Gill’s Adventures in China

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Iconic Birds Nest

I’ve finally made it to China! I had a few days in Beijing initially, staying with a friend – actually arrived on St Patrick’s day so spent my first evening drinking lots of guinness in an irish bar, a great cultural introduction! I’m now settled down in Hangzhou, near Shanghai, where it’s my 3rd day of work. Seems interesting so far and it’s a really pretty city by a big lake. I’m working with all chinese people but they speak good english, when they want that is – the rest of the time I have no idea what they’re chatting about. Got my first mandarin lesson tomorrow, hoping it’s easy?!

New Bike Kit (!)

Exciting news, I bought a bike here yesterday! Ok so it’s a bit of a downgrade, but not bad for about 170 quid. Even has cable disc brakes and some squidgy rst forks. As you’ll see, I ran out of budget at the accessories stage so have ended up with children’s penguin gloves and pink butterfly helmet, nice! I’ve got my first ride on saturday with an expat group here and some trail clearing friday eve.  I’m missing the night rides, no one seems to do them here! Maybe I could get some started once I’ve got the hang of the trails. Although with my navigational skills I’ll be leaving here by then.

On the Start Line

Huangshan MTB race, Anhui province, People’s Republic of China

After arriving Friday evening, I struggled out of bed on Saturday for a 6am hotel breakfast (and I thought 10am at Sussex Uni car park was early..!) I then opted for the 10km ride to the race start in a local village, rather than the provided transport. Inevitably it turned out to be uphill all the way. Still, it was worth it for the novelty of riding behind a police car escort, specially provided for us foreigners. At the race arena we waited in the sunshine for the opening ceremony. All sports events in China are organised by the government and they’d brought in lots of patriotic flag waving youths. Every time an official person was introduced there was a drum fanfare and everyone obediently flag waved. Chinese soldiers stood to attention around the arena, I guess to dispel any unwanted biking riff raff. Needless to say it was a very peaceful event. Well, at least until a local Lady Gaga tribute band came on to finish the ceremony. It all made for rather a surreal start to a race.

The men and women were to start together so at the gate I hung towards the back, thinking the guys would all be really fast. The gun went and we headed off through the village where locals had come out to watch, and on into the rice paddies. I soon realised that actually mountain biking isn’t a strong point for most Chinese people. At the first uphill singletrack section there was a big back-log as they’d all dismounted to push up. Now I’m not the best of climbers, but even by my standards it was a non-technical molehill! The next back-log was where someone had fallen off a little bridge into a paddy. Luckily they seemed to be ok. Shortly afterwards a girl was sobbing hysterically by the side of the track as she’d had a mechanical. So far the race was also proving quite surreal! Getting slightly frustrated by the delays, I decided to put the camera away and try to get past the slower riders.

There were around 500 racers in total, about 60 in my category (the ladies 20km). The course turned out to be really fun – a good combination of dirt road and singletrack with a bit of road work to make the main uphill stretch much easier. After some stunning views down the valley at the end of the climbing, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenging downhill sections, with interesting rocky bits, sharp switchbacks, through a mountain village with 2 flights of stone steps and then down into swooping forest trails. My new found competitive spirit led to some calamity on a narrow section as a girl I was overtaking wobbled, falling onto me so that we both fell sideways. Thank goodness there was some netting there, as there was a massive drop beneath us!  Another interesting bit was a 2nd short section of road, this time through a long poorly lit tunnel. I had my sunglasses on so couldn’t see anything except the light at the end, so I just aimed for that and prayed for no pot-holes!

That’s me on the end

As we headed for the valley again I realised that the finish was close and went for a final push, shouting ‘excuse-me’ in my best Chinese as I tried to get past more riders. With the final exertions I was pretty tired and relieved to ride through the finishing gate. I was greeted by a camera crew (they’re fascinated by foreigners) and had to do an interview while still panting, bright red and sweaty. Embarrassingly it was shown on the national sports channel the next day. My time was about 1hr 15 and it turned out I was 6th in the category, 20 seconds behind 5th place and 10 minutes behind the first. At the prize-giving they weirdly announced the top 6 so I had to go on the podium to recieve a medal and a big cheque. Well in literal terms, not monetary unfortunately – it was about 20 quid and when I cashed it in they deducted 20% tax! Lunch was provided afterwards: a soggy KFC burger. We headed back to town for noodles and cheap beer instead. More promising was the race ‘banquet’ that night, followed by an excellent trials display in the hotel lobby and the return of Chinese Lady Gaga.

The hangover takes shape

Nursing a slight hangover, there was time Sunday morning to explore some more local tracks before getting back on the public bus for the long journey home. All in all, it was a very entertaining weekend.

Abundance of Riches

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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 →

Play day

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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.

Getting the ‘Mojo’ back

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Mojo has returned

All this wet weather has been keeping me off the bike recently. Work, family and training for a marathon have also had a part to play but if I’m honest the mere thought of venturing out into the cold, wet and muddy abyss has been the real reason. I just haven’t been able to summon the enthusiasm.  My last ride involved rain of biblical proportions and more comedy dismounts than you’ll see at the circus. That was 2 or 3 weeks ago. For a regular rider like me 2 or 3 weeks off the bike feels like a lifetime. I was worried I might have lost my mojo and terrified I’d dump riding altogether in favour of World of Warcraft or some other geeky indoor weirdness, where the only chance of my heart rate increasing was if the curry delivery was late. I had to get out on my bike!

So on Thursday with the weather forecast looking good, (crikey no rain for a whole 24 hours!), I ventured out like some beast awakening from its hibernation. A quick check of the bike and it looked ok. I even remembered how to switch on my lights and turn the pedals. This was a promising start.  Riding over to Stanmer I encountered the first muddy trails of the evening and my heart sank a little. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I resolved to stay positive.

Arriving at the car park and my spirits raised as I spotted all the regular faces and  before I knew it the banter had started and my decision to ride seemed totally validated, and we hadn’t even hit the trails yet.

The ride itself was pretty hard in places but great fun. Some of the trails were in awful condition but it didn’t matter. I was enjoying myself and so it seemed was everyone else. Except for Ronnie who lost a pedal then spent an hour looking for it! He did find it though but it involves a conspiracy theory which is too complicated to explain here.

We rode some of my favourite trails which had taken on new dimensions thanks to the mud and wet roots. Slipping and sliding is great fun when your head’s in the right place. Don’t worry about coming off that’s all part of the buzz. Rather than finding it a chore, simply turning the pedals and “getting through it”, I relished these added elements. I even managed a few jumps in places, which feels weird on skinny mud tyres but I didn’t care!

We finished the ride on a high. The last two trails of the evening were relatively dry and were done at a good speed before we dropped into Sussex University campus for some BMX Bandits style action. I played Eddie Fiola and Steve was my Nicole Kidman (with a beard!) as with lights blazing we flew past befuddled students on our way back to the car park.

I finished the ride exhilarated and pleased to have made the effort to ride. My bike was filthy. I had mud in my teeth. But I was smiling because I’d got my mojo back. Winter rocks!

Mark

Parts washer

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How many tools are too many?

Sockets, spanners, screwdrivers, pliers and hex keys are all standard fare for the fettlers amongst us. Some mountain bikers will also use the occasional hammer, but only very carefully of course, and all of us need the one specialist tool that we do not have or has just broken.

Changing a bottom bracket, old or new, requires at least two specialist tools, removing a cassette needs a special socket and a chain whip and hubs and linkages may involve a combination of tools as well as three hands.

Some tools make life easier and these include tiny grease guns that deliver a mini amount of grease in exactly the right place and a little bit more just on your trousers. The most useful tool is undoubtedly a hose but these do not work at all unless you have special brushes shaped like witches hands.

You will need a proper toolbox after a while so you are forced to go to Halfords and compare the feel of drawers fitted with roller bearings with the expert air of a wine taster. You then immediately need to buy more tools to fill it that are all more expensive including different sizes of torque wrenches, a tap and die set, tiny screwdrivers, some needle files, some ratchet spanners and more specialist tools. You have room for a brake bleeding kit and at least one tool needing a battery. This should really be a digital vernier for a tenner but that does not make a noise so a Dremel at eighty is obviously better value. You might not be sure why you need this but polishing tiny bits until they shine is almost an art form. A small lithium ion screwdriver can take off brake discs in a jiffy and is only fifty quid. Hundreds of pounds disappear in less than half an afternoon.

Something that is really useful is a bike-stand but do not skimp on this as a cheap one can be more of a problem than a help. If you have a shed or a garage then you have room for big toys; racks and shelves, a vice, a proper workbench and maybe a few things to impress the visitor.

You can true a wheel in a vice with a pencil but a dedicated unit bolted to the bench shouts expert. A digital scale hung from a hook implies a hidden advantage and a table top jewellers scale betrays a secret vice.

You do not need an air compressor even though inflating tyres would be easy, drying off bearings a breeze, your chain could be cleaned, dried and re-lubed with certainty and you could even justify an air tool. This would make a special noise. But you do not need this. Alec has a compressor but I am not envious. At all.

Instead I spent the money on a parts washer and it is cheaper and smaller to store. It was less than forty quid and is essentially a pump and a filter. Items are cleaned under a stream of cleaning fluid which works well but not like magic. Water based rather than the solvent of old it should be safe for everything on your bike but dismantled assemblies clean easier. Other costs are a tub of expensive liquid cleaner, but it lasts for months, and a few pennies a day in electricity. Maintenance is low but it needs the filtered bits cleaned out and occasional emptying as if left unused mould grows in great clumps.

Overall it works quite well but you could easily make do with a bowl and some elbow grease so it is not recommended as an essential item but it is a nice extra. It does help with chains and cassettes but they need careful rinsing and drying before re-use so it would work better with a compressor alongside.

So add it to your list for a full bike shed outfit but buy the compressor first.

Ride Report 15th November 09: Whiteways

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Half-way round
Half Way Round

Colin from Muddy Moles

Since having the link to Brighton MTB on our Muddymoles blog, I’ve been a cyberspace admirer of the riding at their disposal and what they get up to out on the trails.

My efforts to organise an official presence of mm’s on yesterday’s ride were not successful but I was still dead keen to attend so with the blessing of my wife, God bless her, I pitched up in the car park at Bury Hill for my first Brighton MTB ride. 

OK, whilst it wasn’t raining, conditions were not exactly ideal due to the recent deluges, but you can’t whine about it, just get out and ride.  And what a ride it was.  I’d love to be able to tell you where we went but I actually have no idea.  Lets just say it was the classic Whiteways route concocted (and built in places) by Brighton MTB.

It started on a bit of a downer when Mike got a branch caught in his rear mech which not only got dumped on the floor, but his titanium mech hanger was bent in the process and the thread stripped.  After the usual ‘how many blokes does it take to mend an xxxx’ scenario, we were on our way again, with Mike having to nurse his bike round for the rest of the day.

There followed an abundance of singletrack, large number of drops and roll-ins and a very sizeable helping of p1ss taking, mostly directed at moi and Andy.  Why me?  Well I was looking a bit pimped-up in a brand new White Gore Phantom jacket and white shoes.  That in itself made me fair game but what made it worse was that the combination of a Neoguard on the forks and a crud catcher meant I got barely a speck of mud on me, unlike the others who were plastered in the stuff.  Nothing like a bit of good ole British mickey taking to break the ice and make you feel welcome!

As for Andy, well lets just say that anyone riding such an awesome bike as his Intense Tracer is always going to be fighting against accusations of ‘all the gear, no idea’, everyone waiting to capitalise on his every misdemeanour.  Falling off in style and in front of most of the group on at least two occasions only stoked up the level of ribbing in his direction and thankfully diverted it from me for a short while. It was great to meet everyone and it reminded once again that the beauty of mountain biking is that you can turn up with your bike, as a newbie in a large and well-established group and instantly be made to feel like one of the gang.

Whilst us ‘Northerners’ (as I was referred to yesterday) think that we are lucky oop North in Surrey, there’s a big world out there and you guys darn souf clearly have a lot of trails and a lot of fun within easy reach too.

The 20 mile loop had the epic feel about it, with a little of everything but most importantly, finishing with a massive bang thanks to the final singletrack section full of crests, berms and a large roll-in.  If Carlsberg did route planning, they would always finish this way-guaranteed to leave a large grin on your face for the rest of the day.

For sure, I would love to join you again and thanks to all for such an enjoyable day’s riding.

Colin, aka Whiteboy

Ride Report 26th September: Brighton

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Alice experiences the magic of tangfastics

Alice experiences the magic of tangfastics

My first ride with you guys, feel pretty nervous, number one priority is to not make a fool of myself……….like almost passing out at the top of the first hill!! What a way to introduce yourself to a group (not one I intend to repeat, note to self to carb load next week and not to go out boozing the night before)!

A few Tangfastics later and I’m back to full steam ahead, the group have finished laughing at me and its time to carry on riding in the beautiful sunshine. Unfortunately as it is now 2 weeks (sorry, you’ll soon realise that I’m not the most organised type) since my debut ride, and I’m also totally unobservant, details of the ride are somewhat sketchy. We started off at the University of Sussex car park and headed up onto the South Downs (I think), had a fight with some very overgrown vegetation on route, lost and then found one of the group, and ended up in Stanmer Park.

Then came some awesome single track through trees with lots of obstacles to have fun with – highlights for me included getting over the row of logs (I’m sure there is a technical term for this, hopefully that bigs it up a bit, but I’m not sure what it is!). It was a case of third time lucky and the reassurance of having some strong hands to catch me if I flew off sideways that gave me the confidence to do it. Boosted by this success I also went over what looked like an impossible bit of tree with a ramp down the other side without falling off and felt pretty chuffed.

All in all, I had a totally fab ride and was made to feel very welcome by everyone despite the slightly flakey start. Looking forward to joining you for some more rides soon.

Alice