s
beer fest eye candy for boys
So I can’t believe it’s gone so quickly but I’ve only got a few weeks left here now. Continue reading
Love gold?
KMC x9L gold
Suffering rain and mud and stones and dust and logs and then have to jump happily at the touch of a button; it’s a hard life being a chain. Expected to bounce faultlessly over the rocks and then withstand huge tension from my third of a horsepower, well maybe a quarter, we only complain about chains when they let us down. Continue reading
Carl’s crash
So after 35 years of cycling my luck finally ran out and I was hit by a Ford Transit near Hove Station. I was stationary at a junction about to turn left when a van driver on my right decided he didn’t want to turn right anymore and just drove through me. Ironically it wasn’t a white van – it was black.
(The big cut is where my bone stuck out and where the surgeons stuck the two pieces together, and the lower one is for pins.)
fish in the dark
This is the first time I’ve ever cycled with a group and I was a little apprehensive thinking I’d be a little fish in a big pond. Around 20 people turned out on all types of full suss and hard-tails bikes and we were soon on our way a little after 7pm from the University Car Park. Continue reading
Thursday night for me!
Having recently purchased a new bike I felt it was about time I hit some trails having lived in the area for a year or so and not seeing much in the way of countryside yet.
I used to ride a lot of downhill and did some dirt jumping too, but those years are quite far past me now, and I hadn’t properly set foot on a bike for some time. With this in mind I was naturally slightly apprehensive when I turned up at the university carpark to see about 20 riders who looked like seasoned professionals with their bikes upside down and having a good tinker with chains and forks etc!
However I got chatting with a couple of people who seemed like good sorts and before long we were off on our way. Being a rider who used to be quite fit but whos stamina has certainly diminished somewhat I found the pace fairly easy going for the first hour or so. In this time we covered some really nice technical woodland trails at a slow-ish speed with some interesting obstacles on the way. We crossed a set of logs and all was going well until my bike suddenly decided to dive between my legs – sorry to whoever was behind me!
The second half of the ride was more flowing with some really exciting singletrack. I found the pace here really comfortable but quite exhilarating at the same time – those trees really come up quick at this time in the evening! At this point it was becoming dark in the woods which did nothing but add to the fun in my opinion!
Being sort of unfit I was huffing and puffing towards the end, but I just about managed to hold it together!
To sum up the experience of my first outing with Brighton mtb, everyone was friendly, the pace was quick enough to be exciting but not too quick so as to finish you off. The difficulty of the trails was to a level where you certainly needed some experience but there was nothing that really made your jaw drop when you had a glance at it!
So thank you all for letting me come along, I had a great time, it was really nice to get back in the saddle and I’ll see you all soon.
Look before you leap
There is an ongoing problem with certain obstacles being pulled out. You need to check the big stuff before rolling over. If you find a problem please repair it or show crossed branches for danger.
Unhinged
My first bike with two wheels, a BSA, had flat pedals and my second, a Triumph, had toe clips, but time waits for no man so I eventually went through different versions of ‘clipless’ before settling on one or other of the Crank Brothers with a platform. All fine but I still cheated on the jumps. After a play day with Rich who jumps relaxed I decided to learn he old fashioned way. Back to flats on the Wheel of Time. Continue reading
Tom’s first ride
On a warm, maybe too warm, no mustn’t say such a thing in this country so lets go with humid. So on a humid Thursday evening I rolled in to the Sussex Uni car park for my first Brighton MTB club ride. I was filled with a certain amount of trepidation, with feelings of, will I be fit enough, will I be fast enough, what if they have a real fondness for 15 foot gap jumps!
As it turned out the first two I think I got away with and the third was not applicable, at least not on this ride!
So following some introductions we set off in to the woods. What followed was a fantastic mix of climbing, thankfully not too much, great technical obstacles, some of which I cleared, some I didn’t (must try harder!) and some brilliant singletrack ranging from flowing and quick, to tight and technical.
Having spent most of my recent riding alone out on the open downs it was great to be in the woods riding a brilliant mix of obstacles and singletrack with some like minded friendly folk. We were out for just over two hours and kept a nice pace, with some strategic stops at the top of ascents allowing for a quick breather but mostly keeping on the move to maximise the time we had before darkness crept in. The final descent was undertaken with just enough natural light to negate the need for lights but meant that some areas of woodland were dark enough to keep you on your toes.
All in all it was a great ride with only one real incident when someone became more personally acquainted with their handlebars whilst riding over one of the bigger obstacles. I will certainly be looking to join you all again and thanks for the tip on camelbak cleaning, apparently denture cleaning fluid is the way to go.
Cheers Tom.
Black Trail
I looked at the skull and crossbones then bravely ventured on alone. Continue reading
Gill’s second mtb race in China
Sensible girl
- In full swing
Last month I decided to enter a DH race as well as a suitable bike I also needed some protective gear.
The local Specialized guys kindly let me use a 140mm travel Pitch for the weekend. It was a relief not to have to do it on my trusty Giant Yukon, I think it would’ve fallen apart after about 10 seconds! I did actually buy some fake protective gear stuff – well since it’s only plastic I decided it doesn’t really matter if it’s not the genuine article. And it looks pretty realistic for the price, I got knee & shin pads, Fox-branded body armour jacket and dh gloves for a combined total of about 30 quid – not bad! It was really hot and stuffy during the race weekend though so rather than wearing the jacket I just borrowed some elbow/forearm pads instead – which turned out to be a bad decision..!
Oh dear!
The course was around a 2 minuter, with long sweaty push up (groan) through thick forest to the start, then pretty constant steep gradient most of the way down, except for a couple of spots where you suddenly realised the need to pedal but had forgotten how. There had been some heavy rain the previous days and it had exposed some ‘interesting’ long rock garden sections. I managed a couple of fairly ok runs and was pleased to be able to ride it all, but that didn’t last long. The course included two biggish (well in my terms, but they wouldn’t count for much on a World Cup course!) jumps, but they were more like drops to flat really, I guess each was around 5 foot vertical. On my 3rd practise run I was really trying to go for it and took the first drop far too fast and on a bad line that acted like a take-off ramp. I subsequently didn’t manage to get myself in position for the flat landing so bottomed out the front forks and ended up hitting the dirt and using my right shoulder as extra suspension. D’oh! So yes, the result was I had to test out the Chinese hospital system. It turns out to be pretty cheap (7 quid for an x-ray, not bad) but not very organised, or sanitary! Actually I’m considering going back and getting the whole body x-rayed for future reference at that price! Luckily the shoulder’s not broken and they gave me a herbal spray for it. Yes, a herbal spray will fix everything… I sent the x-ray back to a UK doctor (not that I don’t trust the chinese!) and gather it’s ligament damage so just needs lots of rest.”
So end of story is that I’ve been off the bike for this month, but actually it hasn’t been too difficult as I’ve been away in SE China and Malaysia in any case. One-shouldered backpacking can be a bit tricky at times, but thankfully it was just about strong enough for some scuba diving off the Tioman islands in Malaysia. Saw a huge shark, it was terrifying! Then had a very drunken week in Singapore, supposedly for a conference but hangovers made it difficult to pay much attention! I got back to the office here in China yesterday feeling very unfit. First outing back on the bike is this sunday but going to take it pretty easy. Hope the bbq went well? Glad you remember the chocolate brownies! I must make some more of those when I’m back and have a proper kitchen again.
Right, well I should prob try look like I’m working!
Brightonmtb.org 