Thursday 11th June 2010, my second ride with Brighton mtb. Having not been on a bike for over 6 years now, and finally blowing the cobwebs off my bike 2 weeks previous I met the guys in the usual Stanmer Car Park for another fun fuelled evening.
To my complete surprise, I appeared to have lost most of my fitness and bike skills – the fitness and skills I thought would just still be there on tap. Continue reading
Rebuild kits for all Crank Bros pedals are expensive so I bought these instead of re-building some Acids for the same price. They were discounted, surprisingly, as they were in orange…
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This was my first ride at Stanmer Park and I’m still grinning in disbelief at the amount and quality of the single track. You know how it is – the hype becomes more real than the riding -well not this time. Endless ribbons of twisting, turning, feed me faster corners and fades, flick-flacks through trees. Testing all your riding skills. Cunning mixes of flow, power and commitment and the childish chase to keep the rider in front as close as unsafely possible. Pay back time after slogging through the winter mud and cold. Can you tell I had a great time!
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South Indian biking basics
Summer temperatures, in the period before the monsoon starting in May, have been hot on the plains of South India this year; low 40s Centigrade, above blood heat and causing cows to die and Indians to be hospitalised. Retreating to the hill stations like the Brits of old, getting up early and drinking litres of water made biking a practicable proposition.
Although I had always intended to do some biking in India, I had forgotten my padded bike shorts, essential with Indian saddles looking like arm chairs but certainly not feeling anything like that comfortable. My first ride had not gone well and I had severely shredded my bum. Not a pretty sight, I promise (no photo)! My search for ‘tight shorts with padding on the bum’ had caused hysterics in a department store in Mysore. The assistant had tried to keep a straight face as I described what I wanted. Even the thought of anyone actually wearing tight padded shorts in unbearable temperatures proved too much. Her face cracked and she was soon explaining with disbelief to her co-workers what this crazy foreigner said he wanted!
Some improvisation was called for. Continue reading
Last Thursday I joined up with the Brighton MTB for one of their now infamous Thursday night rides.
With a slight degree of nerves – this was my first night ride in a long time – and a large bucket of excitement I arrived at Sussex University Sports Car park. I met Simon – who I’ve ridden with a fair number of times – and got my bike ready. As the clock ticked towards 7pm, various people showed up and did the same with various people introducing themselves to the new faces – mainly myself.
With everyone ready, we set off into the woods. We did lots of nice climbs and some dusty single track. Compared to what I had been used to recently – mostly open tracks and muddle bridleways – this was a breath of fresh air. Continue reading
We arrived at Sussex Uni car park on a very sunny Saturday morning ready to take on some new trails and tricks we’d learnt on the skills course with Astounding Adventures. Having ridden the trails at Stanmer Park the week before, I knew they would be super dry, so I couldn’t wait to get out there.
We were greeted by Ronnie and Mike and after a few more bikers turned up we headed off into the nearest tree line. It immediately felt good to be out with like minded people, and the pace was relaxed. We ducked into a trail and wound up through the woods, straight away I was on a trail I’d never noticed before, I must of ridden past it dozens of times… this was going to be a good day. Continue reading
It started with a couple of people meeting in the car park but slowly it turned into a small crowd.
Lots of faces turned up, some old, some new, at least one with something borrowed and one with a great coloured tyre. Continue reading
We went out on our bikes actually. Continue reading
As there have been a couple of training days this SATURDAY’S ride will be a play day. This will mean stopping and practising technical obstacles and not covering lots of miles. So if you wish to improve your singletrack speed or improve your jumps come along and play.
For those of you who wish a bit of a blast then tonight’s ride should be nice and dry.
Should you go out on a Tuesday night or a Thursday night. Well the answer is obvious Continue reading
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