With two mates riding in Portugal at the moment and one in Botswana our depleted group will be riding out of Westgate in Weardale where instead of dry & dusty we will be experiencing frost & icy .

A killer climb from the off will soon have us warmed up though ..and the views are pretty spectacular coupled with remnants from its industrial past makes it an interesting ride ( from what I can remember .. 18 years ago ).

Hopefully I won’t leave  my phone in the car  this week so will take some pics .

Where are you going ?

Upper Weardale in a strong Siberian easterly. Prepare to suffer.

I’m going to be hiding in some woods somewhere, I expect.

If it’s an easterly it will be to our advantage on the way out and we will be lower down on the way back ..should be fun !

Edit : Just checked that out Martin ..winds are from the S.E. 19km/h..gusting at 26km/h..so more like Saharan than Siberian 😁

Was hoping to go high and cheeky in the lakes on Sunday, but given the hardpack snow still around we will probably go low and cheeky.

Edit : Just checked that out Martin ..winds are from the S.E. 19km/h..gusting at 26km/h..so more like Saharan than Siberian

Nice try 🙂

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=39.0;5.3;3&l=wind-10m&t=20180224/12

Hoping the ground is firm as off for a loop round Stanage, Hathersage, Curbar and some tomorrow.

Interesting site that Martin ..not one that I knew about ..but typing in Weardale , Co.Durham gives the following info ..Wind direction S.Easterly ..wind speed slightly less than I indicated at 14km p/h ..

It’s getting better all the time 😉

Screenshot_20180223-122935 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Stunning ride into work this morning, even though it took 3 hours for feet to thaw and 30mins for twitching to stop having hit some sheets of ice on corners through Kippenrait Glen.

DezBJr is insisting on getting his DH on, so that means I have to take him to the DH park and mince down stuff and flatten jumps like an embarrassing dad on a 29er. Bloody love it 😀

Was out on the Chase this morning. -3 when I set out with full sun. Frozen mud cake everywhere, it was perfect. 👌

Going down to Cannock Chase and back on the roadie tomorrow if my knee holds up and taking one (possibly two) newbie(s) out from Hope on the mtb on Sunday.

Was at Cwmcarn this morning. Ambient was 2c but the wind chill was outrageous!

Lakes was gorgeous today. Not even that cold.

Just spent the best part of an hour writing a report with pics ..which has **** off into cyberspace ..

Simply can’t be arsed to start again ..fantastic ride in Upper Weardale though ..lots of snow lots of ice , blue skies , brilliant scenery and hardly a breath of wind ..

One or two pics now that I’ve cooled my jets …

20180224_111501 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Ice ? Miles of the stuff ..squeaky bum a given !

20180224_113011 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

But where it had thawed ..just great riding

20180224_114546 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Snow? ..just the best grippy stuff ..great fun

20180224_124356 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

20180224_125253_001 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

20180224_125410 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

The drops were pretty special too!

20180224_132220 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Quick sprint round the fire roads this lunchtime with a BB that constantly felt one pedal turn away from disintegration.

Hopefully something a bit longer, but still local, tomorrow while the sun’s still out. Have fitted a new BB.

A lovely day at Comrie.

Eldest_OAB and pal lapped the Red and Black on their own.

Middle_OAB and Mrs_OAB went up the mountain(ish) and over to Comrie, back via road.

I got some quality time with smallest_OAB (all things relative…) to work on his confidence, that has taken a knock or two recently. Managed to get him riding down all the steep lines of drops, sessioned a couple of the steep ups, and got him dropping off properly, and at some speed… He came home walking on air. I might try and drag him out again today, once homework is done 🙁

[url=https://flic.kr/p/23imPEn]Brilliant, chilly Comrie with Ben[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/21UxmXU]Brilliant, chilly Comrie with Ben[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24Exasv]Brilliant, chilly Comrie with Ben[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24AGACC]Brilliant, chilly Comrie with Ben[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24AGAvy]Brilliant, chilly Comrie with Ben[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/21UxmtN]Brilliant, chilly Comrie with Ben[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24AGA8j]Brilliant, chilly Comrie with Ben[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

Bivvy on Leith Hill on saturday night and then a beautiful ride home, with a most unexpected, but welcome, find on the way.

Think I have finally managed to upload pictures

All pleasant in Rotorua, just a little drizzle here and there…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfpJiOLFcvL/?hl=en&taken-by=stewartcarne

I’ve got absolutely no idea how to copy and paste the Flickr BB code into here so your just going to have to take my word for it that the Lakes yesterday were utterly stunning.

No pics, but had a predictably stunning ride from Stanage, over to Blacka Moor, Curbar Edge, Houndkirk moor and finishing with the plantation descent of Stanage back to the car. 99% was frozen with just a bit here and there that had started to thaw in the glorious sunshine.

I went over the chase AGAIN on Sunday inbetween travelling to London and back for a gig after I went to the chase on Friday morning. All in all a pretty damn good weekend for me.

I tried to go out on my MTB for the first time since about September 😳.

Cleared a path to it on Saturday night and noticed the rear tyre was flat. No bother, pumped straight back up.

Got up at 6:30 into the garage by 7 tyre nearly flat again. I was only going out for an hour and a half so pumped it up took my mini pump. Within 10 minutes it was soft again, stopped to put a tube in and noticed the valve was loose, so I screwed that back up and pumped up. Seemed fine then. Off we go.

Got it a bit further and my dropper post went down, came back up and wouldn’t lock again. FFS. Gave up, rode home. Sorted the post out, it was still only 20 past 7, time for a lap of the dog at least. Got to the end of the road and the post went again.

Gave up, sorted the post properly, needs a new cable but I hadn’t got any left so I took t out and lubed it and it was fine. Will sort before the summer comes.

Gutted though, as jekkl said it was perfect over there this weekend. And it was the first chance I’ve had to ride in the light and get one lie in on the same weekend.

We took advantage of the cold and went up onto Cutgate from the Langsett side, most of the ground was firm

@prawny – the moral of that story is….

…ride more!

Lovely and clear around ladybower and not too cold.Bit of ice and snow at the higher levels and mud at the lower.

Lack of fitness on the ups and riding skill on the downs was certainly an issue but that’s nothing time and patience can’t fix and in the meantime I’ll just enjoy the view.

View this post on Instagram

Monday morning in an office, atleast it’s a short week this week and I can look forward to #peakdistrictmtb ride on Friday. #mtb #peakdistrict #ridesheffield #manchestermtb #beautifulplace

A post shared by AJ Stanfield (@ajstanfield87) on Feb 26, 2018 at 12:51am PST