Scratching an Itch

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Roobell7
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Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:39 pm
Location: Middle England

Scratching an Itch

Post by Roobell7 »

I had a reminder today that it was three years since I rode the SDW and 2017 was probably the last year I could really get out and enjoy riding, with the the fitness required to do silly things like BB200 on a singlespeed fatbike :smile:
2018 and on has seen me away with work and hotel living and lack of equipment saw my fitness drop and even when home, I would feel guilty to head off on my own and have fun. The 2018 BB200 was a disappointment to me as I quit at around 3am, knowing full well that I'd have continued the previous year in the same conditions.

We do this for fun but when you can't for whatever reason it hurts. As I know from chats with RG, even reading these forums can be hard when you know you can't just jump on a bike and ride.

Anyway, come 2020 and I found my self stuck in Ghana. The local Marriott hotel all but closed and I moved into a crew apartment (two actually :lol: ). I had the place to myself except for my Cannondale Badboy, which had been shipped back from Dallas the previous year. I'd started using the gym whilst in Harare, where just climbing 4 floors by stairs is its own workout! Now in Ghana lockdown, I focused on core strength work, good diet and used the bike to do shopping trips per regulations (non of this UK one-exercise-a-day lockdown stuff!!). As the restrictions lifted and exercise was now encouraged by the Government. I went out for longer rides and even started running again :o

We made a 10 day trip to Germany for some aircraft maintenance and I made good use of that time to replace my running shoes and buy some upgrades for the Badboy, in the form of a 2x10 GRX gear set, tooling and a Kickr Core trainer. On return to Ghana, I up'd the outdoor mileage and started indoor work as well. With little else to do other than visit the aircraft every two weeks and most restaurants and bars still closed. Training and eating well came easy and I dropped 10 kgs between March and July :-bd My final day in Africa started with a 30min 6km run, which at 5'000ft altitude after just two days from sea level, was a time I was well chuffed with :-bd

Which brings us to Canada and the point of this post (sorry for the long build-up) :oops:

Before I left Africa I knew I couldn't take the Badboy and travelling through the UK wasn't a great plan. So if I was going to ride, then I'd need a new bike. I could have gone to fb sellers and picked something up as with the Badboy but this time I chose the other option. I've had a Ti Kite on order with Sam since early May but have no way to get to it even when it delivers. I've a fatbike, a road bike and a fixed road bike at home. So what to get that could join the stable and maybe satisfy the Desert Dash I've entered in Namibia in December? So that would normally be a 29" Hardtail MTB but then the GF has my Whyte 29C. Then I came across a Canadian blog review of the Cannondale Carbon Topstone Lefty https://ridecyclespin.com/2020/06/12/gu ... eled-ipad/ a two wheeled iPad :lol: Now that's leftfield enough for me :-bd

A LBS between Toronto Pearson Airport and Peterborough, ON that has both a medium and large Topstone Carbon Lefty 3 in stealth grey was found online. https://www.spokeomotion.com/product/ca ... 9103-1.htm I put together a wish list with the bike and accessories I needed and emailed it to the LBS owner and got no reply :roll: The day before I left for Canada I wrote another email using a different title to ensure it wasn't caught in his spam catcher. In fact it had been but in his own head in that he dismissed my email as 'guy from Africa has money and wants to buy a bike' :lol: So I sent him some pictures of my time in Africa, some fb and instagram posts and convinced him I was genuine. But even that didn't get him to pick the parts ready for my arrival. I had to turn up in person, prove I was exempt quarantine under Canadian regulations, and leave him with an ultimatum. "I'm going for lunch at that diner, if you are not interested when I come out, then I head on to Peterborough and buy from Wild Rock" 5 mins after I returned to my rental car, Myles appeared with the Topstone in large for me to try around the car park. One lap and I was hooked. "Ok I'll have it. What about the rest of the Wish List?" Another 30 mins later after Myles had searched for most of the extras, shoes, pedals, helmet, pump, lights, etc. I carried on the last of my 30 hour travel from Zimbabwe to Canada, with a new bike and about 75% of the items on my Wish List. :wink:

The next day was a trip to Wild Rock, the LBS in Peterborough that I've used many times before to obtain the bike items Myles didn't find, plus all the cycling kit I needed. The local club use Peal IZUMi kit and all I had with me were the mesh liner shorts I'd taken to Africa. After a couple of rides to get to know the Topstone, including a 140km epic https://www.strava.com/activities/3884707105/overview, it was time to build up the bikepacking kit and 'Scratch that itch' :-bd

I managed to find all I needed at Wild Rock. Some compromises were required depending on what kit they held. Bivi bags for instance aren't a big thing over here. Tarps were available but nothing lightweight, and the thought of spending a night in a bug net didn't appeal :roll: I picked up an MSR stove but they had no gas canisters. In fact they said people had been coming in from all over to buy what stock they had. Maybe Friday for new supplies.
One purchase failure came from an unexpected source. The Ortlieb Handlebar Pack had one of the roll closure fitting not there (as in never sewn on). It was of course the only one they had :sad: Anyway I had them supply me the webbing and clips and had my hosts stitch them on (They fit out corporate aircraft) :-bd

I plotted a route with Strava Route Planner and then imported it into Komoot for its better turn-by-turn navigation. I have hate/love relationship with Komoot. I find it very difficult to plan a circular route and it tends to have bizarre ideas about which roads to use. Even telling it that I was an expert MTB rider, it still insisted on putting me on main roads rather than a good gravel one nearby. I guess for its target market, point-to-point adventure racing it works. But anyway I ended up with a 550km, 3,500m climbing (Strava said 5,000m for essentially the same route) loop. Taking in some largish town along the way. With no stove gas, I was reliant on finding open garages and convenience stores for hot meals and drinks. I didn't research much as I was busy clearing work down so I could head out without a deadline. I was sure it would come good, and it did but not as easy as I'd hoped :???:

The completed ride ended up taking four days to complete 600km / 4,500m of varied but mainly gravel roads, ATV/Snowmobile and multi-use trails. The whole trip can be seen in this RideWithGPS map picture

ImageTopstone Bikepacking by Andy Wright, on Flickr

Each days ride brought something different and can be well summed up from my Strava posts from each day.

Day 1 - https://www.strava.com/activities/3914409944
Day 2 - https://www.strava.com/activities/3931064312
Day 3 - https://www.strava.com/activities/3931211844
Day 4 - https://www.strava.com/activities/3931277712

The Topstone has been exceptional. I had no mechanicals and just one silly crash. I finished each day with no sores or stiffness. Even yesterday after the final 232km, 12 hour ride back. I still felt ready to carry on further :grin:
Only in some very deep sand did it get bogged down and that in part was because a horse fly landed on the back of my bare right hand and start to bite :oops: I did get going again and rode past some very amused Moto-cross riders.

Gravel is it's forte but it's neither bad on the road, or on a technical singletrack. I surprised the PCC tempo road group by not only staying with them throughout the ride (ride leader asked how much I'd done before when I pitched up :smile: ) but also by riding away from them at 30+ Kph up the gravel side strip of a shallow climb (just because I could :lol: ). The 1x11 GRX means you can run out of gears holding the boys into town, or climbing a long steep hill. It was ok for the short climbs here in Canada but I wouldn't want to do Torino-Nice on it (2x11 would work well).
I also agree with one reviewer that said the bike should come fitted with a dropper post as standard :wink:
The Cannondale website shows riders tailsliding into corners as the main selling point. It actually put me off the bike slightly but now, having descended steepish loose gravel roads fully loaded at silly speeds, I can see why :cool:
Also the bike is so well balanced that it took me a week to realise that it has a Continental/US brake setup, with them switched to UK standard :shock: And that was after a fb US friend asked me if it was RHD

So could it do the Desert Dash? Easily but I'd need to check the rules about using a drop barred bike :geek: . Could I do something longer than four days and 600km. Yes but I would do more research before heading out :wink:

ImageTopstone Bikepacking by Andy Wright, on Flickr

Thanks for staying with me if you got this far :wink: Work calls :???:

Andy
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ledburner
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Location: The worsted place in West Yorkshire,

Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by ledburner »

A long read, but enjoyable.
I glad you're now in shape and shifted the lard... Enjoying the new ride.
I hope you think you know, what I might of exactly meant.
Warning - may contain value odded typos & ither mythspellings..
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benp1
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Location: South Downs

Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by benp1 »

Good story Andy

I did a fair bit of travelling in Africa and would have loved to be able to explore on a bike. Sounds like great fun
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Yay, good man :-bd
May the bridges you burn light your way
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In Reverse
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Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:08 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by In Reverse »

Enjoyed that Andy, well written. :-bd

I've been enviously admiring your Topstone on Strava for the last few months. Did you see the video of Lachlan Morton riding on in the GBDuro?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e74xncS ... RaphaFilms
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MuddyPete
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Joined: Thu May 21, 2015 9:47 am
Location: Beds/Bucks border

Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by MuddyPete »

What a fabulous story! :-bd . The role call of countries adds a layer of " :shock: " with every paragraph.

It looks like you've travelled to more places in 2020 than the rest of the inhabitants of planet Earth, combined :lol: .
Superb achievement :-bd .
May you always have tail wind.
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Cheeky Monkey
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Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by Cheeky Monkey »

Grand read, thanks :-bd
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Verena
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Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:22 am

Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by Verena »

Glad someone else is riding a Topstone :-bd - though I only have the basic topstone sora version. Bought it autumn last year, had enough trouble justifying to myself why I needed a new bike at all.... I mostly liked the colour/ look of it...I wanted to treat myself for finishing my MSc... I'd not long come back from Germany and seen all the guys there ride gravel bikes... I was not convinced that there was much gravel to speak of in the UK :oops: , or that this whole bikepacking thing wasn't just a brief fad for me :oops: ....basically I just wanted one..... but couldn't justify spending too much of my overdraft on one....
See what a steep learning curve I've been on???? :lol:
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ledburner
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Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2020 8:47 am
Location: The worsted place in West Yorkshire,

Re: Scratching an Itch

Post by ledburner »

Verena wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:49 pm
See what a steep learning curve I've been :lol: on???? :lol:
I think I've been on the GCSE learning curve.
You think you know what your doing, only joining the big wide world, you realise how much you got to Learn... :???: :shock: :lol:
I hope you think you know, what I might of exactly meant.
Warning - may contain value odded typos & ither mythspellings..
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