Damp start to the year

Great Ayton under cloud

Cyclists can find plenty of excuses for riding poorly or not riding at all. The weather's too wet, it's too cold, I've been ill, my bike's not set up right. I've found plenty of reasons for not getting on my bike when I'm not in the mood. The predictable thing is, once I'm out riding, no matter how little enthusiasm I feel at the start of the ride my mood always picks up as the miles go by.

New Year came wet and windy and I started the year with a cold; not ill but enough to keep me off the bike for a few days. Yesterday, with few commitments at work and a mild day outdoors, I got out to ride my first few kilometres of the year. Apart from a coughing fit, which cleared a week's worth of mucous from my tubes, I had a nice easy ride before darkness and rain set in. The landscape was sodden; roads, fields, woods, everything waterlogged after the wettest December on record but the rain held off for a couple of hours until I was safely home.

Today I was able to sneak out for another ride, arranged overnight on the club's Facebook page. A few people seemed interested but only three riders met in Great Ayton; myself, Mark and Harry. I'd ridden with Mark before; he's a fit rider but not in the same league as Harry, the strongest young rider in the club. I'm about 35 years older than he is and nothing like as fit; my planned steady ride was disappearing fast.

For the first half hour or so I simply stuck fast to Harry's wheel as he tapped along at a fast cadence, chatting to Mark. On the undulating road towards Hutton Rudby from Seamer turbines I was just about hanging on but the lads had to wait for me at the top of Hutton bank. I'd enjoyed watching Harry's back wheel but was pleased when he rode off towards Yarm, leaving Mark and me to take a breather and drop the pace. We rode a steady loop out through the lanes before stopping for a tasty sausage bun and coffee at Roots farm shop and café.

By the time I'd got home I'd ridden about 70km. Strava recorded my ride out from Ayton to Craythorne, where Harry left us, as a series of personal records. It must be great to be young, fit and fast but I'll settle for being older and slower so long as I'm still riding my bike.

Enigma Etape

My current road bike is an Enigma Etape, a titanium-framed tourer bought in 2008 from a small Sussex company which imports frames from China and adds high-end components to build up complete bikes. The Etape is Enigma's fast touring bike, designed to be light, strong and comfortable over long distances.






Before the Etape I'd been riding a steel bike but the frame had developed signs of corrosion and had to be scrapped. While looking around for a replacement I'd become interested in getting a titanium frame. Not only is titanium more or less indestructible, it also provides a better balance of lightness, strength and damping than any other material used to make bike frames. I'd read an enthusiastic review of the Etape and followed this up with a phone call to the Enigma HQ for a discussion about bikes. I took a bit of a chance buying an unseen bike on the strength of a review, a phone call and an on-line fitting but I was reassured by the attitude and knowledge of the guys at Enigma. The Etape wasn't cheap, especially with a Campagnolo Chorus groupset, but I planned on riding it for several years and considered the cost worthwhile.

The Enigma Etape crossing the Cevennes

For the first couple of years it was used for all my road riding until I decided that it was too good for commuting; winter salt and grime was destroying the drive train components. The Etape became my weekend bike, for rolling around the hills and lanes of North Yorkshire, with occasional tours and sportives to add variety and distance. In 2010, with the Cycle Touring Club, I even rode it all the way through France to the Mediterranean.

Over the years the original Campagnolo Chorus groupset had been gradually replaced by cheaper kit and by 2015 the bike was slowly fading into obscurity. I'd bought a hybrid for commuting and wasn't using the Etape very often. Then I made my best decision for many years and joined a cycling club. Once I started riding more seriously the Etape was pressed back into action but a couple of months ago I realised that it probably needed a complete overhaul.

With 'Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance' as my guide, I stripped the frame, removed the forks and dismantled the integrated headset. Cleaning and greasing the bearings was easier than I'd expected and after resetting the carbon forks I started rebuilding the bike with shiny new components. After years of riding with Campagnolo, I'd decided to switch to Shimano and bought a half-price Ultegra 6800 groupset from an online bike store. I chose a compact 50/34 chainring with a 12/32 cassette to give myself a reasonable chance of getting up the notoriously steep hills of North Yorkshire without having to get off and walk. The old Campag hubs weren't compatible with the Ultegra cassette so I either needed to fit new Shimano hubs to the old wheels or upgrade to something better. After several years of riding around on stock wheels it was a no-brainer to replace them with a pair of Mavic Kysrium Elites from my local bike shop. The wheels are fitted with Mavic 25mm tyres, which appears to be the new standard for road bikes.

I kept the handlebars, stem, seatpost and saddle, the latter being a classic Brooks Swallow in black leather and titanium, and finished the rebuild with some black bar tape and my old Shimano pedals. Right now the bike has mudguards and lights for winter riding but once spring comes I'll take them off and have the Etape looking its best on the Sunday club runs. The refurbished bike is not just beautiful, it looks the business. The Ultegra gears change sweetly, the chain spins around with a satisfying hum and the new wheels make the bike feel more responsive and sprightly. I hope to spend many happy days riding the Etape around the beautiful roads of North Yorkshire. At least until I decide I need a new bike.