Moorsday V1
On 19 December 2023 I rode 130km across the North York Moors
I recently had an idea of making quick cycling day trips to the North. We live near Stevenage in Hertfordshire which gives more or less direct access to places like Northallerton and Skipton. If I get up early enough I can get there by 9am. Anna recently gave me a new titanium bike for my birthday and it was awaiting its first proper outing. The weather forecast in the North was surprisingly good and I had the last two weeks of December off so everything was lining up for a perfect adventure. I planned a 130km loop from Northallerton with 1800m elevation gain. I wanted to re-visit some places that I walked by while doing the C2C in February 2023. One of those places was the Lion Inn located on the Blakey Ridge - a perfect lunch stop!
I have learned my lesson from the C2C ride and came over prepared. A warm and hooded base layer, waterproof overshoes, merino wool socks, two pairs of gloves, insulated jacket, waterproof top and mudguards of course. I was able to carry all of this plus a lot more without bringing any of the bulky bags thanks to Albion's amazing mesh pockets. I was a bit worried about the new bike as it was exhibiting weird drivetrain behavior occasionally as I did the first 500 km on it, but I couldn't spot any immediate issues. Everything was set up according to Shimano's specifications and the actual shifting was working fine, however the whole thing seemed a bit noisy and the chain would jerk under heavy load sometimes. I thought it would just sort itself out over time. In retrospective I should have visited the LBS before going on this trip...I also brought the DJI Mini drone and the tried and true Insta360 X3 to do some filming.
I have learned my lesson from the C2C ride and came over prepared. A warm and hooded base layer, waterproof overshoes, merino wool socks, two pairs of gloves, insulated jacket, waterproof top and mudguards of course. I was able to carry all of this plus a lot more without bringing any of the bulky bags thanks to Albion's amazing mesh pockets. I was a bit worried about the new bike as it was exhibiting weird drivetrain behavior occasionally as I did the first 500 km on it, but I couldn't spot any immediate issues. Everything was set up according to Shimano's specifications and the actual shifting was working fine, however the whole thing seemed a bit noisy and the chain would jerk under heavy load sometimes. I thought it would just sort itself out over time. In retrospective I should have visited the LBS before going on this trip...I also brought the DJI Mini drone and the tried and true Insta360 X3 to do some filming.
My train was leaving Stevenage at 6:36 on the morning of December 19th and so I left home just before six and started pedalling...in the rain. By the time I got to the station I pretty much had my second shower that day. It was hard to believe at that point that the weather forecast at my destination was still showing rays of sunshine. As the train was going through the Midlands I kept checking the weather app and indeed somehow the North seemed to be in the clear.
I left the Northallerton train station just past 9am. A quick stop at a coffee shop and I was on my way. The first checkpoint was Osmotherly, after which I was hoping to try out the drone. I got there without any issues and stopped just past Cod Beck Reservoir to unpack the drone. Incidentally, I encountered the first cattle grid of the day just before that and dismounted to walk over it. You are actually supposed to just ride over them at full speed but I still can't brace myself to try. A few minutes later the drone was in the air and following me. That was actually the first time I tried the Active Track functionality and it was pretty amazing and a bit scary. I soon crossed the C2C path for the first time and stopped to pick up the drone which got slightly lost, as you will see in the video.
I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out how to make the whole drone thing work on a cycling trip because it is actually far from being straightforward. Basically the task comes down to carrying the drone, the remote and spare batteries as well as having easy access to each. Obviously I was looking for the most minimalist solution possible. The drone itself fits quite nicely into one of the jersey pockets and the batteries can either go in the saddle/tube bag or in the jersey as well, so that's easy. The main problem is the remote, which is bulky and heavy. It first seemed that the most logical solution would be to mount it on to the steering bar, but that immediately posed further challenges. First, the constant road vibration (even the smallest) guaranteed that something would break very soon - either the remote itself or the mount. I am not even talking about gravel here. Second, the remote is not waterproof and therefore needs to stay dry. So I figured that the best way to go about it would be to mount the remote to the chest, where it would still be easily accessable, the vibration would be completely eliminated and it could be easily zipped up inside the rain jacket. I dug up an old Gopro chest harness, found what seemed an appropriate mount on Ebay, married the two and it worked. When not in use I just fold it up and secure it with a clip that came off a Decathlon sailing hat. I am a bit puzzled why there are no good commercial cycling solutions for this out there as well as why not make the remote waterproof.
I got to the Lion Inn (roughly half way) without any issues and had lunch there. The only disappointment so far was quite the strong headwind after I turned south, but that was expected. The weather was perfect otherwise. I had the Insta360 filming in the background quite a lot that day until...
Well, the time has come for the sad part. The funny thing about the sad part was that everything happened almost at once. As I was riding along the Blakey Ridge at full speed the Insta360 came off the steering bar and smashed to pieces. It was attached with the gopro mount which simply failed due to continuous vibration and the camera's own weight. I briefly stopped to pick up the remains, clipped back in, started pedalling and...the chain on the bike snapped. The situation was getting quite comical. I moved away from the road, had a closer look at the chain and couldn't believe my eyes. Out of the 116 links it broke exactly on the 114th i.e. right next to the quick link. So all I had to do was to open the quick link and then I would be able to keep most of the chain length! The only remaining problem was to open the quick link...by hand. Well, I somehow did it after about 10 minutes. I reassembled the chain and started pedalling away very cautiously. I then tried to do some shifting and putting more load on the pedals. To my surprise the drivetrain was working really well. After a few minutes I was flying at full speed again. Only to discover a really annoying noise coming from the bottom bracket area. I cursed and stopped again, but to my relief it was just a loose bottle cage...
Well, the time has come for the sad part. The funny thing about the sad part was that everything happened almost at once. As I was riding along the Blakey Ridge at full speed the Insta360 came off the steering bar and smashed to pieces. It was attached with the gopro mount which simply failed due to continuous vibration and the camera's own weight. I briefly stopped to pick up the remains, clipped back in, started pedalling and...the chain on the bike snapped. The situation was getting quite comical. I moved away from the road, had a closer look at the chain and couldn't believe my eyes. Out of the 116 links it broke exactly on the 114th i.e. right next to the quick link. So all I had to do was to open the quick link and then I would be able to keep most of the chain length! The only remaining problem was to open the quick link...by hand. Well, I somehow did it after about 10 minutes. I reassembled the chain and started pedalling away very cautiously. I then tried to do some shifting and putting more load on the pedals. To my surprise the drivetrain was working really well. After a few minutes I was flying at full speed again. Only to discover a really annoying noise coming from the bottom bracket area. I cursed and stopped again, but to my relief it was just a loose bottle cage...
The rest of the ride was quite uneventful. I kept thinking about what happened earlier. I was sure the drivetrain was set up perfectly because I triple checked everything - the hanger, the chain length, the b-screw, the limits. And yet...something was obviously wrong. Oh well, something for the LBS to figure out. I went past the Byland Abbey just as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon and that was a beautiful sight. By the time I returned to Northallerton around 5pm it was completely dark.
Here are the Strava activites for the day:
P.S.
I visited the LBS in a few days. The mech guy said that the cause of all my troubles was a stiff link. I put on a new chain and now the drivetrain is purring like a kitten.
Here are the Strava activites for the day:
P.S.
I visited the LBS in a few days. The mech guy said that the cause of all my troubles was a stiff link. I put on a new chain and now the drivetrain is purring like a kitten.