Nojo

After the sniffle infested riding disaster that was September I've been slowly increasing my mileage so when I Got a pass out for a full days riding this weekend I was wondering about a big ambleside ride or maybe a long route at llandegla, so many choices, unfortunately saturday's forecast was poo so did no prep friday night and sure enough it was piddling down all night and most of the morning, my riding mojo was AWOL. Local slog it is then, let the mrs have a lie in and didn't leave til lunchtime pointing out this wasn't the planned alldayer (which I would be cashing in soon as the weather perked up) Feeling good so I grabbed the singlespeed, I knew it had been a while but checking it was august the last time I rode this, but way back in june (!) since I did a proper SS ride and boy did it show. Grunted up the golf course and I had almost reached winter hill road before I subconsciously flicked my index finger looking for an easier gear. Hole in the wall was just slurry, even my mudXs were having trouble coping. Wildeswood went ok, no way was I going up school climb tho so went down to the barn and up AICR. Messed up the cobbled corner before the pike, only just got around it and I was struggling getting up the final loose section. Not good. Rode the drops and struggled in the ruts, down georges to do wildes singletrack, felt slightly guilty riding this, I had meant to stay away from it during wetter parts of winter but there were plenty of other tyre marks heading for it so wasn't going to deny myself, fun. Up the tarmac to the mast and down san marino, a lot slower than tuesday but still fun.

Over to witton weavers way, dropped down to roddlesworth river then climbed to the cafe, suffering. Up the cobbled road was OK but going up lion's den I was dying, just no strength to pull back on the bars, very nearly stall crashed twice when I tiredly wandered off line and hit rocks. Damn my weak, limp, noodley, little girls roadie arms. Don't matter how many miles you've got in your legs if your arms are shot you'll struggle with thrutchy SS climbs, a shedload of willpower and luck only just got me through the climb. Round the hill and dropped to sunnyhurst and over to whitehall climb, round cadshaw to strawberry duck and around entwistle res, (rear brake gave up) going up the super steep climb on rollercoaster I was trying to grunt and swear myself up it but eventually stalled, where the dog walker I hadn't seen cheerily said "nearly" I'll get it next time. Water had finally seeped into my shoes by now and my toes were getting numb so round turton golf course along the chicked run and home through tonge moor. Got home head to toe covered in mud, my bike making some crunchy noises, dunno if pads wore through or the braking surface fell off, will check the carnage tonight.

39miles 5,500ft. Damned hard work, gonna take a while to get used to proper hills again, still tired this morning, wrists were aching as the cockpit is a bit short for full on climbing but worth it on the downs. Dropper post worked well, I don't normally drop the saddle on the blinglespeed so was descending with more confidence, will strip it tonight see how much crud gets inside during ~5 hours of awful conditions.

off the beaten track

In the last couple of months we've been wearing a groove in our local trails, AICR, pike drops, wildeswood, school climb, ICR maybe 2lads or hole in the wall at somepoint. Anyway getting a bit samey so tuesday as Johnnie was stuck in traffic me n si set off from moss bank park and tried something slightly different, up the golf course and winter hill off the shoulder, lot's of muddy ruts, gully is proper deep and pretty damn slippy just about managed it. Along the horrible cobbles of belmont old road, down ICR, not bad, not far from Si's back wheel and held it together (and picked up another sizeable ding on the down tube next to the last one) Up AICR to georges lane, down wildes singletrack, up old rake and the slog up mast road. San marino was slippy but I did alright, Si's still getting acclimatised to the mud soa little off the pace but kept upright. Next we went down the road to the quarry, crash barriers have been trashed by a car (again) Down the quarry, tricky it's been a while, got down ok then back up horrocks fold and down through smithills. Good run, it was late and I was quite tired at the end, a lot more mud than usual but a nice change.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and Hello!

Purchased some bicycle blingery from The Bike Monger, time will tell whether this is a good investment or sheer indulgence. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the white industries freewheel.

Slightly disappointed, thought it was going to turn up in some brushed aluminium case, from the fuss others have made, better than a plastic bag and it does look shiny. Bunged it on and gave it a spin, nice tick tick tick sound. Wednesday morning went out and gave it a proper whirl, complete silence while pedalling and then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz* when you freewheel. Imagine the world longest zip hung from the roof of a sky scraper, get hold of the zipper and jump of the roof, that's approaching the sound a WI freewheel produces on a long downhill. Shimano freewheels rrp are £30 now and getting harder to source cheaper, bugger all sealing and a bit clunky, got through 4 since I bought the pompino and that's including me stripping and regreasing them now and again. I have high hopes of this bit of kit. Loads of people out on bikes, crossing Oldfield road I saw a lady cyclist waiting on a road bike, looked closer as I went past, singlespeed/fixie nice, black bike, pink accessories hmm, pink jacket hmmmmm, hang on a minute! Yep it's trio, hello! Long time no see. At hacienda corner there were 4 cyclists infront of me at the lights and another couple behind. Nice to see more bikes around and stopping at lights too :-) *if you care (some people obviously do) an enthusiast has youtubed it so you can listen for yourself.

Kids stuff

Me and Charlie went and met up with Johnnie and his kids at weekend, it did not go well. As predicted charlie managed a tiny bit of riding then decided he'd had enough and wanted to run/walk the rest of the way. Persuasion and coercion weren't working, he wouldn't get back on the bike, cajoling and out right piss taking equally elicited no more riding. Bribery with sweets managed to get him to "ride" to the next gate but that was it, after that he was chauffeured for the rest of the day (I'd taken the bike seat aswell) while his bike was stashed in Johnnies rucksack. Johnnies little 'uns did a cracking job, ripping along the trail, both managed to crash in the same spot in the same manner, one on the way out and the other the way back. A dip in the trail, carry speed down into it then try to get up the other side, not quite enough speed meant they didn't quite made it, started to roll backwards didn't manage to brake and crashed. Both were pretty cool about it and kept on going, good stuff lads. Nice afternoon out, walkers were pretty chilled, just need to get Charlie more interested in riding. Hopefully do another kids ride soon.

Oh and this may be the answer to my indecision, mmmmmm.

Commuter indecision

Commuting was iffy monday, nothing really bad but on the way in a car passed too close then stopped at lights, I went up to driver window, a young lady all dolled up, I said calmly "that was too close" for a second she looked like she was about to ignore me but then turned to face me, mouthed "sorry" then gave me a big smile. Non-plussed, sorry but a nice smile isn't gonna cover it, rode off shaking my head, she did however give me a wide berth when she next passed. On way home in almost stationary traffic a car pulled out from a side street right in front of me, I slowed then when I went to undertake the driver pulled left cutting me up, I was expecting it tho so slowed and as the car came across I rapped the rear bodywork with the back of my hand to let them know I was there (and not happy) turns out fiat puntos are made of tinfoil and there was a massive thunk sound. Oops. I passed on the right and bloke in passenger seat had got the driver (his mum?) to wind her window down and he was hurling abuse at me, I switched to the right hand side of the line of traffic and put the power down, (and spent the rest of the ride looking over my shoulder) different route home for a few days I think. Rode route 55 again on my pompino yesterday, it's a very gentle downhill most of the way in which is fine and full guards on a car/traffic-light/junction free route (well ~70% of the route) is lovely. Gearing is just a bit too high for the way home tho and will have to see if guards survive or if they get rattled to death. Still unsure whether to change the pompino tyres and gearing (slightly gimping it's road capability) or try to fit full guards to my inbred. Or buy a 29er and run cx tyres with full guards. Or buy a pometamine for xc use. Or.... Or..... Hmmm.

Moonlight sonata

Tuesday nightride was moved to monday this week, suited me, weather was looking better and boy did we luck out. Set off wrapped up warm it was pretty cold out. Got up on to Burnt Edge and I could see mist heading down the valley. As I got into the mist it was illuminated from behind by the floodlights on the big house/farm on scout rd, peripheral vision was all lit up, pretty weird. Was running late so sped down Hole in't Wall, was a certain amount of "floating" going on, skimming over the top of mud not much grip, if I'd had to swerve or avoid something I'd have been in trouble but made it down ok. Down wildes and along the path to top barn. Met Si and johnnie, all the mist above looked disconcerting but I assured them it'd be reet. We climbed up and sure enough as we got to georges lane the mist started to thin, we got to the top of the pike and just had to stop switch off lights and go "WOW". Full moon, mist sweeping over the hills, winterhill mast, 2 lads and a couple of other peaks were peeping out of the mist. Absolutely stunning, we stood and oggled for a while, pretty mild up there too. Dropped down off the pike, pretty sketchy in the ruts, I did some more "floating" reckon I could have a crash on the way at which point I'll slow right down but so far winging it and staying loose is keeping me rubber side down. Went and did the rooty wildeswood trail, slippery! Si hasn't done this so tried to get him to follow us blindly off the drop at the end (worked for me and johnnie first time we rode it) but with the dark and mud we were going slow enough for him to see ahead and he slammed on the anchors. Refusal I'm afraid, maybe next time. Chatted as we climbed up school climb, shedded a layer or two due to the temp, lovely evening. ICR next, I followed Si's line down and was doing ok, thought I was going to pass him after the last corner too but hit a few big rocks and got well off line. Split at the bottom I started climbing rivi again, the full moon was so bright I decided to try riding by it, silvery light over everything, couldn't see a lot of surface detail but could see see bumps well enough for a chunky tired mtb with suspension forks. Upto and along georges lane, looked up and the view was fantastic, moon shining seeming to burn a cone of light through the clouds, this it the closest I could find on google and it doesn't even come close. Chickened out and hit the lights as I sped down passed the woods, went home via the golf course. As I descended into bolton it got colder and colder pretty sure there was some sort of temperature inversion going on, Johnnie confirmed he found the same dropping into chorley. Thoroughly sorted nightride, nice weather, decent trails, good company, no crashes and views to die for.

Reborn!

Bung some tunes on while you read. Not been upto much as I've been suffering from lurgy since last tuesday's nightride, still not right but been ignoring it and doing a bit of gentle riding when i can. A thread on STW got me thinking more about my commute, I want an offroad lite version, away from cars but no muddy mess when it's wall to wall rain. NCN 55 sounds a good start bolton to eccles. Did it on my pompino but road gearing is a bit high and the gravel and teensy bit of mud isn't great on 23c slicks @100psi, so........
last monday night I dug the inbred out from the back of the shed and knocked it up in the kitchen, I was waiting to be interrupted by the mrs with "isn't that yet another bike?" but she never said owt, phew. Finally got it cobbled together a proper mish mash, mismatched brakes, odd bar grips, duck tape rim strips, just used what I had lying around. Was getting on by the time I finished so threw tools into cupboard and went to bed, then jumped out 20mins later when I remembered I hadn't tightened the stem bolts and would no doubt forget by morning. Here it is


nice huh?


Tuesday was very wet but the ride in wasn't too bad at all. This is how mountain bikes used to be, in fact this bears an uncanny resemblance to my old kona lava dome. Long stem and skinny bars good for a stretched out pedalling position, rubbish for wheelying/hops tho. Bar ends are great, wider grip further forward just where you want it for climbing I do kinda miss these, 44x18 is a good compromise might play around a little maybe 44x16, tyres are at 50psi so slightly bumpy but there's nothing too rough on the NCN and they're fast for the road sections. Old pedals are a bit clunky to get into and crudguards aren't great when it's proper wet.
Overall not bad, I reckon a cx bike with full guards would be better but dunno if it's doable and I aint go the cash for that just now anyway so we'll see how this latest incarnation of the inbred lasts. Might not be very long as it happens, freehub isnt freewheeling very well and BB is making some crunchy noises, it'll do to test the route tho, see if it's doable daily over winter, it's an extra couple of miles and not sorted out a car free route from eccles to manchester yet. Will see.