tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78488792024-03-07T13:16:14.586-08:00MunkenblogVarious ramblings and reports/news from our trips around the globe.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1165223506649773602006-12-04T01:05:00.000-08:002006-12-04T01:11:46.660-08:00And we're back...This blog has been very very queit recently (well for a good long while actually), but its back.<br /><br />Life since last post:<br />Quit my job<br /><br />Travelled the world (well a bit of it), went down under to NZ, OZ, Singapore and Hong Kong. Cruised around Europe in our campervan.<br /><br />Came back, found a house, found some work (just temping for the time being)<br /><br />Restarted "Normal Life".<br /><br />Bike related stuff can be found at <a href="http://www.itsalljustridingbikes.co.uk"></a> but other non bike stuff will be here.<br /><br />DanDan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1159889053361691472006-10-03T08:22:00.000-07:002006-10-03T08:24:13.383-07:00We've moved...<a href="http://www.itsalljustridingbikes.co.uk">http://www.itsalljustridingbikes.co.uk</a>is where the action is.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1128366387739510362005-10-03T11:53:00.000-07:002005-10-09T13:12:16.233-07:00Canada 052 weeks after getting back from Canada and only now I'm getting around to writing this up. I put the slack in slacker...<br />All of the following come from the illegible scribblings in my notebook.<br /><b>Day 1</b><br />Horrid Drive to Heathrow.<br />Flight was alright, vaguely OK movies, not enough food. When breakfast was served people were ready to eat their young.<br />Land only to find Mike's bike missed the flight. We're assured its on the next flight.<br />Slowest moving queue ever at Alamo but we are back in BC and we have a massive Van!<br />Drive up to Squamish along the Howe Sound, its as beautiful as ever.<br />The food and beer at the Howe Sound Brewery was as good as last year. Pitchers of Honey lager - start as you mean to continue.<br />By the time we get to bed we have been up for 27 hours. <br /><br /><b>Day 2</b><br />I'm up early, like stupid early, like 3am early. After vainly trying to sleep and then just listening to my iPod in bed I'm up and I'm out. Watching the world go by over a XL cup of coffee at 6am in Tim Hortons in Squamish sees a procession of Canucks in trucks coming past the drive through. A kid in a hockey helmet complete with facemask is sitting in passenger seat of one of the trucks, how he's going to at his donut through that I'll never know.<br />More coffee and Timbits sort breakfast for the people back at the hostel.<br />Our day is spent hiking up the Stawamus Chief granite obelisk, which is just as hard/fun as last year and a trip to MEC in Vancouver for "essentials".<br />Mike's Bike turns up.<br />Japanese in Squamish, Mike and Jude are unconvinced about the merits of raw fish.<br /><br /><b>Day 3</b><br />We are on the move, I spend the day at Whistler Bike Park whilst the others head off to Pemberton to go Horse riding. I can't believe mike has turned down The Bikepark in favour of Horse Riding he is XC Jey Boy. ;0)<br /><br />I rented a Norco Six Full suspension Bike an had a great time playing on the trails I stick mainly to the Blue runs as I could do without breaking myself on the first day of riding. I still manage to remove a nice patch of skin on my left forearm.<br />highlights were the new trails Crank it Up (full of berms, tabletops, wallrides and a fun box) and Angry Pirate (techy steep singletrack with a couple of "North Shore" sections).<br />We stay in Lillooet, in a motel that I'm sure is from a slasher flick.<br /><br /><b>Day 4</b><br />Today we drive from Lillooet to Golden. We pass through Kamloops but we mainly spend the day driving a staring at the scenery.<br /><br /><b>Day 5</b><br />Shorter drive from Golden to Canmore. We stop at Lake Louise and hike up from Lake Louise to Lake Agnes and stop at the Teahouse at the top, which is run by students and by the sounds of it pretty much everything is carried up there.<br />We have dinner at the Grizzly Paw brewery, best chicken wings ever and really good beer!<br /><br /><b>Day 6</b><br />We drop the girls in Banff, which is 20 minutes from Canmore, and they head off on their horse riding trip. Mike and I sort out a accommodation in Banff in double quick time and get set for our first XC ride of the trip on the Rundle River Trail, its an out and back ride 8km in each direction off road and is a bit of a wake up call as its very techy and is a mass of rocks and roots. Still its nice to know whats to come.<br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y9ed47&outx=360&quality=70><br />The evening/night is spent at the St james gate pub in Banff getting nicely drunk. They have a beer menu and at least 30 beers on tap.<br /><br /><b>Day 7</b><br />Mike and I drove up to the Kananskis valley to go ride in the backcountry but the cloud was really low and it was a bit drizzly so we rode a fairly low rolling trail called the Terrace trail. It wasn't as technical as the Rundle trail but nice singletrack none the less.<br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y9edeu&outx=450&quality=70><br /><br /><b>Day 8</b><br />Baldy Pass.<br />The weather was perfect so we headed back to Kananskis to have a crack at Baldy Pass, a big ride up and down the other side of a big pass. We climbed for two and a half hours with the last 45 minutes being a push up in shin deep snow.<br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/28/50553676_93d45018de.jpg><br />The top of Baldy Pass is at over 6000ft which is one and a half times the height of Ben nevis and it certainly felt like it.<br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/25/50553679_ec39a0019d.jpg><br />The descent down the other side was excellent, the first half was a Rocky, Rooty and very technical singletrack when it wasn't covered in snow, when it was it was super technical singletrack. <br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/26/50553678_870fe04a45.jpg><br />The second half was rolling, winding and buff singletrack.<br />The whole ride including the ride back to the carpark on the road was four and half hours. Definately the best ride so far.<br /><br />We picked up the girls in Banff, slightly pink, and very tired.<br /><br /><b>Day 9</b><br />Banff - Jasper<br />We drove up the Icefields Parkway, stopping at various points of interest on the way. The others went up onto the Glacier on what amounted to a 4x4 bus, I didn't like the idea of this and decided to explore the bottom of the glacier on foot.<br /><br /><b>Day 10</b><br />Today we got to do a ride out of Jasper, a quick trip to Freewheel Cycle in Jasper for Trail info and we were heading for the Valley of the 5 Lakes loop. It wasn't a particularly high ride but there were lots of steep climbs and descents and it was all on Singletrack. Again virtually all types of singletrack were covered and it was definately the best day for quality of riding. At one stange we road for over 100m without touching earth as we constantly on roots.<br />The weather was beautiful too. We extended the ride right down to Wabasso lake and looped back on the Road. Total time on the bike was 6 hours with a stop for lunch. Pizza makes great energy food!<br />Photofest:<br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y9ed4b&outx=450&quality=70><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/26/49089922_f514424547.jpg><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/25/50810293_bab3fde467.jpg><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/31/50810292_8879c6e947.jpg><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y9ed4a&outx=450&quality=70><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/25/50812692_bfd36a9e8c.jpg><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/24/50812691_2a1052a80d.jpg><br /><br /><b>Day 11</b><br />Jasper - Wells Gray<br />Another day on the road stated with coffee and sundries at the Bear Paw bakery in Jasper, we then pretty much stuck the cruise control to 100kph and kept the car between the lines.<br />When we got to our home for the night we were greeted by huge numbers of french tourists who decided poke around our cabins as we carrying our bags into them and stuff. Apart from that Well gray Ranch was an awesome place to stay. Its a proper cowboy ranch and its cool to get a taste of the old west.<br /><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/29/50817231_43c4e8163a.jpg><br /><br />After we had chucked our bags in the cabins and shooed away the frenchies we went in search of canoes. A search that was unfortunately fruitless however we walked down to the riverside and I taught Claire to skim stones, a skill that no doubt will prove useful in the next twelve months. We then walked to an observation point to watch salmon jumping and we saw a few failure to make it up the whitewater.<br /><br /><b>Day 12</b><br />Wells Gray - Tyax<br />Another day in the van with a the customary stop for Coffee and stuff at a bakery at the start of the day.<br />Nice Peanut butter cookies from the Bakery in Clearwater!<br />The drive was nice and easy until the final 2 hours which was either on hair raising roads or dirt tracks. We really must get a 4x4 next time we are here.<br /><br /><b>Day 13</b><br />Float Plane<br />We took a Float Plane from Tyaughtan lake up to Spruce Lake (it was too windy to get into Warner Lake) and rode the trails down. The takeoff was the Pilot, Dale's first dodgy one for a while apparently, but the landing was smooth. Being in the air above all that scenery was awesome too. We climbed out a bit from the back of Spruce Lake to add some distance as we were up for a long ride. It wasn't all downhill though, it was probably a 2:1 down:up ratio. We got ride singletrack that features in the that wll known Bike flick <a href=http://www.thecollectivefilm.com/>The Collective</a>. The trails were good but were a bit chewed up from horses.<br />It was a good day, Float plane ride, long ride mainly downhill, lunch, top guide called Ian with knowledge of the locals trails further down. Top Day!<br />Pics:<br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/31/50819231_4f6baa5632.jpg><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/24/50819232_18e7109213.jpg><br /><img src=http://static.flickr.com/32/49089924_ab05fd61f5.jpg><br /><br /><b>Day 14</b><br />Tyax - Van<br />Another 2 hours on dirt roads got us from Tyax to Pemberton then another couple on the Sea to Sky Highway back down to Van. A quick stop in MEC for stuff we decided we couldn't live without in the last two weeks.<br />We had got a private room for all four of us booked in the HI Jericho Beach Hostel, but they screwed up and we got 2 private rooms.<br />We went over False Crek to Downtown and got Thai Food for Tea.<br /><br /><b>Day 15</b><br />Van - Flight<br />We had a morning in Vancouver before our flight, so Claire and went for a walk around Stanley Park, wandered down Robson for a bit, got Japanese food from our favourite restaurant in Van and then wandered around Kitsilano for a bit. Basically just chilled out.<br />Mike and Jude did the sightseeing thing.<br />The flight back was pretty uneventful with everyone bar Mike getting a decent amount of sleep (even me).<br /><br />The we were back in the UK...rubbish!Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1125491159993186382005-08-31T05:24:00.000-07:002005-08-31T06:47:21.670-07:00Munken World Tour 05/06Tired of working for a living Claire and I have decided to take "a year out".<br />We want to go to places we won't necessarily get the chance to go to again, certainly not while we are this young/vaguely fit/healthy.<br />Our itinery starts actually before we quit work at the end of October....<br /><br />10th October - 24th October British Columbia, Canada<br />We are heading on a tour of BC with our bikes in tow with our friends Mike and Jude.<br />We are heading to Squamish, Kamloops, Jasper, Banff and we are heading into the skies for a float plane biking trip. 48km of mainly downhill singletrack!<br /><br /><br />8th November - Fly from London to Bali<br />18th November - Bali to Christchurch, New Zealand<br /><br />4 Months in New Zealand - no real plan as yet but we intend to do some trekking.<br /><br />18th March Christchurch NZ - Singapore<br />23rd March Singapore - London<br /><br />Late March - End of the Summer/Autumn time...<br /><br />Europe - see as much of Europe in our Toyota Campervan with our bikes on the back.<br />We will be heading to the French Alps, the Pyranees, Italy (Lake Garda), Ireland, and Scotland.<br /><br />We are really quite looking forward to it.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1124278876502837732005-08-16T10:35:00.000-07:002005-08-17T04:48:54.506-07:00Angry Dog GuyRiding through a certain country park on a trail, I had a run in with Angry Dog Guy. Old guy, dogs weren't on lead.<br /> <br />Anyway, I was riding down the trail when I saw his dogs so I slowed right down, and continued towards him. At this point he shouts "STOP" and adopts the star jump/jumping jack pose. I come to a halt trying not laugh at his aerobic impression.<br /> <br /><em>He's obviously abit on the angry side.</em><br />ADG: You shouldn't be riding here.<br /><br />Dan: Well, your dogs should be on a lead.<br /><br />ADG: No they shouldn't , you're on a footpath, you have to give way to my dogs.<br /><br />Dan: I slowed down, I've never hit a dog in over 10 years cycling. Anyway shouldn't they be on a lead?<br /><br />ADG: They shouldn't be on a lead, they have to be under control.<br /><br />Dan: So how are you controlling them then? <br /><em>I refrain from asking him if he's using mind control or Jedi tricks</em><br /><br />ADG: I've been a dog handler for 30 years, and I know my dogs. It says down there on the sign they have to be under control. <br /><br />Dan: Thats nice for you.<br /><em>He's really starting to get wound up now</em><br /><br />ADG: My car is in the car park its an old white Citroen AX <br /><em>later inspection reveils it to have a "Dog is not just for Xmas, there should be some left over for Boxing Day day" sticker in the window.</em><br /><br />ADG: I want you to read the sign and write a letter of apology and leave it on my car.<br /><br />Dan: badly stifled laugh<br /><em>would you really tell someone you have just shouted at what your car looks like? - seems like a bad idea to me</em><br /><br />ADG: I come up here for peace and quiet and you've ruined it. <br /><em>This was in a voice loud enought to be heard in Nottingham</em><br /><br />Dan: So do I funnily enough, shame you've spoilt my evening.<br /><em>he's getting really quite red in the face</em><br /><br />ADG: But your on a footpath, you shouldn't be here.<br /><em>times getting on now, and its getting dull to be honest</em><br /><br />Dan: To be honest mate, i don't care if Bikes shouldn't be here or not.<br /><em>he storms off up the trail</em><br /><br />ADG: Thats just typical of people like you, you're an ignorant **** <br /><em>I'll give you a clue it rhymes with hunt</em><br /><br />Dan: Can you give me one good reason why bikes can't be in the park?<br /><br />ADG: You cause erosion<br /><br />Dan: I can give you several scientific studies that show that feet do more damage than bikes.<br /><em>He walks off in a huff, his dogs having disappeared into the distance a long while ago while apparently under control.</em><br /><br />Dan: Cheerio! Have Fun!<br /> <br />Absolutely hysterical. Now I know I that bikes shouldn't be ridden on footpaths but really what harm does it do?<br /> <br /><a href="http://www.cheekytrails.co.uk/">http://www.cheekytrails.co.uk/</a>Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1124097258053090362005-08-15T07:10:00.000-07:002005-08-15T04:50:25.580-07:00While Claire is away......Dan will play!<br /><br />Claire spent a long weekend in Sardinia with her bestest buddy Louise, so I was left with lots of free time.<br />The plan:<br />Wednesday night - preperation<br />Thursday night - ride bikes at Gracedieau and blag food at Mike's.<br />Friday night - drive to Cardiff<br />Saturday - Ride at Afan<br />Sunday - Ride at Afan and return home to pick up Claire from the Station.<br /><br /><br /><em>Wednesday Night</em><br />Right I have a lot planned so best get my arse in gear.<br />New Truvativ Hussefelt cranks to fit. 2 rings and a bashguard, perfect for the woods where you really don't need an outer ring and it ends up catching and bending on stuff when you feck up hopping over rocks and tree trunks.<br />The cranks go on fine and after a bit of fettling of the front mech, everything is fine and indeed dandy.<br />I then go into an organisational whirlwind, Food is bought, washing/washing up is done and kit is arranged in box and bag for the trip down on Friday night as I suspect I'll be in no fit state to sort it out on Thursday and the plan is to leave straight from work on Friday.<br /><br />I then sit down in front of the telly and knock back 1/2 a bottle of wine (it needed drinking up and there was no beer in the fridge.)<br /><br /><em>Thursday Night</em><br />I'm at Mike's by 6pm and we pretty quickly load his bike on to the new Fiamma bike rack on the back of the camper, one bike is easy, two bikes make life a little harder but to be honest its pretty easy.<br />We get to Fisky's on time for once and head to Gracedieau woods for a couple of hours of singletrack fun.<br />Social beer at Fisky's renders us 20 minutes late getting back to Mike's so we are greeted with cold pizza and a slightly chilly reception from Jude. Pizza hit the spot though.<br /><br /><em>Friday Night</em><br />Straight from work I was heading South West, no big jams just a bit busy around Monmouth and Newport. Result.<br />Journey Fuelled by:<br />Rancid<br />Jay-Z Vs Linkin Park:Collision Course<br /><br />Spent the rest of the evening chilling with the younger brother, watching DVD's, drinking beer. Lloydy showed up in his own particularly late style at 10:45.<br /><br /><em><br />Saturday</em><br />Today, myself, Lloydy, Pat and Jess rode White's Levels. It was drizzling when we rolled out of the carpark but by 2/3rds of the way up the first climb it was rain of biblical proportions that was being thrown on us. The trail resembled more of a stream than a trail. We continued around the trail enjoying the singletrack and splashing though the puddles.<br />About 1/2 way down the final descent I came across pat standing by his bike at the side of the trail. He's not sure what happened but his rear mech had exploded, senting his chain into the spokes and bringing him to a sudden halt. Luckily he wasn't hurt, I'm not sure he even crashed. After 5 minutes sripping and bodging bike in to a rollable state, he was able to roll down the trail and get a tow back to the cars.<br />After making ourselves vaguely clean we headed home, on the motorway, Dave and I were happily driving along in the van when <strong>BANG!</strong>, I immediately look back and the bikes were still there, then I notice the passenger side winscreem wiper blade had come off, luckily were could come off the motorway 30 seconds later and the garage we stopped in just off the motorway had exactly what we needed. Lucky.<br />After checking the bikes over back at Pats, I noticed that the pad on my rear disk brake was down to the pad backing metal, no wonder they felt a bit wierd. And those pads were brand new and had only been ridden on 3 rides! So lesson learnt there, Shimano organic Pads do not like mud.<br />The rest of the day was spent chilling in front of the Athletics until it was Curry o'clock and myself and Dave headed to the Bay Leaf in Llandaf for some fine Bangladeshi food.<br /><br /><em>Sunday</em><br />Due Pat's mechanicals, he was a no show today so it was just Dave and myself heading back to Afan to see what the Skyline trail was like.<br />A quick trip to <a href="http://skylinecycles.co.uk/">Skyline Cycles</a> for some new brake pads and a quick faff and we were off.<br />The skyline shares the first climb with White's Levels and it was interesting to see how well it had dried out.<br />Dave and I made our way around the trail at a comfy pace, the trail mixes more fireroad in with the singletrack but the sweetness of the singletrack makes up for the fireroads. The final descent is a belter with switchbacks, rock drops, whoops and loads more funstuff. We ended up cutting the ride short due to time contraints but looking at the map we only missed 2 singletrack sections.<br />After riding and getting sorted out, we headed into the <a href="http://www.the-dropoff.com">Drop Off Cafe</a> for a late lunch/early dinner, 4 quid got us the biggest pile of Curry and Rice seen by me ever. Well tasty and I scoffed the lot to the amazemant of the chef.<br />Back on the road it was another long drive back to Leicester with the added bonus of a nice long queue on the M42.<br />Journey Fuelled by:<br />Smash Mouth<br />No Doubt<br />Everclear<br />Costa Coffee Ice Blended Frappacino type beverages<br />Curry - parp.<br /><br />On the drive home news was filtering through that Claire had landed but her bag had not, and she had missed the Luton to Leicester Train, so she had to go back to London then get the train back to Leicester. Oh well it was nice to see her at 2240 on the platform of Leicester Station.<br /><br />Carnage Count:<br />4 Spokes<br />1 XT Rear Mech<br />1 Chain<br />1 Set Saint Brake Pads<br />1 Windscreen Wiper Blade<br />4 Curries<br />1 Bruised Hand/FingerDan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1120469222642727372005-07-04T18:15:00.000-07:002005-07-04T03:29:04.433-07:00Dragon ChaseIt is Monday Morning and I am very very tired. There is however a good reason for this. Over the weekend myself and the assembled BAPS and Bandito hordes rode for Welshpool to Borth, ie pretty much the width of Wales.<br /><br /><strong>Friday Night</strong><br />Ian and I took the Swedish Gold Pimp Wagon to welshpool and got a our camping spot sorted early.<br />The Friday night was pretty uneventful apart from the communication issues with Mike resulted in a wild goose chase looking for a pub.<br />We fuelled up with a couple pints and Sousage in batter and chips from the chippy.<br /><br /><strong>Saturday</strong><br />Saturday morning we broke camp and Ian and Mike went off to leave the Landy in Borth. Lex, Andrew and myself rode into Welshpool, hung around in the Bikeshop for a bit and then rode to Wayne and Jo's where the plan to meet Ian, Mike, Neil and Woja.<br />After waiting and faffing we eventually left at 13:30, a mere 3 hours behind schedule.<br />This is where it all gets a bit fuzzy but the riding involved:<br />1)riding bridleways that don't exist on the ground<br />2)crossing several barbed wire fences<br />3)bracken, lots and lots of braken<br />4)country lanes<br />5)steep hills<br />6)wind farms<br />7)sketchy blowouts on steep tarmac hills<br /><br />We rolled into the pub in Dylife at 7:30ish and consumed a couple of pints (fluid replenishment obviously), had some really good stodgy food (mmm suet) and Mike and I were sexually assualted by a large over amourous canine. Luckily for Mike, he like me best, its surprising how fast you can run in bike shoes when you are being chased by a Labrador who's got the hots for you. That'll teach me to feed dogs chips.<br /><br />After the pub we climbed one last hill and decended to our camping spot.<br />Tents and Bivvies were quickly assembled and after a couple of wee drams, everyone went to bed. The night passed quickly and I enjoyed a nice worm dry night in my tent and sleeping bag. Some of the other guys got either cold or wet but everyone got at least some sleep. <br /><br /><strong>Sunday</strong><br />The midges were out in the morning so i ate breakfast in my new favourite tent (one of the best 25quid I have ever spent, after eating and getting suitably attired and coating various areas of my body with various substances, there was water filtering, packing up and general sorting of stuff.<br />Today the riding was a bit easier going but still hard graft including:<br />1)Bogtrotting<br />2)River crossings<br />3)N-y-A trail (a bit of)<br />4)Reservoirs<br /><br />We hit the beach in Borth almost exactly 24hours after leaving Welshpool and after a quick photo session headed for the nearest chippy.<br />In the time it took for me to go to the loo, drop off an enormo-turd and come back, the lads had managed to 7 bikes and a variety of other stuff in the back of a landrover.<br />Lex, Andrew, Woja and I were left to wait to get the train back to Welshpool. I passed the time by drinking beer on the seafront and helping Thai Girls with travel queries.<br /><br />After what seemed like a very long train journey, we were met at the station and all that was left was a caffeine fuelled journey home in the Golden Pimp Wagon.<br /><br />Fuels of choice for the weekend:<br />1)Chips<br />2)Anything with Suet in it.<br />3)Beer<br />4)Single Malt<br />5)Malt Loaf<br />6)Jelly Babies<br /><br /><em>Photo links here.</em><br /><em></em>Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1118237304626994312005-06-08T18:26:00.000-07:002005-06-18T10:34:49.860-07:00The Rules of FaffMyself and Ian have been working on these for a while.<br /><br />1) Faffing to be kept to a minimum.<br />2) If you faff, expect abuse.<br />3) Preride faffs are to be kept short, riders can be left and made to catch up if excessive faffing occurs. The Pre-ride faffing also determines the Faff Order (see point 5).<br /> <br />4) Faff Stops. <br /> a) A rider can call a faff stop assuming its his turn in the Faff Order. <br /> b) Whilst the Calling Rider is faffing, other riders may pre-emptive faff. <br /> c) However the Pre-emptive faffing will cease as soon as the Calling Rider is ready to ride.<br /> <br />5) The Faff Order<br /> a-i) The faff order is determined by the order in which riders are ready to ride.<br /> a-ii) Ready to Ride means astride Bike, with camelbak and helmet on.<br /> b-i) Alternatively the Faff order is determined by the order in which people arrive at the start of the group ride when the riders are arriving by bike.<br /> b-ii) However if a rider starts to faff at the meeting point delaying the start of the group ride they are automatically placed last in the Faff Order.<br /> <br />6) Mechanical Faffs<br /> a) A mechanical Faff can only be called outside of the normal Faff Order rules if the mechanical makes the unrideable<br /> b) Whether the bike is unrideable is decided by the rest of the group not the would be Faffer.<br /> c) The quickest method of fixing the mechanical must be taken. eg Replace the tube don't patch it.<br /> <br />7) Picture Faffs<br /> a) Entirely acceptable as long as the group is not held up.<br /> b) No pre-emptive faffing can take place on a Picture Faff.<br /> <br />8) Sneaky Faffs<br /> a) Sneaky Faff's are acceptable as long as the sneaky Faffer, sprints ahead of the pack and finishes their faff before the pack catches up.<br /> b) Sneaky Faff's are only for food and clothing faffs.<br /> <br />9) Extreme weather Faffs<br /> a) If the weather changes in the extreme, an Extreme Weather Faff can be called and one and all can put jackets on in the case of a downpour.<br /> b) Drizzle or the sun coming from behind a cloud do NOT count as extreme weather.<br /> <br />10) Faffing during scheduled food stops.<br /> a) Any faffing particularly of the mechanical kind should take place whilst people are eating.<br /> b) Unless the faffer is the next in the Faff Order, when he/she can spend his/her turn.<br /> <br />11) Medical faff's<br /> a) Medical Faffs can be taken out of turn but: <br /> b) No blood, no Faff<br /> c) Unless your Ashmatic/HayFevery/or something similarly annoying.<br /> d) Glasses faffs don't count for out of turn Faffs.<br /> <br /> <br />The Rules of Faff in action.<br /> <br />4 Riders arrange to meet for a ride, they are all arriving by car, they all arrive at roughly the same time.<br />Ian is ready to ride first, then Dan, then Mike (despite his loose headset faff), the final rider to be ready is Lex because he had reassemble his freeride bike with thru-axle hubs after fishing it out of his car.<br /> <br />So the Faff order is:<br />Ian<br />Dan<br />Mike<br />Lex<br /> <br />Everyone is riding along happily, Ian want's to take his jacket off so calls a Faff stop. There is other faffing with jackets. We continue riding. Dan gets hungry 20 minutes later and calls a faff and eats something, meanwhile Lex adjusts his gears but as he gets it done while Dan is eating, thats fine.<br />Later, Mike realises his headset has come loose again and calls a faff to fix it.<br /> <br />Ian gets a puncture and its agreed that it should be fixed, so Ian replaces the tube quickly and efficiently and we are on our way with a minimal about of Faff.<br /> <br />The Heavens open so an Extreme weather faff is called and jackets are on.<br /> <br />Lunchtime, everyone eats but Lex is still unhappy with his gears so he quickly eats and adjusts his gears again whilst the others enjoy a leisurely rest stop.<br /> <br />The weather has improved so at the end of lunch jackets are taken off and we are back on track, with the weather clearing, several photo faffs are taken.<br /><br />Alles klar?Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1118153468449952872005-06-07T05:42:00.000-07:002005-06-27T06:51:30.463-07:00Rough Rideit wasn't bad you know.<br /><br />Saturday Night<br />Beer, Hijinks, Food from the chippy.<br /><br />Sunday Morning<br />Rough looking people, trying to sort myself out for the ride in a body sense and a kit sense.<br /><br />Ride<br />Good course, took it nice and easy to prevent myself dying on my arse. I rode around with Ian and it really does make a difference riding with someone. You remind each other to drink and eat.<br />Most of the course was on open moorland and the views were really nice.<br />74km with 6000ft of climbing.<br /><a href="http://www.roughride.co.uk/images/Route%20Profile.jpg">http://www.roughride.co.uk/images/Route%20Profile.jpg</a><br />The 2 last climbs were horrid though.<br />The weather wasn't bad, not too hot which was nice ( I still have reoccuring nightmares from Roughride 1).<br /><br />Post Ride<br />Wet, sore back, falling asleep on way home (its OK I wasn't driving), bumped into Mike from Dialled Bikes and Elliott from ET in the services on the M42 which was nice.<br /><br />All in all a pretty good weekend and our temporary dog Peggy didn't try to eat too many people.<br /><br />Pictures <a href=http://www.diaryofamountainbiker.co.uk/2005_june_rough_ride.php>here</a> and <a href=http://iannutt.fotopic.net>here</a>Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1116253154319642592005-05-16T17:48:00.000-07:002005-05-16T09:47:00.996-07:00CLIC24 - we rocked hard.24Hour Racing? In May? In the UK? Are you quite mad?<br />As it turns out, no.<br /><br />Friday Night<br />The weather forecast for the weekend was looking decidedly dodgy all week, so we were well prepared with wet weather gear and such, but when we arrived at the campsite in Charterhouse, Somerset it wasn't raining just blowing a gale. Coats hands and gloves were very very quickly found and put on.<br />We had great fun putting the tent up in the wind but we got there in the end. No sign of Dave yet, hmm.<br />Ian and Mike were tasked to go get food from the local fish and chip shop, whilst the girls opened the wine and I opened my beer, ah I forgot my beer didn't I. Oh well wine it was.<br />The food hunting party returned with tales of a shut chipshop. However they were given FREE FOOD! We had free Pasties, Fish, Curry Sauce, Tartare Sauce, Spring Roll and a saveloy for the Dog. Actually I'm lying we had to pay for Tartare sauce.<br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8wr51&outx=600&quality=70><br /><br />Still no Dave, we gave him a call and he was in Bath, or was that in the Bath?<br />Eventually he turned up and he found us all huddled in the kit/cooking area of mikes tent drinking wine and beer and smelling like a chip shop. We threw his tent up in double quick time (not bad considering the conditions) and we all headed for our respective tents.<br /><br />The night passed with people shivering and really not getting a good nights sleep, I was just about comfy in my sleeping bag (Comfort Rating = -7C, Extreme Rating = -22C, ha ha ha, my arse), others were a little colder and Dave's UHT Milk had by morning turned into UHT Milk Slushpuppy.<br /><br />The morning was spent faffing with bikes, eating bacon rolls and other carby things and trying to keep warm. After the rider briefing Ian started to get ready for his first lap and the rest of tried not to look nervous.<br /><br />At 12 o'clock, we were off! Ian would be going first, Mike second, myself third and Dave would be going fourth.<br />Ian came round pretty quickly and it was Mike's turn. I interrogated Ian about the lap and wiggly singletrack was mentioned (yay!) as was a fireroad climb (boo!).<br />With Mike on his lap it was time for me to get moving and get changed.<br /><br />Mike came in with a grin on his face, and it was my turn.<br /><strong>Lap 1</strong><br />Up the road climb at the start, get the legs spinning and warmed up.<br /><em>Oh, cold legs, take it easy tiger, whats that noise? I knew I should have replaced my middle chainring at the same time as I did my chain and cassette on Thursday. Oh well I'm sure it'll all wear together over the next couple of laps.</em><br />On to the singletrack! Down the first part of the singletrack descent, cool!<br /><em>This is alright, be careful though we don't want any dumb crashes.</em><br />On to double track for a left turn and then back on the singletrack, ride the rolling dusty rocky singletrack for a bit (I'm pretty sure it was somerset not california). <br />'Kin 'Ell this rocks! 'Kin 'ave it!<br />If you were jey you could ride the double track to the left. Eh Dave?<br />Out on to main trail again and follow the trail, still singletrack though, just a bit wider. <br /><em>Glad those roots aren't wet.</em><br />Dried up river crossing. <br /><em>Ooo tricky...</em><br />Short steep climb. Down a descent with 4 ruts where someone later had big off and had to be airlifted out. Quick climb.<br /><em>All entertaining but not hugely challenging.</em><br />Down a wide but hugely rocky descent.<br /><em>Thank heavens for nice plush suspension forks.</em><br />Down a smoother fireroad descent.<br />Then climbing started, gentle at first, then a steep loose climb that had some walking, then on to the fireroad for what seemed like an age and then another steep section.<br /><em>Up we go, not too bad.<br />Oh, into little front chainring, lock forks down.<br />Oh thats a bit flatter, keep spinning.<br />Blimey this goes on for ages.<br />Oh great, another steep bit.<br />And we're at the top.</em><br />On to the top moor on the flat, get into the middle ring and get moving but watch out for the ruts. <br /><em>Oo look at the view.</em><br />Straight but very sketchy and loads of loose rocks.<br /><em>Should be fun at night...</em><br />On to the road, get in to the big ring and thrash down the road to finish, up a small climb at the end though.<br /><em>And I'm spent.</em><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8wqrd&outx=600&quality=70><br />Hand over to Dave and then head for tent for warm clothes and food.<br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8wqrx&outx=576&quality=70><br /><br /><strong>Lap 2</strong><br />Just like Lap1 but better paced and a few minutes faster. Back to the tent. Eat stuff.<br /><br /><strong>Lap 3</strong><br />Dusk. Awesome lap, needed the lights on the singletrack, but it was a very cool lap.<br />Get back in, Walk to the Lumicycles tent to top up the lights, just in case. <br />Get into sleeping bag and try to sleep despite a covers band playing Bon Jovi and Lynyrd Skynyrd covers. I'm shivering a bit.<br /><br />The night time was to be organised so we all got some sleep. The lap order was to be as follows for the nightshift:<br />Dave<br />Ian<br />Dave<br />Ian<br />Mike<br />Dan<br />Mike<br />Dan<br />then back to normal alternating laps.<br />2:20am - get rudely awakened by Ian. get changed in record time for a half awake person due to the cold. Eat ceral bar and Power bar, drink coke and collect Battery from Lumicycle. Sort bike out and fit lights.<br />Mike's in and its time to head out.<br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8wr55&outx=600&quality=70><br /><strong>Lap4</strong><br />Lap goes well, with the highlight being nearly running over a field mouse. It was just starting to get light as I finished my lap, hand over to Mike who gets "Dawn lap" lucky bugger.<br /><br />I filled the Gap between "nightlaps" by sitting in my sleeping bag outside, watching the dawn whilest listening to Jack Johnson, eating Jaffa Cakes and drinking Coke. It was great if a little chilly.<br /><br /><strong>Lap 5</strong><br />Nice lap in the dawn light with cows running along side me in the field that singletrack was next to.<br /><br />Quick one hour dozy rest, then Bacon Roll time.<br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8wrfw&outx=576&quality=70><br /><strong>Lap 6</strong><br />Final Lap, not too hard but feeling tired and by this time with the wind dropping during the night and the sun shining it was really hot.<br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8wqrj&outx=600&quality=70><br />Hand over to Dave so he can do his last lap.<br /><br />Scores on the doors:<br />Total Laps: 24<br />Total Miles: 240 ish<br />Total Height Climbed: 24,000ft<br />Total Calories consumed: I shudder to think.<br /><br />We all slowly packed up and headed home, secure in the knowledge that we had had a good time, done our best and raised over two thousand pounds for CLIC.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1113846933473350332005-04-19T21:14:00.000-07:002005-04-20T13:19:54.786-07:00Evolution of the AlbertI've had the Prince Albert frame for about 8 months now and its had a lot of (ab)use. When I first built it up I basically transferred across the components from my marin, now while these were perfectly good components they probably weren't the most suited to the frame. The Fox forks were a touch short resulting in a headangle that was a touch too steep (the fact that they were far to linear and dove through most of travel witht the slightest touch of the front brake didn't help either.) The stem was a bit long too making the steering a bit slow but my silly long upper body sort of hid this a bit as it didn't <em>feel</em> too long.<br /><img src=http://photos1.flickr.com/145280_de7149c472.jpg><br />The old jey XC build.<br /><br /><img src=http://photos5.flickr.com/9955652_9efaac2305.jpg><br />The new freeride-lite build.<br /><br /><br />I recently changed the stem to a short 60mm Truvativ one, which has improved the handling no end (it wasn't bad as it was) and I have just bought and fitted a set of Marzocchi Z1 FR SL forks (to replace The Fox Forx Talas R's which proved themselves to be distictly unBritain proof), which will bring the front end up a bit, slacken the head angle and raise the Bottom Bracket a touch.<br />Pretty much the rest of the components have remained the same bar stuff being replaced when it has worn out.<br /><br />I guess the new build is better suited to the sort of riding I have found myself being drawn too, I seem to be riding harder on the downs, chilling on the ups and have plans to spend some time down at Chicksands hopefully progressing my 'shore skills.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1113218692421578862005-04-11T18:07:00.000-07:002005-06-18T10:35:20.466-07:00Weekends away in wales ROCK!<strong>Friday</strong><br />It was with great anticipation that Ian and I put the bikes and gear in the back of his car and headed onto the road on Friday afternoon, we're both finish early on Friday slackers - though Ian has to take leave ;0), a quick bash across the M6 toll road and various other roads too dull to mention got us to Wales to the tunes of Jurassic 5 and then it was wiggly A-road funfest getting stuck behind slow moving 4x4s and other vehicles, but the CD of random Punk Covers kept us entertained. You really haven't lived until you have heard "Leaving on a Jet Plane" being covered by the Me First and Gimme Gimme's!<br /><br />About 40 miles out from Machynlleth (from now on to be known as Mach) that it started to snow heavily, there was quite a bit of nervous laughter in the car at this point, at one point the surrounding mountain sides were white over and we were driving through what felt like a blizzard. More nervous laughter ensued.<br />The snow cleared after a while thankfully and we passed through Mach on the way to Corris where our Bunkhouse awaited. By this point the collective bladder in the car was full to bursting and we were looking for somewhere, anywhere, to pee thankfully an oppurtunity arose in forestry centre and we unleashed Austin Powers pee's of the highest order. Turns out the forest centre was 300yds away from the bunkhouse.<br />On arrival at the bunkhouse we were shown around quite the possibly the plushest bunkhouse ever. Its only rivalled by the Squamish Hostel Claire and I stayed in last September, i say rivalled, this Bunkhouse had a bar! A bar in a bunkhouse! How good is that? <br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y85crf&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y85cr3&outx=800&quality=70><br /><br />Anyway, Ian and got our gear up to our room and stowed the bikes in the secure bike shed and started to think about dinner.<br />We were told in advance by the bunkhouse that the pub in the village centre did food so off we strolled into the village with directions to the pub, well we nearly walked past the pub as there was only a very small sign saying "Slaters Arms" on the front of the pub, in we went, it was a touch quiet in there. On 7pm on a Friday evening it was us, the Landlord and a regular. Anyway the beer flowed and food was ordered included the legendary Lasagne Magnifico. At that point it all went a bit surreal unbeknown to us there was a fancy dress party in the village that night and into pub came 2 girls dressed as "nurses" to use the fag machine. After a couple more pints we headed back to the hostel to make use of the bar there, during the rest of the night, a "cowgirl" and a "policewoman" were sighted. <br /><br /><strong>Saturday</strong><br />After a nights beer sleep, we were up earlyish with one thing on our minds riding, well sorta, the only thing on my mind was coffee, but after a coffee and malt loaf breakfast, gear and bike were in the car and we were heading for <a href="http://www.mbwales.com/nant_y_arian/index.htm">Nant-Y-Arian</a> to meet the latecomers, Mike, Lex and Dave. <br /><br />We were early and after donning extra layers of clothing and sorting the bikes out, Ian and I decided a quick loop taking in two of the best descents on the trail. With legs warmed up and grins on faces despite a couple of sketchy moments due to still half asleep reflexes, we retired to the Cafe for Coffee, Tea and OJ. This is where we met this little fella.<br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8594i&outx=600&quality=70><br /><br />After a wee while the latecomers turned up and they started to get themsleves sorted in direct contravention of the Rules of Faff! (More on the Rules of Faff in an upcoming post.) Not to mind we all got going soon enough and started on on the 30km Syfydrin trail, half of which is purpose singletrack and the other half is loop that takes you out into the Mid Wales backcountry. The first quarter was on the purpose built stuff and was a grin fest. After a while we could tell we were heading out into the backcountry and more long climbs and techy, rocky doubletrack descents with rocky dropoffs and rutts. On one descent Lex had a comedy spill when his pedal clipped a bank in a rutt (taking the bank with him) and bounced 15 feet down the trail, thankfully he was OK and it was decided that now would be a good time to stop for food.<br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y85cqn&outx=800&quality=70><br /><br />The rest of the Backcountry loop went off without incident and we really enjoyed being out in the wilds doing some "proper" mountain biking.<br />For the last quarter of the ride we were back on the purpose build singletrack, which rocked with lots of little drops to launch off, whoops to be either jumped or compressed, berms that begged to be railed and switchbacks to keep you honest.<br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y859hu&outx=600&quality=70><br /><br />Then came the last climb out of the valley, it seemed to go on for an age, we all climbed it our own paces, I was having a good day climbing that day (must have been the socks or something) and led with Ian next and the rest of the guys following on behind.<br /><br />It was then the final descent back to the Cafe and Mike took a cheeky jump on everyone else as he was getting cold apparently and we were determined to catch him despite his sizeable ill-gotten lead, Ian and I screamed down the singletrack flying around the trees and flying off the whoops but we didn't quite catch the cheeky Mikey, another 50yard of singletrack and we would have had him! we'll get you next time Mikey.<br /><br />Another visit to the Cafe ended our time at NyA and Ian and I pointed the car in the direction of the bunkhouse. We stopped in a Mac for some beer money and a look round the 2 bikeshops in the town and on the way out, the other guys turned up, we looked over at their car and there was Lex sat in the passenger seat with his fullface helmet and bike gloves on. Another act of randomness from the not-so-young italian.<br />Back at the Bunkhouse, the latecomers were put in their room, showers were taken, the drying room populated with stinky clothes and body armour and jeans were dried.<br />We congricated in the Hostel bar a couple of pints before moving down to the Slaters Arms, this time less surreal despite welly throwing antics.<br /><br />More Lasagne Magnifico was ordered not surprisingly. More beer was drunk but with some slowing from certain parties. We staggered (limped in Lex's case) back to the Bunkhouse bar for another couple of drinks before bed.<br /><br /><strong>Sunday</strong><br />New Bike Roadtrip rule, no wearing of lycra shorts as an outer layer before 10am (it really puts me off my breakfast), actually scratch that no Lycra shorts as outer layers full stop!*<br /><br />*Unless racing, but why you would want to do that I have no idea.<br /><br />A variety of breakfasts were consumed including Bacon sarnies (Ta, mike) and Espresso (Ta , Lex) and Tuna and Pasta (No Ta, Dave).<br />Ian managed to negociate showers and a place to get changed for after our ride.<br />We rolled out of the Bunkhouse for a quick spin before getting to the Forestry Carpark and then the climbing started again. Today we were riding the <a href="http://www.mbwales.com/machynlleth/index.htm">Cli-Mach-X trail.</a> The climbing order from the previous day was re-established with myself leading the lads up the fire road for what seemed like and was most likely was miles. We proceeded to enjoy the little tasters of singletrack on the trail between fireroad climbing sessions, one puncture from Lex delayed a progress a little, but it happens to the best of us.<br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y859h0&outx=600&quality=70><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y85cqw&outx=450&quality=70><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y85cqu&outx=720&quality=70><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y85cq0&outx=640&quality=70><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y859hr&outx=600&quality=70><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At the top of the last singletrack section seats were lowered and we set off down the muddy singletrack and we contoured around a bit to our surprise which was hard work with a dropped seat, after a while the final DH loomed and the fun began...<br /><br />The final descent (apparently the longest purpose built Descent in Wales was a fun fest of rocky drop offs, whoops, rock steps and other super technical obstacles including 2 North Shore skinny sections (better luck next time eh, Mike).<br />I had my front wheel wash out on one of the rock sections which sent myself and my bike down a bank and we ended up 10 feet below the trail, Ian was startled a touch when heard a cheery "hello" coming from a muddy face down the bank. I gave the bike a quick once over and it seemed that both of use were largely unscathed (a few bruises, a sore jaw and shoulder the morning after though), so were off again to finish the descent with some super fun berms and a very big red arrow (you'll know it when you see it, trust me.;0).)<br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y85949&outx=600&quality=70><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y859h6&outx=600&quality=70><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8594j&outx=600&quality=70><br /><br /><br />We all got to the bottom with smiles/mud on our faces and with tales of sketchy moments and near crashes.<br />A quick tarmac roll back to the Bunkhouse finished the riding for the day and the weekend.<br />We all got sorted out reasonably quickly as it was lunchtime and we headed to Mach in search of an open Cafe. Luckily we found one and put this away in record time.<br /><br /><img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y8594g&outx=600&quality=70><br /><br />With full stomachs were reluctantly headed home helped along the way by Balckjacks and tunes by The Killers, The Dandy Warhols and The Smashing Pumpkins.<br /><br />In summary the weekend was:<br /><img src=http://www.chocolatefoot.co.uk/forum/html/emoticons/thumb.gif><br /><img src=http://www.chocolatefoot.co.uk/forum/html/emoticons/thumb.gif><br /><img src=http://www.chocolatefoot.co.uk/forum/html/emoticons/sick.gif><br /><br />We stayed at <a href="http://www.braichgoch.co.uk/">Braich Goch</a> - its flipping great! The owners Ann and Andy are top people too.<br /><br />We drank <a href="http://www.timothy-taylor.co.uk/">this</a> and <a href="http://www.sabrain.com/">that</a>.<br /><br />More pics of the weekend can be found <a href="http://mikethomas.fotopic.net/c496991.html">here</a> and <a href="http://iannutt.fotopic.net/c496095.html">here</a>.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1112710445513699692005-04-05T18:16:00.000-07:002005-06-18T10:35:42.223-07:00BBQ + Bike + Beer = Happy daysThis last weekend we hosted our first BBQ at Casa Del Lees. It all went swimmingly but blimey gas BBQ's are fricken viscous, on full power it can turn a sausage...<br /><strong>From Raw to Charcoal in 10.2 secs!</strong><br />Prior to BBQ o'clock, myself, DaveL and DaveG, headed over to the woods for some wiggly singletrack action and it was cool to see DaveL do the big bombhole for the first time, even if he kinda did it by mistake without thinking. Nice progression from that man with a branch of Dixons for handlebars. DaveG refused to do the big bombhole and then did the little bombhole after much coaxing. He did it in fine style though but was a touch near to the tree on exit and then proceeded to stand a top the roll in and look at it for 10 minutes, while being "encouraged" by myself and and DaveL. In the end he bottled in, which was a shame but I'm sure he'll nail it next time. Maybe. My rear wheel held up OK too after the 2 puncture, broken spoke 'mare of last thursdays nightride.<br /><br />After the ride, much grilled meat was consumed, half a farmyard in fact. I might have had a few beers too.<br /><br />Last I did a very wet and very windy 20 mile ride on the roadbike which was not entirely unpleasant but not far off.<br />Tonight is nightride night, woo yay!<br /><br />This weekend the Leicestershire BAPS contingent have a weekend in Welsh Wales (I seem to be spending most weekends there at the moment).<br />We'll be riding and drinking in Nant-y-Arian and Machynlleth. Woo yay indeed.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1112107373464986292005-03-29T05:39:00.000-08:002005-03-29T06:42:53.466-08:00New look blog and stuffI have given the blog a quick facelift, mainly because I am almost permanently bored at work and secondly when displaying big pictures the borders and sidebar would get all messed up.<br /><br />Now I could have sorted it out by I am a)lazy and b)rubbish at HTML, so I just changed the template.<br /><br />Back to Cardiff this weekend for "seeing the folks post marriage" thing.<br />Banged out a pretty quick 32 mile roadride on the saturday with my (newly beared)bro, shame Pat was dying during the last 5 miles. 2 Magically loosening spokes though, which is starting to get beyond a joke really as thats 4 that have come loose in about 200 miles. Believe it or not Riding on the road is easier in South Wales than Leicestershire, I think its a rhythm thing despite the steeper gradients.<br /><br />The rest of the weekend was then spent with the parental units, eating BBQ at Claire's Dads and going for a walk with my lot.<br /><br />Yesterday was spent swearing at badly designed Gas barbeque while I built it and visiting the cathedrals of commerce that are B&Q and Tesco.<br /><br />This month I have been mostly been listening to:<br />1)Various Jack Johnson tracks<br />2)Deliverance by Corrosion of Conformity<br />3)Deliverance by Bubba Sparxxx (its odd but entirely concidental that two of the albums I have been listening to have the same name.)<br />4)Senor Smoke by Electric Six<br />5)Who Cares A Lot by Faith No More (Greatest Hits)<br /><br />except when I have had the iPod or iTunes on Random.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1111436748747786632005-03-27T16:58:00.000-08:002005-03-27T07:57:30.843-08:00We're Married!Dan and the newly Claire Lees are proud to annouce that they were wed on the 7th of March!<br /><br />The weekend before was spent in a little cottage in the Lledr valley near Betws-y-Coed. The cottage had a great view, an open fire, much drinking of beer and whiskey kept us entertained.<br /><img src=http://photos4.flickr.com/7036066_923958214d.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://photos7.flickr.com/7036064_adb4332f6a.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://photos4.flickr.com/7036065_626cfcfb1b.jpg><br />We spent the day before the wedding hiking up Y Garn in the Ogwen valley in Snowy conditions, Whisky on the way down kept us warm...<br /><img src=http://photos5.flickr.com/7038125_4396443c09.jpg><br />Then the big day...<br />We had the ceremony in a little Registry office in Blaenau Ffestiniog with our friends/witnesses Mike and Jude. The ceremony was done by the fantastic Olwen.<br /><img src=http://photos8.flickr.com/7036465_23d33e648f.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://photos6.flickr.com/7037642_f5c188498e.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://photos5.flickr.com/7037641_9e73cf811f.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://photos4.flickr.com/7036063_2985ab8f57.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://photos7.flickr.com/7036062_3318017897.jpg><br />After the wedding we adjourned to the Princes Arms hotel for a fine dinner and much drinking of fine wines and ales.<br />We then proceeded to spent the week just Claire and I in the cottage, chilling ou and climbing mountains like Snowdon, which bizarrely lived up to its moniker.<br /><img src=http://photos8.flickr.com/7036067_fdf6be6559.jpg>Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1109622335411851102005-02-28T20:49:00.000-08:002005-02-28T12:55:42.293-08:00Snow and new Road BikesLast week saw a fair bit of snow in the East Mids so myself and Mike Barone and Lex had a distinctly white and crunchy addition to our Tuesday nightride. Blatting down some singletrack with snow crunching under your tyres and snow being whipped into your eyes making it hard to see is one of the most fun things you can do on a bike.<br /><br />Last Thursday I went to pick up the Road bikes Claire and I had ordered. I have a nice matt silver Specialized Allez and Claire has a very bling red Specialized Dolce. Both come with nice Alu fames, a Carbon Fibre fork, basic but perfectly good shimano gearing wheels and brakes. Claire's comes with a very fancy Carbon Fibre seatpin too, which should help her back a bit.<br /><br />We took them for their maiden voyage on Saturday morning and we both found them a little odd after riding mountain bikes for so long. But by the end of the 12 mile ride they felt just about natural.<br />On Sunday I headed out with Andrew for a longer ride and we covered 35miles and I nipped out tonight for a quick 50 minute ride, you certainly can cover ground quickly as I did nearly 14miles in that time and had a 16.75mph average speed (the wonders of technology.)<br /><br />I reckon mine is really going to help me get in shape but I really hope it warms up soon as I really need to wear my gloves with padded palms as my hands are a tad sore...Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1107186956563596342005-01-31T19:03:00.000-08:002005-06-18T10:36:20.410-07:00Claire was in London getting drunk with Louise and Charlotte this weekend so I had a weekend free with zero plans.<br />So I decided to make the most of the free time by getting a good weekend of riding in.<br />Saturday, I headed down the M1 to Rowney Warren in Bedfordshire and had a play on the North Shore (elevated wooden planks) with some of the lads from Chocolatefoot.co.uk. Its the first time I had done shore since the stuff I did in whistler and was harder than stuff on the Blue Runs on Blackcomb, however it wasn't as high as the Old School Line which spurs off A-Line (Black Run), which quite frankly was silly and scary for me.<br />I'm going to be going back to "Chicky" (its near Chicksands) very soon as I have a date with a couple of lines that scared me a bit...<br /><br />Sunday I drove over to Cannock Chase and rode with Dave "Snakebite" Johnson for an hour or three and then decided to a lap of the waymarked Technical Route "Follow The Dog". By the time I was done with that i was a touch on the knackered side. The going was muddy for most of cannock but Cannock mud is different as you just seem to get a layer of pine needles covering your frame rather than the thick sticky stuff that you get in Leicestershire. Anyway it'll be spring soon and the trails are being properly surfaced at the moment too so it won't be wet for long. Add in the fact that you can get a Bacon, Sausage and Egg from the Cafe at the Birches and you have a great place for a day out riding. <br /><br />All in all a good weekend of riding.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1106560729702864652005-01-24T22:24:00.000-08:002005-06-18T10:36:50.763-07:00EMSSC - slack and super!Its Monday morning, after the weekend of the EMSS champs. I am very very tired.<br />The weekend kicked off at 12 midday on the Saturday when "local" riders started to gather at my house in sunny Leicester.<br />Large amounts of tea, coffee and toast were consumed before everyone turned up and enough momentum was gathered to project us out into the cold January air.<br />The winner of EMSSC would be decided by my pantented "Disqualify people" method.<br />So off we went with some riders (not that they knew) already disqualified. There was a 20 or so minute road ride (come on its Leicestershire) until we hit Swithland woods. Some sneeky singletrack, some muddy some less so, and a few stops of photo's and for some people to play in the bombholes/take photos.<br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0016.jpg><br /><em>Faff.</em><br /><br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0009.jpg><br /><em>Gnarly step up</em><br /><br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0011.jpg><br /><em>Ian's a blur!</em><br /><br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0010.jpg><br /><em>Ian, Keith and Simon.</em><br /><br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0023.jpg><br /><em>There was lots of this.</em><br /><br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0007.jpg><br /><em>Go on Simon! Jump It! Oh.</em><br /><br />After we had a good play in the bottom part of Swithy woods, we headed back out onto the road and rode down to Swithland, to the Griffin Inn, where a "refreshment break" was taken. For refreshment break read 2 pints.<br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0015.jpg><br /><em>Your Dis-Organiser.</em><br /><br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0014.jpg><br /><em>A beer's eye view.</em><br /><br />We then headed back to Swithland woods for a play in the top part of the woods and waited for it to get dark.<br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0018.jpg><br /><em>They "scoped the huck" and decided they had the wrong socks on.</em><br /><br />Under the cover of darkness, we entered a certain large Country Park for some cheeky singletrack night riding. At the top of the first hill, the noise that was coming from the back of Mike's bike was explained, his rim was splitting. We continued to climb up to the top of the "monument". At the top more photo's were taken and some whisky passed around. From there its a singletrack roller coaster ride down for about 10 mins and despite simon flatting halfway down, it was grins allround.<br />We regrouped at the bottom of the "Sherlock" ridge and it was decided that Mike and Roger would bail out here as Mike's rim was looking a bit scary and Roger was struggling with a knee injury (Singlespeeder's knee?)<br />The remaining riders carried on and took in more rolling singletrack.<br />At the top of the last descent I proclaimed "Watch out for the ditch and keep to the left".<br />Simon didn't. He was left unable to walk and looked to have the makings of a monster bruise on his left leg. He said that he couldn't ride back so Mike was called and he and Jude came round with the Landrover to ship Simon and his Bike back to my place.<br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0003.jpg><br /><em>Get your arse in the Landy and stop whining.</em><br /><br />Simon was laughed at by Lou our resident physio on return to Casa Del Lees.<br />The remaining riders then had a quick ride back to mine, in the falling snow.<br /><br />Results:<br />Andrew "Beer" Ludbrook: Disqualified. For being far too competitive (yellow card) and being Vegetarian (Red card)<br />XC Keith: Disqualified for being from The Black Country (yellow Card) and being vegetarian (Red Card)<br />Woja: DNF<br />Mike "Barone" Thomas: DNF<br />SimonR: DNF<br />Dan Lees: Disqualified for being Welsh (yellow card) and being Organiser (Red card)<br />Ian "Placid Casual" Nutt: Winner! Even though he rides an Inbred.<br /><br />On return to mine beer was drank and chips eaten and Ian received the ceremonial Glove of Love.<br /><img src=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew_x/EMSSC0004.jpg><br /><em>Keeps beer cool too!</em><br /><br />Drinking stretched into the night/morning...<br /><br />There was a "feeling rough as fuck" Cafe ride on Sunday morning/afternoon which cleared a few heads and filled stomachs.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1105976427312791702005-01-17T21:39:00.000-08:002005-06-18T10:37:17.003-07:00Old blokes Hijack MBUKids rideMy mate Dave Johnson got wind of a an MBUK forum ride on his home patch of Cannock Chase. So we gatecrashed, mainly to embarrass the organiser, Alex "Spunky Alice". However after 40 mins the kids on DH bikes and Jump bikes (average age 15)were dropped so the old blokes and a couple of the quicker kids carried on with a loop of the Chase Trails XC loop, a quick butty at the Birches Forest Cafe, and the a trip to the DH course for a quick impromptu jump comp between Stu Tite and Will (Will won on points). <br />Stu was kind enough to lend me his Kona Stinky Freeride bike and his Full face helmet. It was like being at Whistler again. As much as I'm loving the Hardtail, Big Bikes can be fun. <br />We also found some shonky shore as well, so carnage ensued. <br />The old 'Never say "one last go" rule' was proven again. <br /><br />The trails varied from being super dry and covered in small pebbles (i.e. slidey as feck) to a touch on the wet side. <br /><br />Good Riding+Decent riders+Sausage and bacon Sandwich = Top day out.Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1105028236177193862005-01-06T12:55:00.000-08:002005-01-17T07:13:43.076-08:00Well, thats Christmas done and dusted...The christmas break passed by in the usual blur of visits to family, over consumption and seeing friends.
<br />
<br />Highlights over this period were (in no particular order):
<br />Christmas day at the Thomas/Pritchard household. Good food, good people, good dog.
<br />
<br /><em>Silly Xmas pic here.</em>
<br />
<br />Riding Cwmcarn with Pat and Owen, hard work but that last descent - weeeeeee!
<br />
<br /><em>Cwmcarn Pic here.</em>
<br />
<br />Getting to ride in the daylight on a weekday was cool too.
<br />
<br />I found the first piece of North Shore style wooden construction in woods in Leicestershire, I got to ride it, then it got pulled down, which is a shame.
<br />
<br /><em>Shore pic here.</em>
<br />
<br />Seeing the various parental units is always nice too.
<br />
<br /><em>This post has been sitting in draft format for like 2 weeks. I still haven't got round to sorting out the pics so I decided to just post it.</em>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1103202437737304202004-12-16T13:12:00.000-08:002004-12-16T05:07:17.736-08:00Busy, you want busy? [warning MLEH content]Been a busy couple of weeks since the Lakes trip.
<br />
<br />We have moved house, again, this time from a very pockey flat with a garage to a 3 bed semi with a shed and 3 toilets. Not quite sure what we are going to with 3 loo's as there are only 2 of us. One each and one for guests.
<br />The house is gradually looking like a proper house as things are getting unpacked and furniture is being rebuild.
<br />Last weekend we had a visit from our good friend Lou, its always good to see Lou, but the likelyhood is you'll hear her before you see her.
<br />On the Sunday, myself, Mr Cain and Mr Lloyd headed out for a Sunday cafe ride and a good time was had by all. Neil and I rode our strange singlespeed bikes and Dave rode his geared armchair. But we are working on Dave, we will turn him bwa ha ha ha!
<br />
<br />Talking of daft bikes with just the one gear. Myself and Mike are (dis)organising the inaugral East Midlands Singlespeed Mountain Bike Champs.
<br />To be honest its an excuse to go for a big group ride and drink beer. There will not be a race or owt. But there will be challenge(s) to decide the champ.
<br />More details <a href="http://eastmidssschamps.blogspot.com/">here!</a>
<br />Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1101818334108764802004-11-30T23:43:00.000-08:002005-06-18T10:37:52.436-07:00What Crayons for the Lakes?Friday night saw 5 entrepid bikers head north to the Lakes, at various speeds and departure points. Ian and I got on the road by 4:30 and we were in the pub by 10 after unpacking our kit and spending 45mins playing "hunt the key" around the back of some cottages.<br />The straglers - Mike, Lex, and Ginger Darren rocked up well after closing time and by which point Ian and I were back at the Camping Barn drinking the beers we had brought with us.<br />We crawled into our sleeping bags at around 1am or so.<br /><br />After a fairly good nights sleep we rose, some of us more quickly than others and breakfast was consumed, Lex whipped up some Espresso for the Coffee-heads to consume.<br /><br />By 9am we were out of the door and started the long climb/hike/carry to the top of Sticks Pass. Having being ill fior the previous 2 weeks I was really feeling the pace and was struggling quite badly but the top came soon enough and we started to head towards Helvellyn. With the weather closing in we decided to decend off the ridge just before Helvellyn and we were rewarded with a nice techy descent with a few comedy tumbles and hairy moments.<br />We then climbed back up sticks pass from the other direction, which was hard as we were puhing the bikes constantly for about an hour and a half, we then headed back towards Helvellyn but turned off the ridge and shot down the switchbacking descent down to the Barn. The weather for the second ridge ride and the top of the descent was really wet and windy, at one point , myself, Lex and Mike found ourselves at the the side of trail after being blown 2 metres off it!<br /><br />The Ian summary of the route:<br /><br />Saturday was 18.3km with 1373m of climbing (higher than Ben Nevis) and took<br />in the 15th and 20th highest peaks in England twice. We also climbed to the<br />highest pass that is still in use in the Lakes, twice!<br /><br />At the bottom of the descent I tried to unclip my right foot but couldn't as one of my cleat bolts had come out of my shoe and the cleat was rotating. Great.<br />We all got dry and had a quick brew/snack and Ian and I were off to Ambleside and Biketreks to solve my cleat issue.<br />We got the bits I needed as well as a couple of other things and headed vback to be greeted by Mike and Lex walking around outside trying to warm up.<br /><br />So it was straight down the (very warm) pub and we settled in for a lot of Old Speckled Hen and good food and chips.<br />At some point during the evening Woja, the long haired hippy code monkey showed up and we stole his chips and onion rings. He also had some interesting publications with him. And MBR.<br /><br /><br />The rest of the night was a bit of a blur but we found Ian leaning against a dry stone wall asleep and Darren likes his beer with added crayons.<br /><br />I was quite "merry" yet managed to sort out my cleat issue and it was straight too. Miraculous.<br /><br />After getting out of bed on the Sunday morning I realised I was still drunk, however there was riding to be done and after a fair bit of faffing we were off to climb over the hills to Ullswater then ride around the Lake on some great Singletrack.<br /><br />Ian summary:<br />Sunday was <a href="http://www.singletrackworld.com/i/wallpaper/Ullswater1024.jpg">great</a> and 16km and 535m of climb.<br /><br />After a pretty chilled ride we were back at the Cars and it was time to head home but not before a trip to beer shop for some ale for the home fridge and a baked potato with cheese and beans to fill our aching stomachs.<br /><br />A great weekend was had by all and I wonder if Darren has found all of the crayons yet???<br /><br />Piccies <a href="http://iannutt.fotopic.net/c354567.html">here</a> and <a href="http://mikethomas.fotopic.net/c355135.html">here</a> , I'll upload mine tonight hopefully.<br /><br /><br /><br />DanDan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1101297479784143042004-11-24T12:07:00.000-08:002004-11-24T04:02:55.136-08:00Conservatives, Sore Throats and CrayonsI was well up for some Welsh riding last weekend. Shame I spent the preceeding week being ill. Oh well, its not like Afan won't be there forever. Ah, <a href="http://www.mtb-wales.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=290&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0">bugger!</a>
<br />
<br />Next weekend is the trip to the Lake District for a spot of riding. Darren our favourite geography teacher is coming so I'm taking him some crayons to leave littered amongst his kit. I'm sure he'll appreciate it.
<br />
<br />For some reason I started watching news night the other night, it was about Michael Howard,the leader of the Conservative party. One word. Mentalist. No policies, not even the first idea about how mount a vaguely serious opposition to the Labour party. Which is a shame, whilst I would never vote for the Conservatives, it would be nice to have an opposition party that would keep the Labour party honest, especially when they seem to be coming up with policies direct from the "George W. Bush book of policies for paranoid neo-conservatives". ID cards anybody?
<br />
<br />Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1100617174462028382004-11-16T15:04:00.000-08:002004-11-16T06:59:34.463-08:00Lots of Biking ahoy!Its November, its getting dark at about 3pm, its starting to get really quite cold (even though I'm still riding in 3/4 length shorts), most normal and sane people are tucked up in their houses with the heating on, a cup of tea and the Eastenders omnibus, however Claire and I are on a Sunday afternoon spin around the local trail son our Singlespeeds. The trails are dry for the most part and are covered with about 4 inches of leaves, making it really quite hard to tell where the rocks, mud and other hidden "gems" are. Nearly three hours of riding on a Sunday afternoon with not a cross word or a withering glance from the assembled red socks, horsey types and dog walkers. Not bad at all. The weather even played ball too with blues skies and sunshine all round. I wonder if Claire would have been so keen if it had been 5 degrees Celsius and raining...
<br />
<br />Next weekend we are heading down to Cardiff for a weekend with the various parental units. Seeing as we are taking the Friday off I can ride on one of the days, so a trip to Afan Argoed is planned for a bit of Singletrack loveliness. Hopefully I can hook up with Pat the Fro Bro and the weather will behave.
<br />The Singletrack magazine lot are down there too so maybe we can hook up with them too.
<br />
<br />The weekend after its the Bandito trip to the Lake District, a weekend of riding, beer and crayons has been promised. By me.
<br />Should be good though as we have camping barn booked. Might be a bit parky though.
<br />If the weather stays good then I'm going to take out shares in Nutragrain Elevenses, if the weather takes a turn for the worse, which it will do on at least on of the trips I'm sure, I'm going to take out shares in Crudcatchers and sticky chain lube.
<br />
<br />Add these trips to the usual Tuesday and Thursday night rides and its all looking pretty busy on the bike front.
<br />
<br />And there is the small matter of moving house too.
<br />Shit.
<br />Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7848879.post-1098548323623745152004-10-23T17:19:00.000-07:002004-10-23T09:18:43.623-07:00Autumnal shadesLocal Saturday ride after deciding to abort our trip to Afan Argoed/South Wales due to the horrendous weather heading in from the South.
<br />
<br />Managed to get most of the ride in before the rain hit, which was nice.
<br />
<br /><img src=http://www.flickr.com/photos/1011912_12544d43de.jpg>
<br />
<br />It was a decent enough two and half hour ride, taking in half decent but very wet trails and I found a new 'cheeky' way between Beacon Hill Country Park and Jubilee Woods. I could tell you but I'd have to kill you.
<br />
<br />Dan Leeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14839130716746304606noreply@blogger.com0