D0NK

Nearly DNF

2012-01-31T15:06:00.000Z

Friday was 'orrible on the way home, really cold, sleet and lotsa traffic. Back end of the bike was feeling a bit weird, kinda wobbly, old knackered tyre must change soon. Riding through swinton big hiss of escaping air, tyre flat in 2 seconds oops. Found a bus stop to shelter under and change the tube. New one in and start pumping, oh dear, tube is bulging out of a hole in the side of the tyre, uh-oh. Disconnect pump and valve core comes off with the pump, must have cross threaded this in the past. Double uh-oh. Use my make shift tyre boot, try to cobble together a spare pump adaptor but no pressure going into the tyre. Hmm break out the emergency micro rocket. Bit of a love/hate thing this, nice light pump that stays hidden in your bag/pocket until you desperately need it but when you do it takes half an hour to pump your tyres up. Inflate to about 70, disconnect rear brake, text Mrs to be ready for a rescue call, set off, try to get warmed up again and keep hoping it'll last 8 more miles. Which it did, just! Got home got changed tried to warm up, I went back into the hall about 20mins later and Psssssshhhhhh. Tyre just spontaneously went down, no one touching it, phew, close one.

Coldfinger

2012-01-24T21:44:00.002Z

He's the man, the man with the frigid touch. Got soaked on way into work, proper cold rain it were too, my aldi gloves just weren't cutting it. Dentist again in the afternoon so headed back into leigh, decided to give east lancs road a shot, segregated cycle lane not the road obviously. Not bad, smoothish, couple of muddy side roads to cross and some junctions that could/should have been made cycle priority instead of car and straightened out but not a bad attempt got some speed up too must have had a tailwind, not as fast as the road obviously but that's a 60mph zone. Scary. Got pretty wet, cooled right down in the dentist then struggled to warm up on way home, still, miles in the training bank.

Close but no cigar

2012-01-16T10:29:00.001Z

Finally some big blue sky riding, sunday was a cold clear day so went out riding after lunch, barrow bridge road was all frozen up sketchy, climb was frozen solid nice but I was still suffering, this is my local climb, that I do pretty much every ride, why is this causing me difficulty,
I even had gears for crying out loud. Winter hill was all frozen too, good stuff, over the top san marino was riding well, first ride this year, looks like it suffered in the xmas rains, loads of >1' drop offs now but all solid and grippy yesterday so I flew down, few walkers coming up one lady didn't appreciate me landing the big water bar drop off and out 2' to the left of her dog, hey ho. Legs were spazzing out by the end, hard work on the hardtail. Over to dam to turton moor and I flew towards tockholes with the wind behind me. Climbed up the side of cartridge hill and down the rocky singletrack, fricking awesome, best part of the ride, mainly solid and grippy but a bit of frost making it interesting, almost managed it dab free but an icy/boggy bit near the end got me. up to the tower very busy, down to sunnyhurst res with only a few walkers to slow down for, rode back up to the woods but the drop to tockholes was rubbish, tonnes of walkers.

Rounds roddlesworth, some quality midride fuelling, Sarah Nelsons finest (My parents took charlie to the lakes on saturday, lucky lad) then tried a new route up onto wheelton moor, bit of a problem with the map not actually matching the trails on the ground and other trails just disappearing but made it round to the foot of great hill, rode to the top took some pics and did the full run into white coppice, first bit was as good as ever, the dirt road was all iced up, the boggy middle section wasn't frozen, the bottom section was fun but absolutely battered my arms. Met with Johnnie and his kids at WC, they were out for a little ride, had a chat, laughed at the kids playing, got cold, split, couldn't get warm again. The rest of the ride was rubbish, very wet and muddy round anglezarke, (nice views tho) my legs were shot, got to the barn just wanting it all to end, pity I was 8miles from home, should have winched up to geroges lane but could not push myself into it, cue long slog home on the road.

Some good proper frozen ground winter riding in there but loads of muddy bits in between and looks like the weathers going to change again before the next nightride :-( Nice to get out tho, got to slowly claw back some fitness. only 3 weeks til hit the north.

Number 1

2012-01-16T09:57:00.000Z

Finally kicked off the years riding, nightride and oh what a lovely evening...! Pittling down from the off but Johnnie had already text that the weather report was "mtfu" I was suited and booted and ready for whatever the weather chucked at me, fancied a long ride too give the legs a good workout. ~~Rode~~ struggled up barrow bridge and the mist started, got up onto winterhill and visibility was down to about 6', then I remembered I had my lights on low so upped them and visibility got to about 12' not a massive improvement. Glasses off due them keep steaming up, dropped down hole in the wall, very slippy but my minion ST did a sterling job upfront, lots of driftyness but held on OK, good work. Onto wildeswood, dropped down the first section in my usual kamikaze style despite the low visibility straight into the 2 blind bends, round one, round the next ARGH TREE! right across the trail, slammed on was at maximum braking and still heading for it so closed my (unprotected doh!) eyes and put my head down, managed to stop with my head against some of the outer twigs/branches, lucky escape there. Got to the meet, Si was waiting but no Johnnie, checked my phone "In A&E with son, sorry" hah likely story, looked out of the window and thought sod that more like :-)
Climbing up rivi I realised a long ride was out and Si has been beating himself up at the gym recently so decided on a quick one, up to the pike, down wildes avoiding the tree, dropping into the forest a log viciously attacked Si's front tyre at a shallow angle and he very nearly lost it. I got to the stud farm no sign of Si so turned back, he'd flatted in the woods. Quick change then down to bstard climb, oh joy, up that then I split, Si did ICR and fortunately flatted so he wasn't going flat out when a few seconds later a landrover came round the corner. I limped home down george's lane, and through the golf course, where I stopped at exactly the wrong spot to drop my saddle, sorted that, set off and a few metres ahead was a car, lad in front seat, girl in back both hurriedly dressing themselves, they must have seen me when I stopped to mess with my saddle, if I hadn't stopped I'd have caught them in flagrante fully illuminated by my hopes :-) Battered down to barrow bridge and home to bike wash and lots of food, just one question, where did all my fitness go?

The eternal reek of damp wool

2012-01-09T14:39:00.000Z

Really getting peeved with all this rain, proper downer, where are my cold clear winter days? And snow dammit, I bought a sledge and I wanna take the kids out on it. Still not been offroad yet, starting to properly miss mountain biking, surprised it's taken so long, normally a few days off the bike will get me itching for a ride, trip to the lakes needed soon i think.
Commute in this morning showed my chest isn't 100%, was getting short of breath hammering down the east lancs, out of practice. Nearly wiped out some school girls too, I was doing about 20 through swinton, a pedestrian crossing light flicked to amber when I was about 10' away, not much chance of stopping even if I did a full on emergency stop, the girls (both engrossed with their mobiles) just stepped out, on amber(!) not even red, let alone any sign of the green man putting in an appearance, pretty sure they had no idea I was there. Kids eh?

2011 debrief

2012-01-06T13:18:00.000Z

Yep time to crack out the excel and start fumbling my way through filter and autosum.

Hmm bit of a sparse year riding wise, 4397miles in total from 179 rides, 400miles less that last year but similar number of rides. 2194 road 2203 xc so I can just about claim to be a mountain biker. Only 2 half centurys and just 9 rides over 30, hmm.
119 clocked up getting to work (3070)
60 just for fun rides (1327)
29 nightrides (578)
17 away trips this year (378), bit dissapointing but did quite a few good local rides.

Pompino unsurprisingly was the most ridden again (1937)
Blinglespeed, the new boy, dominated xc (1154) thats 3091 SS miles this year
RM managed 23 rides (532)
Mmmbop only did 15 (313)
Canondale road bike was much underused (257)
Heckler only made it out 8 times! (130)
Inbred retired in Feb (74)

longest ride:- hilly road ride
Hardest ride:- STW Lee and Crag
Best ride:- hmm tricky one, just been rereading some of my posts, it's cheered me up and reminded me that there were quite a few awesome rides, high st solo, coniston loop, newlands, 3towers nightride, first really sunny ride of the year and Mr Sparkles darwen rides were a nice intro to new local trails but I guess it's going to have to be the walna scar slackers ride with lowey's lot, nice trails (presanitisation) gorgeous weather, mid ride dip, plenty of banter and a really good laugh.

So how did my 2011 aims go
Brownbacks races - nope
Get fast - nope

Sneak in a last minute keilder entry - nope
Do more miles than last year - nope.
Oh dear.

Will try to think up some more unacheivable aims for this year...

Off the net and on the wagon

2012-01-04T10:31:00.000Z

Well end of year was a bit of a washout, literally. Not been online since before christmas and not turned a pedal since christmas eve and that was just a (failed) short trip to the market to purchase some large fowl of some sort. Woke up boxing day with sore throat, swollen glands, headache and generally feeling like crap and I've been that way, on and off, since. Ho hum. Weather hasn't exactly had me pining for the trails either bloody 'orrible eh? Been great spending so much time with the family tho altho we've not being doing much just hanging out and visiting relatives but that's cool.

Have been ~~spending a lot of time~~ losing a lot of sleep playing Skyrim (xmas pressie of the mrs) awesome game, feels like more of an adventure than oblivion, more like morrowind. Graphics are amazing, UI is a bit iffy but I'll cope, currently in danger of getting bogged down with too many tasks and losing direction so I'll knuckle down and stick to one route. They've also made it more one or t'other, you have to make choices now, rather than (like oblivion) being able to be everyone's mate and be good at everything you have to specialise. Some stuff coming over from falloutNV too which is no bad thing.

Will try a gentle commute tomorrow see how I manage, hopefully nightride again next week.

Oh yeah, happy new year, hope you all had a good christmas.

Snappy

2011-12-16T13:55:00.000Z

Wednesday we finally made it out for a night ride, on my way home from work was looking like a clear night, got a tow too, I passed a guy at some lights, dunno if he was trying to stamp his authority on me or whether he was just in a rush but he had decided mashing a big gear was on the agenda so I tagged on as he came passed and just sat and span for a few miles until he turned off. Cheers. Met Si at moss bank park, sky had clouded over but was still cold, cold enough for ice, I got very sideways on the off camber tarmac at barrow bridge. Up to winter hill crashing through icy puddles, the boggy section to 2lads had firmed up quite a bit, the descent was ok til I hit the chute at the end, too fast into it couldn't scrub speed some high speed sideways tripodding occured. Si had similar trouble but as he'd been more cautious on approach it was less entertaining. Wildes was OK, very rocky under the trees and I was very wary of ice so slowed right down on the cobbles. UP Bstard and down ICR, less rocky but some big ditches/holes seem to have opened up. Si flatted just before the last (uber rocky) corner so I sat and chilled while he sorted it. 2 things occured, how steep is ICR? you only realise when you stop and look up it. Also the sky had cleared completely and the stars were brilliant, specially with trees and hills as reference. Lovely. Back up through the gardens and up to the pike, big black ominous clouds were rolling over winter hill, oooh. Drop off the pike was fastest I've seen for a while, firm and grippy, my favourite part of winter is the frozen trails. It was getting on so we decided to go straight down georges lane and home. Only 20 miles didn't feel like I'd earned the big bowl of jumbalaya I had waiting (but scoffed it all anyway) good to be out tho and a good night for it. Trails were deserted, saw 1 group of runners and 1 set of lights in the distance that was it - the part timers have packed in for winter it seems.

Car reg 208SF

2011-12-16T09:26:00.000Z

A new naff shape honda civic, driven by witless doddery old fornicating geriatric disciple of onanism in need of an eyesight test and/or a driving ban! I'm tanking round the height roundabout, 2 forward lights, more hi viz and reflective trim than a health and safety convention, headtorch aimed squarely at the aforementioned driver as he is approaching the entrance to the roundabout in the righthand lane, I'm indicating to take the exit immediately after his entrance, he floors it and cuts right in front of me. I slam on swerve and give a full blooded bellow inches from his side window he keeps staring straight ahead and drives off. What a nobber!

Wet one

2011-12-12T10:32:00.001Z

Was looking forward to weekend ride, finally getting offroad again but Sunday dawned to incessant rain, Si (sensibly) gibbed and Johnnie was incommunicado. I chilled out, took my time having some brunch, rain eased so I set off a little later than planned. It was soaking, mud/puddles everywhere, reservoirs close to overflowing, the normally little trickle of a waterfall swollen and pounding out gallons of water a second. Started off mooching up the valley and round the verboten reservoirs, it's a shame we aint legally allowed to use these trails, well surfaced and sheltered perfect for winter, no point in summer too many walkers but there weren't many around, those who were seemed pretty grumpy. Hit witton weavers and briefly got that warm innerglow of legitimate trail access, walkers were still miserable tho so maybe it's not the FP thing after all. Through golf course bit of an explore round egerton then figured I'd better do some proper hills. Up horrocks fold and smithills dean, pushed up onto 2lads, very slippery going down. I was going to do the 1st half of wildes and shoot home with nicely worked legs but decided a bit of suffering was in order so down to the bottom over to the school and up b'stard climb and suffer I did. Ouchy. Could really do with a longer stem for climbs like that, I was too far forward wrists at wrong angle and couldn't get enough pull on the bars, not going to happen tho, bike's perfect for 90% of stuff so will have to put up with it. Through the gardens up to the pike only just cleaned, down the drops and all the way down George's. The drop through the golf course was the first time I'd felt really comfortable descending all day but then it is well surfaced and quite smooth. Not bad, 33miles felt like more, absolutely filthy, surprisingly didn't shred my brake pads but rear (box fresh couple weeks ago) are looking pretty anorexic now, just keeping my fingers crossed that my forks survive the winter. Mid ride fuelling was provided by Charlie who had been baking in the morning, shortbread cookies nyom nyom, proper nice, very lembas-esque (reading LOTR again)

Sods law in action

2011-12-08T11:37:00.000Z

"Commuting has been fairly OK-ish, I've shouted at a few drivers not looking where they are going but nothing really scary, fingers crossed that continues or improves" How stupendously naive of me, had a run in with a lorry this morning. basic facts: me in mandatory cycle lane, flatbed lorry on road, lorry cut into my lane, my jacket caught on the mesh rebar (apparently - cheers lowey) on the back, jacket shredded. Nice. Knocked on door of lorry driver shouted something then drove off. Grrr. I was well lit up, hi vis-ed and I was not in a blind spot - I could plainly see driver in his mirror pity he didn't return the favour.

Unity my arse

2011-12-07T11:36:00.000Z

I've a bit of a love/hate relationship with linux, been running a linux web PC/server for quite a while now, even done some proper training on it. You can modify and customise everything, normally stable, no worries from virus or malware, masses of free software and community support. Ubuntu does seem to be as advertised linux for human beings, setup and go and if all your hardware is covered it is pretty much as easy as windows but if you hit any snags then you have to resort to terminal and it goes pear shaped pretty quick. The 'nix does not run strong in this padawan. Setup ubuntu 11.10 on my laptop and everything worked from the start graphics, wifi, even hibernate works now, Unity looks good, very mac-esque, seems to have simplified it (ie removed all the techincal stuff). Decided to setup 11.10 on my home TV, everything went on no bother but res was stuck at 1024x768, had the same troubel in XP so update drivers then go to control panel and unhide unsupported res, no biggie. Thing is, as far as I can tell, the idea behind Unity is that it is supposed to work straight away and they don't want you tinkering with it, fine but if you're gonna have it that way get some drivers on for my JVC telly, meanwhile time to ctrl alt T and start haphazardly bashing away at the keys. Hmm, lets try drivers, with FGLRX on I can set the res to widescreen but it knocks out compiz and none of the snap stuff I'm used to from win7 works. Hmm remove fglrx, do some googling xrandr and cvt will sort it, yep sure enough everything works fine now. Reboot and what the hell happened? Back to 1024, ctrc failure messages and fugly icons. Damn xrandr changes aren't permanent, ok apparently I need to vi /etc/gdm/Init/Default, nope doesn't exist, hmmm. More googling, then some more. Edit Xorg.conf, oh there isn't one. Go to usr/share/xll and bung in a config file there with your custom resolutions, nope, no difference. Install fglrx again and oh look my .conf file has kicked in now but still no compiz. Grrr. More late night googling looks like it might be gconf-editor that I need, it's taken me a long time to get that info tho, dunno if it's my google-fu ineptitude or that the info just isn't easy to find.

Not sure what the point of this post is, just a bit of a rantette I guess, any none linux users well done for reading this far sorry to bore you, do have a go at ubuntu it's nice honestly, on most normal PC/monitors it works fine. Linux users try not to hold me in complete contempt, I am trying :-)

Where did the time go?

2011-12-07T11:00:00.001Z

2weeks since my last post? Blimey. Well after my big ride I was feeling a little peaky, rest day then a couple of rides to work then 5-aside and inevitably ended up with a cold so an enforced rest week just a little light commuting, not been logging it so tried to guess the mileages. Hopefully back on track again now, not been doing nightrides so not been offroad since the Lee ride. Commuting has been fairly OK-ish, I've shouted at a few drivers not looking where they are going but nothing really scary, fingers crossed that continues or improves (ha!) Still waiting for heavy frost and some stunning wide open clear blue sky winter rides. hopefully getting out tonight, will be windy tho so might have to stick to low level stuff, we'll see.

Dawn til Dusk

2011-11-21T09:46:00.001Z

I've fancied doing a silly ride for a while now, I'd got an allday no quibbles day pass for the STW lee quarry ride so I'd work around that. Did think about riding over from home but I'd have to set off at daft'o'clock, instead I got my ever helpful wife to drop me off at the body farm It was just getting light but really thick fog meant visibility was low, this was to be a constant throughout the day I don't think visibility ever got above 50ft, claggy indeed. As it was going to be a long muddy slog in places I'd packed the blinglespeed, round the holcombe horseshoe and onto the first leg ripper of the day, the climb up to peel tower, steep as hell but nice and smooth with plenty of grip so no excuses to push, ground may way up that, decent pace along the tops and dropped in to Lumb. Climbed up to Edenfield and the next grinder gin croft lane, mainly concrete which alternated between grippy and slippy for seemingly no reason. Sand Beds Lane beat me, steep rough and slippy and my legs were already protesting, was making quick time so paused for a quick rest. The packhorse slabs round cowpe were slippery, the timeworn grooves in them making for interesting handling. Got to top of leach before 10, the group hadn't even left the car park so stay and wait in the cold or drop in? Drop in obviously. Link road has bedded in nicely nice and swoopy. stuck behind a group but it helped me enjoy the swoopiness rather than caning it and getting out of shape in the corners. At the bottom me and another "loner with people to meet" took a shortcut through the quarry, the guys have placed some big rocks up to stop you doing this (sorry fellas) I stopped next to them and put my foot on top, which slipped straight off over the top and threw me over them, proper cartwheel with bike trying to land on top of me, bloke behind obviously trying to suppress a laugh asked if I was ok and had I not seen the stones? Met up with everyone at the bottom and...climbed straight back up. The slabs were interesting on skinny tyres and a very high saddle rest was OK. Climb back up the link road was slow going but not too taxing. Going down to Crag a guy crashed right in front of me, those slippy rutted packhorse slabs again, couldn't slam on or I'd have hit the deck too, managed to avoid him, he luckily hadn't hurt himself. Crag was nice, was flowing along it quite well until I took a high line round a berm were some sharp rocks ripped the front tyre, tube in and then a sprint to catch everyone up. We did a new route back to sand beds, better than the boggy cowpe way. Got chatting to NBT along there then at a stop I cadged a bit of one of gramejones "blondies" think chocolate brownies but with white chocolate and macadamia nuts. Wow, really nice, I reckon the sugar rush hit me within about 30seconds of eating. We dropped down via the waterworks, some interesting singletrack including a very squeaky bum inducing makeshift bridge and rooty roll in. My memory's a bit vague after that, some road and double track stuff round Harden moor, back up to the top road and a right grinder of a climb up to the windmills which weren't visible until you got to their foot when the rotors would suddenly swoop down into view and disappear again. A bit of a bogfest over to top of leach where I said farewell and set off for home, dropped into edenfield and lumb in proper quick time with grahams route, took the road through helmshore as I didn't fancy the steep rocky climb up, bad move, longer and more climbing. The climb back onto the moors was never going to happen legs were shot by then so pushed up. I was now in a world of hurt, thighs aching, arms pumped, back and shoulders knackered, feet numb even the palms of my hands seemed bruised. Felt good :-) Steep cheeky decent from the tower, around the horseshoe, shot down the roads through entwistle, needed my lights for the chicken run and along the valley to home. Had only taken me 2 hours from leach to home, pretty quick. 54ish miles, felt like a lot more, longest/biggest/hardest singlespeed ride I've done.

Soooo tired

2011-11-14T10:28:00.001Z

Hard week, 4 commutes, a nightride (a full fat 25mile version rather than the skinny lattes I've been doing the last few months) and 5-aside. Was shattered at weekend, should have been out riding Sunday but even after a full 12hour sleep I still had a massive case of CBA. Used to be able to do this stuff and still go out drink ten pints on Friday night ride 50miles Sunday and start it all again Monday dunno whats up with me. Well not strictly true, the 10 pints thing is just a lie and I can make a good guess at whats up, it's either I'm getting old and frail (nooooooo) or (hopefully) not getting enough sleep - damn kids!
Rode in offroad this morning, unsurprisingly it was quite sloppy. Trees have all denuded since my last xc commute. Trails carpeted in orange leaves, quite picturesque really, hope we get a good solid ground frost soon, want to get back to fast hard trails.

Getting there

2011-10-28T13:01:00.000+01:00

Been a good week so far, couple of decent xc commutes then 5aside on weds, where I actually scored! First and last goals of the game no less, not bad for someone nicknamed Eeyore byb fellow players, actually I think the full moniker is "that sweaty b*st*rd with a kick like a mule but who can't shoot straight to save his life" I was well out of practice and my legs were toast afterwards. So not sure why in a fit of bravado/machismo/idiocy I grabbed the SS for nightriding - well that and the fact I was late and it was nearest the door. Just me and Johnnie Si was resting after football. Busy busy, loads of people riding with mega lumen lights, I can see lowey's point not much solitude and escapism on offer. Bit of a malfunction when the sliver of rear brake pad I had left dissappeared on 2 lads, lots of backing plate worn by the bottom, bugger to change them in the cold and dark too, a good 25 mins wasted but Johnnie had stopped to help 2 riders with a flat tyre, neither of whom had a pump(!) so we got to the top of AICR at the same time. Just a quick one, up hole in the wall which felt like a war of attrition but Johnnie pointed out it wasn't muddy enough for attrition so I downgraded to "scuffle of despair". Slipped and slid down the shoulder (with forks locked out doh!) then blast along georges lane and home. Gentle bimble into work on road thursday, full of idiots, notably a stupid fat cow overtook me with her left indicator on and turned into a cul de sac right infront of me. I know she's stupid coz she tried to left hook me, I know she's fat coz I followed her home, I know she's a cow coz when I suggested she sort out her driving (without expletives) she said she had her indicator on so it's ok. Apparently bullying me around the road (if not actively trying to kill me) is fine if you use indicators.
Legs were starting to seize up last night but I wanted another xc ride so grabbed the SS again this morning, chilly, foggy and pretty muddy, felt like a dead weight by the time I got to work, could pedal OK(ish) but getting out of the saddle, hopping, wheelying or other weight shifts were bloody hard work. Legs are pretty sore right now, ride home should be fun. 4 commutes, a night ride and football, think I'm gonna rest this weekend, or maybe go for a run :-)

When will I learn?

2011-10-25T11:43:00.000+01:00

Didn't do much over the weekend, took kids to park and whilst dicking about with them on the slide I fell and landed on my elbow jolting my chest/shoulder (WWIL number 1) Fortunatley managed not to take out the wife as I fell so she maanged to catch the kids :-)
Rode into work xc again yesterday much drier than friday and the ride home was superb, but for all the leaves on the ground it could have been a summers day (especially considering the summer we've had) apart from the odd mud puddle the trails were well buff and on fresh legs I was motoring, hammered it all the way home. Nailed the trails at drinkwater, now they aren't overgrown and you can actually see the trail speeds are higher :-) Despite several calls to manchester council they haven't removed the fallen tree at forest bank however the leaves and twigs have dropped off so it's lean bike over duck under a branch and then watch out for the other branch at a shallow angle on the ground (will have to watch out for that in the wet) Bolton council however have sorted the blocked bridge near home just a pity the short lead up to it is 6" deep mud. Weather forecast said we'd be rain free till wednesday too so was looking forward to another 2 fast dry commutes. Got up this morning didn't bother looking out the window just dressed and headed out, obviously it had pissed down over night (wwil 2) lying beggars. Muddy, not a total bogfest but trails are back to slippy not grippy. Bonty mud-Xs are worth their (light) weight in gold, not been dumped on my arse yet.

Careful out there kids, it's slippery

2011-10-21T11:40:00.000+01:00

Not been doing much as I've had another cold, spent 2 weeks mincing into work on road barely getting my heart rate above rest. Finally made it out for a night ride on weds, Johnnie was there, he's not been too well lately either, only Simon on usual form. Up to the pike, trails not too bad considering all the rain, down the drops and over to hole int wall, lots of slippage on the wet muddy grass, getting quite a bit sideways climbing but cleaned it. 2 lads was proper slippy so went a bit gingerly, down the chute at the end I was trying unsuccessfully to slow down when I noticed a vole or shrew (something small and furry anyway) running down the narrow channel ahead of me, tried to slow but couldn't and looked like I went over it, eek! stopped when I could and went back, no sign so hopefully I missed it. Down wildes next, I was on autopilot, quickish but nowt special, got to the corner before the wood and noticed Si was pretty close behind so I got on the pedals and let it all get a bit sketchy, was wet but not too slippy, pushing my limits made me enjoy it more. Made it to the bottom no sign of anyone behind me :-) Si confirmed I did seem to suddenly disappear. Johnnie split there and we carried on up school climb, really was a perfect evening for riding, clear skies, not a breath of wind absolutley still, trails not too damp, brilliant. Up to ICR, been taking a few risks here lately when Si has been breathing down my neck so I made sure he went first seems a lot rockier than usual but no dramas. Back to cars and home.
Decided to give the xc commute a go this morning, not as well drained as most of the rivi trails, quite muddy and more slippage going on but I wasn't too muddy when I rolled in to work could still do with a hosepipe at work to rinse bike down tho :-) Was really tense and slow on the wet slippy canal stones, wil take a few goes before I relax, trust my tyres and get quicker again. No dog walkers about, did see 1 biker, oh and a bat flew along the clifton park singletrack really close to me for a few seconds cool.

Relentless

2011-10-07T09:38:00.001+01:00

Tuesday nightrides have been switched to Wednesday so Johnnie can play at being chuck norris, pity coz Tuesday was a decent evening. Weather was looking grim, Johnnie cancelled due to poorly tummy, me and Si braved the elements. It had been cloudy all afternoon, as we set off from moss bank park we thought we might just get away with it, nope 2mins in it started to rain, steady drizzle set in as we hit scout road. Going up Burnt edge the north east wind (well it was blowing NE dunno if thats a nor'easterly or a sou'westerly) and constant rain soaked my left side, going down 2 lads and wildes soaked my front, could hardly see a thing, mist and a solid wall of rain, my glasses were useless, fortunatley my innertube+ziptie fender kept my eyes grit free, Si's shop bought version didn't work quite so well. Bit of a mooch round the fps near the barn (no walkers around eh? wrong, who the hell goes walking in weather like this? :-) ) up AICR very wet now, Si's main Hope light packed up with no warning, oops, no pike or san marino then. Along georges lane that NE wind soaked my right side, up hole in't wall rain pouring down my back for the complete drowned rat effect. Down burnt edge back onto scout rd, Si's joystick cut out too, oh dear. I loaned him mine for the drop through the golf course then home for a warm shower and dry clothes. Two and a half hours of constant rain, at least it was warm. It's all points in the karma bank tho, you have to endure autumn and winter nights like this to earn the fantastic summers like we just had....oh wait....

Drizzledale

2011-10-06T14:36:00.001+01:00

Monday me and Si hit the lakes, as the weather had taken a dramatic downturn from weekend I decided a known all weather route would be a good bet so the grizedale inaugural STW ride then. Parked up in grizedale and hit the northface climb and on to parkamoor, the view from the top was...well...white. Mist everywhere, visibility down to 15meters, ah well a great lakeland view denied. Moor lane was bloody brilliant as usual rocks drops whoops and turns, loved it. Up breasty haw and down the 4X track again another good 'un. Slack wood was slippy we both did the drop after eyeing it up then slithered our way down to the road. The drizzle ramped up a notch here, the climb up to claife was long but I was getting into the rythmn, letting the plush suspension soak up the bumps and spinning along, heckler might weigh a tonne but it does do some things very well. Bit of a mix up in the woods but we found some more singletrack and didn't go far off course at all. Colthouse was good, very wet in parts but still a right laugh, nearly lost the back end on a slippy grassy corner but managed to hold it and some nice ladies held the midway gate open for us. Into hawkshead and up vicarage road, this is a beast of a climb long, steep, relentless. Finally hit the fireroads and clipped along nicely, looking forward to "titties track". Unfortunatley I am rubbish at navigating in forests, I eventually twigged something was not right and sure enough not long later we came to the bottom of titties. Damn blast and buggeration! Si's legs were fried and he didn't fancy riding up it, so we went down "suicide" where I had a couple of goes to try and cheer myself up, no good tho, was kicking myself for the rest of the day.
I know my signature rides are "can't ride up it, can't ride down it" but this is a great normal ride just riding bikes up stuff and speeding down them again with grins plastered on faces. No hour long hikes and no pucker inducing, do or die, tech fest downs....just riding along. No suffering just fun.

and I now know where we went wrong and I absolutley positively won't do it again.

Oh yeah nearly forgot on the way home Si had a blowout in lane 4 of the M6. Of course people in lanes 1,2 and 3 didn't want to let a car on three tyres and one rim cut across to the hard shoulder but we made it eventually. Si consigned me to the grass verge while he changed it. I never realised how bloody loud motorway traffic is when you're right next to it. A traffic patrol came passed us and drove right on by, thanks guys. Soon sorted and back on the road. Phew!

Howgills soggy bottom

2011-10-05T10:33:00.000+01:00

Friday dawned nice and sunny couldn't decide where to ride, a man from Kew Gardens was on the news on thursday saying plants are all confused by the weather and the soil is technically in drought conditions. Drought conditions sounded good so headed for bowderdale. Now this starts with a right kicker, 800ft in the first mile and finally tops out 1800 after 3 miles. Took me 90mins, missed the first switchback then later spun out on a chute where rocks peaked through the grass, shoulda taken the right hand line. All this low down grunting and pulling back on the bars wrecked my triceps pretty quick and took some serious toll on my legs but finally got to the calf and began the (4+ mile!) descent. Looks like the big rains tore this up pretty bad, been repaired since but a few dodgy gullies to avoid. First couple of miles were cool, just the odd bit of water then it got worse, drought conditions my arse, proper wet. Mostly just water and light mud but a few boggy sections. Bowderdale to ravenstonedale was a pain in the arse, I'm sure farmers have got it in for walkers and riders. Every gate was either knackered and a right bugger to open or had 2 or 3 latches, also one narrow section was almost unrideable due to being churned up by cows, I wasn't happy. Climb out of ravenstonedale was a drag and I was starting to worry about bonking, crested the top to see the sun reflected off the trail to murthwaite, great more puddles! Wasn't bad after the first few meters tho. Got a bit lost on the murthwaite parks descent. Trail I was on petered out, no sign of another, a cracking little downhill but I couldn' find it, my navigation PDA crashed I had a mini strop, eventually found it and loved it. Front wheel went on backside beck so walked that, Cautley beck climb nearly finished me off but the singletrack along cautley was ace. Dropped onto the road and coasted into Sedburgh for a refuel at the village bakery. So some ups and downs, me and the bike looked like I'd just done a winter ride but I had tan lines on my arms. It's not just the plants that are confused.

Better late than never

2011-10-04T10:48:00.000+01:00

So our indian summer finally showed up and I belatedly did the peaks pootle route, nice! Parked up on mam tor last wednesday, did dirtlow rake, this seems to have been sanitised since I last did it (quite a long time ago) so a bit boring. Pindale seemed even sketchier than usual. The climb up bradwell clough was pretty harsh but the down was well worth it singletracky swoopy bits nadgery bits steep bits, brilliant. Spotted a drop off line (on the left at 9:09) so had a go at that. Back along through the quarry and over to castleton, which was packed. I swear people walk around these tourist hotspots with their eyes shut, loads of people walked out infront of me. Climbed up the broken road, never been up here before and was keen to have a play. There were a few drop offs to do so had a play on all the mere mortal sized ones. Turns out my etsx rear sus goes a bit squiffy on big landings, hmm. Found the take off from the crash but without a cameraman to run into. I was launching slighlty more to the left and cornering on the landing rather than hitting the brakes, nearly lost it on 4th go when I hit it a bit quick, braked during the corner on loose gravel (!) front lost grip a couple of times squeaky bum time. Anyway playtime over I went up to mam tor and down cold side, never done this the top has been sanitised and it didn't look very appealing but it was excellent, soon got narrow, rocky and twisty and flowed straight into the climb back up. Was suffering by this point but rode/pushed back up to the top. Still hungry for more but without the legs for it I pushed up rushup so I could do the last steep bit down to the road then bombed across to the car. Gorgeous day and some new trails.

So many choices

2011-09-27T15:57:00.001+01:00

Day off booked tomorrow, weather looking good, all bikes ~~in tip top shape~~ rideable, not got a clue where I'm going to go, peaks, lakes, calderdale, yorkshire dales....not got a clue yet. Just hope I don't end up having a lie in...again. Had intended to do the peaks pootle last weekend but slogging my guts out all week (hey I'm an IT desk jockey, carrying PCs and crawling under desks all day is practically forced labour to me) then a rough night with the kids on friday I woke up to rain on saturday and sacked it off, lie in, lovely it was too. Woke after 10 still raining outside feeling nicely rested and decided I'd made the right choice. Regretted it when I saw the vid on sunday tho :-( nice weather some trails I haven't done, much fun being had.
Nice leisurely ride in monday morning, splitting headache all monday afternoon, rode home monday felt ok, I'd taken it easy but felt pretty tired monday night, maybe not do anything too big tomorrow then.

Hammertime....Stop.

2011-09-22T08:57:00.001+01:00

My quest for speed has been pretty much non-existent but last week ended with a bit of a bang, friday I went in xc, lovely, bit muddy but not too bad at all considering recent weather. Nice all day, suited up for ride home, shorts, t shirt and gillet, got out the door and light rain, oh dear, waiting at lights in town I donned my well travelled but underused arm warmers. As I got to offroad the rain started proper, did consider waiting under the trees for it to die down but I had to get home and go shopping for Charlies birthday presents so put in some serious effort and get home quick. Coming through drinkwater park I went under the viaduct one of those perfect timing moments where weather can play jokes on you, it was already raining hard, I got a quarter second of let up as I passed under the viaduct only to be greeted by a wall of rain on the other side, absolutely bouncing down. Quickly soaked to the skin, or atleast I thought I was soaked until I hit some over hanging ferns where I realised I could and did get a fair bit wetter. The woods singletrack was taken at full speed, spinning out along the road passed the sewage works, as fast as I dared along the canal stone edging and blasted through moses gate. Properly pushing myself, felt great. last steep road climb to home I had a grin plastered to my mush, partly coz I was having such a laugh but also to make sure everyone was in no doubt I wasn't suffering here, I didn't want any "Haha look at the stupid/poor cyclist caught out in the rain" this was fun. Home, swill bike and legs down, empty shoes of water thow everthing straight in washer, go shopping. For the record I reckon arm warmers and a gillet are better than a waterproof for summer (ha!) showers (haha!).
Bit peaky saturday but had a fun day, took charlie to curly wurlys (like whacky wharehouse) I've never been before, was great watching him run/climb/slide round and I joined him briefly, helped him over some obstacle and watched in horror as he almost folded in half on landing, only to jump up and carry on laughing, then I went over, did the same on landing and quickly realised I'm not quite as supple as him, ouch. Babys head wetting later, took it easy paced myself and left early still puking next day tho, jury's still out as to whether it was dodgy kebab, a bug or just self inflicted. A mate was puking on the night after only a couple of pints so could be bug or I could just still be in denial. I'd perked up by the time of Charlies party all the family came round and we all had fun and some gorgeous chocolate cake, my mrs is getting some proper leet baking skillz.
Monday was booked off for riding so it was a pity I woke up feeling like death, aching all over, head bunged up, getting seriously out of breath going up 1 flight of stairs, bugger. DIY it is then. Not turned a pedal since friday, me and Si were sposed to be riding this friday but a big job has broke out at work so Si being a company man has cancelled his hol, I (being less workplace motivated) would have been tempted to ride anyway but as I'm still not right I'll not bother and instead accrue some work brownie points, which at last review were worth even less than home based ones. Ho hum

Ah yep, that's night riding.

2011-09-15T15:55:00.000+01:00

Gurning up hole in the wall on my singlespeed, rear tyre ripping up some grass just about keeping traction, lights illuminating the incessant drizzle and mist, ay up winters back. After last weeks rest I wanted to get a full weeks commuting in, weather looked foreboding but no rain yet, wasn't sure whether to ride to rivi or car, always feel like a lightweight driving up but being able to decide last minute to ditch for waterproofs and a nice warm dry ride home are powerful incentives. I manned up and rode. Barrowbridge reminded me I was out of shape, up to winter hill down hole int wall due to lateness, a saddle up mince, as was wildes. Over to rivi and met Johnnie, he's had even longer off the bike so leisurely climb to the pike whilst catching up on events. Met some of the boggies at the top, chatted a little then we all launched down the drops. Down georges lane just got to the big puddle on the corner when Johnnie shouted me back. As the boggies infront passed a guy with bike leant up against the side of the trail, one boggie asked "OK mate?" guy says "No".....nobody stopped, johnnie checked "did he just say No?" boggie confirmed. Oh well, we'll stop then eh? The guy had flatted but then his pump had broke so we leant him one. Black mark against the boggies there, not very charitable, especially after actually asking.
Anyway up hole in the wall, over to san marino and more saddle up mincing (that carbon seatpost is begining to look like a liability) lots of new water run off gulleys and damage from last weeks mini monsoon and my brakes howled everytime i touched them - which was a lot. I had a couple of dodgy moments where I almost lost it, as did Johnnie, but we got down safe, final chinwag and then a quick blast home on the road. Short one but just the job.

Pleasant enough commute this morning, chilly but reasonably quiet, I noticed a couple of cyclists join the height roundabout from swinton just as I got on, they followed me onto east lancs, together we hogged our lane all the way to salford uni, felt safer than normal apart from the prick who squeezed between us and a motorbike in the middle lane, silver car, golf I think, bwfc sticker on back window, unable to use the middle pedal, didn't get the reg, too busy swearing and gesticulating. nice day, was hoping to ride in xc tomorrow but looks like it'll be pissing down again :-( Think that's it for this year, apart from (hopefully) some frozen winter trail action we will have to wait til next spring for dry dusty trails.

Still lurgy-ed

2011-09-06T10:26:00.000+01:00

Still got a cold, so my idea of grabbing a keilder cancellation last minute was out the window, lucky escape there I feel, ouch. I had decided if I wasn't doing keilder I'd do a biggy to make up for it. Weather was looking good, alarm woke me at 6, felt rough so hit snooze and had another 2 hours kip, feeling a bit better I got up at 8 and headed for the peaks. Parked up on the road between glossop and hayfield, headed over to lantern pike. Passed a big group of horse riders just below the pike, they started off with "You're not going to ride up that are you?!" but quickly moved on to "check out his legs" and a few phwaors ego stroked I kept on. Ripped down the other side but the steep climb up ollersett showed up my lack of fitness, proper struggle, my travel plans were duly amended no trip to edale today. My bike was creaking like mad too, there was a bit of play in the back end last time out so I'd tightened everything up extra tight but now it made a racket every time I stood up. Grrr. Peep o day, up mt famine, drop into roych clough, nice, picked up a flat but it held till the bottom, quick change and back up to mt famine and dropped into caldwell clough, where I ran into the horse ladies again, more astonishment, more perving - them, not me. I dropped down into hayfield and headed back up towards kinder res. I stopped for a crackin cumberland barm (with egg) at the butty van and got chatting to another mountain biker Lee, he's an STWer and does the peaks pootles, he recommended coming along to the next one. He was headed the same way so we slogged up kinder and did the middle moor descent together, we each pointed out other routes we'd done in the area. Middlemoor was great, lots of pink heather, pretty dry and fast, multiple line choices, some faster than others, especially if you forgot to unlock your forks ;-) excellent stuff. At the bottom we split Lee was headed over to lantern pike I had an appointment with some cheek. I pushed most of the way up chunal moor but the wormstones singletrack was well worth it, cracking end to the ride. Bit short considering I had all day but I wasn't up for anymore. Hope I can get rid of this cold for next week, really slowing me down. Stripped the bike at home, everything looked ok, bearings seem smooth, back together with the minimum torque to prevent play and it seems OK, no creaking, hmmm.

Hmmf

2011-08-30T14:31:00.001+01:00

Bank holiday weekend my arse, total washout. Weather was gash. Entire family had a cold, no time/mates/energy to go riding. Did manage to go for a walk up rivi with my sister and 10week old nephew George on the Friday before the weekend weather set in. Charlie in nursery, me Alex strapped to me, George strapped to my sister, my mrs unencumbered but still struggling (lightweight). Nice walk, nice views built up an appetite and went to the blundell arms for the feast we had earnt. Unfortunately I went for posh nosh (chicken and chorizo on sweet potatoe mash), very nice but not much to it, I was covetously ogling my sister's gargantuan burger, chips and onion rings, can't remember what my mrs had but not enough for me to scavenge from :-0
Rest of weekend we hardly went out, swimming trip was fun but bad weather prevented the trip to the park afterwards. Yesterday we were going stir crazy so wrapped up and went to the park despite the rain, charlie was loving it slipping and sliding all over the climbing frame (giving us a few scares), completely oblivious to the worsening weather. Stood in the relentless rain, passing families were giving us "are you mental?" looks, we eventually dragged charlie home when it got silly wet.
Decided to take the longer quiet to work today, 5minutes in I hear someone revving up behind me, came flying passed close and beeped their horn. Tool! I wasn't in primary, was actually pretty close to the kerb, no other cars about, doesn't matter this wasn't a driver who had a grievance with my riding it was some nobber who likes to buzz cyclists. Black celica old style (sega rally shape) dick in the driving seat, keep an eye out. Other than that a reasonable ride in.

What tyres for....apples

2011-08-30T14:02:00.000+01:00

I now know there's quite a few apple trees on my commute, one section of singletrack was covered in them last week, grip was erm interesting. Monday and tuesday were quiet commutes. Tuesday night me and Si did the usual, 2lads, wildeswood, ICR, pike, san marino quarries, smithills. Quite nice, load of faffage tho, Si broke a chain and my rocky mountain was creaking, has been for a while, I thought it was the shock mounts (now replaced) but nope, spent a 5 mins trying to narrow it down, bearings maybe, hmm. Anyway decent ride. Thursday was a bit of a miserable start, damp and foggy but halfway through my commute the sun came out and wow. In the woods, still a bit of mist about, sun shining through the trees, shafts of sunlight lighting up the mist, fantastic. This type of thing but more singletracky. Coming home was fun, took the scenic route and one section o ftrail was just a mass of vegetation, you'd have no idea there was a trail there at the start, hard going until I got onto a more frequently used section. The footbridge near me is still out of action, some people obviously have been climbing over the barrier as some generous soul has covered the barrier and nearby handholds with grease, again that doesn't sound like an official council actions to me. Calls to the ROW office later.

Eject, Eject! ...and more walking

2011-08-22T16:06:00.005+01:00

A guy at work (roadie) told me a couple years ago about jumping from his bike in a dodgy moment, speed, loose corner and traffic were involved can't remember the exact details. I thought why the hell would you want to jump from your bike unless you'd already crashed? Now I kinda see his point.

Full turn out on friday, me, Burk, Si and Johnnie, weather was looking good, I'd planned to do a slightly shorter newlands route in the morning then something else later so we set off early. The climb up stoneycroft gill was ok to start, good and techy, not too steep. Then it got steeper, and rockier.

Johnnie seemed to be suffering from recent lack of riding and the excesses of the night before but we were all struggling to push up high moss. The climb to Sail summit is now switchbacked and slightly easier but still not doable by any of us on the day.

(you can see our route up way over to the left of the ridge)

Some hairy moments hiking over the scar but finally we were on Crag hill, 2700ft and a good 2000ft of down to come.

The first 400ft was a screamer, fast open with a few corners and drainage ditches to contend with, bit of a pedal then onto whiteless edge. Good stuff but altho I'd brought the big bike I'd frgotten to bring the corresponding cajones, a couple of dabs plus new shoes lead to having trouble getting clipped back in and riding on top the pedals instead of in them - sketchy. Some really nice bits along there. Whiteless pike was a fair bit more tech than I expected, a couple of bits I might have managed but I bottled it and a few bits I definitley didn't have the skill for. Some sketchy off piste moments too as I over cooked a corner or two.

Johnnies gnarr face

Halfway down I flatted, burk went on ahead Si and johnnie stopped with me. Just as I was ready to go again a family came passed telling us our mate had crashed but was ok. I set off, despite knowing a friend had already stacked I still went at it pretty hard, came over the crest of a hill and saw burk, about 5ft infront of me but 20ft down oops. Properly steep grass followed by insanely steep grass then rocks then back to properly steep. I braked hard but wasn't slowing down, back was trying to skid, much more pressure and the front would too, still way too fast, more front brake, oh dear. Just as front wheel started to go over the insanely steep bit I started to bin the bike. Fortunatley stabbing my foot down to the ground managed to stop me. Phew. Behind me Si and johnnie had similar trouble but made it safely. Burk had crested the hill, seen the slope, binned his bike on the grass but still slid along, his bike was headed for a drop at the side so had to grab it and try to slow himself down at the same time - with an appreciative audience :-) Cue lots of giggling at our lucky escapes. Don't do this downhill in the wet, it would be lethal! Still lots of steep grass down to go but we carried on a little more gingerly. Climb out of buttermere was ok to begin with but soon had us walking again. Johnnie was having difficulties walking, the fancy doohickey lacing systems on one of his boots had locked so he couldn't loosen it for walking, he was quite angry about this (did someone say hopping mad?) Si and burk had grim determination etched on their faces.

So far the lads weren't impressed, too much walking/carrying and too technical downs but now we had the newlands singletrack and I was quietly confident things would turn around. Sure enough 30 seconds in and I could hear whoops behind me. A 6" wide trail of loveliness, some bits opened out where it was steep and loose and then narrowed again, fast, twisty, turny and not a walker in sight superb. Grins all round at the bottom, my route choice vindicated. Trouble is it took us over 4 hours, everyone was knackered and I was on a time limit. No time for a second ride, certainly not skiddaw which was the original plan :-( Only 12 miles but 4500 ft of climbing in that, tough going. Postride refuel, vegan porkless pie or mansized proper version?

If you want pics of the downhill speak to lowey I can't be arsed stopping halfway to whip out the camera for shakey badly taken pics.

Fair weather cyclists

2011-08-15T09:15:00.000+01:00

Friday was looking very grim and Si Johnnie and I didn't fancy driving all the way to the lakes to get rained on, plus I was never going to attempt the planned route in the rain, too rocky/technical, so we gibbed out, a local ride was mentioned but never really happened. This weekend was the STW north meets TJ ride at rivi, I made sure I was free on sunday (as did Si) but it got moved to saturday - oh well sounds like they had a good un. Me and Si decided to still do a local ride sunday, after all the wet weather I'd decided to SS it and had dismantled my geared bikes for various maintenance. Woke up sunday with a sore throat and my knees (which have been OK lately) were moaning a bit - excellent for a ss ride! Was actually ok riding tho, winter hill/san marino, heavens opened for a short spell, over to darwen via WWW, skipped the permanently wet tockholes downhill, found seom singletrack instead. Cafe stop tea and some very nice apple slice and custard, mmm. Up onto the hill, down the techy chute, steep climb to the tower and down into darwen on MrSparkles route. Heading back to bolton we ended up on some cheek near turton res where we mostly managed to avoid the sunday crowds (but were exceedingly polite to the [mostly miserable] walkers we did run into) From Bromley cross we used ginnels back streets and various less travelled routes to get back to moss bank park. Good ride, punishing SS ride, arms, legs and shoulders knackered, very tired. Nice and sunny for cleaning my bike when I got home - typical.

Nightright

2011-08-11T11:40:00.000+01:00

Tuesday night I went out for a quick spin with Si, had been commuting on road but had such a monster headwind monday and tuesday afternoon my legs were already battered. Met up at moss bank and headed up, golf course, holdens farm, 2 lads. Dropped down 2 lads, nice, wildeswood, even nicer. Decided for a change to go straight up the hill passed higher knoll farm, not tried this in yonks (school climb? commonwealth climb? can't remember what everyone else calls it), was quite dry so wasn't as bad as I thought, bet it's a bugger when wet, proper steep near the top. Up the rutted droppy climb to the pike, didn't clean that, something to work on in future. Down the steps, not done them for ages either, Si flatted on the corners just after but soon sorted that and on to ICR. On the section after the tarmac drop I could hear Si right up behind me so I started pushing it a bit, then I came to my senses, "chill Dave, you're on a hardtail stop trying to outrun him". Lots of rocks kicked up, knocked a chunk out of my crank - lucky it wasn't the frame, Si said quite a few rocks were getting flicked at him from my rear wheel - oops. Back up the hill and over to san marino. light was starting to fade but made it down pretty quick, calves were wreckin by the end, the last few little drops at the bottom jarred my legs as they started to seize up, ouch. Had to dig out our joystick backup lights for going through the quarry - sketchy, will need to bring proper lights next week I reckon. Climb up horrocks fold, drop through smithills, it was proper dark under the trees, ah tunnel vision nightriding, forgotten what it was like. Another good'un, no drama's, no mechanicals (Si's puncture apart), no bad conditions, just nice trails. Kebab on the way home - it's what emergency £5ers are for - mmm :-)

Coniston

2011-08-10T10:41:00.000+01:00

Me and burk headed up the lakes on friday, weather was looking iffy and as we parked up above coniston it was cloudy, cold and windy so I layered up. Down spoon hall was fun but after seeing chris crash last time I chickened out and unclipped on a few bits. Heading round the top of coniston we were warming up so shed some layers, then even more going up lawson park, hmm not putting on sun tan lotion may have been an error. We schlepped up lawson park, a grind but not bad. Parkamoor was excellent, nice and dry, rocky, grippy, fast, ace. We blitzed passed a family pushing bikes up and Burk said they looked in awe, seemingly impressed with speed over the rocks. apart from them the trails were deserted. The bridge from arklid farm to water yeat was closed, the farmer informed us it had been out since the '09 rains, he said "we've had to manage for 18months, you can manage a day". OK mr grumpy, a 5miles diversion didn't appeal so we found a "dangerous bridge - anglers only" foot bridge a bit further down the road and pushed through Birk Row farm. Why anglers only? maybe the locals don't like them :-)
A spot of lunch near houlker hall and across woodland fell managing no navigational errors this time. Push up to Troughton and then another grumpy local at Hole Beck cottages eventually restrained her dog but then shouted at us for nearly taking the obvious track instead of the not at all obvious bridleway passed the cottages. Got a bit lost on this climb but eventually popped out at broughton woods. During some minor faff a rider on a cube appeared just having done the road climb, quick chat I offered to show him through the woods but he wanted a rest and burk had already setoff so I went. Ridden this a few times but noticed on the map there's a section of singletrack I'd never ridden so we gave it a go, overgroan and a bit boggy at the moment. Also got attacked, an overhanging fern frond was hiding a pretty beefy bramble branch it caught in the crook of my ebow, ow. Back on the fireroad I starte dto pick the dozen or so thorns embedded in my arm, cube man caught up and joined us for the rest of the ride. He was at the end of a 2 week riding holiday, been upto scotland done all 7 stanes and worked his way down to the lakes riding most days. Not on his own tho, his GF was down in coniston busying herself while he rode, me and burk just exchanged looks, we'd never have got away with that with our respective partners, even before kids.
After the singletrack in the woods we climbed up natty bridge and on to walna scar, painful. Nearly lost a shoe by white pike when I went knee deep into the bog. Got to the quarries and without a rest (cube man's mrs was waiting) set off on the climb, ashamed to say I didn't even make it to the hairpins this time, got knocked off line and stopped, terrible effort. Walna scar down was brilliant as ever but they are in the middle of resurfacing it, Boooo! They've only done a small section from bottom of goatfoot crags at the moment, fast but silky smooth and boring as hell, hope they don't do much more. Bombed down to the car pushing the tyres to break away point on the fast gravel near the bottom, brilliant. Directed cubeman (who had done the downhill with saddle at full height - !) to spoon hall and set off for home with a quick stop at thrang crag wood for ice creams. I was (mildly) bloodied and (sun) burnt but a very good day.

Don't cross Cross Fell

2011-08-01T16:08:00.000+01:00

Soo sounds like cross fell tried to kill lowey, well it certainly broke us. Tuesday I was still tired from sundays hillathon, by the time I met with Si I'd decided to bail early so we did loweys ST (cleared that corner again, on a HT this time - woot!) and the climb up horrocks fold then took the express tarmac all the way home. Rode in weds morning to get my shock mount sorted but rested thurs. Me and Burk parked up at Kirkland, bit of cloud but looking to clear up, plan was to ride up cross fell drop to garrigill, back via tynehead/troutbeck/dun fell and the downhill to blencarn. Start of the climb was OK, warm, trails in good nick, feeling ok, riding plenty. Been up this before but as we were in thick cloud that time none of it looked familiar. Got boggy and rocky by the old workings, pushing commenced, started feeling tired and when back on the bike my line choices were dodgy, Burk asked if I was feeling alright, I wasn't. Finally got to the start of the downhill, it clouded over and a headwind picked up boooo. Dropped to gregs hut, kept going, this "downhill" had a lot of up. I started grumbling (less than 2 hours in), Gavgas had said tynehead could be boggy, all the water around suggested t would be very boggy and the dun fell peaks looked high, so we started revising the route, down to garrigill and back up the same route. At long man hill we realised it would be boring straight gravel road all the way down to garrigill. Sack that off, turn back now was the decision. We got back up to to gregg's pretty quick so we had a look round, never been in a bothy before, spartan but welcome in nasty weather I guess. The cold cloudy trudge up to the top of cross fell was depressing, moaning at myself, should have rested more, shouldn't have ridden in on wednesday, should have gone to bed earlier, should have brought a lighter bike etc etc. On the top the sun finally came out and my mood improved, just the excellent downhill to go...if we could only find it, eventually we got on track dropped our saddles and set off. Boggy bit, rocks, boggy bit, rocks, boggy bit, 5 minutes in to the downhill our max speed was 5mph, hmmm. Finally got to drier ground with a gradient and woooooohooo. 5mins later I stopped to rest my aching hands and calves, burk pulled up behind me, our discs were blue, I was sure if we lay the bikes down they'd set fire to the grass. Tink tink tink as the discs cooled down, us giggling like idiots, as soon as we could we carried on. We hit a small grassy drop and I heard burk whoop like a kid, down into to a fern sided chute, nearly hit a sheep that appeared suddenly from the bushes, hit a couple of rutted muddy sections way too fast but mananged to hold on and got to the bottom completely pumped up on adrenaline, this downhill kicks ass, superb.
Gavgas suggested the route I'd planned didn't really "get the best out of the area", what he probably meant was "it's rubbish" and he'd be right. The proper version is 40miles ouch, loweys attempted version is a more reasonable 30 but I reckon the best bet is up the west side of cross fell, push across the top and then blencarn downhill and do 2 loops, that would be 17ish miles and 5000ft climbing and a shedload of grins, maybe a winner?

Man Down

2011-07-28T08:42:00.000+01:00

A guy at work, who I knew rode a bit, came off his bike and broke his arm, in three places - ouch. Was in HDU for a while, pretty bad then. When I found out the details tho it was even worse. Riding down an off road cycle path, dog walker on one side of the track dog on other, just as our man is passing the walker called the dog over, dog runs infront of our man, he hits it and soon after hits the deck. This is something Si says he's seen a lot and he's had a good few near misses where, if the walker had just kept quiet, the dog would have stayed where it was no drama. Anyway our mans lying on the deck in a serious amount of pain having difficulty sitting up never mind standing, what does dickhead walker do? Yep walks off. Aren't some people complete arseholes? Guy had to ring his daughter to come get him and drive him to hospital, ends up in HDU, few days in hospital, out now but still not at work and won't be riding for a good while :-(

Bit of a Beasting

2011-07-25T09:03:00.000+01:00

It had to happen, been watching TdF all week so sunday I dusted off my road bike. Mrs said I had 5hours, was pretty sure I wouldn't need that long. So setoff to find as many hills as possible, started in harwood with a grinder, a couple round tottington then over to ramsbottom. Went over passed peel tower and going into a dip saw a rider speeding towards me, noticed it was samuri "awright Jon" now we were both going pretty quick, I think we both turned to see if the other was stopping for a chat, neither of us looked like stopping so we both carried on :-) Mind you what can you chat about on a road ride? MTB you can bang on for hours, which trails in good nick, crashes or close calls, riding fast or slow, is bike handling well, are the new tyres any good etc. Road ride:
Do your legs hurt yet?
yep, yours?
Yep...nice weather eh?
yep...
...
seeya
seeya
Ahem. On to the climb up grane rd, a biggy tho not quite as big as I'd expected (ridden down it a few times, thought it would be mahoosive climb), nasty little headwind. Onto broadhead drop to hoddlesdon, along to edgeworth, nice empty road flat out drops and climbs, up to the top of broadhead again, darwen, BJ alley, belmont. Legs were feeling pretty wrecked by now, checked my watch only just over 2 hours in! The climb up rivi rd properly hurt my legs but the car free flat out descent was great, just got slowed by traffic on sheep house. Up Chorley old rd to georges lane onto matchmoor, last and biggest climb of the day, the switchback onto mm nearly broke me. Scout rd then belmont rd to home absolutley shattered. The most hurt I've dished out to myself on a bike in <4hours, arms and shoulders frigged aswell as legs. 58miles 6500ft, tired today.

How Disappointing

2011-07-22T09:51:00.002+01:00

Been doing plenty of offroad commutes and all was well in the world, (yesterdays puncture not withstanding - torn sidewall) I switch to road today - partly due to rain but mainly due to getting up 30mins late - and it goes downhill. Overtake a line of waiting traffic, as I get near the front it starts moving, I find a space and move back in and over to the now useable cycle lane. A few cars later mondeo man cuts across the cycle lane slightly and starts pointing at the side of his head. Hmm, I shrug the universal "Eh?" he keeps pointing to side of his head, more like a gun pointed at his head rather than "you are tapped/mental" sign. No idea what that was about. A few minutes later at the bottom of a dip a rider absolutley flies passed me, the speed, the shaved legs and minimalist lycra shouts roadie but he's on a mtb, proper knobly tyres, off road shoes, tube taped to seatpost, maybe an xc racer then. Anyway I'm up on the pedals and catch him on the climb, keep up with him for a while on the flat almost spinning out the whole way. Guy is properly quick, I don't draft him cos some of his line choices are a bit iffy, my lack of gears mean I aint gonna stick with him on the upcoming downhill so after 10mins of suffering i ease off and save some energy for the dual carriageway. I'm well out of practice on my commuter racing.
Totally hogging the lane and caning it on the DC is still working for me so far, no dodgy passes and the few people who did get stuck behind me for a few seconds didn't start honking and screaming, nice one! I hit the lights on broad street with speed just as they were changing, big head start on the traffic so I move across to the 3rd lane for my intended destination, couple of seconds later a motor bike passes me the rider sticks his hand out left signal, right signal, left signal, right. Same guy did the same thing at the same place a few weeks ago, he obviously doesn't like my lack of signalling, hey ho. At the next set of lights he's waiting so I coast to a stop next to him, he thinks I'm going to run the red and starts to shout "red light" I calmly say "yeah I know, look mate I'm never going to signal on that stretch, I'm too busy pedalling and concentrating on not getting run over by arsehole drivers" I'm not trying for an argument, I'm calm and speak quietly, just letting him know why I don't signal there but he goes off on one saying he's done his cycle proficiency, I should signal etc etc. It's a dodgy bit of road, drivers treat it as a drag strip, there's loads of lane changing, my signals would mostly be ignored, no way I'm taking my hands off the bars and brakes there. He moans a bit more, I can't understand due to his full face helmet. Lights change we set off, further down I'm leant against a bus at a red light, I hear him behind me moaning some more, no idea what he said. Lights are about to change I edge ahead of the bus (which was half over the stop line) and biker screams about red light...which has just changed, I head off. Don't think me and him are going to get on, bet I see him again soon too.
Sun is shining now, should have dragged my arse out of bed earlier and come in offroad.

One of them really nice ones

2011-07-14T11:26:00.000+01:00

Sun shining through the trees and reflecting off the river, fast dry trails, sinuous singletrack, fresh legs, plenty of speed, leaves and twigs whipping the ends of my bars, brmc salvation on the ipod. One of those commute moments that makes me really happy to be a cyclist. Just think, some people have no idea about these little pleasures, sat in their tin boxes or packed sardine like onto the train, the usual morning monotony.

**** me, I'm a lucky sod.

All pink and lovely

2011-07-13T15:41:00.000+01:00

So it rained at weekend, I'm not a fan of mud during the spring/summer but on my commutes (same trail 4 times in 2 days) I've been watching the trail slowly dry out, puddles recede and buffness return, it's kinda cool, I like it. Still prefer sun and dust tho. Went out riding last night, while trying to decide on a route Si suggested great hill, I was worried it would be boggy but we went with it. It was a bit boggy, at one point my left foot just sank into the turf, upto my bloody knee, pulled it out sharpish, fortunatley shoe still attached. Other than that not too bad, just a bit soft for pedalling. A cracking run down to the steps, no one else about so brakes off, full speed ahead. Si managed to ding his front rim (crest) so badly the tubeless wouldn't reseal, that's got me worried, I'm just about to build up a crest on a rear wheel for my ETSX, to replace the 6month old multiple-y dinged xt wheel. Maybe crest are a bit fragile for me....hmm. Dropping in to white coppice a couple of gullys with mud in but other wise it's riding very well. Good shout Si. Johnnie split there, me and Si rode back round anglezarke, sun was setting looking very red, reflected in the water, gorgeous, wish I'd had a camera. Left Si at the barn I rode back up to georges lane and blitzed home on road, downhill all the way weeeee.

Clapham again

2011-07-11T22:00:00.000+01:00

Another iffy looking forecast so I took Burk round Tony's clapham loop. It was nice and sunny on the way up, I actually broke out the suncream. I pulled my mmmbop out of the car and realised I'd been messing with the cranks recently but hadn't tightened them up properly, eek no 8mm allen key, Burk who has the same cranks didn't either. Bugger. I knocked on Tonys pad but no answer (i was going to say hi anyway, would be rude not to when riding his trails:-) ), fortunatley across the road some guys were fitting solar panels and they had one. Life saver. Out uphill under the bridges didn't seem so bad this time, along to woodend, at meldings barn we ran into trouble, seriously overgrown trail, full of nettles, brambles and other various flora. Nightmare, kept going for most of it getting stung every 30 seconds or so but got so bad we were wobbling along there was a good chance one of us would come a cropper and end up falling into nettles. We chucked the bikes over a wall and rode through the field, legs were still stinging saturday afternoon! We looped round to feizor and climbed over to Wharfe. I warned Burk about the slab after the ford but it looked nowt special and as it was dry we both rode it no drama. Slog upto Long Scar and along the top, sulber nick was just as difficult as last time but the drop back to Wharfe was well worth it, fun and games all the way back to thwaite lane, fast grassy twisty start, some rocky bits thrown in and all that wall lined narrow track winding it's way down the hill. On the way back to clapham it started raining but not too bad and cleared again. The bakery at higher benton supplied post ride replenishment, ham mini quiche and pork pie was all they had left but mmm, wow they have some tasty pigs round there! Another decent day despite the forecast, mind you we got stuck in a proper torrential downpour in blackrod, flooded roads, zero visibility and hale. Felt sorry for the 2 roadies we passed, unlucky.

Buff

2011-07-07T10:27:00.003+01:00

noun

1. A person who is enthusiastically interested in and very knowledgeable about a particular subject
verb buffed, past participle; buffed, past tense; buffing, present participle; buffs, 3rd person singular present
1. Polish (something)
2. Give (leather) a velvety finish by removing the surface of the grain

adjective

1. Being in good physical shape with fine muscle tone
2. Loweys secret singletrack
Tuesday nightride was shifted to monday this week due to weather forecast and it was lovely. I was runnnig late, Charlie was playing in the garden, I went to say bye and he ran towards me falling flat on his face. Whilst I maybe should have patted him on the back said "pain is just weakness leaving the body son, bye" and left, I didn't think it would go down well with anybody so stayed for a while. Up winter hill quicktime, managed to get from 2 lads to rivi school in a not too shabby 10mins, everything riding really well. Met up at rivi only to find Johnnie and Si both with the same riding top on as me, go team Aldi! How embarrassing. Straight up the hill, new rule, no stopping to chat in woods, got eaten alive last week at the gate near the top barn. Upto the pike, few people about, over to hole in the wall and up to the mast. From there we dropped down the singletrack passed the shooting hut, only ridden up this before, quite nice at the moment, don't fancy it in winter tho.

Over to the singletrack, awesome, really good, long twisty turny ribbon of trail. Some corners you couldn't see due to long grass just guess the line stay loose and hope. We got down to the second stile, I think we all rode everything upto that point. Next was the steep end section and that last corner, I rode upto it but didn't fancy my chances. There is a line above the corner coming in from the other side, I pushed up that and had a go, another refusal but managed it 2nd time, cool. Si had a crack whilst Johnnie commented "it's just a bit steep with some lumps" Si binned it but soft landing in the ferns. Johnnie had a go, just aiming to get further than Si, he fell of at the same spot, whoops. I pointed out if he'd gone OTB he'd have beaten Si but he wasn't having it. Quarries next which everyone rode first time despite Johnnie noticing how big the drop to the right was (someone was stood there first time he rode it) Back up horrocks fold and Smithills dean, here I split as it was getting late but which way?...ooh go on then I'll do Loweys ST again :-)

Light was fading but hit it just as fast, was feeling tired and had a near miss or two, coming up to the last corner I was in two minds but just went with it....and cleaned it! I was well impressed, never thought I'd ride it, I was well made up. Had to tell someone and I knew even if my Mrs was up when I got home (unlikely) she'd say "oh" which is exactly what she did on tuesday morning, so I text Johnnie, his reply was, predictably, "video or it didn't happen" grrr. So down through the quarry and long road downhill home racing the dark, big grin plastered across my face. Will have to try it again soon.

Yes it was a bit

2011-07-02T22:30:00.002+01:00

I'd booked Friday off for a ride but I had no one to ride with so I planned a biggy, with no one to complain about the climbs being too steep or the descents too scary or the route was too long or that their legs were hurting* I had a blank canvas. High street would be involved, I parked in Kentmere climbed out of the valley, up dubbs and garburn road. It was a lovely morning and the trail was a lot better than last time I went up there this time I managed to ride the first few corners then I started being sensible, lots of miles and climbing to go so chill out and don't attack silly climbs. Up to garburn pass then climb to the yoke, on a seriously steep bit I pedalled hard and thought "dig deep dave" then I remembered the route and amended it to "don't dig deep, dig shallow...with one of those plastic spades" Dropping from Yoke I went over an innocuous rock not very hard and got a flat. Grrr, ust tyre was at 45psi (!) full of sealant but wouldn't seal. Pushed up Ill Bell to give it some time but nope still wouldn't seal. Bunged in a downhill tube in and pumped it up to 60ish. Gave a rough sluggish ride (>400g tube) but no more problems. Ill Bell descent was mental didn't ride much of the top at all. Froswick was better, then I got to the thornthwaite crag beacon, cool never been here before. On to riggindale straits and onto the ullswater classic loop, one of my favourite rides. Along the undulating trail to Loadpot and the loooong gentle descent to the cockpit, lovely. The route to howtown has changed over the years, now has loads of G-out gulleys/rollers, hit them at top speed and it's awesome, which with no walkers around is what I did. At howtown the nice lady at the pub refilled my camlebak and I set off to do the ullswater trail, at 12:30 oh dear. It was packed with walkers but I'm happy to say they were all nice people moved out of the way as I rode, when I was pushing they chatted, just a lovely vibe going on. Minted. The trail was as good as usual, I got a clean run at all the down and along bits and I pushed up all the hard climbs. I was feeling the strain at patterdale, at this point my original plan was to turn round, do the ullswater trail in reverse, go up boredale hause and drop back into patterdale before heading back to high street, but after mapping it at 46miles/10500ft climbing total I'd decided I probably wouldn't bother with that bit, I was right. A quick change (how nice is a fresh riding top after 5 hours of hot weather riding?) and on to the soul destroying slog that is the climb upto the Knott. Purgatory, absolute bloody nightmare, 2miles 1800ft I walked about 90% of it, carrying my bike up the grass staircase I was having serious doubts about finishing, legs were dead I was almost out of water and I had a long way to go. Flapjacks, powergel, serious talking to, keep going. Finally hit high street and it got easier, did a lot of riding up to thornthwaite and I felt lots better, I skipped Froswick peak taking the route around it, slogged up to Ill Bell, another carry, and finally made it to Yoke, from here it was pretty much all downhill to the car, over 3 miles of it. Pitched staircase to start, flat out hardpack, some rocky/grassland singletrack, then onto the rockfest of garburn pass. My arms and legs were wrecked by the time I got to the car. Battered, righteous complete muscle fatigue, home for a long soak and a lot of sleep. Hardest ride of the year, I didn't have a camera but if you squint and add a dash of imagination this ~~photoshopped~~ mspainted pic from last winters ride should give you some idea ;-)

Apologies to deejay for murdering his very nice picture

*only joking guys, you know I like social rides really)

Over ambitious

2011-06-30T16:12:00.000+01:00

Does 46miles with 10500ft of climbing sound too much? Hmm I can feel a loooong road bailout option coming up.

Sun's shining get riding

2011-06-29T13:08:00.000+01:00

Gorgeous morning ride into work monday, trails a bit wet but drying nicely, sting-o-rama tho, all the trailsides are overgrown, have to push brake levers out so they don't get pulled by passing vegetation. Couple of dog related emergency stops too, if your dog "goes" for riders/people keep it on a lead please, good job I slow down and cover the brakes round pooches. Met my mrs and kids in the park on the way home and we watched charlie going up and down the big slide....repeatedly :-) He does like slides. Yesterday's commute was just as nice, ride home went a bit wonky tho. A few weeks ago on the narrow section near clifton works, metal fence left side, wooden post/metal tube cross bars on the right, I managed to clip my handlebar on wooden post, front wheel swung right and hit the next post stopping me dead back end lifted and saddle hit the fence and the bike jammed in place. I was a bit shook up but ok, my 1998ish flite saddle was ripped, grrrrr. Anyway last night I managed to clip my bars again, same spot but this time I managed to straighten up but my body went left and my shoulder hit the metal fence, a few times actually, at about 12mph. Bit of a cheese grater effect, ouch. Got me thinking tho, rufty tufty mtbers always seem to have arms and legs covered in grazes, bruises, lumps gouged out of their shins etc, I don't, guess I just don't push myself hard enough, not sure if thats good or bad as I am ~~a big girls blouse~~ quite averse to pain.

Tuesday night ride, I was short on time so went down hole in the wall instead of 2lads, normally boring or proper sketchy on mud and wet grass but now, bone dry it's very fast and quite fun! Down wildes and met up with Johnnie and Si only a little late. Up to the pike and over to winter hill where we met GavinB, by the looks of it one of the aformentioned rufty tufty scuffed mountain bikers (I assume, dunno, maybe he wrestles lions for a living) waiting for a slow group of bikers (his words) on their way down to vacate the trail and give him a clean run. We chatted for a few mins then Gavin set off I gave him a bit of a start then chased, so I'm competitive, so sue me. He is quick! Him on HT me on FS and I assume I have the home advantage but that didn't amount for much. I was flying, pushing a bit harder than usual, at that speed it was tricky to tell if I was catching up, if I was I wasn't closing the gap very quickly. Anyway about halfway he pulled up, I'm sorry to say I shot straight passed, Si and Johnnie both checked he was ok (double puncture) Flying down more punture-ees said Hi as I passed, hit the bottom and the rest of the group, turns out it was lowey and friends, think it was wors who'd flatted, so we had a chat. Down Belmont road to the quarry, where we all managed the drop off chute, back up to scout rd and up winter hill, it was getting late and I was now heading away from home but it was too nice to stop. So back down hole in the wall, halfway down wildes where I eventually split, up old rake and down georges. Noticed I'd got a flat, fairly slow one tho so stop top it up then ride very fast. Managed on just 2 stops, tyre is only 2 rides old, dissappointing.
Gavin has done a vid, an edit, 1st half of it is the run where I was chasing, second half is from his earlier first run.

Skipton, the return.

2011-06-28T11:41:00.000+01:00

Burk was up for a ride so booked friday off, weather was looking mixed, turned out to be warmish but proper cloudy. After we did this ride last year Si said he fancied a go at it, I recommended waiting till after a dry spell and I was right. We parked up and set off, steep climb to start naturally. Up onto Sharp Haw on Flasby fell, the descent to Flasby is a cracker but today it was proper muddy so slower than last time and I quickly regretted having neither rear crud guard nor waterproof shorts. Road to Hetton then the long climb up rylstone fell. Once again I fluffed the steps near the top (no one else to blame this time), went back for another go, got passed the steps but was offline and soon had to stop, grrr. The route across the tops was fun apart from the multitude of puddle and the approach to embsay was a slog instead of a gentle singletrack freewheel. The crag was awesome as usual, dry and now free of ferns so it seemed easier as you could spot your line easier. I refused a steep chute switchback as I got blown off line on the entry, Burk followed suit but the rest was sketchily doable, brilliant.

No pub stop at Embsay village this time, along to Halton east and up moor lane where it went a bit wonky. Burks legs imploded (same spot as last time) I realised my PDA only had 1:50k map for the 2nd half of the route but wouldn't display the route ontop of it and we were quickly running out of time as Burk had to pick up his nipper from nursery. So scrap the 2nd half of the ride again, back to car via embsay again. Back to the crag and I managed to ride the chute, a right then left hander, the line through the 1st corner sends you straight at a big rock, I managed to get on top of it, lift the back end round a bit (thank the big S for SPDs) and down the second bit. Burk managed the first bit but couldn't get the back end round and had to dab but a good effort. A few not very short cuts got us to the car. Not a bad ride but will have to return again (after a dry spell) to do the full route.

Plenty to say

2011-06-23T08:52:00.000+01:00

Took charlie out for a spin in leverhulme park on saturday, first time off road since his first ever ride. He doesn't like the fast bumpy bits (downhill with a kicker at the bottom) but he likes getting sideways round gravelly corners :-) Brand new hope hoops don't like getting sideways on gravelly corners, managed to put a bit of a wobble on them. Not sure how much is the rim and how much is the not so good halo ust tyre. We went down to the river and he walked straight into it and had a splash around, then we went for a run around on the footy field, nice.
A rather nice commute on monday, the baby bunnies and geese were out, the trails were dry, the sun was shining, few people about on the way home so got a lot of use out of my bell (which I've just noticed has n+1 written on the side :-) ) everyone friendly having a nice day, top stuff. Bagged myself a pair of oakley MX goggles on the way home too, might be useful for wet downhill days. Tuesday was a bit grim so back on the road. Now stabiliser has almost scared me off riding dual carriageways I think his report on how normal inoffensive drivers gang up with their collective stupidity to kill cyclists is bang on. I've had a couple of 4x4 drivers swerve round me at the last minute and the person behind (too close behind) come passed incredibly close. I've been dodging the 50mph DC on my commute but the alternatives aren't great. A slow cycle route which has 1 chicane and 6 slalom gates within a quarter mile. A road route, extra 1.5miles, a section of narrow 30 limit rd which often has speeders rat running, a roundabout where I turn right and often get drivers (also turning right) going round it the wrong way to over take me followed by a fast downhill heavy with traffic and lots of side roads for people to pull out on me. After trying various routes I'm back to the DC but totally hogging the left lane to prevent the above. But instead of just primary I'm between dead centre of lane and the right of centre, 2 mornings of that haven't been too bad, no attempted kills, no beeps either (yet) tho I have noted a few drivers muttering to themselves whilst passing me. See how it goes.
No-one else could make tuesday night ride and my mrs looked tired so I stayed home, went out for a ride last night instead. Got a bloody flat again down wildeswood (ust tyre+stans), pumped it back up and it stayed put for rest of ride (and overnight) dunno whats going on there, burping, badly applied rim strip (that'll be me then) or just crap tyre. 2lads, wildes, pike, san marino, quarry, home through eagly and hall ith wood. Very tired at the end, fish, chips, cake, strawberrys and a bucket of tea to replenish energy.
Might have bagged myself a bargain, dt240 wheel, mint condition rim, totally shagged bearings, much cheapness. Will have to see how much it costs to get it up and running before I decide if it was bargain or bust, I did a full bearing change on my very similar 440 for £25ish so fingers crossed.

Betrayed...again

2011-06-17T15:14:00.002+01:00

So another friday, another grim forecast, another road commute cop out, another lovely day. Grrr! Weather forecasters haven't got a bloody clue have they? I'd actually booked today off, planned a ride with Burk who rang in sick last night with a note from his mum. "Please excuse mark from games this week as he has ~~diori~~ ~~diareer~~ ~~diareaor~~ he's got a dicky tummy." Weather forecast as mentioned was grim turning grimmer becoming biblical in places. The Mrs already had plans, charlie was at nursery so I cancelled my day off and am now sat at work blinded by the sunlight reflecting off the building opposite. (I am aware as soon as I hit Post and gear up for the ride home it will piss down)
Went out for a quick ride last night instead, the Mmmbop is finally built up again after stripping it for the blinglespeed and the hope hoop I bought 5months ago was finally used in anger. As soon as I got off road I broke a spoke (which tart thought red alloy nipples were a good idea?) Wheel stayed true tho. Up the valley, hall i'th wood and eagley were wet with some lethal cobbles and mossy tarmac, looks like I'm still dodging the rain. Bike felt ok, had a few things to tweak seems sorted now. Tried some new trails with mixed results. A good climb up to horrocks fold, rubbish descent down the other side, some flights of steps to jump, some boggy bits. Got home and chilled out for a bit including extolling the virtues of stans + sealent on a public forum so obviously when I went to put bike away I had a flat. Grrr. I pumped it back up, give it a shake and it was still fine this morning, maybe I got a puncture near home and it didn't get chance to seal. Now booked more days off work, hope these work out better for riding.

uppy downy stuff

2011-06-16T13:17:00.000+01:00

Just me and Si out on tuesday and I had borrowed junkyards old gravity dropper to give it a go. Easy enough to fit, cable routing might be a pain it's a bit in the way at the moment. Rode up to meet Si and I noticed some play straight away, bit of rotational sideways waggle but some fore/aft too. The key and guide can be replaced on GDs so rotational should be fixable dunno about fore/aft. Up barrow bridge and winter hill and on to 2 lads, dropper is only a 3" version so for proper downhills I need to lower seatpost anyway, down 2 lads we went, not bad, drier than I expected, good run and down the top half of wildeswood too. Back up old rake and hole in the wall. San marino was faaaaaast, along belmont rd up scout rd and down through the quarries, Si had a bit of trouble but not too much. Up horrocks fold to scout rd car park and drop into smithills, up smithills dean rd back to scout rd again! Round to walker fold and we dropped down into barrow bridge ending with the 63 steps, well sketchy, varying length steep steps, guard rail on both sides so pretty narrow and tricky to get into a rythmn. I got down slowly but not exactly comfortable. Si went down a few steps then suffered a bit of a refusal so I pushed back up and we went looking at an alternate route...which turned out to be a completely unrideable staircase. Back to 63steps then, I started even slower this time but the front wheel would flip flop left and right alternatly as you corrected, over corrected, corrected again until I got 3/4s of the way and let go of the brakes. Easiest way might be to let go the brakes at the top and rip all the way down but lots of bottle and/or a DH bike needed.
Then we split and I headed home fast, which is where I started to appreciate the GD. Pedal pedal pedal, seat down bunny hop big kerb, seat up, pedal pedal, down, flick bike left/right round tight chicane, up, pedal, down, steep roll in, up pedal. I normally do my route home without messing with the seat, no problem but I could get round/over/down the obstacles quicker without having the seat in the way, no slow down at all to nail the bunnyhops, hardly any braking needed for the corners or roll in, just hammer it all the way. Would be great for the 1 or 2 ~~races~~ events I do each year and for fast solo rides. I knew a compulsive saddle dropper like me would want one as soon as I tried it. I still think they are heavy, expensive and (possibly) shonky but...maybe I'll get one, we'll see.

I am the rain (dodge) king

2011-06-13T15:13:00.000+01:00

Last week it pissed it down all week, but I somehow managed to get a full week (well 4 days) commuting and a nightride with out getting wet. Monday I managed to miss the showers, tuesday too, got home it was looking a bit grim so I grabbed the SS and went out. Just as I was getting to burnt edge there were a few drops of rain but I turned round and bolton was engulfed in a wall of rain, a pretty double rainbow too. Could clearly see the main one curving from markland hill to horrocks fold and a fainter one above it, nice and a lucky escape for me. While descending I passed some riders going up hole in the wall, down to the barn and another big group of riders just setting off from there, amongst other, plenty of riders about. Met Johnnie and we decided for a change to go round Lead mines clough. Across belmont old rd and met the guys from hole in the wall on the descent from rivington rd. Chatted to them for a while then we dropped into Lead mines and caught up with the big group from the barn, luckily they were at the gate halfway up the climb back out so I cleaned the whole climb for the first time (ever I think but def 1st time SS). A mooch round the res then off home via the pike. Thursday was more of the same everywhere I went the road was wet and full of puddles but no rain. Friday was forecast thunder and rain so I ditched the idea of riding in xc and took the road bike again but of course it was fine and sunny all day (well until 5 anyway). Grrrr. Took the long route home and pushed a bit harder than usual, after which I spent all weekend coughing, always seem to have something wrong with me lately, not properly ill just niggly stuff, can't remember the last time I felt 100%. Dunno whats up, it's certainly not overtraining.

It's not always about the ride you know.......well not all the time.

2011-06-05T20:46:00.002+01:00

or Two Blogs Collide, if you prefer.
Wednesday the weather forecast was looking up so I text the usual suspects about riding on friday. No response from lowey, the rest negative, Johnnie had DIY to do sommat about connecting his water supply but I soon set him straight nice weather, not been out in ages, we were riding. Thursday we set plans, 7am start, a couple of lakes routes planned. Then Lowey text, him and his chums were already in the lakes and were riding walna scar on friday, did we want to join them? Hmm crack of dawn hikeabike slog with techfest downs or join the slackers club, late start, a relaxed pace, probably beer fuelled ride with pub and swim stop...? I'll take option B please.
We got stuck in traffic so the start at torver was even later, me, johnnie, lowey, toss, weest, and chris. The lads were feeling a little hungover and the steeeeep tarmac start did not help. It was already hot and not a breath of wind about, lovely if a little uncomfortable for riding in. We dropped down to water yeat bridge all happy, getting into riding mode. Up Long Mire where Chris spotted some newts (I've not seen any in person before) and over on to park head road. The drop to seathwaite is a classic, rocky but a fast and a lot of fun. Lowey went ahead to take pics, I charged down after loving it. I stopped at the first gate, Johnnie and chris soon caught up. Looking back I could see the other 3 a bit away then disaster I saw someone go over the bars and their bike land ontop of them. It was lowey and he stayed down a long time. Weest and Toss were there with him but it was a tense few minutes for us at the gate until we saw him get up and carry on. Only a bit cut and bruised (lucky considering the terrain) but his back brake was wrecked. Ouch. The next section has been sanitised, ie they've dumped a load of clay like soil ontop of the rocks and turned it into a quagmire :-( A slightly subdued pub stop, the heat and stark reminder of the consequences of mistakes meant there was only me boozing (and only a half at that) Next we went up the valley to a gorgeous spot on Tarn Beck, a little pool with small water fall either end. It felt icey cold at first but got used to it and standing under the waterfall was fantastic, the most powerful jacuzzi ever, magic! Toss was getting a little over excited, he seemed to be enjoying it a little too much :-)
Eventually carried on to walna scar. Stop for a rock climb at the bottom then the long long slog to the top. Took us well over an hour to get to the top, heads were dunked in Long Hall Gill at several points in a failed effort to keep cool. A long rest at the quarries til loins were sufficiently girded for the final section. I set off riding very dubious of managing much but I kept on keeping on, up the steep bit round the switch back until about 10meters from the top where a teeny tiny stone knocked me off line I went off trail left, swung back on tghen straight off the right where I collapsed and didn't move for quite a long while. Bugger!
Regroup at the top where a couple of us discovered just how dehydrated we had become.
We set off down, I'd pushed too hard on the way up I was feeling a bit rubbery and it took me a while to get into it, Lowey was having a bit of a 'mare, unsurprisingly considering the lack of rear brake, everyone else was whooping with delight. We eyed up the drop off halfway down, with a new big run off ditch hazard, only Chris had the bottle to jump it. Seeing him bin it (yes in the ditch) the rest of us rolled it. Down spoon hall, wet rock sketch, and onto the campsite, the guys stripped my bike for spares while lowey drove me to get my car.
A pretty short 6hour ride with an average speed to make our trip to Boot last year look quick (despite which I was still knackered by the end) but nonetheless a brilliant day out. Definitley the best option, cheers for the invite lads.

Finished

2011-05-23T14:25:00.001+01:00

Absolutley brilliant, a little short for my liking, (but i think they could have made it 10 times longer and I'd still have complained) definitley the funniest game I've ever played. There is a co-op mode which would drag out the playtime but I'd need some geek friends and/or a decent internet connection for that. Get it, it's awesome.
"I'm going to attempt a manual over ride on this wall, could get a bit technical. hang on!"

Quickies

2011-05-20T23:31:00.000+01:00

Managed to sneak out for a couple of night rides, no word from johnnie so went on my own tuesday, I was dressed up for monsoon weather and it actually wasn't bad so I overheated plenty :-( Up winterhill where I noticed my brand new chaintug had fallen apart, the threaded bar had unthreaded and dropped off! Useless, wheel had shifted in dropouts. Turns out shimano QRs done up well bastard tight will hold the wheel in place OK. Down 2lads, wildes, pike, hole in't wall were my lack of fitness showed, I was broken, ended up pushing! Then back home slowly the way I came looking for the missing chaintug parts, no luck.
Tonight was a bit better, certainly faster and felt stronger, sun was doing it's best impression of a balmy summer evening despite the chill in the air and water on the ground, sneaky bugger! Up winterhill (bloke parked up getting some very close attention to his lap from his passenger) down san marino, was riding through belmont after only 60mins of riding, cool. Along WW and upto Darwen tower, along the backs to whitehall and home via roller coaster, turton tower and finally the chicken run along the railway. 28miles in 2.5hours, some road miles perked the average up but I'm happy with that, finally a quick(ish) ride - remember that getting quick plan? Well it's not going too well so far.
Oh and both rides were done without lowering the saddle (worried about delaminating my carbon seatpost possibly an unwise purchase that), how the hell do people manage to go quick like that? dunno how much slower I actually am on the downhills but it feels like lots. When I'm stood up and I want to bend my knees I can only drop a couple of inches before my arse hits the saddle how do you soak up drops/impacts with that much travel/movement? If only dropper seatposts weren't so expensive, heavy and shonky.

Well I never knew that

2011-05-19T22:59:00.001+01:00

Wilderswood , my favourite local downhill, didn't used to be a wood and it used to have a gert big castle (well a big hoose anyway) on top, Rockhaven Castle right next to georges lane. Saw a book at my dads about old horwich, some interesting stuff in there, I'd never even heard the name rockhaven before. Down at the bottom of the downhill there used to big a whopping great textile factory aswell. The mill was knocked down early last century, the castle was knocked down during WW2 cos it was feared it would be a useful navigation/fixing point for german bombers aiming for the locomotive works and apparently "some stone travelled to America in the form of ballast in the grain ships". Area was then forested over later, for which I am quite appreciative :-)

Home at last

2011-05-09T10:44:00.000+01:00

Happy now :-)

Downside

2011-05-06T15:30:00.000+01:00

Now the not so good stuff. When Mrs woke me at 1:30am to tell me she was in labour we called the hospital and they said the 2 community midwives on call had just finished a delivery but had to go back to base and do paperwork and it would be "dangerous" to send them out to us, we had to sit and hold tight til 8am, they suggested the mrs go back to bed to slow things down a bit! Big black mark there then. Fortunatley mother in law has done significant midwife training, she came round and said it was early days yet (she was still as pissed off as us at the treatment tho) and as it turned out things didn't progress too quick and 8 was a reasonable time for the midwifes to show (and they were good)
When he was born alex was breathing very hard very quick and his oxygen levels were low so after some umming and arring an ambulance was called (again) and mum and baby went to hospital. Looks like it was probably just fluid inhaled during labour so hopefully they'll be back tomorrow, fingers crossed.
Cleaning up after a homebirth is grim. My mrs would recommend a water birth, I would recommend a waterbirth at a hospital, I'm pretty sure fathers don't have to strain (bleurgh) drain and scrub down the pools at hospital post partem.
In hospital last night mrs was feeling dizzy, prob low blood sugar, wanted a drink so I went to get a coke or another tasty sugary beverage. Nope the hospital has a veto on sugary drinks, not allowed, not even the perennial hospital visitors favourite lucozade. Not a thing. Kind of a health trip, promoting ~~healthier~~sweetener addled drinks so I'm half with them on this, but seeing as how you can buy as many creme eggs/marsbars/doubledeckers as you can stuff down your fat hole to go with your "healthy" drink I'm left feeling a bit pissed off that I can't have a full fat coke despite foregoing a calorific chocolate feast. Proper health policy or none at all please.

That was wierd

2011-05-05T21:41:00.001+01:00

Mrs giving birth to our second child in our front room, she always wanted a "home confinement" but last time it wasn't to be, complications. This time she wanted a home thingy with added wet. This is Charlies inflatable pool at his grandpas

and this is the behemoth his mum bought for his lil' siblings water birth.

Thats a hell of an upgrade for charlie's paddling pool next summer! Easily fit 2 adults in there, 3 or 4 if you're good friends ;-) Took 10minutes to inflate with leccy pump but an hour to fill. Helped a lot with pain relief apparently altho it was a bit dark inside the pool for the midwives (3 of them!) to see what they were doing so I broke out the hope 4. "Ooh that's bright isn't it?" money well spent! Mrs started flagging after 10 hours of contractions so I pepped her up with some caffeine power gels, sickly sweet temporary recovery food stuff of champions. It was getting on, things didn't seem to be progressing so an ambulance was called. As we heard the sirens the mother in law pulled the gas&air out of mr good wife's mouth and said "MTFU and push" (I may be paraphrasing). And lo with some mighty heaving and a fair bit of screaming Alex* was born.

Awesome and the bike geek in me is proud to know the lighting and nutritional needs of this home confinement were supplied by my hobby :-)

For those who care about such things weight was an eye watering 10lb 6oz, it has to be said he looks the double of charlie, well actually more of a 1.5 scale replica than a double.

*provisionally, we both like alex but his full name sounds bloody stupid, especially in a bolton accent (we only realised this when the midwife asked us for his name for the notes). Hmm.

Boltons burning!

2011-05-05T03:41:00.001+01:00

Glorious weather all weekend, I managed to avoid most of the royal wedding tho we went to my mums in the afternoon and saw the last 5 mins of the 8 HOURS of coverage on the BBC. The news came on straight after, number one story "there's been a wedding today" FFS! Anyway monday afternoon I finally made it out for a short ride. Took the heckler decided to do some downhills, up wildes to san marino, new brakes to bed in so thought this would be the place, nope. Horrendous headwind meant I only braked twice all the way down and even had to pedal in plases to keep above walking pace! Back up and then down the shoulder, lots of brake dragging there, bedded in nicely now :-). The view was unusual to say the least. Johnnie hasd text on saturday to say rivi was ablaze, I didn't notice much round rivi but great hill was black. Headed over to spitlers edge, a couple of fire engines at the top of rivi road. Thought they might stop me but no I headed off across the moor, when I got to the slabs the fire had spread up there but was just smoking now.

Hmm. Carried on to the top of great hill and the devastation was even more widespread and swtill a lot of smoking.

It was hellish windy on top but it was a tailwind all the way to white coppice, the downhill was excellent, the best it's been riding for about 10years, the middle section is completely dry now and I barely had to pedal. I flew down it, speed speed speed. Brilliant. Over to rivi via lead mines, up to pigeon tower and back down ICR then back up to the pike, did that, 2 lads and wildeswood, brilliant ride. Was battered next day.
Anyway I better cut this short, looks like wife definitley is in labour after all.

April roundup

2011-05-03T15:24:00.000+01:00

Best XC month ever, while I've manged a 500 mile month a few times before this is the first time I've done over 400 miles offroad. I'm quite proud of that, pity I haven't had the opportunity to go further afield, would have loved to do some lakes/peaks/dales trips but not had chance. Hope to make it up to bowderdale and swaledale to do some green carpet riding before the trails turn to mush again, fingers crossed. Lots of offroad commutes have been fun, no rants and moans about idiot drivers, just peaceful, picturesque stillness and a good start/finish to the working day.

Black Ops

2011-04-24T12:21:00.003+01:00

I'm blessed with a brilliant family but I'm also cursed with a mountain biking obsession. As obsessions go it's not bad, it's healthy, it's not illegal - apart from the odd civil infringment, sure it can cost a bit but the biggest problem is it's a time sink - not a good mix with a young family. For a few very good reasons I'm not allowed to ride at weekends at the moment, so family stuff all day yesterday, put charlie to bed at 7 then out for a ride. A proper ride, my legs were due a beasting. Been working on a definitive 3towers ride, the standard direct route is a bit boring so been working in some stuff from various routes.
Usual nightride start, barrow bridge upto 2 lads, kennel, wildeswood, bastard climb, pike, proper nice sunset, welsh hills, red sun reflecting on sea, blackpool tower, morecambe bay and cumbria hills (I think).

rubbish phone pic but you get the idea.
Down the pike, climb hole in the wall, winter hill mast and down san marino. Mistimed a drop and flatted, bugger. Precious time wasted sorting that. Belmont res road whilst not open has been modified so pedestrians can cross it (yay) across to tockholes where I picked up Mr Sparkles nightride route, got a bit lost round roddlesworth, back on track down by earnsdale, up lions den, down the tech little chute from loweys rivi ride, upto the tower then down sunnyhurst. Halfway down hitting 25-30ish some enormous beast ran across the trail right in fornt of me, had to brake to miss it. Figured out it was a hare but it was the size of a frickin dog! Down and across to whitehall along the little ginnel, setting of everyone's outside lights - sorry paul :-) Upto cadshaw, legs were feeling a bit shot but figured I only had 2 climbs to do to get to peel tower. Sure I'd have to ride home somehow but thats just details.
Crowthorne was hardwork, thats one long climb, quarlton holcombe and the steep, steep climb up peel, phew, done, noticed it was 11:30, oops. Down the stepy rocky route Mr S showed us, then backup the steep climb almost to the top to do another one Mr S pointed out, also good. Properly tired, lack of concentration had me off, going up a steepy bit, just as I was gonna heft up a step section back wheel slipped and bike stopped dead, ended up doubled up over the bars and off to the side, handlebar in the face - nice. Dropped down crowthorn, my route runs into a bit of a dead end here, only off road route I'd found is via the jumbles which is a bit pants so decided to gib out down the road. Mrs Called me at that point "Where the #@$! are you? it's gone midnight!" ahem. As I was passing I called at Turton tower to cross that off too. home for 12:30, legs shot, nice.

Would have been happier if it was a 50miler but it'll do. Good time to be out, quiet, cool and a useful time to get some riding in. As some guy said, soaking up the hours everyone else throws away.

More haste less speed

2011-04-21T15:45:00.001+01:00

Spring '11, rather good so far eh? Rode into work offroad monday, lovely, the (longer diversionary) ride home was slightly marred by some knob blocking the trails with branches and logs. Tool! Straight to and from work tuesday, nice. Tuesday night I met Si and Johnnie at rivi, climbed to the pike where we met 3 mtb girls discussing the porn photo shoot they had passed on the way up! A nakid young lady getting her picture taken, some wierdo/stalker came over with his tackle out (which apparently was bedecked with elastic bands) and she let him kiss her breasts. Hmmm, dunno how accurate their story was but very amusing anyway. We went over to winter hill down san marino, up san marino, down the shoulder, along the cobbled road (still plenty of puddles, how?!) and down ICR where I nearly went OTB somehow. Johnnie split there me and Si descended to the barn I stopped at the gate then heard a very loud clattering. Si's rear wheel had pinch flatted rather badly at about 25mph and his back wheel took a battering in the time it took to stop - eek.

Yesterday Burk came out of hibernation and we took a trip down to Lee Quarry. His first ride in 6 months and my legs were toast, well matched then! First half of red route, a quick play in the skills area then a trek up to crag quarry. It's a long way, surface hasn't been tamped down yet either so hard going. We did a loop of crag, there's been an extra little bit added but unfortunatley winter has taken it's toll. Quite a lot of top surface has been washed away on some berss exposing the rocks beneath which then dislodge and scatter around the trail. Still a good run and burk gave it the thumbs up. Back to LQ. Lots of new stuff near the pump track, a bigger jumpier pump track that I couldn't ride properly. A bmx-esque track and some practice step down jumps of varying size, awesome just what I need. Unfortunatley the middle and larger ones you land and immediatley hit a berm, no chance to right yourself so if you land a little wonky you're probably gonna stack. Doesn't seem right to me, I reckon practice stuff should have nice smooth run in and out, once you've got the manouver dialled then you try the same move "in situ"
Ho hum. We were both pretty tired so finished with a full run of the red from the top of the quarry, pretty good until I hit the jumps at the bottom, going too fast landed a little dodgy on the entrance to a right/left chicane, bottled it grabbed a fistful of brake and straightlined the chicane, over a berm, off course and nearly stacked. Idiot. I need to smarten up, my 3 point plan is:
1. Ease off the speed slightly and i'll retain much more control.
2. when it goes pear shaped dont tense up, stay relaxed.
3. stop grabbing brakes when the afore mentioned fruit based situations occur.
Gorgeous day, gentle intro for burk and ice cream on the way home, hawkshaw village shop does fredericks mmmmm rum and raisin.

Woohoo

2011-04-21T14:45:00.000+01:00

Portal 2 is out, if you've never played portal do so asap, it is mental. Will have to look into obtaining a copy of 2.

Uppers!

2011-04-15T10:16:00.000+01:00

Things are looking up, whilst it's not been warm or sunny the trails are drying out quick time, I can only put it down to mother nature sticking a big straw in the ground and sucking all the water up, you gotta love spring. Riding home last night I paused at drinkwater park when I saw a mtber at the top of a biiig steep chute, he backed out of view got a run up and charged down and directly to where I was. A lad about 15 I guess, I asked him how to get to the top, he offered to show me, I had to get back home but he was keen to show off his trails so I agreed. Chatting on the way up he asked why I'd SSed my bike (just because), he does a lot of downhill stuff, steve peat is a friend of the family and they occasionally ride warncliffe together (cool) Whilst at the top a guy I'd seen commuting in the morning came along looked at the chute and asked if there was a "less scary" way down, nope :-) back the way you came I'm afraid. Chatted some more, rode the chute him a lot faster/better than me, then I carried on home. Nice to see more bikers about.
The ride in this morning was a bit special, first of all this made me smile
Then going through clifton park, a single track bit, fence on one side, a ditch then steep bank full of brambles and shrubs on the other, I come round a corner and there's a deer on the path! He takes off but he can only follow the trail, "right I'm having him" I gave chase. Spent about 30 seconds chasing (and I was gaining) untill a gap in the greenery let him escape. Wow, now that was VERY cool.

Downer (a bit of a moan)

2011-04-13T14:49:00.000+01:00

I'm rapidly becoming a congregation member of the Church Of The Little Ring (as opposed to these guys) my knees are playing up again so I'm back on gears and spinning away madly in teeny tiny gears to try to give them a break.

Commuting last Friday was marred a bit by dodgy feckers in clifton on the rob from recently closed businesses. I'd met some guys carrying cable away on wednesday, on friday another 2 guys were stripping the cable shielding away with a handheld circular saw. One was on lookout duy but failed to spot me, I had to shout over the noise of the saw for the operator to get out of the way. Shielding will no doubt be fouling up the trail for months. Scrotes. The blocked ROW I mentioned back in Feb has been blocked again (some cheeky monkey ripped down the shoddy fencing) Still doesn't look official but when I called the ROW office I learned it is. Bridge work apparently, bet it takes months...booo!

Riding home last night I went passed a permanent travellers camp (oxymoron?) going by a parked up fairground lorry I noticed a puddle up ahead, about 0.25 seconds before I hit it I realised it was not water but oil, a bloody great stream of the stuff from under the truck across the whole road. I got covered, tyres, frame, clothing, lights and yep brakes. Cue swearathon. Managed not to brake all the way home and spent 20mins trying to clean my bike, in the dark, tired and very pissed off. Will have a proper look tonight but I reckon brake pads will be screwed.

Oh and that stupid woman (the politician, not Erin Gill) is getting on my tits, you can't win. If you disagree with her you are a tearaway lawless lycra lout, if you agree with her then you are helping divert attention away from the main cause of death and mayhem on the roads bad drivers and the laws inability to properly deter their behaviour.

Sithee latter cocker

2011-04-13T10:04:00.000+01:00

Return leg of the darwen/rivi nightride exchange, Mr Sparkle and Paul came over to sample our trails, tho I'm sure they ridden most of them already. Si was ill and Johnnie cried off due to some football match or other so it was just me. A last minute change of meet point meant I was rushing to get there on time but i don't think they'd been waiting long. Straight into it and down through the quarry, bit of a harsh opener, I know I don't like riding down steep stuff till I've got warmed up. Mr Sparkle had a bit of a 'mare, on a steep chute his SPD wouldn't unclip he ended up stopped, leaning against the side of the chute having to take off his shoe to get it unclipped. Once sorted we carried on, a steady climb followed by fast loose decsent to smithills, bit too fast, I nearly overdid it on a few corners. Over to Barrow bridge and up the climb where Mr S and Paul shot off into the distance, when I'm on gears singlespeeders seem to effortlessly pull away and romp up climbs. At the top Paul assured me it wasn't effortless :-) 2 Lads and wildeswood then the steep climb up Old Rake where I finally decided trying to keep up with Mr S was a bad move. He opined it was karma for me dissappearing on the downs. At hole in the wall I told Mr S about the roadie incident on sunday, he then dropped me in much the same manner! Was getting dark so a brief stop to get lights on and off we went, drop to the farm, climb up the the res and lovely singletrack to finish and on the final drop Mr S and Paul finally relented and dropped their saddles, you know it makes sense lads!
Paul's Mrs had made some scrummy brownies so we chilled for a bit (literally) before going home, another good 'un.

It's awful, there's dry powdery stuff where all the mud used to be...

2011-04-11T12:13:00.001+01:00

...and it turned my arms pink. That was Johnnies verdict of the trails when he went out sunday morning, and he was right.

What a fantastic weekend, saturday I embraced my cultural stereotypes, I sat shirtless in the garden, cremating lots of red meat on the BBQ and getting pissed. Excellent! We got some of Charlies toys out, stuck a big sheet of paper to the shed for him to crayon and paint (i've now got a multicoloured shed) and a big bucket of water for him to play with. We invited some family round and we had a brilliant afternoon, messing about and having a laugh. Charlie loved it and everytime he clapped his hands we all applauded which bemused him. Rough and tumble on the lawn, chatting with family, just a really nice day.

Sunday I got up late, mrs was going to her dads so I nipped out for a quick ride, scoping out a route for a night ride and avoiding rivi which would be rammed. Climbed up winter hill, did the climb up to 2 lads for the first time this year, easy with dry conditions, gears, suspension and a large oxygen debt. Flew down 2 lads and wildes back up the rake and on to hole in the wall. Just as I got there a guy on an mtb wearing LRC roadie gear arrived, I asked him if he was taking a holiday from tarmac (yes) and I said it was too nice for following cars anyway (ahaha) this must have hit a nerve as he then completely trashed me on the climb. Bit of a stutter when he failed to climb out of the stream crossing and I caught up but then he put the power down, he had a good 30m on me by the time he hit the top. First time I've been humiliated like that in a long while. On winter hill the res looked superb, the grass looked orange and the water was purple, amazing. Was gonna go for ice cream at brian hey farm but the queue was a good 30 or 40 strong so I went and did san marino instead, at the end of which I had to trow myself to the ground and soak it all in, amazing weather, superb trails, just everything really. Admittedly my spazzed out calves/thighs may have had something to do with the lying down part. Got home just as my mrs parked up, superb timing. Had to have a cold bath, my leg muscles and joints were really burning, not too bad today but having a rest anyway.

Fred you lying git

2011-04-06T09:00:00.001+01:00

Switched the TV on last night just intime to see a jovial weatherman tell us it'll be sunny tomorrow and the rest of the week (woohoo) what he omitted to say was "it's gonna piss down all night and you'll get ruddy filthy riding to work tomorrow". I'm dissappointed Fred and so are the cleaners at work. I've watched last weeks buff trails slowly degenerated into winter status.
Went up to Darwen again lastnight and Mr Sparkle showed us some more of his local trails, him, me and Paul on SS, Johnnie and Si on gears, this meant we split up on climbs a lot but no biggy. I knew most of the trails but we did them the opposite direction and the new stuff was rather good. Mr S had planned the route to showcase the downs and it certainly did, a hilly 12miler, good stuff. Mr S knows how to cater for riders too, hosepipe to clean off the bikes (ok honeymoon period not quite over thats 2 washes for my new bike in as many days) tea and (heaven) home made fruit cake which I had more than my fair share of - apologies. Excellent.

Grumpy

2011-04-04T14:23:00.000+01:00

Not a bad weekend, saturday I took Charlie shopping for mothers day stuff, we had a mooch round town and did the big shop. We chilled out in the afternoon while his mum went out shopping, then I went out for bit of a ride. I met up with Johnny on winter hill did some trails up there, but got a "come home now" text, Charlie had kicked off when I left and hadn't stopped, so I had to cut it short. I flew home in a blur of undergeared spinning legs only to find a happy smiling Charlie once home, thanks son. I noticed a spot of blood on my calf under some mud, hmm don't remember hitting anything. Sunday woke up with a red blotch on my leg and some swelling hmmm, doubt it's a tick bite but it's got me a little worried.
Nipped up to my mums on the road bike and got a few miles in after. On chorley new road a roadie went passed heading in the opposite direction, he shouted over a greeting, a mile or so later I turned back (I'd decided to save my legs for commuting) A bit later I passed the same guy at a junction, I'd got to lights just as they changed so flew passed him, he chased, I was bimbling so he soon caught me. I said Hi as he went passed but nowt, just stoney silence as he dropped me - hmm must have had his raceface on.
Despite having a lie in and getting out on the bike I was still grumpy, getting dead stroppy when I made mistakes, dunno what was up with me. Moody bugger, even more so when after letting Charlie mess about with my camelbak bladder he dragged it off the kitchen worktop and it burst, yep thanks again, my fault tho, eejit.
Commuted in xc again this morning despite the mud and forecast rain, honeymoon period is over now, the blinglespeed is doing the job it was specced for - getting dragged through the muck.

Trail Poaching

2011-03-30T15:54:00.000+01:00

Saw loads of people out on bikes on my ride home, nice day for it and my front tyre did seal and held out OK so I took the blinglespeed out for a night ride too. Johnnie's broken himself (or rather his son broke him) so just me and Si last night, we started from Barrow bridge and went in search of lowey's new trail, very nice it was too. Up the golf course then down the road and up walkerfold to holdens farm. Cleats on my shoes which were working fine last week have now died so my right foot was ejecting at crucial points, damn. Unbelievably Si had a spare in his bag so I sat on coal pit road and changed them - top work. Then onto the moors, all singletracky not at all like 99% of the trails round here, north york moors-esque, lovely. Kind of went OTB when front wheel dug into the mud exiting a dip, 1 hand down but didn't end up on my face :-) Proper steep at the end, couldn't ride it all, will have to try again sometime soon. Can't see it being much good after wet weather but good during a dry spell. Up scout road and down the quarry, very interesting especially seeing as how halfway down the last section I realised my forks were still locked out from the road climb - oh yeah thats why I'd stopped using lockout. Was a bit wierd actually, loads of empty parked cars on scout road and we heard voices as we went through the quarry but no sign of anyone, wonder what they were all upto in the dark. We climbed up horrocks fold then couldn't decide on a route and our tired legs were moaning so we went back down, through smithills and then I tricked Si into doing an extra bit, a steep stepped climb up here

View Winter Hill Night in a larger map
Bit of a lungbuster but good practice, I nearly stalled halfway up, had to thrutch forward and get back into a rythmn, Si aced it but didn't look too happy about it :-) back through the park and home.
Another short but fun night ride.

Take a chance on me

2011-03-29T16:04:00.000+01:00

Just dropped another couple of hundred grams off the blinglespeed, got rid of the tube in the front wheel, not sure the latex is going to seal the paper thin specialized tyres tho, we'll see...on the ride home. Ride in was ace, first xc commute of the year, lovely. Good one at the weekend too, went to the peaks did cavedale, pin dale, quarry works, up hope brink, hope cross, jaggers clough (where we got stuck behind a big group of sloooow moving gee gees) and back up mam tor. Nice day for it, really should ride there more often, in particular ride a few of my well used routes backward - tho not this one, up cavedale? I don't think so. Stripped my heckler down last night trying to track down an annoying creaking sound from the swingarm/BB area. Swingarm off bearings checked nope, BB stripped nope, BB and cranks replaced nope, everything stripped regreased and put back on creaking gone. Answers on a postcard coz I've no idea what it was.

The blinglespeed is born

2011-03-25T10:38:00.001Z

Well I finally went for a carbon 456, could have gone for the whippet but I fancied something that could be burly-fied. When trying to decide on a frame I couldn't make my mindup whether to get a straight replacement for the inbred which was the original idea, a long stretched, xc-style of thing, or something a bit more play orientated, short and slack, like my ragley. The 18" 456 (and the cotic soul I also had in mind) is pretty much the same as my ragley so no point getting that so I got a 20". Built it up with parts from my ragley and took it out on the front street. Underwhelmed is the word. Too long for playing silly buggers, felt a bit short for pedalling and it wasn't all that light. Hmm oh dear what have I done. The inbred wasn't about storming down hills and shredding corners, it was just a bike for riding so I decided to get rid of the chunky ragley parts and put bits from my inbred on it, some cranks I polished up

(shiny huh?) I saved about a pound changing the tyres, a new seatpost (carbon to match) and my trusty old flite, another half pound saved so now I just needed a chance to ride it properly. Had the day of yesterday to decorate, by lunchtime with sun streaming through the windows I knew I had to get out riding. Finished the decorating quick and bolted out the door. Riding up the roads it felt ok, lightish and easy to pedal. Got to the first offroad at barrow bridge

steep climb and I'm out of shape but I got up ok, getting used to the feel of the bike, not too short at all. The top tube is massive, the standard bars and even the forks look weedy in comparison.

All the way up to burnt edge, gorgeous day and nice views.

I went and did 2 lads descent, set off and picked up some speed, woah too much speed, back brake isn't working 100%, the rotor got badly pitted on that wet clapham ride, backingplate braking = not good. It's dried out nicely up there but I was still going too fast but made it down. Bike handled well, wildeswood more of the same me going a bit quick but the bike just getting on with it and coping, I like it. I thrutched up Old rake (ouch) and winter hill access road, it was hardwork.

Do I look a little tired? San marino next, I think it's the first time I've ridden it this year, first dry run in a long while anyway. I clipped in let go the brakes and whoosh the bike took off, down here my heckler slowly picks up speed and just doesn't stop accelerating til I chicken out and brake, but this bike feels magnetically drawn to the bottom of hills, it accelerates so quickly - without me pedalling. Proper quick, less punishing than the ragley too. Guess the speed is due to light tyres, lightish wheels and some compliance in the frame. Got to the bottom with a big grin plastered on my face. Brilliant, I really like this bike. Decided to mooch home via longworth clough, never ridden all this before just little bits, saw a guy digging a drainage channel. I've seen him before on san marino doing trail repairs, he's certainly go this trail riding better, by the old works it was a rooty tech fest, he's filled in the roots with stones and ramped some of the boardwalk, less of a challenge but fun and easier to ride it through. Some buff singletrack too

Lovely. As I got to the golf club I was dizzy and weak, this gentle riding easing my way back to fitness is going well eh? A battered oat bar from my pack sorted that, whilst stopped I text lowey for permission to ride his private singletrack, manners cost nothing - well in this case manners cost a 10p text but sod the expense! Back home via hall i'th wood. Everything just rides so much better when it's dry, the trail down the to valley was brilliant. The bike is great the only issue I have it top tube based, it doesn't slope much so A you don't get a lot of clearance and B with a low stem the brake levers can hit it when the bars spin. It's also pretty wide so possible to catch your knees on it if you have a knees in pedal style. Oh and the seatpost slips, I might need some of that carbon grease stuff.
Sunny day, new bike, new trails, great route, fantastic.

Goodbyeeeee

2011-03-24T00:09:00.003Z

Just about to say goodbye to an old friend, I got my inbred in 2004, as I was building it up the wheel on my commuter imploded, the only other wheel I had was disc only and the commuter didn't have discs so the inbred started out rigid, flat bars, slick tyres, full mudguards, a proper road runner.....and it was ace, low CoG and sorted geometry meant carving round corners and through traffic was superb. After that i fixed it up for xc duties, a nod to lightness with a posh front wheel, road cassette, light tyres, bars, seatpost and saddle but a frame made of scaffold tubes and a coil fork (80mm fox) was never gonna be featherweight, I even tried it rigid and burks canondale FS was still lighter. But it was good, did a lot of local miles, extended commutes, an occasional 3 towers, it was dependable even tho the trails were normally tame. Parts were swapped around, the inbred normally getting the old stuff as I upgraded my full sussers.

In 2007 I decided to give singlespeeding a go and so this became my SSer, a decent stretched position for thrutching up hills and again got me out and about riding when the weather wasn't good enough for a "proper" ride. I put gears back on for hit the north and it was great, I rode everything the first couple of laps then as it got insanely slippy I had a few crashes but I got through it.

and yes that barrier is in the process of falling over and twatting my ankle.

After that it was back to SS duties, taken out in the rain and mud when I didn't wanna ruin my "good" bikes.

I did SSUK in 2009 where it was superb, not as nice as some of the bling niche stuff on display but it got me round quick enough and was faff free. SSEC 2010 was more of the same, solid dependable, puckeringly sketchy down the silly steep stuff but just right for climbs and swoopy singletrack.
It did lots more commuting

and plenty of dark winter nightrides but now it's quite battered and very bruised, lots of dents and scrapes and while it's still going OK I feel it's time to retire it, the blinglespeed's almost ready and I need to make room for it so it's off to the shed for the inbred....for a time. I want to set it up rigid SS for child portage duties but no room in the house and no ground anchor in the shed so it's moth balled for now. Hope to see it again soon, still the nicest looking frame I've had I reckon, skinny tubes in that pearlescent white, the chunky on-one and stylised inbred graphics, they might be common as muck but for the first few years I had it (before I started meeting strangers off the internet) I was the only person I knew who had one and I loved it. I've owned my heckler for longer and done more exciting things on it but the inbred due to it's versatility has done lots, lots more rides and miles.

I'm a sentimental old eejit.

Excellent

2011-03-23T09:38:00.000Z

Was looking forward to gettiong offroad again, just a short one tho so I drove up to the meet point, just as I got to horwich I realised I hadn't packed a jacket, doh! too late now. Was looking like I'd have to ride in baselayer and my carrier bag emergency showerproof, fortunatley Si had a spare jersey, phew. Perfect conditions, not a bit of wind, clear skies, not too chilly and for the first time in ages a brilliant view from the pike. Took it nice and easy but as I gently spun up hole in't wall I realised that for an unfit person (which I should be classing myself as at the moment) this climb was pretty hardcore - oops. 2lads and wildeswood are almost completely dry, at times I was reaching summer speeds....and then hitting a mud section where I hung on for dear life and tried to stay loose as it all went squirelly, luckily I made it through. School climb I walked/rode/walked/rode and then ICR to finish, loadsa fun and despite both of us pinging off lots of big rocks no punctures yay!

Light at the end of the tunnel

2011-03-22T09:26:00.000Z

My chest has slowly been getting better, I did have a splitting headache all day yesterday but woke up this morning clear headed so chanced riding in to work. Took it nice and gentle, road bike, gears, flat route, easy peasy. Hacked up about half a pound of horrible green gunge when I got to work but other than that I feel fine. Short night ride tonight and starting to plan a ride for weekend. Wahey! back in business.

How Much?

2011-03-14T15:02:00.001Z

Nipped into halfords for some antisieze, you have this small tube at £3.49 or you have a big tub at £7.99 but look a bit closer, the tub is £16 per kilo, the tube is £175 per Kg, bloody hell thats some mark up. Having said that I bought a small tube over 3 years ago and it's only just run out, I imagine this tub will be named as part of my estate in my will, to be handed down to whoever has shown themselves to be the least cackhanded mechanic of the future generation. My dad and his dad where very mechanically minded, I'm hoping it's only skipped a generation with me.

So it's going to be like that is it?

2011-03-14T14:57:00.000Z

Quite a nice day yesterday wasn't it? Just right for riding, on saturday I'd already decided to downgrade my plans from a big lakes ride to a short blast round rivi, sunday I awoke with a huge bout of coughing, awesome. Charlie's had a cough for a few days now and I had most definitely got it. Walking upstairs had me panting for breath and coughing a lung up. Bugger! OK so scrap the riding, I'll do some painting instead. Getting some stuff from under the stairs I notice a valve on the heating pipe work is leaking, hmm will have to sort that soon. Painting the skirting boards I go to switch off a rad valve and that starts leaking, argh! The day is not going well. Shut everything down, drain the system and off to B&Q for some new valves. Manage to get everything sorted with some advice from Johnnie (cheers) then after re-filling the system one of the stop valves at the boiler starts dripping slightly. Grrrrr, right I'd had enough, a few beers, a soak in a hot bath, some new tunes (kings of leon) and a read of the new singletrack chilled me out and cheered me up. Turns out the drip was just condensation, feeling well rough today tho, got a ride planned next sunday I hope I'm ok for that, I'm looking atleast another week off the bike tho.

Maybe I should run a poll/sweepstake, how many weeks of riding is dave going to miss this year due to illness/injury?

As promised

2011-03-14T09:27:00.001Z

Samuri's ebook, available at ~~all good bookshop~~s Amazon, well worth a punt.

Springtime=spannertime

2011-03-09T12:40:00.000Z

Just coz I've been resting my knees doesn't mean I've been sat on my arse. Tis the time of year to get all my bikes in ~~tip top~~ useable condition for the riding season. Unfortunately as Johnnie and others have pointed out I'm a bit hamfisted so things didn't exactly run smoothly. Stripped and replaced all seals on my fox shock, been worried about this but was quite easy actually. Replaced bearings in pompino back wheel, no worries. Built a wheel, new rim for my old hope xc hub, got it almost right then broke a nipple. Hmm apparently building wheels with no oil on the spoke threads is a bad move. Ah. Unbuild, replace mangled nips and rebuild, looks OK now, yet to ride. Replaced hub bearings, knocked them all out no probs, replaced freehub bearings with socket and vice easy, knocked the wheel bearings in with hammer and a 20mm socket and then noticed that 1. the socket wasn't quite the right shape, it had slipped and mangled the seals and 2. I had neglected to fit the axle before hammering in the 2nd bearing. Doh. Bearing out axle in bearing in replace seals with old ones spin wheel, sssgrunch sssgrunch, hmm, will do for now but need to replace the bearing that got mullered knocking it in/out/in again. Just fit a headset using a flypress and blocks of wood, having a workshop at work rocks. That's it so far but brakes to be bled, blinglespeed to be built and forks to be serviced.

Even more road rage

2011-03-08T14:41:00.000Z

Another driver loses it at a cyclist, but on a more positive note police are backing up the cyclist and seem to be taking it seriously AND it's currently the top story on the BBC website. With a ~~bit~~ lot more exposure and backing from the police hopefully this sort of behaviour will (rightly) be stigmatised by joe public. (and hopefully in any future events the passing motorists might say/do something rather than just drive around the incident)

Road rage...again

2011-02-28T16:03:00.002Z

On my way home friday I see a bus up ahead indicate to pull out, it's quiet so I move out to where the bus driver can see me in his mirror and wave him to pull out, he starts to do so. Just then I hear a car coming up behind, I hear him speed up, passing us and preventing the bus from pulling out. I flap my right arm up and down to signify my annoyance (I may have been holding an imaginary beer bottle at the time) Car goes passed, bus starts to pull out again then has to brake again as the car has pulled in ahead of the bus...uh oh! I tuck in behind the bus but nope the driver has seen me and starts shouting "was that at me? Eh? WAS THAT AT ME?" Oops. "if you can't take a bit of criticism then don't drive like wanker" was not my response, well not unless I wanted to follow it up with "unhand me you oaf" and "strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possi...OUCH" This guy looks a bit of a scrote but he is driving a nice car so he's either well dodgy or he's in the cars, beer and burds neanderthal brigade. Either way that plus the fact that I'm exit strategy deficient in the damp paper bag scenario means I aint squaring up to him. So I do the valiant thing and run away, pavement, 1 way street, exit stage left. Another adrenaline riddled commute ending with sewing machinists jangly leg syndrome. Tool!

But not as much as a tool as this absolute degenerate.
:-(

Be kind to your knees you'll miss them when they're gone

2011-02-28T09:07:00.002Z

Amen, mine appear to be crumbling to dust. Been taking it easy all week but knees are still suffering, on the ibuprofen this week I think. Before anyone says it I doubt it's singlespeeding, my knee pain seems to come and go at varying intervals no matter what I'm riding - eg keilder wrecked them, hope they sort themselves out soon. I also hope the weather sorts itself out, I keep daydreaming of long dusty trails, firm grassy sections and fast hardpack climbs, but no, for now it's still chucking it down. Nipped out yesterday to test my SS, slapped some 120mm forks on and a dinky 45mm stem and it has kind of transformed the ride, downs are a lot more comfortable, ICR was not a problem, front end pops up nicely great for wheelying off drops and hopping stuff. Unfortunately it's also gimped the climbing, bars are higher and nearer so not so much leverage for thrutching up climbs, ho hum. I managed tho up barrow and onto winter hill, 2dogs and wildes were fun but then I died on my arse up bastid climb (mind you there is a good reason for the name) A couple of stops and some pushing! Dunno what was up with me, the rest week didn't help much then. ICR, back up the gardens then blast home on road where I managed to catch and drop a roadie*

*ok not a roadie, a man on a drop barred bike.

Fashion Faux pas

2011-02-25T11:46:00.001Z

Somehow I managed to put on odd gloves this morning...nightmare.

Mind you not half as bad as yesterday, wet and cold in the morning so waterproof jacket, warm on the way home so instead I put on my bright red lightweight shell I keep at work, and set off. Caught sight of myself in a mirror, with my jacket unzipped halfway, my very open round necked baselayer revealing my chest rug, topped off with a buff meant I looked very, erm....flamboyant.
The tights didn't help either.

An error in judgement

2011-02-24T15:04:00.000Z

Nearly threw myself under the wheels of a car this morning, worst mistake I have made on the road in a looooong time. Approaching a big roundabout there's a long line of cars stopped on the cycle lane so I cut down the right hand lane intending to slot in further up the line where the bike lane becomes mandatory (so will be free of cars...yeah right!) it's a big roundabout and has a cycle lane so no matter how busy it is I can normally get on and off without problems using the mandatory bike lane*. Anyway I'm heading down the right lane, no spaces at all then a space appears right at the front, I race forwards to try to get to it but the van next to me floors it too, I'm faster but not quick enough to get into the left lane properly, I endup charging into the roundabout too fast, too wide and pretty much straight into the path of a car already on the roundabout. Fortunatley he/she saw me and braked I waved apology and again as he/she passed me on the exit. Felt like a right tool, stupid stupid idiot.

I dunno this probably wouldn't have fazed me when I was younger, infact half the incidents I moan about on here probably wouldn't, near misses were still misses - I win. Nowadays I know how to ride "properly" and I know how other road users should treat me, before it was "the road is for cars, i'll just weave around them", now it's "we are all traffic, lets do things properly please". So I get all flustered when people don't give me some common courtesy, ie a bit of room so I don't get hit by a tonne of fast moving metal if I fallover/wobble/breath out and I get more worked up about a driver treating me as a 2nd class road user than I will about someone nearly killing me, education can be a dangerous thing**

*This is fine if you are taking the next exit but if you are taking the 2nd, 3rd or 4th exit the markings indicate you keep to the edge and stop at every exit road and wait for a space to cross it then move on to the next one, daft, instead of getting into the flow of traffic and it being 2 junctions (1 on 1 off) the road planners want to you to negotiate several. Rubbish design.

**education is like a communicable sexual disease, it makes you unsuitable for certain jobs and you feel the urge to pass it on :-)

Rest week

2011-02-23T07:33:00.000Z

I'm currently on a not exactly self imposed rest week, sunday no-one was riding but besides I had jobs to do. Back gate frame needed repairing, proper manly stuff, (jig)sawing, drilling, screwing, bolting, nailing etc then unscrewing unbolting un-nailing and doing it all again but properly this time. No-one out last night plus a lack of motivation, no footy this week either. I had planned to do my annual ambleside ride this sunday but thats had to be cancelled. I'll just have to try harder next week.

F.R.I.day

2011-02-22T10:24:00.001Z

Last tuesday wasn't great, on my ay home approaching kearsley roundabout (bit 2 lane job) there's a rescue van parked on the approach so I go round him and take primary in the left lane, queue of cars in the right, just as I'm about to enter the roundabout I hear a car behind, I enter roundabout and hold my lane, after being behind me for a whole 2 seconds driver gets arsey beeps and guns engine and over takes, immediately has to stop before exiting roundabout due to traffic backing up. Passing on his left I ask him what his problem is, he seems to have plenty to say so I move round to his side.
Him: Windowdown shouts something unintelligible windowup
Me: What?

Him: Windowdown "you were in the middle of the road" windowup
Me: I was in my lane, where should I be then?
Him: Windowdown "at the side, out of the way" windowup
I'm left gasping like a grounded fish, unable to articulate the full strength of my feelings on this little exchange without degenerating into expletives, and more than a little peeved with all the window business. I figure I'm onto a loser with this ignoramus cut my losses and move on. As I set off the traffic starts to move, he guns the engine again starts to accelerate with me inches form him, worried about the car glancing me and knocking me over (and I wanted this nob to stop) I lean into the car, as his wingmirror gets knocked back he gets the message and stops, windowdown "IDIOT" windowup, GRRR! I try again, set off get into lane infront of him only to hear him gunning the engine again, afraid he'll try to give me "a little tap" with his 1.5tonne merc I turn and shout at him (stop or no, cant remember) and the Fat Repugnant Ignoramus finally backs off the go pedal. Adrenaline has well and truly spiked now, I want to absolutley nail it all the way home but reign it in a little, I immediately lose FRI due to traffic but I'm keeping a close eye out for him all the way but thankfully no sign.
Got home pretty depressed, some tossers just don't see that cyclists are a good thing. If half or even a quarter of the drivers in front of FRI switched to bikes his journey would be a breeze (plus all the subsidiary benefits to society that FRI probably doesn't care about), of course he'd have to drive attentivley, but newsflash he's supposed to be doing that now. The dismissive if not outright hostile attitude to 2 wheels was what really got to me, plus the subsequent crash from the adrenaline high won't be helping. To cheer me up I made myself a bacon butty and then go out on an xc ride away from nasty car drivers. So quite why I suggested me and Johnnie went over to the nab leaving me with a 12mile road ride home (on a singlespeed) is a bit beyond me, but it sorted my head out. Rivi was damp but not too bad, lead mines beat me, just too muddy and cut up, wrong line etc, excuses excuses. I had meant to go up chorley old road and down barrow bridge but as soon as the road started to rise I realised my legs were shot so spun home on the flat.

Top Gear

2011-02-15T10:34:00.000Z

First off squirt lube (don't google it) absolutley brilliant, been using it a while but the last few rides it's really proved itself winter proof too. Quick to apply, doesn't fuzz up in the dry, keeps your chain lubed when it's really filthy but your chain is easy to clean post ride (if you bother) As such it's possibly not up to regular river crossings but unless you ride with the bogtrotters it shouldn't be a problem. I tend to re-apply before each ride unless it's been dry out, it's quick enough to do. Twenty odd quid for a huuuuge bottle, email and they'll send you a little sample pot that you can keep in your camelbak for emergencies.

After bemoaning the cost of gold star quality water proof pants I bit the bullet, saved my xmas pennies and bought some endura stealth lites. Money well spent, just a pity I didn't stump up more. These are basically waterproof tights and they are ace. I use them with overshoes and basically nothing gets through, on sunday everybody else had wet feet in the first hour except me, my feet were a little damp by the end but still warm and I'm pretty sure it's the overshoes that leaked, postride I even hosed down myself down and no water got through, brilliant. The only problem is I got the tights so they creep down, I should have got bibs (I normally do) but they were another £30 - would have been worth it tho. I reckon boots with high cuffs like these would negate the need for overshoes too.

That there yorkshire

2011-02-14T15:22:00.000Z

A nice man called Tony invited a few of us over to sample his local trails, I couldn't be arsed getting my nice bike down from the attic so decided to make do with the mmmbop, since Tuesday tho the bottom bracket had locked solid, oops. So Saturday night I stripped the BB, packed it with grease and forced the inner race around till it was smooth-ish and I was ready, pity the weather wasn't. Si had already arranged to pick me up otherwise I may well have bailed, this was my first big group ride in duff weather and I was worried, riding in the rain is bad enough but with faff and chinwag stops aswell...?
Anyway we pulled into Clapham to see a car park bereft of mtbers, hmm, sat in the car and listened to the rain for a while until Graham turned up on his bike, the rest were round at Tony's. We went round to find a clutch of santa cruz bikes, pity I hadn't brought mine. 8 of us setoff, steep climb out through some tunnels and onto dry stone wall edged double track, like the Stavely stuff from the last lakes ride, wet, lots of puddles but not a lot of mud. We were going at a decent rate, I was having an off day, wheezing my way round so found it OK but not really doing it for me. We got to giggleswick scar and I recognised where I was from the settle ride a couple of years ago, sure enough we climbed and dropped to feizor. Could see loads of swollen waterfalls on the nearby hills. More drystone wall lined trails, singletrack this time, through Warfe, over a river then a huge slippery off camber rock, my back wheel tried braking free a few times but I managed to catch it, just as I got to the end I heard a crash and said "yep, I didn't think we'd all make it across" It was nick (the only other hardtail rider) no damage tho so we went on. Tony's (the other one) freehub exploded so he gibbed out and the rest of us faced "an unholy grind" up onto the base of inglebrough. Wasn't as bad as advertised, tho the bits of limestone poking through the grass were slippy as hell, very confidence inspiring for the limestone pavement that followed. Slightly downhill but muddy and lots of rocks meant it was technical and hard work but I actually managed OK, not quite as well as Dave who, I learned later, was a trials rider, no wonder I couldn't keep up on all the slow speed thrutchy stuff. After that was the highlight of the ride for me, 2 miles of drystone walled singletrack, fast, wet, muddy and slippery but loads of fun, tyres slithering about all over the shop but somehow staying upright, finally I had a big grin on my face! After that we went back the way we had come, down through the tunnels, a very fast blast to finish, pretty scary tearing into the tunnels and suddenly realising you can't see diddly, you're doing 30mph and you're braking with backing plates. Eek! Back to Tony's for tea and lots of cake, Si had brought millionaire shortbread, ultra sugar rush! Thanks to Tony for supplying a cracking route considering the conditions,
and the tea
and a hosepipe for the bikes (and us)
and a nice warm fire.

A Reprieve

2011-02-09T15:50:00.001Z

An impromptu day off coincided with the weather relenting it's slutchy march though winter. Nice mild temps, no cloud and the sun was even out so we nipped up to the strawberry duck and had a walk round turton and entwistle res. Very nice, lots of puddles which charlie liked walking through and a flooded bridge section but hardly a breath of wind and ace views. We got back to the duck for lunch and it was packed, they'd run out of all the posh specials and we only just got our order in before the kitched sent word to postpone orders. I had steak and chips which looked a little plain on it's huge plate, no side salad/veg just a tiny jug of pepper sauce. Turned out to be plenty and just enough sauce too, very nice just not sure it was worth £17. I guess you need to think of it as proper posh resteraunt food rather than pub grub (or just not be a tight arse like me) Mrs had fish and chips, the fish was enormous and she got a vat of peas and homemade tartare sauce, very good. Their fish finger buttie might be a winner for a mid ride top up, I saw one and these weren't any of captain birdseye's lame attempts, these were proper chunks of fish battered and cooked to perfection and chunky chips, cost £5ish which isn't bad if you get chips included, can't remember if you do tho.
Night ride later on with Johnnie and Si, a little colder than expected after the nice day but not too bad. A couple of punctures meant it was a short one, but a good laugh all the same. Is it me or are these social rides actually getting quite, well...sociable? It's not all about the riding, more getting out and having a laugh. Before you know it it'll be like loweys nightrides spending half the night in the pub :-)
I really like my mmmbop now, it is big enough I think, it's just got a short headtube which the internal headset doesn't help with, hence lots of spacers. Climbing is good, seated the front end stays down, on my other bikes the steering gets very light on steep climbs. Apparently Brant worked out the seat tube geometry after riding behind Ton up a long climb. Front wheel doesn't pop up quite easily enough for my liking but swapping the 5" forks for some 6" might sort that, it might also negate the hill climbing part too tho so not sure. Ho hum. The weather broke just as I was cycling up my street, perfect timing, I hope the rain ends soon tho, I want hard pack dusty trails again.

The Whisky Trail Warriors

2011-02-07T10:54:00.001Z

When I met Mr Sparkle and friends on holcombe moor back in october I was interested in the route they'd done, Mr S offered to show me round his local trails sometime. So yesterday me and Si ventured, with some trepidation (and not just due to the previous 36 hours of rain), into Darwen. It was looking grim but it wasn't raining so the 6 of us kitted up and set off, dave, dave, dave, si, si and just for variety paul. The minute we got off road we were in proper slippery mud, that kind of set the tone for the day. Wind was ripping round us too, a steep tarmac climb from a farm he had a very welcome tailwind and as we got strung out on the climb the gusts would bring the odd snatched word or two from a discussion some 10meteres or so behind "..dy mud.." "..kin steep hi.." :-) Anyway over to hoddleden via the ex-longest train tunnel, through banjo country, over the top of the moors and dropping onto the whisky trail, so called cause so many people in haslingden had their own stills. The whisky had its own distinctive flavour due to the water from the peat, there was certainly lots of watery peat yesterday! Some cool singletracky bits down to the reservoirs, bit of a road section then onto familiar trails. The stone pitched climb up to robin hoods well was hard as ever, me and Mr S had a bit of tortoise and hare race going on, him riding/walking/riding on his SS, me with gears slowly winching up, this time the hare won tho. Headwind all the way along the tops, a new descent from peel tower was much better than my usual route. Along holcombe horseshoe windy and muddy, the climb out was purgatory, the mud was like treacle and a monster headwind, then just we crested the top it switched to a tailwind! We stopped at the strawberry duck where they had many fine ales, apparently, my coke was nice, apologies lowey, I feel I let the bolton contingent down there. They have a mud room, brilliant for winter mtbers, just a pity theres no roaring fire. The last climb up edge fold was going well till I tried to stay on the off camber grass near the top, stall, slip, drop, swear. Then it was just downhill via woodland singletrack to tea and cake and Mr S's. Will be a great route in the dry, probably as part of 3 towers, as it was it was it was still a good day out, not as bad as the weather threatened, only one minor(ish) mechanical no flats or crashes. Only 22 miles/3000ft but the mud and wind made you earn every inch of it. First "proper" ride of the year.

Booooooo!

2011-02-01T16:08:00.004Z

SSUK11 will be at Pippingford Park on the 17th/18th Sep. Oh dear. It clashes with the firstborn's birthday and it's 4 and a half hours drive away so I probably aint gonna make it :-(

Ferrys to SSWC cost too much and SSEC would entail about 4 days away so looks like I won't be doing any SS events this year.

Oh and lamest january ever riding-wise.

Well...mostly apples. More self abuse.

2011-02-01T15:51:00.001Z

After a busy week I still wasn't done wreaking havoc on my body, I went running again on Saturday, I had planned to take charlie on a ride but he slept most of the afternoon so I only had time for a run. Some cheeky beggar has blocked a ROW near me, a wire fence ziptied across a bridge, I've emailed the council, if it's not official I'll have a go at pulling it down. Not as long a run as usual just 45mins, no injuries this time, I think 45mins is about my limit after that I start to get hurt. Rest on Sunday, we went to a christening so spent most of the afternoon chasing Charlie round a social club. Some kids didn't appreciate him trying to hug them either.

Had a leaving do yesterday, nowt big (at the leave-ees request) just a few beers at the pub near work so I rode to work, as often happens a few beers turned into lots of beers and unfortunately the only cider they had was some six point something percent rocket fuel scrumpy, it looked like week old piss but tasted quite nice. I'd started on that expecting us to only be out for an hour or so but as it was I ended up absolutely blootered. Train home where I insisted on cooking tea, wife tried to stop me on the grounds that she didn't want me burning the house down or poisoning us both. I persevered and soon knocked us up some spicy fajitas, shortly before lapsing into incoherent rantings at the TV and the world in general. She left me to it, I woke up on the couch rough as arseholes staggered to bed.
Turns out the scrumpy wasn't just made from apples but also cat piss, rat poison, dog phlegm and all sorts of other stuff intended to rid you of brain cells as fast as possible. All this on a school night too, this morning was unpleasant, I've perked up now but still wont be up for tonight's ride.

Full service resumed

2011-01-28T10:15:00.000Z

Blimmin heck a proper week, ride on sunday, commuting 4 days, a night ride and 5aside! I've not done a full week in yonks. Admittedly sunday was just a quick road ride to check my legs and lungs were still working after a week off the bike (results were "yes" and "sort of") Monday was a bit of a bugger, all sorts of toolery going on around me, cars racing to beat me to pinch points, some idiot gunning his engine to get passed me then immediatley pulled left and braked hard so he could do a U turn and park on the otherside of the road, and various other stuff. Tuesday not bad, some polite drivers for a change, at nnight Johnnie had to cancel last minute due to a ~~mechanical~~ pneumatical so I did the jumbles loop again, did manage all the climbs this time but the rollercoaster one took a fair bit of grunting/thrutching when I went offline and stalled halfway up. Got plastered in mud, first really muddy ride for a while, chain on SS is dying loadsa stiff links. Saw a BIG group above turton tower, dunno if it was woolybacks or boggies, a good twelve or so riders.
Yesterday was my first 5aside in... oooh a long time, took it easy didn't chase as much as usual but still got injured, somehow got a knock to my right calf got a big lump and it's sore now and Si managed to nobble my left leg too. I seem to get injured everytime I play, dunno if it's me lumbering about the pitch, bad luck or just me being a mard arse, I enjoyed it tho, even scored once. So stiff legs riding in this morning, fine for pedalling but standing up trying to absorb bumps hurts. Prob no riding this weekend so a good job I fit plenty in during the week.

Too Slow

2011-01-21T10:18:00.000Z

I've decided to pimp my singlespeed this year, to me the shonky aspect has always been a big part of singlespeeding but it is so much fun I think it deserves a half decent bike - not so expensive as to put me off trudging through the mud and rain but something a little nicer/lighter than my battered old inbred. So I was well impressed this week when I saw scandal inbreds for £135, finally got round to ordering one today - out of stock. Grrr. Ah well will have to go for something pimpier. I'm thinking of something like a whippet or a cotic soul - think I'll stick with vertical dropouts, I've heard horizontal can be a pain in the arse with disc brakes (refitting wheel after fixing flats out on the trail), plus if I'm paying a wedge for a frame the option of gears would be nice too. Will have to see how many pennies I can save up.

Bored

2011-01-19T11:28:00.000Z

Got a cold, not riding at the moment, bored, feel like I'm getting fat and lazy. Still...atleast it's not swine flu so dying shouldn't be an option. Still hammering fallout NV, finished it once but still have 3 more endings (atleast) to check out and once I've done that I have fallout3 ready to go.

Car society

2011-01-13T10:41:00.000Z

Been reading quite a lot of stuff on road safety (or lack of it), car culture, cycling initiatives and other travesties. This one particularly got to me, hi vis jackets for all, if you get run over chances are it's your fault, stupid kids getting in the way of cars! So as requested I emailed the DfT and I urge everyone else to.
Some good sites about, even if it does get depressing being reminded how Car Is King is so ingrained you'd taken for granted all the little problems it causes, war on motorist is quite funny, crap cycling in waltham sounded a little preachy about segregation at first but he may have a point, scrap half the roads (seriously gimping the full time motorists) give over a lot more space to other forms of transport, walking, cycling (of course), trams and trains etc. Not gonna happen anytime soon tho I fear. I've been trying to come up with reasons against and so far the only one I can come up with is doing the friday big shop with kids, the big shop is the only time I regularly drive, used to do it on my bike but it was a hassle and no chance with a little one on board. But I dunno, a huge change will have to come at some point with oil/petrol running low and it would be depressing if that opportunity was wasted with a simple switch to electric cars. Changing to an entirely new transport infrastructure could bring about a big change to all aspects of our lives.

Tour de jumbles

2011-01-12T10:11:00.000Z

First night ride of the year done, as Si has been hitting the gym since the new year he wasn't up to riding and Johnnie seems to be in a communication black hole so I was on my own, I didn't fancy big hills anyway so had a mooch round the resers, being an adrenaline junky mountain biker I was of course hitting the sickest lines at silly speeds....or not as it happens, just a brisk ride round the deserted, well surfaced (mostly) tracks, a few other bikers about, only passed 2 but saw a few more on the far bank of wayoh and entwistle. 23 miles very little road, quickish but not fast, around 2200ft climbing so pretty flat and I was back home before 9, fun.

What now?

2011-01-11T13:03:00.000Z

Still not decided on my aims for this year just a few maybes, the only thing I do have planned is to get quick. Wanna try a bit of tame racing, some of the brownbacks hopefully, if wors and lowey do have a go (they did hint they would) it would help my motivation :-) I'm not signing up for Keilder this time but come september if there's entrys free (highly likely) and the weathers looking good (hmm) and I'm in the mood (hmmmmm) I might give it another go.
Started the year riding wise with a very gentle intro, more of a catch up with Johnnie than a ride, first week back at work things were looking good, pushing pretty hard on my first two commutes and feeling good. Then I started with sore throat and bunged up, so I've now eased off again, still riding tho, think I was too easily put off riding last year for fear of getting properly ill. This time I'll keep going til I can't ride.

Most agreeable

2011-01-11T12:47:00.000Z

Tail wind all the way home last night, very quick and a rather enjoyable commute, manky weather, 3 people tried to take me out but I still got home with a big grin on my face. Must be the wind assist, few and far between so gotta appreciate them when they do happen.

1. Car in the middle lane (of 3) stuck in traffic, passenger decided to open the door to get out as I was passing, close.
2. Leaving kearsley roundabout I take the next right so I keep to the right on the wide exit slip, car undertakes me then cuts me up cos he's going right too.
3. Approaching a pinch point (pedestrian island) lady in a car going slightly faster than me, started to overtake realised she wasn't going to pass me before the pinch so just drifted left into me. I calmly tapped on her window and made a few comments.

2010 round up

2011-01-07T13:05:00.003Z

2010 was supposed to be a big mileage year so lets see how I did.
180 rides 4786 miles
XC
2462 in 91 rides
Road
2324 in 89 rides
Average was 27 offroad 26 on (better than last year), mode was unsurprisingly the 25mile commute, one century (finally! and it was xc too!), four half centuries and twenty rides 30-50miles. 1 broken bike(boo), not a whole lot of punctures (yay) no bad riding injuries but a whole heap of bugs/viruses.
How did I do with my aims?
3000 xc miles, nope too many bouts of illness but I did manage more xc than road which makes a change.
Coast to coast, erm no.
SSEC yes and very good it was too!
STW weekender, nope.
Keilder 100, well it wasn't looking too good for a while but I managed it, pity it destroyed my knees. Quite chuffed with managing the course.
Get Charlie walking, don't think I can take much credit for this but yes, done.
Snowboarding holiday, no chance and not next winter either I'd guess.

So a bit of a mixed bag, some big mileage rides and slightly longer average rides but not enough of them.

So lets get ready for 2011 then :-)

Fallout Boy

2011-01-04T13:41:00.000Z

I'm a bit of an obsessive, tend to do things to death, riding bikes, drinking beer, various other pursuits also spring to mind, a huuuge time sink of mine is computer games as once the initial outlay is over with you don't run out of money (as with drinking) and as you are sat on your arse the whole time you don't run out of energy. If I get a new game you can guarantee I'll be up till midnight playing it, a good game it'll be the early hours, a great game...well I've looked up from the monitor to see daylight on a few occasions. Over christmas and new year the mrs has been ill so we've been indoors most of it, this coincided with me obtaining fallout new vegas, so anytime both her and the baby were asleep (frequently) I was on the PC. In nearly 2 weeks I think I've only made it to bed before 2am twice. Cracking game, thoroughly recommended if you have huge swathes of freetime (or don't care about sleep deprivation) First of the series I've played but will be looking into FO3 I think, maybe not bother with the earlier ones tho.

When not roaming the mojave virtually we visited family with the accompanied lots of eating and (only a little actually) drinking but after a week of that I was feeling a little off colour. I finally got off my arse on the 30th, mrs was still ill and the trails were looking icy so nipped out for a ~~quick~~ ~~run~~ jog instead of a ride. Only out for 75mins or so and no big hills but came back with my left leg/hip aching liked I'd pulled something, cold bath, food & painkillers then a nice hot bath later, I felt fantastic. Running, one of the most painful/tedious/annoying forms of excercise and it had transformed me, why don't more people excercise when it makes you feel like this? Was having trouble walking 2 days later when all my leg muscles seized up but I felt fine otherwise, no sign of any pulled muscles. Should do more runs when I'm short on time.

Drifty

2010-12-20T14:15:00.000Z

Wow that was hard work, rode in offroad this morning and it hurt! Riding on the flat was like an exercise bike on very hard resistance. Some places were well tamped down by weekend walkers, others not so, following the tracks laid by a quad bike at forest bank was OK until front tyre touched the powdery snow at the edges and pulled over started a big front wheel drift. On a short road section I picked up speed and frost formed on all leading edges of me and the bike, including my discs, as I found out when I tried to brake! Properly tired now, going home will be a grind.

Had plans for the weekend which all changed due to the snow, took wife's little matiz out saturday morning, quite tail happy on sharp corners, back end skipping out frequently - all slow speed on big open quiet roads so amusing rather than terrifying. Later doing the shopping in my car it was the other way round, understeer, turn the wheel and nowt happened, eek. Still manged to bimble around without any fuss, no spinning tyres, getting stuck or near misses, I'm a pretty lame driver so if I managed ok I dunno why there were so many numptys revving the nuts off their engines going nowhere and/or getting stuck. So glad I didn't have to drive any distance tho.

A very mixed ride

2010-12-15T11:24:00.005Z

Near death experiences, ephemeral christmas trees, gay cruising and some very slippery stuff. It was the official (ie formal/boring) christmas do yesterday afternoon, there are 2 more to go so I abstained from drinking so I could get out for probably the last night ride before christmas. My mrs thought my "priorities were all f***ked up" apparently I should have been out getting pissed like any normal person. Ho hum. Johnnie bailed at the last minute, ill health again and no doubt moving issues. I was going to head over to darwen and back via jumbles but as I got onto winter hill I decided I hadn't done 2 lads/wildes for a while so I went down there. 2 lads was properly slippy not quite lethal but definitely a handful, in a good way. Halfway down wildes just as I got to the cobbled section I was thinking this was the first quick run I'd done in ages, got to the lefthand bend before the sharp right and suddenly I was on a wide section of compacted snow/ice shhhiiiiiiii... straighten up, off the brakes, unclip one foot, just head straight on (towards the wall at the far side) and think smooth thoughts. Made it across, phew, sharp turn before I hit the wall and thank my minion ST for not dumping me on my arse. Lucky escape, sticky tyres have been ace during all this snow/ice.

Up school climb and the pike, very slippery coming down from the pike. As I was eating my mince pie riding up winter hill access road I looked up, the mast was wreathed in cloud, the red lights up the mast shining out created a christmas tree effect, like so

very festive (awesome artwork eh?). San marino was fun, legs aching by the bottom, this really is a very stiff frame but I said that about the kinesis at first too and I did manage a 40 miler at weekend without irreparably damaging my undercarriage so can't be that bad. I headed over to the jumbles via bj alley where I saw at least 2 different guys (presumably) drive all the way along, get to the end and turn back, wonder what they were upto... I ripped along the roller coaster then down www (where I saw a barn owl - cool!) to turton tower and home. Very very tired today.