Lazy Blogging and not much riding

Since my last blog post I've been quite busy. Work, Life, New Baby (not mine I hasten to add) and I haven't been bothered to write any posts up. I'll just skim over the ride details:


12.5 Miles - Hayfield Mountain biking with Mark B, Dave and Pob.It's one our our regular routes and was really enjoyable with lots of good climbs. Couple with a finish at Rosies for grilled sandwiches and brownies

Shooting Cabins

Top of The Grouse

Whites Brow

13.25 Miles - Mardi Nocturne. Good turnout with Pob, Ian, Anthony and Kyle. Very wet and exceptionally muddy. Great fun.

10.5 Miles - Llandegla in Wales. We go to this trail centre every couple of months or so. Pob particularly wanted to have a go on the new B-Line trail.

As soon as we'd finished climbing my rear mech gave up the ghost and broke. Luckily Pob came up with an ingenious fix:

Tyre lever zip-tied to the rear mech to keep the chain on

We carried on. I was stuck in one gear but it was better than nothing.

All was well until the start of the new section of trail. A couple of us were uncertain about the drop in to the trail. It's a small rocky section with a small drop onto elevated boardwalk. The weather had been pretty grim on the days leading up to it and the boardwalk looked a little slick.

The boardwalk that you drop onto (drop - out of shot)

Dave thought that he'd try the drop onto the boardwalk first as a gauge for the rest of the track. Down the rocks he went...on his front wheel, struggling to stay on the bike. The back wheel dropped and Dave slid off the boardwalk, banging his head and back on the edge as he went. He was unhurt, luckily. I was experiencing a moment of schadenfreude and was in hysterics. Sorry Dave! I decided that I was still going to ride it (to be fair I've ridden it before, so a little unfair advantage). I got to the bottom and waited. No one had followed me down. FFS. I continued on until I could ask directions to get back to the route the others were on. 10 minutes or so later I found them waiting for me further down the trail. And Pob as it turns out. He had followed me down the black and was now having to do as I had and play catch up.

The rest of the ride went without incident apart from my knees complaining about the single gear I was stuck in. Cake, coffee and bacon butties were wolfed back at the cafe.

Pob, Mark H and Me posing for Gratton

21.59 Miles - Short road ride with Jon before he heads of to the World Champs in L.A. I was struggling as I'm coming down with a cold. No sympathy from Jon though. Short ride, low speed. Coffee and cake in Hale on the way home.

379.86 miles for January. I'm going to have a couple of days off from riding as I'm now full of a cold. Roll on Feb!