Todays ride was 22 miles of wet, wet...and a little bit of wet :) At least my shoes are clean now.

Greetz

S :)

If you made it to the bivvy up on Long Mynd tonight, I have nothing but respect for you.

After a good ride up the north end of the Mynd, I spent 3 hours in the Ragleth drying out (talking to a couple of blokes from Nth Wales - one of 'em his wife works with a certain SummitToppler from around these parts)...that was one helluva storm to be out in.

I was under a hedge by the side of the road between All and Church Stretton when a car came past and the wave it created was like being in a green room...2" thick lip and a full soaking to the bone. At which point I said feck it and got on Lois...beelined for Church Stretton and sought refuge in a doorway whilst the continuous thunder peeled overhead...dripping from head to toe. Thank Dog it was warm tonight.

Insane...totally mental weather. Never seen anything like that...not even monsoon in Queensland is like that. The inside of my Viscacha and handlebar drybag were wet enough that the drybags inside were damp and their contents were starting to take on dampness as well. I didn't fancy a night in a damp sleeping bag and thus opted for the 20-ish miles home instead.

Greetz

S.

Respect sir

I was meant to be taking the son of Dee's friend out last night ... oh and how glad am I that he decided against it.

Does sound marginally worse than being stuck in a noisy & dusty, albeit warm, cardboard box factory...

Hope you dry out soon Scott :)

Me and Eddie (9) got caught ni it yesterday too. we were having a trip on the CX machines round derwent reservoirs it was blazingly hot when we parked on the snake then 'a bit refreshing' as the thunderstorm blew through. then it was super hot again when we got back.

today I had the last hard ride before a week of relative rest to get ready for the Borders 350. A nice ride back from Buxton via a few lumps on the CX bike.

left home a 4 am to get a good ride in before the rain came .
parked in edale and rode a loop around ladybower ,hope, a slippery cave dale decent, and finally up mar tor
total only 30 ish miles , but got home just in time for the rain to begin

Just in and getting ready for the work day after a 12 hour overnighter where I met up with Chew on his way from Halifax to catch todays Isle of Man ferry from Liverpool this morning.

We bivi'ed in a tiny comunity Nature Reserve within 8 miles from my home

Earlier this week i did a 150 km 2 night round trip from my door into the Peak District, Friday took the road bike & the missus for a 30 km out and back on the bridleways & farm tracks around Kinver Edge and today took the mtb on a 75 km local loop trying some new bridleways which didn't turn out so good as most of them weren't very ridable unless you were on a horse and I even had to fight my way through a 10ft high cornfield on one stretch but all good fun in the end.

A couple of videos from the last couple of weeks.

The first one is from a ride from the front door and along the coast towards Llandudno and up on the sweet singletrack on the Great Orme. It was ace especially as the sun was setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEBB_wKxlTc

This one is from last weekends jaunt from East Lothian. 3 days riding with Bruce Coastkid condensed into 4 minutes which did include a bivvy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xQM0hRAFS0

Enjoy

Yesterdays ride was short but sweet in the middle of a days work, heres what it looked like



Today ride was longer, a bit. tried out a trail I've looked at on the map so many times. It was awful at first, boggy mess, then slippery fun but then the payoff. A whole mile of superperb singletrack.
No photo I was too busy swearing or smiling this afternoon

Had half day Friday so decided to head out for a ride, down the valley to Swansea and along the mumbles coast, stunning weather, no real goal or direction but clocked 51 miles just exploring

Yesterday was a trip from town upto afan bike park....where I subsequently learnt I suck at parks and jumps, then joining the fireroad into the afan valley.

At the bottom of the first climb I bumped into a guy on a single speed fatbike with drybags attached, who turned out to be a fellow forum member training for bb200, odd coincidence to see at a trail center.
After a lovely chat I was left for dust on that long climb while he darted off ahead on his one and only gear....props where its due.

After 3 laps of blue scar I raced back to town via the canal, 31 mikes and sunburn

Now today I'm heading out with my partner to do the same run, she's a nutter on jumps and company is always better than talking to yourself and your headphones. Packing plenty of munchies...um...i mean carbs, and hopefully have some nice weather


Edit: This was posted late due to loggin error, we rode 1 miles before my girlfriend crashed in traffic and she's covered in cuts and burns, so our ride was cut short, lucky we were close to home and her helmet took the impact....close call

62 miles from near Blandford to Bridgwater on the Bamboo SSCX bike.

Some nice gravel cycle path on the Dorset Trailway, some back lanes and a short bit of canal path at the end. Required the odd bit of A-road to join it up but I really enjoyed that

Decided to take the CX bike to work, got some trails in on the way, but picked up a puncture so rode the last mile or so with a nearly flat front tyre. Came out from work, put a new tube in, and did some more off road on the way home. Picked up a rear puncture and without a spare tube had to pump it up 8 times on the way home. It would have been a nice ride otherwise... Road bike tomorrow I think.

A nice fast 24mi on my roadie after work, been a while since I've ridden it, spent too much time on the mtb I felt it was looking unloved

Played with the geo setup now too, more for comfort rather than the arse up race posture, huge improvement on ride quality

Mostly lovely ups and down on windy asphalt, but the town section at rush hour wasn't pleasant, which is probably what made me mtb the canals more instead.
Maybe a CX or GG type bike would give me options to bypass the traffic bits......hmmm

First night ride of the season on the moors between Threshfield and Malham. It was very dark tonight, full cloud cover and no moon. Saw a barn owl just before it got dark (the night that is, not the owl)

Just fitted some Conti 42mm speed-ride tyres to my Kinesis cross for commuting duties. Bit of a longer way round, but mean I'm now avoiding all the traffic and using the canals and old railways rather than the A roads. Much more pleasant.

All my rides at the moment consist of 1 of 2 things
1 - commuting into the office (outskirts of London into Central London)
2 - short local ride with the dog, usually on a tarmac'd path in the park

1 is a 20 mile round trip
2 is a 3 mile round trip

But 1 yesterday involved a tiny section of the Regents Canal towpath, a thing a short ride through Regents Park. That was a lovely!

Halfway through my 2nd weeks holiday I took a Fat Bike spin down to the coast and a beach ride home.
It started in fog and soon the sun came out to burn off the morning dampness.

Rant alert well not really just a resigned whatever.
Decided to go to Starcross today fully loaded on the new route that avoids white vans on the back road rat run road section. It involves four lift overs at the walkers gates because it’s about one mile of the SWCP and very steep coming home so would be walking anyway.
So there I was all dressed up bike loaded with all my kit and just had to run Mrs M to her Pilates class and then set off except the car had a puncture. Peugeot Assistance (an oxymoron in this case) told me it was classed as ‘self induced’ and therefore not covered so today instead of winging my way in the sunshine down Route2 to Starcross I am waiting around to see if the tyre can be fixed or I need a new one. It’s a bit important as have to go to a funeral tomorrow up country.
Starcross is now definitely my boggy destination. The first time I went there it was brilliant sunshine and a stiff breeze blowing up the river. After cycling into the center of Exeter I went down to the locks where crowds of people were enjoying an alfresco lunch in the sunshine but I thought why not press on to Topsham and have lunch by the river and even better why not go down the other side of the river and across on the ferry? What could possibly go wrong? But it was already written in the stars that this was doomed to failure because I had not consulted the astronomical tables which would have shown me that that day was exceptionally low tides and at just about the time the I wanted to cross the river which is a complicated way of saying no ferry today. Aha but there is a lower ferry at Starcross and someone at the higher ferry had come across from Exmouth cycled up hoping like me to cross to Topsham. So I set off into the teeth of a gale to cycle down to Starcross. Carried the bike up onto the station then up the walkway and out to the ferry terminal. Small notice no ferry until later. So much later that I could cycle all the way round to Exmouth quicker so I did. Lunch consisted of a packet of Mars cakes and a banana stood by a waste bin in a housing estate washed down with Lucozade sport but it got me home.
The second time I tried to go to Starcross I found the rear brake caliper had seized - see previous rant about hydraulic brakes. Off to consult the runes and maybe the entrails of some road kill to see when if ever I can go to Starcross?

Spent the last two days exploring on the Quantocks. Great fun but at times 'interesting' on a SSCX bike (made of wood)!

Nice 'n slow 70-ish Km ride today...with a little bit of exploring thrown in.
Sometimes it's just better to turn around and avoid the nettle whipping...but the blackberries within were some of the best I've tasted this season.

Greetz

S.

70 rather undulating and windy road miles from Bristol back to Dorset. Would have liked some gears.

65 miles up to Cannock chase for a brew and a flapjack, and home again .
had a good look at new bike bits , at swinnertons

Rode a lot of canal tow path today so my left "bell" thumb is hurty