First time for a while I had time (and a forecast weather window) to get out after work on a Friday. Not sure I should have bothered...
Chain snapped after 5km. Cue a frustrating 20 minutes trying to fix it with Reynaud's addled fingers.
Fixed but chain constantly skipping and ghost shifting after that.
Started to rain ahead of Met Office forecast. Decided to cut the ride short at that point (barely did over 10km in the end).
Having said all that, a shitty ride is better than no ride (and I get to start the thread) so it's all good.
Fair play for getting out! My mojo has been spectacularly weak since xmas. Only been out on the MTB a couple of times in that time and didn't really enjoy it (which is a very rare thing for me to say)
Been more enjoyable lifting weights, road riding and a bit of running. Very few photos to post up here tho, -so thanks for keeping the dream alive 😕
As a counterpoint to @colournoise I wasn’t particularly excited about riding at Tewantin this morning.
Put on a Spotify Orbital Mix and set off. Tracks were perfect - the dirt ones and the musical ones, tunes exactly matching the length of the descents and climbs… The Box pt2 (down) into Little Fluffy Clouds and Chime (up). It was uncanny.
Then bam … chain snapped on a little tech climb.
Sweated on a log while I fixed it and on my way again.
No riding for us as we are travelling down the West Coast of NZ getting a few days R & R before we hit the trails again
No pictures but yesterday evenings ride from the house wasn’t even that muddy. And my drive train survived. Which is a bonus i haven’t realised until i opened this thread
Couple of hours around Santon Downham (near Thetford) this morning on the SS. It's very flat, very pedally, some nice flow, and a gorgeous morning!
Out with my two wee ones this morning.
We didn't quite make it to the play park, but we did make it to the hotel with the log fire for crisps and apple juice. They were fine with us bringing the bikes inside with was lucky as I'd forgotten a lock 
Popped out with the pooch to get a few miles in from the door, Took the old Rise as she has been sat unloved for most of the winter. I had forgotten how much I enjoy riding that bike.. A much more engaging experience than the full fat enduro bike for sure
Beautiful morning for a ride, so I thought I'd procrastinate and wait until it was pissing it down.
The novelty of going out in all conditions is wearing a bit thin
Beautiful pictures Hardtailonly 👌🏻
Not been out for ages due to illness and motorbikes so enjoyed a blast on the eeb in the Cotswolds today.
Nice to see Goldie out.
Been meaning to go and find this bit of artwork called 'Top of the world' for weeks. Finally had a break in the rain
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
Absolutely soaked today, a little bit beyond being fun. It feels like it has done nothing but snow or rain in Aberdeenshire this year.
The trails are so wet there is actually quite a lot of grip 🤔
The second photo is one of the trails 😀
Had stuff to do all day, so it was a challenge to get home in time for a quick blast before dark. Blimey! It’s hard to see how it could have been any wetter, without actually cycling under the sea! (The photo doesnt really show the full glory of the unbridled wetness).
No bike today but spent a great morning at tarland Trails helping with some maintenance on the new trails. Hope to get the bike out tomorrow up pitfichie for some sloppy fun.😁🤞 
Gruelling 35k slog o'er the moors in the mega sludge and rain. Still, nice to be out and it didn't rain all the way round.
Not sure it actually counts as a ride, but just a spin round the block this evening to check everything after yesterday's chain drama. FFS!
@colournoise - is that a new chain? Or old chain & new link? Might be worth checking that there's not a bent tooth on the chainring or cassette somewhere?
@colournoise - is that a new chain? Or old chain & new link? Might be worth checking that there's not a bent tooth on the chainring or cassette somewhere?
Admittedly old chain with new link (when I say old it has less than 100km on it).
Have been having issues with chain skipping for a while (after no component changes and ages of having no issues), so recently swapped chain, cassette, derailleur and chainring while troubleshooting. Still skipping but not so bad (worse in the mud) and then this weekends snapping...
Left with having to get into the horrors of chainline I guess (something I've managed to avoid for 30+ years so far...).
Managed to Outrun my hangover and take Reeksy1 to the DH track.
I showed him and his mate some sketchy moto lines that lead to a massive rock formation with lots of stuff to try out. Then left them to the DH track while I went exploring dodgy moto stuff… and almost got lost.
A day of hiking for us in the hills and gorges above Hokitika. Hot all day long. Beers at the end are always good but the first one never hit the sides.
Moving further south tomorrow for a day before we head for Queenstown
Yesterday i stopped for a picture. Not out for for long. But great to be out on the Stooge Rambler again. My loop included a local wood i haven’t ridden in for a while but I’d walked round earlier with my wife and sister.
Had a good ride slithering round the Win Hill off piste yesterday, proper muddy fun. The weather was actually really pleasant though, which was a surprise.
My wife is not really a mountain biker as such, more a lover of hiking up mountains and more genteel riding. However, she absolutely loved it when I borrowed an ebike for her last year, so I’ve just finished getting an eOneSixty sorted for her and the test ride was yesterday 🙂 the plan was the Long Mynd, but given that it was raining constantly there and dry here (despite being so close!), we went for the local trails. Excellent decision as a lot of fun was had, steep stuff was (amazingly) tackled along with some compulsory screams 🤣 😆
Another night ride with my mate last night exploring our local woods. Forgot to get any pics again, as we were too busy chatting and getting lost!
Aftermath of the bike this morning, demonstrates the conditions!
I was taught the lesson of perseverance this weekend. A couple of months ago I came across a sign notifying of a potential change of a RoW in the woods near me. I tried a few times to access the link but it wasn't working and I forgot about it. On Friday I passed by the following notice that the path has been closed.
Second day of riding whilst staying this weekend with my sister in Suffolk. Thanks again to @ready for a GPS file. Did the Viking Trail at Tunstall Forest, missed the turning off to the less-formal stuff, so went around again. Enjoyed it, some nice flow, very twisty, and a couple of fun bomb-holes! 36km on the SS ...I'll have to try not to doze off at the wheel this afternoon on the way back up the A1 to Leeds.
Remembered why I bother.
Unexpectedly glorious ride out on the gravel bike this morning trying to address my declining fitness. Forecast said light rain showers but got hazy beautiful sunshine instead.
Pure filth on the trails but it was mild, birds singing, wild garlic and bluebells popping up in sheltered spots. Loads of snowdrops and a few crocuses.
Fantastic 👌
Left the home patch for a ride with our youngest. Afan Masts. Crikey was I battered, by both the wind and the trails. Nothing there is easy and the wind and the drizzle cranked it up a notch:
As clear as it got.
Another birthday ride. This time for H and his never less than completely amusing fat bike. He was riding behind me and most of the time it felt like I was about to be potentially "rubber'd up" by a space hopper 🙂
Picked decent trails and rode between the rain showers. Was still filthy tho!
Type 2 fun on the road this morning, no pictures, significant drizzle transitioning into light to medium rain (after the sun briefly taunting us through a gap in the clouds) and not very warm.
Today I am mostly grateful for the £40 I spent on new mudguards for the gravel (road) bike yesterday, the Galibier winter gear I bought a few weeks back and not doing the intermediate ride, which was 20k longer and suffered a number of punctures.
Nice pics as always folks! First MTB ride since the 5th of January, when I crumped my ribs - that and a will it won't it cold bug have kept me off the bike. So today, the sun came out and despite the filthy trails, all was good. No pics I'm afraid soz.
Managed to grab a few hours out exploring a new area following Trailforks on some rather old trails. Just good to back out on the bike if a little wet. 
So i spent the dry bit of the day on a local walk with Mrs Ampthill and then fitting mud guards. I then did a short road ride in the rain
Not a huge win but pleased to have ridden road 4 days in a row
What felt like a Peak epic, but was only 22 miles - felt like 30+ even on an ebike and did my full battery even with a bit of careful management
Baslow Edge, Curbar Edge, Blacka, Houndkirk, Flow house, White Edge, Baslow Edge.
Sod all visibility or desire to stop for photos, my mate got one of me in the distance though.
Cracking ride though and a couple of descents were on the spicy side sliding out way down
First beer of the year. Clearly my muse 🙂
https://www.pickled-hedgehog.com/fat-boy-grim/
Some NSFW words.
Lovely day at Glentress with my eldest. Nice to see some sunshine and not get dropped on the climbs.😂 
Second blast on the eeb this week... really really liking the added value it gives my limited riding time.
Front brake needs a bleed and there is an annoying squeak when I stop pedalling but I'm glad I've bought it. I can do two laps of the trail in the time that it takes me to do one and the boring climbs become a bit of technical fun.
Took the rise to the Golfie, not much sunshine, plenty of gloop. Managed to get two flats in the group and we all contrived to have almost every tool under the sun bar one to inflate a tyre (I had two shock pumps).
[url= https://i.ibb.co/zWxBr8kN/PXL-20260201-103206457.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.ibb.co/zWxBr8kN/PXL-20260201-103206457.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
Nice to see Goldie out
If you go look at road signs around sheffield, loads of them have ainsley hariott stickers on them a bit like that. No idea why but i fully approve
Managed to see a bit of sun at the start of the ride, so started out hopeful,
Got up to the snow line on the way to the mast
First half of Zorro was just like chasing a stream downhill, made good use of the hut today
Soaked by the end but glad to be out
Much nicer day today, thank goodness. The trails are still totally soaking. And I fell over into a big up to my knee and elbow! Still, the day was warmer than recently, so didn’t get foundered.
Clinging on to the last vestiges of weekend. Really humid this morning, but the tracks are so dry the dust was sticking to the bike. At 6am it was 24, but I had a blast. Two DH tracks have been given a makeover, and while they were too soft for some of the jumps to work (for me at least) they were still pretty much improved.
No pics but Dalby tech in the sunshine Saturday morning. Trails were riding really, really good - fair few puddles (mostly on the official trails as usual). Was 10 degrees when we got back to the cafe - spring on its way!?
No meetings in the calendar, and no rain in the forecast, so I extended my weekend by a day, and headed down to Tollymore. Spent the day riding trails which I’ve either rarely ridden, or hadn’t ridden at all.
buy the chain from Amazon? More fakes rhan real chains these days.@colournoise - is that a new chain? Or old chain & new link? Might be worth checking that there's not a bent tooth on the chainring or cassette somewhere?
Admittedly old chain with new link (when I say old it has less than 100km on it).
Have been having issues with chain skipping for a while (after no component changes and ages of having no issues), so recently swapped chain, cassette, derailleur and chainring while troubleshooting. Still skipping but not so bad (worse in the mud) and then this weekends snapping...
Left with having to get into the horrors of chainline I guess (something I've managed to avoid for 30+ years so far...).
"buy the chain from Amazon? More fakes rhan real chains these days."
I have (guilty admission) bought emergency chains from the big A in the past, but the last two have come from Merlin I think.