The Rogue Middle Group

Cycle stories by Dillon Osborne. Out for a group spin and you're not quick enough or serious enough to stick with the fast bunch and definitely too fit for the slow bunch, so where do you ride? While working at Chain Reaction Cycles I was faced with this issue during our after work road rides...so a few of us made our own group, fast enough to challenge you but slow enough to chat. That is the Rogue Middle Group...

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Back on the saddle… I’ve not ridden a lot in the past 12 months… i have had some back issues that have stopped my cycling, surfing and running. A lot of that has had to do with stress and being continually at a desk at work. So after two years at the new job I decided it was time to make a move out on my own to gain control of my life. Cycling has taken a back foot amongst other important things and I was not happy with that. It’s all about balance. Today was the start of that change. A quick spin of 22miles to get the legs going and to see what state i was in… turns out not that bad. I used Trait Coffee in Comber as my turning point, its awesome little coffee shop reachable by many a route but today I used the Comber Greenway, Trait is run buy a great bunch of guys and it’s perfect for me to fit into my cycles out that neck of the woods. So glad I went out, I felt great and the weather was awesome.

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Solo mission today. Felt great! It was kind of impromptu. I got home and just felt like going for a spin. I was dressed in under 5 min and another five minutes later I was moving out toward the country. I haven't been doing a lot of cycling recently. Really been struggling with motivation. I guess working at Chain Reaction Cycles helped with that because it was great to chat about our rides whenever I came into the office. But I now work in an environment with non cyclists who don't get it. My wife doesn't cycle either and I don't really cycle with anyone anymore so it kinda feels unimportant at times... it irritates me. Because I love riding the bike, it's one of the things I have always done and always loved it. But, i have been following a couple of people on Instagram recently who cycle a lot and they have been giving me that little shimmer that I need. The first is Saffa cyclist Laurence Logan, insta handle: @logibear.1 - his epic cycle selfies and commitment to cycling get me stoked to ride. The second is Dublin girl Orla Walsh insta handle: @pedalingheroine her stories are incredible. She takes you through her race programs and training and shares an honest behind the scenes look at pro am cycling. So Today I hopped onto the saddle and before I knew it I was doing what I love. It's not that hard to get on you bike. Even if it's for a quick 20mile spin. I need to remember that. Thanks for the inspiration ...here's to the next ride. 👍🏻🚴🏻

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The Sunday Club Series. Raising expectations higher than they ever needed to be, the Sunday Club Series took its name in complete contradiction to what it actually is. Ok it's on a Sunday sure, but it's basically two of us, faffing about on bikes, riding at the lowest possible average speed and stopping for food. What started as a large group of us has dwindled over time to sporadic rides around Ulster. Often solo, often undocumented. However my brother and I try to cycle together on Sunday mornings for possibly the most casual ride ever. We meander through the back roads of County Down, gazing at the farm life, chatting nonsense and stopping for a coffee and breakfast. It's a relaxing escape and a far from the initial power packed rides of the early RMG. This time round I met him in the Craigantlet hills heading down into Ards and over the Scrabo Hills. From there we passed the Mash Direct fields and did a bit of CX inspired trekking up onto the Comber Greenway and over toward Belfast. A quick coffee and toast stop at the General Merchants before scoping out the long straight and over estimated climb up to the Stormont Buildings before heading home through the Craigantlet hills. 53km in total, in the sunshine, in fresh air, legs spinning... I ain't complaining.

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Loop out to Carnlough - Second ride of 2017 It has been a good few months of little to no cycling so after a very long and tedious whatsapp conversation balancing Will's hatred for early mornings and mine and Matt's pressing family life we eventually got a day and time sorted for a ride. Starting from Broughshane, just outside Ballymena we headed north east up and through Glenariff Forest. The mist was pretty insane, thick and dense. Considering we picked this part of the country for the stunning views and scenery we probably would have seen more taking on the same route in Zwift. Nevertheless we charged on, Matt did what he does best and burned us all out in the first 10mile climb before dropping us on the descent and teasing that death wish he has. Long, winding, wet corners with gusty winds and mist rolling down over the mountain along the Ballyemon Road, it was ropey. Being out of practice made it all a little too sketchy. Rolling through Cushendall and hanging a right heading south along the Antrim Coast we pushed through Waterfoot around the peak, enjoying the fresh sea air and flat roads before stopping in Carnlough for a quick refuel at a corner shop. Such a scenic part of the country with still waters, quirky architecture and a mix of small boats and yachts lining the harbour. A local tourist guide rocked up with a group on foot announcing "careful crossing the road, its rush hour" as 1 lone tractor plodded past. I laughed to myself thinking how often that line must be used. Oh the simple life. On we went, leaving Carnlough and heading west, inland toward Broughshane. A long misty climb ate away at our legs, Will's nimble body and spindly legs worked overtime easing him to the summit while I dragged my arse the whole way up but surprisingly feeling ok by the top. Some small subtle descents and we were back on long flat country roads, this is where I a stronger, endurance and stamina kick in as we start pushing the average up over 20mph, a glance over my shoulder highlights the fact that old spindle legs is a distance memory, a reminder that each of us has a strength and a weakness. We regroup and finish the last 5miles In a casual chat before a show of egos sees us sprint finish the last bit. You gotta do it. (I won that btw) Happy faces and tired legs, all eager for the next ride...

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Been a while - 30 Miles. I was saying to myself it had been weeks since I had ridden, but when I checked my Starva.. it had been almost 3 months!! Wow...where did the time go. Turns out... the same place my fitness and I was going to have to get it back. New job and a change of routine are a contributing factor to my lack of cycling this year but generally I have been demotivated and lazy, no excuses. So I got the winter bike out and wrapped up warm for what was to be a 20mile warm up through Ards to get the legs spinning. A wrong turn saw me end up in Millisle adding 10 Miles onto my ride and introducing a painful headwind the whole way home which in turn killed my legs. Normally 30miles is nothing ... but at 21 miles I hit the wall and the realisation of how far my bike fitness had dropped hit me. It was a great day with winter win shine an amazing scenery, it was good to get out again and I am determined to ride a lot more this year. heres to more cycling! :)

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So I got up this morning and the sun was out in full force. To good an opportunity to miss so I grabbed the bike and went for a solo spin. Great decision to go the coastal route. What a glorious autumn morning. Sun was out and it was fairly warm, however I was in light thermal full tights and a fleeced jersey so bear that in mind. I love where I live because there is a great change of scenery, winding country lanes to lovely coastal roads all within 10miles from my house. Hopefully we can have more days like this :)

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I have this Corratec Dolomiti. Its great I love it but it has a flaw, some bad design where the rear mech change attaches to the farm. It’s such a weird shape that the mech hanger has a hole threaded out at a weak area and makes it prone to snapping. Combined with the cheap wheel on this thing and you have an issue. The wheels flex quite a bit, spokes come loose and the bend, often resulting int he rear mech being sucked into the rear spokes. Normally this would bend the hanger, but due to the weak spot it snaps it leaving me stranded. So being as how this was a spare bike I decided to convert it to singlewpeed. When I looked at the cost it was gonna be about £180 because I would need cranks, chain ring and a rear cassette conversion kit. I really wanted to spend as little as possible so I stripped it all down and did a DIY single speed conversion myself. Disclaimer: Some of you are going to hate this because of what I do to the Chainset - but hear me out this chainring was badly worn, it is also standard size which I am not fond of so I swapped the compact from this bike with my winter bike’s regular chainset and bodged that into a single speed...unfortunately the larger one i bodged was a Shimano Ultra 6700...while the compact was s Shimano 105.

So heres the low down:  I took apart a Ultegra crankset, took the big ring aside and hacksawed off the 5 sections with the threaded bolts throughs. I then filed them down and reattached the crankset with the small ring. So it all thinks the big ring is still there, but its just the bolt areas and the small 39th ring. you see the threads are built into the big ring so without that the small ring cannot be attached to the ultegra cranks. That done I removed the rear casts and tested out a few gear choosier with chain tension before settling on 13th. I built my own conversion kit not he rear with some plastic pipe and a few cassette spacers. I tried with Pipe on both sides of the cog but they warped a little over the hub and restricted movement. I then removed the front mech and all the gear cables. Now its minimum fuss. (Fingers crossed) So there yea go... it seems to be working a treat, hopefully it keeps going. Total cost: £2.50 and about 4 evenings work.

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Mid week ride earlier this week. What a lucky break too, the weather had been a little questionable for 2 days but just before I left the wind died down and it was warm and calm. First time back in the bike in a while, felt good to get spinning. What I live about where I live is that I can cycle from a town, into the country and the. Out yo coast all within 15min of each other.

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Nice leisurely Sunday cycle this morning from Bangor out around Ballygowan to scetric stopping at Daft Eddies for a spot of breakfast and a nice hot coffee before embarking back home through comber and Ards. 72km mixed with some fun descents and some easy climbs, "hilly" would describe it nicely. But as usual it was super slow as Jo meandered through the countryside looking at the fields and saying hello to the cattle. In true Irish style we got stuck behind a load of cows being moved from one field to another with the farmer ushering them along, but you Gotta expect that out in the sticks.

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Sunday Club Series this morning was great, started off dry but rain arrived during our coffee stop. It was warm with not too much wind so the rain want a big problem, plus this was a great opportunity for me to test the TRP disc brakes in the wet. Wow! Such a difference, with the rim brakes I would have reduced braking quality when it rained but the disc brakes perform the same even while its raining! Really loving that, they seem to deal with consistent braking better than the rim brakes too which is good because I brake a lot. !

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Too often we listen to the weather report and make a decision. Normally I find this decision is made to harshly and I end up regretting it. (Not always). Last night was one of those occasions. Weather reports said it was to rain, work colleagues said it was going to rain...I almost made that decision. But I didn't, I normally judge the weather by looking outside at find of departure and making a call. I'm glad I listened to my heart on this on because I had a great solo cycle, cool weather, no wind, no rain, beautiful skies. This reminds me what I love about cycling.

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Great first ride on the new bike today. Full Carbon Vitus Venon VR. It was comfortable and fun what more can you ask for.

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Doing some mechanical work tonight with the help of #bikesetc magazine. Learning how to re-align and set the rear mech so the gears run smooth. It was missing a gear. But it works a treat now.

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Throw back two years when the Rogue Middle Group rode the first ever Big Italian Bike Ride in Northern Ireland. This was us coming back from Carrickfergus toward Belfast. Roughly 150km in total. It was probably the last time all of us rode together and it was great. Since then it's been sub groups and solo missions. Hopefully we all get out again soon.

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This weeks mid week ride did not go according to plan. During a very easy climb I changed gear and managed to send the rear mech into the spokes of the rear wheel.

Needless to say this snapped the mech hanger and brought me crashing to the ground.

That makes it sound cool. It was not cool …

I was only moving at about 10mph, I heard the ‘ping’ and knew what had happened, looked left at Nigel who was chatting to me, gave him a look as if to say “uh hold me up fella” but he just passed me looking confused and giggling a bit…then I kinda slid off the seat onto the head tube and tipped over in slow motion saying “no no no no…” *whack* into a heap on the tarmac.

Then we all started laughing. It was pretty funny, but left me with a 2mile freewheel back down the hill to get collected while the rest of them enjoyed a 35mile cycle in the sunshine.

Look after your rear mech people! Ensure those minimal adjusters are not moving the mech to close to the spokes.

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Recent trip to Davagh for a spot of enduro riding. First time properly riding the mountain bike in about two years… felt good. #nowiwantmore

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Some of us ride MTB more often than others, but sometimes the Rogue Middle Group ride MTB bikes together. This was one of those rare occasions and it leaves us thinking why don’t we do it more often.

Early morning start, pissing with rain I opened my front door and was immediately met with Northern Irish weather at its finest. Cold rain down the back of my pants while I loaded the bike into the car. Not the start I was hoping for. I sat for a moment pondering the 1hr 30minute trip north west to where we were riding... I popped a text to Ali explaining my lack of motivation but that was quickly slapped out of me with a harsh but true reality to pull my finger out and stop complaining. It was worth it. The trails we great, weather improved with every minute and everyone had a blast... thank Ali for the motivational abuse. Ali is a pretty good bike rider, I warned him before heading out with us that we were basically going for a day out. I don’t think he realised how serious I was. At the top of every run and the bottom of every run, we stopped, chatted, ate some food and had a drink... it was like a rolling picnic on mountain bikes. He looked at every time we stopped, you could see he was being polite, but inside it was killing him, he just wanted to keep pedalling. But as a father of two energetic kids... I was determined to get some chill time in as well. Good thing is I can still ride a mountain bike, bad thing is my legs and arms were pretty stuffed after a few runs from lack of riding. 

The main thing was we all had fun, all came back in one piece and are excited to go again...could this be that moment where i buy a new MTB bike?...