31 in 31 - pointless willy waving

So, once again it begins....

No idea why ?, it just seems like a good idea and it can only help so here we go

Monday, an hour and ten minutes in the morning on the Breed, job done, home was the middle way, 20 miles.

Tuesday was an early start, once again down the river, an hour and ten, home was straight back, 16 miles.

Loving the Breed.

Wednesday (today) was a late start as I had a dentist appointment at 1030 so up at 8 and out by ten past, down the river to the fields of cross feeling pretty groovy, the bike just wanted to go faster and faster, I was laughing to myself, letting the bike slide around, pushing the traction to the limit, did some climbs, out of the saddle and stomping hard NO KNEE PAIN !!!!!

An hour and 30 minutes later and I' done, but not yet finished.

Dentist, replacement filling and back out on the bike, legs now stiffening so just straight into work.

The bell rang and I was out again, across the moss to the shak, picked up some Cliff Shots and a couple of Cliff bars for the weekend, a quick catch up with the crew's news at the shak, a brew and I'm back out again on the moss, acoss the back to the river at a fair pace, hit the river trail and run out of energy.

Span my way home happy with a 30 mile 3 ride day :-)

The Felt Breed has inspired this return of the love, dunno why it should be any different from my beloved Jake but there you go, I can only see myself riding this bike for the rest of the 31 in 31 (at least during the week), this bike rawks !


.....

37, 38, 39 and 40

37,38,39 were boring there and backs, made ever so slightly more interesting by being along the river on the Stiffee which is the only burly bike with working brakes, I now have 4 pairs of Hopes that need servicing !

anyhow, no aches from the knee during any of these rides so I felt confident about todays escape to Penmachno

WRONG diddly WRONG

But before all that we had a few comedy moments, first of all driving into ByC for a bacon butty, we were both laughing at the memory of the potato gun incident from Robs leaving do, what must the residents have thought as hot potatoes rained down into the town that night ? and then just a funny for me watching Dave drop his coffee as he struggled to get out of the bakery door, I guess you had to be there on both occasions !

Anyway, the ride....

1st climb and I'm wincing, 1st descent and I cant stand without it buckling under me, bollocks bollocks bollocks.

Dave and Ali continued on to finish the red route whilst I dropped back down the hill, but instead of heading to the car I dropped into the granny ring and spun my way up hill to drop down the last singletrack descent, the knee was still aching and twingeing but was tolerable so I decided to head off again to see how it went. I headed back uphill at a snails pace but again it was manageable, decided to head further up and get to the second last descent, after an eternity in the granny ring I finally got there. The descent was interesting as there was a few guys in front of me who were even slower downhill than me and I kept catching them, but as tempting as it was to overtake I decided to stop and let them get well ahead so that I could descend at a more pedestrian pace.

I got back to the car having done just an hour so my start at 31 in 31 was completed, and despite the knee playing up I was still happy, happy just to be in the hills, happy to drive down the estuary road to ByC, happy to hear the buzzards calling and watching them circle (I've been going here to ride bikes for 20 years now and I always see and associate buzzards with this area).

abot an hour later Dave and Ali arrive back at the car, they are buzzing having raced around the trail, get changed, bikes loaded, cheery goodbyes, some vague plans for another attempt at Snowdon and we are driving.

This week will see just an hour eac morning hoping that the knee will get better in time for next weekend.



Running total, 40 rides and 480 miles.


....

Into the light

35 was a straight there and back affair, down the river in the mud, 10 miles.

36 (today) was again a straight there and back affair, down the river in the mud, 10 miles.

BUT...

At last I managed a ride home tonight without the need for life saving blinkies, its such a boost, almost enough to make me forget my rubbish knee, the knee that I fell on nearly four weeks ago, the knee I knacked riding silly long miles up silly bloody hills, the knee that I landed on last week.

Needless to say I didn't get out on the bike over weekend, the rain made my decision easy, rest the knee.

Its starting to get on my nerves now, I'd been expecting to have got into the gym at work by now, rowing, running and that ski thingy, maybe next week ?.

Probably just do the commute this week, hopefully then able to get to Penmchno for a big sky experience on Sunday :-)

31, 32, 33 and 34

Weds and I had to drop the car off at the garage for its MOT, this gave me the option of different route into work along the ice covered canal, 12 miles of sketchiness, the way home was porridgey, 11 miles.

23 miles total.

Today, Thursday saw one more of my nine lives used up, ironically I set of along the river thinking that would be safer, it was very icy so I left as soon as I could and got on the road, all was well until the final junction before work.

There had been an underground water leak that obviously had turned to ice and slush, I got round this very gingerly and was going along my merry way thinking I was safe, trouble was that the slush had been falling from the cars for another 100 yards or so and turned to proper black ice just before I needed to take a right hander. It was here that I slid out, slow motion almost laughing at my own stupidity until I realised there was a fully loaded 20 ton truck sliding on the same ice patch towards me.

When I opened my eyes after realising thta he hadn't hit me I got up and shaked meself down, looking at the drivers face I dont know who was the more relieved me or him, I guess I'd rather have been in his seat :-0.

Tonight I felt remarkably stiffless despite this mornings tumble, another frustrating day at work turned into another porridgey ride home, I needed to pedal for a bit to get some stress out of my system, an hour was done, turning home just as the sleet started, job done.

15 miles today.

26, 27, 28, 29 and 30

Well, the rest of last week was simply there and back affairs as my knee was still sore, sore enough in fact that I rested it over the weekend and took the opportunity to get to the local nature reserve for some photography.

Monday came and went in a black ice wipe out, again less than 100 yards from home and I'm on my arse, so back to the car.

Today saw less ice so I chanced my arm and managed an hour dodging the ice puddles and obvious black ice, a couple of hairy moments but I arrived at work an hour and 12 miles later, tonight and the ice had melted so I pretty much did this mornings ride in reverse, took me about 10 minutes longer in the mud but it was still a pleasure.

25 miles for today.

running total for the year to date is 30 rides and 389 miles.

24 and 25

Monday, the day after the weekend and I was officially broken, my right knee was sore and swollen from the near as damn it 100 miles at the weekend and I'd decided that it was going to be a car day...

Until I looked through the curtains..... SNOW !!!!!

quickly getting dressed into riding gear and my knee started to make some ooh ahh noises, but I could see that the snow hadn't been disturbed and my tracks would be the first of the day, and they were apart from some fox tracks, bliss !

30 mins later and I'm back in the world of misery

The ride home was a bitterly cold experience, sleet and rain, a complete change from the fluffy whiteness of the morning.

Today was predicted to be a black ice day, and given that my legs were as stiff as a board it became a car day, tomorrow will see the SS Felt cross bike out and being given a real off road test, there's a nice twisty climb to conquer and some overgrown singletrack to belt through.

18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23

Work has been truly terrible this week, the realisation of owing 32 billion dollars is starting to hit home badly and I've had to lay off two people already :-(

And because of that its been a depressing drinking week that seemed to never end...

Anyway, I did ride my bike to work for most of the week, in fact the only car trip was to take fresh shirts and stuff, but it wasn't the week I planned and hoped for.

32 slow miles.

However there was a plan for the weekend, it nearly didn't happen due to the above, my heart wasn't into anything but getting shit faced all weekend, but there was the involvement of 3 other people to consider, good friends who had agreed to spend the weekend with me on one of my hair brained schemes, and this was more than enough incentive.

An early start o Saturday morning and we were away, I'll say no more for the time being as the weekend is the first of a new series for Singletrack Magazine, and the full story will be in the next issue.

Suffice to say though that 3 weekends of riding after months of laziness was never going to be enough :-0

Quick top up for January

278 miles and 23 rides, not to bad a start considering the weather....