fateful decision to stop as things seem to happen in four's now! As we were preparing to set off, Chi missed his footing on his pedal and fell off onto Steve's back wheel, which didn't stay too round! It amazes me how easy it is to buckle a wheel, especially as we tend to put them through some tough conditions on British roads. After a bit of cogitating about what to do, Chi called for a lift and took Steve and his bike home. the rest of us headed home ourselves, via Birkenhead to drop Ken off at the Station. And that was the First Club Kit ride done!

I am away again next weekend, but Zel is doing a ride on Sunday and some of the lads are going on that, and I'm sure the rest will get together at some point too. 

The most exciting thing is that as I was dishing out the kit to the guys on Friday and Saturday, they were giving me new orders for more kit, and on Sunday those who missed the first order run were telling me they wanted to put an order in. I think that by Christmas we will have a lot more riders in Palefish colours in the lanes of Wirral, Cheshire and Wales!

Palefish CC on tour with Costa Coffee

Today was the cubs first organised ride away from our usual haunts on the Wirral, Wales and Cheshire.
Club members Dave and Mark from the Optimum Group who have a number of Costa Coffee franchises across Merseyside invited us to their branch in Ormskirk. Ken who also lives on that side of the river has a great knowledge of the Lancashire lanes and was happy to lead us out today for our first foray onto new roads as a club.

L to R Dave B, Dave C, Paul, Dave L, Iain, Tim, Ken, my bike, Jon, Mark.

We started the ride at club supporter Formby Cycles at 9am and headed out into the Lancashire Lanes and a sapping head wind! The terrain is very different to Wirral with big open fields and no shelter from the weather! We rode over Clieves hill and on towards Halsall, Scarisbrick, Burscough, Parbold (thankfully round the hill and not over!)

Natural Break!!

We kept to the smaller lanes out towards Eccleston, Barber's Moor and towards Tarleton where we joined the main road into Southport. We took advantage of having shelter from the wind and a great surface and lined out like a pro outfit and hurtled along at a great pace.

We were soon on the Coast road heading into Southport and slowed to enjoy the scenery and the wildlife on the marshes, and to avoid the dog walkers and other cyclists enjoying the day.

When we got to the Pier we stopped for a quick photo and then headed into the Town Centre.

Southport Sea Front.

 After a quick dice with the Southport town centre traffic and pedestrians we headed up the Scarisbrick New road out of Town and then back into the lanes and off to Ormskirk.

We arrived at our brew stop 50 miles into the ride, so we were all ready for a Cake and Coffee!
The team were great and served us all quickly, which you would if the owners were there!!
Dave and Mark then surprised us by covering the tab for us, a very generous gesture.

Jon and Iain watching the bikes!

Just before the rain arrived enjoying Alfresco Coffee at Ormskirk Costa Coffee

As we were enjoying out Coffee and cake in the summer sunshine we discussed how lucky we had been with the weather during the ride, as the forecast was for rain during the morning. Right on cue the empty cups began to miraculously fill up! We all donned our rain capes, well those of us who took them, and saddled up for the last few miles back to Formby. The rain soon stopped and we retraced our wheel tracks through the lanes to Formby cycles.

It was the first time some of the lads had been into the shop, and they were very impressed. There is a huge range of bikes of all  styles and prices, literally something for everyone, and all the lads who work there are cyclists too, whether it be Road, BMX or Mountain Biking. It is well worth a visit. 

So the first Palefish Cycle Club road trip went well, it was great to ride in new surroundings, and the feedback from the lads was great. Thanks again to Ken for leading and to Dave and Mark for their hospitality. 

When we started the club we said that we would like to see more of what the North West has to offer, so watch this space, we may be coming to a coffee shop near you soon!!

Where has the last year gone?

It is hard to believe that a year has passed since I wrote these words.


"I'm not sure what will become of this blog, or what direction it will go in? I hope to capture all the exploits of the new Vita Cycles Team, the training, bikes, kit, Sportives and races, and also my personal challenge of loosing the extra pounds, and raising my overall fitness level.
So here goes, buckle up it could be a bumpy road."

136 posts, over 20,000 page views and a New cycling Club named after the Blog and here we are! 

I won't go on about the past though, time to talk about the present.

After last weeks disappointing lack of miles due to illness, I was looking forward to a better week back up to the target mileage of 100miles per week. Once again, things didn't go quite to plan!

My daughter came to stay this week, and as a homecoming gift she brought with her a very nasty cold bug! I woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat and streaming nose, Thanks love!!! There was no way I could manage the ride that night so already my miles were in a negative position to the plan. 

By Thursday I felt well enough to get out, and enjoyed the ride with the crew, which ended up a good pace and we managed to get a few loops of the West Kirby Hill in too, but I don't want to hear any calls of "Man Flu" from the wings please, I'm not moaning, just saying!!! 

I picked up my wheel from The Bike Shop in Moreton on Friday. I was like a kid with a new toy as I rolled the bike out this morning. I haven't ridden the Kuota for two weeks, so I was looking forward to putting some miles into the new spokes! 

It wasn't a promising start though. Although quite warm, even at 7am, it was raining! I dithered about whether to put my rain coat on, and decided that it would probably be for the best as the aforementioned cold is still here and I would really quite like it to go away as soon a possible. 

Anyway, 6 of us headed out into the rain and off to meet the others joining us in Birkenhead. As we descended into the Town the sky cleared and the sun came out. At the meeting point there were 5 lads waiting, all in short sleeves with frowns on their faces as to why we were in rain capes and overshoes!!

I had decided to try a new route today, riding up from Birkenhead and zig zagging through the lanes that cross the M53, then out to Stanlow and round the back of Chester and up the Dee Path to Eureka Cafe. I managed to navigate, with the help of my Garmin 500, and we didn't get lost once!! 

We also had an incident free ride, the only mechanical's were Paul N's chain dropping a couple of times. 

A bit warmer and dryer than the last time we were in Chester!

After we had refuelled at Eureka, Alan, Mark and Scott headed back to the East side of the Wirral and the rest of us headed back via the lanes to Neston and Lower Heswall, where Richard, Paul, Steve and Carla left us and we then dropped down to Caldy and round to West Kirby, Hoylake and then through Pump Lane back to Greasby. And to welcome the remaining 4 of us back, just as we reached Greasby Road the heavens opened and within seconds were soaked to the skin! At least home and a warm shower were not far away!

I was pleased to get a longer ride in, although the last 15 miles were tough as my chest tightened and getting the air in became tough, which led to the first leg ache I have had since I started drinking Beetroot Juice!

I need to ramp up the training now as the Asthma UK Loch to Loch ride is only 3 weekends away! I am half way to my Sponsorship target, and if you would like to donate you can HERE or via the link at the top of the page. (thanks)

Next weekend the Club is travelling across the water for its Sunday ride! The plan is to do a loop around the lanes of Sefton and Lancashire, starting in Formby, with a stop at Costa Coffee in Ormskirk. ( I am reliably informed that there is a treat awaiting us at the brew stop) HERE are first draft details of the route, Ken is kindly going to ride it for us this week so there may be some tweaks to the final one.   

If you would like to join us, the details of timings and travel arrangements will be posted on the Club Facebook group page. We hope to see you there.

It has also been a Fantastic week at the Olympics for the Team GB cyclists. First Bradley Wiggins wins Gold in the TT, then the Track team have dominated and broken world records along the way. 

One of my son's even wants to change his middle name to Wiggins?!?!?

It is certainly a good time for Cycling in the UK and I have noticed more people out and about on their bikes, more potential Palefish Club members perhaps??

Where were you the Day Wiggo Won the TDF?

Today didn't start off too well! To start with I slept through my alarm and then had to rush to get out to meet the lads for the Sunday spin I had planned out to Delamere. From the start of the ride something didn't sound right with the bike. We headed over to Birkenhead to meet Ken, and just as we approached the Tunnel Dave L Punctured. Phill stayed with Dave and I rode on with Dave B, and Graham to let Ken and Tim know what was happening. It wasn't too long before we restarted and my concerns over the noises emanating from my bike began to raise. We rode as far as Eastham before I decided that I needed to bail from the ride, as the last thing I wanted was to be too far from home if anything happened.
The Lads headed off and I turned back towards home, accompanied by a worrying progressively louder noise. Of course, as I turned into my road, the noise stopped! The rear wheel is booked in to be checked over by Steve at the Bike Shop in Moreton tomorrow.
The lads didn't fair much better by all accounts. As I was the only one with the route on my Garmin, they inevitably went to places they didn't plan too ( got lost) and Graham suffered from a broken Cleat and had to pedal with only one foot clipped in all the way! Graham also suffered from a severe case of " Helmet Burn" something we have not been used to this summer!!

To complete the days misfortune, while I was out getting a few more miles in this evening to make up for the shorter than planned ride this morning, I saw the Wirral Mamils, Shaun and Ade. I stopped to chat and whilst we were talking, Iain rode past and decided to stop too, but he forgot to tell the person he was riding with, who proceed to use Iain's bike as a brake! Luckily they both managed to stay upright and didn't damage their bikes too much! We didn't laugh too much, well actually we laughed a lot! Once our composure was recovered I continued on a windy loop on the winter bike, without mudguards!!

Anyway, today was a very special day for anyone who follows British bike racing. I felt very proud as Bradley Wiggins stepped up to the top step of the podium to receive his yellow jersey. It has been a fantastic Tour De France this year, with Wiggo riding in yellow since stage 7, and even though he looked strong, and Team Sky were dominating the Peloton I just didn't want to get my hopes up.
I have been to some great sporting events in the past, but today was something special. The first ever British rider to Win, and also Mark Cavendish winning the final stage on the Champs-Elysees, for the fourth year in a row, and also rack up his 23rd Tour stage win. To remember the day, I have attached some Pictures from the official Team Sky website.

 We had our first club social on Friday, as well as having a great time and fantastic food, thanks Laz, we also decided on the Jersey design. Hopefully it wont be long until we are all kitted out and looking like the photo above!

Onix Twitter ride Video

I finally understand the camera and managed to get over one and a half hours of video which I have edited to highlight all the different areas we rode through on the ride, except Blackburn town centre as the battery had died!!
I still have to change the date, but it's not that easy so just ignore it!

Rain and Rails on the Onix Twitter ride

As I loaded the bike into the back of the car at 6.30 this morning, in the rain, I did consider putting the bike away, and going back to bed! It took a lot of resolve to carry on loading the car, and set off to pick up Tim. The conversation in the car on the journey to Blackburn through the driving rain was mostly based around "what are we doing?"

We arrived at Onix HQ and the car park was empty, Except for the Onix Team car and two others, it was only 8.20 though!! We were happily surprised to see Phil B from the Club talking to Craig, and also Dermot, another Onix rider in the office and the coffee started to flow and the car park filled up including Dave L from the club too.

Joining the mortals today were the young guns of the Mountivation Cycling Development Academy that Onix sponsor. They are a great bunch of lads who are being put through their paces to get them ready for senior racing. It's not often that you would see 16 year old lads out at 9 o'clock on a Sunday morning in the rain by choice! 

We sheltered in the office for a little longer than planned, hoping that the rain may pass. It didn't and finally, an hour after the planned start time, we rolled gingerly out of the car park. 

Craig had warned us that it wouldn't be long before we met with our first climb. And he wasn't lying! The first 2.5 miles were all up hill! To be fair though, the hills around Blackburn aren't as hard as the short sharp Welsh ones we are used to and I felt quite good. The rolling terrain continued for the next 20 miles, with some tough climbs and some great, if a little tentative, descents. We split from the Mountivation Lads at the 15 mile mark, as they were determined to add a few more hills into their ride! 

The ride into Preston was mostly down hill, a nice respite to the climbing, but to be honest, we put some good efforts in on the flats too.

As we approached Preston I realised we were on the same route that Ken and I had followed on the Manchester to Blackpool night ride last year. 

We stopped at a set of traffic lights and the lads at the front who knew the route warned us of some Tram lines crossing the road ahead, I remembered these from the night ride. As we approached them everyone took a similar line, as the Tram lines dissect the road at a dangerous angle that can eat bike wheels. 

What happened next happened so fast I didn't realise it was happening until my head hit the tarmac and I saw my bike sliding off down the road! To add insult to injury, to avoid me, Tim had taken a different line that was not conducive with upright riding either and he joined me on the Tarmac! We both got up, which is a bonus, and very quickly went to our bikes to check them over before checking ourselves out. I managed to bend the rear Mech hanger and we both picked up some scratches on the bar tape, brake levers and Pedals. 

I landed on the same side as my recent fall, opening up the old wounds, and adding some heavy bruising to my shoulder, and Tim suffered a badly bruised and swollen hand and cuts!

Apparently the bike didn't go into the Tram track gully, but slipped on the rail, low siding me with no chance of recovery. I was glad I was wearing my helmet. I hit the road with so much force that I now need a new Lid, as my "new and only had for a few months" Giro, now has a nice crack across the side of it! 

Once we had sorted ourselves out we carried on through Preston and on to the Coffee stop at Gusta Gusto

Tim still smiling even after an off!

 The Cafe was great and reminded me of Eureka, ( although not as good if you read this Anne!) The staff were very friendly and helpful, especially when Tim asked for some Ice to reduce the swelling on his hand.

After the stop we started our return journey. Both Tim and I had started to feel the effect of the fall, and knees and shoulders and hands were aching and getting stiff. It wasn't a flat route either, and as we hit the hills, I discovered that the damage to the rear mech was worse than I originally thought. As I changed gear into the bigger cogs on the cassette, the Mech started to rub on the spokes on the back wheel. This was an issue as we hit some 10% climbs. Once again I had to walk up a hill, which I was disappointed with as today I could have ridden them if the bike was working! 

A quick fettle from Mike the Onix mechanic worked wonders and for me the rest of the ride was uneventful. 

Which is more than can be said for one of the riders, who after descending a very steep straight long road into Blackburn with only a front brake to control his speed, suffered a massive blow out that ripped the side of his tyre. Luckily we were at the bottom of the hill and just rolling off from a set of traffic lights. A minute earlier and he would have been doing 30mph down hill!! 

Once recovery had been sorted, we set off for the last couple of miles to Onix HQ when another of the lads suffered a rear puncture! 

We eventually rolled back into the car park, glad to be in one piece, and as always after an eventful ride, buzzing and looking forward to the next one. 

It was great to see Craig again and talk about how the company is doing, and also see Mike (Mechanic) and Chris (Photographer) 

I wonder what the next Onix twitter ride will have in store for us? We have had hills, wind, rain, falls, blow outs......... Whatever it is and wherever it is you can be sure that you will feel part of the Onix family and very welcome.

Here is the link to the PHOTO's from Chris, from Crank Photo  

Today's Ride details 

Onix Twitter ride 2012

I can't believe it has been 7 months since the last ride that Craig organised. It certainly has been a busy time for him, launching the new Rob Hayles range and getting national prime time TV coverage!.
This Onix Twitter ride promises to be as challenging as the previous one I took part in. 60 miles and 4000ft of climbing. Craig certainly knows how to spoil us!!!
There will be 4 of the Palefish CC crew there to enjoy the Lancashire scenery.

For details of the ride please check out the Onix Blog here

Hopefully the weather will hold. We have been lucky this week on our evening rides. It has almost felt like summer.

Short sleeves and no knee warmers on the Tuesday night spin!

Thursdays Wilier Gran Fondo!

Also this week I had a meeting with Laura from Lime Twentysix, who designed the Palefish Logo to discuss the final type settings for the Jersey design! It is very exciting, but also a bit scary to comprehend that in such a short space of time things have moved so fast. She also brought in a prototype of a laser cut perspex Palefish logo. 

So, with all the decisions made, the logo's have been sent to Ken at Bio-racer who are going to be producing the jersey for us. I cant wait to see the first drafts.

Palefish Cycle Club is born

Just over 14 months ago I started riding with the Wirral Mamils, who were meeting at Vita cycles in Irby. It was the first time I had ridden with a club or in a group.
4 months ago I competed in my first Time Trial, and I didn't do too bad.
In 8 days time I will have had my new bike for a year and ridden over 4600 miles (it must be time for a new bike soon?)
In the last year I have lost over 2 stone, and I gave up alcohol for 100 days! I do need to get back on the weight loss though as I have plateaued.

What  am trying to show is that my cycling adventure has had some significant milestones in the last year, and my journey is about meet another one.

In recent weeks you may have noticed that I have not been riding with the Team and Club at Vita. I decided I needed to take a step back and put the brakes on the speed at which my cycling journey was moving at.
I had a great time riding, and leading the Club rides on a Saturday morning, and have made many new friends along the way.

Since January, I have been out most Tuesday and Thursday nights with Paul Tim and Dave. As the nights have got lighter and the weather a little better (at least we are not in minus degree temperatures) the number of riders has increased. This week on Tuesday night there were 10 of us spinning through the lanes in the sun.

It has been during these rides, in the last couple of weeks, that the plan to develop our own club has grown. We have discussed why we ride our bikes, what we want to get out of being in a club, and what we can put into a club. 

The overriding motivation for us to ride is for fun and camaraderie, rather than competition and speed. We have all made huge improvements in our own fitness and capabilities on a bike, and we don't want to stop improving. What we do want to do is ride more Sportives and other organised rides, and then share our experiences here! We also want to welcome new riders, who may be nervous of joining a mainstream club, and getting them to a level where they are comfortable riding in a group, and have a good level of bike skills and then feel able to either ride Sportives with us, or go on and join a club with a race team. 

Another important thing that we all want is a way to keep the cost of our hobby at a reasonable level. To achieve this, I have been having discussions with some of our local bike shops, and I am happy to say that as a member of Palefish CC you will be able to benefit from discounts and support at Cheshire Oaks Cycles, The Bike shop at Moreton and Formby cycles. 

When I launched the Palefish Logo earlier in the year, I was asked frequently if there would be any jerseys with the logo on. Well, I am happy to say that I have had conversations with a Jersey producer, who is happy to work with me in designing a club jersey, and the guys who have been riding with me have all said they would like to ride in Palefish CC jerseys. 

Watch this blog for details on how the process is progressing.

If you are interested in joining us on an evening ride on a Tuesday or Thursday, we normally meet at the Twelfth Man on Greasby Road at 7.30. We are also hoping to do some longer rides at the weekend, on either day, whichever suits the majority. This week we are riding on Sunday and heading out to Delamere for a Dads day treat!

To communicate all our activities I have set up a Facebook Group  and a Facebook Page where I will post ride details and can send invites to rides to group members.
I have also created a group page on Wheelsuckers, a social network site for Road Cyclists. All you have to do is sign up to the site and then you can join the page. I will also post Ride details here and send invites too.
Finally there is Twitter. All details about the evening rides will have the hash tag #730atthe12th in the message. If you search for the tag you should find the details!

So, Palefish CC is born. The club is an inclusive club with the emphasis on riding our bikes for pleasure,and fun, and then as the Wirral Mamil lads say, when we get back talk about it as if we have just completed a stage of the Tour De France! We are not planning on taking over the world (yet) and there are some really great clubs available on Wirral already, but it is always good to have a choice.