Tuesday mtb ride

Today me and roger went out for our first mtb ride for ages. We rode over Leith and did a bit of singletrack. There snow was still squeaky and grippy.

On the ride back we did the usual climb up White Down, it was still hard compacted snow and quite treacherous. On the first bend a 4wd had gone over the edge and was stuck, a little farther up we were shocked to see a Land Rover lying on it's side. Just past the Land rover were three other cars abandoned by the road side.



Unbeknown to us the Land rover was a recent occurence. At the junction there was a police cordon and an officer and the driver of the Land Rover. He said he just been driving down the hill when he started to slide and it turned over. His wife and kids had been ferried away by the police and he and the officer were waiting for the police car to return for them.

thetford rnd 2

Jane had a been suffering with a sore throat almost since the last round and had only been on the bike once since, but I was still surprised that I caught her only a bout a quarter of the way into the first lap. She was going ok in the singletrack bits, but had no strength on the rises or open fire roads. I had put a more aggressive rear tyre on her bike, expecting some mud, but as it was the course was mud free. The tyre may have caused a bit more drag than she was used to.

In the second lap my rear brake lever suddenly came to the bar and I lost my rear brake completely.

So we dragged on for the minimum four hours, even slightly lurking a bit on the last climb to make sure we didn't have to go around again :)

Paul had another great race and took fifth in the vets once again.

Gorrick Brass Monkey rnd 1

Me and paul rode the Brass monkey round one yesterday at Deepcut. The biking is fantastic there! The race included huge drop ins and and sharp climbs. Paul is very strong at the moment, and has been all year. He caught me on the second lap and I stayed on until the end of that lap where I picked up a bottle and never saw him again!

paul was 16th and I was 24th.

Sunday ride

Jane was feeling a bit ill and so I nipped out for a quick ride around Epsom. A blip on the gps shows that I hit over 100kph on the return home across the flat! :)

Saturday ride

Jane has had a bit of a sore throat so we did a steady longish road ride to BG. They'd run out of teacakes so we had toast!! Very nice :)

Tuesday mtb

A gentle ride arond the north downs with roger today, a bit misty but some sunshine later. Very cold though :)

Xl Vuelta a Ibiza

We're not sure if we can get out to this one yet.

thetford rnd 1

My first time at Thetford for a couple of and years and Jane's for 3 or 4.

There had been a bit of rain the day before and a shower or two before the start,so the course was a bit sticky for the first two or three laps. It was a fantastic course, classic Brandon side of Theford. Lots of swoopy twists and turns in the singletrack and still big enough for 500 competitors.

I'd decided to ride with Jane and use the four hours as a long non stop training ride. ie to ride steady hard for six laps rather than bonkers for three and grovel for four :) The ladies went off two minutes before the men and it still took me over a lap to catch Jane! I was a bit nervous on the first lap and I'd forgotten how to ride a hardtail on this terrain, the last three seasons had been on the fullsus'. Once I'd remembered 'big gear standing up' started to get a bit more confident. By the time I'd caught Jane I'd passed at least three women riders and as there were only about seven ladies in her category I guessed she was either third or fourth. I didn't mention it because I didn't want to pressure her and the intention was a steady ride. At lap four Jane popped and slowed a lot, but more importantly she'd lost her skills in the technical bits. We eased right back for that lap and she had a couple of gels, a bar or two and some shot blocks. One of the ladies passed us on this lap. On the penultimate lap Jane regained her skills and 'maintenance of headway' was resumed :) a great book.

She caught the girl who'd passed us and sat with her for the the whole lap. Not long after we came through for the last lap Jane attacked and I held on for the rest of the lap :) Jane took a unexpected second place.



At the end we met Alan Parkyson who'd been riding well but cramped and dropped out of the top three and finished 11th. Paul had a great race, starting almost from the back he pulled back from 21st to fifth.

day 3

A nice steady ride around the coast and the lakes today :)

stage 2 - the wet one

Control de firma was inside today :)



It was rideable,just! But we had to walk :)



check point



the village people :)



Just as we head back, the sun arrives :)



A rare bike was h moment.