Here’s a quick pictorial introduction to the new bike recruit.

The Brompton is squeezing alongside the other two bikes and trying to carve out a niche for itself.

So far it’s doing very well and I’m beginning to worry about what I’ll do with the other two.

I wonder if I could have a go at a sprint tri with it? It certainly needs to have a go at some sort of challenge event just to cement it’s street cred.

A marvel of British engineering.

Here it is in transition mode - notice the sweet pea holder built into the Brompton bag - how useful is that?

Just to continue the bike porn theme, here it is in full glory.

I’ll just finish by plugging the WizzBike - the best bike shop I’ve come across so far. Superb service, it’s based in Brentford but well worth the trip if you are interested in Bromptons, folders or Pashleys.

At the time of my last posting, I had two more lines left to complete and only one day left to do it. Not being of the easily defeated variety, I left work all togged up for running, took two buses and two tubes, battled across multiple time zones and arrived at 7:30pm to a drizzly evening in a grim, grey location. The only point of brightness and colour was a large golden M on the other side of the street. I’m ashamed to say I trogged across that road and gorged myself on a big mac meal before returning to the tube station to reverse the journey back home.

Hours of my evening wasted and zero miles added to my tally.

So here’s what my map should have looked like:

and here’s what I managed:

I think I may well go back and finish this off at a later date, the Victoria line picks through some great spots and I’d like to see it completed. For now though, I am just happy to return to my runs along the river, where I can roll out of bed and set off running without first having to share bugs with London’s sick in an overcrowded train carriage.

Salomon XT Wings Challenge
Cumulative:
104 Tube Stations
92.56 km

All started positively as my hacking cough ensured I had a spacious seating arrangement on the tube as it transported me across to the other side of the metropolis.

I started to feel a bit more jaded as I headed up towards city boy land and already my plan to tick off two lines this evening was beginning to seem a bit optimistic.

Running alongside pubs spilling out at the seams with pinstriped blokes holding cold beers is not appealing to me very much at the moment. I’m quite looking forward to the return of my genteel river runs and an end to public transport, running in bus lanes and pretty much anything east of Westminster Bridge.

The new Garmin wasn’t performing very well either. Out in the sticks the 405 seems noticeably faster than the 305 but within the square mile it is equally useless, the Nokia N82 in contrast was able to pinpoint my location in seconds.

I’m going to have to do some considerable jiggery pokery with the route before I can publish the map, it didn’t lock on to a signal until I found myself wandering around a beautiful burial ground right at the city limits. Bunhill Fields hides the bones of many plague victims, tipped into unmarked pits as well as some fine memorials to notable authors such as Bunyan and Defoe.

I came out of the graveyard to find all the passers by had lost an eye. It was quite surreal, I must have passed about 10 people with either bulging eyeballs or whopping great bandages obscuring half their face. I was a little worried to proceed lest a similar fate should befall me.

Round the corner I found my explanation. No need to fear daylight attacks by the walking undead.

The Bank branch of the Northern Line was not too inspiring, apart from the dead people, and by the time I’d completed it I was losing the will to live. Walking takes too flipping long, so I bailed on the Victoria Line and went home to open my Big book of Symptoms on the tuberculosis page.

For the past two weeks I’ve been hacking up chunks and have had to avoid deep breathing as it tends to lead to paroxysms of coughing. I’m not particularly under the weather but the symptoms have been harsh enough to scupper my Juneathon chances and to take me to the line with the Salomon Challenge.

Yesterday I was in central Londinium for a meeting and as I arrived more than an hour early I did a bit of walking (and shallow breathing) to fill in the missing sections of the Circle Line.

Only 3.5 km but it was an interesting section and the sky was beautiful.

I was approaching this building absolutely convinced it was the Houses of Parliament but I clearly had my bearings all wrong. It’s obviously Westminster Abbey but I didn’t realise that til I turned the corner and saw Big Ben leering out at me.

Another reason for me not to opt for a full time tourist guide position.

I went to London but missed the Queen. I arrived on her doorstep to see a trail of red as the horseguards shot back into their cubby holes.

I set off from West Hampstead and had an unremarkable run down to Central London but as soon as I entered Bond Street an ominous rumbling filled the sky, I looked up and caught sight of a WWII Lancaster Bomber, with a couple of Spitfires in tow. They were rapidly followed by hoards of other military planes that I was unable to recognise.

Turns out it was her birthday and I had narrowly missed the Trooping of the Colour with the celebratory flyover. That probably explains the high density of gents in bowler hats.

It’s probably just as well that I was a bit late, my route took me straight through the Horse Guards parade and I can’t imagine they would have been too keen on me running through the middle of the trooping.

I’m quite impressed with the jubilee line, for a grey line it’s proved to be pretty colourful. Even without the Battle of Britain re-enactment there seemed to be a photo opportunity round every corner and now have a picture of a Beefeater and the London Eye on my phone, I think I can claim to be a true tourist.

Salomon XT Wings Challenge
Today:
10 Tube Stations
9.37 km

Cumulative:
91 Tube Stations
80.79 km
See the combined progress map here.

As you all know, I think the Garmin Forerunner 305 is the best thing since sliced bread but I’m so fickle it’s taken barely a thought for me to stick it on ebay and swap it for the new version - the Forerunner 405.

I’d like to say the new and IMPROVED Forerunner 405 but is it?

Reading the spec list it’s hard to see where Garmin made any attempts to improve on what had gone before, they missed out by not making it fully waterproof and therefore tri suitable, for example. Instead they appear to have simply repackaged the existing 305 as a sports watch that can be worn all day with the bonus of a nifty touch sensitive bezel control.

Out of the box, I decided I liked the look and feel of the watch very much. Garmin put a lot of effort into design and the strap closure is ingenious, a big improvement on the 305 which kept coming loose, snagging on my clothing and risked falling off. A minor point maybe, but Garmin are big on the little details.

The watch charged fully in 3 hours by the use of a strange bulldog style clip that slips snugly into a couple of recesses on the back of the watch. Another neat design but I fear it is just going to prove an inconvenience. With the 305 you uploaded data to the PC by slotting it into a USB docking station and it would charge at the same time as uploading. I’d leave my device in for a few minutes longer and thereby ensure I always hard a fully charged unit. With the 405, uploading data is automatic and will occur while the watch is still on your wrist, which now means I’ll have to remember to charge the unit separately.

In standby mode (ie time display only) the watch will supposedly last 20 days, although I’m down to 89% charged after 1 day so I doubt it will last much longer than a week. When used in active mode the battery life is expected to be in the region of 8 hours. So that’s another charging gizmo to be added to my pile of wires under my bed.

I thought the software was a bit of a faff to install, it didn’t happen automatically and I had to hunt around to see what it was that needed to be loaded up. It comes with Training Centre but after installing it I immediately removed it again because I remembered how pants it is. Instead I’m using the ANT uploader linked to Garmin Connect which is quite a neat online training log.

Setting up the watch is a doddle and it takes you through the process quickly with a mini tutorial that teaches you the basics of the bezel control. Basically:

1. press and hold on the relevant label to access either time/date, training, menu or GPS functions
2. slide around the bezel to move through menu options
3. tap to accept
4. tap in two separate places to activate the backlight

All very easy really. I had no problems using the bezel on the run, not that you need to use it much, you can tap to nudge the screen to a different view and in virtual partner mode you can increase/decrease the pace of your partner by sliding the bezel. I’m particularly fond of that feature as it means I can ensure I win every race now.

I’ve heard a few people fearing that accidental touches of the bezel would mess up the data but they shouldn’t worry. The start, stop and lap functions are all controlled by the big side buttons. Pressing the bezel during a run just alters the view - not a big deal. I haven’t tried it with gloves but as long as they aren’t massive affairs it shouldn’t be a problem.

For my first run I decided to set up a simple interval session, run 90 secs, walk 60 secs. I know that’s lame but I’ve got a cold and needed the walk periods to retrieve my hankies and have a good blow! Easy enough to setup, you don’t even need the manual. Features and settings are much more intuitive on the 405 than with its predecessor.

The intervals were well “signposted”, I was given a 5 second warning of loud beeps followed by a clear “chirrup” that marked the start of the next interval. I didn’t miss one and I appreciated the warning. A good feature.

I personalised the display I wanted to see on the run, you can choose upto 9 features to be displayed on 3 screens. On my main screen I had pace, time and distance and I accepted the defaults for the other screens. It’s well worth playing around though as there appear to be some great features. This is available on the heart rate screen for example and shows progress within your heart rate zones.

I had set the screens to auto scroll but will turn this off for the next run, I think it is more convenient to control the screen I view by tapping the bezel, that way I don’t have to wait for it to get around to the bit I’m interested in.

Back home, I was just unlocking my door, when the watch beeped to say it was uploading data. By the time I’d staggered through the hall to the laptop, my stats were already displayed on the Garmin connect website.

As a simple everyday watch its functioning fine, but I would have preferred the power save mode to be the time and date screen, not just the time display. It’s a fiddle unlocking the bezel so I can access the date feature. Its also quite chunky so if you have a small wrist you are unlikely to find it very comfortable and it will probably overhang a little. I don’t have a small wrist though so I’m alright Jack.

I’m pretty pleased with it so far and think there are clear signs of improvement, I’ll be scrutinizing it further though and am particularly keen to see if there are any improvements with the speed in which it locks on to a GPS signal.

I woke with a stinking cold yesterday but as I was in central London for a meeting I could hardly evade a quick tube running session.

The plan was to tick off the yellow Circle Line, starting at Aldgate.

It seems to me that every photo I’ve taken on the tube map challenge has included either the telecom tower or the Gherkin, I feel like I’m doing a massive maypole dance around the two landmarks. Only its June so I can’t be.

I headed down the Minories of Jack the Ripper fame to The Tower of London and then promptly sat down for a rest.

Running this route along the north bank of the Thames is actually quite feasible. The tourists flock to the South bank so you have a relatively unhindered passage and the views are great all the way out along the Embankment.

Unfortunately I had to keep stopping to retrieve tissues from my rucksac and I gave up earlier than anticipated and jumped on the tube home at St James’s Park.

Salomon XT Wings Challenge
Today:
10 Tube Stations
7.25 km

Cumulative:
81 Tube Stations
71.42 km
See the combined progress map here.

Juneathon Tally
Runs: 8/30
Total Distance: 31.1 m

I wonder if I’ve ever mentioned my dislike of the London public transport system. I’m sure the feeling is mutual, I hate it and it feels fairly venomous towards me.

There are some building works going on outside my flat that have resulted in restricted traffic flows. As I left my flat this afternoon I could see my bus waiting patiently for an opportunity to turn into the main flow. I sprint down 3 flights and out onto the street, timing my crossing perfectly to run between a car and the bus to arrive just in the nick of time at the bus stop. Arm goes out but the bus doesn’t stop, instead he honks his horn and starts to gesticulate as if he can’t understand why I would have just run in front of him and stood by the bus stop. The woman running along behind me is absolutely incensed by this and taking no chances, throws herself in front of the next arriving bus.

The next bus decides to pull off just as I’m about to climb onboard but temptingly he leaves his door open so I try a run and leap manoeuvre. The jury is still out so I’ll leave it until tomorrow to decide whether I’ve done myself any lasting ankle injury.

On the way back home the tube decides I’d look better as an amazon and with a particularly swift and violent door closure, attempts a single mastectomy in full public view. Not pleasant, but I survive with a solid black line bisecting me from chin to nipple.

I did manage some running as well as performing heroic transport antics. I started in Belsize Park for my journey along the Northern Line (Charing Cross branch). I love this area of London, the moment I become monied I’ll be buying a flat on this street. perhaps one just above the book shop.

It’s a great start to a run as well, from the top of Haverstock Hill you can enjoy a downward sprint all the way to Camden. I had to slow down briefly at Chalk Farm for graffiti purposes and then ground to a complete stop by Camden Market. Camden on a hot weekend is a nightmare, far far worse than Oxford street. There is no room to run but even if there was, this is not a street for deep breathing. Inhale too hard here and your head will be swimming for hours and I didn’t have time for the munchies.

I start running again past Mornington Crescent, which is pictured here for the benefit of any Radio 4 listeners. Quite an unassuming tube station but obviously carrys a great deal of competitive importance.

The Northern line is relatively short, about 7km from Belsize Park to Waterloo so I decided to make the most of my travel card and complete the Central line as well. Heading back to Embankment I took the district to that joyful little retreat at Mile End. This time round it was sunny which added a positive glow to the place and I noticed the canal which I’d missed the first time here but I still didn’t want to linger. Some error in navigation had me running along the road to Stepney Green again, before I hung a right, heading through social housing city and up to Bethnal Green.

Bethnal Green to Liverpool street is quite an interesting route. I liked it around there. It looked like I’d just missed a street market as I was having to work quite hard not to slip on discarded portobello mushrooms and grapes. I’d also overlooked my invite to a hip biker event. There were stacks of cyclists around and every one had a cool fixie with aero wheels and aggressive track styling. Odd to see people bouncing down curbs with 5 spoked wheels though, can’t imagine they’ll last very long.

Beyond Liverpool Street it was in to City Boy Land.

This shot shows St Ethelburgers Church which was apparently destroyed in 1993 by an IRA bomb. It had previously survived the Great Fire of London and the blitz.

It has recently been rebuilt and they’ve done a fantastic job as the building just grabs your attention, maybe its enhanced by the backdrop of the Gherkin.

Threadneedle Street has many more impressive buildings but at this point I’m getting a little too hot and bothered for further architectural appreciation. Besides, I’m preparing for the Underground surgery awaiting me at Holborn.

Two more lines completed!

Salomon XT Wings Challenge
Today:
19 Tube Stations
16.04 km

Cumulative:
71 Tube Stations
64.17 km
See the combined progress map here.

Juneathon Tally
Runs: 7/30
Total Distance: 26.6 m

Eventually woke
Considered the Northern Line
Ran a mile instead

Juneathon Tally
Runs: 6/30
Total Distance: 16.6 m