16/09/2016

Weather looks reasonable for the most part, not particularly warm or wet. Perfect! I’m tossing up between a Cannock night ride or a big local XC bridelway+lanes ride tomorrow night.
What riding are you looking foward to? – Have a good one!

Driving from Leicester to Staveley early tomorrow morning, riding the 3 Passes route, buying some artisan bread and beer and driving home again. Can’t wait!

Sunday, if I’m feeling like it, will be a local road ride, maybe with the wife.

Got an hour up the forest yesterday. Reckon a Sunday morning jaunt round the lake, road or xc ride

Couple of hours on the road tomorrow then the final Southern Enduro round of the series at Milland on Sun.

Doing Gypsy Glen with my 13 yo son tomorrow.

No riding for me again, though I did fix a puncture in the rear of my roadie that had been there for about 9 weeks.

my sofa is giving me saddle sores……….. 🙁

Llangollen cheeky trails before the weather deteriorates and they become bogs.

Heading over to Carlton Bank for the Ard moors enduro this weekend 🙂

Chicksands!

First child free weekend for 5 years, courtesy of the local Scouts and Brownies syncing their calendars!

8)

Suspect that there will not be photos though.

Quick blast on Greenham common maybe, possibly a bit of bikepacking sunday night/monday.

10 days to go before a 1000km/6day tour, so last chance to beast myself before a rest/taper week. Can almost taste the suffering already 😈

I’ve signed up for the first South Wales CX race….. I am going to die :¬(

CX race. It’s going to hurt:(

Fod cheeky. 🙂

Welsh League rnd1 … It’s gonna hurt!

Black mountain killer loop, anti-clockwise.

Glentress with friends on Sunday.

Lap of the isle of Wight (off road) leading the newforce club fast group. On my fatbike 8-0

Bronte mtb challenge

Sharing photos doesn’t seem to have worked, blimmin Google. Beautiful day up on the hills. Junior wasn’t impressed with the climbing but loved the descent to Peebles.

Along the ridge between Glen Clova and Prosen

Nice afternoon in the woods today…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Mmr5Ze]Untitled[/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/LoZcfb]Untitled[/url]

Rode over to meet my drinking club @ Borrowdale YHA drank/ate loads then on a stinking hangover did an Alternative Borrowdale Bash including Catbells and Walla crag both awesome 🙂

[url=https://flic.kr/p/LpwgNM]Untitled[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr

We opted a for a local night ride on Saturday, 32 miles across rural lanes, woody singletrack and back through the city & had a great time. The moon was out and several times we turned the lights off and cycled by moonlight.. great stuff.

Took reptile #2 to the park and was going to do a night ride however in faffing with shed lights I must have knocked the sockets off too, where the bike lights were charging, and so managed 6.2km of awesome before being plunged into blackness. Thank Christ the freezer hadn’t defrosted or I’d be typing this from under the patio.

In an attempt to wean myself off the Strava fuelled obsession with speed, I’ve been playing with the veloviewer explorer feature. This colours in every 1km map square that you’ve visited and the aim is to make the biggest complete square. It’s actually surprisingly hard up here as there are quite a few squares that don’t seem to have any trails (let alone roads) in them. Since my planned route looked like it would have a fair bit of hiking, plus a fair few road miles, I opted for the Smuggler over the fatbike for a change (lighter and higher pressure tyres). After hours slogging up steep slopes through knee high heather and riding down overgrown thistle and gorse covered tracks, I’ve now increased my explorer score from 4×4 to 5×5, which is still pretty pathetic really. Good fun though.

No photos but I did get out on Saturday for a bit of an epic starting at Rushup Edge and taking in a cheeky over to Jacobs Ladder, Edale, Hollins Cross, Hope Cross, The Beast, Hurst Clough, Some Cheeky over Higgor Tor and Mother Cap, Paddley Gorge, Offerton Moor, Bradwell Edge, Cement Works and Mam Tor before getting back to the car.

I should really have gone out with a planed route, rather than just adding bits and covering 64km and 6300ft!! 😳

a few of us did a decent loop round the Kilpatricks yesterday, a bit boggy in parts 🙂

Saturday morning drove down to BPW – weather was amazing, punctures were beyond belief, injuries happened, but the riding was ace – dusty, loose and fast.

Saturday night, camped near Abergavenny, drank beer in the oldest pub in Wales, got smashed, had a great laugh, can’t remember getting back to tents.

Sunday, ate bacon, rode Black Mountain Cycle Centre (sun shone again) – well, had a couple of runs, drank beer, had BBQ, smoked bud, had a couple more runs – think we managed 6 in total.

Proper brilliant lads weekend – all drove home with massive grins!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MoPHKH]2016-09-19_06-41-17[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/LWYMdh]2016-09-19_06-32-21[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/McdVy5]2016-09-18_11-38-43[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/McdTLN]2016-09-18_11-38-31[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MeRWWZ]2016-09-18_11-38-13[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Mn94Xn]2016-09-18_11-29-13[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

(not me, but a mate^)

A bit of Devon road riding for me…

outstanding picture Andy.

We had a 2000 mile round trip to Valberg for the EWS. We will need to go back and ride some of the great trails, hopefully with uplifts.

Saturday night, camped near Abergavenny, drank beer in the oldest pub in Wales, got smashed, had a great laugh, can’t remember getting back to tents.

The one in Llanfihangel Crucorney?
Or is there another one that claims to be the oldest?

comrie croft today was lovely, …that red takes no prisoners.!

I did a lovely and fresh(first time in ages)75km of Hertfordshire powderpuff gravel core.