It'shh the Northhh Downnnss.

This Sunday The Carnival returned to the North Downs for some Surrey fun.
Suicide Dave kindly dragged himself out of the pub just in time to lead us.
Now I shouldn't laugh, because I have been there many times before myself, but................
Sui getting ready for the ride was a sight to behold.
Slurping on a bottle of orange juice (a magic potion to counter a dizzy head?).
"Oh. My front tyre needs pumping up"
Puts orange bottle on the path.
Bends over to pump tyre.
Orange bottle rolls away down the hill.
Camelbak bladder leaks water over Sui's head.
Oh well.
It can only get better.
(I hope)
:O)
Didn't stop the lad from riding like we know he can.
The ride was a great one as we suspected it would be.
Lots of hill climbs but always something to pay back the hard work at the end of them.
Sweet singletracks and fun bits to fall off on was the order of the day.
We got a tour of some of the play areas which looked a little scary for an old bloke like me but maybe next time we can pad up a bit and have more of a go of those.
Most of us took a few slide-offs and minor crashes but survived to ride another day.
Everyone rode well and came back with a smile on their faces.
The day was finished off nicely with a food stop at Peaslake.
Hmmmm...
Cheese straws.

We had 3 walkers with us (Alex, Abbie and Mark) who walked for 3 and a half hours.
(not counting the pub stop)
They were as worn out as us by the end of the afternoon.
Many thanks Sui for the guiding.
You did a great job.
Roll on next time.
Click on the righthand Fotopic clicky thing for all the pictures from the day.

One small step for Woman. One giant leap for Carnivalkind.

Good news of the week.
Alex went to physio on Monday and got put on an exercise bike.
She managed to turn the pedals all the way around.
That is the first time she's been able to do that in 4 long months.
Well done Alex.
Keep up the hard work and you'll soon be back riding just as shiv as the rest of us again.
:O)

Chicksands it was then.....

After our Chamonix week there were a lot of tired members of the Carnival who could not muster the energy to come ride on Sunday.
So....
A sunny Sunday at Chicksands seemed the best thing to do.
What a lovely day it turned out to be too.
Gill, James and myself rode a quick lap of the XC route while Abbie and Alex had a walk in the woods and looked for wildlife.
I was on the little jump bike so every climb threatened to pop me knees out. (excuses)
Both Gill and James rode the horrible steep climb at the start of the route with no problems.
Then off we went to the freeride area where Mark and Mini were waiting for us.
It was all very quiet in the morning so we took the opportunity to ride the 4 Cross course.
That was great.
All jumps were doubles or tripples, so that slowed us up a bit, but we still had grin factor 10 on each run.
There was a problem for Mark on one of our last runs.
Just as we went round the bottom section I caught sight of Mark landing a double and then coming directy at me balanced on the front wheel.
I thought at the time he was going to take me with as he flew through the air!
"Come on little fella......... can someone take a picture of Mark on my shoulder"
Gulp!
Lucky (for me) he landed just behind me.
Unlucky for him, he later found out he had broken a bone in his hand :O(
We then went on to the dual course and ripped (rolled) that up for half an hour.
Time then to move on to the jump area.
James got some great pictures of the action with his Okie Cokie 2000 whizzo camera.
(He can give you the correct description of it. All I know is that it's a good'n).
Mark was getting some nice big air.
That's the first time he's really joined us in the jumping.
He was looking good and in control (for once).
Gill too was looking good too and getting a lot of air beneath those wheels.
All too soon, 4 hours of fun had passed and it was time to retreat to the carpark and get some food eaten.
Thanks all for another great day out.
Thanks to James for being the photographer.

And so........back in the real world.

Here we are.
All back to work and slightly depressed after Cham.
What should we do to cheer ourselves up?
I know.
Go for a bike ride.
Weekday riding means we can't set out until 6-7 Oclock in the evening.
And now Summer has past us by it looks like this outside.













Hmmmm.......
Not quite a view of the alps is it?
Never mind.
As we ride we can plan our next adventure.
Suicide Dave has offered a guided tour around "Little Canada".
(Trails built in the North Down)

Haydn has pushed Mark forwards as a guide to a South Downs spectacular.
I think Gav may be down that way as well.

Eamonn (JA) is waiting for the Carnival to return to Cannock so he can ripp the p*** out of me.

Chicksands is sitting there waiting for the return of the Carnival Part 3.

So... Not all bad news then eh?
Let me see. Where shall we start.............Hmmmmmm......

Chamonix 2006

Hi all.
Well the Carnival made it safely home from this years Chamonix road trip.
A few cuts and bruises but that was to be expected.
The riding was of the most extreme we have done so far in our trips around the world (ish).
Our day two ride saw us taking one cable car to the top of a mountain and then a second to the peak of the Brevant.
From here you can really see the full extent of Chamonix Valley with Mt Blank towering in the background.
The first decent from the top was more hike-a-bike than swoopy.
After traversing for an hour to another peak we had lunch.
Then it was Scary down, down, down for the next 2 hours to the tune of howling disc brake rotors.
Wahoooooooo!
5 rides in 7 days was good for us.
The weather was very hot all week, which was good.
The week before had been very wet and they even had a bit of snow in town!
The wildlife in and around the mountains was varied.
We saw: Cows with bells.
Horses with bells.
Giant Crows.
Orange and Yellow Toadstools.
A big hovering bug type things which looked like a miniature Humming Birds.
Big Crickets.
A little bird with concussion.
A (f******) Eagle.
And Butt Cheeks.
But didn't see any Mountain Cats........... Meeow......"W......"
All in all a great week with a great bunch of mates.
Oh yes.....
We got driunk a lot too.
:O)