Everyone’s very quiet? Afraid of a little mud & rain are we :wink: ?

Ok, did a good ride round the Mortimer today and it was, er, very muddy, full of dodgy roots, but still fun :D , so it’s all systems go for 10am at the Vinnalls carpark this Sunday if anyone wants to tag along.

Directions to carpark: From Ludlow head south out of town on the B4361, take the turning on the right just over the bridge after the Charlton Arms, sign posted for the Forestry Commission. High Vinnalls car park is about 2.5 miles up & over this road towards Wigmore. OS Grid Reference: SO474731.

CaptainFlashHeart, i will check with Scott, but this is a 9 year old frame now, so doubt a swing arm will be available anymore.

Reign_Man, on ebay complete Octane bikes of this model are going for between £300 and £400. I paid £100+P&P for my frame in the autumn, so was hoping to pay a similar amount really. Much more and I could buy a much newer model/brand frame from ebay instead. Can do Paypal or cheque el pronto if your mate is interested.

Thanks

Just a few days to go folks :-) I’ll re-post details of the meeting time and place again here on Friday evening, but still aiming for this Sunday morning at High Vinalls carpark, at 10am.

This isn’t going to be a particularly fast ride, so fear not if you are a plodder! This is about enjoying some banter and showing folks the easily missed gems hidden round these parts. It might be muddy though :wink:

Anyone else interested can email me if they need directions, or have a query. I don’t bite :twisted:
benwilliams70ATgooglemailDOTcom

Dibs, no mugshot in your profile so give us a clue then? I see so many people each week my head spins!

Martp, a few nuts have ridden here on SS, but not me! Some big climbs and long steep ramps to cope with. Up to you!

Cakefest, I’m very local & well aware of the parking situation. Parking’s going to be an on-going issue anywhere in this forest venue until the new visitor centre gets built. The number of times we find horse boxes parked across the barriers is the greatest issue. In a medical emergency it could cause havoc. If Vinnals fills us I will direct folks down the Bringewood fireroad to the DH quarry carpark too. The FC leave the barrier open for this very purpose.

Any way, it will probably rain and no one will show except me! :roll:

Just noticed – that grid ref & map are a little out (were taken from Forestry Comm’s website!). Carpark is actually where the pic-nic site is marked on that map about 400m closer to Ludlow :-)

QUICK UPDATE: The Ludlow ride is now confirmed for Sunday 17th May, 10am start – all welcome, so bring your mates. Ride will be XC bias with the odd DH tester thrown in for fun ;-) but nothing a hardtail won’t cope with and the pace will not be frantic. Ride time probably in the region of 2.5/3.5 hrs but this is depending on group fitness, so pack a sandwich (no shops enroute) and your camera!

The meet location will be the Forestry Commission carpark at High Vinnalls, OS Grid Reference: SO474731.
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Directions: From Ludlow head out of town on the B4361, take the turning on the right just over the bridge, sign posted for the Forestry Commission. High Vinnalls car park is about 2.5 miles up & over this road towards Wigmore.

I’ll post a last minute reminder next Friday15th/Saturday16th for anyone else interested! See you there :-)

Been drinking too much Irn-bru?

Seriously though, this is worrying. I wear my left crank arm in this way and can’t stop it as I have a very wide foot and the cleat is set at the extreme already. :-(

Vinegar shifts all kinds of difficult stains. Apply liberally and scrub a bit then chuck items straight in the washing machine as usual. Works well on the chain lube and grease stains I get working daily in a bike shop.

LOL at Willej’s new niche. Looks like your waiting for someone to build you some northshore so you can continue your ride!

That DH pic takes me back a bit. I used to love that short DH course at Cheddar. Very tame now, but it was sooooo fast and frantic back then.

Retro anyone?

Where: Cheddar Challenge downhill race, circa 96? Mate took this of me – I love the evil mission eyes.
Bike: STEEL Specilaized FSR, with Marzocchi DH3 3″ travel forks

And another:
Where: Camping trip up Snowdon in 1993 or 94
Bike: Rigid Orange Clockwork

I use a Giro Switchblade too. Do they still make them? It’s very comfy, light and easy to breath in.

Am I badged as violent now? I’m not really, honest :twisted:

Well done! Not enough people confront these idiots.

I was riding along the canal in Wolverhampton a few years back when two Jonny Foreigners thought they’d knock me off and try to nick my bike.

Now I’m not usually a violent person, but I stood back up with the red mist descending and hit one of them hard as I could in the face. I’m 15 stone and he was about 9 stone (skinny Phillipino/Malaysian type). He went down hard, his mate ran flat out in the opposite direction and I grabbed my bike back to carry on the commute home.

The Mrs b@ll@cked me for having a go, but I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same if it happened again.

Ooh? Could be:
1.Cleats worn
2.Pedal bearing dry/play
3.Shoe just catching the crank arm at higher cadence (my heal twists at higher cadence resulting in the edge of the ball of my foot rubbing the logo’s off all my cranks!)
4.BB cup dry bearing or incorrectly torque into frame
5.Give up visit local bike shop ;-)

Get yourself an Ironman cap to wear to work. They’ll just think you’re late 40’s, but spent too many hard days training in the Lanzarote sun :-)

Knackered but loved it – even if I did land on my b0ll%@Ks coming down to the Helipad! Will certainly be back for more punishment next week or the week after.

Don’t forget my Ludlow STW ride on the 17th May too. Final details will be posted on Friday 15th, but aiming for a 10am start.

Thanks again to everyone for a grea ride!

Stratobiker, I know I should. BUT as I now work at rival shop Epic Cycles I don’t think I can start the ride from Dave & Lyndsey’s gaff without my current boss shooting me :(

There’s plenty of parking at the forestry offices anyway, and we can all pile down to the Charlton Arms beer garden afterwards :P

We’re gonna need a bigger boat…

Ok Mick. Efin’ell, there’s going to be millions of us at this rate! Should have charged a tenner each for my guiding ;-)

I wish I’d carried on with my road rallying when I was 20. I was pretty handy on the Welsh Road Rally schene and wanted to take up stage rallying, but my girlfriiend thought I was going to get myself killed.

She was cute, blonde and I caved in to her wishes . . . only for her to leave me and marry my local MP a few years later!

Mad Pierre YGM !

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ludlowmortimer-forestbringewood-stw-forum-ride-any-one

Why can’t I ever get links up on the forum?

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A long way from Somerset, but you could come camping up here and do our Ludlow/Mortimer Forest/Bringewood ride on Sunday 17th May? Promise it will be a good one :-)

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Nice local pubs too ;-)

I could be tempted Mick, if I get away from work in Tenbury on time. Like Muddypuddle, I’m more St.Bernard class at the moment, but I too know the shortcuts. I also have a natural homing instinct for pubs ;-)

See you 7pm at the Duke with luck!

If your welding friend can weld the cracked top tube area 1st, plus weld a wrap around gusset around the seat tube and back over both sides of the re-welded top tube it might hold up. The trouble is the frame will have originally been heat treated in production, and re-heating during your welding repair may actually weaken it second time around.

I have seen this extra gusset approach done a few years back on my team mate’s downhill bike in the same place and it held up for another 18 months abuse before failing again at the new weld.

The alternative is to search ebay for a bargain mainframe to replace it?

I have done that descent in the past Singlespeedstu, but not in over a year. Mike and Muddypuddle left their ‘bottle’ at home unfortunately – Odd as Muddypuddle seems to think she’s Steve Peat at the moment ;-)

Nice picks of my favourite welsh bothy on Flickr by the way. Have you done Nantsyddion over the valley too?

And a few more…

Mike, Muddypuddle and Epic. Hungry work this riding lark you know!

Mike & Muddypuddle on top of Roman Camp

The ford below Roman Camp.

Top day. I’m still smiling now :-)

All interested names noted :-)

I will try and post a Friday night reminder on a weekly basis between now and the day (Sun 17th May if that still suits everyone), just to remind everyone as it approaches.

I’ll post final place/time details on Friday 15th.

Ok folks. I’ll keep in touch and will post info on this forum + email out more info in a few weeks.

No pics of the Mortimer’s nice singletrack, but here’s the few pics I’ve got:

Evil-ed, it’s a great place! Good mix of trail type from rooty singletrack & grassy climbs, to national level XC & downhill courses, but you have to know where it all is. And as Rivett said, more enjoyable in a dry spell.

I’m just getting over an injury, but I’d be up for organizing a STW Forum ride around the Mortimer/Bringewood local area for Sun 17th May when I’m a bit fitter (I was never fast to start with!), so if you or anyone else is interested let me know. Email in my profile.

Well put Solamanda.

Too many riders are pointing the finger at their bike shop over price increases. Poor exchange rates are the real cause, forcing suppliers/importers to increase their prices.

If this country actually manufactured anything anymore, we wouldn’t be hit so hard.

Gets off his speaker’s corner and goes back to watching the F1 . . .

Drop test is a good ‘guide’ to getting the damping settings correct, but personal preference on the trail also means alot.

Both my current Scott Octane DH rig and Scott Spark XC rig are set up to pass the ‘drop test’ and feel good on the trail. But, I’ve had prevoius full suss XC rigs that packed down on rougher descents if I set the damping to pass the drop test, so I then ran less rebound damping and they rode better on the trail. But ‘failed’ the drop test.

Trial and error is the best way to set up your bike. What feels good for YOU and your riding style/rider weight/favourite terrain, is always best. Not what I, a forum, or Tim Flooks tells you!

I joke about Muddypuddle’s tight lycra all the time. Am I a chauvanist or just keeping spirits high on the tough climbs ;-)

Behave children, or I’ll make you all stand on your chairs!

Sandwich, glad to say our shop (tho’ we’re road only) is just the opposite to that experience.

Forums like this are a lady’s best hope of hooking up with fellow female riders by the sounds of it from this thread.

That said, I’m sure some women would like to ride in a mixed sex crowd?

Muddypuddle, I may be the ‘ex’, but I’m still happy to mountain bike patiently with you if you want ;-) Honest!

I think perhaps shops should be more pro-active in hooking up female riders with each other. A shop held list of local female contacts? It is difficult though, as some women are understandably twitchy about giving out email or phone numbers male store workers.

Muddypuddle, perhaps you should start a ladies ride at the Wyre 1st Sunday of every month ans see who shows? Promote it on here?