Thanks Chris, really interesting and useful to know! Still figuring out what's best for me at the mo, but it'll be on the 50/34 compact while i decide. Anyway, i'll stop hijacking the thread now...sorry all!

Ditched all the luggage after discovering I couldn't change gear, and went for an unloaded bimble round some back roads. Stopped due to a puncture about three quarters of the way round, dug this bit of flint out of the tyre...


My rear tyre now has a nice gaping hole in it, not impressed. When I set off again, I only made it another 4km before the rear was flat again. Rather than stopping to fix it again, I just kept pumping it up, cycling 4 - 5 km, then pumping it up again. Cheap tyres are cheap for a reason I suppose.


Got home, cleaned the bike, as it was really clarty. Discovered that the front tyre had a slash in it and the inner tube was bulging out. Not qutie sure how I've done that, or how it didn't blow when I was out.

Sounds like an annoying faff! Probably too much for those tyres...I had a similar thing happen to me within the first 50 miles of using some Specialized roubaix tryes on mixed terrain; flint punctures and slashes galore. Some tougher, more 'gravel' oriented tyres will help.

faustus wrote: ↑Fri Jan 24, 2020 12:01 pm Some tougher, more 'gravel' oriented tyres will help.

These 32mm road tyres were to keep my 40mm gravel tyres good for when it dries out! Turns out that it was actually a second puncture on the rear, which I discovered when putting the inner tube into the sink. Fixed all the punctures and henria's in preparation for this evenings bivvy, only to find the rear flat again this morning. Have just bought two new inner tubes, and am going to stick the 40mm gravel tyres back on and cross my fingers...

I've obviously not got the correct tyres for South Cambridgeshire / Essex / Suffolks back roads, open to suggestions...?

Decided to head out and try and locate the Wicken Fen Back to Basics camping spot that I missed on Friday nights bivvy. Rather than going through the stile and then following the drain, which leads to the site, I ended up heading off across the field to the right, following a RoW footpath.



The site is open and accessible, but does have warning signs up about only for pre-booked use, etc. There are four of these shelters. The opening of which face away from the general prevailing wind direction. There's a fire pit and some benches, plus an eco-toilet and that's it. It's quite a compact wee site.





Having had a good look at it during the day and seeing where I went wrong, I've come to the conclusion that the site was occupied on Friday night. I definitely saw lights, that I took to be a house, but given where I was in the field at the time, it could only have been coming from the site. so it's probably for the best that I ended up in one of the hides. The flashing red lights that I came across, appear to be associated with a fenced off pheasant breading area and were nothing to do with the camping site.

Might have to go back and see if I can get a cheeky night in one of the shelters in the future. Would be perfect for a quick and easy, midweek, straight from work bivvy.

Just been out for my constitutional, round the woods and canal and whatnot. Took me longer to clean the bloody thing than it did to ride. Bored with mud now. Think I might stop riding until WRT or something.

upside down in humiliation

Engineered a work meeting in Marlborough. Got train to Bedwyn, cycled through Savernake, had meeting, then cycled home. Lovely wintry sun and a nice ride, all part of a working day.
IMG_20200129_114357 by Matthew Walker, on Flickr

A very atmospheric pootle last night, ride over to Conwy and then on the beach at low tide!
IMG_20200130_203507_103 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

After a fallow few months where i've been restricted to short (2hr) and have lost the mojo a bit, February means a concerted effort to get some more lengthy rides in.... so I did an Ogden loop from Hebden. EPIC quantities of mud, its usually a reasonable choice for winter, but this winter seems to have produced more slop than ever even though its not rained that much. Add a construction site at Warley Moor reservoir to negotiate - it looked like they'd imported extra mud for fun - and some serious smirr and I got home feeling fairly vaguely exciting. Yeeha! Now to get back in the bivvy groove...

Was going to cycle commute to work today, but my front light had other ideas. Plugged it in, it came on, then as I wheeled the bike down the drive it went off every time the bike hit a bump. Then it just stopped working unless I hit it, when it would just flash, then go off again. So back into the house to wait till it got light enough to not require a front light, then a quick ride round some of the local bridleways and byways.

Some were dry and fast, some were nearly dry, but fast.



Others were nearly dry, but with slow claggy mud, while others were a complete show of churned up slop. I started down one, got about ten metres, then decided life is too short and turned back. I still had to get off and walk a couple of times, I do not have the tyres for this level of ...



Unless there's a new style of fat bike tyre that looks like a desert sand tyre, then there's been a few motocross bikes on some of the gated restricted byways too. Them and the horses can GTF on at least one of the byways, what used to be ten metres of mild mud, is now sixty meters of hedge to hedge foot sucking unrideable clag.

As part of the Cairngorms Connect rewilding project, some new forest roads have been constructed, allowing old, non-native trees to be removed. Some of these tracks are yet to appear on any map so I thought I'd do some exploring today..

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:19 pm As part of the Cairngorms Connect rewilding project, some new forest roads have been constructed, allowing old, non-native trees to be removed. Some of these tracks are yet to appear on any map so I thought I'd do some exploring today..

I hate living where I live...it's not there. Amazing pic.

Escape Goat wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2020 10:33 pm

I hate living where I live...it's not there. Amazing pic.
[/quote]

I felt exactly the same when I saw that!!

I had the same thought too! Great pic, the bike looks the perfect tool for exploring all kinds of terrain too.

Different bike, different ride.


1060346 by Colin Cadden - Flickr2BBcode

Still experimenting with singlespeed.


1060348 by Colin Cadden - Flickr2BBcode

Oh, that's not foam at the waters edge, it's ice.

I didn't see anyone else out riding bikes this morning...

20200209_115602 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200209_114909(0) by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200209_115310 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Woohoo!


DSC_0980 by Colin Cadden - Flickr2BBcode

Lower level today. Not so much snow. Let's see what tomorrow brings.



2020-02-12_06-02-47 by Colin Cadden - Flickr2BBcode

No pictures 'coz it was only a quick nip into town to get some bits, but the sun was shining and not too much wind, so I thought I'd take a longer road home to make the most of it.

My route took me through a local(-ish) park. This reminded me of the last time I'd ridden through there, around 1960 or 61. Yes, that long ago, I kid you not! I got stopped by a policeman, known locally as "Moses in the Bullrushes" because that's where he used to hide to catch us arch-villains cycling in the park. As a result, I ended up before the magistrate and fined ten shillings. (50p in new money). Don't laugh, it was 10 weeks pocket money

How things have changed. Now, they encourage folk to use the park for cycling. Not only that, but the Froggy of today would have not only not stopped, but would have given him some verbal abuse and maybe even shown him the finger before amscraying. And even if he'd been caught, nowt would have been done to him.

Hmpff....

Was planning to do a two day epic in the Peak District this weekend. Unfortunately Storm Dennis the Menace put a kibosh on that.

Decided to keep it local and go down some of my fave trails on the edge of Chesterfield. On one of them the bridleway heads down next to a stream for about 10 meters. Fine today if you know where the trail should be. Fun if you head of piste as the water was about half a metre deep.

I haven't been getting out much recently (a combination of my back playing up and lousy weather) but was determined to get out this morning before Dennis really made his presence felt! I enjoyed a nice, steady fat bike session in John Muir Country Park near Belhaven in East Lothian and the trees did a good job of sheltering me from the worst of the wind.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Hi Summit Toppler

Dont recognize those coastal paths, Llandudno west shore and Conwy mariner?

Spent the arse end of last week and the weekend on the sofa with a clod. Off home to Scotland tomorrow, so there wasn't much opportunity to get out for a long ride before then. Decided to cycle home from work yesterday, then back in again this morning. Went home, relatively direct, which wasn't the plan, but my body rejected something I'd eaten earlier in the day just as I was about to leave. Didn't feel like much dinner, so early(ish) to bed, and up early. A quick coffee, then out, it was a touch chilly with some frosty patches in sheltered areas.



Decided to head into the fens, as who doesn't like a bit of block headwind action while slogging along a rutted byway in thick sticky mud...?



Some of the BOATs are in a bit of a state.



Naturally I got a puncture, two large thorns though the front tyre, which was a timely reminder that I need to set it up tubeless again. Only had the one patch left, so shoved the spare tune in and prayed for the rest of the ride. I eventually arrived at work, half an hour later than I would have liked, so missed the first half hour of a long meeting.

Just nice to be out in the fresh air. More photos on the Strava links above.

From the weekend, when I was on a roadie trip to Tenerife. Went up mount Teide, longest road climb in Europe. 35miles to the top with only a couple of short downhill bits. Stunning scenery, and great to ride in the crater of a volcano and through a lava field...

Mount Teide by Matthew Walker, on Flickr

First outdoor ride since breaking my collarbone last month, a full five weeks of frustration Then again the weather has been dire so I've not really missed much.

Nothing too arduous, 22km with 380m of ascent (we live near the top of a hill, there's no way to avoid climbing) and mostly road since the canal towpath is being repaired.