After seeing Vaughan and Gav with their respective vans recently I became sorely tempted with one. I’ve been trying to get out riding this year a lot more which I was using a small Fiesta for. It’s a bit of a pain getting bikes in there without wrecking the insides of it. With a more than a little help from Gav and hours and hours trawling eBay we ended up with a beautiful Fiat Scudo 2 litre JTD model in white. I would have loved a VW van but I would have had to double my budget which I didn’t fancy. So I sold the car and headed up to Swansea to collect it. Amazingly it only had 42k on the clock so hopefully has plenty of life in it.
In natural setting – Peaslake car park
So last weekend I was able to take it out, fill it with bikes and generally use if for its intended purpose. Three bikes fitted comfortably in the back with the important detail of all wheels still on.
I’ve got a bit of a plan for a few upgrades and even a small conversion but for now it’s great to have a convenient way to go biking. I bloody love the thing. It drives really well and that slightly higher position is really nice. Another ride next Sunday and then maybe a Wales trip or two soon.
Gav is in town this weekend so we popped out in his wonderful van to Swinley with Mr Noble in tow. Surprisingly dry under tyres until the heavens opened later in the ride. Spent plenty of time fiddling around with the GoPro and seeing if we could get some decent footage this time. I’ve thrown a few clips together below. The camera still needs to point further up the trail but it’s much better than the last effort. Still need to work out how to mount of the frame I think but would be good to make sure the camera doesn’t fall off.
Had the day off work today for a shoot which was cancelled so finished an edit from earlier in the weekend and headed out to Peaslake on my own for a bit of a spin his afternoon. I arrived to find an empty car park with only another car with two people packing up. Had a quick chat with them and got on with some pre-ride faffing.
Worried it might be crowded on the trails.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been for a ride on my own around the Surrey Hills. It’s the kind of thing I used to do when at Uni round QE Country Park or even before that in Box Woods many years ago. Since then it’s always been in a group of people but it’s been harder and harder to get the usual lot out to ride. We’re all much busier than we used to be I guess. Anyway, after getting of the slightly weird sensation of riding on my own I started to settle into the flow and head out to the trails I wanted to cover. It felt strange not keeping pace with anyone else and also not wanting to push it too much on the downs as I am partial to hugging trees at speed. One thing I noticed was that I wasn’t stopping as much, not rushing up a hill then re-grouping together. The trails seemed to flow better as a result and the only noise being my breathing. It felt incredibly peaceful to be amongst all the trees with no one around.
Just me, the trees and the wildlife.
I made the classic mistake of leaving the flat in my riding shorts and not packing a spare set – hey its sunny now so why not. The trails were obviously soaked from a good few days of heavy rain. Puddles everywhere and some of that famous UK Slop and Grime™ in evidence. I also used being on my own as an excuse to have a play with my new toy – a 2nd hand GoPro and gimpy looking chest harness. I got half way down T2 and thought, I love this trail and it’s flowing so well today why am I not filming this? Back to the top and tried to ride it faster and smoother, failed at both but ended up with this little clip below.
Not bad for a first go I guess but not entirely sure about the music. How do you choose sound tracks for riding videos? Add Metallica an hope for the best? I’ve never edited video before either but found it fairly straight forward in iMove ’11. In terms of the camera mount I think I like the perspective but it needs to face slightly higher to capture more of the trail. It’s hard to know how to set it whilst you’re standing as you’re in a different position on the bike. Will have a play next time. There’s more clips from today but I don’t think anyone else really needs to see them.
Beautiful light after the storm
Back to the carpark which was again empty, packed the bike away and sat in wet shorts back home. Wonderful. Looking forward to grabbing a few more solo rides in the future. Back soon.
I recently got a second hand Go Pro camera and took it away this weekend with me when seeing Nat & Cath in Bristol. Here’s the admittedly bad results but fun all the same. It was mounted to the front of the Brompton bag with the chest strap mount. A bit more experimentation needed but shows some promise I reckon.
Weekends are fairly precious and scarce at the moment. I’m usually working, tired, wanting to ride my mountainbike, wanting to hang out with Emma and catch up on all sorts of other things I usually should have done earlier in the week. Maybe even a quiet pint or two. I normally fail on all levels at this. Not this time though, managed to edit a shoot early Sat morning, send it to the client and then head out to meet some friends for a late lunch at The Riding House Cafe. Fantastic lunch and celebrating two bits of good news. Bit of a wander around Regents Park to walk off our food, pint at the Crown and Goose then home to fall asleep during a film.
Next up on Sunday was a ride around the Surrey Hills with Gary and Dave from work. A beautiful day for it and the Peaslake carpark was almost overflowing even though we got there early. The usual trails – xmas pud, T1, T2 etc then tea, cake, faffing, then over to do yoghurt pots, telegraph row, some steep one I forget the name of then back to finish on Barry Knows Best. We took it a little slower due to watching another rider being carried off the trail, heavily encased in a stretcher, then being loaded into an Air Ambulance. Then back to the flat to make pizza with Emma, have a nap and watch Homeland.
What a superb weekend. Hope the following is just as good.
Not what usually gets said to me when a car window winds down but made my day yesterday after cycling back towards Bellenden Road. I replied with “yeah sorry mate I was trying not to undertake you“, his response and that light is brilliant “It’s like the police behind me“. I said I was cycling to try and keep in shape, his response “keep off the carbs mate“… and on that note we departed.
Anyway, faith in humanity restored and a great ride back on the Condor. It’s off for a service in a few days and will then be used for the rest of the summer. Great riding geared again, you can get some real speed up on the roads. Love it.
Just back from a trip to Swinley Forest with my good old mate Matt. Whilst the last thing I felt like doing this morning was getting up early it was well worth getting out and going for a spin. A gentle ride out to the jump gulley to get some air under the wheels then over to the other side to play on some of the trails round there, then back to the jump gulley then back to the centre. Really enjoyed riding the full suss down some of the swoopy trails and also getting comfortable clearing tables in the gulley. The trails were dry and in immaculate condition and with very few riders around. It seems that people drive from miles around to sit in the play park with their kids yet few venture out into the incredible forest that surrounds.
A couple of crap photos below. Should have taken a proper camera rather than just my phone on such a beautiful day like today.
And also a nice little shot of me actually clearing a small double – wonders will never cease.
..to live in London and be able to have a dog, take it with you everywhere, to site, to work, on shoots, on bike rides, to the pub. We could be such good friends together. It could even come riding in the hills with me too. Why am I thinking of this? Well I saw a guy cycling to work today this morning with a rucksack – the kind you might normally have a baby in. Instead it was a purpose made dog rucksack! Brilliant.
Personally I’d prefer a slightly larger dog. So I made a quick mockup of my ideal dog along with my ideal bike for London – could also fit some photo kit in too as well as the dog.
I’ve been meaning to write this up for a while now as it was such a superb weekend. We left London on the Friday after work and headed up to Abergorlech where I had booked a holiday cottage for the five of us for the weekend – Vaughan, Matt, Marc, Graham and myself. The cottage is owned by the guys who run the Black Lion which is just a few doors up.
Our trip from London was fairly epic, but a lot easier for myself and Matt, as Vaughan had kindly offered to drive in his newly converted VW van. After escaping the Hammersmith traffic we headed up the M4 leaving icy cold London behind, cue impromptu singalong to The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow as well as a few old 90s rave tracks. We reached the end of the M4 by around 10pm and the route I had plotted with my phone was sub-optimal at best crap. I managed to take us the back route which included a a snow covered peak with drifts of snow and ended in sheet ice on hills we were trying to climb and not forgetting a narrow ford crossing with sheet ice either side. The van handled it all with ease with the only concern being that we might miss last orders. Fortunately we made it just in time to sink a pint of Guinness and meet up with Graham and Marc who had travelled earlier – and taken the main road route which was far less exciting.
Worried it might be crowded on the trails.
Just me, the trees and the wildlife.
