Back riding local after 2 weekends away at Hamsterley Beast and Boltby Bash. Tamer, safer, but somehow refreshing. We are a broad church thankfully.

Dropped the boys with their Saturday mtb coaching club and grabbed a couple of painful hours of slog. Saw a 1997 GT in the car park, a washed out bridge and got a photo of an Emu and an Ibis next to a track called Phoenix.

Christening the G1 frame yesterday.

Nice morning in Sheffield

escape

Abigale is back from NZ for a month and this is the first time we have ridden together in over a year.

Sun was out so it was an early start and up into the East Peak. A  pootle over Blacca Moor, playing in Blacca Woods, up for a blast on Lady Cannings and back via Houndskirk.

Summers here in Southern Scotland – maybe one day only though!

Campo Imperatore, Gran Sasso.

This was Friday, but everyday is a Saturday as far as I’m concerned….

Was a good day for it.

And woke this morning to thunder….

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Forest of Dean

Islay / Jura weekend with wife and son

Yesterday: Port Ellen to Ardnave:

Today: Ardnave to Jura

Currently here:

Mrs_oab was back on a bike after an interruption from chest infection and then a broken finger… Ace to be out.

Really funny climbing into a train where every seat was packed and most of the door areas full of bikes and cyclists – there was 11 bikes in our carriage alone…and a guard merrily telling us to squeeze on as no-one wanted to miss a ride on such a nice day. 😎

Everything so overgrown  already in Wiltshire/Longleat

Managed to get out this afternoon thankfully as the weather looks horrendous for the rest of the Bank Holiday 😡

18 miles and every single one of them was more effort than it should have been. Tired legs and lack of energy.

200kg leg presses at the gym yesterday and not really eating this morning would be my first guess at the reasons why 🤣

Was blowing out of my arris a bit too much to get many decent pics. As tame as the trails look, there’s a fab DH just through the trees in the second pic

Jennride in the Lakes. Forecast was pretty bad for today, didn’t fancy Hardknott and Wrynose in the pissing rain, so got as much done as possible yesterday and gave myself a quick blast to get back to Staveley first thing this morning.

Local blast. Thankfully the route managed to combine the best of the seasons…the lovely nettles and brambles of the spring with the glorious mud and sludge of the winter.

Couple of pre noon pints of Enville took the edge off though.

2 contrasting days…. yesterday’s sunny gravelish potter

And today’s very mucky trad xc loop

Saturdays ‘summer’ came and went and back to dodging thunderstorms.

Friend starting to gel with his recent purchase…

Rode Friday and Saturday in the FoD which was fab if puddle-y. Failed to take any pics tho. Second ride was for a friends birthday which ended with pizza’s and beer at a mates fab outdoor pizza oven.

Did fit new higher bars to the Yeti. Anyone that tell you it’s not possible to use a OneUp v2 bar mount with a V3 dropper lever has yet to stoop to my levels of mechanical savagery :)

Also why – on even the simplest jobs – does my workbench always end up looking like this?

Dog it!

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(From Saturday morning)

Eartham woods up onto the SDW, dropping down into Houghton for a coffee. Plenty of happy people out, nice day!

Not a patch on most of your adventurous/scenic photos but I did finally get out on the new Hardtail (Cotic BFe) for a shakedown and muck about!:

A bit more creative than the usual litter in this spot

@jfab that Cotic looks incredible. I rode a modern geometry hardtail for the first time yesterday and I was blown away, I might look at the Bfe.

30km looking for wildlife on Saturday with the mini-a11ys, including two canals, a rotating boat lift, a new distillery, and two big metal horses heids.

Also first outing for new 26″ 100mm forks on mini-a11y’s bike, sourced via @mtbnovice in the classifieds here. Next outing should be much more gnar.

Then a pre-work hoon around the local trail centre before work today. No bank holiday for us. A surprising amount of trail damage from water runoff from yesterday’s biblical rainfall.

@sc-xc thank you! They’re £200 off at the moment for the 27.5″ version…. ;)

I had the fork and wheels from my old full-suspension so rather than sell those for peanuts or leave them in the shed I decided to double-down instead and buy the frame to go with them!

I did also spend most of the savings on getting Cotic to fit the new Hope Bronze headset and seat clamp though to tart it up a bit..

I might look at the Bfe.

You’d not regret it. Love my BFe Max.

DIY duties Saturday and work today meant no long weekend for me, Cutgate was wet but brilliant though.

Tried a different bridleway today. Didn’t go so well, not rideable here especially without gloves or long sleeves! Probably one for the winter when it’s all died back a bit!

Not much in the way of scenery (pic wise – plenty on the ride), just 4 blokes hooning around. 19 miles with some classic local trails. Good laughs, exploding mechs, pub at the end

Traws Eryri over 3 days. Machynleth to Coed-y-Brenin yesterday, Coed-y-Brenin to Betws-y-Coed today, last day tomorrow – Betws-y-Coed to Conwy.

80km gravel ride to Corrour and back. One small (but very wet) shower but otherwise stayed dry.

Late entry from me. After a wet weekend family camping I grabbed a couple of golden hours at Stainburn yesterday evening. Trails running pretty decent considering the rain, and also absolutely beautiful in the woods.

Day 3 of Traws Eryri today. Wet start from Betws-y-Coed but sun was shining as we dropped off Conwy mountain to finish.