going to sound really odd,

the thing that sticks in my mind was the first day i rode to my new job, 18miles in 55mins through the lanes at 7ish in the morning, just getting warm, sun shining. nice june day.

has to be the bikefest weekend sweet sun suport team on the saterday and me racing on the sunday (even tho was shit weather) and hiting my target of coming in the top half of my group small target i no but still a target beaten lol

For me it was hanging on to Steve Wade’s (of Orange fame) back wheel down the most amaing 18km descent in the Swiss Alps.

Actually that is probably the highlight of my whole mountain biking career.

Riding up from Conwy-sychnant-pass-Bwlch Y Ddeufaen- along the old roman road to the pub in Rowen and back along the back roads through Henryd to another pub in conwy. Nice simple ride. good friends on a good day with a comedy spill. What more d’ya want? Enjoyed that ride a lot for some reason. Spot on. No cars involved, no trail centres, no arguments 😉

This Sunday, when halfway round the black route at Brechfa, Malec of this parish produced a pedal spanner so I could ride his lovely ST4 with my flat pedals on it…a very generous move as it meant he had to ride my 2001 Stinky, which is a fairly ‘individual’ bike in terms of ride, brakes, gears and tyres!
The ST4 was ace and I only caught a pedal and crashed once on the fast, twisty bit of singletrack just before the black meets the red run…good fun and a top riding companion who didn’t mind that his riding companion was an overweight, wheezing, unfit bloke who crashed his bike 🙂

I raced the single speed national champs on our demo pugsley. The course was a bit like the Somme with braking, accelerating and steering all being a bit vague. And then on dh section the highlight of my year, a lady crashed in front of me, lying face down in the deep mud, I almost made an effort to bunny hop over her, but it would have been nothing more than a gesture, so I just ran her legs over… Awesome.

I assume it didn’t hurt her and she was pushed deeper into the mud… I barely felt her pass under me.

Now a lot of rot is pedalled by anti fat bike folk…. They are slow… Tyres cost too much… Just for show offs…. But I say. some people like cupcakes and normal bikes exclusively, While I myself say there is naught nor ought there be Nothing so exalted on the face of God’s grey earth As that chubby prince of bikes…. The fatty. And they make you look slim.

riding the mega in july after breaking my heel and ankle commuting home in march, felt like id ever get off the sofa!

taking my new nomad carbon to morzine , awsome week

And then on dh section the highlight of my year, a lady crashed in front of me, lying face down in the deep mud, I almost made an effort to bunny hop over her, but it would have been nothing more than a gesture, so I just ran her legs over… Awesome.

Absolutely awesome! Just reading this is more of a highlight than any riding I’ve done.

😆 Charlie

Riding up the Highlands, did Glenfeshie, Wolftrax, Carn Ban Mor – the weather was absolutely awful fir the whole two weeks but I really loved the riding.

A couple of rides stick out for me this year. Riding from Plymouth to Exeter off road with a good bunch mates on a cracking late summers day followed by a cracking curry was one.

The other was a ride two of us did on our day off with the Whiteroom in Sainte Foy. After asking Steveo whether he’d ridden a zigzag on the map, when he replied “No” we just had to go and explore 😀

Big push up

DSCF3730 by burchy80, on Flickr

About a third of the way up, looking down the valley

DSCF3717 by burchy80, on Flickr

Up on top

DSCF3762 by burchy80, on Flickr

On the way back

DSCF3767 by burchy80, on Flickr

That first day back on the south downs after months off injured, It felt so good to be getting back to normal, well almost, still a bit cautious.