Popped out yesterday for a long ride. Headed up through King's Forest, before spearing off East and looping around to the start of the Peddars Way.


Rather than plowing up the Peddars Way though, I swung West onto a different gravel road, that slowly became sandier and sandier. A bunch of MX riders went steaming passed, leaving me covered in sandy dust.


The gravel roads soon ran out, and we were onto some quiet singletrack. It doesn't look like it gets lots of usage, as the amount of crap on the track was causing the front wheel to ping all over the place. The plan was to duck into the St Helen's Picnic Site and use the tap on the toilet block, before heading out into the fens. Turns out the toilets are all shuttered and the tap has been removed, so the plan went out the window, and I headed for High Lodge and the water tap next to Bike Art. Once at High Lodge, it would've been rude not to rag it around all the trails there, so that's what I did, before eventually heading South and homewards.


Not quite sure what happened, as I thought I'd been eating and drinking enough, but shortly after crossing under the A11 at the Elveden War Memorial, I started to suffer. I couldn't take on any more food, and it just felt like whatever I'd previously consumed was just sloshing around and going nowhere, the legs were dead and it was all I could do to keep up any sort of pace. It wasn't a bonk, I know what those feel like, this was something else, and I'm still suffering this morning. I'm not sure if my body just didn't get on with the food I was shoveling in, which it's never had a problem with before. Or, I didn't actually drink as much as I thought I did and I was just massively dehydrated. It did get warmer as I started to head for home, but it wasn't that warm, in the big scheme of things.


I really need to get on top of these constant nutrition and hydration issues I keep having...

Popped out yesterday for another 100KM+ ride, the last before next weekends adventure. Lovely weather, quiet bridleways, byways (mostly) and roads, made for a lovely morning out.


Just like last weekend, the ride wasn't without issue. After an hour or so, I started feeling pretty empty, so started shovelling the calories in. I didn't quite bonk, or suffer the same decrease in energy as last week, but it was hard going at times. I'm wondering if I'm diluting the High5 Zero tables too much, so I'm not getting enough electrolytes.


I not sure it's wise to change hydration products just before a big trip, but it's tempting. Anyhoo, one more easy ride, then feet up for a couple of days before disappearing to avoid the Jubilee nonsense...

162km hilly kilometers home from Grasmere. Took in a nice mixture of road, canal, bridleway, and Sainsbury's.

8hr. 22min in total, 52 mins of which appear to be a mixture or Sainsburys and urinating :)

Top Audax prep day for some late season plans. Also great to be able to feel like I can properly ride a bike again - physically and mentally.

First proper test ride of the newly built up Scandal. Only semi-successful, as the chain is skipping all over the rear cassette. Plenty of stops to adjust it, but it didn't matter what I tried, it would either skip up, or skip down. The front chainring was also shedding the chain at random intervals, especially on bumpy ground. At one the chain suck wedged the chain up between the crank and stay, had to boot the pedals to get it back out again.


It's way more comfy over the rough stuff than the gravel bike, and loads of fun when pointed down hill. So I definitely think it's got legs, but it's going to need a bit of an upgrade for the crappy bottom of the range eight speed drive train.

Had a explore again around Beddgelert forest this afternoon. Despite riding there many times before, there's always a different track to be found. You can guarantee fine views over to Snowdon from any breaks in the tree line. Went to the Princess quarry and then around some dodgy singletrack to the impressive Prince of Wales quarry.
20220603_134207-01 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

I've had a great couple of mornings out on the bike, Thursday was a road ride up over Gospel Pass, which is always gorgeous, and even more so in the sunshine!
Only thing was quite a bit of traffic - even chicken me on the lovely descent down to Hay found it frustrating to find myself getting stuck behind slow moving cars!

IMG_20220602_115032 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20220602_115209 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Yesterday morning was mountain bike up and over Mynydd Llangorse, first time ever for me on a bike, it was brilliant! Nothing specific to say about it really, other than it was a steep push up at the start, then lots of glorious flattish stuff with wonderful views along the top, pleasant brief exchanges of how marvellous it all is with a few walkers, then a steep and surprisingly rocky bit down, finishing with a lovely tarmac run down all the way back to the car and my second piece of cake of the day

IMG_20220603_131443 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20220603_114453 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20220603_131422 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20220603_131403 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

A combination of stupid work hours, another dose of COVID and an extended bout of back pain has robbed me of my cycling mojo lately. Enter, Stage Left, my mate Helen who needed some advice on buying an all road touring bike. After some weeks of this and that, she went for the flat barred Genesis Tour de Fer. Really good choice IMHO. And yesterday was her maiden voyage - 30 miles of Chilterns bridle paths and quiet lanes. She's pretty handy on a bike, is Helen, and kept dropping my on the ups. Lovely morning out on bikes.

My big bum at the top of my favourite local climb and the best place for a stop-and-brew. Had the kit in my pannier. So nice to go for a ride where the only point is fun.



Helen, just before she was eaten by the bracken.

TheBrownDog wrote: ↑Sat Jun 04, 2022 3:35 pm
So nice to go for a ride where the only point is fun

Sounds great, and couldn't agree more

I completed my assigned Scotways route surveys today on a new-to-me track between Inver and Loch Builg. I’ve ridden enough of these to expect the worst so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was all rideable. A white-tailed eagle passed at eye level, about 20 metres away. Fairly made my day.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 8:12 pm I completed my assigned Scotways route surveys today on a new-to-me track between Inver and Loch Builg. I’ve ridden enough of these to expect the worst so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was all rideable. A white-tailed eagle passed at eye level, about 20 metres away. Fairly made my day.

If you've ever wondered exactly what the interior of that cabin looks like, I came across this the other day - https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/23/moxon ... -scotland/

A short ride over lunch today, mostly to see if the Paul's chain keeper would keep the chain on the chainring, it did.


However... The chain was still skipping all over the cassette and there appeared to be nothing I could do to stop it. Multiple stops to tweak things, bend things and kick things, some of which felt like they imrpoved thing, but only briefly. On one stop, I was slowly turning the cranks, looking at the chain going round the jockey wheels, when I noticed that it wasn't going over them cleanly and trying to drop off. I then discovered that the chain suck I had on the last test ride, must have twisted at least one of the chain links, so the chain is no longer straight, so it no wonder I can't get it to run cleanly.


I think I saved the excess chain when I chopped it to length, so I may be able to repair this one. Otherwise it'I may as well wait till I get this XT rear mech and just set it all up for 11 speed...

Richpips wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 9:00 pm

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 8:12 pm I completed my assigned Scotways route surveys today on a new-to-me track between Inver and Loch Builg. I’ve ridden enough of these to expect the worst so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was all rideable. A white-tailed eagle passed at eye level, about 20 metres away. Fairly made my day.

If you've ever wondered exactly what the interior of that cabin looks like, I came across this the other day - https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/23/moxon ... -scotland/

Good find, somewhat posher than the tin shed I kipped in last week! What I like about it is that they built the roof out over the door so it acts like a porch. They do this in Scandinavia and Austria but not in Scotland as a rule which is daft given the weather. You could kip under the porch at a push

Boab, I've successfully straightened chains that have twisted using two pairs of mole grips on adjacent links

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:56 pm

Richpips wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 9:00 pm

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 8:12 pm I completed my assigned Scotways route surveys today on a new-to-me track between Inver and Loch Builg. I’ve ridden enough of these to expect the worst so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was all rideable. A white-tailed eagle passed at eye level, about 20 metres away. Fairly made my day.

If you've ever wondered exactly what the interior of that cabin looks like, I came across this the other day - https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/23/moxon ... -scotland/

Good find, somewhat posher than the tin shed I kipped in last week! What I like about it is that they built the roof out over the door so it acts like a porch. They do this in Scandinavia and Austria but not in Scotland as a rule which is daft given the weather. You could kip under the porch at a push

There's a great spot round the back, covered by the roof. Rather depends on wind direction though.

GregMay wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 6:58 pm 162km hilly kilometers home from Grasmere. Took in a nice mixture of road, canal, bridleway, and Sainsbury's.

8hr. 22min in total, 52 mins of which appear to be a mixture or Sainsburys and urinating :)

Nice one Greg. Got some inspiration from it
Except... I may (most definately will) have more breaks than 52 min.

The near usual full commute for me today. First time to properly ride a gravelwankerbicycle on gravel. Liked it.
Bought it (the bike). No more test riding. No more taking or of other folks bike's. Lovely feeling. Looking forward to taking the train less, easier & shorter (time) commutes.

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:56 pm Boab, I've successfully straightened chains that have twisted using two pairs of mole grips on adjacent links

Had a quick look for the links I copped off the other week, but not sure what I've done with them. Might give mole grips a go if nothing else...

Not todays but over the Thursday and Friday. I basically told a friend at work about a car I'd found for him as he was looking for 'exciting to drive' cars. It didn't look too dissimilar to this one, a Subaru Legacy Spec B of 08 model year. A rare thing indeed and well out of my price range. He wasn't interested so in the morning after the night shift, I called the seller anyway (enquiring on my friends behalf obviously). Thankfully the seller didn't answer...



After a bit of a sleep however I got a call back from someone and it turned out to be Phil. The lovely owner of this gorgeous thing of a car. We got talking and I told him that it was just a bit of window shopping. Next thing my wife had agreed to loan me some money as did my mate Zubair and suddenly the super low price Phil had quoted me seemed within reach. So I called him back and arranged to try and come over by the weekend and if it was gone, then it was gone.

My past 2 cars (same engine) have all been collected by car and train, so I wouldn't be making this one amy different. Only problem was that whilst they were about 90 miles and 180 miles away respectively, they were still in reach of a major train station and tickets were fairly easy to come by. I'd ridden maybe 50 miles for the 180 miler and about 60 miles for the closer one in Stoke.

Now I was perplexed as the train tickets were all coming up to about £100 no matter which method of connctions I used. Suddenly I whacked the nail on the head and found a £30 ticket to Birmingham from Wakefield. A day earlier for Friday too, so I called up Phil and agreed the time. Obviously I told him I'd be coming by bike and obviously he thought I was mental. Phil was (is) in Trowbridge on the other side of the Cotswolds.

I had the day of Thursday to ensure some (more) wallpapering was done (to appease the missus) but time was tight. Almost late for the train I packed a waterproof jacket, my PHD gilet (thanks yo whomsoever off here decided to kindly sell it), tools, no food, water, a quilt and mat, skullcap and the expanding Osprey tennis ball sized backpack. Only just had time to strap the Revelate Spinelock (Alhamdulillah for it) to my saddle and I was off.

Whilst the missus thought I was waiting outside for the lovely food she'd been preparing whilst I finished the wallpaper, I was pedalling like mad them 8 miles to Wakefield for the 2023 train. Me leaving home with only 45 minutes left, I knew it was a bit of a mission impossible... for me anyway!



I peddled as hard as I could without my knee breaking - still recovering from ITB syndrome - and managed to ger there with a few minutes to spare. Always time for a picture isn't there On the train , with no food to hand and no route from Birmingham across the Cotswolds, I had teo itches that needed sorting. Food trolley came with half price sarnies so I got two and then sat down to make the route. Two clicks on the CycleTravel.com website and a route that took many lost lanes was made. Straight through the centre of the Cotswolds which was good but limited supplies shops, which was not so good.



Off the train at the other end and I statted feeling the chill. Thankfully for the waterproof jacket I managed to get some warmth and was off. 110 miles to the car at hand, surely how hard could it be. Well I was tired so that would need sorting soon and I also needed to try and get at least a smidgen of supplies. Stopped at a takeaway but it was £5 minimal spend for using card, and I only wanted a Ginger Beer. So the grumbly face of the chap behind the counter meant I just rode on. Tried to get a proper 'see ya' out of him by making my hoodbyes known but I barely got a grunt... Flossers, can't stand em.





The plan was simple: get past Redditch and keep aiming for one town at a time after that. Find somewhere to pray and sleep and pray, then continue on my journey in morning light. Came past this spot and thought to explore what it was. Turned out it was the shelter (just for me) with a nusy road running above. Thankfully 0020 meant it was quiet enough so I laid down my mat and bag, made ablution and used the mat to protectthe knees. It was dangerously rocky.

A good 4 hours deep sleep later protected from the elements I got up just in tim for morning prayers, felt freezing cold so popped on the PHD gilet and wished good for the persom that sold it me (cheap), cover it with the waterproof jacket and rode away. Hoping I'd earm up and the day would get as warm as yesterday. Only about 2 hours later though I was back in my merino jersey smiling away. This was the first pic of the morning and what a wonderful sight...





Ever since the start of the route being loaded on the device it wss this sharp but that kept stressing me. But I need not have worried as, although steep, the Yorkshire hills would laff at it. I went from about 66m (edit after actually seeing the gps pic again) elevation to the peak at a staggering 220m or thereabouts.

I spent the previous and next few hours thinking about the battle of the knees, hands and bottom. An interesting relationship they have indeed. The bottom wants you to ride out of the saddle, but the knees prefer you to drop gears and spin away. Then comes in the palms of the hands who are never really happy!


I've always wanted to properly explore the Cotswolds and wondered how beautiful it is. It definitely didn't fail to deliver. Though the country lanes of singletrack meant that you had to at times fight the cars away and prove to them that they didn't have a gap to pass. One lady coming the other way almost went head on into me and looked annoyed that I was there with my bright orange (second hand) Crikey, how much Brevet jersey. Pretty certain she'd have had a head on collision had I been a car as I had to swerve in such a narrow lane.

The other (almost) incident was me coming round a blind corner thinking how lovely it all was and almost going into the three walkers taking the whole of the road. My fault entirely as I'm the bike but they were the ones apologising for not taking only half the road. Taught a valuable lesson reminding me to stay 100% alert at all times.






As always the birds didn't hang around long enough to allow me to see em properly, let along any photos. But at least the buzzards are always comfy up in the air (sometimes) and this gorgeous thing was hovering. Another one I saw was a khakhi coloured bird with a yellow head. Too fast to get any more details but definitely had them two colours going for it and it was the size of a fat robin.


I did find a couple of petrol stations enroute and realised I'd bought too many biscuits. So when I finally found a small post office - cafe I was sure to grab some pasties. Almost within reach by now and a few pics later I was 10 miles.


Cor blimey, it's a Spec B.

Once again thanks to Stu and so many on here to help make these rides achievable. Alhamdulillahi-Rabbilaalameen (All praise Allah, Lord of the Worlds).

THE END....

After browsing the OS map as you do, I noticed this Observation Post in the forestry at Coed y Brennin. So hoping it could be a potential future bivvy spot I headed out to locate it.
Screenshot_20220611-122838_OS Maps by Jeff Price, on Flickr

It turns out to be next to one of the fire roads on the Beast route. Didn't realise until I pedalled for a bit. Anyways upon getting close I left the bike at the side of the trail and headed up a steep 50 foot embankment. The forestry was thick and dense and after about 40 minutes of searching I had to call it off. Shame as the views were great on the edge of the tree line. Obviously the OP was built prior to the forest!

20220611_135012 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

I had a good pedal though...
20220611_135820 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Well whilst you lot were smashing out the big miles and big hills, I went for a thrash round various local woodlands with one minor hill thrown in as it has a nice bit of single track across it. I also hit a tree - classic three bump syndrome stuff. I hit a bump and went a bit off line, hit a bigger bump and went completely off line, then hit the third bump and went flying into a tree. Thump, oof, ouch. Paused whilst the ringing in my ears subsided then carried on, dignity in tact. I think I'm too old for this although the Krampus doesn't help as it encourages such silliness



As usual the weather didn't bear much resemblance to what the Beeb had predicted with a couple of big showers coming through. But it cleared up for this fine view. I'm quite impressed with the colours that my new camera produces.

With the twisted link in my chain removed, it appeared to be running sweetly on the bike stand, so only one way to find out if that was enough to fix the chain skipping issues. Given that I was on a MTB, rather than the gravel bike, I took in some bridleways that I tend to avoid, much more comfortable whanging down them on biggerer tyres...



The indexing isn't quite right, in that there was the occasional skip and crunch, but nothing I can't live with. Especially as an 11 speed XT rear mech is winging it's way towards me, so I'll probably only run this setup for the rest of the month.

One thing's been rankling me since my F U R T H E R East adventure the other weekend, which was not riding deeper into the night. Given we're nearly at mid-summer, I figured I'd head out Saturday evening and just keep going until it go light again. Then I remembered that I'm on call for a week, from 14:00 this afternoon, so no long rides or booze till next Wednesday. My wife is away the weekend after next as well, so if I wanted to give this a crack, it would have to wait until July, but I have other plans for that month. So, I decided I could live with being knackered while working today, and headed at at 21:00 last night.



I picked a route that took in decent byways, with the odd good* bridleway thrown in for good measure. I did get cold feet a couple of times and rerouted myself, as some of the byways feature houses in the middle or at the end, and I figured they wouldn't appreciate my rear brake howling like a banshee at 01:30...



The middle bit of the ride felt like a bit of a chore, but that soon passed and I settled back into cruising along and enjoying the sky slowly lightening. Saw loads of wildlife, multiple badgers, bats, deer, hares and rabbits, a tawny owl and a really cute fox cub; which though it's best route of escape was the run down the road in front of me.



Pretty s t o k e d to have finally ridden from dusk till dawn, and over 160KM too...




* There was one bridleway that was an overgrown horror show...

Did a variation on my ubiquitous bash round the Trossachs on the grovel bike today, given that it was very sunny.

Check me I'm doing the Tour Divide!
200k all in

Yesterdays ride...

..was actually part 2 of a triathlon. I had a very, very scary moment on the water though. It was very choppy, with close-set waves and I couldn't get any breath. I think I inhaled water three times. I did all the usual stuff, like trying to calm down and roll over onto my back but the waves were still crashing over me. I knew I was some distance from the nearest safety boat and that there were 50 or so swimmers between me and it so the only thing I could do was try to make it back to the shore. I obviously made it and managed to sort myself out. By then, me head wasn't in it and there was no way I was heading out onto the loch again. I think there was somewhere between 6 and 10 other folk dragged out of the water too. We were allowed to continue on the bike and run legs but by then my head and heart weren't really in it. I did end up 10th fastest on the bike section though.

There's a phrase in a Pink Floyd song- "I'm not frightened of dying. Why should I be frightened of dying? we've all got to go sometime." It occurred to me that it's badly worded. I think it might be fairer to say "I'm not frightened of death". Dying the "wrong" way seems very frightening!

Sounds like a bit of an ordeal Colin. Thankfully, all ended well.

On the subject of your Pink Floyd reference: It reminds me of the Woody Allen quote: “I don’t fear death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens”

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:48 pm Yesterdays ride...

..was actually part 2 of a triathlon. I had a very, very scary moment on the water though. It was very choppy, with close-set waves and I couldn't get any breath. I think I inhaled water three times. I did all the usual stuff, like trying to calm down and roll over onto my back but the waves were still crashing over me. I knew I was some distance from the nearest safety boat and that there were 50 or so swimmers between me and it so the only thing I could do was try to make it back to the shore. I obviously made it and managed to sort myself out. By then, me head wasn't in it and there was no way I was heading out onto the loch again. I think there was somewhere between 6 and 10 other folk dragged out of the water too. We were allowed to continue on the bike and run legs but by then my head and heart weren't really in it. I did end up 10th fastest on the bike section though.

There's a phrase in a Pink Floyd song- "I'm not frightened of dying. Why should I be frightened of dying? we've all got to go sometime." It occurred to me that it's badly worded. I think it might be fairer to say "I'm not frightened of death". Dying the "wrong" way seems very frightening!

Kind of wish I hadn't read that now... I'm doing a sea swim in a couple of weeks and bricking it a bit now... Glad you're ok, but yeah I bet that knocked the stuffing out of you for the bike and run bits.

Today's ride was a bit of this

https://www.chepstowcyclingclub.wales/l ... climb-2022

I only had a half day pass, so I just did three in the morning, plus riding there and back from Brecon, because oddly I was too lazy to put the bike in the car and drive to the start...go figure
It did also mean that I was already quite close to home when the heavens opened with bucketfuls of cold thunderstormy downpours...

I did this three years ago when it was last/ first put on, and it really is a great event. It's not a race, just a personal challenge. There's a nice pub as the HQ with drinks and snacks available all day. Really low key, laid back and friendly atmosphere. And the riding is just great, you just go and do your own thing, up, down, up, down, cake, up down, etc.etc. , and all the while you see lots of smiling happy people who all love riding bikes, who say Hi and sometimes have a little chat then carry on...

And to be fair Llangynidr Mountain is beautiful.