I know there is still 3 weeks left, but unless the Lotto numbers come up this will be the worst year of biking i have ever had, less than 12 rides since November 2008!

Injuries, knee ops, family events, and worst of all work have conspired to keep me off the bike (I am sitting in the office at present looking at sun hitting the Pentlands, thinking that is where would i should be).

How has your year been for biking what are your highs and lows?

Mine

Low point – 12 rides, good as the 12 were not nearly enough
High point – getting back on an HT after 3 years of FS

A new bike should see 2010 kick off with a high……..

High Point – My Marin 140 reigniting my passion for riding again.

Low Point – Climbing the damn on the Marin Trail back in June. Too many uphill grinds, not enough downhilling.

highs – cycled round nz , rode a few audaxes and managed 2 endurance events

lows – nigling and reoccuring injurys in my achillies and my knee stopping me from getting the results i wanted :~(

High Point – Finally getting Formula Oro K24 Brakes (white) on my steed so that my Trek Fuel EX 8 2009 was exactly how I wanted it. 🙂

Low Point – Two weeks after the above when garage was broken into and bike was pinched. 🙁

High point – riding at least 4 times a week

Low point – not worked all year…

Highs:

Racing my first proper DH race
The Singletrack Weekender
Learning to beat my mind on big drops and jumps
Getting a job in the bike industry
Riding my first pair of wheels built by my own fair hand
Getting fitter and getting up climbs I never thought I would

Lows:

Not doing myself justice at my first DH race
Having more crashes in one year than pretty much ever before
Resulting loss of confidence
Not getting out on the bike enough
Realising that my jumping style is really quite ugly (in my head I thought it was pretty good)

Low – Intermittent year through injury the worst being a crash in July taking me out of action for 6 weeks (although the weather was mainly 5h1t throughout so not too bad)

High – Cute Gate & Langsett ride last September with mates. It had been dry for weeks and it was a lovely warm sunny day. One of the best rides ever nevermind this year.

Highs:
Riding holiday in the Lakes with gf
Riding in the Peaks for the first time in years
Going back to flat pedals
Riding fully rigid for the first time in years

Lows:
Not riding anywhere near as much as I'd like
Getting less and less fit
Riding fully rigid for the first time in years

Highs
Finishing CLIC24 despite horrible, cold, wet & windy conditions and raising ~£1000
Doing my first timetrials and cyclocross races

Lows
Completely losing interest in mountain biking

Highs
Fitness in August
Getting the Chumba XCL amazing bit of kit
Being so close to great trails, another Snowdon adventure and despite all the stuff that was going on in November doing all three laps of a Gorrick.

Lows
Fitness now (many events mean't that in the last three months not been out much and have reduced stamina and strength, but have turned the corner and am looking up now to start the long road back 🙂 )
Trashing my nearly new Singletrack trousers on a very wet ride 🙁
Getting nasty cramp on the STW Kirroughtree Ride 🙁

riding more than i have in past 3 years, past 2 months stepped it up again :-)realised how much ive missed it and how important it is to me..

Lows – cracking my full sus frame and having to ride the hardtail for 3 months whilst I waited for replacement.

Highs – cracking my full sus frame and having to ride the hardtail for 3 months 😉

High: Getting out to a trail centre with some old friends. A really good day. A proper blast from the past.

Low: Not having the opportunity to ride anywhere near as much as I used to. Really gets to me. 🙁

Mine's been mostly highs, since it's been my first full year of riding since about 1998.

Highs-
Getting my Soul "finished" and in a form I love to bits- it's my ideal bike until I accidentally ride something better.
Incredible ong weekend at Kirroughtree
Incredible long weekend at Nevis Range- cablecars ftw!
Many great days and nights out at Innerleithen and Glentress (best riding day of the summer was a leisurely ride round a completely deserted GT black with ChrisL of this parish, lovely)
Going from being basically a total knobber, with a knackered leg and riding skills both rusty and 10 years of of date, to the heady heights of adequate on a bike and almost fit enough.

Cons:
Spending too much money!
Possibly starting to hit the limits of what my gimped leg is physically going to be capable of, earlier than I'd hoped (but then later than my consultant expected so that's maybe a high?)
Breaking a rib right at the start of the nicest riding weeks of august, then getting back on the bike just in time for winter
Wasting countless hours on the internet

But it's been a good year on 2 wheels. Here's to another one…

2009 for me has been a real roller coaster both on & off the bike

Lows 😥
Being diagnosed with skin cancer in April
Having a high speed crash on Dartmoor resulting in a granite facial in June

highs 😆
having a 'clear' biopsy after removal of a fair old chunk of skin – I'm now in remission.
riding in Wales & the Quantocks twice this year
finding some great trails on my doorstep meaning I can ride from home

Oh, I should add to my pros:

Finding a load of excellent local trails which suit my riding down to the ground

and to my cons:

Buying and building a GT I-drive 5 and then riding it once.

High

Has to be week ridin the lakes in July. Despite riding various locations accross the Alps, some of the best ridin on this earth.
September and October Weather. Just couldn't get enough of Dartmoor and the inch of dust accross the trails
Disovery of some great new secret Dartmoor trails.
Finally got my Patriot66 spec just as I want it

Low

Current weather is hell, just no motivation to ride in the cold and wet
Not gettin out as much as I possibly should have…

Highs…
Riding quite a lot.
Getting better at it (partly thanks to a great skills day)
Finally getting round to racing again after a gap of about eight years – and loving it.
Going to the Alps for the first time.
That long Indian summer back in the UK.

Lows…
Still not riding as much as I'd have liked due to work.
Taking the wrong bike to the Alps.
Not being able to practice the things I did on the skills day enough.

Low – thinking that vertigo was going to stop me from even starting the marmotte after a year of training.

High – finishing the marmotte.

Highs – having six months off work to ride my bike.

Lows – having six months with no income to spend on my bike.

highs: finally doing lots of riding in the pentlands after living in edinburgh for five years.
riding some amazing trails in southern spain
doing some great commutes through the pentalnds last winter in the dark and snow

lows: screwing my IT band in my leg, meaning lots of time off the bike
being made redundant – which was good, cos it meant i could go back to uni, but biking-wise i have little time for it
my 'epic' in spain – getting lost at night in the dark with no lights with nothing but my mate and some beastly sounds around. i was imagining a helicopter trip…

Highs….
loads of riding in Lakes, North York Moors, Exemoor, Peaks, North/South Wales
Finished MM solo in top 25
Cube FS – a superb bike
Simple – urm a simple bike
Lows….
still can't get confidence where I'd like it to be
track stands still elude me

Highs
Torridon circuit
First two Munros on the bike
Significantly improving my abilities on big rocky descents
Nailing the Foursome reel in style at the Aberfeldy Ball on Friday night

Lows
Being unemployed since June
Puncture 30 mins in to a major ride on a perfect day and my pump deciding to fail

(Mr MC posting)

high:

spending MC's 30th MTBing in Atlas Mountains, Morocco (birthday coincided with best ride of the week).

low:

spending most of summer Alps holiday in clinic having knee pinned. Three months off work, lost a season of riding and still healing.

High – dry trails for months on end this summer.

Low – off the bike for the last two months and wont be back on it for another month or so following an op on me foot, hoping to ditch the crutches in the next few days.

High: Doing the West Highland Way in April
Low: Little time off in the summer followed by multiple injuries/illnesses when I finally finished it all

Highs
riding through this weather and my fitness increasing
going on one of jedi's skills courses and being amazed how much confidence it gave me
buying a full suspension bike, oh the comfort!

Lows
absent friends
selling my SS

Low- losing my job (bike content honest)

High- Riding my bike every day for 13 weeks and having three holidays in the lakes during the summer.

Highs
Giving up smoking (technically not a riding high), which made riding hard and fast much easier and more fun by far. The improvements just keep on coming.
Got my track accreditation and found a whole new realm of cycling to enjoy. I'm there at least twice a week now and loving it.
Ditto my son. He seems to be enjoying track riding very much, long may it continue. (Although getting up at 6 on a Saturday morning to take him there isn't much fun).
Many, many fun and fast road miles.

Lows.
I've not ridden very much offroad at all this year, mostly road miles although I'm starting to get back into cross riding now. The main reason for not much offroad is my back was giving me terrible gyp on some rides.
Absymal showing at the Keilder 100. So disappointed with only getting 50 miles but it did at least help me understand why I was getting so many back problems (camelbak).
Bike Snappage. I don't know why this is a low because it happens all the time to me but I've snapped so much stuff this year ranging from a beautiful lemond road frame to an almost brand new 105 chainset, bloody sick of it.
Edit: Oh, Garmin GPS devices have seriously pissed me off too. 4 of the buggers so far. All exactly the same fault.

high- meeting 2 very sound new riding mates.

low- mainly ill or injured from first weekend in september (missed all the autumn dryness)

highs

Giving bmx a go at Transgression Park despite it being well outside my comfort and skill zone.

Trying out track cycling at Meadowbank velodrome. First time on a fixed gear bike and out behind the durney for a full keirin sprint by the end of the session. (scary as hell but so much fun… zooooooooom)

Taking the boat from Mallaig along Loch Nevis to Tarbet and riding the superb trail back along the shores of Loch Morar.

Inviting myself along to a Moray MBC Sunday morning ride when I was in the area. Met some fantastically friendly folk and had a blast on some great new trails.

The bottom section of the Larig Ghru on a quiet spring morning. Perfect.

lows

Screwing up a double at innerleithen and leaving a permanent V8 pin pattern in my shin.

Having to cancel a weeks touring around belgian canals and breweries. (one to save for later though 🙂

A good riding mate losing his job and moving away from the area. Miss the company and the random weeknight trips to innerleithen to play on the downhill trails.

Not getting out on the bike as much as I'd really like to.

High – Got a hard tail mountain bike and a BMX after 9 years on full sus mountain bike’s and love them.

Low – Dislocated and broke my left thumb on a local ride and off the bike for 12 weeks. (I was on the full sus.)

lows- the dark time when i had had enough.

highs- the smiles on everyone i have been in contact with since starting my coaching company

High – Clearing a big double which I thought I'd lost the balls to do and subsequently realising I'm not past it and so I'm getting much better at drops, jumps and step downs.

Lows – Having my Chameleon nicked and coming off badly at Leith and hurting myself in interesting ways.

High – A ride on Hexhamshire common I've done 20 times at least. the trails were bone dry, the sun was shining and it was just heaven. racing my mate along the final bit of singletrack had us both laughing all the way down to the cars, brilliant. the reason I ride a bike

Lows – not finishing kielder 100

highs:

March,April,May,June,September,October – dryish
Yet more new local trails ridden
Discovering Exmoor
The STW forum Mendip ride in the summer
Solo riding The Raven at Brechfa then a big ride over the Brecons the following day

Lows:
July, August, November and now Dec – abysmal rain
Hurty shoulder from crashing on Exmoor
Two sopping wet trips to North Wales and not riding Snowdon – not that low I just hit the trail centres which were fun

Highs :
biking lots of singletrack on the NYM's in the summer, realising what was available on my doorstep!
Lots of biking on a summers night in Guisborough forest, some of the best memories.
Biking holiday on the isle of Skye (inc a day at Fort Will on the DH course)
making lots of new biking friends along the year

Lows:
not taking anywhere near enough photos,
losing a suspension bolt half way around Dalby forest
not getting out on the bikes anywhere near enough in the end quarter of the year..

Highs
Great weather during the fisrt half of the year
Finally doing a skills course instead of spending more money on kit
Learning to relax and ride steep trails
Amazing long weekend in Scotland and the Lake district with perfect weather and riding
Best fitness ever from so much riding during the good weather

Lows
Awful July, August & November weather
Knee pain
Subsequent loss of fitness due to little riding in bad weather & knee

Highs…the best summer for a few years and plenty of dry trail riding.
The november STW ride at Swinley! 😉
Low…big headplant crash in the spring which hurt a lot! 😥

Highs

Summer Hols and Half Term co-inciding with dry weather
Mamasita 29" race bike
Getting an Elite license after 3 years in Expert
All the 24s, Enduro6 and D2D were dry (well, dry enough)
Both the trips to Scotland being worth it – awesome races, brilliant courses

Lows

Having to drive to Scotland for an SXC race at the last minute
Having to fly to Scotland for the Nat Champs the day after flying in from Barbados – another hopeless Nat Champs result! Maybe next year…
Missing the pairs podium at Enduro6 by 13secs
Double flatting at the Southern Champs which lead to the drive to Scotland…