Took a punt on the awful weather conditions yesterday and managed to get an hour with Reeksy2 at Sugarbag.
We raced the Pump track (he beat me 2:1)
Then had a long jump competition on a worn down tabletop. Erm...he won.
I won the race at the end though so it wasn't all terrible 😂
Then it pissed down just as we got back to the car.
Meanwhile Reeksy1 had a bizarre mech failure today. His coach was following and Thry both say there wasn't any warning.
Cold and windy out there, but beautiful skys.
Cheers Stu! Had an awesome morning, weather, trails and company were spot on.
Squeezed in another rare Wednesday club ride. Cool to not be riding solo and good vibes all round. Windy but fine once in the trees.
sorry, couldn't resist a little bragging rights. Technically it WAS a mid-week ride after all. 😎 
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It started (and nearly ended straight away), with a Squirrel. Damn thing nearly took me out as I rode along the old railway line path to my local woods. Luckily I'd slowed down as there was a dog walker coming towards me, but damn, the freaky little furball gave me a fright. Anyway, I was feeling rubbish the other night but managed to motivate myself enough to drag my fat arse out the door for an hour around what were still wonderfully dry trails, even after all the rain we'd had recently
It's Tuesday already!
Photos from today's extended gravel commutes around/through bits of north Leeds. Bit of rain yesterday has dampened the dust, without causing any lasting damage. Got caught by a quite intense 10 minute shower on the way home, which was unexpected! But, overall, another fine day's riding!
Stopped on yesterdays ride to have a look at the new as yet unopened trail at Golfie.
Looks pretty good and will be so much better than the trail it's replacing.
Shay told me it should be open in the next few weeks.
All the sections aren't joined together yet so don't try and ride it until it's finished.
I went out on the local club's e-bike only 'Turbo Tuesday' ride. Pretty sure I had my bike in Turbo mode and still couldn't keep up!
Lunch break below Lund's Tower on a Skipton run. That's April's Everest in the bag.
Golfie yesterday. 21 miles and 4400ft of up.
Local trundle from my father's today. 27 miles and 2200ft of up. Tired legs.
I had a day off form work today so made the most of the dry conditions and did a loop from Crosby Ravensworth up to High Cup Nick via the bridleway on the South side of High Cup Gill, then back down the North side.
Stop for ice cream at the Royal Oak in Appleby:
Murton Pike:
High Cup Scar:
Loaded up the Digger for a test before the Marches and Castles tour next week. Glad I persevered with keeping 3/4 of my dropper drop. After a ride of gravel, rubbish roads, mud and dirt I really would miss it on the descents. Plenty of space as well, could probably lose the frame bag, but previous use reminds me it puts the Bag into Baguette 🙂
Weather went a bit black over our house. Thankfully I had a rain jacket stashed as it was a full test of all my packed gear. Obviouslt I couldn't remember which bag it was in!
Keeping things rolling along again today and adding to my weekly climbing target.
That's April's Everest in the bag
You need to try harder dude.😉
Faux-commute this morning. 35km. Nice to get up high and see some views before heading back to my desk/screen.
As I missed the crew night ride last night, I had to go out today. Hey I don't make the rules 🙂
Little bit slippy in places, but amazing bluebells and garlic. And a cheeky beer in the sunshine to finish...
35 miles today, 2 and a bit hours riding, 30 mins chilling with a coffee and cake at the cafe watching the world go by.
Another dusty Wednesday night ride, we're getting spoilt at the moment! 
Off on the Marches and Castles Tour tomorrow. Forecast looks - dare I say it - a bit warm esp Day 2 which Strava tells me is 90km and 1800m of climbing with some proper 10%-12% climbs. 12 in total, 3 look pretty chewy. Days 1,3 and 4 are closer to 1100m and 70km so Day 2 is defo the big one. Note to self- do not get mullered in the Dragon Hotel on Wednesday night!
Digger is good to go. Extremely happy to have 11-51 11 speed hack (thanks STW for that!) and the use of the dropper. Taken loads of stuff out of packs, but it's still quite a load.
Shall try and post some pics if I can make the phone talk to the forum and/or I haven't melted!
Cross Fell bivi tonight. Just call me Fabio.
Purbecks yesterday, Puddletown today.
Shake down ride for me today. An hour seeing if the luggage will stay put. Not too bad. In the long run I’ll want a custom frame bag, smaller bag at the back and bigger handle bar 
Ride abandoned. I forgot my gloves and had a go at riding without. Not a chance, I'm just too sweaty, hands squirming around on the grips on the climbs and descents just feels horrible.
A ride down to Hindhead today. Some nice woodland dirt singletrack.
On one snack stop, I spotted a lizard but he was a bit camera shy.
A most pleasant evening ☺️
Mrsstu's day off today so I headed to Golfie with her to help set up her new EXT shock.
Got it working pretty good with the standard link but will be trying a Cascade link on her next ride.
Finished my monthly ascent target just short of a nice round number.🙄
More commuting. Yesterday's MTB Commute home:
And then today's morning commute to an off-site meeting. Lovely day for it, but feasts of greenflies and other bugs!
Hot, hot, hot out there today but a bit cooler down by the river.
Overnight on the Long Mynd. Hoping for a great sunrise. 
Finished work early, went for a local loop on the ebike, bumped into a biking mate at the pub, got a KOM I wanted. Absolutely beautiful evening.
didnt work
High Cup Nick was quiet yesterday morning.
Amazing gorse flowers below Murton, best I can recall ever seeing (and smelling).
Best of Brenin
Stopped off in Asti for a couple of days on our trip for a bit of R and R
Hit the local trails today. They were fast and dusty. It was HOT
It felt good to be back out on the Italian trails. Even better when exploring new ones
Moving on tomorrow to Massa
Little bit slippy in places, but amazing bluebells and garlic.
The bluebells and wild garlic are two more things that make me love springtime on a bike! Both out in full bloom on Tuesday night's ride for me: woods above Stirling University. The best/biggest area of wild garlic seems to be on Darn Walk / BofA but it was dark by that point of the ride and I was tired and wanted to get home, so nae pic.
Sunset later on the same ride:
It was so hot this evening I did consider lying down in this stream! Tyre stayed inflated (see another thread), no K.O.N. for me but I did get nettled when I stopped to watch two short eared owls.
Chatsworth and Bakewell loop tonight. Bloody lovely out. Best spring/early summer for years
