Couple of dark dog rides so far. Got a PR on a short climb tonight – I wonder how does one DP (dog power) compare to an e-bike on the uphills?

Tomorrow morning (later this morning) looks bright even if the clay round here will be wet, thick and sticky underwheel so a slow, beautiful but hard working bimble round the woods looks on the cards.

Muddy Autumnal ride this morning. Might be one of the last on the little FC trail at Wakerley if some rumours I heard today are true (and they most likely are).

A 2hr slog revealed Epping Forest is now under water:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hZLxgm]2019-12-15_08-05-27[/url]

Apologies for the poor focus.

This weekend is always the Bearbones Winter bivy weekend so we were out in the south Dales. Yesterday was a bit grey and damp but with some settling hail on the tops.

After tea in Malham we bivvied out and woke this morning to between 15 &20cm of snow 😋

Got back down to Malham and at those altitudes it was all slush so the BWs back to Skipton were a bit wet and muddy. Never seen so much water on some of the BWs.

33 miles of muddy local stuff for me on Friday.

I went down one ‘bridleway’ which was actually just the edge of a ploughed field which had then had what seemed like 100 horses ride through it, you know the mud scene in the tour divide video where the guy says “I didn’t know they were riding a fatbike!” – I was like that. Both wheels stopped moving, the bike gained about 5kg in sticky, solid mud, and the front tyre tripled in size. Luckily there was an empty plastic bottle at the end (with a litter bin 20ft away, I might add… took some of the litter that I could see and put it in the bin) which I used to scrape off most of the mud.

Hard, hard work though, was getting cramps at the end.

Awesome pictures peeps!

Tbh my ride looked much like Krytons^^, except more sleet,ice and rain. After feeling unwell yesterday I couldn’t face a drive down to the Tweed Valley so stayed local, barely managed 10k as it was icey on anything out in the open and too bloody dark in the trees to see anything.

Utterly sopping wet, have we reached peak slop yet?

@whitestone, that’s fabulous!!

we were walking a bit further over at Grassington. Started with bacon sarnies next to the van!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hZGNCh]Winter walking above Grassington[/url] by ritcheyp20, on Flickr

Love the photos, folks, great stuff.

‘Just’ my usual local slog interspersed with fun bits. I don’t think the going has ever been heavier, but still loving it after 14 years.

I love it when a ‘normal person’ says “you must be mad” as I’m slogging past them. Makes me feel good.

Spin in the Peak with the Mrs today, local road ride yesterday.

@fathomer looks great, how was the temperature?

@greenskin it was, 3-4deg maybe but the wind was bitter!

A couple of road and track rides on the gravel machine. Cold but found a few patches of sun.

Prime dust still in Honkers plus some rather pleasant sub 20 degree temperatures.

Epic!

I already posted this elsewhere, but seeing as between BB band events and icy weather we only got out for walks, Fridays breakfast adventure is our Biggie of the weekend.

5.45am start.

Munro summit by sunrise, this is top no.2.

The weather even cleared, although the wind was still high.

The reason for all this early shenanigans? This guy asked that his 18th birthday be sunrise on a Munro.

Cheating a bit as the first pic was from Last Monday in the Lakes.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hZZyDq]2019-12-16_07-43-03[/url] by Dave Lowe, on Flickr

Saturday was a trip over Walna…. the wind was horrific as a headwind and made descending Walna dangerous in places… I was blown over at one point. Beer made it all better though.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hZZneg]20191214_151421[/url] by Dave Lowe, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2i11wth]20191214_160620[/url] by Dave Lowe, on Flickr

Saturday I cycled to work to pick up the car, after all the faffing with the rim tape failure. The fix to Thursdays ride ending puncture only lasted a few miles, then it was inner tube in a pray. It was nice to be out, but seriously clarty due to the rain that fell in the morning. Loads of puddles along The Cam meant I arrived at work looking like I’d been mud wrestling:
https://www.strava.com/activities/2932440397

This morning I decided to stick to the road, for the first time in over two years. I’d forgotten where all the little back roads went and took a wrong turn, ending up in a different village than expected, so I doubled down and kept going. 70km before work, on 40mm knobbly gravel tyres, without eating, is hard work. I need to find me some slick roadie tyres, pronto:
https://www.strava.com/activities/2936333384

Early doors up Holme Moss this Sunday;

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A post shared by Phillip Dalton (@phill_dalton) on Dec 16, 2019 at 5:06am PST

Loving the “we don’t care is winter” vibe.