It rained a lot today, this was good news for Lewis Hamilton because it appears Ferrari’s don’t like the rain. The British Grand Prix was an amazing event to watch. In the end at about 4pm the weather changed and with all the gear ready I headed out to Marple. Years ago I led a few rides as part of demo days for Harry Halls which were based at Marple’s Roman Lakes on a cracking little route. I’ve used it a few times since to try other bikes and I still think that it’s a good benchmark.

The route has a tricky climb, but the Remedy just swallowed it all up. The grip from the rear end is amazing and very impressive. It doesn’t feel mountain goat like in the same way that the Ti Deluxe does, but pop it in the granny select a sensible gear and concentrate on a line and the bike just does the rest. Very impressive. On the downhill it is great to be back on a long travel bike and the Remedy just flies. It feels balanced and stable in the air and rails through corners. What a cracking bike!

Picked up my new ride from Simon at Harry Halls in Manchester earlier today. I’ve been waiting for this since February and despite all the rumours about why they’re been delayed so long since the rave reviews last year, I’m glad to say that on first look it appears that it was worth the wait. It looks mint!

There are of course a few things that needed tweaking. First up I managed to give my left hand a stigmata wound on one of the cable tie ends under the top tube (so turned them all 180 degrees to prevent being stabbed any further. I then spent the next few hours fettling. The plan was to fit a Saint bashguard and a 34t TA middle ring, but it turns out that Saint bashguards need specific chaiinring bolts so that addition is on hold for a bit.

Fitted an SDG Bel Air RL Titanium, some candy pedals and then covered much of the key areas of the frame in ‘Copter tape. Top tube top and sides, underneath of the downtube, sides of the seat and chainstays and all the cable contact points. I also managed to track the irritating noise from the front wheel under rotation to a couple of bits of swarf trapped in the rim behind the rim tape. Experimented with the shock and fork pressures and riding positions.

It then continued to rain all day. Riding postponed to Sunday. Update: A few photos up on flickr from Sunday’s ride with details of the bike setup as comments.

When I was riding 30 from 30 earlier this year I used my iPod on a few rides to alleviate the boredom. I’ve thought much of the stock iPod earphones and for whatever reason most in-ear headphones spend most of their time falling out, making them as much use as a chocolate teapot. So a while back I bought some Sony MDR-O33 headphones which have spung loops that fit behind the ears and hold em in place.

Unfortunately they’re too good at holding on to your ears and can actually be a bit uncomfortable to wear for a prolonged period and they’re a bit bulky, so they don’t really work well under beanies. So the headphones weren’t quite right and carrying the iPod classic around was like having a small block of stone in your jersey pocket so I was keen to try something different.

Ben Haworth’s been a big fan of iPod shuffles for a long time and after picking one up I have to say I can see what he means. Stick it in shuffle mode, cue up a load of riding tunes and marvel at the tiny size and excellent sound quality. After quite a lot of research - most saying thet Sennheiser’s weren’t great in this format - I went for some Philips SHS800s. They’re pretty good in terms of sound quality and with the ear hook being flexible rubber they’re nice and comfy too.

Good for riding with too…

Phone call today from Simon at Harry Hall Cycles to say the new bike has arrived and I’ve arranged to go and pick it up tomorrow. A few bits have been ordered in advance including these which should come in handy…

Nick Wallis has ridden all of the Mountain Mayhem 24hr races. Hat’s off to him it’s a top effort and he deserved to be on the podium this year for his award. Just wish I could have been there to get all wet and muddy with every one else. Maybe next year I’ll make it.

That said if I don’t recover from what ever it is that is clogging up my head soon the rest of the summer is going to be over before I get any proper riding in!