Ride 3 of 2014, Trans Pennine Trail, Bridgewater Canal, Surly Krampus

Five hours sat in the saddle, slowly grinding my drive train away at about the same speed as my fitness is returning, seems a fair price to pay, the recent high rains have left their mark on my local trails, either heavy mud, deep puddles or both with not much solid ground.

Despite what I thought the Surly Knards were actually perfect for these conditions, not a great deal of grip but the big carcass floated over the top of the mud and the treads cleared well, it got to be quite fun when a turn was required and soon became predictable.

Sore sit bones today, in hindsight getting straight out on the Fargo with the Brooks saddle after such a long break wasn't the smartest move ever but served to confirm that the Brooks Swift saddle has served its time, I have a Brooks Cambium ready to be fitted, just need to find some bar tape to match the slate grey colour.

Other thoughts, I've been focusing heavily on the Kiwi Brevet after talking to one of the guys who was riding this event, it really appeals to me, especially after spending some time in New Zealand, its fair to say that this event (and the earlier in the month Southern Brevet) are appealing more to me than the Tour Divide.

I've entered the Welsh Ride Thing, after spending most of my riding time alone last year (by choice) this year I want to get out and ride with people, that is actually get outside on a bike instead of talking about it.

I have a long list of friends all over the country that I am going to visit this year, ranging from Cornwall up to Edinburgh, and lots of places in between, and I'd really like to push the photography and writing this year, maybe I can combine the two ?.

Ride 2 of 2014, Llandegla red and black, Surly Krampus

First mountainbike ride of 2014 with Barney, one lap of the red and black, 2 stalls at the drops, no damage done, sore wrists and backside, coffee and the biggest slice of toast in the world to finish, tired now.

Ride 1 of 2014, 28 miles, Salsa Fargo

Its been 8 weeks since I last threw a leg over a bike, in that time I've been in New Zealand and Singapore, its been a whirl wind of travel, new places, new experiences, lots of smiles, lots of great food and drink and just short of 45000 kilometres of carbon based movement.

Because of this I have lost most of the fitness I gained last year and oh boy does it show, today was the first day back in the saddle and as is always the case that fitness hill is even steeper than last year, 28 miles today on the Salsa Fargo with a seeemingly ever-present headwind. I was only pootling along but it hurt, everywhere it could, sat here now 5 hours later and legs still tingling, its going to be a hard few months to get back.

But, I'm happy to have had the privilidge of doing what we did, and losing some fitness and gaining some fatness is a price worth paying.

2013 finished

Still searching.....

4 months later

not got much to say

been riding bikes, been walking, been taking photographs, been enjoying my family and friends

you know, the usual stuff

been thinking too much, been drinking too much

been reading books again, been writing words again

you know, the usual stuff

2 week catch up

Local rides mostly with a few jaunts out of cheshire, well one actually.

Monday 1st, 28 miles along the TPT.

Tuesday 2nd, 20 road miles.

Weds 3rd, 25 miles around Gisburn Forest with Piers, we managed to get lost on man made trails !, and when Piers fell heavily for a few seconds I had that "oh shit" feeling but he manned up and got on with it :-), it was by any standards a good days riding.

Thurs 4th, 62 miles, up to Delamere, just pushing te miles up a bit now.

Friday 5th, 54 miles, Salsa Vaya, damned if I can remember where I went !

Weekend off bikes then boom, straight into a century, a real old fashioned imperial century, Salsa Vaya with 40mm tyres so not exactly easy, mix of 45 off road miles and 55 tarmac, 101 miles and I still felt good in the legs at the end, in fact it was only my wrists that were sore, pleased with that.

Monday 8th, 101 miles.

Tuesday 9th, declared this a rest day, I was tired so just drove to Delamere and had a spin around the singletrack, 8 miles and a picnic.

Weds 10th, 38 miles, rode with Barney to a hill, the biggest hill in Cheshire, slept on top and talked lots of shit. It was Barneys first ever bivvy so it was definatly a "not roughing it"  version and I think he enjoyed it.

travelling relatively light

pub stops along the way

remembering some good times in the past

after some boil in the bag meals (which are delicious BTW) we spoilt ourselves with some fine cheese and wine

I think that we were in his spot

emptying the excess water ( I think thats what it was)

Sunrise shadow

Thursday 11th, early start and another amble through the lanes, 48 miles in total.

That means 384 miles in 9 days of riding, should help me through the Lakes 200 that I am starting on Sunday with another old friend, we aren't racing and not going to be strict on the route, but will be self sufficient and expect to have a least 2 nights under the stars.

MTB Trail Leader

Part of my redunancy package was £1000 that I could spend on "retraining" for a new career, with that in mind I booked myself on to the CTC's MTB trail leader and MTB tech leader courses, both at the Dales MTB centre.

Run by friends Stu and Brenda, its located just to the bottom right of this picture in the fanstastic setting of the dales, the course was run by Sam Cook, one of the legendary mountainbike racers of the early 90's (Sam was a sponsored Orange Bikes rider).

I turned up early on the Monday with an arrangement to go riding with Stu for the day, unfortunately I'd managed to sleep awkwardly and had a crook'd neck :-(, so as Stu had the lawns to cut I went out for a bimble on my own, just along the river and back, but enough to loosen things up a bit.

Tuesday dawned and with it big blue skies and sunshine, too good to miss a ride today, and as the course didn't actually start until 5 that afternoon I decided to explore. Once again heading up river to Gunnerside. I'd long ago seen that there are the remains of lead mines scattered around this area, scanning the map showed at least 2 locations.

Heading uphill in the blazing sunshine proved that my fitness is still sorely lacking, and that despite checking my map several times I managed to miss the right hand turn that would take me into the valley where the remains are, backtracking until I found the trail, I was presented with a lovely swoopy singletrack descent right down to the valley floor, hard to resist letting the Krampus fly.

Had a good long chat with a chap who had walked up the valley to see the ruins, he knew the history of the place well, and we both agreed that whilst we had arrived here for pleasure, the thought of doing a 10 hour shift having walked up from Gunnerside and then back again afterwards was not that appealing !.

Now that I'd dropped all the height, and looking down the valley at some very interseting tracks I decided to head down to Gunnerside by following the river, it was fine for a while, occcasionally getting too technical for my skills which meant the odd carry (also mindful that I was on my own and apart from the walker I hadn't seen anyone for hours).

I ended up in a lovely little wood, that would have been perfect but for the fact that I was carrying a 30lb bike, still it only took half an hour to get through on foot, once down I headed back to the river to follow the trail home, a nice day out, some 30 odd miles covered and back in time for the start of the course.

The course itself was most enjoyable, good folks and a great teacher, Sam has a nice way about him and gets across what he needs to without seemingly any effort, 2 full days of theory and field work and glad to say we all passed, so now I am a qualified MTB trail leader.

Driving home that night meant passing York so I picked up No1 daughter and a car full of stuff to be stored whilst she is away in New Zealand.

Last week was spent at home, just the occasional ride out in between showers, although one day I did get to Delamere for a play out on the new Cotic Solaris.

And then on Thursday finally linking the trans pennine trail with the Middlewood Way so that now when I head into the peaks I no longer have to endure the A6 through Stockport.

After a weekend away in Anglesey with Jan, this week will be all about riding bikes and not drinking, today I went out in the rain on the Salsa Vaya, 28 miles in under 2 hours without really trying at all, maybe there is a hint of fitness finally coming through ?