Gear Crunched in the Balcombe Triangle

Route: 10 miles

Some things don't go as planned, some cycle rides involve a lot more walking than they should. This was one of them.
The Balcombe Triangle is a route I used to ride a lot, it is a simple three point circuit, creating an outing of about 10 miles. Haywards Heath to Cuckfield creates one side of the triangle, then Cuckfield to Balcombe, finally taking the Borde Hill road  back to Haywards Heath.
Passing through a lot of countryside, taking in a couple of really nice villages and passing one of central sussex' most impressive landmarks make this journey worth the time and effort, for added buzz two long stretches of downhill travel allow the cyclist to go as fast as they want. The nasty surprise on this occasion came on the uphill sections.

It was May and days are hot from daybreak so I decided to leave early, setting off just after 7am, sure of being back by 8.30 at the latest, or so I believed. Even at that time the roads were busier than in the previous weeks of the lockdown, so the early start didn't ensure a peaceful ride There are a couple of roundabouts on the way to Cuckfield, they needed a bit of extra care as cars and lorries rumbled by.

But even though I was having to share the road with more motorised vehicles than I had hoped I wasn't perturbed. I knew that once I was through Cuckfield the road would be wide, and slope in a way that allows a smooth, fast ride until it reaches the Ouse Valley.

It was just as much fun as I remembered it, I pulled out of Whitemans Green, clicked my way up through the gears, until I was speeding along at 25mph through Brook Street. An occasional car roared by and the wind blew through the vents in my helmet. The little hamlet whizzed by, the road got a little steeper and the handlebars rattled in my hands. finally the bottom of the slope lay ahead, a little road, Cherry Lane, splits of to the left here and the main road starts to climb back out of the Ouse Valley. In order to  get back out of the valley with the least effort I put on an extra spurt of speed, hit the dip and began to climb out the other side. As the road began to climb I clicked the gear controls down, ready to feel the bike slow and the effort hit in. Hit in it really did, suddenly my push on the pedals produced little result, the easy speed of the downhill vanished and an almost impossible effort took its place. I pulled over as a lorry growled by. Looking down at the rear wheel I could see I was still in top gear, yet the gear changer on the handlebar showed five. The thin cable that runs to the derailleur was limp,whereas it should have been taut. In frustration, a little anger and also puzzlement I realised I would have to push to the top of the hill, there was not enough space at the side of the road to attempt a repair where I was and it was safer to keep moving.

My hope was that I could at least move the gear to a middle setting, once I could pull over and find a place to work on the bike. Unfortunately the verges were all thick with long grass making them useless for the purpose of roadside mechanics, so I spent the next couple of miles pushing the bike slowly uphill and then speeding on any downhill stretches. It was a hassle and I looked forward to ending it.

But it didn't end. I was able to take advantage of the flat tarmac of Balcombe station car park. I soon established that the derailleur was fine. Its good news, except that usually gear change problems are down to the derailleur, so my problem was not going to be simple to solve. The wire that linked the derailleur to the shifter was slack, I followed it back to the handlebar, but it wasn't caught and was unbroken. Then I turned my attention to the shifter itself, and the problem became immediately apparent, the little lever that is used to change the gear down had a distinct wobble to it, instead of moving crisply side to side it was flopping up and down. It was, in short, knackered. 

I would have to make my journey home in the same way I had done the last couple of miles, walking the bike up the hills and making the most of the chance to go fast on the downhill bits.

So I walked the bike through the centre of Balcombe village, where everything was closed due to lockdown, though it was too early for things to be open in normal times. The little tea room, which is a favourite of my parents, had the usual covid-19 signs in the window, there is a nice pub too, the Half Moon, and a well stocked village store. At a normal time of day, in  a less catastrophic era, Balcombe has a lot to make an attractive stop for cyclists.

From Balcombe the road back to Haywards Heath is a long downward sloping ride for a few miles into a different part of the Ouse valley, passing the fantastic viaduct which carries the London to Brighton railway. You've probably travelled over it, you've probably seen photos of it, but cycling by it is the best way to see the viaduct. Then the uphill kicks back in, and the remaining mileage home is up and down, push and ride. But finally and hour later than I had planned I got back.

Even with the difficult mix of walking and cycling and even with the irritation of having drivers buzz by as I tried to push the bike uphill, it was a good trip. And the gear shifter that bust? Once I had opened it up a little twist of a bolt was all it took to get it working again, a far simpler solution than I have experienced in a shifter ever before.

You and me will do the Balcombe triangle again sometime, and nothing will go wrong, and it will be simple worthwhile pleasure , I promise.

Balcombe website >here<

Half Moon Pub >here<

Ouse Valley Viaduct at Transport Trust >here<

START: Haywards Heath, head west - South Road, Muster Green, Tylers Green; Cuckfield - Broad Street, (right turn) London Lane (B2184), head north (right turn) - London Road (B2036), carry on at Whitemans Green roundabout for a couple of miles, sticking to the main road until you reach Balcombe, Bramble Hill, head north-east (right turn), Haywards Heath Road, head south-east (right turn); Haywards Heath, Penland Road, west (right turn), Turners Mill Road, east (left turn), Harlands Road, east (left turn), past station, commercial square roundabout, north (right turn) - Perrymount Road (2028), East (left) - South Road: FINISH

Not Big, Fairly Clever

Tech Chat: Cycle Computers

To compute or not to compute?: Cycle computers are not as complicated as they sound, they are little more than a speedometer with some added features. So why have one? 

The best justification for measuring your average speed, the distance you traveled at, and the variety of other data a cycle computer will give you, is if you are a lycra clad sports fanatic trying to improve your performance and Win! Win! Win! So why do I; a slow, chubby, wheezy and non-competitive cyclist; need to keep track of how I'm doing? 

Well, I like to take travelling holidays with my bike, staying at a different campsite every night, so having a good idea of what speed I actually travel at helps me to work out how far apart the campsites I use can actually be. Also I can monitor my fitness, work out if I need to be making a bit more effort, and attempt to improve my speed a little. This means I can spend more time seeing the sights on holiday and a little less in the saddle. It also means I can plan my stops a little further apart or have the ability to cycle a little further in a day if I have to.

Pay your money, make your choice: The options and the costs of cycle computers are seemingly endless. 

The absolute beginner could go online and get a new computer for something like £4 from Ebay. Cheap models like this may not last as long as more expensive models from leading brands but they are more than adequate if you just want a clearer idea of what speed you are traveling at.

If you are going to take your cycling a little bit more seriously, but still don't have a ton of cash to spend then Cateye's range is worth checking out. Look at different stockists websites to get the best price. The Cateye Velo 9 which is the computer I have just replaced  is £24.99, but shopping around you may find it for £19.99, or even less for an older model. 

At the top end of the scale the most expensive options use GPS to deliver a mass of information, as well as mapping. Many of the top end models are manufactured by Garmin, with prices ranging from about £200 to £350. 

One advantage of spending more is the ability to measure cadence, the speed you pedal at, which is useful as a high average speed may just mean a lot of freewheeling down hill on a route, whereas getting cadence right is a real measure of how much work you are putting in. To measure cadence you need to add another sensor to the pedal and frame and most high end computers can be set to receive a signal from this.

There are also less expensive computers than can give cadence, the Cateye Strada Cadence has similar features as the velo 9, plus cadence, and can be found online from around £30 upwards.

You can also use your smartphone, download an app, mount it on the handlebar or have a bag on your cross bar with a clear window. Obviously if you already have a smartphone this is the cheap option. The reasons I don't do it is because I don't like risking having my phone that exposed... and because I like to use it as a phone.

My ride, my choice: I've been an addict and user - of cycle computers - for years now. I like to know the speed I am travelling and that I am making good time. When you haven't ridden for a few months and you are getting ready for a trip it helps to know you're getting fitter. Your average speed will tell you if your plans are reasonable. When I bought my mountain bike, the Mark 2, to cycle the South Downs Way I hadn't ridden much off-road for years. The computer told me just how slow I am on mud and I was able to plan my trip based on that.
For a long time my road bike, the Mark 3, has been fitted with a Cateye Velo 9, which has a good clear display and all the information I need. I did have one problem with it though, the cable had become damaged and a home-repair had kept it going for a while. Recently it had began cutting out, not recording all the information, stopping showing me what speed I was going at, failing to record my maximum speed just when I thought I had been really whizzy.
So the time had come to replace the Velo 9 with something that would last a little longer. The problem wasn't the brand, Cateye are good quality make. I could have gone wireless, if there isn't a cable it can't break. However I have had a wireless model from a different manufacturer before and I didn't like it. Having no wire the sensor has to have a battery of its own, so that's another thing
that could fail. Being attached to the fork it is also exposed to a lot of mud and water that makes it even more of a pain to change the battery.
So I decided to buy the Cateye Enduro. It is very similar to the Velo 9 but has the addition of a much thicker cable running between the computer and the sensor. I have been using it for a while now, about 50 miles - or a few days of state sanctioned virus exercise - and it seems as good as I thought it would be.
So for now I am very happy. The only question is how long can I last until my craving for a computer with a cadence measure gets the better of me? I don't need it, but I kinda want it.

To see the Cateye range >click here<

To see the Garmin range >click here<

My video on fitting a Cateye Enduro from my YouTube channel: