Applauds that man!!

Yep Love stories like that. I would imagine that outside these four walls anyone would think you are totally bonkers Sean. But in my view it's a shining example of stark-staring sanity.

Wwll done Sean.. You now need a packraft

Managed to get out for another night out last night. This time into the surroundings of slate at Cwmorthin. The weather was surprisingly nice yesterday (especially being so close to Blaenau ) but the cloud rolled in during the evening and made for a testing bit of navigation this morning (no GPS here). Managed it fine, must have been my built in JPS system (Escape Goat came up with that!).
Some pics...

I was concerned my jelly beans were on his menu!
20200721_163831 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Laser beam with big climb in the distance
20200721_181955 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

"Who lives in a house like this?"
20200721_190947 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Split that stone!
20200721_200150 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Tarp perched nicely
IMG_20200722_104451_853 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Fluffy stuff on its way...
20200721_215335 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

view gone
20200721_212855 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

To return just retrace your steps, yeah right!
20200722_083530 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200722_092525 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Drone shot
DJI_0238 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Excellent Know Cwmorthin quarry well - did a couple of trips inside once. Was known to the local quarrymen in the 19C as "The Slaughterhouse". Shouldn't be difficult to guess why!

Right I'm fed up with you having all these lovely quarry outings Jeff mate - I'm gonna come up for a piece of the action! Have been thinking about it for quite a while and it's been a palaver sorting train tickets out, but I'm now slowly getting there. Booked the return train anyway, just gotta do the outward one but they won't reserve that until the day beforehand so it's real seat-of-the-pants stuff.

PS> Can you make sure it's not misty when I come please. Very atmospheric for quarries but.....

RIP wrote: ↑Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:21 pm Right I'm fed up with you having all these lovely quarry outings Jeff mate - I'm gonna come up for a piece of the action!.....Can you make sure it's not misty when I come please. Very atmospheric for quarries but.....

Let me know when you're up and I'll keep an eye out for yer

Ta. Obv always nice to meet up but I'm sort of leaning towards a bit solo-ey on this one. The train I'm finkin' of dumps me up there late at night and got no plan other than aim for a quarry on the horizon then look for the next one. Might go for the world record number of quarries in 48 hours or something suitably stupid like that as usual. Anyroad it's 10 days away yet so anything could happen.

RIP wrote: ↑Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:33 pm Ta. Obv always nice to meet up but I'm sort of leaning towards a bit solo-ey on this one. The train I'm finkin' of dumps me up there late at night and got no plan other than aim for a quarry on the horizon then look for the next one. Might go for the world record number of quarries in 48 hours or something suitably stupid like that as usual. Anyroad it's 10 days away yet so anything could happen.

No probs mate, I'm 'one of them' as well. People do my head in too
Have fun

I like the contrasts of solo v groupie. As we've discussed before they each have a few major advantages over the other, but only small downsides in comparison to each other. That sounds like bollox but I know what I mean . Go solo then wish I'd been with chums so go group next time, then wish I'd gone solo so solo the next time, ad infinitum. Had some enormous pleasure solo and equally enormous pleasure in a group - bikepacking man, bikepacking!!

Off early this morning to do most of the climbing before it got too hot. Found some great singletrack linking trails into a 55km loop. On the other side of the hill from us there's a campsite run by Dutch people, it's off grid so has it's water delivered by tanker, or not as this happened at the weekend!

Seems the road surface wasn't up to having 20 tonnes of truck driven over it.

Here's my film from the bikepacking trip I took last week amongst all that slate...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWHb_NaTi7w&t=

Nothing special to report on this mornings ride

Quite a significant one today. Been trying to keep up with Dave and Luke on climbing and today marked the end of the official strava count in metres but also me only having 516m remaining to reach the top of Everest for the second time this month. Legs had twinged a little hear and there, mainly just at the knees so not too much to worry about

516m, how hard can that be right. But it kinda almost was as todays eid so not much time to ride bikes. Significant it was for so many reasons: it marking the first time I've not used a Quranic verse to title my ride, being the last ride to summit second time like I said, being able to ride my road bike to the trails and then riding em, checking out the gearing for mild off road climbing so I could decide what cassette to get... etc etc etc

So I woke up, like you do, at 5am and said my early morn prayers and got good ol Egen stocked up (water and an oat biscuit packet). Oh, I'd also identified a decent climb for Everesting which wasn't in traffic areas, ie. its offroad and I was gonna dedicate the ride to the dad of one of my tutors in Islam. He's also at the pointy end of encouraging the muslim community to get on their bikes and regularly takes the daughters out riding AFAIK.

Oh, anyway, as I was saying, I got myself ready after the prayers. 2 weetabix with a dollop of raw brown sugar and a handfull of readyBrek, cos 'am ard'. Downed that and shortly after I was off. 516m up a climb that was 100m... means about 5 ups right.

Well 3 climbs in I'd managed to avoid any dog poo and even identified an 'I poo my dog in the middle of the trails you ride' type couple. Must've been them as it wasn't there on the last ride down and I'm pretty sure it was still steaming. Plus, the hello they gave me back was a bit slurred... For a moment I had the thought to fetch it back to em, but what would I say and how'd I carry it, 'oh, hi, excuse me but I think your dog left this behind... right in the middle of the bridleway!!'. Anyway, as you'd imagine I didnt bother, too much work aswell as I could have been wrong. Maybe between my climbing some other dog and his/her keeper had sneakily popped by, had a poo, and sneaked off. Framing this innocent couple.

Enough pootalk, sorry, but apparently there's a local FB page that thinks through and discusses such strategies of how to keep us bikers away. But it's probably all just speculation on the back of one or two comments some walkers made at some point. Oh, so I was saying, third or fourth climb in and I'd realised that the cheapo broken GT seatpin wasn't fit for purpose.

I'd also calculated that a 34 front and 32 rear was probably on the cusp of what I could manage to climb up this here section. Along with that it left me wondering why on earth people lile ounishing themselves with a road bike on mtb territory, even though they might call it a 'grvlgrndr'. Also, these GravelKing - Made in Japan - tires were obviously not by any samurai masters as I'd gotten a rear puncture, self healing off course with the lovely sealant, on the first road ride and today I'd got my first front puncture with the sealant almost squirting into my eyes.

Should I contact Merlin and explain the tires are just substandard. Oh, so they'd ask me why, as i went through the conversation. "Well, I got a puncture... actually two punctures"... "Oh, so you think you deserve a refund cos you got a puncture"... Erm, oh, actually scratch that idea. Will just get the Michelins next time and see how long these hold out for. Back to that gear ratio and dog poo then.

So, 36 or 38 up back might do it but that'd be an SRAM cassette. Hmmm, always had crispy shifting on the SRAM but at least its be a few 50g less for road riding. But then the 40t cassette in SLX or XT flavour. That'd give me extra range aswell as smoother shifting and the ability to actually attempt an Everest up this here beautiful climb. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

At some point through all of this I met 2 middle aged chaps with their 2 dogs. No, not the 'dog-trail-shitters' (not to be confused with 'trail-dog-shitters', which is a different thing altogether I suppose). No, these 2 chaps - one with a beard and tache that'd give many on here a run for their money - were wonderful and polite. First encounter they taught me that'd one dog was a bit blind. Next encounter they were like, 'you going up again... we're having to just rest here'. Three encounters altogether but they only witnessed the two climbs. They'd were amazed I was going up again and I was chuffed and felt like a 'grizzly'...

To wrapup, I got home with the claimed 516m and a few extra for good measure. Made it in time for 'extreme socially distanced' eid prayers and had a few pics to show for it.

Anyway, here it is, all 516 lovely meters of it https://strava.app.link/hlGI7GVbz8 (enter at your own risk!).

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:54 am Quite a significant one today. Been trying to keep up with Dave and Luke on climbing

Are we having a competition Shaf? Dont think its fair if we dont know about it

Have you won?

FLV wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:36 pm

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:54 am Quite a significant one today. Been trying to keep up with Dave and Luke on climbing

Are we having a competition Shaf? Dont think its fair if we dont know about it

Have you won?

Nah... chucked in the towel. At some place at the start of it I did mention it thinking you'd seen the message Dave. Turns out only Luke knew about it and then I realised you climb this much monthly anyway (what are your knees made of ). Anyway, I think Luke must've felt sorry for me and we agreed on a draw if I hit the 2 Everests.

Pizza still going ahead btw but not sure when as it'll be whenever he gets chance to pop down +/- can be bothered doing such a tiny loop (the MTL). Have already told him that he could do the NorthPeaks100 then post ride just pop over to mine for a good feed (all welcome off course... like not absolutely everyone from the forum as I couldn't afford that but a few... phew).

Hooefully it's strengethed my legs and resolve enough to be able to complete the full DD now. Feel wel'ard

Three rides this week, 103 km on Monday, 107 km on Tuesday and 173 km yesterday. Which means, for the first time ever, I've cycled over 1,600 km in a month, and over 3,000 km over June and July combined. Taking it easy next month, mainly as I've been made redundant and need to find a new job. Oh, and the fact that we've a two week holiday in Crete, that was booked last September...

Anyhoo, Monday was damp and I got soaked. Found some potentially nice bivvy spots though.


Tuesday was tacky, I also wiped out on a wet, grassy, off-camber corner, that had a hidden rut. Found some potentially nice bivvy spots though.


Yesterday was supposed to be a ~240 km café ride, hitting four cafes in three counties; if The Cyclist in Sudbury wasn't closed, it would've been five. As it turned out, I had an initial job interview at 09:00, with a chap in Australia, so ended up curtailing the ride and only hitting two cafés.

I knew I was in trouble a couple of miles from home. I hadn't appreciated how warm yesterday was going to be, as it was today that everyone was talking about heat wise. Rather than starting at 06:30, I went out at 11:15, into what turned out to be a 33℃ afternoon.


I had a call with some colleagues at 20:00, so knew I needed to get a wriggle on. Especially, if I wanted to, not only, be home in time, but also showered and fed. So I spent the first three hours averaging about 4 kph more than normall, before noticing an email saying the call had been pushed back an hour, so I could ease off. The damage had been done though.


After coffee and cake at Phoenix Cycleworks, and then again at Maglia Rosso, I still had 90 km to get back to the house. Water bottles full, I headed off into the blistering heat.


I took The Valley Trail, which is part of NCR 13, round Sudbury, which was lovely. A few new to me byways and bridleways then followed, starting with a corker of a climb out of Middleton, in the above photo. One of the other byways took me straight through a brick works; for some reason, I can't think why, I'm pretty sure that Reg would find this place vaguely exciting...


It wont be long until a load of the local bridleways become un-cycleable for a bit, once the fields are ploughed. Like this one, which has a potential bivvy spot behind those trees on the right.


Not long after that bridleway, I was running out of water. Luckily, I spied a couple of taps in a farm yard, so jumped the locked gate and filled up my bottles. Not sure what I've done with out that top up, as I was in serious need of liquid. 150 km in and the wheels were starting to fall off, my shorts were rubbing due to the sweat, my back around my kidneys was hurting, my triceps were hurting, I just wanted it to finish.


So I finished at the pub, for a well earned pint, and a lot of water. In fact, I think I consumed somewhere in the region of 5 litres of liquid on this ride, which was probably about twice as much as I bargained for. Only two small wee's while out as well, which probably tells you how much I was sweating. I was crustier than a crusty thing, when I finally finished.

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:54 am Should I contact Merlin and explain the tires are just substandard. Oh, so they'd ask me why, as i went through the conversation. "Well, I got a puncture... actually two punctures"... "Oh, so you think you deserve a refund cos you got a puncture"... Erm, oh, actually scratch that idea. Will just get the Michelins next time and see how long these hold out for.

I've had one front wheel puncture and three rear wheel punctures on my Panaracer Gravel King's so far; two have sealed, two have required anchovies. It comes with the territory you use them in, they're not sold as being puncture proof! Pain in the arse when it happens though...

Very impressed you covered all that in the heat, I'd've wilted after about a mile I think.

Went back down to the seaside from home today. Conwy seems to be back to normal with the amount of tourists not giving a poor show about the 2 metre rule
Soon got onto the beach and headed along the nice quiet coast to Penmaenmawr.
20200802_140733 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

With Conwy mtn on the right and my next destination
20200802_141837 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Tbh it was tough head wind riding along the coast
20200802_142644 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Then it was a few cheeky paths and the grueling Sychnant Pass
20200802_150019 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

View back down to the Conwy morfa
20200802_151103 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200802_151121 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Downhill to Conwy and back across the cob
20200802_152026 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200802_152036 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

I don't get cricket, but then most folk don't get fatbikes...
20200802_152943 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

summittoppler wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:23 pm
I don't get cricket

'course you do Jeffer! It's exactly the same as a BBB event - it's all about the tea and cake and nothing whatsoever to do with the biking/cricket!

RIP wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:28 pm

summittoppler wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:23 pm
I don't get cricket

'course you do Jeffer! It's exactly the same as a BBB event - it's all about the tea and cake and nothing whatsoever to do with the biking/cricket!

And what's with rubbing their knackers prior to launching the ball?

summittoppler wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:32 pm

RIP wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:28 pm

summittoppler wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:23 pm
I don't get cricket

'course you do Jeffer! It's exactly the same as a BBB event - it's all about the tea and cake and nothing whatsoever to do with the biking/cricket!

And what's with rubbing their knackers prior to launching the ball?

Ah. Now you have me there. Over to the professional knacker-rubbers.....

RIP wrote: ↑Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:33 pm Anyroad it's 10 days away yet so anything could happen.

And anything IS indeed happening - apparently heavy rain and 65mph winds in Llanberis today and thunderstorms tomorrow. Whilst I like heavy rain as much as the next Boner, it's probably not an ideal time to be nosing around the mountains and slate tips...

The sun is shining now Reg, have fun!