Review of the Year 2017

Well let us get the basic statistics out of the way first.

Total distance cycled = 6295 km
Total Ascent   = 47712 m

all encompassed in 173 rides

These are massively down on last years efforts but I still managed to achieve my Annuity Target

I could claim excuses for these figures such as bad weather and a prolonged period of family illness but the real baseline reason I fear is that age is catching up.

Never the less this has been a really enjoyable cycling year and illuminated by two main adventure streams.

The first of these was my Great Railway Journeys and the second was my participation in the Derby Mercury All Inclusive Social Rides.

My wife tells me that like most men I never really grew up and that I am basically a little boy at heart. And when I was a little boy I loved nothing better than Train Spotting and riding on steam powered trains. Latterly there has been a resurgence in Preserved Railway Lines and this last year I decided to make day trips on my Mercian and visit a few of the ones local to us, with my sandwiches and chocolate bars packed in my saddle bag as I used to do so many years ago;  Great Railway Journeys Revisited.

The first trip was to Shackerstone on a wet and dreary morning but it brightened up and I arrived ready for cup of tea and a bit of train spotting.

Even though it was mid week the trains were operating and a steady stream of walkers and tourists meant that the Station Buffet was doing a roaring trade

I have to confess that have not been very adventurous in plotting the routes to these stations and in some cases the return journey was just a replica of the outward bound. But at ~100km per trip it was enough for an Old Age Pensioner

The second trip was to the Foxfield Railway

This was another thriving establishment and I must say that these Preservation Railways do remarkably good value for money in the food department

My third trip was to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. This involved much more climbing than is good for me as though the railway line is relatively flat , the terrain around Wirksworth is certainly not..

This was the only non-operating on the day railway I visited but my trusted packed lunch came to the rescue

My final one for this year was The Great Central Railway at Loughborough

and this had an excellent buffet bar

In terms of cycling enjoyment this was the most disappointing journey as I just relied upon RideWithGPS, loaded the route and went. I ended up pushing, then carrying, my bike across muddy fields and water filled ditches before it asked me to ride around Castle Donnington Motor Race Track..at this point I opted for Plan B and stopped at a local house and asked for help:-(


My second stream was my participation in the Mercury All Inclusive Social Rides. These were instigated to widen the participation of the membership by promoting rides at a much more modest pace and incorporating a coffee and cake stop.

I have reported on all these rides throughout the year and they were extremely successful regularly attracting over 35 riders drawn from those who do not normally ' compete ' in the weekend SpeedFest '.
It was not a very auspicious start with only 8 out of the original 36 riders making it around the designated route, and I was one of those who took a diversion to a local coffee shop and rode at a more leisurely pace. I was not alone...

and had the opportunity to come to the aid of a damsel in distress when Sasha discovered that puncture repair in arctic conditions was not her forte.

A selection of photos from some of the other Social Rides follows

Perhaps for me, the highlight of these trips was my 70th Birthday Celebration

I have really enjoyed my cycling year with Mercury and made to feel very welcome and the club has expanded and involved a wide range of ages and abilities

It became increasingly obvious though that as the year passed by, my ability to stay in touch ebbed away and whilst people waited for me I know that I am acting as a brake on proceedings. So, next year I must alter my approach to perhaps ride with a different group of Mercury Riders or just do a section of the Social Ride.

Real Steel.... Mercian of Derby

My last post featured some steel bikes that I had seen and started a bit of a reminiscence. About 45 years ago, just after I had left University, I started work at a Rolls-Royce plc plant in Raynesway and at lunch times, to get out of the office, I often used to walk down the road to Alvaston, buy some fish and chips and then wander back. There was, and still is, a bike shop in Avaston though I never paid it much attention, it was called Mercian Cycles . Little did I know then how much I would come to admire and revere their products. Time passed, my career progressed, I was moved to RR CHQ and I never thought about Mercians again; if I ever did before. I was too busy travelling the world, thinking about business opportunites and trying to do deals.

And then I retired.

Suddenly I would be home for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 52 weeks in a year. My wife was delighted and after about 2 days suggested that I bought a bike, she was obviously concerned about my health and thought I needed to get out more.
My first purchase was a very heavy, very old, very cheap  MTB and it lasted about 4 weeks before the rear wheel imploded with spokes shooting off like guided missiles.  It was then that I discovered Mercians.
A retired friend, who had been riding all his life and was a strict adherent to the N+1  principle regarding bike ownership showed me his collection and invited me to try them. One of these was a 1961 Mercian Audax

My love affair with Mercian had begun and Alan, seeing how smitten I was, offered to sell it to me. How could I resist?
The history of Mercians is well documented on their website but pure words cannot do justice to the feel and pleasure in owning and riding a hand built machine, using the tools, skills and crafstmanship which has been developed over decades and is still in use today.

The lug work on these bikes is exquisite, and as I heard more about about the beauty of hand built machines, made to fit perfectly the owner, a desire began to grow to have one made specifically for me.  I had learnt at work that projects needed an end date and so for me, the idea was to have a bike tailored just foe me in time for my 65th birthday, a Mercian Vincitore Special. The bike took 6 months to produce and a week before my birthday I received a call that it was ready.

I am told that the large manufacturers like Giant et al, have 6000+ bikes a year rolling off their production lines. I dont know how many Mercian produce but what I do know is that each one is invested with love and care that the big players could only dream of.

I now have 2 grandsons and I am giving their mothers strict nutritional guidelines to ensure that both grow to the exact dimensions needed so that they fit my bikes perfectly.

Mercians are forever

Do you have a Mercian story to tell?  If so, add it to the comments box and share it with others.

Local Bike Shops - Birkins Cycles

As I started doing some research for this series of posts on Local Bikes Shops in Derbyshire  I was quite amazed at the number of such shops which exist(ed). The last article talked about Wylds which opened for business in 1928 and continued trading for almost 70 years.
And the increase of the  number of shops entering the market seems to show no sign of abating. One of the latest to open for business is Birkins Cycles which is on Sutton Lane, Foston. Let's get one thing clear from the start. The owner is Tim Watt and the place gets its name from the land on which it is situated, Birkins Croft Small Holding. Tim opened for business in December, 2012 when he took a large garden shed and converted it to a work shop. Obviously a cyclist himself, I think it is fair to say that he proved to be no elite cyclist and discovered that he enjoyed tinkering with bikes as much as, if not more than, riding them.
He now provides three lines of business,  Servicing, Repairs and Restoration and from the number of bikes waiting attention then the business seems to be going well.

Being a pretty small enterprise, Birkins do not stock spare parts or accessories but buy them in as and when required. For me the most interesting part of the business is the restoration side and when I was there Tim was working on a 1970s Dawes Galaxy which had been stripped down and the frame resprayed, the forks and stays chromed using local craftsmen for these specialized tasks.

Like many local bike shops, Birkins are keen to promote cycling in the local community and are helping to set up and support Hilton Cycling Club as an umbrella group for local leisure cyclists.
Whilst Tim has ideas of where he would like the business to grow, that is for the future, and for now he is happy just consolidating the business and providing lots of tender loving care for a steady stream of restoration projects.

I am hoping to visit Mercians for my next post in this series, a Local Bike Shop with a World Famous reputation.