Filed under: Bike Rides
Bike: Commencal Meta 5.5
Distance: 22.5 miles
Time: 2hr 15mins
Thank goodness for waterproofing, yesterday the Endura and the Sealskinz held up well, dry feet (they stayed warm for 80% of the ride) and dry/warm hands, it makes a pleasant change from the constant numbness of riding a mountain bike at this time of the year.
The ride itself proved a little deflating, I could tell the legs have not been used to the usual hammering after 3/4 weeks of injury/holiday/illness, it’ll take time to get the precious fitness back, it is always hard work the first few rides when it has been lost, it disappers a lot quicker than it is gained, it is a constant fight to hold on. The legs were just not there, so it was a battle for 23 miles, but satisfying as always.
It is turbo season now although the aim will be to try and get at least one night ride in as well, it may build mental toughness to stare at a blank wall for 60 minutes whilst spinning at a standstill but it sure as hell is not fun!
Filed under: Bike Rides
Bike: Commencal Meta 5.5
Distance: 28.8 miles
Time: 2hrs 55mins
It’s been a while since I wrote about a ride, 3 weeks and a few injuries plus stinking head cold has meant not much riding, the cracked ribs are now a lot better, although after this ride I am now nursing a badly bruised hand (yes fell off again!).
Man this was one tough ride, strong winds, pouring rain and mud to match the best gloop anywhere made for an interesting time, for some reason the weather has turned the surface on a few of the trails into stuff that is slippier than ice, I took one corner a little too fast and a slight turn of the front wheel, bang I was off and sliding down the trail, hand must have hit a rock on the way down as it is black and blue today!
As Nietzsche and Metallica say “What don’t kill you, makes you more strong” well Nietzsche’s is slightly better constructed than that but it was one of those rides that felt great when I was back in the car with the heaters on full blast and once the feeling returned to my hands, thank goodness for Merino wool, felt toasty warm all the way round in the upper half of my body anyway.
The ride itself really was an exercise in persistence, difficult under wheel and the wind and rain were enthusiasm sappers, but I still managed the 2 laps I was after and 28 miles under the belt to try and get back some of the fitness I have lost the past few weeks were little to no riding was done. Some of the trails are getting to near impossible to negotiate especially Car Wash, the exit over the river now is especially hairy, seems since I cracked the ribs that I am really tentative when clipped in over technical bits, I have resisted the urge to go flatties at the minute in the hope that the confidence will return and the fact that it will cost money, will keep persisting and hopefully it will.
The remainder of the trails are still pretty good, a few folks have been trimming off the over hanging trees which makes them flow better than they were, so in the end all told once a big cuppa tea was in my hands it was a great day!
Filed under: Bike Rides
Wow what a day, sandwiched between 2 days of complete rain, we had a perfect day of sunshine, weather couldn’t have been any better.
The 4.20am alarm call was painful mind you, no matter what adventure I was headed on that part of the morning just feels all wrong, so a sleepy dress, bags in the car and off to Dave’s to load the bikes, pick up Dale and Ryan and hit the boat to Stranraer.
An hour and half later and we are at the trail carpark, kitted up and on our way round the 25k red route, if I remembered anything about Ae from the last time I was here I know it is a hard earned 25k and I was not about to be proved wrong. The initial climb is energy sapping and although the sun was shining it was easy to tell the temperature was low as the lungs were filled with cold air, switchback after switchback and eventually you start to hit the first nice parts of the trail, there is a lot of initial climbing until you get to the first truly excellent trail part which is Granny Green Luv, huge berms and tabletops, some nice small drops, so good we had to do it twice, although the final couple of rocky berms down to the bridge are off the back of the seat stuff, so easy to tell that my own confidence in my riding has improved so much as I was happily nailing these parts.
The only really annoying part of the day were the couple of trail diversions that were in place, the main one takes you up through a steep part of the forest, bike on shoulder, ankle deep in bog – great!!
I suppose the one saving grace is the nice 500m long section of wooden ladders that have been built across some marshland, they were sweet to ride, again so good we had to do it twice, although not so good as somehow I managed to let the front wheel slip off near the end and ended up in a pile on the ground, nice, ribs and hand are a tad sore today!! Probably down to the fact that I lost the front wheel and then couldn’t get unclipped to save myself – might be time for flats!!
We then hit a series of mechanicals which although were time consuming didn’t spoil the day, I managed 5 punctures, those stones are sharp but 5 is a bit overboard and a bit annoying as we were running out of patches and tubes, at least it gave the ribs a rest.
Once we were up and running again it was all systems go and the focus was on getting to the Omega Man, some nice sections in between but at this stage we just wanted to hit those big drops and table tops. My aim was to ride everything I could and not overcook it and get too confident, I was really pleased with it, managed some air, cleaned everything I tried and the bike just soaked it all up, although I did see that both shocks were at their limits on certain sections! 4 runs of the Omega Man it was time pack up and make the journey back home again, truly great day.
12.01am I entered the house nearly 20 hours after leaving, feeling wrecked I still couldn’t get to sleep as the brain was still buzzing.
Very few photos as I just didn’t want to spoil the flow.
In the end the distance stats are not impressive, 18 miles, 3.5 hours of riding, but the body and bike feel like they have done 3 times that.
Motionbased link here
Bike: Commencal Meta 5.5
Distance: 24.5
Time: 3 hours approx
Ok so there was a distinct lack of bones although I did see the carcass of some form of small bird lying on the side of one of the trails, but there was dust, no not household dust but trail dust, unseen since the month of May, cracking days ride on Saturday, sun and dust, it’ll never last they say.
Dave and myself met up with Ryan and Paul and just did a usual Davagh loop, no matter how many times I ride it, I never get bored with the same trails, there is always a new line to pick or just trying that bit harder to get more speed through the trails and a better line at the same time.
Dave brought his mighty sharp saw with him, so at least we could clear up some of the tree debris that has been spoiling the flow on a few of the trails, they are now crowned a sweet flowing trails once again.
I could tell it was a good ride when I got home and didn’t have to think about turning the hose on the bike, it was clean enough already!
Finally after a long year of waiting we get a Scotland trip this weekend, nice early boat to Stranraer and then off to Ae forest for some good trail riding.
Filed under: Talk the talk
I ordered a copy of this new magazine the other day The Ride Journal – more like a book the amount of pages it contains, beautifully presented and printed.
What makes the £7.50 more than worthwhile is the fact that there is probably 5 standard magazines worth of stories in it and so few ads it is just a relief not to have to skip past them, well worth checking out, some of the articles are available online as well – Online Articles
Filed under: Bike Rides
Bike: Commencal Meta 5.5
Distance: 30.5 miles
Time: 3 hours
Question, how do you know the UK summer has finished, that’s right, the sun starts shining, what a perfect day it was today to be out and riding!
I had an aim to get 3 hours and 30 miles under my pedals today, worked out perfectly. A 9am start off and it was clear but a little chilly so I layered up just until the sun made it’s expected appearance, the climb up to the forest was really quiet, don’t think I saw a single car the whole 6.5 miles, just me and my thoughts trundling along at a nice pace, thoughts of my lines on the trail and the hope that the legs would hold up to a 30 mile onslaught.
The first couple of trails were showing the signs of the wet summer, really muddy under wheel it was 100% concentration to make sure that the front wheel didn’t get sucked straight into a rut and fling me off over the bars, managed a good line down through the Stream Trail and just about held it together through the completely overgrown Car Wash!
The big climb up to the Top Run felt strong, I am somehow managing a higher gear than I have ever used before on that climb, the Top Run though is a bit like getting acupuncture treatment, pine needles from overgrown trees doing their best to leave no skin unmarked.
The Deer Trail (lower section of which pictured above) is really starting to become my favourite section of the entire ride, it just flows so well, the top layer of moss is finally starting to give way to the gravel underneath, we just need to work out the last technical climb to give it flow 100% of the way.
Finished off with as quick a blast as I could down through the Middle Run and then to finish me off completely I did the lap again taking in the big climb and another blast through the Middle Run, by this stage the legs were fried but that feeling that you can only get from a great ride was there, spread right across my face in a big smile!
Stats from motionbased showed a just over 3 hour ride, 15 minutes quicker than the last time I tried that same route, so I must be doing something right with all this riding.
Bike: Commencal Meta 5.5
Distance: 11.5 miles
Time: 60 mins
Bit late in posting this as the ride actually happened on Wednesday night, I couldn’t hack the thought of another hour staring at the garage floor sitting on the trainer so headed out the door on a night ride, first one of this Autumn season, took a looped route round the park and paths close to it, nothing too exciting and it was pretty repetitive but it was good to be out in the air. Lights are holding up well and after an hour the legs felt great, so hopefully I can keep this up a couple of times a week to break the boredom of the turbo!
Not been bothered to write much recently, not that I have stopped biking, just not had much interesting to write about, no camera with me on rides so no photos and now that the autumn darkness has started, it looks like turbo season is about to kick in and get well underway.
Saturday past it decided to stop raining for a few hours and I managed a great run out around Davagh with Dave & Ryan, a nice 24 miles in the sunshine, of course it was completely saturated under wheel but hey ho you can’t have everything, it’s only water and mud!
I’ve managed to start the early morning turbo sessions again, although at 6.10am this morning it was a bit like pedalling through treacle, after 30 minutes the legs opened up, maybe just maybe it was the new soundtrack to my life!
Looks like we might actually get a couple of Scotland trips in this year, crossing fingers and toes at the minute in the hope that it will come off, thoughts of the swooping Kirroughtree singletrack send happy smiles to my brain.
Yesterday morning it was me and the kids for a few hours, so while they happily played outside in the sunshine I hit the turbo for an hour and watched them through the garage door, not exactly exciting and with no music to occupy my brain it was getting close to torture in the end, the legs enjoyed it though….
Filed under: Bike Rides
Day: Saturday 30th Aug
Bike: Commencal Meta 5.5
Distance: 23.5 miles
I hummed and I haa’ed so long I nearly didn’t make the ride! There were a number of roads closed around where I live and I thought it would be hell getting back home again, but the call of a ride was too much so I went anyway, it did take ages to get back home but it was worth it.
Not a massive ride by any means, some the trails are still well saturated but just about rideable with care, I did notice I had a bit too much psi for some parts but all in all it was a good ride out, all of the Calderdale hills have helped the legs no end as I felt great on every climb today!
The new wheelset is working out sweet as well, bike feels muich better over the rough stuff using the 5.1 rims, I also swapped my Panaracer Rampage tyres back on again in place of the Nevegals which wore the rubber off in less than 4 months!!
