The preparation months

Ooooh my first 'Big' event of the year is almost upon me. I signed myself up for the Bontrager Twentyfour12. I plumped for the 12 hour solo catagory, and the singlespeed sub-catagory. So in three weeks time I'll be on the start line of another 12 hour event.
I decided against the 24 hour race, as my previous efforts have gone to pot for one reason or another.
Though strangely I feel more nervous about this shorter race than I ever did about the full on 24's. I think in the past I either fooled myself that I could pull one off, or went out there knowing I could'nt do it. 12 hours however is do'able. And I think I might even find room to be a bit competative!
All that remains is one huge nagging doubt, based on the fact that I've felt good for some time now? Odd I know, but I worry that I feel good because I'm not trying hard enough, I only have the encouraging words of my peers who think I'm riding strong to ease my worries.
A little side dish to this event is a 'rivalry' between myself and another local rider whom I know very well. Both of us stomp the same grounds, but our individual approach to the event could'nt be more different, think the Tortoise and the Hare.
As the date for the race draws closer, I think all I can do is stay on top of my fitness as it's far too late for any leaps and bounds in that department. So now all my attention is fixed on the logistics of the event, or in other words what I'm going to scoff.
Anyway it's not far off and I think I'm almost there, well at least as there as I'll ever be. Only the day will tell.
www.twentyfour12.com

A hard nights racing.

I decided to enter myself in the FNSS round at the Milton Keynes Bowl, one of those good ideas at the time sort of things. Though as Friday evening drew closer I started to get nervous and wondered if I was doing the right thing. I was worried that I was about to be totally humiliated by a bunch of skinny race whippets.
A few hours later it was too late to turn back, I was in the race car park heading off to register. Minutes later with the bike all numbered up I went out for a practice lap.......Oh my God, that really is off camber, wet off camber. It was hard to beleive I was in Milton Keynes.
7.00pm and counting down to the start, the seniors have set off before us vets, thank God. A few minutes later and we're off, Jesus it's hard already!
I don't want to be at the back. At the top of the first climb I take a peek over my shoulder and I'm delighted the field is split in two big time, and I'm in the first group. The lap goes on and I'm already feeling it, however I manage to pass some other riders and I've stayed on the bike.
The second lap is caning me. So I settle in behind some riders just happy not to loose places, a technical or puncture would be very welcome right now! By now the short hills and off camber singletrack is unrideable. So taking a leaf from my old cross days, I jump off and start running. I mentally pat myself on the back for all the cross country running I've been doing lately. It's that, that keeps me in contention with the faster on the flat riders.
Lap three and I'm feeling good, so I tell myself to work harder. Burying myself and running the climbs and off camber sections see's me past the few riders I was keeping an eye on. Then another falls in front of me on the last lap, so another place gained. Now it's just head down and over the line. It's a good feeling, just dampened by the first seniors lapping me as well as the rain.
The finish. I'm absolutely buzzing as well as cold wet and coughing up mud and grass. When's the next one? Looking back, the bad weather was a disadvantage to the fast race guys otherwise I'm sure we would have been lapped far sooner. Mud and rain the great leveler.
From now on I'll be keeping an eye out for anymore xc races. I think I may have the bug.

From Trail God to A&E in one day!

Can a new bike be possesed?

My new Inbred is chucking me off on most rides, though I must admit the new bike tempts me to do things on the trail that I would'nt normally attempt.

However, I think I know what it is. My previous bikes were 80mm travel...arse high....nose low jobs, and just to hop a fallen twig took a Herculean effort to lift the front wheel. The Inbred however responds all to easilly to any rider input, it's just one step away from voice command!

Anyroadup, I cleared a couple of fallen trees that I had been gagging to nail for ages. Then the other evening I decided to clear the said trees whilst maintaining my normal riding speed.

I hit the second tree, gave it a pull on the bars and a quick stomp on the peadal and................................

I ended up flipping the bike and lading on my back across the tree trunk, legs one side, head and shoulders the other. My first thought was 'wheelchair'. Then I realised I could'nt feel any pain, that bloody worried me, then the pain came thank God!. but I could'nt move. Luckilly the mobile was in the side pocket of my pack, and with it I called my missus to collect me, and some mates to collect my car.

A&E was quiet on Wednesday evening.

After some x-rays it was concluded that nothing was actually wrong with me, technically I was just hurt.

So now I'm sitting here pee'd off because I was about to get some running in and do some more treking with my daughter as well as soak up the dry dusty trails.

The shoes will just have to wait.

Oh err new bike btw.

Here it is, one of your actuall limited edition of a 100, 853 On One Inbreds in Pompino Blue.

All glued together with full XT, 819 tubeless, Mono Minis, RF bars, Hope stem, Thomson post, Candy's, SRAM block & chain, Schwalbe tyres, and Bomber SL forks.

It's not 'just' about the bike.

It's been quite a while since I last posted, but then again that's probably due to my search for the more rounded lifestyle. That's not to say I've not ridden, oh no. I've had some quality rides in the last few months.
All three bikes are working perfectly now, infact I'm having 'Fettle Withdrawl' symptoms. Just nothing seems to be letting me down right now. Which has meant some fast route times and a hankering for just 'pushing it' a bit. Though just pushing it a bit recently had me flat on my back, winded, bleeding and bruised. So I've kind of reined that one in a bit.
Getting back to the title, I'm making the most of the summer to do other things. Like today, I decided not to ride but to head out for a long walk on the Ridgeway with my daughter and Toby the dog. You know it was great to amble along trails that I'd normally fly down. And without trying to sound all 'arty farty' I actually noticed the shapes of the leaves on the trees and the delicate grass on the chalky downs and err stuff. Hiking and camping is definately going on the 'should do more often list'.
I've also done a good deal of that other manly past time........DIY. Proper big jobs like roofing the garage, bunging up facias and gutters, and putting in new lights for my garage workshop.

However, riding the bike is the thing I still like to do when I've got some spare time and the family are happy to live without me, but more often now I prefer to do it alone. That way I can tailor every ride to suit myself. It also means that when I do meet my mates I enjoy it more.
I do have to keep an eye on my fitness a bit though as I've entered the Twentyfour12, just the 12 hour bit and I'll be soloing that on my singlespeed. With that in mind I try to have one half decent ride a month. It's only a bike ride after all, I don't have any goals, aims or targets to meet and I certainly can't be arsed with pulse rates (as long as I've got one I'm happy) or pedal revolutions and all that faff. To me these things are just like festivals, but instead of bands and mud they're bikes and mud. Happy times.
If you're interested the next 'goodun' I'm doing is the Bucks Off Road Classic 100k. I've decided I'm to ride that singlespeed as well. Partly to tick the 100k singlespeed box and partly because I'm a twat.
There is also a rumor going around that I might do the Three Peaks, we'll see.
Right now though riding wise I'm totally happy just to ride my local trails, the sun, the Pines, the sand and the lovely smells are all I need to make me one happy biker.

I'll pop back if anything special happens. Right now I'm working out how to get the contents of my Camelbak into a saddle bag, I hate Camelbaks and their kind. Freedom is what I want.

TTFN.

Too ill to ride or illin & chillin

Made that old mistake of going out too early after a bought of illness today. I had been ill for about two weeks and was gagging to get out again. So I took the oppertunity to hook up with some guys heading out to Ashridge, I knew damn well it would be a hard days mudfest, and I was'nt wrong

Heading out of town with Ivinghoe Beacon in the distance covered in mist, I told my buddies that I would do the sensible thing and cut off well within the ride.

With the Beacon out of the way I'd planned to do a 'bit' and head off.

However, that 'bit' got longer and longer. Each extra muddy mile I did was telling on me. Every root was banging through the rigid forks, up the narrow drops and into my cheast and arms. Each push on the pedals sent the road tyres spinning, then the mantra started Ineedknoblies....Ineedknoblies........Ineedknoblies.

Now realising we were out at our furthest point, pure bloody mindness set in, and I became determined to see this through, nothing was going to stop me not even losing a crank, nor the blocked up wheels not even the final ice like chalk climb.

Then we reached a familiar point on the route, one were I knew I'd just have to keep pedling to make it home.

That's when the sun came out, well no it did'nt we stopped at a cafe for coffee, but it was a welcome little break. Though we could'nt stop for long as we were freezing, so we gulped it down and set off.

The cross bike was in it's element for a short while as we rode on hardpack out to the Beacon. Then I had to make a decision, either decend by road or drop down off road knowing I'd have to walk the wet chalk climb that shoulders the beacon. In fact I was walking well before that, even standing out of the saddle on the flat would have the wheels spinning for grip.

A short walk soon led to a just manageable chalky decent which I just made, though one leg was flapping about waiting for the expected off!. However, I was soon on the type of Terra Nova that does'nt give way under you, some people call it Tarmac.

Here is were tradition states that we have a freewheel race follwed by a chaingang home. I think it's about seven miles in all, today we kept it a constant 22/25MPH. Though I always have to remember to save a little energy to get off the lights in town.

4 hours and 15 minutes later I'm peeling off wet muddy kit.

Then it's panic time. I'm showered and rested but my pulse is about 140bpm.....sheeeet. So what do you do when you have a problem? contact STW of course. I spell out my diagnosis via the internet, but my pulse finally starts to drop, 120...100....90.........80. It stops there, but then I realise I'm running a temperature and I've hardly drunk a sip. So I conclude that my late illness, minor dehydration and temperature are to blame. So that's OK then!

So it was a tough day, on the wrong bike. On top of that I was still unwell. With hindsight I think I was stupid to ride so hard. I must remember this day for when I'm ill again.

Carver 96'er & trail clearing

Well today the Carver 96'er got it's first full test. The designated area today was Woburn Sands, and the ride was to coincide with some time trail clearing.

So with the Camelbak loaded and secateurs to hand off we set.

ASBO! my BMX freewheeel went straight away. It is commonly known that BMX freewheels are the Chav's of bike componenets. Not to be put off I gingerly continued with the ride, waiting for a gonad/top tube interface at moment, as long as I kept spinning and the pawls remained in place I would be alright.

Anyroadup, that aside the Carver turned out to be a top piece of kit. The first thing I noticed was it's cornering I was cutting off bits of trail with each turn and pedaling fast into the singletrack, so ok it can handle.

can it climb? yes it bloomin can, though I was afraid of the freewheel going so did hang back a bit, most of the climbs I did sat in the saddle (not ideal on a singlespeed)

Obstacles? again no problemo though again the freewheel thing! Though I did find out that suddenly I'd become a wheely expert on this thing....a quick tug and woohoo.

Basically I'm well chuffed this bike the two short tests I've given it show that it does'nt lack in any department. To improve things for the future my mate Nick-No-Balance is building a new Hope rear wheel, thus doing away with BMX style freewheels forever. In the meantime I'm bunging an old XT/Mavic 819 with Gusset converter on it just to keep riding. can't wait to really put it through it's paces.

We also found time to do a bit of trail clearing. The area is covered in thorny gorse that goes straight through cycling gloves and this is what we spent time clearing. Oh and swilling coffee dutyfully carried around by N-N-B.

So overall one of the most chilled days of the year so far.

Finally sorry to all the other trail users today for my verbal outbursts (it's not torrettes spell check) just due to that flipping BMX freewheel jobbie.