bikes and things

Having spent years and years dismantling bikes to fit into small cars and getting mud, oil and various other muck on the ceiling and doors, I really do love being able to just throw my bike in the back of the van with both wheels on. Then grab it out at the other end, shut the door and change inside then head off out into the hills. No idea why I didn’t get one years ago, apart from the money issue of course. Whilst I try to avoid the idea of owning things to make you happy each time I get into it it does genuinely make me smile. Maybe it’s a boys with toys kind of thing but I do genuinely think its great, and it’s getting me out on my bike more which has to be a good thing. It could probably do with a clean out as it’s started to honk a bit from wet kit and muddy shoes.

It was good to get out yesterday after Lee and Susie stayed over. A walk round the park and some breakfast and a catch up was great. It meant I didn’t get to the hills until 2.30 but still managed to get 12 miles in with Matt. Trail conditions were vastly improved since my last trip and the deep freeze had set the ground nice and hard. It was completely bitter out though and was glad to get back in the van and get the heater on.

Maybe next week I’ll try out some of the new bits at Swinley or try and do a longer ride round the Surrey Hills. It’s been ages since I’ve been to Leith so should probably check that out.

I wasn’t feeling at all good this morning after the dreaded cold arrived back on Thursday. I’d been looking forward to getting out on my bike all week though. Unfortunately no one else was available to ride so I headed out on my own, which always provokes those “am I weird for going on my own“ feelings.

It’s a good job I did go on my own because even the most patient of my riding buddies would have been tearing their hair out with me and the extent of faffing I achieved. I had new rear pads to fit, new cassette, new chain, a chain device and some fiddling with my shock. That took an hour by the time I’d had the bottom bracket out. I even got the work stand out to make it a little easier. All this time meant I also had to hear some of the most excruciating loud experts on all sorts of subjects as they came and went around me.

So having set out onto the trail I realised I had totally forgotten that the front chain ring was as equally as worn as the gears I was replacing at the rear. So my chain kept on throwing itself off and sucking up as well as making an annoying noise. Once a bit of mud was covering it all it got a bit better.

Whilst I’d been feeling a bit fitter recently this cold seemed to have killed off a bit of lung capacity. However I did think I was doing ok up some of the hills though, with the first one doing a pretty good job at warming me up and sweating most of those germs out.

The trails were still pretty damp swamp like in places but there was still plenty of fun to be had. Certain sections were rolling well though. Not having anyone to ride with it was hard to judge how well or fast I was, but I soon came to enjoy this and just kept turning the pedals. It actually felt I was moving quickly, but who knows.

I didn’t bother stopping at the stores but went straight up the road to the top of Barry Knows Best. I did a quick run down which I thoroughly enjoyed and head back to the van to make a coffee and relax a bit. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil it was pleasant to listen to the birds around. Seemed very peaceful and relaxing.

Having a camera with me at all times I usually end up taking lots of photos of my friends enjoying the events I take part in, with few decent photos of me enjoying the same events. So if you’ll excuse this ever so slightly narcissistic post I found a couple of cracking shots taken by friends I usually capture.

Firstly a superb shot at the top of Holmbury Hill.

Then a shot of me using said camera I often hide behind whilst down in Brighton for a wonderful day out with Jim and Finn, taking yet more photos.

And finally one more shot of me riding in the snow a few weeks ago.

That’s enough for now I think.

Certainly not ideal trail conditions but awesome to get out with Graham after not riding with him since October. He has a baby due in four weeks so might be a while until the next one.

The trails were sloppy as hell and puddles of filth at every turn. A few more people were out since I rode in the snow but still not as many as you might normally expect. Some of the trails were actually ok but others were a complete shit fest. All were still fun to ride regardless although the slop and grit finally finished my chain and cassette off.

We had coffee in the carpark before setting off and one when we got back to the envious looks of others. We also observed a number of the local riding styles. Full face and goggles for the Surrey Hills? Really?

We didn’t take many photos but Graham did get this corker of me at the top before going on to do Yog and Dog.

The only photos I took were at the bus stop where we stopped for a bite to eat.

By the time we’d got down BKB my feet were absolutely frozen. I’d had enough and just wanted to get warm. Back next weekend hopefully.

The fabulous blog about cycling riding bikes turned one year old on Tuesday. As is befitting of a birthday a party was held at Look Mum No Hands, situated neatly on the hipster highway from East to West.

I went along with a few friends and also managed to meet a few others I hadn’t seen for a while. I also managed to meet a few people I’ve been chatting with on Twitter but not met IRL (In Real Life) before. Yes the abbreviation is kind of ironic. Anyway, the beard seemed to help people recognise me which was good – that icon Meg drew for me is still working out well.

James was there doing his raffle which unfortunately I didn’t win anything from. There was a great turn out and the place was throbbing by the time I got there at 6.45. I had also offered to do some pictures so took my camera. I also brought a flash but didn’t like the look of the shots so went up to 2000 ISO and for the most part shot wide open at ƒ1.8. The problem always is trying to get enough light in for a decent shutter speed and having such a narrow depth of field. Anyway they came out ok and I’m pleased with a few of the ones below. Cycle Love ran a few of the colour ones on their site but I preferred the black and white ones.

Looking forward to the next party!

I’m still trying to get a ride in each weekend at the moment and drag myself out of bed on a Sunday. It’s obviously even harder when it’s snowing as it was this last weekend. However there’s something quite nice about riding in the forest when all around is white. It kind of feels a little silly too.

It wasn’t too bad on the roads when I left but I did have to chisel the ice off the van at first. My water bottle was frozen in the van too which kind of ruined my theory to Emma that it’s “warm enough to sleep in”, maybe some insulation in there first. By the time I’d got to Matt’s in Streatham it had started snowing harder and the side roads were all white and un-touched by car tracks.

Having made it safely to Peaslake I proceeded to make a brew, after spinning the van around on the empty icy car park first of course. I made a nice big pot of coffee and some hot milk to warm us up. The only problem was the lack of mugs, so we went French style and drank from bowls.

We were entertained by two Spaniels running around enjoying the snow whilst we finished our coffee and sorted the bikes. We then headed out along the usual route to find a few trails and were greeted with this wonderful scene.

Trying to get the hang of riding in the snow was a little harder than it looked at first. Some areas just sapped your strength and others were simply a cover for the boggy mess that lay beneath. I fell off a fair few times and also spent a large portion of the ride trying to clear ice from my cleats and clip back in.

Steep little roll ins that we’d normally pop down no problem suddenly became something to think about with this little one providing plenty of entertainment. There’s just no way to see the little ruts and roots that you’d normally avoid. Best course of action seem to be point it down hill and see what happens.

Even though it was freezing and we had snow in our eyes there was still time for a group shot. Unfortunately no view to be had though. The ride to the top of the reservoir on the road was nicer than usual as they’d closed the road. It was quite pleasant without all the 4x4s trying to squeeze past.

After this we headed down to Yog and Dog and then nipped back to ride down Barrys and back to the van. Barrys wasn’t exactly fast but it was rideable although I did have a few sketchy moments in the corners.

And a rare shot of me on the bike was also taken. The rest of Matt’s shots are on his Flickr.

On the way back one of the roads was really icy. I tried to turn the corner at about 20mph but just started sliding, fortunately I could turn into it and drive straight on where there was another road. Another guy wasn’t so lucky as he’d been going a little faster and had clipped a sign and ended up in the verge. We pulled him out with a rope and carried on back to London.

Superb ride and although we didn’t cover much ground in the end, about 12 miles, it was great to be out in the snow and with also hardly a soul around. Hopefully more of the same next year.

I’ve already written about my love for Cycle Love. You really should have added them to your daily sites / RSS feeds / follow them Twitter etc and also bought a T-shirt from them by now!

The site is reaching its first birthday after a successful year posting some superb articles, images and videos. If you’re around on the 29th Jan and in London then you should head down to Look Mum no Hands from 6.30pm. More details on the Cycle Love site.

Just riding along and then…

In this short film I examine the ever closer relationship between man, machine and the Earth from whence they both came.

So a plan was made to go riding on Sunday. QE Country Park was discussed as they’ve just re-done the trails and I used to ride there loads when I was at Uni in Portsmouth. Thetford was also discussed. But then I said to Matt, fuck it, lets got to Cwmcarn.

So yeah it’s kind of a long way away but why not? Get up early, get going and ride some amazing trails. I tried to think of it as only a little bit further than you’d go to go to Swinley as the hard bit is getting out of London. But in reality it is a long way to go just for a day. Swinley was a total swamp the last time I was there on New Years eve and Matt and I can always find things to talk about on a long drive – mainly how bad his arse smells.

So we got there, got the kettle on, fettled, ummmed and ahhed and finally jumped on our bikes up the technical climb. The trails were really nice and bedded in compared to what I was expecting. Matt and I both hacked and coughed our way up until we got to the foggy start of the black run at the top.

The first time down I couldn’t see a thing as all the moisture in the air was condensing on and around my eyes. I also managed to un-clip mid table top jump which felt pretty awesome indeed.

We rode back to the top and second time around it was much faster and flowed a bit better. The more natural sections following seemed to be more enjoyable though and again in tip top condition. Yeah I know the following shot is blurry but this was such a nice bit of trail.

Now at the end of this section is a funny bit. You crest the hill and climb a steep concreted section to get to the next bit of trail. We met a large group of walkers and exchanged the usual pleasantries. One of them saying “I want to see you riding” the UK equivalent of allez no doubt. Nice words of encouragement. This section is usually hard to get the saddle height right, too high for the first rocky section and you come up on some nasty little obstacles, too low and you’re faced with a slog the other side. Either we got it bang on or it just seemed to flow really well today.

Funnily enough as we came round the last corner to ride the awesome last descent it didn’t feel as good as usual. The smooth bermed section at the end was rutted and neither of us could get a decent flow. Still it was great fun and well worth the drive.

Back at the van we packed up chatted about which bits we liked and headed back to London. Every time I use that van I think I love it more.

On the drive back as we discussed the day I realised that I had been riding here since 2002 at least. Ten years ago! In those days I looked a bit different.

The great thing about it was that we could get there after work from Bath. Picture below from left to right is myself, Lee and Ian. Good times!

Now, just have to plan where and what to ride next weekend.

Having recently rejoined the commuting masses this week, I couldn’t help but notice just how bad the roads are at the moment. Normally snow and ice breaks up reasonable sized chunks each year which I’ve come to expect. This year there was no snow or ice so I’m not sure what’s caused it all, and the hole seem to be bigger than ever. Here’s a fairly typical pothole on the way to work. So big that if you hit it you’d almost certainly come off along with ruining a wheel or two as well as yourself

Hopefully they all get repaired fairly swiftly as I’ve reported it on the CTC’s Fill that hole site via their App.

Still, it’s good to be doing a bit more riding again.