Ken's Blog

2007-02-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Went to the Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester. Had a smashing time. We won lots of medals. Many truly awesome performances, by British and visiting riders.
Next year the world championships are being held in Manchester.... I just might go....

2007-02-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

We have passed the middle of February and the weather is being as unpredictable. I cycled to work once this week and once last week. I am planning on slowly building up to do it more often. My first attempt was in -7 degrees, this week it was a much more balmy 5 degrees or so. Whichever way you look at it I made it! There certainly is a lot of satisfaction in it. And it's nice to cycle to go somewhere, rather than in ever increasing circles. It also has the advantage that it gets the exercise in when I otherwise wouldn't/couldn't.
Next major thing for me is the World Cup at Manchester Velodrome. I think this is the fourth of these events that I have been to, and after only doing one day last year I am going for the full three days this time. As ever I am really looking forward to it and a few folk I know are riding. So Go Kate and Go James!!!!

2007-01-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

This is my friend John. He is a proper cyclist.....

2007-01-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

New Year has been and gone, it has been a while since my last post.
Tragically much of my good work on the weight loss front from the last few months of 2006 was undone again over christmas. Just need to get meself back on track.
I have acquired a MXR EVH117 Flanger, which is also stripey.
I have been out on my bike this year, and have rebuilt the back wheel. So hopefully an improvement in the weather will enable the cycle commuting to commence.
And if I can do that a couple of times a week that will be good exercise.Everything has gone rather quiet on the boat front, but it is the off season, so not entirely surprising. Did get out for a sail on New Years Day though 8~)

2006-12-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

And lo time has rolled on yet further, the sailing season is now over.
I went to a jam session in Yorkshire which was smashing fun all round.
And I might have added a Boss NS-2 to the pedalboard...
And mibbe a PS-5 too....
Possibly with the Roland EV-5 expression pedal... (Although technically it isn't on the board as I ran out of space)... tee hee.....
I also replaced a couple of leads with the George L's, and wired the new ones in with the same...
Another couple of daisy chains mean everything is now powered by the One-spot, except the Robot Ring Modulator which is on batteries (no power socket, and no free spots on the PSU!)
The Pitch Shifter is after the robot at the front of Loop B with all the modulation pedals, and the Noise Suppressor has all the 'preamp' pedals (including the compressor, wah and graphic equaliser) in it's loop and it's 'in' and 'out' are connected to the loop A 'send' and 'return' of the Line Selector. The only pedals in front of the LS-2 are the the UFO which doesn't like being after buffered pedals, followed by the tuner and the volume pedal.

2006-10-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

And we trundle on towards winter. 'twas bluddy cold this morning I'll tell you....
Nothing much else happening to be honest.
Some better sailing winds, still some lightish conditions, but not the drifting of a month or so ago.
We did have one cracking day with a big long reach, planing all the way... tee hee...
Went to the first Revolution meeting at the Manchester velodrome, which was cool. My friend Marco took his bow from international racing, which is sad but everyone has to give up eventually....
So I've got the next Rev meeting to look forward to and a jam session with some friends in Yorkshire at the end of November.... which i'm well looking forward to.

2006-10-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of frustrating light winds I was all set to give it a miss if today looked like being more of the same. I usually do reasonably well in light winds, it's just there isn't much of that there excitement involved.
So when I trundled up to the sailing club things were looking quite promising, around a top end force three with a lot of gusts about. So around the appointed time headed out for the first race. Lots of planing around before the start (wahey!) and then as we start the race........ it all mysteriously disappeared. The course involved a leg which involved sailing in the lee of an island, which threw up the usual unpredictability in strength and direction involved. So all in all rather frustrating with none of the planing about I was hoping for.
As we broke for lunch I was in serious danger of giving the remaining two races a miss but then lo and behold when I got back to the shore the wind picked up again... Appeared to be something to do with the big black clouds hanging aboot....
So having monitored the situation over lunch, seeing as wot the wind was still up, I headed out for the next race. A bit of a delay at the jetty meant I missed the prep signal and didn't have a time on the start, thus winging it would be in order. Kept an eye on the other boats and formed up on the line.... unfortunately a bit close to the line....
Thus had to do a quick u turn and recross the start line. Naturally there was a big gust hit me at this point making things a bit hairy 8~)
Anyhoo, course was a bit more to my liking this time with a cracking long reach diagonally across the loch. Much planing and spray flying, Yay! Did some death rolls on the run but somehow survived without wiping out the committee boat and race officers. Didn't do fantastically well but had good fun and was completely knackered....
This time I remembered to bring a water bottle with me so no dehydration.
The last race was a slightly shorter course but still a couple of promising legs. The wind was up and down, with a few nice planes. Exhaustion and a slightly sore knee meant I did pretty crap again but hey, it was great fun!

2006-09-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hello.... It's been a wee while...
Had a good sail at the sailing club today. A three race day. The wind was up and down and shiting all over the place, which isn't unusual for the castle loch. The main difference from the usual experience was the size of the ups... The gusts were getting pretty vicious.
The first race was ok but not outstanding, I think I was fifth on handicap in the end. We had a break between the first and second races and when we went out again the wind had eased considerably....
By the time we came to the start the wind had picked up again, and was variable throughout the race. I managed to clock myself on the head before the start which wasn't ideal, but the race was ok. I think I was second in this one. Which is nice.....
The third race was preceded by another vicious increase in the wind. I was getting a bit tired and dehydrated so I headed for shore after one lap...
All in all it was a pretty satisfying, as I feel my performance was ok at this stage in proceedings.

2006-08-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Just me being daft....

2006-07-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

Here is (possibly) the final iteration of the pedalboard...
It has been rejigged slightly for the addition of the EVH Phase 90, and the Burford UFO is now at the very start of the chain... I just need a decent patch lead to go from the tuner to the volume pedal and we're off....

The chain is as follows: UFO>TS2>Little Alligator>LS2 - Loop A:Cry Baby>CS2>DS1>OD2>YJM308>Electron Grid Suzz>Synthia>EQ700 - Loop B:Robot>EVH>CH1>Crossroads>UO100>BF2>DD3>Vibratrem

Power comes from the Power Bank, a Visual Sound One Spot, and a couple of PP3's

2006-07-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

I went to Omega music in Brampton today...
I was browsing around and I saw a 2nd hand Eggle New York on the wall....
I played it...
I bought it....
It came with a lovely hiscox flight case, it has Sperzel locking tuners with ebony buttons, and there is a push-pull coil tap in the tone control....

2006-07-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

New Toy..... An MXR EVH Phase 90 with cool stripey paint job....

2006-07-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

New pedals have been incorporated in to my pedalboard (somehow...)
I have also added the metal grab rails to offer some protection to the jack plugs and make it easier to carry...

2006-07-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

New pedals....

2006-07-01T02:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. A last week I did my first Kilo at Meadowbank. 1:36 and probably last but I'm reasonably happy with that.
Bought another couple of effects pedals, not sure if I can squeeze them on to the old pedal board though...
Nothing much else doing, except a concerted effort to lose weight....

2006-05-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of some people I know....
It's a long story 8~)

2006-05-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

This is my friend John holding up Jan Van Eijden... no particular reason 8~)

2006-04-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, Thursday was the first weekday evening race at the sailing club. Heading out to the start the wind was light but still a vast improvement on Sunday. As the race went on we began to get some big gusts coming in, but I managed to stay upright.
All in all not a great performance in terms of competitiveness, but at least I'm out there doing it!

2006-04-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well. Took the boat for it's first competitive outing at the weekend. Unfortunately the wind was all over the place, up and down and round and round. Ended up fourth, which isn't bad by my reckoning....
Also got a nice pair of Mavic Aksium wheels for my road bike, stuck on my carbon forks for summer and did twenty miles on Sunday morning. Which is the longest I've done for quite some time.....

2006-04-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

Went for my first sail in my new boat today. It was smashing so it was.
Also found out I was on rescue boat duty, so it wasn't quite as relaxing an afternoon as I hoped, but if people didn't do their rescue boat duties and race officer duties then the whole system would collapse.

2006-04-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

New boat, and frankly I'm well chuffed....

2006-04-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Well, now back in Scotland and settling back into the working routine.
Certainly had a very nice time in Australia and cannot recommend Melbourne enough, a fantastic city it is!
Anyhoo.... back to the daily grind!

2006-03-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

Well... Have just about recovered from the track cycling. My friend James won a bronze medal in the final event... It was all just insane...
At the final count Scotland won 1 gold, 1 silver, and four bronzes in the velodrome...

Outstanding!!!!

2006-03-18T17:51:00.000-08:00

Kate on the Podium

Am enjoying my stay in Australia. Have managed to get tickets for all sessions at the velodrome, which is a serious stroke of luck
My friend Kate won the Bronze medal in the womens points race. I'm deeply proud me!!!!
The Scottish teams performance so far has been outstanding, with three medals and a fourth, and hopefully more to come this evening....
Yay!!!!

Ken
8~)

2006-03-05T12:10:00.000-08:00

Less than a week to go till Orstralia!!!!

2006-03-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

Having acquired an appropriate piece of 22mm chipboard (1m x 0.5m) I got my velcro and staple gun out and got stuck in... Without another daisy chain I can't power all my pedals with the one spot PSU, so I dug out my power bank to juice up the others.

For those interested the signal path goes from the guitar into the tuner, then to the volume pedal, thon to the Line Selector. The rest of the pedals are looped from the line selector with 'preamp' pedals in loop A and the modulation pedals in loop B.
Loop A contains Crybaby>CS3>DS1>OD2>YJM308>EQ700>Synthia
Loop B contains Robot>Crossroads>CH1>UO100>BF2>DD3>Vibratrem
The signal then goes from the line selector into a Marshall DSL-201 amp. I also have a small ten watt marshall solid state amp that I plug the stereo outputs of the chorus and vibratrem pedals into, just to add a bit of space to proceedings.

2006-02-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

Well, the remaining new pedals have arrived...

And I have included a picture of all of them, just for the record 8~)

2006-02-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well, my new Burford pedals arrived. Very good looking they are too... I have taken a picture of them along with my other recent addition.
Now I am just awaiting my Marshall Vibratrem, Behringer EQ and Octaver, and Morley Little Alligator Volume....

2006-02-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. Not much earth shattering happened really. Just the usual looking forward to my trip to Australia, which is getting dangerously close...
I've finally hooked up the Eric Clapton Crossroads guitar pedal into my rig (i've had it for about a year!!!) and also the DOD YJM-308 I recently acquired. I have also taken the plunge and ordered a couple of hand built Burford effects pedals. These are made in the UK but are much cheaper than similar effects from the US, so I'm looking forward to getting those.
On the downside I have run out of space on my pedal board... On the upside it's only a plank of wood, so I'll just need to get a bigger plank 8~)
Not being feeling in great shape recently, so haven't done much training on the bike.
Did get to go on my first business trip. Rental car and a night in a hotel, change of scenery...

2006-01-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

Well, the big news is I have bought my plane tickets for my trip to Australia in March. I will be stayign with my Auntie in Melbourne, and hopefully will get to see some of the Commonwealth games.

2005-12-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

So it is nearly 2006. My first full year as a non-student behind me and it's gone ok so far, fingers crossed. Plans for my Australia trip in March are continuing apace...
Haven't managed much time on the bike sadly, but there we go.
Would just like to wish everyone a healthy and happy 2005.

2005-12-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

Made it down to Manchester last Sunday for the last day of the World Cup at the Velodrome. Smashing racing, great fun. Awesome opening lap by Craig Maclean in the team sprint qualifying for a new unofficial world record...
My friend Kate unfortunately got knocked off her bike in qualifying for the points race on Friday night and didn't make the final, she's ok though.
A fairly successful weekend for the British cyclinsts all round, with a Gold and two Bronzes for Victoria Pendleton, Gold and Silver in the Kilo for Hoy and Queally, Gold in the Pursuit for Paul Manning, Gold in the Team Sprint, Bronze in the Madison, and Silver in the Team Pursuit. Craig Maclean also rounded things off with a second place in the big money Japanese Keirin.

2005-12-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

Time for a rant I'm afraid. What is the attraction of undertaking at 40mph in a thirty limit using the bus lane. Especially when there is a queue of traffic further down the road and a mile on you are still sitting at traffic lights next to me? What is gained. I'm getting very fed up of people driving like idiots, especially around towns and cities. And did anyone learn how to go round roundabouts when they learned to drive? It's not hard. Follow the lines and arrows in the road for more complex situations, otherwise it's easy, and yet still people go straight on from the right hand lane and drift all over the place and bah..... frankly.....

2005-12-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

And into December we go... Weather has been a bit cold and changeable recently. Got my electro acoustic back from the guitar shop, it was decided that a refret was not economically viable (sensible!??!?!??!). So some serious fret dressing was performed, and they managed to get it into playable order. Well done chaps. In other news a couple of friends of mine are going to be riding at the Manchester round of the World Sup series, namely Kate Cullen and Hopefully James Macallum. Hopefully I'll get down for at least one of the days.
Anyhoo here's the pictures of said instrument.

2005-11-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

Missed the Revolution 10 event at Manchester velodrome last night. Sounds like a good time was had by all though. Will be going down to the Manchester World Cup event in December, but just for the Sunday. Always good to see top class racing though.
Acquired an electro acoustic guitar from my dad, which has been dispatched for a fret dress or refret, whichever is required.

I fear it will be a refret.....

2005-11-12T01:20:00.000-08:00

As promised here are the pictures of my single speed mountain bike. The frame is a Schwinn Mesa GSX, with Tange forks and a Miche headset. The saddle is a Tioga XL job, on a Kore Race seatpost and a hope QR clamp. The bars, stem, bar ends and bar plugs are x-lite, with hope spacers and a USE ring-o-star headset adjuster. The brake levers are Avid FR-5 and the grips are by Club Roost. The brake cables are silver braided effect ones by Jagwire,with middleburn cable oilers, a Shimano LX parallel push v-brake an SRAM 5.0 v-brake rear, and Clarks VRC brake pads. The drivetrain comprises a planet x single speed cassette, a 4-jeri chain tensioner, KMC 1/8" chain and Middleburn RS-7 Uno cranks with shimano SPD pedals. The wheels were built by me with DRC rims and dt swiss double butted spokes. The front hub is a gold Shimano LX, and the rear is a Gold planet x. Skewers are the new x lite tech 9 ones and the tyres are Tioga extreme XC with schwalbe tubes. Finishing touches are Crud Catcher mudguards and a wee neoprene headset cover on the lower race. Might take it out for a spin tomorrow...

2005-11-06T01:04:00.000-08:00

Another wet day here. Still itching to go out on my bouncy bike, so may be about to get wet...
My single speed fully rigid mountain bike is nearly finished. Got the forks, brakes, handlebars and everything on it yesterday, just waiting for the brake levers to come in the post and it'll be ready to go... Might need to swap the tyres round because the rear one is rubbing on the chainstay a bit. Will post a picture when it's finished.
In other news Craig Maclean set a new British record in the qualifying 200m time trial for the sprint at the World Cup in Moscow then finished second, which is nice. Victoria Pendleton finished second in the womens sprint and fifth in the 500tt. Jason Queally won the kilo. My friend Kate Cullen was fifteenth in the womens points race, but has the scratch race still to go.

2005-10-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

Well, went out on my full suspension mountain bike this morning. What with all the moisture around just now I stuck to a few forest roads so I wasn't trawling through muddy horribleness, but still rough enough to count as offroad. Good fun, but then it started raining. Fortunately I was back on the road for the last bit home, so didn't get too covered in crap. I think my disc brakes are now broken in, definitely a lot more bite than when I first put them on.
My latest bike project is a single speed mountain bike. It started with a Schwinn hardtail frame which was a donor frame for a lot of the parts on my full suspension bike. When I got the disc brakes for my full susser I had a spare pair of wheels, so the single speed plan came to mind. A set of Middleburn cranks and a planet x single speed cassette have taken care of the drivetrain along with a track chain I had lying around. I'm waiting for handlebars, forks, saddle and seatpost and then I'll be able to complete the build. Will hopefully post pics then.

2005-10-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

More of that heavy rain today, a lot of water running off the fields on the drive home from work. My single speed mountian bike project is coming along nicely, just a few more bits to get and I'll be there....

2005-10-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

All the wind and rain again, not a patch on Hurricane Wilma, but a lot of flooding on the roads about here.

2005-10-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Another weekend beckons. We had an inspection at work the past couple of days which it would appear we got through ok, which is a relief.
Got a rear disc brake fitted to my bouncy bike, so... errr.... ummmm.... I don't really have a good excuse for the disc brakes to be honest... I have a low resistance to buying shiny things....
Hopefully get a shot on that this weekend....

2005-10-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend beckons and I've got Monday off too... Which is nice.....
Hope to get some cycling in.
The Revolution meeting is on at the velodrome in Manchester. A fine showcase for track cycling. And I can't go... Oh well...

Ken
8~)

2005-10-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

Jings! Tis all windy and rainy with the thunder and lightning... And there's a leaky window in the bathroom.... Very leaky.... Fortunately a cunning plan involving a large plastic bag and some gaffer tape has redirected the rainwater into the sink.

2005-10-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the podium of the Women's Points Race. It was all very tense, but my friend Kate Cullen (left) won the silver medal behind Nicole Cooke (centre) and ahead of Rachel Heal (right). The man with the impressive jewellry is the Lord Mayor of Manchester Councillor Mohammed Afzal Khan

2005-10-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Julie Dominguez going up against reigning world champion Victoria Pendleton in the quarter finals of the womens sprint. For those who aren't into cycling, the rainbow bands on the jersey denote the reigning world champion, and can only be worn in the event in which they were won. After your year as world champion, assuming you don't succesfully defend, you can wear the rainbow bands on your collar.

2005-10-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Marco Librizzi and Craig Maclean in the Semi Finals of the Open Sprint. Marco was third after Ross Edgar pulled out of the Bronze medal ride suffering from a virus. Craig won...for the sixth time....

2005-10-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

A pleasant Sunday. Got up early to watch the Japanese Grand Prix, and decided to lob my bike on the turbo trainer and have a wee spin while watching the telly, so a nice half hours exercise was had. Haven't actually been out on my bike for ages, so hopefully will get out next weekend. Hopefully my rear disk brake for my mountain bike will arrive soon and then I can go mud plugging around the nearby woods. Nothing much else happening at the moment. Had a nice couple of days away in Manchester at the Track Cycling National Championships at the National Cycling Centre. World champions and Olympians all over the place. Will post a couple of pictures.