[Closed] Monday Morning Debrief No. 41 - Where did you get to? What did you ride?

Brechfa black and red on Sat morning.

Then Swansea Wheelers Cycle Club annual hill climb challenge yesterday. 2 min of uphill against the clock on the road bikes. Didn't win but didn't disgrace myself despite recent diet of curry, chips and beer.

No riding this weekend, bike is out of commission.
Did start the conversion to 11 speed though, so got my Hope Pro 2 converted to Evos and fitted the XD freehub, just waiting on the XX1 parts and Hope GXP converter.

Taught my 10-year-old about the benefits of drafting on a 16-mile towpath ride to Saltaire. Little bugger didn't take his turn on the front at any point though, so I'm planning to start an angry thread about that later.

50 ish miles around Elgin and Aberlour, great weather, company and trails.

Short version:
Delayed b'day weekend - 15 mates spread over 2 days - Snowdon Say, Antur uplift on Sun!

Detail:

It was my 40th last year, and the wee man arrived into our lives 3 weeks before so my actual b'day was spent grabbing a quick solo ride in the pouring rain, getting sideways down the back of Mam Tor before meeting my Mrs and son for cake in Hope. Pretty good, but the big bash was put on hold due to the wee man, work travel and various reasons.

My awesome Mrs not only encouraged me to have a weekend away before the next birthday rolled round (it's next Sunday!) but once booked, presented me with a GoPro Hero 3+ to record the action. Stocked!

2 days out, weather window was looking good:

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Saturday:

Lights, Camera, Action!
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2 1/2 hours later after lots of logistical issues coordinating 11 people from all over England, we were on top of Snowdon!

This was shot at 6pm - an hour later than planned, which was not bad, all issues considered:

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Heavy cloud covered the top but we had a few seconds of bright blue sky, above the cloud. Stunning!

Descent down Rangers and Telegraph done just as darkness fell. Mechanicals on the final stretch meant we hit Pete's Eats at 7:55pm for a refuel.

Mad drive to a camping barn, where I got stunning views of the Milky Way at 2am when taking a break from the snorers!

Sunday morning wake up

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Sunday was spent at Antur Stiniog cracking out as many runs as I could. Great day and one of my old team mates was driving uplift, so cool to catch up.

Epic weekend with great mates. Doesn't get much better than that!

Surrey Hills on Saturday so covered some interesting trail names: Foot and Mouth, Barry Knows Best, Worth the Mither, Vauxhall Nova to name a few.

No cycling for me this weekend, thus no funky names, but did set a PB at the Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu, India) half marathon with a 1:20:21, several minutes faster than previous, so overall pretty pleased 🙂

Cheers, Rich

Afan (Whites) and Cwmcarn (Twrch) on Saturday and Sunday with a couple of mates who haven't done much in the way of cycling.

Despite trying, I still can't clear the tabletops at the beginning of energy or the step up doubles on the black section at the top of Twrch.

Not sure whether i need more speed or better technique. One thing's for sure, bigger balls will be required in either case.

Decided to avoid the club hill climb - 8 minutes of pain on the road bike - and instead had a fantastic 3 hours of cheeky, techy, swoopy, rocky riding on trails that cannot be named 😉

Road ride to Bakewell to meet up with old school mates. Instantly dropped back into 20 year old banter, assisted by a 10 hour drinking and eating session. amazingly, no hangover to affect the beautiful ride back.

As for trail names, locally we've got Wikki, the Tunnel, Kate Moss, The off-camber (predictably dull name for an awesome trail), the Quarry,
Farmways, the Wall, the hole-in-the-wall to name a few.

Just a fairly gentle ride yesterday as we were travelling between local breweries who were having open days so lots of beer, music & morris dancing! Using the Crab & Winkle trail which follows the old route of the world's first regular passenger railway.

ooops double post

Just a couple of hours' ride on my new CX frame to check it's hanging together at the Nova and Yer Tiz trails in Bristol. Beautiful weather - especially for October.

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trail name (well, ride name) - [b]Seasons of Mists[/b]
a hilly 100km road audax from Hebden Bridge.
racing the climbs and chilling on the downs (there wasn't much flat!).
good company, good grub, good weather... good beer to finish.

Did FoD yesterday. Freeminers, twice round Verderers and introduced my mates to the joys of DH on Sheepskull. Fantastic riding, great weather only blip was one of our group stuffed the 1st jump on Freeminers and knackered his shoulder..

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Super Secret hill climb event on a closed road 😀 was awesome, but if I told you any more I'd have to kill you.

No riding this weekend.
Sat - cleaning the house followed by a 5-0 victory in the opening league hockey match of the season. 😀
Sun - cleaning the rest of the house. It now sparkles.

Sneaky ride planned for tonight.

I named a local trail, I picked "Accy Girl" because it goes down well 😀

FoD on Saturday, mostly riding the Verderers, Sunday was out on the R1 riding at 140mph 🙂

Short XC ride Saturday morning.

Had to build a new rear wheel for the Alpine ready for Sundays trip to Antur Stiniog.

Got to Stiniog for 10.15, had a great time. Took the wrong turn and done a double black run which was slightly steep at points.

Gravity-slayer, Wayne has uploaded alot of the days photos now.

Crunchy nut ...Hampshire byways with the sound of Beech nuts and Acorns under the tyres.

Saturday, I joined what seemed to be most of the Singletrack office on a ride round Hebden Bridge. It was great to get out on the bike in some decent weather and remind myself how great our out-the-door riding is - even if I wasn't particularly much of a trail god. That's not the point, though, is it?

Sunday and I was off to the far side of Leeds for the next round of the Yorkshire Points Series Cyclocross Races. Riding the same Pivot Vault I'd done the Three Peaks on, I just took the dropper post off (far too many purists around to be safe with that one...) and let about 30psi out of the tyres. The course was fast and fun. Half grassy fields and half dark singletrack, just on the right side of greasy. I didn't bother the top half of the field, though I rarely do, but it was another great leg stretcher in some balmy autumn weather. I reckon we're nearly ready for winter now. Not quite. But nearly.

Trail Name: Hurtmore Woods.
Bike: Nope, Trail running.
Alone: Nope, with Mates.
Have Fun: Yup until I fell in some thorns.
Did I PB, Nope, first time there.
Will I go back: Yup, but take my CX bike.
Did I drink too much in the evening: Yup which meant Sunday was a little late starting.
Shopping with the MrsB: Yup, spent far too much on enjoying buying clothes and chilling in the fabulous sunshine.

gunnerside gill sat.clarty as hell and loved it.strava informed me we did Kitch's broken chain and electric gate.also found out that tryin t keep up with an orange five is hard work on a hard tail

longish ride round the local loop + a few extra bits with the normal suspects but was riding my new 29er(Trek fuel ex6)for the first time so good weekend in all and riding tonite as well 😀

no cycling this weekend

built a shed

next weekend the hills of pitlochry and the moulin moors with local guidage 😀 + beer and bbq

Was BBQing all day Saturday for the missus' birthday then managed to drag myself out for a couple of quick hungover descents on Sunday (Blue Pig & Pecket Well). Having lived somewhere with no local riding for many years I have to say I am loving being able to pop out for 40 minutes and ride a couple of nice technical descents.

Glorious day yesterday too.

Road riding till the broken thumb heals and I can take off the splint. 140k trip into the hills north of Melbourne (Warrandyte, Kinglake, Flowerdale and Glenbourne). Beautiful scenery and I hadn't ridden out that way much (although not as much fun as the mtb trails up that way)

Saturday - Pootle with the kids

Sunday - 32 miles of woodsy singletrack, Clumber and Sherwood area.

Bike: 26" singlespeed with v-brakes.

Time of year when my asthma starts to play up, given the cold misty start opted for a quick hour on the road bike Sunday morning before taking the SS over to watch the local CX.

I now want a cross bike.

A bit of Off-piste Cannock Saturday. Got a bit lost having only been shown the good stuff once so had to give up after a while.

Sunday, we did near 30 miles based from Whichford woods in Gloucestershire. Weather... WTF?! Awesome day, felt like Summer... 🙂

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After a busy biking summer, other projects seem to have got in the way recently, and this w/e was my first ride for 6wks!

Nothing even remotely tricky, just local flat land bridleways etc, including "Flytipper" and "There be pikeys", still was a beautiful late autumn sunny day down by the river:

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(never knowingly underbiked)

Need to get fit again for the Snowdon run though........

A bimble down the steel city DH and Pub run @ Grenoside. Immense fun on a lovely sunday morning.

Saturday - chilled day out in Hamsterley with "the girls" where Ahsat of this parish attempted to teach me how to go downhill with a bit less fear and a bit more finesse. All was going well until she picked up a bit too much speed going down "Accelerator" (appropriately enough) and became intimately acquainted with a tree.

Sunday - attempted to put my new found skills to use in Chopwell on such trails as "Rez's squirrel shock" (would love to know the story behind that!), "Bananarama", "Boneshaker", "Roots" and "How flow can you go".

No pics, was too busy having fun 🙂

ir_bandito - Member
Road ride to Bakewell

From Hexham? Good going. That LEL must have changed your perspective of distance 🙂

my mate came over and we went out for a ride after dark on Saturday night, starting through Hanchurch forest near Stoke. Stopped for a minute at the top and got passed by 2 guys on Quad bikes razzing it through the forest, VERY LOUD in the darkness, we cacked ourselves as they came up behind us in the dark. Then a little later on we got passed coming the other way by a guy on a dog sled on wheels getting pulled by 3 dogs, excellent, the things you see!

Tried a local trail known as the "Route into Mordor", apparently named after the sudden change from bright Spanish sun to dark, tree lined tunnels - quite surprising in this area, where most of the vegetation is either pine or low bushes.

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It runs through a gorge cut the River Aulencia, starting at a small dam at the top, dropping 250m in height as it runs mainly downhill towards the local town of Villanueva. It was a very pretty trail, but not one I'll be repeating soon on the bike: there were just too many points that were impassable on a bike. Still, it was worth checking out so I don't feel too bothered.

5mile run(and lots of walking) on Friday
50 miles solo on Saturday
50 miles club run on Sunday (bailed out after the Cafe stop as my legs weren't having any of it and took the short route home).

Torridon.

Amazing as ever and enhanced by the Torridon Inn having a beer festival. 🙂

PBW around Piethorne and Saddleworth. All good, although the HT was a bit knife to a gunfight on a few descents.

Yesterday was the first ride on my new winter bike a Genesis IO. First time riding singlespeed and rigid.

16 miles ride via Ditchling Beacon (ice-cream stop!) then out on the SDW and back via Stanmer woods. My knees hurt a bit today but it was ace 🙂

Walkies, Double Rock, PGTips, Slipper, Poop Chute, Neddy Build, Doggers Quarry, Doggers Car Park, Viewpoint, See Saw, Meadow trail, Happy Valley, Trig Point, Henge, Pump Track, Suicide, Much Steepness then out and back via Walkies the other way. 30 miles. Lush.

Ended up riding on road both days. 40+ miles easy chatty ride on Saturday with a mate, and then on Sunday went on a bit of an explore, to try and link a couple of our regular rides. Ended up not consulting the map as often as I should and getting a bit lost, but did 60+ miles in the Surrey/Sussex countryside which can't be bad!!

100k ride from Meeth to Braunton & back along the Tarka trail. Made it a little tougher on my single speed. About 7 hours including beer stops, great weather too!

Coed y Brenin Enduro 60km route in rather fine autumnal weather. Got back in time to put bike in garage ready for thieves to take all my bikes in the night 🙁

In a hateful mood...

Saturday - chilled day out in Hamsterley with "the girls" where Ahsat of this parish attempted to teach me how to go downhill with a bit less fear and a bit more finesse. All was going well until she picked up a bit too much speed going down "Accelerator" (appropriately enough) and became intimately acquainted with a tree.

Do as a I say, not as I do!

And NEVER try to look cool! It will only go wrong!

Saturday was spent decorating the bathroom but Sunday was spent trail hunting in the Wyre Forest.

Thanks to friendly locals and a bit of Strava usage I managed to find some really good stuff to ride.

Went up Helvelynn on Saturday for the first time, Sticks Pass is pretty special! I'll be riding that a bit more often!

A weekend of Hampshire riding that included very quiet trails. Saturday saw me enjoy a post-ride tea stop at a newish quirky little cafe in a tiny village. Mismatched china that included a bone china cup and saucer, together with nice food, guaranteed that I will visit again. 😀

Sunday saw me riding in a different area of the county, again most pleasant with smiley walkers and cycling families. Only annoying part was a bridleway fenced off so that's been reported to the Council ROW.

All on a 140mm travel FS. 😳 8)

No proper riding Saturday apart from a pootle down to the post office, went down Welford Road to watch the Tigers vs Saints, crap for the first 70 minutes and then a great last 10 as Leicester snatched a draw (which should have been a win) from the jaws of defeat.

Sunday I got up early (ish) and headed up to the Peaks on my own, started in Hope, up to Hope Cross, down Potato Alley, up the other side to Hagg Side, down the Screaming mile, round the res and up to Winstone Lee Tor, down to the Ladybower Inn, up past Crookhill Farm, down the switchbacks, pushed up the Beast and back down into Hope. Great ride and fantastic weather.

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The mtb is broke beyond my useless skills so I've had to drop it into the LBS. Consequently it was 2 hours on the singlespeed on the roads. just on 30 miles when I got back.

Drove over to Stif to pick up a mech hanger and walked out nursing a semi at the Santa Cruz v10 and 650b carbon Bronson on display.

Showing a colleague and her son around Clayton Vale on Saturday 🙂

Laundry etc on Sunday 🙁

Only annoying part was a bridleway fenced off so that's been reported to the Council ROW.

Have received not one but two acknowledgements today and apparently is receiving 'priority'. 🙂

On Saturday I did the Nine Lakes Challenge for BBC Children in Need around Ambleside, Waterhead, Rydal, Grasmere and Langdale... 50km of off road biking and hiking... Corporate teams but great fun and we raised over £60k to date! Weather was super kind given it threw it down on Friday and Sunday

Snowdon Saturday 🙂
Cli-machx Sunday morning followed by a Dolgellau-Barmouth pub run in the afternoon. 😀

Popped up Helvellyn on Saturday bit blowy on the top but dry all day. Cracking decent down Sticks pass. 😀

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Wirral Circular trail, starting in Hooton and covering the full loop. Gets a bit complicated around Birkenhead area but otherwise ok.
Fantastic weather and great views, only downside was my nagging feeling the car park at station might get locked only to find out it open till midnight
Took my son with me so used 20year old Specialised as a handicap