...Dan will play!
Claire spent a long weekend in Sardinia with her bestest buddy Louise, so I was left with lots of free time.
The plan:
Wednesday night - preperation
Thursday night - ride bikes at Gracedieau and blag food at Mike's.
Friday night - drive to Cardiff
Saturday - Ride at Afan
Sunday - Ride at Afan and return home to pick up Claire from the Station.
Wednesday Night
Right I have a lot planned so best get my arse in gear.
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.
The cranks go on fine and after a bit of fettling of the front mech, everything is fine and indeed dandy.
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.
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.)
Thursday Night
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.
We get to Fisky's on time for once and head to Gracedieau woods for a couple of hours of singletrack fun.
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.
Friday Night
Straight from work I was heading South West, no big jams just a bit busy around Monmouth and Newport. Result.
Journey Fuelled by:
Rancid
Jay-Z Vs Linkin Park:Collision Course
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.
Saturday
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.
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.
After making ourselves vaguely clean we headed home, on the motorway, Dave and I were happily driving along in the van when BANG!, 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.
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.
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.
Sunday
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.
A quick trip to Skyline Cycles for some new brake pads and a quick faff and we were off.
The skyline shares the first climb with White's Levels and it was interesting to see how well it had dried out.
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.
After riding and getting sorted out, we headed into the Drop Off Cafe 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.
Back on the road it was another long drive back to Leicester with the added bonus of a nice long queue on the M42.
Journey Fuelled by:
Smash Mouth
No Doubt
Everclear
Costa Coffee Ice Blended Frappacino type beverages
Curry - parp.
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.
Carnage Count:
4 Spokes
1 XT Rear Mech
1 Chain
1 Set Saint Brake Pads
1 Windscreen Wiper Blade
4 Curries
1 Bruised Hand/Finger
Monday, August 15, 2005
Monday, July 04, 2005
Dragon Chase
It 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.
Friday Night
Ian and I took the Swedish Gold Pimp Wagon to welshpool and got a our camping spot sorted early.
The Friday night was pretty uneventful apart from the communication issues with Mike resulted in a wild goose chase looking for a pub.
We fuelled up with a couple pints and Sousage in batter and chips from the chippy.
Saturday
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.
After waiting and faffing we eventually left at 13:30, a mere 3 hours behind schedule.
This is where it all gets a bit fuzzy but the riding involved:
1)riding bridleways that don't exist on the ground
2)crossing several barbed wire fences
3)bracken, lots and lots of braken
4)country lanes
5)steep hills
6)wind farms
7)sketchy blowouts on steep tarmac hills
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.
After the pub we climbed one last hill and decended to our camping spot.
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.
Sunday
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.
Today the riding was a bit easier going but still hard graft including:
1)Bogtrotting
2)River crossings
3)N-y-A trail (a bit of)
4)Reservoirs
We hit the beach in Borth almost exactly 24hours after leaving Welshpool and after a quick photo session headed for the nearest chippy.
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.
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.
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.
Fuels of choice for the weekend:
1)Chips
2)Anything with Suet in it.
3)Beer
4)Single Malt
5)Malt Loaf
6)Jelly Babies
Photo links here.
Friday Night
Ian and I took the Swedish Gold Pimp Wagon to welshpool and got a our camping spot sorted early.
The Friday night was pretty uneventful apart from the communication issues with Mike resulted in a wild goose chase looking for a pub.
We fuelled up with a couple pints and Sousage in batter and chips from the chippy.
Saturday
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.
After waiting and faffing we eventually left at 13:30, a mere 3 hours behind schedule.
This is where it all gets a bit fuzzy but the riding involved:
1)riding bridleways that don't exist on the ground
2)crossing several barbed wire fences
3)bracken, lots and lots of braken
4)country lanes
5)steep hills
6)wind farms
7)sketchy blowouts on steep tarmac hills
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.
After the pub we climbed one last hill and decended to our camping spot.
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.
Sunday
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.
Today the riding was a bit easier going but still hard graft including:
1)Bogtrotting
2)River crossings
3)N-y-A trail (a bit of)
4)Reservoirs
We hit the beach in Borth almost exactly 24hours after leaving Welshpool and after a quick photo session headed for the nearest chippy.
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.
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.
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.
Fuels of choice for the weekend:
1)Chips
2)Anything with Suet in it.
3)Beer
4)Single Malt
5)Malt Loaf
6)Jelly Babies
Photo links here.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
The Rules of Faff
Myself and Ian have been working on these for a while.
1) Faffing to be kept to a minimum.
2) If you faff, expect abuse.
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).
4) Faff Stops.
a) A rider can call a faff stop assuming its his turn in the Faff Order.
b) Whilst the Calling Rider is faffing, other riders may pre-emptive faff.
c) However the Pre-emptive faffing will cease as soon as the Calling Rider is ready to ride.
5) The Faff Order
a-i) The faff order is determined by the order in which riders are ready to ride.
a-ii) Ready to Ride means astride Bike, with camelbak and helmet on.
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.
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.
6) Mechanical Faffs
a) A mechanical Faff can only be called outside of the normal Faff Order rules if the mechanical makes the unrideable
b) Whether the bike is unrideable is decided by the rest of the group not the would be Faffer.
c) The quickest method of fixing the mechanical must be taken. eg Replace the tube don't patch it.
7) Picture Faffs
a) Entirely acceptable as long as the group is not held up.
b) No pre-emptive faffing can take place on a Picture Faff.
8) Sneaky Faffs
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.
b) Sneaky Faff's are only for food and clothing faffs.
9) Extreme weather Faffs
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.
b) Drizzle or the sun coming from behind a cloud do NOT count as extreme weather.
10) Faffing during scheduled food stops.
a) Any faffing particularly of the mechanical kind should take place whilst people are eating.
b) Unless the faffer is the next in the Faff Order, when he/she can spend his/her turn.
11) Medical faff's
a) Medical Faffs can be taken out of turn but:
b) No blood, no Faff
c) Unless your Ashmatic/HayFevery/or something similarly annoying.
d) Glasses faffs don't count for out of turn Faffs.
The Rules of Faff in action.
4 Riders arrange to meet for a ride, they are all arriving by car, they all arrive at roughly the same time.
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.
So the Faff order is:
Ian
Dan
Mike
Lex
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.
Later, Mike realises his headset has come loose again and calls a faff to fix it.
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.
The Heavens open so an Extreme weather faff is called and jackets are on.
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.
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.
Alles klar?
1) Faffing to be kept to a minimum.
2) If you faff, expect abuse.
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).
4) Faff Stops.
a) A rider can call a faff stop assuming its his turn in the Faff Order.
b) Whilst the Calling Rider is faffing, other riders may pre-emptive faff.
c) However the Pre-emptive faffing will cease as soon as the Calling Rider is ready to ride.
5) The Faff Order
a-i) The faff order is determined by the order in which riders are ready to ride.
a-ii) Ready to Ride means astride Bike, with camelbak and helmet on.
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.
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.
6) Mechanical Faffs
a) A mechanical Faff can only be called outside of the normal Faff Order rules if the mechanical makes the unrideable
b) Whether the bike is unrideable is decided by the rest of the group not the would be Faffer.
c) The quickest method of fixing the mechanical must be taken. eg Replace the tube don't patch it.
7) Picture Faffs
a) Entirely acceptable as long as the group is not held up.
b) No pre-emptive faffing can take place on a Picture Faff.
8) Sneaky Faffs
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.
b) Sneaky Faff's are only for food and clothing faffs.
9) Extreme weather Faffs
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.
b) Drizzle or the sun coming from behind a cloud do NOT count as extreme weather.
10) Faffing during scheduled food stops.
a) Any faffing particularly of the mechanical kind should take place whilst people are eating.
b) Unless the faffer is the next in the Faff Order, when he/she can spend his/her turn.
11) Medical faff's
a) Medical Faffs can be taken out of turn but:
b) No blood, no Faff
c) Unless your Ashmatic/HayFevery/or something similarly annoying.
d) Glasses faffs don't count for out of turn Faffs.
The Rules of Faff in action.
4 Riders arrange to meet for a ride, they are all arriving by car, they all arrive at roughly the same time.
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.
So the Faff order is:
Ian
Dan
Mike
Lex
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.
Later, Mike realises his headset has come loose again and calls a faff to fix it.
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.
The Heavens open so an Extreme weather faff is called and jackets are on.
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.
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.
Alles klar?
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Rough Ride
it wasn't bad you know.
Saturday Night
Beer, Hijinks, Food from the chippy.
Sunday Morning
Rough looking people, trying to sort myself out for the ride in a body sense and a kit sense.
Ride
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.
Most of the course was on open moorland and the views were really nice.
74km with 6000ft of climbing.
http://www.roughride.co.uk/images/Route%20Profile.jpg
The 2 last climbs were horrid though.
The weather wasn't bad, not too hot which was nice ( I still have reoccuring nightmares from Roughride 1).
Post Ride
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.
All in all a pretty good weekend and our temporary dog Peggy didn't try to eat too many people.
Pictures here and here
Saturday Night
Beer, Hijinks, Food from the chippy.
Sunday Morning
Rough looking people, trying to sort myself out for the ride in a body sense and a kit sense.
Ride
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.
Most of the course was on open moorland and the views were really nice.
74km with 6000ft of climbing.
http://www.roughride.co.uk/images/Route%20Profile.jpg
The 2 last climbs were horrid though.
The weather wasn't bad, not too hot which was nice ( I still have reoccuring nightmares from Roughride 1).
Post Ride
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.
All in all a pretty good weekend and our temporary dog Peggy didn't try to eat too many people.
Pictures here and here
Monday, May 16, 2005
CLIC24 - we rocked hard.
24Hour Racing? In May? In the UK? Are you quite mad?
As it turns out, no.
Friday Night
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.
We had great fun putting the tent up in the wind but we got there in the end. No sign of Dave yet, hmm.
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.
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.
Still no Dave, we gave him a call and he was in Bath, or was that in the Bath?
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.
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.
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.
At 12 o'clock, we were off! Ian would be going first, Mike second, myself third and Dave would be going fourth.
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!).
With Mike on his lap it was time for me to get moving and get changed.
Mike came in with a grin on his face, and it was my turn.
Lap 1
Up the road climb at the start, get the legs spinning and warmed up.
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.
On to the singletrack! Down the first part of the singletrack descent, cool!
This is alright, be careful though we don't want any dumb crashes.
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).
'Kin 'Ell this rocks! 'Kin 'ave it!
If you were jey you could ride the double track to the left. Eh Dave?
Out on to main trail again and follow the trail, still singletrack though, just a bit wider.
Glad those roots aren't wet.
Dried up river crossing.
Ooo tricky...
Short steep climb. Down a descent with 4 ruts where someone later had big off and had to be airlifted out. Quick climb.
All entertaining but not hugely challenging.
Down a wide but hugely rocky descent.
Thank heavens for nice plush suspension forks.
Down a smoother fireroad descent.
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.
Up we go, not too bad.
Oh, into little front chainring, lock forks down.
Oh thats a bit flatter, keep spinning.
Blimey this goes on for ages.
Oh great, another steep bit.
And we're at the top.
On to the top moor on the flat, get into the middle ring and get moving but watch out for the ruts.
Oo look at the view.
Straight but very sketchy and loads of loose rocks.
Should be fun at night...
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.
And I'm spent.
Hand over to Dave and then head for tent for warm clothes and food.
Lap 2
Just like Lap1 but better paced and a few minutes faster. Back to the tent. Eat stuff.
Lap 3
Dusk. Awesome lap, needed the lights on the singletrack, but it was a very cool lap.
Get back in, Walk to the Lumicycles tent to top up the lights, just in case.
Get into sleeping bag and try to sleep despite a covers band playing Bon Jovi and Lynyrd Skynyrd covers. I'm shivering a bit.
The night time was to be organised so we all got some sleep. The lap order was to be as follows for the nightshift:
Dave
Ian
Dave
Ian
Mike
Dan
Mike
Dan
then back to normal alternating laps.
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.
Mike's in and its time to head out.
Lap4
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.
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.
Lap 5
Nice lap in the dawn light with cows running along side me in the field that singletrack was next to.
Quick one hour dozy rest, then Bacon Roll time.
Lap 6
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.
Hand over to Dave so he can do his last lap.
Scores on the doors:
Total Laps: 24
Total Miles: 240 ish
Total Height Climbed: 24,000ft
Total Calories consumed: I shudder to think.
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.
As it turns out, no.
Friday Night
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.
We had great fun putting the tent up in the wind but we got there in the end. No sign of Dave yet, hmm.
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.
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.
Still no Dave, we gave him a call and he was in Bath, or was that in the Bath?
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.
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.
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.
At 12 o'clock, we were off! Ian would be going first, Mike second, myself third and Dave would be going fourth.
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!).
With Mike on his lap it was time for me to get moving and get changed.
Mike came in with a grin on his face, and it was my turn.
Lap 1
Up the road climb at the start, get the legs spinning and warmed up.
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.
On to the singletrack! Down the first part of the singletrack descent, cool!
This is alright, be careful though we don't want any dumb crashes.
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).
'Kin 'Ell this rocks! 'Kin 'ave it!
If you were jey you could ride the double track to the left. Eh Dave?
Out on to main trail again and follow the trail, still singletrack though, just a bit wider.
Glad those roots aren't wet.
Dried up river crossing.
Ooo tricky...
Short steep climb. Down a descent with 4 ruts where someone later had big off and had to be airlifted out. Quick climb.
All entertaining but not hugely challenging.
Down a wide but hugely rocky descent.
Thank heavens for nice plush suspension forks.
Down a smoother fireroad descent.
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.
Up we go, not too bad.
Oh, into little front chainring, lock forks down.
Oh thats a bit flatter, keep spinning.
Blimey this goes on for ages.
Oh great, another steep bit.
And we're at the top.
On to the top moor on the flat, get into the middle ring and get moving but watch out for the ruts.
Oo look at the view.
Straight but very sketchy and loads of loose rocks.
Should be fun at night...
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.
And I'm spent.
Hand over to Dave and then head for tent for warm clothes and food.
Lap 2
Just like Lap1 but better paced and a few minutes faster. Back to the tent. Eat stuff.
Lap 3
Dusk. Awesome lap, needed the lights on the singletrack, but it was a very cool lap.
Get back in, Walk to the Lumicycles tent to top up the lights, just in case.
Get into sleeping bag and try to sleep despite a covers band playing Bon Jovi and Lynyrd Skynyrd covers. I'm shivering a bit.
The night time was to be organised so we all got some sleep. The lap order was to be as follows for the nightshift:
Dave
Ian
Dave
Ian
Mike
Dan
Mike
Dan
then back to normal alternating laps.
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.
Mike's in and its time to head out.
Lap4
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.
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.
Lap 5
Nice lap in the dawn light with cows running along side me in the field that singletrack was next to.
Quick one hour dozy rest, then Bacon Roll time.
Lap 6
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.
Hand over to Dave so he can do his last lap.
Scores on the doors:
Total Laps: 24
Total Miles: 240 ish
Total Height Climbed: 24,000ft
Total Calories consumed: I shudder to think.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
