'Radical Amusment'
I bought a Nicolai Helius AC in July 2010. I rode it for a couple of months until the winter mud set in, now that the local trails are drying out it is fast becoming my favourite bike.
This is the second Nicolai that I have owned so I knew what to expect in terms of industrial looking tubes and lovely big welds!
Innerleithen trail hill
A couple of days after our return from Scotland and reflection reflection on the trip and trails. To summarise; not all trail centres offer the same riding experience, pick one that suits you and a great time can be had, on the other hand one that doesn’t tick your boxes isn’t really going to enthuse you or your riding.
The weather during our trip was hot – mid 20 degC – with absolutely no wind and the trails were bone dry, lovely.
We arrived at Bryn Bettws Log Cabins situated in the heart of the Afan forest late on Thursday night. It was the first full season the cabins had been open and we quickly made ourselves at home celebrating St Patricks day with a few cans of the black stuff.
The next morning we woke early and got stuck into making packed lunches and sorting our bikes out for the days riding. By 10.30am we’d driven over to Glyncorrwg MTB centre only to discover that a few of the Afan trails were closed due to winter damage and the Japanese Larch virus that was forcing the Forestry Commission to fell 13% of the trees in the area.
The snow and mud of winter always takes a toll on a bike so the change of clocks should be seen as a prompt to cle
an your bike. As Easter has now been and gone you need to do your spring clean before it becomes a summer clean.
Formula Brakes
For the last 3 years I have used Formula ORO k24 brakes with 180mm rotors. Compared to the previous brakes I had used the k24′s were in a different league for stopping power and control, they have also been very very reliable.
At the end of 2009 CRC were selling Formula ‘The One’ brakes at half price so I got a pair. Then in September 2010 I found that Formula were selling brakes directly from their website, including VAT and shipping a set of both front and rear brakes were less than a single brake at UK prices. A few e-mails later and I had a set R1′s and ‘Mega’ brakes. I have now used all of these brakes on my FS and hardtail and this is a summary of my experience. Continue reading
Well, it has started.
Good news folks!
The fanfare around the official launch of the South Downs National Park has been suprisingly quiet about one aspect of the newly anointed status…..parking fees.
Check this out at 'active maps Ltd'
A while ago we were asked to contribute to the South Downs section of a new publication…..We provided lots of photos for the South Downs area (including my favourite of Rob dP on p16) and some ideas for riding spots in our corner of the world.
New Face
Where I live in Brighton has a whole community of urban foxes but hopefully this fellow wont move in.
It may be a bit of a long shot but…..check this
Thought I’d give you a quick update on my riding, did the 3rd round of the Gorrick series today, decided to race open as I’m never sure what level I am. The pack started slower than I expected so I made my best effort to push through, but its tricky in a big group, so I was held up in the singletrack which saw the leaders disappear as I found it difficult to overtake in the twisty singletrack and I try to be as polite as possible. Continue reading
Gill enjoys a Scottish summer!
Here you go for a description of the Strathpuffer 24hr race I did. Not sure it’s going to draw people to Scotland though! Continue reading
