Back to Basics ... and a Mini Challenge to Myself

Jez and I attended a Dirt School session at Lee Quarry on Saturday. I desperately needed something to kick start my MTB skills and confidence as they have been on a bit of a downward spiral for quite a while now.

Thankfully the weather was relatively kind with glorious sunshine but it was also baltic and I'm not sure I've properly warmed up yet. It was a useful day for me in quite a few ways...got much better at drop offs, a bit of jumping, flat off camber corners where I managed to find the traction limit of my front wheel a few times (which I'd normally never get near) and some advice on bike set up.

My (admittedly very slight) ability to manual appeared to have completely deserted me when I was thinking about it, was fine when I didn't (see drop offs). My shoulders and back got a serious work out as I started to throw all sorts of muscles into getting the front wheel to come up.

Jez's day was made by learning to clear tabletops, smoothly and in control...I'm not far behind but still get some OMG! when both wheels are off the ground, even though it was deliberate for a change.

So a few things to think about and put into practice. The mini-challenge? Learn to climb properly on flats, I just couldn't do it, kept lifting my feet right off. Got the hang of descending on them again pretty quickly and felt pretty attached to the bike at all times apart from climbing. I'm obviously very dependent on the upstroke from SPDs for climbing (no wonder my hip flexors are always tight). It just annoyed me, so I want to see if I can change it, no other reason really so the flats are staying on the hardtail for the forseeable.

Big Sky Riding

Saturday just past and I was back in the Dales, only about two months after EDD but a completely different weather experience. This is what I love about Dales mountain biking:



Bone dry trails and fantastic views. In fact, I think that was probably the first time I had actually ridden some of those trails in the dry, for some reason we seem always to tackle these grassy, limestone infested trails in the winter wet, complete slogfest then.

I managed to clean the evil climb out of Littondale up to the road skirting PenYGhent for the first time ever, pretty pleased with that, normally I just either don;t have the legs or spin out on some greasy bit of limestone. The lovely cheese and pickle sandwiches I'd just troughed at the pub were the deciding factor I'm sure.


The visibility was just awesome, this was the kind of view I knew I was missing in all the clag of the EDD:



A great ride and just occasionally on the descents I thought my descending mojo was really coming back, ear to ear grins at the bottom of every single one...hopefully I'll get it fully back before our trip to Switzerland in September.

Wot MTB Tyre Pressure? (For the girls really)

Can't believe I'm actually asking this question but it was suggested to me last night that perhaps the reason I'm pinging around so much on the hardtail and losing traction really easily on the slightest hint of gravel on a climb is that my rear tyre is perhaps a little too hard at 40psi....it did feel rock hard to squeeze tbh.


So...who runs what psi on the rear of their MTB? For info I use tubed Kenda Nevegal/Blue Groove combo on both geared MTBs all year round/in all conditions and usually have 30psi at the front and 40psi in the rear. Minimum pressure is allegedly 40 psi for both tyres (oops) but I've run the front at 30 for a good few years now with nary a problem (touches all the wood I can find).

I just have this irrational fear that lowering the rear to 35psi or below will result in a sensation of riding through treacle with a squidgy tyre, making everything harder, particularly climbing. Though I have at least realised these days that much more than 100psi in my skinny road tyres only feels faster as I'm pinging off everything on the road as opposed to actually travelling faster.


No point asking Jez as he runs closer to 50psi in his and thinks my front tyre in particular is too soft. No I don't generally let him inflate my tyres unsupervised and yes he has pumped mine up to 50psi before..just before setting off on a ride with lots of wet limestone, hilarious it was not.

Over Resting..

On Wednesday's evening ride I realised that somehow it had been a whole week since I had been on a bike, I'm not sure how I allowed that to happen (watching the Tour of Flanders on Sunday afternoon instead or riding might have something to do with it). I've got a couple of really enjoyable offroad runs in however and the rest has done my legs the world of good, now to spend the next couple of weeks beating the crap out of them again. (Swimming is still limping along).

Had a lovely ride on Wednesday evening, a social paced ride even though I was on the singlespeed, first time I've felt that way about a singlespeed ride, last weeks sneaky practice did help though as well as pretty fresh legs. It was a beautiful evening, shorts and short sleeves even for me who is always cold and the trails were almost dry, just some bog. There was a stunning, ride off the track inducing sunset to watch to and no lights required (just squeaked this though it meant a short ride).

Rest Week

I'm taking an easy week this week, it is actually planned for once which was good as it was obvious on Sunday's road ride I was clearly in need of one. I faffed all morning before getting out on the bike even though it was a nice sunny day, that in itself should have been a clue as I couldn't wait to get out the week before.

Plan was to up the difficulty of the climbing a bit and head over to do a circuit of Pendle Hill. My legs were fine but for some reason my head just didn't want to ride. I ignored myself because some of my best rides have started out with that kind of mental approach and come good.

Lots of ups and downs to warm my legs up on the way over to Whalley, taking things nice and easy. Sunny day, bit of cold breeze but very hazy. Pendle Hill was pretty obscured, though for a change it wasn't heavy clag:



Soon I was riding through Pendleton, ready to climb up to the Nick O Pendle. Took it really steady, bracing myself for the stupidly steep bit, which didn't really materialise. It was really hard but not as stupidly hard as I was expecting, which was probably just as well as this seems to be a road where drivers like to try and brush your elbow as they pass, really felt like every car refused to give room.

A fast drop down the other side and up the climb to Padiham Heights...which kicked my arse, that's more like it! I made it up the evil climb, legs were still fine, still CBA to be riding though even though the roads were great. Eventually dropped into Barley and stopped at the heaving cafe for some food, they didn't have much left so settled on some chocolate sponge and custard and a cappucino.

I had a bit of a wait...realised the time 3pm, on a Sunday afternoon means most things will be closing. Only 27 miles ridden, 3500ft of climbing, just over two hours of riding (was that all). A lot of time to look at the map and realise there really was only one way out of Barley..up. An enormous plate of sponge and custard and a huge cappucino was plonked in front of me. Top marks for value for money but I was stuffed when I was finished...just before heading up a big hill.

I hadn't quite fully given in by this point so climbed out of Barley (no sponge after effects) and headed to Downham as I'd heard it was really pretty. It was but here the last of my motivation deserted me and I decided to go home. So a map check and I decided to head through Chatburn, Waddington then out to Ribchester then home, rolling terrain. Within about a mile of making that decision almost everything started to hurt, it's amazing how admitting defeat just changes everything.

It wasn't the most fund ride home I have to say, a bit of a headwind and the sponge started making its presence felt about Waddington. The grind out of Ribchester was particularly nauseous. A fastish blat down the A59 then home, shattered. With hindsight, starting the rest week on Sunday with an easy spin was probably a better idea.

Monday's swim was a bit rubbish for swimming but was a great stretching session for my shoulders, hip flexors and lower back. I do like floating about in the water even if my swimming isn't up to much.

Tuesday I canned my commute as I felt really tired and groggy in the morning when I woke up, which did worry me a bit so I opted for another half an hour of sleep instead. Within about five minutes of being up and about I felt fine, I'm always a bit groggy on the dark mornings d'oh. A three mile run after work was all I managed to fit in.

Wednesday the boys were off to Gisburn with some work colleagues, I couldn't get out of work early enough so decided it was time to break out the singlespeed and head to Abbey Village when I did get out of work. Get the first ride on it in a while without the sight of the boys disappearing off up the hill. Riding on my own means I can set a sensible pace on the initial climb through the woods and take the time to get my breath back coo over the lambs:




(I blinked first!)


Legs were ok for riding but the biggest surprise was my arms, normally my arms give out first on the SS but they were fine, which is the swimming I presume. The only annoyance was a bit of a mechanical where the jockey wheel fell out of the chain doofer, causing the chain to fall off. Luckily I was rolling along downhill when it happened and not stood up grinding out a climb. A lot of faff with taking the wheel out, screwing the jockey wheel back in, watching it unscrew itself before my eyes as I pedalled along as I'd not done it right then going through the whole palaver again.

I was still up near the tower when this all happened and its a bit of a sobering realisation that whilst its a mainly downhill 3 or 4 miles and not much time at all back to Abbey Village with a working bike its an entirely different situation if the bike couldn't be fixed and a walk was on the cards, I got quite cold very quickly too. When it first happened I also seemed to be the only person up on the moor, fortunately I did bump into a very friendly MTBer who checked I was ok when putting the bike back together the second time.




My repair held but I avoided doing any steep climbs on the way back to the car just in case the chain decided to fall off again. Was still a great ride though.

Thursday was supposed to be a bit of a run but it was stupidly windy at work, would just be silly at the beach, one of my "rules" for rest weeks is to have fun with "training" as much as possible and running against that wind is usually not that much fun. Had a great swimming lesson in the evening, back stroke.

I postponed the run to today, it was still windy but nowhere near as bad as yesterday however it was still really crazy at the prom. Running with my eyes closed as the sand was being whipped into my face but it didn't last long before it was behind me. Quite pleased I didn't venture down yesterday, even the seagulls were sheltering behind cars.

Plan for the weekend is a 3 hour max road ride and I may break my trail shoes out and go for an offroad run. Wednesday's ride reminded me how much I like being up on the moors.

Owned

Seem to be getting owned by everything at the minute...mountain bike trails, road riding and my sinuses being the main ones. At least the latter explains the motivation dip recently as I fight off about of sinusitis, deep joy.

Got owned by the Whinlatter red route on the last weekend of October, off camber slippy rocks I can do, roots not so much. I realise now during the duathlon I must have ran over most of the technical stuff due to the traffic on the route. Had a couple of quality spud moments and once getting stuck behind my saddle on a techy, slippy rocky chute whilst avoiding someone else and ending up on a stupid line.

I have swapped my road bike and Titus saddles round as I just couldn't get comfy on it on the roadie, its fine on the Titus as I'm more upright. Its narrower, which is great for getting off the back but its one of the modern Flite designs with the handy hook for racking your bike in transition....or getting hooked on your shorts and digging in (nice bruise) and preventing you getting up again when making a dogs dinner of a trail obstacle. How I managed not to clatter into that rapidly approaching tree whilst sitting on my crud catcher so much I could hear it rubbing on the back wheel and having absolutely no control over the bike I'll never know but I'm pleased I didn't.

My technical riding needs some serious work and it's all basics like not looking far enough ahead. We did the blue which was fun but I died a death after that and jsut wanted to lie at the side of the trail and shake, though realised I'd had quite silly amounts of coffee which is never a good idea for me. I'm very susceptible to caffeine (which is why I like it) but it does tend to cause me to go off at warp speed then have a blood sugar crash if I have too much. A bit like blowing up a balloon and letting it go...that's me on 4 large mugs of good coffee.

A night on the beer in Ambleside meant I was a touch fragile and wobbly when we set off on the Grizedale red (no way I or anyone else for that matter was up for doing any of the natural stuff). Having done the trail a few times I knew the most dangerous thing on it was likely to be me in my slightly befuddled state and it somehow wasn't me that got owned by the boards.

I've never had much of a problem on the Grizedale boards, I've never had anyone stop in front of me on them either. They were like ice and seemed to be causing carnage and stoppages. Once stopped it was almost impossible to get going again it was so slippy, I tried to jog off the end of one and could barely stand up on it, was safer riding. When I was unimpeded I was actually riding them fine.

There were a few offs in our group with no damage until:








Watched a lad come round that section of board when we were faffing with the disk and he landed on his chest on the boards, ouch. Some of the gouge marks on the sides are impressive. They couldn't straighten the disk out so he had to ride the last section without a front brake.

We were round quite quickly then into the cafe, I've not been there since it was rebuilt and the food was superb.

Motivation has not been up to much since then, a few turbo sessions but had a low grade headache for a while, took me a while to realise it was sinusitis as it normally comes on after a cold.

Headed out on a road ride with Jez on Sunday just past which was a bit of a disaster for me, totally owned. It was only 45 miles with about 1700ft of climbing, pretty much all in the first 10 miles and my legs were not having any of it. No power, eventually realised saddle was probably too low, saddle swap with Titus. I am totally and utterly "princess and the pea" with saddle stuff, I'm sure I've mentioned it before. I'd probably notice a mm adjustment and I knew the saddle change would open a can of worms...

After the climbing its quite flat and I just could not keep up with Jez and I was trying quite hard. There is nothing worse that flogging yourself to death to stay with someone when you know they aren't even bloody trying. He had it in the big ring the bugger - we have triples on our road bikes so he was right up at the top of the gear range and I just couldn't/can't muster that kind of power, certainly not for any length of time. Pest!

We had a brief stop whilst he chatted to his sad puppy rc model mates and I do some more saddle tinkering. A stop for some food then home. About two miles from home the inevitable happened, his legs started to go into meltdown and mine started to remember what to do. The answer to this of course is a long hilly ride to induce cramp in his quads then I can ride off leaving him upside down in a hedge...Waddington Fell and the Trough here we come...or offroad in West Yorkshire..hmm.

However on Tuesday I suddenly had motivation and energy in spades and have got a couple of runs in so fingers crossed. Hope this wind bogs off over the weekend but will be heading up for a run on Darwen moor tomorrow to see the damage to the tower and the state of the trails.

Scottish C2C Days 1 & 2

On the Saturday of the 11th September (was it really that long ago) we were picked up from my parents house, yes really, door to door service! It helps that my parents live between Glasgow and Edinburgh about five minutes off the M8. The guys had already picked up Mac and Lori in Glasgow, an American couple with an amusing amount of luggage as they were coming over for more than just the week of riding.

A goodly amount of packing tetris with bags and bikes went on before we got in the van...(duct tape was employed) Due to the fact that we were heading off for a week of riding in Scotland where the weather could be doing anything and everything neither Jez or I could be accused of travelling light either with two very stuffed dead body bags.

Off to the centre of Edinburgh to pick up Mickey and Joy, another American couple who actually had perfected the art of travelling light, thankfully as the van was totally rammed. A long and tedious drive up to Aberdeen followed..as did the rain but then the sun came out as we neared the Granite City, thankfully as Aberdeen looks utterly miserable when it's overcast, all those grey buildings.

We parked up at the beach there then ensued a goodly amount of faff whilst bikes were built etc, then we set off for an easy 20 mile spin out towards Banchory. All that time faffing and this was the only photo I took around the auspicious start (totally crap I know)!



We had to ride through the city, mostly quiet roads and cycle paths but we did have to negotiate one very busy, narrow and congested road where I decided to get a puncture after not even one mile of riding. I had to pick the bit of road where there wasn't even a proper verge to move to, I had to carry the bike hanging onto a railing for a bit whilst inching along a kerb.

Wasn't long before we were out on some easy cycle paths and a nice 20 miles to Banchory were done. We arrived at the first B & B of the trip to find our bags had already been taken up to the rooms, yay! This was particularly welcome on some of the less easy days. A couple of beers and some great food rounded off a good day.


From Banchory the next destination was Braemar, via the Royal Lochnagar distillery. Unfortunately the Balmoral estate was closed to the public so there was a bit more road work than ideal. Normally this would be fast but day 2 was the first day of "the raging headwind from hell" 44 miles of it and it didn't seem to let up for the rest of the week. I know it's a risk when travelling west but jeez, one day without it would have been nice, at least the sun was still shining. It meant the day was suprisingly hard work. It's never, ever fun or fair having to pedal downhill to keep moving. The only picture I took all day but I really can't remember if it was before or after the distillery:



The distillery tour was very interesting, after the evil b*st*rd hill to get up to it, there was no real view of Lochanagar itself which was a bit disappointing but the whisky was actually ok, it's very light on peat so that's probably why I liked it. I'm glad it was pretty much downhill to Braemar from there as I had the usual problem of the alcohol going straight to my legs and turning them into wet noodles if I have any whilst riding. They did come back to me which is just at well as we were taking turns riding into the wind...downhill. By the time we rolled into Braemar I had a headache from the cold wind.

The hotel was large and overrun by elderly coach parties, as was Braemar in general. The food here was very cheap but probably the worst of the whole week though portions were generous and the showers were good and hot (always important). The entertainment was a little "old" for us and we escaped out of the dining room to the hotel bar when a weeble shaped man started playing guitar and singing.

We did think we were going to be crushed to death in a slow, white haired stampede though as codgers appeared from every direction and made their way there, particularly the ladies, of which there were lots, as always with the retired generation.

Two warm up days in, some proper offroad bog, heather and river crossings up next.

Scottish Coast to Coast...bit late

Confession time..I had actually written some stuff regarding this a week or so ago in a Word document that I cannot find anywhere, on any computer I come into contact with. As someone who looks after databases and other people's data for a living that is a a bit of an embarrassment, lol.

In summary, it was a great trip, some stunning scenery, some pelting rain, some sun, some clag, some bog to park bikes in, some great riding, great company and a not so great a raging permanent headwind for about 6 of the 7 days. Will get some more detail out soon.

Highlight for me were the Corrieyairick Pass (or River Corrieyairick as it was that day) and the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, I will be going back there again, definitely.

Photos are on Flickr and get noticeably more numerous the further west we travelled.

The Grinch is reborn.....

Here it is, good to be putting the frame to use again as had great fun on it before I bought the ti one and I do like the grinch green colour even though I normally wouldn't go for green, it seems to glow in murky light:

Friday evening saw it's first ride from Abbey Village up to the tower and round about the moor, currently gone for 32:18 on there and it will stay for a bit methinks. The climbs were as hard as I thought they would be but only had to walk a couple of very short sections (though one was spinning out on roots) so not too bad. What I hadn't even thought about was how much I use the gears to recover between efforts and not being able to was surprisingly hard but in a good way.

The chainline needs a bit of tweaking as it would skip when I got to that last gasp grind on the climb when I couldn't turn the pedals anymore, will need some spacers to fine tune it. The stem is also too long and puts me too far over the front when stood up, will put a shorter one on. A colleague of mine mentioned one of his mates had managed to go over the bars whilst going uphill, I can see that happening to me if the stem doesn't get changed!

Having the front tyre pumped up to "rock bloody hard" (thanks for that Jez) didn't help the handling I have to say, had a corking stack early on as it just pinged sideways off a root and skittered everywhere on the climbs. Only thought to check once I got to the tower as I know I'm really not fond of the tyre that's on the front and thought it was that (tyre will be getting changed as well).

Did 12 miles which was just right, though it was my arms that were complaining more than my legs which I expected, shoulders absolutely killed on Saturday. It will certainly make the short midweek spins harder, which is what I wanted. It still goes downhill very well but feels sluggish on the up in comparison to the ti one but hey, it'll do.

Surpassing myself falling off *

(* actually, should really be "falling over" as I was stood next to the bike at the time).

Sunday just past Ed and I headed out on offroad on a great loop neither of us have done for ages, effectively a half MTL route. Starting from Clowbridge Res, picking up the MTL for a while until on Deerplay, past Thieveley Pike and down to the Bacup Road, over that then heading through the post industrial landscape towards Ramsden Clough on some interesting bridleways, pick up the MTL around Whitworth again and a pretty much follow it all the way back, with a diversion into the new stuff at Cragg on the way.

Set off into fairly persistent rain and low cloud, the surface easy going due to being MTL and still pretty dry. Once off the MTL and particularly over the Bacup Road find actual boggish tracks for a while, it's a grassy slog generally but I've seen it a lot worse. We once did this route in the winter into a raging headwind, it took us three hours to go 12 miles due to the wind and soft tracks. The bike was actually good and filthy for the first time in ages.



Anyway, skittered down a short, steepish, grassy slope and got bogged down in some rocks. The track was raised, with a drop to either side. I did think about getting going again then thought better of it, got off the bike at the edge of the narrow section to push it on a bit. I'm not sure what happened exactly but as I pushed the bike it sort of fell over onto me, I obviously wasn't very well balanced and I just timbered right over like a sack of spuds off the side of the track, bike landing on top of me. Unfortunately it was onto:

Right onto that big pile of pointy rocks, track is on the left. It wasn't quite onto my back but almost and not surprisingly it really hurt. Due to the Titus being on top of me I couldn't actually move, fortunately a very concerned Ed picked the bike up off me and I got up. Nothing was broken (probably) so decided to get riding asap, usually the best thing to do, keep moving so it doesn't seize up. This was about 7 miles into what in the end was a 30 mile ride.

I can normally tell by the state of my riding how bad a "crash" was (not that I can call it a crash), it quickly became clear that the last thing I wanted to do was fall off again and add to the pain...you can imagine how and tense wussy my riding became, I had to shout at myself, a lot to get off the brakes and look ahead etc. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to cut the ride short and try to head back to the car but it didn't. I was actually enjoying being out in the mud and rain, I thought the pain would ease off...it didn't.

The long drag up Rooley Moor Road was a complete miseryfest for me again, legs were fine (apart from the huge throbbing bruise above my left knee) but my lower back had gotten progressively more sore and stiff. I stood up once in an effort to stretch it and it felt like someone had knifed me in the back, I'm sure I saw stars briefly. The sun had also decided to come out especially for the climb and for once the Rooley Moor headwind was missing just to add to my overall misery.

By the time we got to Cragg it hurt the least sitting and pedalling steadily, standing pedalling was excruciating, standing without pedalling was a bit less excruciating but the worst thing was transitioning from not pedalling to pedalling, particularly if spinning madly due to too low a gear choice. I basically yelped and grimaced my way all around the fab Cragg trails (and they were good) but I was in no fit state to do much other than hang on and pedal a bit (as low cadence as possible). We decided against another lap!

By this time any lumps and bumps on the trail seemed to vibrate up into my back, I was on a full-suspension, I hate to think what the hardtail would have been like. The descent down to Waterfoot, normally a favourite, passed slowly in a blur of clenched teeth and whimpers. Thankfully, the rest of the route is fairly easyish going but getting on and off for gates really hurt, particularly when my Camelbak re-settled itself on my back. We finally got back to Clowbridge, total relief! Except I had forgotten about the last two flights of wooden steps down into the car park, it was like someone attacked my back with a pneumatic drill as I rattled down them, there were tears at that point.

Getting packed up was interesting, my ability to bend was almost zero and getting out of the car at the other end was painful.

Having said all that it was a good ride, really like that loop!

Faceplanting

Woke up yesterday and stomach felt normal at last, hurrah! An evening night ride was planned to kick off from Rivington, five of us riding which is the most of an evening for a while. Set off at a fair lick in usual Jez style, though with lots of pauses to wait the latecomer - usual Mr S style! Dry, dusty trails and we're altogether for the dive into Healey Nab.

It's the first time most of us have been there in what seems like forever, climbing up to the new trails we were a bit gutted to find they'd mashed the orginal track and replaced it with a motorway, a badly constructed one at that...think Tony is going to having some words...


Onto the trails, I'd forgotten how tight the berms were on the top part, ended up on the black for a bit somehow as its a bit confusing in there then down to the new stuff at the bottom which is all really nice, the berms aren't anywhere near as tight. Up the new singletrack climb then up another one that is only partially constructed, though we only did that because it was so dry.


Over towards Great Hill, past White Coppice and on the new bridleway until Wheelton Plantation. Jez goes straight up the main footpath the rest of us decide to try a piece of singletrack that I've run part of and I'm pretty sure follows the fenceline up and around to where the main track comes out. It does. It's very steep to start and very rooty and bits of it aren't really rideable as an up but it was an interesting new track and probably much better the other way with gravity assistance I would imagine though those roots in the wet would be entertaining.


Up to Great Hill on the big track, getting quite dark as we're on the summit, lights on for heading down. I tell everyone how dry the moorland crossing to White Coppice is but that there are possibly still a few front wheel traps. Obviously visibility very reduced with lights so can't see too far ahead on the line I've chosen and come to a bit of a dip that looks a little soft. I'd ridden through a smaller one just minutes earlier and it was fine so rather than go round I went in, expecting to roll out the other side.


Front wheel drops in and sinks, then sinks more, then sinks even more. My weight wasn't very far back at all as totally not expecting it and everything slowed down as the bike started tipping over....I thought I could save it so started pushing back on the pedals but it was to late for that and tipped over. I stuck my hands out but they went into the dip and I broke the fall with my face, what seemed like my two front teeth in fact, striking the edge of the dip. Ouch, bloody ouch! Watch those front wheel traps!


Got up and spat a gobful of peat out, thankfully both front teeth still there and somehow not wobbly. My mouth is completely numb though at least there seems to be no blood and no other damage to me or bike. So get riding again before I have time to think about it and no further mishap.


Well no more until about 5 minutes later when I get to the last rutty, loose and rocky drop into White Coppice where I part company from bike again. No idea what happened but one second I was riding well and confidently, the next the bars were wrenched round and the front wheel flopped to the left, perpendicular to track, which never tends to end well. Luckily I wasn't actually going too fast but crashed off to the side with a "bloody hell not again" and a few other choice words!

After disentangling myself again I noticed a whopping boulder lying on the track, I'm sure it wasn't there before I crashed so maybe I clipped it at the side of the track..who knows. Back on once again and catch up with the lads and we start heading back to the cars.

Onto the cheeky track around Anglezarke and I suddenly feel like my arms have turned to two bits of string, no strength to lift the front wheel. My legs start following suit soon after, it took a while for me to catch on what was happening but a quick time check showed it was 9:45 pm and I hadn't eaten anything since 4pm (a long time for me). I was starving and heading towards the dreaded bonk. The last mile or so was like wading through treacle. It's been quite a while since I've headed that way as I've been making a real effort to avoid it, though had been wondering if taking bottles of energy drink and slices of malt loaf out on my long road rides was overkill, err no, not for me it's not.

We didn't leave Riv until after 10, picked up some food on the way home. Eating so late meant it took me a while to get into a decent sleep so shattered this morning and resting HR was something ludicrous like 65 (normally around the 48 mark) so I had a complete rest day today.

I woke up with what felt like a massive fat top lip but thankfully it didn'tt look anywhere near as bad as it felt. The inside of my lip is very bruised and has a cut from where I bit it, I have a few small scratches under my nose and I had a few bruises on my legs but other than that I thought I had gotten off really lightly. However, as the day wore on my jaw got increasingly stiff and the side of my face a little tender. It feels like I've been smacked in the face, which I suppose I have. I also now have very sore ribs on the right hand side and probably a good few more bruises but really, I have gotten off lightly.

Bleurgh!

This weekend was almost a complete write off for me. Gran plans for a hard road ride over Waddington Fell and Nick 'O Pendle, perhaps with a circuit of Pendle Hill thrown in if legs up for it. Plotting the route out on Friday evening and I suddenly had no enthusiasm for it whatsoever, tucked up in bed by 9:20 pm barely able to keep my eyes open and woke up with a very dodgy tummy on Saturday, just great.

Managed to eat and move around until Saturday afternoon when I was sofa bound for most of the afternoon, couldn't face food and any movement just made me feel queasy. Lots of (boringly mild) curry and I felt human again that evening.

I felt up for a bit of ride on the MTB on Sunday, had to take it very easy on hills as stomach not happy if pushing hard and heart rate would just rocket to silly levels, however dry conditions and a full suspension bike made pedalling most things fairly easy. I had another hour or two of sofadom afterwards but was able to get out and spend some time cleaning bikes later. My On One was so filthy it took most of the afternoon, that'll learn me not to take the DirtWorker. My plans of getting several bikes done failed, only got the On One and my road bike done.

Monday I felt a bit better, headed out for a run from White Coppice after work, running up the hills seemed fine and only had one slight queasy moment, oddly on a flat piece of track, the rest of the time things were ok. Amongst all the unusual dusty dryness I managed to stomp into a patch of ankle deep bog, strangely reassuring!

Tuesday, still felt a little out of sorts in the morning but decided to have an easy spin into work on the road bike. I didn't pay much attention to the forecast and was happily tootling along through a sheltered Preston when I turned off to the docks and straight into a raging headwind, think I went from 18 mph to about 8 in less than a metre. It was a long, long slog against it all the way to work, so glad I was on the road bike to at least get down on the drops a bit. Not really what I wanted that morning.

The ride home was obviously faster but the wind was more of a crosswind in parts and I got blown sideways into the main dual carriageway at one point, luckily no cars coming. Even with faffing through Lytham and Warton, almost wearing a bus and having to stop, being scared more than once battling to control the bike and often not pedalling too hard I was averaging 18.7 when I got to the roadworks at Strand Rd which I thought was quite impressive, wish I could do that normally. By the time I'd crawled through them I was at a more normal 17 and tootled home from there quite happily.

Almost wished I hadn't bothered.....almost.

Home after work, cycling gear on, waiting for Jez to get back to go out riding. Dragged the Titus out as it hasn't been out this year and it's an expensive bike just to be sitting in the garage. Pumps tyres up, air in shock, change Garmin mount...hear the racket of Jez's motorbike engine...Jez arrives with a big CBA to riding. I go anyway, thinking I'll get a good spin in before it gets dark, being on my own will mean minimum faff (yeah right!).


Drive off, a bit of thought about where to go, as I'm on my own decide to ride Great Hill but where from? Abbey Village is the closest and most sensible time wise so get there unpack bike, get rest of kit on, lube the chain. Whilst back pedalling the chain to lube it it falls off the cassette and jams between cassette and spokes, grrr. Had to undo powerlink to fish it out, get it out and make note to do some serious bike cleaning (of all bikes) as chain is black and so now were my gloves.


Put it all back together and linked it up but failed to notice between threading it through derailleur and joining the powerlink it had fallen into the spokes again, grrrrrrrrrrrr! Undo it all again, rethread, join it back up, gloves even blacker, put car key in jacket pocket, jacket pocket now covered in black, oily fingerprints. So much for a quick and faffless start!


Set off riding, a few pedal revs later the grinding noise tells me I've done my usual crap job of threading the chain through the rear derailleur, seriously, seriously tempted to chuck everything back in car and go home but the prospect of dry, moorland trails is too much.


Pull over at Sawmill, undo it all again, thread chain through properly this time and manage not to lose powerlink in the long grass, off again with no grinding and working gears. Quick map check to locate the first piece of cheek I was intending to ride and head off to it, getting used to a squidgy bike again which was creaking annoyingly from the swingarm. It felt a lot heavier than the On One, particularly lifting it over gates.


Off up a section of relatively well packed double track onto the moor, will be a bit of a grassy slog in the wet but only one section looked like it would get boggy, mainly due to tractor tyres. Get up onto the moor and pick up one of my favourite pieces of running singletrack. In the spirit of minimising faff I stopped to take some pictures, it was lovely:



On again towards Great Hill and I'm finding the rear suspension (and the front to an extent) a bit of a liability to be honest, was like riding a pogo stick. I remember that last time I rode it I found the same and it needs some settings tweaked, more rebound damping I think, the rebound adjuster on the shock is turned wholly to one side (technical description) so I turned turned it completely the other way to see what happened.


Onwards onto the big track to the summit of Great Hill, more photo faff and the creaking seems to have stopped from the swingarm. Cracking view of the sun dropping, more picture faff and general staring:


Up to the summit of Great Hill, stare a bit at the sun dropping then head down again. Just as I was setting off I heard the low battery beep from my mobile, oh great. So now if something does go wrong with bike or me the mobile is about to die. That did make me pause a bit, original plan was to head to White Coppice but maybe it would be more sensible to take the big track back.


I got to the decision point and headed to White Coppice, it looked more fun. I do ride more cautiously on my own (especially with a dying mobile) and fluffed a few things across the rutty moor that the application of a little more speed would have probably fixed but it was fun and mainly dry. The rear suspension seemed a bit better so will need to twiddle the forks a bit soon.


The sunset was gorgeous and one of the reasons I headed up here, I know from past activities that the view is pretty good from Great Hill and I did watch for a bit, however I had lights/layers and food with me this time, the working and charged mobile phone thing obviously needs some remedial work though:



The bit I was worried about was the rutty drop to White Coppice but I had a whale of a time on that and was briefly tempted to ride/actually push (let's be honest) back up and do it again. Sense prevailed and I pegged it along the new bridleway for a bit then back up through the woods to pick up the moorland singletrack. I got down, just, without putting my lights on but fired them up for the last short bit of road back to the car.

Quick drive home for Chinese after a mainly satisfying ride and a cat runs across the road in front of me, I stop in time, just.

Slush Riding...

Yesterday I dared to take my On One out for a ride in snow/slush/ice, I am not a fan of riding in such conditions at all. Mainly because I fell off commuting in dodgy conditions a few years ago, trapped my left hand in or under the bars and broke the middle two fingers. It hurt, made work difficult, kept me off a bike completely for over three weeks as I couldn't brake properly and stopped me MTBing for about two months. I've not been in a hurry to repeat the experience.

What seemed to be perfect conditions on our Christmas Day doddle were replaced by total slush at Rivington on Boxing Day. Setting off about noon onto rapidly thawing snow made for a short, slow but hard ride. We met up with a friend of Jez who was bringing his young lad out for his first MTB experience. Not the best day to pick but as young kids tend to do he kept going like a trooper.

We covered about 3.7 miles in 52 minutes (of moving time, lots of stoppage). It was just such hard work in the soft snow. However, I did enjoy most of it, it was certainly good for the old bike handling skills as the front and rear would slide away in various directions and as the time wore on and the snow got softer the rear would just spin out. Here is the evidence of snow on my tyres:

As it was slush things tended to happen relatively slowly, it was just like riding in sticky mud. Our original plan to climb up past Yarrow Res then take the road was abandoned as we realised that the roads were pretty much as bad as the trails. Heading back the decision was made to take the track on the west side of Anglezarke from Knowlsey lane to Horrobin Lane.

It started off pretty well then changed to an ice rink for quite a reasonable stretch. I was riding along, just thinking to myself that "this is going well" when the front wheel caught the edge of a lump, the front wheel went away and whoomf I was on the deck pretty much instantaneously. Jez's mate turned to check I was ok and of course he hit the deck too. The little lad sailed serenly between us and Jez had already successfully ridden it.

I was ok and more importantly no Paclite was harmed. I actually think I was lacking a little speed. In the end Jez was the only one not to fall off, I can't believe how hard a less than four mile ride was. I earned my pint! Not sure its really done anything for my phobia though.

Some "Racing" Advice Required: MTB

So, the duathlon looms this coming weekend. Starting to think about the logistics, what to wear etc.

I think I should stick a bottle cage and bottle on the on one (as fortunately it will take one, Titus will not) and put puncture stuff etc in a saddle pack so I can ditch a camelbak when riding, not have to wriggle it on/off. Jez reckons I should take a small back pack.

I have never tried to race on a bike before so any advice accepted.

Ti 456 first ride

I got out for an afternoon spin on the ti 456 last Friday. It took a while to actually get out the door, idly flicking though BBC iPlayer is not conducive to removing oneself from the sofa to go ride in strong winds.

As it was my last Friday off I eventually crowbarred myself out about 1pm ish. I decided on just a short ride, didn't want to end up too far in case things weren't ok, though my bike mechanic is usually pretty reliable! I also chucked a pair of running shoes in as I should do at least one brick before this month's looming duathlon. So, was aiming for no more than about two hours out total, run included, back well before dark. Except it didn't quite pan out like that....

Legs felt tired and heavy on the initial climb out (running speedwork), this was partly helped by increasing saddle height, which was the only faffing I had to do. As lots of people on the main track decided to do the fence track which looked quite dry. It wasn't, it was really stodgy, standing water further on but it had a covering of deceptive dry leaves. Bike was filthy within ten minutes, as it should be.

Off up the long climb to the tower, thought I was out of the wind but no it swirled round the hill so it was a bit of a grind. Along the top and the sun was out, just for a change:

Arriving at the tower and effectively on the other side of the hill I realised that what I thought was a headwind was just a slight breeze! Strong winds made the rutty descent difficult. I decided to try out a new track which started off well but got a bit rocky/droppy/rutty for me. It's the kind of track that needs a bit of knowledge as sometimes what looks like a good line suddenly gets a bit dodgy. I could also have done with lowering my saddle and having someone to follow (and a big dose of bravery).

Will be fun to run though! Back up towards the tower again, blown up by the wind then back to the top of the long climb I did where I had a bit of a think about where I wanted to go next. As I wasn't riding fast I thought a bit of exploring was worthwhile.

I keep meaning to ride across the top of Darwen moor. I've done one of the tracks (the straightest one) on a very dry day a good while ago but I actually prefer running on the other one as its not quite so rutty. The ruts are vehicle tyre ruts so I find them hard work running. The other track also has a great deal of hard pack on it too.

It wasn't too bad at all on a bike, only a few little bits where I had to get off bike and jump over stuff, though it was pretty soft in other places and is probably best avoided after a big downpour. I would say its more rideable than the other one, especially at this time of year. I was the only person on that part of the moor, which was just lovely after the busy tower area.

As I was enjoying myself on the windswept empty moor I thought I would continue down the Witton Weavers Way to the A666, ride briefly on the A666 then turn off and pick up the Catherine Edge bridleway back, which would give me a nice tailwind.

Started dropping down the track, it has some stones/cobbles and as I was going over them I remember thinking that it was much more comfortable on my steel frame. Then I realised that due to the headwind I was actually sat down pedalling downhill not stood up flying over them!

Some considerable time ago I rode down this track behind a group of lads who then did a short hike a bike onto another parallel track which eventually ended up at the A666 as well. I had no map with me but thought I would try to find a way to get up to the other track.

Rolling down I keep an eye out for likely places to try. A broken fence had me having a look but it ended with a large concrete drainage channel too wide for me to jump. I could see a footbridge further down and did briefly entertain the idea of climbing onto one of the concrete walls and shuffling along carrying my bike. Realising it was a reasonable distance to shuffle and I'd probably fall off I pushed back up to the main track.

I rolled down a bit further and a stile appeared, so over it and down to the footbridge and:

Hmm, there is a bit of a track off to the left so follow it up and round shouldering my bike onto a grassy plateau. See the where I want to get to and start riding, then have to get off and start yomping through marsh grass, which was hiding a nice (not) mossy bog.

Most of the grass is up above my shoulder height, a couple of times as I step into a deep bit of slop it goes over my head. I realise that at times I am probably invisible, in the unlikely event anyone heads down the main track anyway. I entertain myself with thoughts of being stuck out on the moor, waving my bike at the helicopter as it searches for me...hee hee.

I get there eventually, no idea how long it took but realise those lads didn't come the way I just did! I walk along the track I've just arrived at, heading back up the hill to see what's what. There is a stile, so there is obviously another cut through. I gave up after a short while as the track degenerated to stinking slop, oozing the stench of sheep poo:

More pedalling down hill against the wind, get to the A666 and realise its a bit gloomy so try to ride as fast as possible to the turn off before I get flattened. Get to the gate at the start of the Catherine Edge bridleway and realise I am really hungry. I chucked in a Chorley cake just in case so fished it out and sat down for some food. At some point around here I realised that the red lights on the Winter Hill mast were really bright...... which means light is fading fast. The time was well past 4pm, oops no wonder I'm hungry.

Luckily, I had thrown my joystick into my bag so I had a front light but the rear light is still on the Titus. I flew back along that bridleway due to the wind, a lot better than the last time I crawled along it. I was riding at least four gears higher!

I rode to Slipper Lowe car park and took the descent down through the woods. It was very murky and the leaf cover made things slippy but it wasn't dark enough for a light. I got to the ford at the bottom and there seemed to be loads of people around so rather than slalom through them I headed for the road, it would get me back quicker in the gloom.

Got near the road, it was indeed very gloomy, car headlights very bright, remembered about the rear light not being on the bike. Had a vague memory of buying a little emergency LED on a cord a month or two ago and chucking it in the Camelbak, had a rummage and found it (sometimes I amaze myself with moments of sense). Hung it off the LED loop, set it to flashy, got on the road and hoped no one flattened me.

A fast whizz down the road to the car, packed up while briefly entertain the idea of getting running shoes on but it was now pretty dark so I chucked the bike on top of the shoes so I couldn't get at them.

A fun ride, the ti frame definitely accelerates better than the steel one, bursts of power (the few there were) we rewarded with an immediate jump forward. Need to get it out on a long ride, that will be the true test.

Friday 2nd Oct: A Two Towers Ride...

...or three if you count Turton Tower. 30 very wet, windy, cold and sometimes plain miserable miles. The On One was out to play as the knocking headset/brake squealing was actually due to the brake hose connector coming loose and spilling fluid all over the brake, making for juddery stopping - oops. I was under orders to get the disk covered in crap to help clean the pads up.

I set off from a grey, not very windy Lostock Hall for a local ride and arrived at the car park just off the A675 Tockholes turnoff to driving rain and gusting winds. Its a little exposed there. Anyway sat in my car for ages being not remotely tempted to get out:

Finally, wriggled into waterproofs before even stepping out of car and got ready. Hands were wet and freezing cold before I had even set off and trying to wrestle them into gloves resulted in a few choice words! Saddle very wet too but hey ho. Had a near off within three metres of the car as the front wheel slid along a piece of wet wood edging the track. Ignored the demons telling me to give up and headed out.

I had no plan other than a vague wish to ride over to Peel Tower. In the end I did manage it by making myself ride "just a little bit more" rather than think about the whole ride. I learned that trick from my Hebden Bridge ride. The final route is here.

I decided to do a bit of downhill in the woods first then head up to Darwen tower, a vain hope it would stop raining. Nope. I took the most sheltered way I could think of up to the tower and I was almost at it before I could actually see it:

I sheltered from the howling wind for ages and ate a bit of my first butty - only about two miles in! If I'd been riding with someone else and they had suggested heading back home I think I would have gone like a shot! As it was I had to head back past the car to go anywhere else so I put off the decision until that point. The clag got really bad for a while, just as well I know the hill:

So off towards the car, drop down off the moor and the combination of wind and descending speed meant the rain stung my face hard. At the decision point the wind was behind me so I thought I would continue up over the moor again, drop down to the A666 then pick up the Catherine Edge bridleway back to the car. I couldn't be bothered with the faff of trying to pack up in the rain quite yet really.

Up and over then a fast, wet descent down towards the A666 where the cloud lifted briefly and it seemed to be brightening up:

Cheered up by the thought I continued off down the hill, unfortunately the cloud had other ideas and chased me down the valley:

Once at the road I then had a decision to make, back to the car or onto Peel Tower. I was sheltered from the wind and the rain so decided to head to Peel Tower. Some fairly straightforward track and road riding led to the bridleway along Holcombe which I really enjoyed. A short but steep pull up then I was at Peel Tower:

The cloud had actually lifted quite a bit and I could see Ramsbottom below. I stopped for a proper butty stop and just as I was getting ready to ride the cloud closed in again.

I decided just to head back the way I came up rather than chance one of the paths across the top. Back along the bridleway back to the road. As I was rolling down to Edgworth the rain seemed to start in earnest. It was hard to see flying down the road and my waterproofs were beginning to get a little overfaced.

I found the Turton tower track (handily signposted) then made my way across the golf course to Egerton. I did think about heading up to the Pike as although I was cold and wet my legs would have probably made it. However, once through Egerton I picked up the road past Delph Res and the full force of the wind and the rain hit me.

I decided to just head back, the last three miles from Delph along the bridleway back to the car were just awful. There was nowhere to hide from the wind and rain and its a gradual climb. I was very cold and just wanted it to end. Once finished I think I just chucked everything in the car, got a towel on the seat and drove home with the heating on full blast.

As I got on the M65 the sun came out.......

A ride out of Hebden Bridge - 25th Sept

I am so behind with posting.......

The long spell of dry weather had me fancying a go over High Brown Knoll so I planned (then re-planned) a route out of Hebden Bridge. The original route had me checking out a long stretch of the Bronte Way from Oxenhope, however I realised this would be quite committing so revised the route to give me plenty of get outs. The final planned route was an ambitious 40 miler with over 5000ft of climb. In the end I took a get out option and the actual route was around 30 miles with still over 4000ft of climb.

My legs hadn't properly shaken off the Rivi half really, I don't know why I was surprised as it took about a week and a half to shake the last half marathon I did. I should check my training notes more often!

The ride starts with a long drag out of Hebden Bridge on the Keighley road. I was on the Titus as the On One seemed to have developed a knocking headset and the front brake was squealing with the pitch of nails down a blackboard, urgh. I had tried tightening the head set but to be honest the bolt was tight and I didn't want to twist it so much the star fangled nut wrenched out of the steerer tube (not that I've done that....recently).

Anyway full-suss magic carpet it was. I think the climb went on for about 2.5 miles, its not steep, just a drag but it gives a good indication of how things are. My climbing legs were not at all there, which was going to be a problem on a ride with a potential 5000ft of up.

A strong, cold headwind greeted me as I climbed out of the valley. I seemed to have a perpetual headwind for most of the day, the area isn't dotted with windfarms for nothing! I finally get to the bridleway to head over HBK and I had completely forgotten about the first part. It took all my mental resolve to not just roll back down the hill again.

The first part was indeed dry but its quite "steppy" and rutty peaty track, hard to describe but it can be tricky to ride and a pain to get going again if you stop. Then it leads to a short push - always a push which I had forgotten then onto the lovely track I remembered, dry as a bone and once on it initial petted lip forgotten:

It's not the best picture but it was the only one I took of the fantastic dry singletrack on the ride as generally I was enjoying riding it too much to stop. The trig point was practically luminous for the obligatory bike shot:

The lead grey skies never really brightened up much, Stoodley Pike is just visible in the distance. Due to the totally flat light I never really stopped to take many pictures. Anyway across the moor, almost entirely dry though there were a few boggy and foul smelling patches still.

Then it was the descent to Luddenden Dean, saddle down for the top steep part which was fun then about half way down it seemed to really have disintegrated. Normally, I am following one or two people down so you can see which ruts work and which don't. I had to find it out for myself and I had to pull the bike out of a dead end rut more than once, though I at least never parted company from it in an "over the bars" stylee.

What drops steeply down must come back up again (at least around Hebden Bridge) so it was a road slog up out of Luddenden Dean then pick up the bridleway along Cold Edge - which was indeed cold due to the wind. I also realised along Cold Edge that I hadn't in fact sorted the Titus gears properly and they were all out by one!

When I thought I was in lowest gear I was in the second lowest, great. I could get it into the lowest gear but I don't think it was great for the drive train, though in my typical fashion I pushed the worry to the back of my mind. I needed that gear dammit!

Soon it was the fast drop down to Ogden Water where I was glad I was on the Titus, flattened the cobbles out a bit. The cafe was open so I stopped and had a can of coke as I needed all the boost I could get and checked the Garmin to see what was what.

About 10 miles ish, 1.5 hours of riding time, a whopping 1 hour of paused time (where?) so far and an average speed of 6.9. Hmmmm....rethink. The full route is probably not a good idea, tired legs etc and I'm obviously in faff mode. Had a map check. I still really wanted to do the bridleway from Ogden over Thornton Moor to Oxenhope. I can then climb out of Oxenhope and head back towards Hebden.

Plan made and off towards Thornton Moor. The track was quite frankly, lovely! Dry as a bone, multiple line choices and I managed to not make a bad one. Great fun until the end when I got to a now sanitised piece of rocky descent - boooooooo:

It was still fast though and there is a promising looking track off to the right which needs some investigation. At the gate I was originally supposed to head straight down but a memory was dredged up from somewhere and I realised we normally head off left. Along and down another fun and rocky track which I really like. It finally pops out at a road and I have to get the map out to check how to get back on plan.

A grassy roll down a bridleway which eventually seems to go through someones garden, it felt a bit wrong riding my bike effectively on someones lawn, especially as I was now on a footpath I walked that short section. Productive greenhouse they had!

I kept checking the map going through Oxenhope and at one of the checks I finally noticed the name of the hill I was about to head over..."Stairs Hill"....that means I'm about to climb "Stairs Lane" oh feck. Not a sight for sore legs I can tell you:

I was in fail mode before I even got to it, convinced it was going to be one long push once the tarmac ran out...Bottom third or so was quite loose and I CBA'd fighting it but it also didn't take me long to get bored with pushing. The upper two thirds while still steep were mainly dry cobbles so I trundled up in diesel truck mode and managed to clear most of it.

I realised that whilst my legs hadn't livened up they hadn't actually gotten much worse either, steady effort was fine short hard efforts were not. Back up into the wind and a rather nice track across the top then a fast, eye watering, descent off the other side.

I was getting pretty close to Hebden again, one more steady climb then I could roll back into town. I thought I would roll straight onto Crimsworth Dean, dive down the little fun bridleway at Hardcastle Crags then back to the car.

However, I arrived at the turn off for the bridleway over to New Laithe moor and decided I wasn't ready to go back quite yet. I would head over to New Laithe moor then roll down the long fast fireroad, then the Hardcastle Crags bridleway back into town. A bit more descending payback I thought so off I headed.

Another nice stretch of bridleway which I haven't been on for a long time, through a field of cows and onto the wide track at New Laithe moor. I again decided I wasn't ready to go back to the car....so headed on towards the Gorple reservoirs. I knew the tracks well and they were steady riding, apart from the headwind, it was a bit of a grind for a while. It would also mean I could finish the ride with the descent from Jack's Bridge.

I soon pop out at the turnoff for the Pennine Bridleway past the Gorple reservoirs. I did have a big moment of indecision but sense prevailed and I decided not to head up over Widdop, if it had been less of a pig of a climb I may have done. Average speed had climbed up a little to 7.3.

I continued trundling past the reservoirs and up and over Heptonstall Moor. Finally, as I turned towards Colden I got a tailwind. A fast, easy ride down through Colden towards Jack's Bridge and the final descent of the day. This made me laugh:

I hate to think what has tried to get down there as the tarmac runs out quickly and it becomes a narrow track for a while, with a drop to the left. A Smart Car might be able to make it, just. Its a fast descent to finish on and I only had to slow for walkers twice on the whole thing. It was a great way to finish the ride and I was buzzing at the bottom and wondering if I really should have headed back to the car.

Then I just had to remember where I parked my car in Hebden Bridge. I stopped behind a bus at some traffic lights, then realised as a policeman cycled past me that the bus was parked. I got the map out to make it look deliberate....

A quick hose off of bike and a wander around Hebden Bridge before setting off home.

A final total of 30.02 miles and 3:45 of riding time (faff time not recorded!). After the fast riding from Heptonstall the average speed had crept up to 7.9 mph, amazing what a tailwind can do.

Wednesday 23rd September: Another Dry Night Ride

On the Sunday after Rivi half I woke up with a very sore little toe on my left foot, it was quite bruised and hurt when in shoes. I vaguely remember kicking a boulder during the race but it didn't hurt at the time. It took until the Wednesday before the toe was happyish being in bike or running shoes.

Some e-mails flying around ended up with just Stu and I out on a fantastic evening at Rivington. Dry trails again. Normally we would make our way out to Healey Nab first and then make our way up to the Pike but we decided to head up to the Pike first while I tell Stu the details of last Monday's run.

Gorgeous, clear view from the pike then we decide to head out to Anglezarke to ride the bit of track I had noted on the trail race.

Its pretty much all downhill to Anglezarke from the pike then along the cheeky track, which rides very well indeed! We then decide to head to Healey Nab and do the new bit of trail.

The rocks on the climb up to the start of the new trail in the Nab look bigger than normal but its the shadows cast by the lights. Onto the new trail and I start well by riding straight on where it turns right! I realised quickly as I got tangled up in a load of branches probably put there to stop people cutting the corner.

Back on and down the red route. As the trails are so dry everything looks the same and its hard to tell where the actual track really goes and once again I part company from it and have to shuffle back on. I'm not complaining about the dry track though. Some of the drops seem a lot bigger than they really are in the dark. We arrive at the track just after the drops (which we need to ride once again soon) to find the lower part "under construction". We respect the request to stay off it and roll down the bridleway then climb up to the little quarry.

I rekindle my love affair with the bush at the side of the step up on the track as I try to ride into three times and never clean the step. That old problem again! Stu has problems too but they are chain rather than ineptitude related.

Back over towards the Go Ape course then we decide to ride the reservoir track towards the castle, it definitely rides better coming the other way. A good evenings ride in almost perfect conditions.

Lack of posts...

Sorry, not dropped off the earth just way behind with blogging as work has had the temerity to actually require attention! As an IT slacker who sits in front of a PC all day if I don't do most of my posting from work due to being busy I don't want to sit at a computer in the evening.

To sum up: running a trail half, meeting fellow bloggers, sore toe stops play (kicking a boulder in said trail half), night riding on dry dusty trails, a long day ride cut short due to dead legs, laziness, a fantastic run on the beach, a fast four mile run followed by a night ride in the rain and wind.....

I will post up shortly honest.