A Cafe spin with a proud Dad

Today was another milestone in the Palefish CC journey. Badders daughter Sian joined us for a spin out to the Eureka Cafe.
I was a little concerned that there may be some ice about this morning, as the forecasts were saying the temperature on Friday night may have dropped to as low as -6 degrees in places! As usual though, the forecasters were wrong, and Wirral wasn't covered in frost and Ice this morning.
This week has been a strange weather week. Tuesday night was cold, 1 degree, and Thursday night was the foggiest ride I have ever done. Today however, even though the temperature wasn't tropical, it was sunny with no wind! I do have to add though that I have now got my winter Palefish CC kit, Jacket and Bib Tights that are lined and toasty! I know I am biased, but the Bio Racer kit is absolutely fantastic. The Winter jacket has a thin lining, that if you pick up the jacket, you would think it couldn't keep you very warm, but it does, and more importantly, it doesn't make me overheat! I am looking forward to some more cold rides now!

Any way, back to today's ride. Dave and Sian came round to mine on the way to the 12th Man, where we met up with Derek, Giles, Nick, Paul, Dave L, Owen and Steve.
After introducing everyone to our youngest rider, we set off for the cycling Mecca of Eureka Cafe. Dave and I had discussed routes previously, and we had agreed to ride up to Eureka, independently to give Sian a chance to get some miles in her legs, before she starts to beat us on the sprints and climbs! Paul and I led the main group up through Greasby and Irby, down into Lower Heswall, then through Neston which was were we discovered that Steve and Giles weren't  with us. My instant thought was that they had punctured or even worse, crashed! As you probably know, I hate it when someone falls off the group or gets dropped at a junction! But after a quick discussion we realised that they hadn't been with us since we left the 12th Man! We rode on through Puddington to the Cafe, where Tim and Nipper were waiting for us. It wasn't long before we saw Giles and Steve ride into the Cafe yard, closely followed by Dave and Sian. The lads had elected to stay with Dad and Daughter to keep them company and help them along the high road, true Palefish spirit, thanks lads.

While we were there Pete and his friend arrived, which made the Palefish crew total 14! even when we don't all ride together, we always fill the Cafe!!!

A Proud Dad with his Daughter

The rest of the crew with Dave L holding court!

   

After we had all warmed up and fuelled up (cake and Coffee) we set off home. This time myself and Derek rode with Sian and Dave, and the rest of the lads rode back together, the way we had come. 

I think I may have been almost as proud as Dave to see Sian riding along the lanes. When I started the club, I wanted it to be an inclusive friendly accessible club for everyone, and we have often talked about what will happen if juniors want to join. Well, that day has come, and I hope there will be many more rides with Palefish junior riders! ( I now want my boys to grow up quickly!)  

Dave and Sian on the way home!

One thing I didn't think of as a benefit to having Junior riders joining us was their ability to act as a pack horse! When we were at the Cafe, I noticed that Sian was carrying Dave's money, and also their food and gel's. I wouldn't be surprised if Sian also had the spare inner tubes and pump in her pockets too! Shame on you Dave!!

Finally, even though I said we filled the Cafe, today, as with most weekends, the Birkenhead North End club dominate Eureka! They have been going a lot longer then our club, since January 1901, but maybe one day, the Cafe will be a sea of green instead of red?

The North End and a sea of red.

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!

Cycle Show 2012

I struggle to accept that a year has gone by since I was last at the NEC drooling over the latest bike porn!

This year I was accompanied by 7 other Palefish CC lads. I drove and took Ken, Iain and Phil, and Paul also drove Scott, Pauric and Tim. I would like to say that The lads in the other car were given a picnic for the journey by Tims Fiance!! 

We met up at the NEC, My group were there first as we didn't stop for a picnic on the way, and as reward for getting there early we managed to see Olympic Silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead being interviewed by Dave Harmon.

Right next to the Stage was the stand for the Tour De Force. Sarah from the Loch to Loch ride was there and it was good to catch up and talk about the possibilities of doing the famous Tour route, one day!

My next destination was the Onimpex Bio Racer stand. I thought I would take the opportunity to talk to Ken about our order, and also it was a good chance for the lads to see what they had bought! Ken was great and explained how the kit was made, and the differences in fabric and pads used ( very interesting ) 

It should only be a couple of weeks now and then the club will be kitted out!

Next to the Bio Racer stall was probably the biggest, and definitely one of the busiest stalls at the show, Pinarello.
After Bradley's successful Tour the marketing team had gone to town, and I thought it was a great concept.

After a bit of mooching I came across old friends, Craig and Mike from Onix. It was great to see them so busy that they didn't have time to chat at first. It seems that the next few months are going to be really exciting for Craig, so watch this space for updates. We also spoke about taking the club ride up to the new Onix showroom and doing a ride from there into the Ribble Valley. More details to follow.

Rob Hayles actual Onix RH Pro! 

 Throughout the day we seemed to gravitate back to the Onix stand and as we did all the lads had a chance to meet Craig and talk about his bikes.

A Mike tool time master class!

Next to Onix was the C3 products stand. I bumped into someone else I had met before here. C3 were the main prize sponsors for the 10 minutes of hell Tunnel Time Trial last year. It was great to catch up with Paul, and nice to know he still reads the blog!

We spent the rest of the day roaming the halls taking in all the new technology and Bling.
Here are some of my favourites.

Colnago Ferrari Bikes

Olympic Gold Medal winning Bike

Tour Of Britain King of the mountains Jersey, and Kristian House's  bike above

Albero Contador's winning Vuelta Bike

Paul Smith Designed Lotus Condor

Palefish CC Colours?

That would look nice above the fireplace.

oops!

 We  also spent quite a lot of time in the Campagnolo Box. My personal favourite bling is the Super Record carbon groupset. Very light and extremely stylish.
As the day drew to a close we took advantage of the reduction in numbers and managed to get close to the Campanolo EPS test bikes. Paul was first, then Phil. We are not quite sure how it happened, but Phil managed to slip the chain off the rings! after a little fettling the chain was back on and we carried on abusing the extremely well engineered highly tuned piece of tuned engineering!

 I think my favourite bike of the show was the Demon Manhattan. Typically I didn't get a good photo of it, but here are some from the website. http://www.demonframeworks.com/

 I also liked the track bike, and the Copper plated finish.

So, that was the 2012 Cycle show. The Wiggo effect was definitely apparent, and the traders were commenting on the high level of interest from people new to cycling, long may it continue.

I haven't got any ride information to add this week. We didn't have a club ride on Tuesday, we decided to have a social at the 12th man instead, and have an opportunity to chat in comfort. It was well attended, and some great ideas about group riding safety were discussed. I couldn't make Thursdays ride as I was driving the length of the country, almost, and back to deliver my eldest Sons birthday present! And of course, we were at the NEC today!! Some of the lads went out yesterday, and on Tuesday I shall be back in the saddle too!!

What a difference a week makes.

The euphoria of Bradley Wiggins win at the Tour De France was great last week. Even my colleagues at work seemed interested, for once,to listen to me talk about cycling!! And as the week progressed the anticipation of the Olympics and in particular the Road Race built. It can't all be happy endings for British cycling though, and as Cav said in the post race interview, it seemed that every one else was happy to loose just to stop Team GB winning! Today's women's Road Race had a better result, and a completely different feel. Well done to Lizzie Armitstead on her Silver Medal.

It has also been a week of mixed fortunes for me and my cycling this week. Tuesday night's Palefish CC ride treated us to a nice warm summers evening, and a chance meeting with Raina from The Greedy Pig in Kelsall.

I had been introduced to Raina via Wheelsuckers, a social network for road cyclists, and spoken to her on Twitter, promising to take the lads out to the Greedy Pig on a Saturday ride to check out her cakes! It was a lucky coincidence that we decided to ride out towards Park Gate, and as we turned down Boathouse lane we met up with Raina and Sarah, who were out to ride with the CTC but missed the start. They were a little lost and as we rode past Paul N suggested that they join us and we would get them back to their car. When he told Raina that we were the Palefish CC she couldn't believe it. I was even just as surprised as I rode back to say hello and discovered who the new riders were. Once again the wonderful world of social media has brought me closer to Cake!!

Thursdays ride for me was a non starter, but the lads still went out and put in some good miles round the hill in west Kirby.

With no ride for me on Thursday I was looking forward to a nice daytime warm spin today. As I got up at 6am this morning I was greeted with the sound of rain hitting the window, or should I say hammering on the window. Luckily (kind of) the rear wheel of my Kebel is in The Bike Shop Moreton waiting for a new Spoke set, so the winter bike was waiting for me. Things didn't get much better from here on either. As I rolled round to Dave's I realised I didn't have my Glasses or Inhaler, so I went back to get them but couldn't get in the house as the key was in the lock!! I have never done a ride without either my sunglasses or inhaler. Luckily Dave is also Asthmatic, so I had access to an inhaler if I needed one.

When we arrived at the 12th Man, Graham was there and he needed to fettle with his head set as it was a bit loose. This should have rung alarm bells, and did a bit later on in the ride. The rain had stopped and there was a patch of blue in the sky, so the 8 of us who had braved the early hour and the rain set off. It didn't take long for the rain to start again, and as it did, Graham gave a shout that his headset was loose again. We sheltered under a tree as the rain got heavier, and Graham and I disassembled the front end of his bike. We managed to get it back together, with all the bits in the right place, and the forks were nice and snug in the frame, Phew!! The rain didn't stop so we decided to get going and head on towards Eureka for a well deserved brew. 

The rest of the ride was quite uneventful, and when we got to the Cafe, Phil B was waiting for us. After a warm Coffee and a chat, mostly about the tactics of Team GB at eh Olympics, we started to head back. To my dismay the same thing that side lined me from Thursdays ride came back to haunt me. If you suffer from Migraines you will understand that cycling whilst one is starting is not the best. I loose my peripheral vision and had to ask the lads not to ride too close to the side of me as I couldn't see them. We all got back safely though, and I spent the rest of the day in a darkened room, trying to watch the Women's Road Race.

I wonder what the next weeks riding will bring?

Another milestone in the short life of Palefish Cycle Club happened this week. Thanks to great work by Ken at Bio Racer we now have the final design for the Club jersey. I hope you agree that they look great, and it shouldn't be too long before you see them out on the road.

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.