After a week or so of pretty good, warm weather, with the trails drying out, Thursday night/Friday morning brought a dump of the wet stuff to set things back. But, I'm on a mission to build up to some long distances, ready for the 500km "The Land Between" event in August, so plotted a 95km gravel ride heading out NW from Leeds up the Washburn Valley to Thruscoss & back. Rain had eased off by 10.30, but the whole ride was grey & chilly.
So - 95km / 1500m climbing. Pretty hard going, but good to get some distance in my legs ..
It was noticeable, certainly once you get out from out very local, usually quite well drained trails, into more farming and forestry country, just how much drying is still needed on the trails!
Ive been in bed for much of the week with a cold/flu. But I couldn’t resists a wee short ride out this morning, in the Abondance valley near Chatel. Without the e-bike, there is no way I’d even have been able to manage this short ride.
Just a local quick pedal today before a few pints for the rugby. Trying out some of the hard work that folk are putting in. Amazingly dry and grippy and great fun.
BPW yesterday. First time in two years. And this time we didn't get sleeted on! It was filthy tho especially on our dubious trail choices to ride some new stuff that's been put in. Had a fab day tho, really good fun. No accidents, no mechanicals, Bronson has officially changed state from "New" to "used" 🙂
Loved the bike there. Did mildly pretzel my rear wheel probably on a charge down Wibbly Wobbly into Rim Dinger!
Photos from @trusty
Wednesday on the Quantocks was fab 🌞
2 days later it's back to winter woolies such is the joy of false Spring.
A little jaunt along the clifftops from South Shields to Seaburn this morning. Felt a wee bit nippy on the ears at first, but pulling a hamstring on the way back made me forget that
Local gravel stuff yesterday, a bit sticky after some thaw
Definately a false spring. Thought id miss the trail centres today and go more natural, good to be out on the trails all the same
Should have maybe stuck to the trail centres as was still a bit wet in some places
Local signage
Not riding till Monday but took a hike around Aberfoyle looking for a Monty Python filming location 😂
First time at Sherwood Pines today so we could check out the new Pedal and Play section. Junior loved it, we had to tear him away.
Ooh is it open! Will have to get down there with MiniMonkey.
Phatlife
No sun, no view on Salisbury Plain
Wee bit of snow left in Fife (Lomonds). Lovely sunny day. Same again tomorrow apparently.
Short spin out with my eldest trying to introduce him to the concept of riding up to earn your downs rather than just doing shuttles . He is unconvinced. Went out for a bit on the road later on as it was such a nice night
Managed to get out in the sun, from work, on Thursday for a fab hour in the sun.
Drizzly ride 24km on Friday. But a hugely significant one because it was my 60th Birthday. Genuinely excited to still be getting out on my bike.
Another treat was this photo showing up on social media, it not seen it before. Me in Cameroon in 1988(?). Looks like a puncture stop. I could change a tube in about 20 minutes thanks to, the lorry having an airline, split rims and a sledge hammer.
@Oldfart, snap. My only ride in the Quantocks, introducing my niece and her husband to mountain biking
Today's planned jaunt to the Moors didn't materialise (boo) so I snuck out for some laps of the local cheeky before taking the MiniMonkeys swimming.
Trails running remarkably well, didn't have to stop and poke the mud out of my wheels with a stick once.
Also what did they think of it ?
A bit cold and murky in Leeds on saturday
Meteorological anti-dust measures are in full effect. Kids riding was cancelled as a result… so we carefully picked some rocky tracks to avoid wrecking things. Too wet for photos unfortunately.
This photo is from a walk on Wednesday in the same area.
Loop over Baildon and back along the canal. No otter 🦦 today, but the trails are running nicely and despite the photo it is definitely drier
@oldfart I’m Bedfordshire. The quantocks are great, but i didn’t really the get to see that much with less experienced company. If i go back, which i should, I’ll give you a shout?
Not much in the way of photos, but a cracking ride, even though I was riding like I'd never swung a leg over a bike before. Conditions are getting better, in spite of a couple of days rain.
Finished the ride with mid day tequilas and beers
A couple of hours round Woburn back woods today, there are SO many trails there it's hard to know what to pick! All were great though, this is definitely my favourite kind of riding. Nothing too big or tech and no soul destroying climbs, just fun singletrack descents then loop back up to the bridleway and find a different one 🙂 I've ridden at Woburn for years but have always pretty much just stuck to the bike park or the Longslade but the back woods trails are way better. The jump trail down near the end of the bridleway toward Bow Brickhill was so much fun, need to revisit in the dry as it was feeling pretty greasy today.
Rode south from hebden by the Pennine way and the east catch water drain past Blackstone edge to green withins reservoir and windy hill. The bridleway that runs down to join the Pennine bridleway and hollingworth lake is trashed by motorcyclists and is unrideable in places, in others there's a lovely singletrack avoiding the sunken mud filled road. Stoodley pike is a mess at the moment as well, no need to ride that way for a while till it dries out and recovers. Muddy old ride, felt much harder than 550m of climbing 
Went for a spin around Grenoside, sessioning DH3 and Steel City with the boy. Bumped into his friend and friends dad, so clearly a case of take the old man to Greno this weekend.
Good fun, was running pretty well. Although I did notice a broken spoke nipple on the front wheel that is only 2.5 months old, when I got the bike out the car 😞
Figured I was wearing the full face helmet so decided to ride anyway. Fortunately I survived 😁
Had a nice road ride yesterday in-between coats of paint, painting the stairs is hard work.
Went to Wharny with the Mrs for the first time this year today, very sticky and pretty sketchy in places.
@ampthill Indeed you should love showing people around ( I should warn you strictly wheels on the ground for me !).If you're flavour is more DH I'll point you to Triscombe and leave you to it !
Bog index round the local is still off the scale. Spent more time clearing debris from a trail than actually riding. Slippy, slidy type 2 fun.
Had a great day at Kirkhill Forest today. Bumped into two random guys also on ebikes so spent half the day riding with them. Trail conditions were perfect apart from a few sloppy bits in the trees.
Had a great day at Kirkhill Forest today. Bumped into two random guys also on ebikes so spent half the day riding with them. Trail conditions were perfect apart from a few sloppy bits in the trees.
Not been to Kirkhill for a while keep meaning to head along after work for a lap or 2. There’s some fun trails in there.
No pics, but my son came down to ride QE Park after my report of dry trails and finished red route... We got soaked and covered in mud.. brill to have a ride with the lad though. He's so fast, but can catch him on the climbs .. on my ebike. We swapped for one section, I rode his enduro machine to give him a rest... god mountain biking is hard! It was the creating your own momentum to tackle the next section bit I noticed most.
A mate came up for a gentle gravel pootle yesterday as he wanted to check out the Bennerley Viaduct. Always nice to see the local (gravel) routes we take for granted through a fresh pair of eyes
Had a great day at Kirkhill Forest today. Bumped into two random guys also on ebikes so spent half the day riding with them. Trail conditions were perfect apart from a few sloppy bits in the trees.
Not been to Kirkhill for a while keep meaning to head along after work for a lap or 2. There’s some fun trails in there.
Yeah it's definitely worth a visit. Always seems to be new trails appearing, and a couple of the well established ones have had a bit of work done.
Night ride with a mate tonight. Forgot to take any pics until we were back at the vans. Trails are drying, but still boggy off piste. Bluebells appear to be coming out in places, too!
Broke my 2026 duck. Finally. This is the latest my first ride of the year has ever been and I’d almost forgotten just how much fun it is…
behold; a fat bloke on his bike…
