never trust sat nav

sometimes it pays just to trust your own instincts and not follow sat nav, otherwise you and your car might go for a bit of a swim

new training technique

my bro decided on a friday night to field test some new hydration techniques to try and make erg sessions easier for me

so far preliminary results show no conclusive data for/against this particular method, but apparently after the erg session he had a pretty good night

kiwi ingenuity

well today was one of those occassions I got quite stressed when something on my bike didnt go quite to plan.

i was putting a new seat on my track bike, a lovely white rolls saddle, plush and like riding in an arm chair.

as the rolls is quite a high seat i had to drop the seat post in the frame to keep the same height, normally a pretty simple operation but sometimes with aero seat posts they can get jammed and a bit tight.

so i chucked the rolls on then seat about lowering the seat a good couple of centimeters, at first it didnt budge at all, so i applied a bit more weight to it, still nothing, so i applied a bit more, so i really started to lean on it-still nothing. so i made sure everything was as loose as it could be and leaned on it again, nothing, so i went for the standard bike rider technique at this stage and gave it pretty much everything i had to try to get it to shift and drop, at first nothing, then, it moved-quite suddenly, and this is where my problems started. the seat post moved and like the bastard it was being it completely bottomed itself out with all the pressure i was applying to it.

then the fun started, it had jammed. completely and utterly jammed at the bottom of the frame and was not shifting again, i hoped and prayed it was somewhere about the right height but it was 6cm to low, so i had to try and shift it again, and it was just stuck.

nothing i could do could shift it, side to side, front to back, bike upside down standing on the seat, trusty wd40 on the seat post, nothing. i tried for a good hour and a half to get something happening with panic quickly creeping in everytime i tried something and it didnt work, with the world cup just over 3 weeks away it wasnt helping my nerves, then i had a tiny bit of a brain wave and through up the hail mary to get it out

it involved the following

taking the seat out and putting a spanner through the seat clamp......and

hitting it with this, the "persuader"

and im very happy to report a couple of good upward cracks on the spanner with this and it slowly came loose and popped out, crisis averted!!!! now i just have to wash the oil/wd 40 off the seat post and start all over again!! bit of outside thinking to get it sorted but when you have no other option, hitting something with a sledgehammer will normally do something haha