This is my son's bike, which he has sort of out grown. It is a medium, suitable for someone 5'7" - 5'10" (he is now 6'2"). It has done one weekend off road (Dalby) and a few road miles(on slicks) so the knobblies are hardly worn. I would guess 500 - 750 miles, with a few minor scratches. I thought I would see if any of our crew were interested before I place it on Single Track.
To my surprise, Les turned up after a hard mornings work (?) on his bike, so that was 8 miles before the rest of us had even started. I had checked the forecast and had seen the storms the last couple of days so decided to put the mudguards back on (BGB) and then wondered why, not a puddle in sight :-).
I had told Uphilla that the route was all legal, well from our FNC pub onwards it was. There are some new steps to negotiate on the way to the pub, more a case of riding up the side of them but there is a big nasty route at the top now, I think some members of the posse may have had a little dab? Rob took the lead without a GPS or any knowledge of where we were going, which resulted in me overtaking him at some forks in the route :-).
Uphilla managed to find a nail and lodge it in his tubeless tyre (how do nails lying on the floor get in to your tyres?). We had a few goes at trying to seal it, I tried to assist but just snapped off his irreplaceable tubeless valve (very sorry again, but you did get your own back!). Followed by a nice piece of single-track down the far side of Telegraph hill (NB fallen tree now removed).
We made it over to the Offley motorbike show, before Rob managed to split his shorts and then fix them (does anyone else carry a needle and thread with them on these rides?), with big hairy Hells Angels going back and forth eying him up. Followed by one of the best downhills round here (Chalk Hill), similar to some of the Chilterns descents.
More XC type riding over to Langley and as we approached another downhill we were looking forward to, we found the ground was soaking. We had just missed a downpour, so maybe take this one easy? I didn’t go that slowly but Les still came hurtling past me, Rob got stuck in a rut and was heard cursing a swearing as Sicknote sailed past him.
I had noted there was PH marked on the map at Ayot St Lawrence, so had thought this would be a good place to stop for a pint or 2 with only about 7 miles remaining, downhill and then flat. Little did I know how desperate I would be to stop at this point for other reasons (NB to the landlord, re read the note you have put up on the door in the loo!!!). So after a couple of pints, a few nibbles and out first down pour we were off again.
A nice little downhill followed by boring but safe cycle route back to Harpenden train station. We did get caught in a couple of downpours but managed to take cover under trees or bus shelters, so never had to put our waterproofs on. Rob left us at this point as he decided it would be quicker to cycle home from here. The rest of us jumped on the train back to Harlington and Leagrave. I think we might have been a little smelly and muddy by this point, but that is was knobblies is all about.
A quick wash for us and the bikes followed by BBQ at chez Yates (ta), to finish off a good day on semi local terrain.
Posse; Uphilla (another new even lighter hardtaiL), Dozer (Canyon ESX), Les & Sicknote (Specialized Bitch Pros), Rob (Turner Flux)
Weather; Sunny/Overcast, dry and then very wet at the end.
Mechanicals; Uphilla nail in tubeless tyre, Rob split his shorts.
Injuries; Dozer (Forehead V Uphilla’s car boot, fixed by Dr Yates (Mrs))
Hi everyone, long time since I saw a some of you. I am going to be out of action for all of August, and no it is not a gastric bypass (Chris, don’t believe a word Darren says!). So last chance to get a ride in and have a few drinks before the nights start to draw in.
If anyone is interested I am planning a local ride on Saturday 9th July. Not sure whether to do the run down to Harpenden (32 miles) and then get the train back or something a bit more local taking in the quarry we found last year. It wont be an early start as our friendly postman has to ‘work’ Saturday morning, so I guess kick off from mine between 1-2.
Then back for lots of drinks and a BBQ. Therese and Anne-Marie are away for the week, so plenty of places for people to crash out for the night.
Route (TL)
Diary
Once I am back on the bike again, either September or October I’ll look at organising a weekend away in Wales, not done that for a while.
Also come the Autumn I’ll start planning a return trip to the French Alps, July 2012 before the schools break up for summer. Meribel was recommended in one of the mags, it reckoned the trails are more like the Welsh Centres rather than the scary stuff around Morzine - PDF.
http://www.les3vallees.com/3vtt/
In stock from 7th March 2011 we're taking orders now, here is a picture of the final product. As you can see the cufflinks are in pearl Rhodium finish which look great and lasts really well. They have a knurled bullet clasp which is really easy and quick to fit.
Shipped in a superb quality black leather case with white leather lining.
These are my own unique design no one else has this you can be sure you won't arrive in the office Monday to find that everyone else is wearing the same cufflinks.
See them here;
https://www.poshcuffs.co.uk/cufflinkpages/560-bike-chain-link-cufflinks.php
Or for my other mountain bike stuff;
https://www.poshcuffs.co.uk/cufflinks.php
From past blogs its probably become apparent that the bikes in my family have successfully bred over the past few years. As a result between the family we now have a total of 6 bikes stored in what is essentially an over sized garden shed. I've been promising myself for some considerable time that I will 'do the sensible thing' and invest a small proportion of the value of the bikes on a decent security solution. My sentiment was further encouraged by the fact that I've been unable to find a household contents insurance company who don't hang up when I tell them that the bikes are stored in a shed! Apparently 40% of all bike thefts are from garden sheds.......
Having justified it to myself, I needed to find a suitable product. A few hours of intense google searching, product reviews and general price comparisons resulted in a short list headed by
http://www.torc-anchors.com/I decided to use a 'Ground Anchor'...resin bonded into the slab and concrete sub-base of my shed and 13mm heavy duty chain secured with a Squire padlock.
Prior to purchase I gave torc-anchor.com a call and spoke with their Technical Director Stephen Briggs. He gave me some great advise on chain/lock configuration to ensure that I had a manageable solution. He suggested two smaller chains as an alternative to one long chain (the chains are very heavy!) and gave me some precise directions on how to resin bond the ground anchor into a concrete slab and also the concrete sub-base that acts as the shed base. This essentially involved purchasing a higher volume of resin from screwfix to ensure that any cavity between the concrete slab and concrete base was also filled with resin thus ensuring that the ground anchor bolts were successfully bonded throughout the whole of the concrete base structure.
Including floor preparation, hole drilling and bonding the installation probably took me around 2 hours.....Here are a few pictures of the finished installation. I'm pleased with the results and satisfied that any would be thief will be confronted with a serious challenge......hopefully enough to make them look elsewhere for easier pickings..............
Finally, the product and service from torq-anchors comes highly recommended!
I got these made as a sample, I reckon they would retail about £19, modelled on my Sachs PC91 chain of yesteryear with even the hollow pin detail. The finish is satin rhodium, silver plate wears off and will draw black splodges on a white shirt.
Taking orders for early spring, if anyone is interested let me know.
Bike Chain Link Cufflinks
I went out for a couple of hours last night on the local, now very muddy trails. Half way around my Cotic Hemlock was totally plastered in mud and must have weighed about 45lbs. Should I
a) just think about changing the tyres as this is where most of the extra weight will have attached?
b) join the singlespeed (or light hardtail) craze? or,
c) stop complaining and struggle on with the Cotic.
If (b), please provide suggestions...
After the clock change I didn't feel too bad getting up early on a Sunday morning to meet Roger and Ryan at Cannock to explore the new Monkey Trail (MT).
Uphilla has recently raved about the new MT that splits from Follow the Dog (FtD) but were weren't expecting the FtD to have changed. But it seems that the trail fairies have been busy everywhere and reinforced the existing sections with huge boulders - kinda like the opening section of Coed y Brenin.
After a couple of miles on FtD you slip over the busy railway line and road and find the new MT section is much steeper, nicely technical yet flowing. Unfortunately our young warrior found this too much and once he'd lost the energy to grumble we bailed and took the sign posted short cut back to Birches Valley.
We were pleasantly surprised to find little/no water on the trail after the recent rain. I wonder how long that'll last...
The young'un got a bit more practice riding off-road and the old'uns got to blow away some cob webs.
Cannock has lifted it's game and the trails are a definite improvement providing some decent Welsh/Scottish style riding. We're looking forward to a return visit so we can enjoy the rest of the trail fairies work :p
Posse; Farqui (5Spot), Roger (FSR), Ryan (teeny iron horse)
Weather; Overcast, slightly misty with a cool breeze
Mechanicals; None
It is hard to believe that it has taken so long to get round to doing this ride, but finally this year I got sorted and put entries in for myself, Friend Chris and Dangerous.
The event is organised by
Hackleton W.I. to raise funds for the Village and offers a variety of routes to suit families and fitter cyclists. This year there was a new
Maximus option which took a tour of MK giving a total of 42 miles.
We had loosely agreed to do at least the 32 mile option and arrived at Hackleton Village hall just after 8am. Everyone must have had a good breakfast because we decided to go for the longest option! It was clear from the start that this is a very well organised event and we were all given detailed maps to complement the excellent way marking.
The riding is a mixture of road and bridleways, most quite easy going, but before long we did come across a ploughed field – David gave it go and did well, others walked it! The MK route was not marked out specially, but followed much of the Millennium trail around the city – most of it very green and pleasant, (and flat).
We did go a bit wrong toward the end of the MK tour, but quickly picked up the route again and headed back North. Talk of a pub stop had started, but we thankfully came upon the second W.I. refreshment stop with squash and biscuits to keep us going. Once through Salcey Forest and nearly home a quick pint was fitted in and then back to the village hall for a superb WI ploughman’s lunch!
The weather was a key factor for our experience, but I would recommend this event for a late Summer day out. Chris set us a quick pace and I guess the relatively flat landscape made this achievable – if it had been muddy the story would have been very different.
Posse: Uphilla; Chris: Dahnhilla.
Weather: Dry, Sunny at times, some wind.
Mechanicals: None.
After saying "never again" in 2008 (when I was forced to walk the course), somebody revealed my work email address to a certain somebody else which led to me being asked if I'd step up and join Team Cake. I'm still having trouble coming to terms with what made me decide to do it again...
The weekend approached and once again I felt I'd not done enough training; finding the time to fit it in with everything else just seems impossible. Fortunately I went to France with a good level of fitness, and came away with an even better level thanks to the amount of riding we did and the lack of binge drinking...
I headed out on my first lap and predictably got caught up in traffic on the singletrack sections. As frustrating as it was, it was useful for getting a feel of the trail and picking the lines for the next lap. Since 2008 they managed to route the course so it incorporated much more singletrack, with only the odd open grassy section. This did mean passing opportunities weren't as numerous as in previous years but allowed for some creativity and 4X style manoeuvres.
It's difficult to remember through the haze specifics of each lap but I really found myself getting into the racing spirit, pushing myself hard on climbs to overtake riders I could see would hold me up in singletrack, even though I just wanted to slog it out (climbing has never been my strong point). The loud click of my Pro 2 freehub proved useful in announcing my speeding presence, moving riders out of the way but for the more stubborn rider, I actually didn't feel bad at all about making it clear I WAS coming past on their right/left. It's a race, after all?! We decided to do double laps during the night to allow a bigger gap between your laps, giving you opportunity to get "some" sleep, and I struggled a little with the endurance but managed to keep going and put in some respectable times, despite a toilet stop in the first and a search for the lost baton in the second. The lap following the double (my 6th) was the hardest, having managed to get some sleep I found myself wanting to stay asleep and had to really force myself to get up in the cold, damp morning conditions. The 7th came easy, though; I'm sure the knowledge of it being my last went some way in spurring me on!
I only managed to crash on my last lap, going down twice in corners where my Larsons suffered from lack of side knobbles and tiredness prevented me from correcting the slide. Thankfully, with only superficial wounds I was able to shake myself down and carry on to finish in a good time.
I'm ashamed to say I learned the benefits of lycra and feel the need for some serious gnar on a gnar DH course to offset the extreme jeyness of wearing lycra without any baggies on top.
Overall, I had a top weekend. Though it isn't my first XC race, it's the first time I've actually gotten competitive at an XC race and during one lap I caught myself thinking I wouldn't mind doing more of this... The course was excellent, the organisation and facilities were excellent and I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone. Not the lack of sleep part but the racing part, that's a hoot. I think our 29 laps is a good achievement and everyone got on well and raced hard, thanks team (Rich, Alex, and Stu!). Thanks also to Simon for lending me his Hope light; it proved invaluable as a headlight as well as giving light generally when my bar mounted one gave out some time during my second night laps.
Mechanicals The X0 performed flawlessly and worked extremely well under load, getting me out of a few tight spots when I hadn't shifted before a climb/slow section, but I suffered skipping in the little ring at the back, thanks to not readjusting the limiter screws after changing wheels. Otherwise, the bike ran smoothly, with a couple of pressure tweaks needed here and there in tyres and suspension.
Pictures
Campsite
|
Running Start
|
| Sunday Morning
|
Jump to Top of Page,
Post
