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Doing my first century (in old money) in March was good but that was topped by my favourite mountain bike ride thus far in late July - down Glen Etive and the shore of Loch Etive, through Glen Kinglass and then return via the West Highland Way. 45 miles or thereabouts, perfect weather and great company.
For me it had to be riding the Nevis Red and DH course up at Fort William back in August... and also growing the Cojones to run the Shredder road gap down at Ae Forest this month....I actually ran it twice... what a BUZZZZZ that was... 🙂
Doing the Black 8 challenge at Les Arcs with plenty of time to spare, in lovely damp slippery conditions. 😀
I had great times in Cham' and Les Arcs this year, but highlights for me are unexpectedly ace rides found from my front door. Life is good, and I am thankful 😀
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Max Exposure 80 mile night ride on the south downs way. First long enduro, first proper night ride.. feeling exposed, unhappy, elated, strong, weak as a kitten, also at one time a little scared lost on my own in some forest after a wrong turn lol. Truely an epic it was.
Became a dad at the end of 2010, so getting out with my mates on a Wed has been my real highlight 🙂
A day at Superbagnere in Sept weren't bad though!
Started riding again after 10 years off and i've even got the missus into it too 😀 best thing I've ever done!
Riding wise had to be the week in Dartmoor and Exmoor the locals are very lucky
coogan - MemberAfter a silly mistake, fracturing my skull twice, bruising my brain front, side and back, some bleeding, a month in hospital in January and not working for about 3 months. Doing this again in April felt pretty dang amazing.
I'm already counting down the days until will close down the Alps in 2012 8)
Crap year for biking at home so the highlight has to be my work trip to Phoenix Arizona.
Worth getting up at 4am to catch the shuttle runs on South Mountain and chase the GnarGnar trails locals (brilliant folks and fantastic trails).
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Or solo biking through the Sonoma desert at sunrise.
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Speaking of Sunrise... sunrise trail at Flagstaff was awesome.
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and lastly some sunset action in Sedona,
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Next year will be better.
coogan - Member
After a silly mistake, fracturing my skull twice, bruising my brain front, side and back, some bleeding, a month in hospital in January and not working for about 3 months. Doing this again in April felt pretty dang amazing.
ChunkyMTB - Member
I'm already counting down the days until will close down the Alps in 2012
Pow!!
Stood at the top of Pic Blanc at 8am on Sunday 10th July with 350 likeminded idiots for the main Mega race.
All again next year 🙂
My highlight was watching Elfinsafety having a little set to with the rubber floor in a children's playground on Saturday. He's being too precious to allow the sharing of the video with the forum, though. 😆
Whistler as ever was pretty damn good [url] http://mountainbikerides.co.uk/video/17-whistler/388-whistler-bike-park-august-2011.html [/url]
But I've enjoyed all the riding I've done. The fact that the local clay was the driest it's been for years and stayed that way for so long was very pleasant.
Realising this morning that I only bruised my shoulder, rather than fractured it, when I fell off the end of a drop in Steyning Woods yesterday, doing exactly what I'd been taught not to do by Jedi not three weeks before. Dropped like a stone I did, and I can't decide if the pain or the embarrassment is worse
O
Oh, and descending the Doethie Valley with all the Shoreham crew in full sunshine, less than 2 hours from a pint.
Great year.
My highlight of my MTB year was finding the sweetest singletrack trail on my first day exploring the Dordogne and managing to work in into almost every ride.
Getting about a dozen non riding mates out on a nicely rolling ride round the White Peak with a pub lunch half way and seeing them all smiling even though totally shot at the end was brilliant too. I thought they'd never smile again after the steepest climb but a few minutes lying on the grass at the top under a cloudless sky fixed them.
Miss FBJ jnr lifting her feet for a split second on her balance bike for the first time was awesome. Her wanting to go to the playgroup Christmas party on it this morning despite the snow outside was magic too. Think she's getting nicely hooked 😀
For me it was bumping into Jens Voigt three-quarters of the way up Alpe d'Huez
The bloke at 0:23 in your vid looked pretty excited to meet Jens also 😉
I've a few highlights in 2011 the ones that standout are
Taking part in MM & Bonti 24/12 as part of Team Bullheart
The Big Bike Bash
Night riding for the first time
Plus riding with friends old & new.
It's been a good year for me with no major injuries & my remission continues
Mine would be finally doing a complete offroad coastal circuit of the Isle of Wight in a day. (well as much offroad as I could, some bits of the coastal path are road). About 75miles as well, so my biggest ever single ride too.
[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6160/6253553388_a00eb03557.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/40838958@N07/6253553388/ ]305469_261820643855703_100000833094677_676330_1003843202_n[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/40838958@N07/ ]KINGTUT2009[/url], on Flickr
London to Paris in 24 hours with a group of good friends.
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Well it was the high and the low, and then the high again. Very emotional journey but one I'll never forget.
Bristol Bikefest for me - just had a brilliant day. In many ways the riding was incidental as I spent it with a great group of people and there was a great vibe/banter and some great results (not by me I might add...)
Sam, that's a great effort - I can't decide whether I could commit to doing it in 4 days. 😆
A weekend of welsh riding, snowdon and coed y brenin in the company of some good uni friends:
snowdon:
http://video.mpora.com/watch/ZBpBXu1jn/hd/
it's Gypsy Glen
note to self, really must make an effort 😳
Big Bike Bash with my kid
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+
Team Bullheart @ MM (Although Bonty 24-12 was better for the riding)
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first commute after my collarbone healed. first night ride around swinley.
Would agree with Dez on the MM and BBB great events but for riding. The weekend in Purbeck in the summer:
[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6073/6124801676_60d8358eee.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_atkin/6124801676/ ]IMG_2409[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/peter_atkin/ ]PeterPoddy[/url], on Flickr
2nd highlight was achieving my goal of completing the Isle of Man E2E
Having taken 15 years of biking, it was my goal to get back into shape and complete the E2E
Managed to get a top 100 place as well
Bring on next year!
manualling from the start of the first re-patched section of tarmac to past the second on my road in the dark.
The first ride this summer, after an injury in the spring requiring reconstructive surgery and being told by my consultant I'd be off the bike for 12 months. The Chilterns had never looked so good.
[i]For me it was bumping into Jens Voigt three-quarters of the way up Alpe d'Huez[/i]
Allthepies wrote: The bloke at 0:23 in your vid looked pretty excited to meet Jens also
Yeah I thought of editing that out but left it in for comedy value
i couldn't pin it down to one 🙂
Not that wild stuff, but I'd been riding it less than 2 months when I did this - my first "proper" off-road and I amazed myself by nailing this descent first time.
For me doing the whole of the SDW in a day, long day in the saddle but made bearable by the wife and kids meeting wave home made banners towards the end.
Five amazing days on Skye and Harris in glorious sunshine (when we were there it was hotter than London).
[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5222/5689865432_76f5544094_b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/43603735@N00/5689865432/ ]IMG_5549[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/43603735@N00/ ]Kenneth Pollock[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5226/5689294843_6284236504_b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/43603735@N00/5689294843/ ]IMG_5630[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/43603735@N00/ ]Kenneth Pollock[/url], on Flickr
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/43603735@N00/5689300673/ ]IMG_5702[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/43603735@N00/ ]Kenneth Pollock[/url], on Flickr
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/43603735@N00/5689293147/ ]IMG_5561[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/43603735@N00/ ]Kenneth Pollock[/url], on Flickr
kennyp, i want to be there! looks amazing
My first 100 mile ride (solo, with full panniers, and a bottle of wine for the final 20 miles - after all, it's just not on to turn up empty handed ...)
Taking a friend mountain biking up on the Carneddi for the first time - all the more special as she is in her early 60's, not many women start mountain biking at that stage in life, and seeing the looks on a few people's faces as this tiny grey haired lady went blasting past them through the mud was classic 🙂
Jedi, it was amazing. Though we were so, so lucky with the weather.
Kennyp: That's a nice view across to Sron Ulladale in Harris!
I Had some riding (squeezed into a family holiday) in Davos and Lake Garda..Garda too hot in July and very hard to find the best riding without hiring a guide and a lot of the downhill trails would destroy any bike capable of riding uphill.
Best days out were in Scotland:
-Blair Atholl-Bruar-Minigaig-Feshie-Geldie-Bynack Lodge-Tarf-Tilt-Blair was a monster back in June (78km and 2600m ascent and 8hrs of riding)and I made it extra hard for myself by being unprepared and under-equipped (solo ride,no extra food/clothing or bivvybag; I even left on Minions DHF & DHR!)
-Peebles-Traquiar-SUW to St Mary's Loch-Megget Water-landy track up to Dollar Law-Pykestone-Thief's Road-totally lost in dense plantation and back to Peebles (60km and 2000m and soft going this year)
The most memorable ride for me this year was the first. Early January, cold but sunny, single speed rigid jump bike (DMR Drone) on 2 hour ride on local trails. Set me up for a year when I gave up smoking, bought a geared road bike, turned my 3 hour rides into 4 1/2 hour rides and did my first 50 miler (road). Still remember that January ride though - let's all look forward to next year!
Some inspiring stuff in here, a reminder that there's a lot of great riding out there.
It doesn't feel like I've ridden enough this year, although looking back there have been some good ones. From snowy bothy rides in the borders at the start of the year to a few incredible days in Torridon in the summer.
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There was a great wee autumnal tour of the Cairngorms [Blair Atholl - Gaick Pass - Glen Tromie - Inshriach for cake - overnight in Glen Feshie - Geldie - Tilt] and a superb ride on a hired boingy bike from Soller into the Sierra Tramuntana on Mallorca.
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The best was probably escaping work on a Wednesday evening, heading out around the sunny Pentlands with a few folk off here and finishing off in the Spylaw Tavern for a couple of beers and a blether.
Ach, there's still a fortnights worth of the year left and I plan to head to the highlands with a bicycle for that 🙂
Whilst visiting friends in Morzine I had a day riding with Victor Lucas, Emmeline Ragot, Ffion Griffiths & my friends. It had rained solidly all week & this was my last day riding before driving to the SouthWest Coast to pick up the wife & kids.
The rain stayed away & ive got to say it was a great day of riding; no egos, no bull & very relaxed. It was a pleasure & joy to meet & speak with some of the nicest folk I've ridden with in a long time. It was especially great to watch Ffion ride the new black DH run (can't recall name - pinball or something) near the choux fleurie without brakes, & Emmeline absolutely pin every techy DH section clipped in without any drama whatsoever (unlike fat lad here Who managed to uproar & destroy a tree that caught me whilst sailing over the bars).
for me it wasnt so much the riding but the being there, i loved ssec this year in belgium, really good like minded people all getting ****ed up and riding bikes
FWIW, Gypsy Glen is absolutely superb.
This has to be my highlight:
Never thought in a million years id be able to do anything remotely like that, especially when comparing to videos from a year or so ago, still get a bit of a smile every time I watch it back 😀