Romper la cadena

No rain for a week, and 11' C .....fabulous!

Today's ride sort of went like this:

It's too hot

Paul breaks his chain

It's freezing standing around

We get going and it's too hot.

Paul breaks his chain

We freeze

We over heat

Paul breaks his chain

We freeze

Other than that it was a good ride, just the right side of slippery! we put in a few good climbs and some nice singletrack.

Jane was very strong, Paul was strong and I was ok in the technical stuff :)

winter mtb rides

It's soooo cold at the moment, but so beautiful. We've had a couple of days of high pressure and blue skies.

Paul was racing at Thetford and JD is either working or in America (she seems to oscillate between these two states at the moment) So me and Jane went for a steady ride around the downs. We didn't encounter much mud, as lots the ground was frozen. Neither of us had much going on in the legs, we had ridden to Gatwick and back yesterday for a biochemistry lecture - which I did enjoy. Except that because there's no
God in science anymore, quantum mechanics is the new explanation for everything. ie

" How can that happen?
" It's entanglement"
"What's entanglement?"
"Well you take a cat, a box and electron at this end of the universe and one at the other end." " ....er ok and..."
" Well no one really knows, it's best not too question it too deeply you just have to believe it"
" Ok, so it's a belief system?.......like er ...... " :-)

Anyway our legs were at the other end of the universe, so we plodded through the beautiful crispy day. We managed three and a half hours with one stop at Peaslake. Where Greg and Lisa were hosting a Moosecycles test ride day. MOOSECYCLES

It was lovely to see them and they gave us cake... hurrah!

Ground Zero

Now after two weeks off the bike I'm ready to start getting fit again.

I did a small ride with Jane yesterday and and when I got back Ironbike had offered me a free entry to the race for next July!

I think the pain of this race has almost gone :-)

How do I get fit for this race though?

thetford round one

Paul's report:

The weather forecast said 6°C with 29mph SW winds. It was at least 8°C if not 10°.
A bit chilly perhaps but not cold.
I had unfortunately put two layers on regardless, so hot but not, not sweaty. Their were salt marks on my arm warmers when I finished.
This wasn't helped by the fact that the wind was 29mph at least. I even felt it in the trees at times. There were a couple of descents I pedalled down in a smaller gear than I know I've ridden up in the past. And one ascent into the wind just became speed sapping rather than a hammer grind. But as it was a southerly wind I think that's why it wasn't so cold.

The course was very good, I wasn't. Lapped on the fifth lap. I only just got through in time for a seventh lap too (five minutes to spare - they let one guy through with a second to go though) so could have been two laps down on the leaders.
Mainly dry with lots of singletrack. This was good but for the 'two hour' boys behind us bad I imagine.
They usually set off 15 minutes after the 'four hours' which gives a good time for everyone to spread out.
Today though we had two minutes silence for remembrance then a memorial poem was read out. Then the 'four hour' ladies went, then with a two minute gap we went and the 'two hour' lot left 5 minutes after us. This meant they were on us about half way through lap two having passed those behind while we were still in bunches - hard work and annoying
.
I had one off incident. Whilst riding in a chain of about six of us, I was in about fourth following hard when I guess we caught up with a slower rider with nowhere to pass and all came to a very sudden stop. The only place I could see to avoid the rider in front was the floor so I chose that option. Soft without roots I'm not sure I didn't just bounce back up again and carry on. In fact I'm not actually sure I hit the floor, feasibly I somehow stuck my foot out and kicked myself upright again from a very acute angle.

I faded from what was only a reasonable speed anyway during lap five and just kept hanging on for lap six, but about two miles into the final lap I saw two guys ahead I knew were on the same lap as we'd yoyoed earlier and was sure one was a veteran.
Having just had a gel, some Clif Bloks and some energy drink I chased, caught and passed them then kept going hard to the end because one of them gave chase - the bugger. He finished less than 100m behind me.

Another great day and though there is a semblance of mud on my bike, it's not too much.
With race numbers going up to 935 I am no. 3 for the series. Lets hope I'm top ten at least then.

Results: timelaps 10th excellent, well done.

Ibiza

The obligatory sunset beach pic! :-)

Just back from a nice week biking and hiking in Ibiza. I love riding the stiffee.

We went to see a local race in Cala Bassa and met up with Art the friendly kiwi ex-pat from Can Trull where the night races are organised and Juan Ferrer the organiser of this race and owner of the big specialized dealership in Eivissa. Juan offered to take us out to show us the riding on the west of la Isla Bonita. Some new trails for us at Xmas! Hurrah!

Now is a very scary time for me, I'm going to take two weeks off the bike! A week is the most I've stayed of the bike for many years.

I feel that I need a good rest for for my tendons and other connective tissues, so no running or hiking either.

over the hill gang

Roger couldn't make the Tuesday mtb ride and because I'll be on the mtb (btt) in Ibiza all of next week :) I went for a road ride with the over the hill gang.



Today's ride was out to Heaven Farm near Danehill.

Yet another beautiful day. The back roads were a bit greasy from the fallen leaves, but no one was being heroic today and we had a nice steady ride. A 100 km in around three and three quarter hours.

I find chickens around my feet a little unnerving.

Sunday Ride

I keep thinking it's the last, but autumn keeps squeezing out one more day of great riding.



A bit cloudier today and the sun took longer to burn through, but the trails are still bone dry and hardpacked. We barely saw any mud and the roots were just on the right side of grippy :) Even the bridleway past High Ashes farm had a dry route through it! Normally only dry in high summer.


Me, Paul and Jane took in three and three quarter hours of the Surrey Hills' finest singletrack, with the obligatory 'burn up' across Deerleap on the way back, where Jane attacked us both on the last section. I just about managed to get back on before Westcott.

And just as I think my courgette plant has given it's last, it produces another :)

Autumn in Surrey

Today was the invitational ride for the swrc, the idea is that we invite non members to try a club run. Me, Jane and Roger opted to guide an mtb ride. The road rides had a response, but we had nobody. We hadn't really expected anyone to turn up, Cobham isn't a great place to start a mountain bike ride. It seems that most mtb'ers like to ride to the 'trailhead' as it were :)

So me and Jane rolled back over through Cobham common and up onto Polesden Lacey(Roger had remembered that there was a Surrey league x country running race this afternoon and was most expeditious in zipping off home to get changed). From what was a freezing cold morning emerged a beautiful warm sunny day....again! This month has been fantastic. This area has lots of Beech trees and a good deal of the ride was spent crunching through crispy leaves and beech nuts. We spied a few fungi en route but without our SoCal fungimeister with us to identify them, we let them be.

We did spot this sign for the lco:)

On the road to Camilia Botnar

According to the oldsters in the club it's the social season, which means rides with tea stops......hurrah!

So me and Jane set off for the Camelia Botnar garden centre in thick mist and a chilly 14'C.

We've had lots of nice weather like this for the past month, chilly misty mornings, with the sun arriving to burn through and reveal beautiful blue skies.

Today was no exception it was so warm, that we sat outside at the café. Jane ate all of the little rocks of sugar and felt a bit giddy until it kicked in at Col du Colgate!

Now my legs hurt :-)

The Sugar loaf from the

Today we got back to the Sundayrider's winter walks in Wales. Today was the not often visited trek to the summit of the Sugar loaf via the route for the Three Peaks Challenge.

After spending the summer walking and running in Ibiza, the lco was much faster than last year. Jane was of course mostly running some 'hill repeat sessions' to 'earn' next month's golden figure :-) Ramón had cold hands.

The weather was mainly cold with icy rain on the summit.

Jane wins!

Jane took 1st place in the Dorking and Mole Valley AC winter series opener.

Another trophy :-)

Sunday ride

The mighty Dinsdale came for a Sunday ride today.....hurrah! and she brought cake....hurrah! That she'd made for Greg's birthday....err ...oops!

Happy Birthday Greg :-)

It had rained heavily during the week up until Thursday and even a bit last night, so we thought it was going to be a muddy one. The trails were surprisingly dry and the sun came out for the whole three hours. We kept to the well drained sandy areas over at Holmbury and then up over Leith to do some of the singletrack. on the way back we came through Denbies vineyard, where the grapes are almost ready for harvest.

Jane was flying and super strong today.

JD was strong and steady and getting stronger toward the end of the ride, she took 3rd at the 24/twelve a couple of weeks ago.

Ramón was suntanned.

Paul is at the Trans Wales this week, good luck!

Ibiza

I've been in Ibiza for the past week, doing a bit of riding to test my knee tendonitis

For some reason my knee is ok on the stiffee and the blur, but not on the giant xtc. The giant is quite a small frame compared to the other two. So I've stripped the giant and built up a Marin Indian Fire Trail frame that I've had lying around in the attic since riding La Ruta on it in 2003. The alloy frame is around the same weight as the slightly over built carbon frame, so it builds up nice and light.

My next trip to la isla blanca is october and coincides with a round of one of the island races. I'd better get training.

And gets a hosing down from the LCO

Juanita gets a soaking from the lco after her very hot ride in Ibiza....

Juanita is in Ibiza

Juanita dice:

I am resting en la cima de St Lorenzo. Es muy caliente :)took the climb easy and did 11.55 es vale. Wish ramon was here to guide me down the single track.

ramon dice:

I will be there in three weeks....hurrah!

More mega

Some snow pics from photobreton


Some on the course pics again from photobreton


The photobreton guys were all over the course. Here am I just about to dab, the photographer kindly didn't use the next photo where I'm scooting :-)

They know their stuff.....make the customer look good!

Megavalanche

July 6th

Arrived at Bourg D’Oisans and found La Camping Cascade with some help from the information centre. We had signed up for the platinum package and so have to sign on at the station in Oz en Oisans, because apparently we’re also racing in the Oz avalanche. This is a lovely wiggly mountain drive past Lac du Verney at Allemont. Luckily the lady at the speaks a little English and says we can’t sign on until Tuesday, but we can sign up for the week long ski pass we’d also paid for. We see a couple of riders coming off the top of the mountain and Gary and Barry get even more excited. Back at la Cascade I meet three guys from Leeds who’re here for the mega and the say that there are doing a ride tomorrow from near the lake. The are driving to the lake and catching a bus from Allemont up to Oz en Oisans for the ski lifts and routes in the area. They said they’d let us know how it went and give us some tips. I was feeling pretty over stimulated from the map reading and navigating, so shut myself away for a sleep and some recuperation. Tomorrow we will probably head out to Les Deux Alps for our tentative first riding in the alps experience.

07 July
Woke about 7 am to torrential rain and went to sleep until 9.30.
We may go shopping whilst it clears. We shopped.

Some time later we set out for Alpe Duez. At the top we spoke to some riders from north London who suggested we could go to the top of Dome des Petites Rousses at 2810 hm, to ride the mega qualifier. We took the télécabine up to the next stop (no name) at 2110 and rode down a track people were calling the 4x. This was excellent, a serpentine bermed hairpin wiggle punctuated with wooden bumps all the way back to the Alpe Duez station. I felt quite nervous at the top because it was the first time I’d worn the full face helmet and was quite concerned about how much peripheral vision I had lost when it was on. It was good to get on the bike after we’d faffed about all morning. We rode this once more and then Gary and Barry wanted to go to the top of the mountain to try the top part of the qualifier. This didn’t quite go to plan. Our instructions were to take a short fire road to the next station, we took a footpath that wended it’s beautiful way around several small lakes, and tough hike a bike sections. Pure Trans alps terrain. I hate this stuff with a passion and usually try to get it over with as fast as possible, but I had to keep them in sight. My regret here is that I didn’t turn back as I felt I should, because it was obviously the wrong way. So I was furious with myself, I didn’t need to carry my bike across rocks, I needed to ride it downhill. Still, an hour later we rocked up at the station only to find a half hour wait before the next car. We grabbed a very nice coffee from the lovely proprietor who was just about to shut up shop. At the top whilst the others had a fag break I went to investigate and play in the snow. I punctured quite soon. We rode the fire road down Barry unwilling to stop to look for the right track. We reached number two, this is part of the mega and was quite enjoyable.

08 July

Go up early to sign on for the practice of the Avalanche trophy. We put our boards on the bikes as no one was allowed on the course without. This was my first experience of a proper full on downhill course. It started on a gentle ramp and immediately dropped into a very steep chute with tight berms, which was ok I can ride this. The next section steepened more into axle deep mud on rounded rocks and was horrible! It was rideable but I felt that I’d only just got through by the skin of my teeth. Next a few more steep chutes and berms, but with more rock under the wheels. Then a flat section which pitched almost vertical downward on a large flat slab of rock with various wheel sized holes and fissures and only a narrow line through. I baulked at this and stopped to look for the way through. At this point Gary came through and rode straight down it! Well done Gary, I immediately followed his line. The rest of the course was steep chutes and berms, all very nice and doable, culminating in a couple of the classic grassy switchbacks with a floaty jump into the arena. Just like on the telly, except there was no one sitting in an inflatable chair and I didn’t skid into the barriers, a la Stephen Peat I’d enjoyed most of the course, it was just the muddy section and the rocky slab that had scared me. I felt that I’d been lucky to get through these sections. And so, hoping my luck would hold, I went straight back to the télécabine and up for another try. The mud and the slab were no easier, though the rest of the course was very nice. At the bottom I saw Barrie, who was pretty shaken up, he said that he’d lost it on the muddy section on his first run. I asked if he wanted to come up with me for another run, but he didn’t. He had the look in his eyes. I knew I had the same look. The ‘Oh my God, I’m in at the deep end and my feet don’t touch the bottom’. Which surprised me as he is the downhiller of the group. I set off for a third run, thinking that I had a mere thimble full of luck left. This time I set off with a group of riders. At the mud (la boue) section the guy in front of me flicked left and rode the rock wall and dropped in at the tail end of the mud section, I followed suit and cleared most of it. Wahey, I think I just traded some luck for skill J On the next sections I moved out to let a few of the faster guys pass on the inside. At the top of the slab we all skidded to a halt and I heard someone shouting chute, chute! At the bottom I could see them picking up and dusting someone off. After a good few minutes the marshal started to wave us through one at a time. As the guy in front was just leaving the slab the marshal waved me through, I popped onto the slab and at that moment the guy at the bottom went over the bars. The marshal screamed at me to stop, but it was too late I was on the slab. I could see him lying across the exit, at this point slomo kicked in and time stopped! I tried to track stand but the bike just moved forward with both wheels locked. So, nothing for it but to try to bunny hop him. I remember hearing my self shouting ‘Coming through!’ and wondering what it would be in French? This motivated the marshal at the bottom, who was suddenly aware that I was on the slab. He grabbed the fallen rider and dragged him to the side as I was lofting the front wheel off the rock step at the end of the slab. Then slomo kicked out and the sound came back on. At the bottom I spotted Gary and Barrie, Gary was holding his shoulder. Oh dear. He’d gone over the bars on the slab and landed on his shoulder. I now realise that Gary must have been the original chute at the top. A quick examination of the shoulder showed a grade one subluxation of his right acromio clavicular joint. We started treatment immediately with cold water and anti-inflammatories. The bike was also fubared, with a broken hose. Practice over. The guys at French Hope were very helpful and would have fixed the brake, but couldn’t let us have any fluid. Barrie took the chance to buy some parts that he’d forgotten.  Back at the car Barrie immediately started to bad mouth them for not having enough brake fluid! 

We decided to go back to Alpe Duez to do the first part of the qualifying course and the second part of the mega for the afternoon. The upper part of the Q course was incredibly rocky and in places didn’t seem to be a course at all! I could see a few areas where I would be walking and where others would crash. The plan was to turn back to the Alpe Duez station and do parts of the mega, but at the top Barrie followed the signs for the rest of the Q, this took us into the next valley. A quick look skyward showed no sign of cable car wires. I stopped Gary to point this out, but we could do nothing but follow, if he crashed somewhere whilst alone….etc

This section was classic alps xc riding tight rooty hairpins leading into off camber wooded sections. We took this very steady because of Gary’s injury. Though  Barrie didn't want to wait. 

At the bottom, we met some other guys and I recognised that we were on the road to Oz en Oisons, a couple of km’s climbing would take us to the télécabine station. Excellent if it was open! It was now well over 30’C and the road was open to the sun. I decided not to hang around in the sun and set out to the top. I caught a guy at the front and we rode together for a while until it got windy, when he sat on my wheel. I sat and spun a low gear, a 35lb bike and five inches of travel discouraged any mashing. I saved a bit for the sprint, but as I approached the top a quick check and he was off the back. The télécabine passed over the DH course we’d ridden earlier, it was now bone dry. I called Gary to tell them where to get off. At the top I waited for 20 minutes when I realised that the télécabine had stopped running, they’d missed the last one. I took the opportunity to ride the twisty 4X track to the Alpe Duez station, where I met Roger, Gary’s friend. Gary had called and asked him to go and pick them up. Gary’s car was here, but Gary had the keys in Os. As our campsite was at the bottom of the road to Alpe Duez I jumped at the chance to ride down the famous hairpins.
I rode back up in the camper with Roger to pick up the others. Then they went up Alpe Duez to get the car, then Roger came back, Gary had left the key in his bag.

09 July

The plan today was to ride down from Pic Blanc at 3330 hm to Alpe Duez station. This is the first part of the Megavalanche. At Alpe Duez we unloaded the bikes and Barrie and Gary had a smoke, I took this opportunity to catch the télécabine to the next station and ride down the 4x course. They were just finishing when I got back. The trip to Pic Blanc took two télécabine rides. The second seemed full when we got there but the attendant pushed everyone closer together and squeezed us in. No one seemed to mind that we had three huge bikes with us. The first three km’s is deep snow and very steep, great fun! On the steepest section, I fell and slid for 400 metres on my backside, I remembered to hold onto my bike with one hand! I got some good pictures of Gary tumbling down the deep snow.After the snow came some fantastic rocky singletrack with a huge drop to the left. Here Gary began to suffer with his shoulder and had to ease considerably. Barrie was struggling a lot on this terrain. After a couple of km’s of this fast rocky stuff, a guy came flying past me, his back wheel fishtailing all over the place. At the next bend I see him climbing back onto the course! I ease and wave him on, I don’t want him behind me . He disappears in a cloud of dust. At the next bend I see him overshoot the course and go off the cliff edge. I stop and look over, fearing the worst. Looking down I see that he’s suspended in the ski netting tangled and wriggling like a fly in a spiders web. I ask if he’s ok, and he pushes a hand through the net, shakes my hand and says ‘Hi I’m Chris’ I laugh and drag him up and untangle his bike. And he’s off again like a loon. Barrie passes me here and says that Gary says push to on. I remount and pass Barrie as he struggles with a rocky drop off. The trail then drops into Alpe Duez via a fast swoopy dirt singletrack. Gary crashes and is in pain, so walks back. Barrie says he went off a drop so hard that he blew his 8'' travel forks. I ride straight to the télécabine and ride up to the next station to have one more go of the 4x track. It's dried out a lot and is a bit lose on the corners.
Barrie wants another go of the 4x so we go up again. Barrie takes the lead and I settle in behind keeping it nice and steady. On the first jump, he comes down a bit hard and squirrels about a bit. I ease back a bit to give me some space if he goes down. No need though as he goes straight off the next bend into the rough. :-)
10 July

Today we decided to ride the second half of the Mega. Gary choose to sit this one out to rest the shoulder for race day. From Alpe Duez the track climbs and then undulates. Now I realise how much I am on the wrong bike. I hang on for Barrie here, he doesn‘t like the undulating nature of the course. We stop a bit longer for him to get his breath back. He goes through as the track turns into the woods and pitches downward with some fantastically tight hairpin bends. Barrie’s technique is quite different to mine. He tends to cut the inside line of the corner, where I swing high. This is fortunate as at the next bend Barrie goes over the bars and I swing high to miss him. I stop to let him come by again, after a couple more hairpins he suddenly brakes hard and stops. There is a large almost vertical bermed hairpin. I shout as I come up to him ‘Go on’ He pulls over and shouts ‘You do it then!’ I squeeze past and see that the exit is a straight run out so as scary as it looks it actually fine,I wait while Barrie walks it. The rest of the ride is great woodsy singletrack with some muddy bits and some stream crossings. We came out in Allemont just below the dam. Note: I had been unable to select granny today, very annoying indeed. A quick look at the bike showed that the gear cable was jamming behind the front mech. How could this happen? A the day before, Barrie had asked me if the bike was ok. I said yes, but the big ring was a little bit hard to select. He said ‘I have a look at that for you’ I said ‘no need it’s fine‘. Some time later I saw him with my bike on the stand! I had a look at the front mech to see why I couldn’t select granny. Barrie had zip tied the front gear cable behind the rear mech and it was stopping the mech front extending fully.

Mega Qualifying:

My start was 10.00 am
Gary was 10.40 am
Barrie was 12.00 am

A nice early start, I was at the depart 2800 m by 8.55 ! And it was freezing, It was almost like starting a race on Everest, with snow all around, the wind whistling through the race inflatables and everyone dressed in brightly coloured wind proofs.
I chatted with a couple of guys from Cornwall and one of them, Vinny, was originally from Redhill!

The start dropped into a series of loose hairpins on a loose fire/access type road. I was in the third row and within metres people were overtaking and crashing. I took it quite steady, not wanting to go down on the rocky stuff. I saw the first puncture after 50 metres. Next we dropped of the rocks into snow. The next second my front wheel dropped into a deep rut and I ‘supermanned’ over the bars into the snow, just as the helicopter passed overhead. There were people and bikes all over the snow, so I ran and remounted on the rocky section. The next section was the bit I was most worried about, but it was no problem as everyone was walking anyway. On the rocky singletrack I was riding ok, not too fast but riding the stuff we hadn’t ridden when previously trying out this area. I began to think that I may get a good time, as I was still in the main front group. Then I went a little bit wide on one bend and had to brake, the guy behind me had nowhere to go and cut inside shouting ‘sorry mate’ . He clipped me and I put my right foot down. A searing pain shot through my knee and I heard myself scream. My knee collapsed and I rolled off the side of the trail dropping a couple of metres onto the rocks. I couldn’t stop myself screaming out whilst I tried to examine the knee. Then I could here myself shouting ‘I’m out, I’m out!’ after a few minutes I tried to stand but the leg kept collapsing at full extension. I dragged the bike up to the trail and decided to roll down before the next wave came through. With the knee flexed, because of the low downhill set up, I could pedal without too much pain. It seemed to be only at full extension when stabilising. The next section was open narrow singletrack so I pressed on. I felt that as long I stayed clipped in I’d be fine. I was at the back of the field now, but started to reel a few people in as this was the only climb and rolling section. The rest of the course was fast steep hairpins through the woods. I pulled back a few places here, because it’s like the North DownsJ. I moved over to let two very fast guys through on the inside of a couple of the berms, I guessed the must have been from the following group. I stepped off the bike to be reminded of the knee and yelled involuntarily. I got an ice pack from the medics and rolled down to the lake to meet Roger. I had assumed it was my lateral collateral and meniscus, but I have no tenderness on palpation of the joint margin or ligament itself. I articulated the tib/fib joint and found the pain :-o

Later Gary rolled up absolutely ecstatic he'd loved it and was still whooping! Barrie rolled up in a similar state saying he'd done the best ride of his life....hurrah! I must admit I'd enjoyed the course in spite of my leg.

12 July

Failed!

Not of us qualified for the Mega, not even the Promo, by a loooong way J Mark Spratt just missed qualifying by one place! But managed a place in the Promo. Those who fail to qualify can do the Mega Affinity, which is a timed ride down starting any time after the main event and before 11.00 am.

The Mega affinity

We awake to loud thunder and rain and the mountains shrouded in cloud. We rocked up to Alpe Duez only to find the upper part of the Mega Avalanche had been cancelled, and would start from the same place as the previous day’s qualifier. So no snow! For me the mega is about the snow, most of the pictures and video show this feature. The mega is riding down the glacier! I am very disappointed to say the least. The mega is stolen away from me. I won’t be doing the Megavalanche after almost a year of looking forward to it.

As we get into the second télécabine I say hi to a chap I recognise from somewhere. And he says hi back. Then I realise it’s Mikey Blue eyes, who we used to ride with in Dorking. We chat on the way up and he’s a lot more into the down hilling stuff now.

At the top everything is being packed away and we’re only just in time. I roll away not really feeling like it and watch the others accelerate away. After the top rocky section as yesterday, the track turns onto one of the xc sections of the tourist rides into Alpe Duez. Here it passes through and over to the same lower wood section that is part of the Megavalanche route that me and Barrie 'rode' a couple of days ago. It starts off with a couple of short sharp climbs. On the first one I change down to granny and the chain throws straight onto the bottom bracket and wraps around. I get off and have to replace it by hand. This happens twice more, at one point I have to turn the bike over and kick the chain out, and I’m furious. The rest of the course is descending now. I think it can’t be the end already, the woody stuff is fun and greasy. I roll down here and start picking people up. I end up behind Mikey and sit with him as he’s always been a smooth rider. Part way he slips on one of the greasy roots, and I roll past on the inside. At the muddy stream I see Gary resting his shoulder, I’m surprised to see him and I’d assumed he and Barry must have finished a long time before. The last berm opens up onto large muddy drop. I try to get off and end up going down head first and sliding on my arm protection. It works!

My computer says 20km., 1 hour 24 minutes. Less than half of the distance of the proper Megavalanche!

I have a look at my front mech and find the stops screwed fully. Wtf! I can only assume that because Barrie zip tied the cable behind the front mech he’d then used up all of the adjustment trying to get the front mech to work. And now the mech was throwing the chain fully inboard.

Although I understand the reasons for cancelling the event, I‘m very disappointed and have nothing to pat myself on the back about.

Epilogue: the mega is a great event, but I think it’s more of an event where I would turn up perhaps a day before and ride it. To me it’s just a raid, a big one, but just a raid, and no different to half a day in the Trans Alp. I enjoyed the riding but after a few days I got bored of the lack of structure and the mega became the focus and eventual liberation, part of my reason for the huge disappointment For the downhill types, there are lifts to everywhere and the chance ‘session‘ the routes, and get a ‘good’ time. The mega sprint is a different matter, this was an out and out downhill course. The fact that I managed three runs impressed Mikey Blue Eyes, as he said once was enough for him. The area is great for road biking and cross country too. If I did return, then I’d want to put in a time up the hairpins of the Alpe Duez. The trails are all cross country ride able, maybe taken a little slower.

Gary and Barrie can't wait for next year. Gary is a natural for this sort of riding. With his background of off road motorbikes, he's fearless and an all round nice geezer. Barrie! I had been warned about Barrie, his grasp on the difference between reality and fiction being somewhat tenuous. BS being the most used phrase :-) What I wasn't prepared for was that he is a complete Walter Mitty By the end of the trip I had come to the conclusion that, if anything he said about himself was remotely true, it was so distorted by exaggeration that the truth was utterly inconsequential. At first this is laughable, after a couple of days it becomes unbearable. Even the guys in the tent next to the chalet were dreading his visits :-) I finally snapped when he got out of the car on the return to my house and urinated in the hedge at the end of the road.

Cwmcarn Moose Mojo

Sunday was a daytrip to Wales with Moosecycles on Moose Mojo weekend at Cwmcarn .

This was to be a bit of practise going downhill for the Megavalanche this coming weekend.

Cwmcarn has two mountain bike trails:

The Twrch - a cross country trail which has some scary bits. Twrch is welsh for wild boar, apparently with a comb and scissors in it's hair! Here in wiki Twrch Trwyth

Y Mynydd Mojo - Mynydd is welsh for mountain and Mojo is something to do with Jim Morrison :-) It's almost 2km of scary fun.

The steep descents, berms and rocky stuff was fine, it's the table tops and kickers that gave me some trouble.

There were a few crashes, notably Barrie and Frank. I managed to stay on the bike but wasn't as daring as the others :-)

I'm off to get a full face helmet.

Moose Mojo videos on facebook

LCO is going to post whilst we're away, I'll try to send a pic and text daily.

Tuesday over the hill gang ride

F***!! I'd forgotten how hard those old b******ds go :-)

Today's ride was out to Heaven Farm in Dane Hill, so it was going to be lumpy!

The first 20k's are relatively flat and are taken quite easy, my legs are a bit dead from the weekend's riding on the slight rises. I'm ok, but I'm not going to initiate anything, if it stays together that's ok by me:)

At the first hill near Tulley's Farm Cliff and Andy kick off, so I follow trying not to go too deep. I gradually pull up to them spinning a lowish gear, towing most of the others with me. We regroup on the short descent and Cliff and Andy immediately kick again, this will be the selection for the fast group to the tea stop. So, I jump out of the saddle, I don't want to take anyone else with me. I start to close the gap.But just before the crest of the hill I hear a clunk, I check my back pockets because it sounds like I've dropped something. Everything's there, so I get on with chasing which suddenly seems very hard and I just get on as they start the descent. Cliff digs a bit on the descent and I can't close the gap, I'm pedalling as hard as I can and getting nowhere. Andy sees that I'm in difficulty jumps past me. I get his wheel, but he rides away. As we hit the next rise, they're 50 metres ahead and I'm going down the gears, my legs are screaming and my heart rate maxed. Then, one by one riders start coming past. I struggle to the top, glad to see some have stopped for a regroup, I roll past on the slight down, bent over the bars trying to breathe. But the bike isn't rolling down the slope, it's slowing down! wtf! looking down I can see that the back wheel is pressed against the brake pad.

On inspection, I've snapped a spoke and the wheel's like a taco, even with the brake quick release open it's still touching the rim! At the tea stop Kaye straightens the wheel as much as she dares, which is great as it no longer touches the pads with the release open.

The ride back is a lot easier :) and I get on the front a few times. Phew, at one when the brake was rubbing I thought my cycling days were over:-)

Sunday ride

The trails are bone dry at the moment! Me, Jane and Paul put in a steady three and a quarter hour ride around the Surrey Hills. We took in some of the trails that didn't really dry out last summer. eg ride lane, pond's lane and around jelly's hollow. These places that have been mud for the past couple of years were dusty, particularly ponds lane which was almost too sandy in places!

We took it fairly steady enjoying the fast dry descents, but put in our usual 'dig' across the Roughs by Sylvanus woods. We generally line out over this two km section. Today was straight into an easterly headwind, my gps says I held 36- 38kph for most of it. Which was good because me and jane had ridden 134km's the day before. It did finish me off for the following two hills though, and I couldn't catch Paul on the sprints for the tops. Now that my knee has settled I feel some strength returning :-)

The Ty Hafen 5k

Jane and the lco ran the Ty Hafen trust 5k race along the Barri docklands today. It was lco's first proper race and she was hoping for a a time of 35 minutes.

She was a bit worried about the heat and thought that it might slow her down. What she didn't know was, that there was a huuuuge hill in the middle. They crossed the line in 30.30 They may well have cracked the 30 minutes if it had been flat. Whooooo !!!

Grand Traversée du Limousin

The Grand Traversee de Limousin adventure May 2008

It’s Tuesday morning and we set off for Dover in Paul’s shiny new van, a Mercedes Vito in subtle fire-engine red with yellow flashes and writing and orange flashing warning lights. An accident on the M25 diverts us slightly then a road closure at Folkstone alters our route and it’s raining steadily but we get to the docks in good time. Just as well as we follow the ferry signs to the wrong terminal and are provided with an owl sticker to get back through customs ‘twit, who?’! At the western docks we find our sea bat and a shop in which to stock up on all our driving abroad goodies which Paul promptly ignores to fit to the van. Manoeuvring into the vessel is interesting as the van has a 4 feet long CB aerial that rattles against the roof like the dodgems. The crossing is remarkably smooth given that the weather isn’t that good and we disembark at Boulougne at 1pm. It’s straight onto the peáge and follow the coast line south-west to Rouens where we stock up on food and diesel at an Intermarché. Back on the toll road towards Tours, the rain is coming in torrential bursts that even the speediest windscreen wiper setting can’t clear. After leaving the motorway we pass through a couple of small villages, one with some good examples of troglodyte houses, to find my friend Pascal’s house. It’s at the end of a small lane next to a forest and is a superb exhibit of 60’s e-bay art deco chic, absolutely immaculate. Over the years of knowing Pascal I’ve heard of every drop of blood sweat and tears he’s spent on this project and was fascinated to actually see it. Pascal is highly amused by our van especially as we now see that the flashing rear lights have been on for some time! He is quite the bonne viveur and convivial host, feeding us with a fantastic taboulet, asparagus and pineapple. We sleep well and awake to yet more grey skies and rain. We plan to head to Limoges but en route get side tracked to a little village museum that Raymond has been told about – Oradour-sur-Glane, a French village that the retreating German army ransacked. SS troops massacred the 635 villagers and used flame throwers to raise the buildings to the ground, it’s been kept as a reminder of the atrocities of war and is both horrific, eerie and fascinating. The weather has turned from rain to glorious sunshine and we continue to St Leonard’s, a town just east of Limoges where a friend of Paul’s has a house. We pull up in front of an enormous ancient dilapidated French townhouse. We tentatively go inside; it’s definitely a work in progress, ‘progress’ in the loosest sense of the word. We are due to meet Julie and KB here tonight, they have flown independently to Lyons and are making their way over, and while we’re waiting we go shopping and start tea. Later they arrive, take one look at the place and decide to move on to a hotel – it’s that kind of place. Unfortunately, as the food was started, the same idea didn’t occur to me.

Stage one – Nantiat to Bénévent 74km in 5:35
After a disturbed night in which every rustle was a rat, we wake and load the van and set off to the sign on village of Chataluz. This will be the eventual finish in three days time. It is misty with a fine drizzle and we arrive an hour or so later. We are directed to park in a field adjoining a lake with a hut that houses the registration. Here we hand in our self endorsed medical certificates and sign on the dotted line. This event is unique in that you can either enter the three days as a race or individual days as a randoneur. The race is solo but, as an additional category, you can nominate four riders to be in a team with the fastest three times counted. KB and Julie are already here and entered, and Raymond, Paul, KB and I enter as a team, Julie declines as she reckons she’ll be slow, I think she just wants the chance to collect wildlife and hunt for truffles as she’s riding alongJ In a white van further down the field Raymond spots Stratobiker, aka Steve Bennett, the guy responsible for us being here after Raymond stumbling upon his excellent blog ‘Stratobiker’, riding with him are his brother Andy and a friend Dave in the colours of Team Pearce and we are all introduced. The trucks to take our bikes and luggage to the starting village of Nantiat are here so we organise what stuff we have to take and load up, in other races we are limited to one bag but here they take anything, people are loading up mattresses, chairs, one even had a chaise-longue! We are then treated to a snack of bread, ham and pasta which the locals are tucking into with gusto. At 11.30 we are herded into a couple of coaches and taken on an hour and a half trip to Nantiat. At the local playing field there is a mass of cyclists as many of the ‘one dayers’ have driven directly here. As we disgorge from the bus a girl catches Raymond’s eye, after hesitating he asks whether she’s Carla, Steve’s wife and authoress of another absorbing blog ‘Limousin Life’, indeed she is and she wishes us well. It’s now almost 1pm and I’ve rather gone of the idea of cycling for the day, also it’s still grey, chilly and drizzly, not the most inviting for a bike ride. We congregate for the start and try to decipher some of the pre race briefing which is all conducted in excitable fast French, none the wiser we just follow the leaders as they set off behind the motorbikes for a neutralised 2 km down the road before turning off onto fire tracks. The next 72km are a bit of a blur, a complete sensory overload and assault on body and mind. I reckon maybe 2km was tarmac, the rest totally off-road ranging from short sections of fast double track to exquisite single-track and no flat bits, just up and down, up and down. The weather is still damp and the previous few days’ downpours have left huge swathes of muddy trails which fishtail your bike and sap every ounce of your concentration. The course is so full on that it is difficult to find an opportunity to eat and after a couple of hours I’m beginning to fade, this is most noticeable in my deterioration at negotiating the muddy sections and the exponential increase in blasphemous utterings and insistence that I AM NEVER, EVER DOING ONE OF THESE AGAIN! My hatred is aimed squarely at Raymond for getting me here in the first place with a little left for Stratobiker for giving him the idea! I curse and mutter my way onwards for another couple of hours. Much later, in the midst of a particularly vile muddy patch Raymond loses his front wheel, steps to balance himself and cracks his knee on his fork, the obscenities ring out, echoing far and wide. I sheepishly find some extra determination from this and the last few kms quickly pass and we drop into Bénévent which reserves a final sharp kick up to the village square and the finish line. We are both absolutely shagged and I rue all those weekends lying in bed when I should have been out training, rain or no rain! We find the hall that we’re sleeping in tonight and try to leave our bikes in the Parc Ferme but the lady overseeing it demands that we wash them, we try to tell her that we never wash our bikes during races, it’s unlucky, but she’s having none of it so, disgruntled, we return to the bike wash after which she admits our bikes with a radiant smile. It’s then time to wash ourselves and get fed. This is where the French excel. We sit and are served a three course meal, salad and bread for starters, steak, pasta and lentils for main course and cake for dessert all washed down with copious amounts of water and red wine. Fantastic! Satiated we retire to our sleeping bags and await the next day’s trial.

Stage Two: Bénévent – Gueret
After a fitful night’s sleep it’s up at 7.00am and breakfast of cereal, yoghurt and endless amounts of bread. The sky is shot through with black and grey clouds but it looks like they’re fighting a losing battle with the blue expanse. We wear slightly less than yesterday in anticipation. Our gear is loaded onto the waiting truck and at 10.00am we are herded into some semblance of a group and talked at in French. My ‘O’ level francais is rather rusty but today I do recognise a few words. The motorbikes rev their engines and we’re off on a 2.5km neutralised section through the back streets of Bénévent into the central square where we stop. Above us on the village ramparts are the local press and event photographers and we pose en masse. The route is immediately off road on cart tracks and follows in much the same vein as yesterday albeit with a few splashes of asphalt that are long enough for you to get half a bar or a gel down your throat. The sun is shining and locals are chatting to their neighbours over their garden walls, pausing to wave and shout ‘allez’, ‘c’est dur’ et ‘bon courage’ at us. We wind our way through fields, splash through puddles of varying depth, squelch through mud of varying consistency, clamber up short, steep, boulder strewn climbs and fly down short, sharp, rutted descents. Today I have unearthed my ‘roid blocks and together with actually having the opportunity to eat am feeling much better, far fewer race hate moments and less temper tantrums. I have also come to accept the fact that I’m going to get a wet, muddy backside and stop fannying about in the mud so much – just ride the bloody stuff! I even catch up with the 2nd place girl on some lovely twisty single-track at the top of one of the last climbs but lose her again on the rooty, mulchy descent into the outskirts of Gueret. We cross the finish line in just over 4½ hours. Tonight we are based in a gym and Paul has grabbed us some gym mats to cushion our aged bones. After washing our bikes and taking a hot shower all we need to make life complete is a cold Coke and a strong coffee. Our prayers are answered as a press conference has been arranged for us foreigners and we are ushered into the bar and plied with drinks in exchange for answering questions about the race. Fortunately the Belgians get most of the attention as they don’t need a translator, we only have to answer a couple and KB gets to tackle the rest, this he does with consummate ease and professionalism. Tonight we are fed with mounds of taboulet, a chicken/turkey stew with mashed potatoes and the obligatory cakes with custard, washed down with water and red wine. All this, in a cordoned off portion of a sports hall, in the other half of which locals are playing tennis completely unfazed by our presence. It’s an early ‘lights-out’ tonight ready for an early start tomorrow and by 10pm it’s all snores and farts.

Stage Three: Gueret – Chataluz
Breakfast is served at the ungodly hour of 5.30am in readiness for an 8.00am start. We go through our morning packing rituals, load our stuff on the trucks, collect our bikes and go to see how much of the race briefing we can decipher today, 25 years of dust and cobwebs are being slowly blown off my language neurons and a few more words are comprehended. The start is neutralised for 3km as we wend our way into town. We stop, things are said, we go. It is a beautiful day and getting decidedly hot. Julie, Raymond and I ride together, enjoying the scenery and ponder how it looks ‘just like Dorking’ with lush green field, dandelions, campions and bluebells. The sun is drying the trails leaving thick mud rather than watery ooze that requires some effort to get through, we don’t escape the joys of getting drenched though as the trail skirts the lakes and deteriorates into streams in some places and puddles of indeterminable deepness in others. The trick when approaching these is to have some unfortunate in front of you so that they can plough in and discover whether the puddle is only an inch or so deep and navigable or not. A happy chappy dressed in full Bettini – esque world champion white top and shorts passes us and heads for one such puddle and promptly disappears up to his waist. He yells, dismounts and steps over a branch to another puddle to his left and promptly sinks again! – we decide to go rightJ Other obstacles today include a mini waterfall as a lake we have just traversed on narrow single-track, plunges down to a lower level and the one obligatory hike-a-bike section up a slimy dirt gully. Perched here is a guy taking photos. As I struggle to get a foothold I screech that’s it’s too slippery, the man, repeating me, agrees. Raymond shouts at me to swap sides, the man says the same, then Raymond yells to pass my bike up and the man echoes his sentiments, parrot fashion – surreal! Julie is finding her legs today and puts a couple of hard digs in. Towards the end we climb up to a rocky outcrop on which stands a fine statue, a man is parked close by and we ask who it is, he answers ‘notre dame’ . We are delighted to find the trail leads up to the monument so we can get a better look, then we are bemused as the trail clambers right up to the base, throws in a couple of bomb holes and passes at the feet of Mary who just gives us a benign gaze. A rare big ring blast takes us across the last few fields and drops us into the finishing village and we recognise the lake where we left the van. A final kick and we cross the finish line in unison. We go back to shake the organisers hand and thank him for such an enjoyable race – yep, already the grumpy ‘never doing one of these again’ vibes are evaporating!

We scoot off to find the hose pipes and wash our trusty steeds down – this is becoming a habit – and load them into the van. Then it’s a quick shower and we begin to walk to the after race knees up venue, we thumb a lift off one of the orga guys and meet up with Stratobiker, Andy and Dave. Another continuous stream of food is presented, taboulet, pasta, lentils, steak, cake, wine. Finally the presentations, firstly for the stage then overall where I have come 3rd and take to the podium to collect a cup, a bag of goodies (wine, bread, sausage, cake and jam) and a bouquet. I smile a lot and say ‘merci’ in my best accent. Stratobiker collects 3rd in the Vets2 category. Then, to our bafflement, all the Equipe Anglais are called up, together with the Equipe Belgique and we are given prizes for being not French! Magnanimous to a fault! Once nearly all the competitors have prizes and good many glasses of vin rouge imbibed we all disperse, we say goodbye to Stratobiker and co, and JD and KB and hit the roads for Limoges. Hot and tired we make a half-hearted attempt to find a central hotel and see the sights but we reach the tourist information just as it closes and settle for an out-of town euro-chain with free wi-fi and very comfortable beds in which we sleep soundly.

Sunday morning we trundle on to Tours, avoiding the motorway and taking the tourist route through rustic villages. At Chatellereaux there is a car boot sale/bric-a-brac market in the town square so we stop for a wander around. Next we head through a troglodyte village and stop again for another fete this time encompassing two villages and the intervening chateau. It’s very hot and we picnic in a shaded spot next to the river in serene surroundings. Moving on to Tours we book into a hotel and set out to explore but Tours is big and we are hot and tired and another comfy bed is calling. I treat Raymond to a hotel breakfast then we hit the road for the last stretch back to Boulogne and the sea bat back to Dover. The Channel is as flat as a millpond and even the Bank Holiday traffic is light once back in Britain so we’re home before 7pm – an excellent trip all round.

All pics courtesy of Creuse oxygene

cwmcarn

We are in Wales for Jane and the lco's 5km run in Barry tomorrow, so me and Jane went for a ride over to Cwmcarn. We decided to get the old bikes from lco's shed. Jane has a lovely 1996 Kona Cindercone with P2's and I borrowed her father's old GT outpost trail, a present for christmas 97, also a fully rigid.

We headed out across the canal from the 14 locks, and turned of to climb up to Twmbarlwm via the Darren. I was immediately in the granny/granny and out of the saddle and Jane rode away from me. I found out later that both the little chain ring and the biggest sprocket at the rear are 28t! How did we used to manage or did we just walk? I huffed and grunted my way to the top with only one split second dab, well more of a scoot than a dab :-) We headed over to see the new downhill course which I have to come and practise on for the Megavalanche at some point :o
I did a couple of drops into the first section of the black run and the we set off back down.

Part way down we picked up the old Twrch trail and I decided to ride that whilst Jane rode down the road to meet me at the visitors centre. Just as I was about to set off a guy came up behind me on one of the new Marins. So I gestured him through and dropped in behind him. The first section was a set of rocky steps, I hit the first one and the bike just bounced up in the air and I'm still not sure if my wheels touched any of the other rocks! The next section was undulating and singletrack and i was able to sit on Marin guys wheel. I think it must have unsettled him a bit to me yelling with shock each time I hit a rock or drop off, because at the next motorbike gate he waved me through. He was breathing very hard, so I don't think he was very fit. I said to him as I passed give me a yell on the down hill section and I'll pull over. More undulating singletrack followed and it was into the berms that I noticed the difference in the braking power. I once thought a set of decent canti's was all you needed!! With discs a quick, one finger dab scrubs off all the speed you need. I had to grab the canti's with three fingers at times and then my hands were in danger of bouncing off the bars. The downhill section was a blur, my eyes were shaking so much that I could barely see. I passed three people with punctures here. I began to wonder about now. Which would be more useful, front shocks or disc brakes? As I entered the last couple of hairpins I noticed that I had to brake earlier and earlier to slow enough. So, on the course I go for the brakes over suspension. Just as I got to the bottom Marin guy came through the last hairpin. I waited to say hi but he rode past!

Great fun!

I met jane in the carpark and we rode the 8km back across the canal, where she jumped me for the sprint at fourteen locks... :-)

GTL

Thanks to lco for blogging whilst we were racing on foreign shores.

France is a fabulous place to race: the terrain, the people, the sunshine, the rain!

I feel an ancient deep magnetic draw from my genes to head South and a wrench to leave. I wonder, am I from the duchy of Aquitaine? Did my genes come over in 1066? :-) Strange that my blood group says probably not, but I do have an affinity for the rolling hills and infinite bountiful greeness all around.

Jane is writing up the blog for the GTL.

3rd place

Jane gets 3rd next to the Belgium champion! We all got on the podium as the equip anglaise. Jane's prize was a loaf, a bottle of vin and a sausage!

Je suis plus fatigue

Today we arose at 5.15am! The last day, hurrah! It's cold and dark. I will have to fight to be lantern rouge. I have 5 minutes to lose, unless he is forced to pull out:-)

Bien dormir

Jane has maintained 3rd overall. JD attacked several time today. I have lost my coveted last place by 5 mins :(

Press

We are in a press conference, they have bought us drinks. It is synchronicity, Jane has been gasping for a coca cola all day :)and I good coffee. 26c today were kissed by the sun and glowing with health.

Thursday

Today a bad thing happened - we were made to wash our bikes! I hate the French! Usually during a race we consider it unlucky to wash them and only relube them, but they wouldn't let us in parc ferme with dirty bikes. In France it's a crime :-)So here I am washing Jane's bike. Jane is 3rd so far. PS I love them really ;-)

Pascal's Parlour

Pascal's ebay chic parlour, complete with original 70's wallpaper and stuff. We are staying in the chrome room.

After breakfast of pan et cafe in soup bowls we set off cross country (Jane had the map in her tight fists) to 'paul's friend's maison.To say the place is a work in progress is right. Send in DIT SOS and Nick whats sis name:)

Dover

Somewhat inclement weather met us at the port. We can only hope for dramatic improvement in conditions for the journey to foreign shores. Godspeed and fair winds.

Limousin Countdown

I haven't touched the bike since last Tuesday, the little case of tendinitis in my knee after stupidly setting my saddle too high on the hard tail hadn't settled completely. And after a hard 82km last Tuesday, it was still a bit irritable so I've stayed off the bike. It means I've missed a few 'polishing up' training sessions.

Jane is going fairly well and it's looks as though I'll be hanging on to her wheel :-)
I got the bikes together today: Jane's Giant came back from Greg's ktted out in new bits, she took it out today and insists that even at a kilo heavier than the Santa Cruz it climbs much better! I've put my best wheels on the giant for her and this removes the best part of that kilo. I've got the old hugi/dt's on mine. Obligatory new tyres,tubes, pads, chains and cassettes on both bikes too.

Whilst we're away I shall be texting pics and words to lco, who will be posting on here.

Sunday Road Ride

Today was like summer!The forecast said sunny spells. It was 14'C when we set out, culminating in a heady 22'C when we stopped to fix Jane's puncture.

Today's ride was to be a steady road ride to test a slight lateral knee tendinitis I'd picked last week after forgetting to drop the saddle on my hard tail, which I'd lifted for Jane to try the week before. I'd taken the week off and been subjected to some ferociously aggressive treatment to my pelvic and leg muscles from Jane:-o

14'C mmm I fell for that one last week, so two layers and some long finger undergloves beneath my mitts. I also put leg warmers under my longs to keep the muscles warm along with a judicious amount of deep heat!

Our destination was Balcombe, a small hamlet with a lovely tea shop, a favourite ride of ours if we need an out and back steady ride through the lanes in Surrey and Sussex. Paul was going a lot better this week and was attacking every hill, me and Jane were taking it very easy, me because my legs were very sore from Jane's tender administration she calls treatment :-)and Jane because she's done shed loads on the bike recently.

And so it went; Paul flying up the hills and me and Jane keeping it steady and trying not to run into Paul as he freewheeled the descents. I did a couple of little pokes to see how the leg was, and Paul was on me like a rash! He wasn't going to miss a jump this week :) The knee was good.

The quandary - I would love to ride the hardtail at the gtl,but don't want to risk a knee problem. So I must default to the last working configuration, which is me and the Santa Cruz :-)

In all a pleasant spring ride 82km in 3.15 ish with 1250hm.

April Showers!

April is the cruelest month,

breeding lilacs out of the dead land,

mixing memory and desire,

stirring dull roots with spring rain. T.S Eliot


What a difference to last week, my on bike thermometer reads 14'C at 10am as we set off. The trails have dried out a lot since last week, never the less we head toward the sandy areas of the North Downs.The forecast today is for sunshine and heavy showers coming in from the west. Out across the Roughs as before, but instead of snow it's bone dry. I keep a steady pace on the front, paul behind me and Jane at the back. Her Giant is in the shop for extensive refurbishment before the GTL, she's riding my Blur; doesn't like it very much and is a bit tentative on anything technical. We push on out to Abinger through Deerleap and the sky starts to darken in the West, but beyond it is blue sky. I decide to head west to try to get under the cloud and through to the other side before the impending deluge. Over the A25 and off-road around the back of Shere, picking up the pace a bit as the sky darkens. There is a flash of lightning off to the side of us followed by a deep roll of 'summertime' thunder, and we start to feel a few big drops of rain as we cross the blue sky/cloud interface. 'Here it comes'. I shout behind me. And suddenly it's hammering down and we can barely see the trail in front of us, my thermometer now reads 6'C. A change of 8'C in a few minutes.........'til April is dead, change not a thread'. My grandfather's voice says in my head. We push hard again and can see the tantalising blue sky ahead of us; just as it came it's gone! The bubble bursts and we break through into the sunshine. The trails are now sodden and so are we. I'm beginning to feel a bit cold as we drop down past the cricket club at Albury Heath at the top of the sandy climb, just as I'm warming up, I hear a shout. Paul has snapped his chain! I put my coat on and roll back to him, his quick link has sheared! Worringly it's quite a new chain.

Note to self: remember to put a couple of these in for the GTL.

Across Albury Heath we grind throught the damp sand. There's always very little mud here due to the sand, but impossible ride in the summer when the sand is dry. Albury Heath/Blackheath is a large sandy, fairly sparse flat woodland with a googleplex of wide sandy interlocking bridleways. Consequently, I always get lost here:-)

Two years ago an application to remove gas from this area was submitted. Apparently, there are 80 billion cubic feet of methane underneath here. The company wanted to draw it out, but also use the space as gas storage during times of low use. The locals were up in arms fearing the worst. But the company came in, built a small pumping station over a couple of weeks and I still haven't found it yet :-)

The 2nd left looks as good as any and I take it, I hear dissent behind so I know it's the wrong one :-) I press on, if I show any doubt then Paul and Jane will stop and discuss which is the right way for an age:-) My bluff works and we arrive at a place I know.... phew! Through little London and back off road to Dewdney's Well. This is a long steady climb up what is effectively a stream with a rocky bed at this time of year, at the top it kicks to the left up a steep rooty climb. I can see Jane's front wheel from the corner of my eye and she starts to half wheel me....interesting! Through the centre of Peaslake and up a short road climb to Holmbury Heath, we cut straight across here to do some rooty ups and downs. On the last descent I spot a new way down and flick to the left, Paul follows me. It's very steep and mined with wet roots and finally goes under a very low thick branch. I've got my chest on the saddle and I feel it bumping on every spinous process and removing the waterproofing from my jacket:-) Paul is too tall and can't get beneath it. Over Paddington Farm down the scary slippery drop, over the A25 up the muddy, strength sapping, hole in the wall climb and we're back to the Roughs heading towards Deerleap.

Someone aways attacks on the Deerleap, a 1km section of wide sandy bridleway with a couple of 90' turns, culminating in another 1km section of rough potholed track. Traditionally Jane attacks here, but this year me and Paul have been stronger. (we'd raced through the winter and Jane hadn't) So the last month or so it's been me that's attacked with Paul chasing me down, then we'd ease up for Jane.

As we approach I see Jane swallow a gel..... interesting! Paul enters the section 1st with me close behind. I decide to attack early and jump him on the left bend, I catch him completely by surprise and quickly get a 100m on him. I look back to see him giving chase and Jane is on his wheel....interesting. I ease a bit to let Paul close the gap, only a bit though :-) Just as he gets to my wheel Jane attacks hard on the left(a classic move, attack as soon as the group comes back together) I jump to get her wheel, I glance back and Paul's missed it, he can't get my wheel. I turn back to Jane's wheel and she's two lengths ahead! I close the gap and we're away. The old Jane is coming back. Hurrah!

Great fun.

ps in his defence Paul had done a track session the day before.

foto by lco

Snow!

Today the snow arrived, it's a rare and momentous occasion when a fall of snow coincides with a weekend ride day...hurrah! But!! even rarer and even more momentouser JD came out to play....double hurrah! 'I need to ride my bike before the GTL' she says :-) Julie is very fit, she commutes a bit and runs alot most days.

So four of us set out in the in the deep snow, but already it was wet and within the first 100 metres my backside is soaking wet. Once off road the snow was still squeaky in places, though where people had ridden or walked, water flowed freely. Already I was beginning to feel a bit chill on the downhills and just ok on the ups!

Out through Westcott and across the Roughs, here the snow was deep. This helped warm us up a bit and was great fun because the it was soft and squeaky with loads of grip. We then dropped down the lane into Abinger and take the back lane up to Holmbury. This was our biggest mistake of the day. The whole lane was flowing water running off the fields we were drenched in our own spray. We turned off at Holmbury to take the hill to the old fort.

From here the whole of the Surrey Weald was brilliant white, including the Wick of Gat where all of the flying machines were grounded. The three km's of climbing to the top had kept us 'not too cold' and now from this point everywhere was down. We headed down toward Peaslake. after ten minutes of descending through ice cold spray from the trails, I was freezing. Even the Mighty Dinsdale was feeling the cold, especially when I heard her say 'Is anyone else dangerously cold?'

On the drop into Peaslake was the icing on the cake and I was in serious pain, my hands were screaming. I dropped my bike and ran into the village stores and walked around pretending to shop and trying not to whimper as my hands came back to life! .......I've had enough, I'm going home!

Everyone's in agreement and we set off for the 16 km's home across country. I'm still cold and remember that I've got another waterproof stuffed in my back pocket. So, I sprint ahead to generate some heat before I stop to put it on. We carried on pushing hard to get home, praying not to get a mechanical or a puncture.

Eight hours later and my hands are still slightly tingly.

If it snows in the GTL, we'll be ok. :-)

No running for Raymond

We gave the Three Peaks Challenge a miss this year, I've been suffering from a slight achilles problem. It's settling well but i didn't want to risk running/hiking on it. Biking is ok. I managed two steady three hour hilly road rides at the weekend, one on the mountain bike and one on the road bike.

Grand Traverseé du Limousin

Above: some local champions as seen on stratobiker

The Sundayriders are go! The mighty D, KB, facer, Juanita and me are all entered. I quite fancy some of that fancy french headgear.

GTL - entries here

mmm....Courtesy of my 'friend' Mike at showpix...lol

A picture of me taken by Tim Vandevelde on mount Chaberton day seven of the Ironbike.

Getting the warm kms in!

Last week me and Juanita jetted of to Ibiza for some warm weather riding. After a couple of days wandering aound Barcelona and especially La Sagrada Familia, we took the short hop to Ibiza.

Monday morning we did the local road loop, known as the Jesús route, to test our legs. Our legs were pretty good because we smashed our record for the climb to Jesús. yay! Later we rode into santa Eulária to get me some new tyres. At Kandani - http://www.kandani.com/ There was a lot of chat and excitement about the race they'd hosted on Saturday. They'd had Marga Fullana over to compete. Marga in Santa Eulária

Tuesday was a steady semi exploration ride. We headed out toward Eivissa town and then north to find ruta diez, one of the official off road routes in the area. We managed to pick up ruta 10 near Sant Rafel but ended up going around in circles on the same section, so we cut to the end of ruta tres where it joins 10. This is the final hilly part of ruta tres. It climbs up to santa Gertrudis via a series of longish steep rocky climbs and short rocky descents. Juanita has been climbing better than me recently, so on the run in to the hilly section I try to keep the pace high to wear her out. I get to the last and longest climb in front of her by pushing it a bit on the descent. This climb is quite rocky and rutted with only one good line, so I take this line with my elbows out :-). I can hear her closing behind me on the last few hundred metres, but she can't get past. At the top of the climb the gradient eases and once I get to this section I can big ring it and out sprint her. She must have realised this because at the moment we crested the hill, she came flying past on my left in the rough and was gone.. Damn!

We had café and coca cola in Santa Gertrudis. On the way back we discovered a new route to the top of Sa talaia de sant Lorenzo. On the top of almost every big hill or ('munt' in catalá)there are usually a few antennae and satellite dishes, originally they were places for beacons warning of approaching pirates. Luckily for bikers and hikers, we are allowed to use the rough access roads that cut through forests to the top. Sa talaia de san Lorenzo is one of my favourites, it's a good, hard and loose in parts, middle ring climb with a sharp kick for the last 150m. The descent has a fast singletrack (camino de cabra)through the woods alongside the track.

Wednesday we arranged to ride with the hombres at 3.30pm outside Kandani. We awoke to find the whole of Cala Llonga swathed in fog (niebla) and distinctly cooler than the day before. At three we set off for Santa Eulária in arm warmers (mangitas) and a bit cold. Over the hill and we were in bright sunshine! Ah well, we'll be wearing as much clothing as locals :-) Crossing the roman bridge into santa Eulária we are surprised to hear a car beeping us, it's Pascual one of the club members waving and shouting. Wahey, it's nice to be recognised....by a local! At the shop we are greeted with lots of hola que tal's. Que tal is reserved for friends and people you know, which again is nice. There were some new faces and some old. Elena was there but on her road bike, she had an off on the mtb and had road rash on her chin and both knees....ouch. She set off by herself for a gentle recovery ride. We all set off in the opposite direction, one of the riders is a fireman and is on call so we can never be too far from town. This works very well for us because it means we get to discover all of the local trails and what's legal and what's not. Some of the trails are ok in the winter because the land owners are away, but we have to be wary in the summer. I wonder if they ride through our place when we're away? :-) We roll off in the opposite direction, down la rampa, up the rio and back into the fog that is Cala Llonga. Out through the golf course and into some new trails that we hadn't seen before. We crossed trails that we did know, which gave us ideas for new routes. Even another new way up to sant Lorenzo and a fantastic new singletrack descent. Today's ride was also deliberately flattish, because there was a big race coming up at the weekend that involved a huge climb and they wanted to save their legs. So any suggestions by Werner to go over mountains rather than around was met by shouts of 'arriba no! :-) During the burn up through the caminos and lanes back to santa Eulária we somehow find ourselves manouvered on to the front into the wind, how did that happen? Me and juanita look at each other and smile and do our pull. I guess we're no longer protected guests and have to work like everybody else now :-)

Thursday we decided to recap the club ride to map out the new trails we'd ridden. Juanita is excellent, she remembered every twist and turn, and even adds some bits to make it her own. At one point a black dog runs at us barking wildly. I say " good boy, muy bien" and he lays on his back for me to tickle his belly :-) In Ibiza every casita has a noisy dog that patrols his territory diligently and fervently. His territory seems to extend to about one metre around the perimeter wall of the house. When you pass he'll chase you as far this invisible line and no more, then strut up and down the line; job done!! When we first began riding in Ibiza this was quite frightening and we'd p.l.f. to get away. Sometimes I'd stop and face them down and they'd back off still barking. Other times I'd shout and they'd scuttle off with their tail between their legs. This seemed a bit harsh and unfair as they were only doing what was in their job description as a guard dog. So, more recently I've taken to congratulating them on doing a good job. " Bueno perro, muy bien". With the result that they go all soppy and want me to rub their belly. Everyone likes to be praised for doing a good job :-)

Friday Werner asked if we wanted to go on a ride to inspect some new trails that he'd been building during the winter. Bright and early we set off with Werner over Valverde towards the reservoir (depósito de agua) We set off up the climb opposite and into the trees up a slippery rocky climb. Just as Werner is telling us that he doesn't cut the track too wide to discourage motos, his derailleur catches a branch and snaps off his drop-out! Disaster? No, matching up to his german stereotype of efficiency and preparedness Werner has a selection of drop-outs in his bag :-) Five minutes later it is fixed and we are off again. Throughout the winter Werner has been scouring the hills for anything that remotely looks like a trail and then cutting his way through the trees. The result is a series of excellent steep downhill trails consisting of rocky drops and zig-zag hairpins. These are my favourite type of descent, steep and technical where you pick your way and let the bike go on the scary bits and brake on the easy bits :-) Five hours later we'd had enough technical singletrack and were spinning back along the caminos towards Cala Llonga.