Back in my Italy office in Liguria for 13 days, beautiful day, but seems so at home to so show us what you’ve been up to.
2 climbs, 2 downhill for 3000ft in 24 miles (though that includes about 12 miles of flat sea front) my legs were suffering from the lack of miles/elevation over the last month or so due to crappy weather.
Couple of short video clips
Sun maybe out but it's still a mud fest in the Chilterns 😕
Yup suns out everywhere except here
Wiltshire wild garlic corridor
Sun was out but the trails were very slippery in the local woods - front tyre ploughing on under braking and the back was all over the place!
Only took one pic as was too busy enjoying the ride. 26 miles, 3600ft and somehow hit 50.4mph somewhere 😳
Was surprised how dry it was after the rain we've had the past few days. Typically though, took a choice on the last descent back down the valley through the woods and it was a complete shit fest 🤣
Wish I was in Italy.
No sun for us. We are out in the Yorkshire Dale's for the weekend. Never ridden in the area before. Found a 25 mile ride so went for a pootle. Apart from one bit of bog the trails were dry considering it rained all night
nope, raining here, all day, no change tomorrow by the looks of it 😞
keep those sunny pics coming 🚵👍
How are we adding photos these days? I haven’t got any of the function buttons to use 🤷♀️
Certainly no sun out here today.
Yeah, I haven’t got a single button tonight 🤷♀️
That's not good.
Kids riding was cancelled due to the state of the trails so we went for a walk...to a waterfall!
Bannau Brycheiniog looking as lovely as ever.
Short ride over the North Downs to the in-laws for lunch. Most of it was a lot muddier than this...
Garlic and bluebells here. It was sloppy in places but surprisingly dry as it's rained ALL WEEK. Fab to be riding in the sunshine and then off to the Ross Beer Fest. Was a good way to spend a Saturday. Feeling a bit *tired* this morning!
Don't think I've ever seen the Bluebells in Ashton Court, by now we are usually back on the natural stuff as it's not normally under water 🙄
"How are we adding photos these days? I haven’t got any of the function buttons to use"
Yeah, me neither - disappeared a while back never to return 😕 - Pixel 6a
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A few shuttles in Rotorua with my eldest, attempted a swim in the lake after but it was Baltic.
Lovely day in the Downs
Sun was out on the Ditchling ridge yday morning, even if Ditchling was still under a bit of cloud. Sun getting through to the bluebells in Stanmer, tho a touch past their peak...
Still sunny in Sussex this morning
Dammit, I didn't ride yesterday's glorious conditions, and now it's grey and rainy in Devon ☹️
Oh well, thank goodness for mudguards and waterproof trousers.
Sun was out in Derby this weekend, Tasmania that is.
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Ticked off the big granite wall ride on cuddles.
Well those pics have made me want visit the Downs this year.
Shortish local Ride in sun this morning after a week of the missus in hospital (now home and on the mend)
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Fun stuff seems the @godsofyair have been out again. Well done craw and the boys.
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- Halnaker/ Slindon woods and up onto Southdowns Way.
35 mile grovel ride today. Didn't take more pics as not long after this on the High Peak Trail, did a bit of I'll get this one, you get the next etc with some gates with a random rider. Got chatting and rode the next 25 miles together.
Glorious out. Spent the afternoon in a beer garden with friends and pizza.. Actually felt like summer. About time!
First ride of the year in shorts and short sleeves. What do you mean it's May already?
i plotted a route to take in the best of the local bluebells including cake and a beer stop
Best weather of the year so far in south Shropshire! 1300m up and down the Long Mynd a few times. Now horizontal on the sofa with a beer, aching like **** and thinking I might have overdone it!
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Riding across Spain, south to north, now in Extremadura. The whole landscape is covered in the most spectacular display of wild flowers.
Second day out in the Dale's. The rain never arrived and it was a lot warmer than yesterday. Managed to find a twenty mile loop from the campsite.
It's always good to be out on the bike exploring
Friday:
Castle Law and Dumyat.
Saturday:
Bluebelly ride in the woods.
Sunday:
Muttlee took me to the brewery via local singletrack.
Saturday morning; woke early with a smidge of a red wine headache. A pint of water, 2 paracetamol and a banana and I went off into the depths of south Pembs to see if the bridleways had dried out and to check out the guillemots. We don’t have the best off-road riding down here but I can pedal to some pretty spectacular places. Ended up doing 30k!
Somewhere in Umbria....
Massive oak forest, endless gravel roads.
Encountered a few cinghiale 🐗 which got my pulse racing (big, noisy grunting male about 120cm high) and a few big deer 🦌.
Dip in the river to cool off.
62km, 1120m of climbing.
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Sunday. Sun. Solitude. Silence. Some mud. Sublime.
Got some good gravel time in with Little Reeksy 1.
Seems I underestimated a 12 year old's fuel requirements. He bonked with 5kms left after two museli bars a banana, a bidon of electrolytes and 1.5 litres of water.
Green, Blorenge and red:
First time I’ve been to the beach this year 🙂
Third ride of the weekend on three different bikes. 120k in the bank. Should probably have saved the ebike for today - tired legs. Fabulous morning and beat the walkers
Early Thurso train on Friday morning, rode home the backroads and gravel through the flow country and glens.
Night one under canvas, two in a bothy. Great wee adventure 😎
bluebells and mud, a May ride
Second ride out on my new Vitus Substance and loving it. Like a rocket everywhere compared to my old Marin. Morning out on the Yorkshire Wolds and wild garlic in full bloom. Bit overcast, sunny rest of the day and trails thankfully drying out. Picnic and park with the family after. Thank goodness for sun and warmth at last.
Awesome pics....!
Had an encounter with two roe deer, one of which was in someone's garden and was trying to jump the hedge onto a busy A road. I managed to caral it and send it the opposite way, but not before it jumped head first into the house's bay window! I then managed to get it to change course up the lane towards the bridleway I'd just come down. Phew!
I think I got most of it on chest cam too, need to check the footage.
I had a most excellent time in the peaks.
Enduroing, bivvying and generally really enjoying myself.
What made it sweeter was that I almost didn't bother. Very lacklustre weather forecast, no riding buddies available, and a tiring week previously meant my mojo was very low...
Braved it anyway...
and in the end... I had one of the best days out I can remember in at least 6 months. Absolutely buzzing after it. The weather for all the below was absolutely perfect.
Just goes to show you should ALWAYS take the opportunity to go on adventures when you can.
Family walk from Edale on yesterday morning. I was abandoned at about 1.30pm. Loaded up the bike and headed for some woods not far away that I've been spying lines in for a while but never properly explored.
First run was a bit interesting all loaded up, but I did impress some kids by sending it over a gap jump set up like that 🙂
After that I hid all the gear in the woods and went off exploring unladen.
Found this (been looking for it for a while). Right at the edge of what I think is just about doable for me (or maybe not...). But I wasn't going to attempt it on my own with nobody to rescue me if it all went wrong and no transport home! The picture does not do it justice just how savagely steep this track is.
Played around for a few hours, had great fun. Retrieved my gear from the woods, then had tea in the Yorkshire Bridge Inn. Adequate burger, but the beer was good.
Up onto the moors to bed down for the night. Quite a few out camping.
I found a nice spot off the beaten track with a great sunrise view. Slept like a baby. Also had some new gear to try out that I've not had chance to beforehand. Super mega, mega impressed with the Sea to Summit Spark SP1 sleeping bag. ~400g, packs down to the size of a large grapefruit, yet kept me cosy in 8c. Also an OEX Heiro stove - very small and convenient, boils rapidly and doesn't rattle about at all when in transit. Also cheap.
This is camp, this morning. Had a couple of brews and some porridge. Warm and calm weather. No midge. No People. Awesome morning to be out, had to keep pinching myself how lucky I was.
Down off the moors to the resr - this is one of my favourite descents in the peak. Absolutely gorgeous. I kept stopping just to marvel at how much of a good time I was having. Like a proper holiday.
Then on to slippery stones...still nobody about so I stripped off and jumped in a few times. Felt awesome.
Up over cut gate, down to Langsett. North America is getting a bit more interesting nowadays.
Then down to Penistone and train home.
Hung my gear up, washed my boike then sat in the garden drinking beer all afternoon
Wonderful.
Found this (been looking for it for a while). Right at the edge of what I think is just about doable for me (or maybe not…). But I wasn’t going to attempt it on my own with nobody to rescue me if it all went wrong and no transport home! The picture does not do it justice just how savagely steep this track is
I've not ridden it yet, but is that 'The Gift'?
Supported Hadrians Wall C2C with a mate I've known over 40 years, courtesy of Peak Tours - grey and drizzly, 120 miles, 2500+ feet of climbing, ridiculous amounts of good food over 2 days. Bloody great weekend.
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Hill above Conwy in the sunshine. Finally!
120 miles, 2500+ feet of climbing
Sure that's not metres? 😉
El Bouf wins
I was up at Arnside for walking a riding, not an area I'm familiar with will go back though. Saturday was generally grim windy and rainy, but sun came out for Sunday, Can you tell where the sea stops and the sky starts..?
@el_boufador - that sounds like an amazing weekend of adventure and the sort of stuff I wish I was spending my time doing (If I was adventurous/fit/motivated enough to do!!).
In total contrast I spent most the weekend sorting out my garage! (But I guess at least I now have room to get to all my bikes and space to Zwift when the weather gets rubbish again!)
Sure that’s not metres? 😉
Was an error, 2,500 feet each day.
@rocketdog where is the second pic taken?
Unbelievably it goes through an industrial estate near a Muller yoghurt factory, looks great, smells like off milk
