Spain. Sierra Nevada 2007

We're home from another international adventure.
Southern Spain.
Sierra Nevada.


We arrived on Saturday morning and had unpacked the bikes before you could say.....
....flipping heck it's bloody hot here.
Lunchtime we got straight out on the local trails.
Now...locally they have wicked thorn bushes.
We got back 3 hours later torn to shreds.

Weyy heyyy. Blood!
The evening was spent eating and drinking in town till we were full and pissed.

Sunday. First trip into the mountains. It was ok. I guess the guides have to find out what standard of riding a group are up to
seeing that we had 15-60 year olds, male and female.
The ride was a bit tame for us to be honest.
Oh. When I say tame.
Poor Terry still managed to get big air on one of the trails and break his collar bone.
Get well soon fella.
Evening we ate and drank big time.

Monday. Another trip out to sample the Spanish countryside.
We were made to work for the descents and big climbs in Spanish heat was a new experience for most of us.Phew.
I could see my weight dropping off as we were riding.
Thank goodness I put all back on in the evening!

Tuesday we were taken out to the mountains again.
We did a lot of climbing during the week. (Where's the fecking ski lifts?)
This time the riding was a lot more technical.
They gave us more techie stuff and got in return silly grins and
shouts of "more" and "bring it on".
Guy managed to eat dirt big time on one trail.
We dusted him down and stamped on his bike a bit to straighten it out.
On the final descent we arrived at a huge rutted drop with a very steep ending.
One guide confided in me that he didn't like it very much and would be pleased to give it a miss if we wanted.
He he he he.....
No way mate!
"We call it The Widow Maker" he says..........
In a cloud of dust...a 15 year old, 2 16 year old's, 2 women and most of the others were off down there.
Regrouping at the bottom it is my pleasure to tell the guides they have just renamed it "The Window Cleaner"
Many joke throughout the next few days about getting T shirts saying I've Done the Window Cleaner.
To celebrate we go out in the evening and eat and drink to excess.

Wednesday was the day off so we shopped before eating and drinking for the whole day.

Thursday was more riding in the mountains. Great views and brilliant trails.
Plenty of scary moments now (which is good).
Guess what we did in the evening?
Yep. Got it in one.

Friday's ride was probably the best day.
Loads of height gained by transit before climbing on the bikes and riding in an upwards direction for quite some time.

All worth it of course.
Lovely long descents and fantastic views of the area all the way down to the sea.
In the afternoon we rode a part of the area that has massive rocky boulders that you can ride across just like what you see on the telly.
After that ride we felt the need to celebrate.
So we went out and had a great meal followed by buckets of drink.

Saturday was our last day. Booooo!
I think we were meant to do a morning ride but it was obvious we are mental about our riding
so they took us out for a complete day ride before returning and packing the bikes in seconds flat.
Just enough time to get out and have a final meal before rushing back to get the airport transfer.
All in all a truly great week.
Loads of thanks to all the Sierra Cycles team.
Thanks to Alan who had no idea how many rooms any of his houses had.
Thanks Tom and Matt who couldn't work out why old people would want to risk life and limb but were still willing to point us to the nearest cliff edge.

BTW chaps..... Where's our T shirts?
Pictures are on the righthand clicky button for......er......Pictures.

We will be back.

Another Sunny ride

The weekend weather was great for biking again wasn't it?
Took a ride over the opposite direction to my favourite trails just because this weather I can.
In the rubbish weather the going gets very muddy and spoils the fun.
We had a brief stop on top of a field which looked out over miles and miles of beautiful countryside.
Fantastic.
On the way home I took a detour and rode a very exciting and fast (and highly illegal) woodland trail.
Gill took the lead and boy did she go.
Made me laugh inside as we were thrashing around tight rooty corners and over small humps and shiv. I could only just keep up with her.
I don't usually play the hooligan on these trails but lately I have had to get my kicks where ever I can get them.
Gill was careering into tight turns and sliding through them drifting front and back wheels.
This is what our lovely Marins were built for.
Tight fast stuff that just needs to be blasted. How big were the smiles after that?
Didn't want to come home (again) so delayed the inevitable by stopping at our local fishing/sailing lake where we bought cuppas and cakes.
Then Gill and Alex took us down the road where they had discovered a rooty drop down from a high bank.
I couldn't scramble up the bank with my bike so stayed and acted as lookout so we/they didn't kill any pedestrians.
We had 15 mins of chaos there before turning for home.
Oh yes. Nearly forgot. Right near where we had started out from there is a BMX/skate park.
Yep. We just had to stop there for 5 mins and show the local kids that we (I can't) can teach them something.
To be honest, we only had one Carnival member who can ride a bike park properly.
I got him to go through his routine and sat there pretending we could all do the same if we fancied it.
Then home for a protein drink and then a fry-up.
I want more....I want more!!

It's Autumn but looks like Summer..

Here we go.
Our first ride of Autumn.
What a great day it was too.
The sun shine ..er .. shon .. shined.
Early morning freshness soon turned into warm, bright conditions.
That saw the long sleeved layers come off and replaced with sexy little numbers.
The ladies followed suit moments later.
I love Summer (Autumn).
The trails were as dry and hard packed as a hard packed dry thing.
The surface was almost too hard (if there is such a thing as too hard).
The only moan was about the dust in your eyes if you were at the back of the train.
(Eric's glasses sitting on his kitchen table were, surprisingly, no use to him out on the trail)
There were no excuses to go anything other than flat out along our favourite tracks.
All flow and speed and warp factor 10.
Everyone seemed to have a huge grin on their face.
That could have been wind but I like to think it was because they were having a load of fun.
No one wanted to come home.
We added more bits to the ride but finally had to admit it….
…we were tired and needed that refuelling fry-up.
Boy. Could do that ride every day.
I love days like those don’t you?
Perfect trails.
Perfect weather.
Perfect flow.
Perfect riding buddies….
..well….as near perfect as they can be!
(breaks into song)
“Oh it’s such a Perfect day……..”
And to prove to us how lucky we were….
The very next day we woke up and there was 10ft of standing water on those same trails.
A typhoon warning and horizontal rain.
Hey. All be good by next Sunday.
Roll on.
:O)

Carnival time in Chamonix 2007

We have just got back from our 2007 Chamonix trip.

Did you miss us?

What a great 4 days of riding.

As usual, the weather changed from rain to a heatwave as soon as the Carnival arrived.

Roasting hot for the whole 4 days. Lovely.

We had two Cham virgins with us.

Darren and Nicky.

Despite the riding there being of the most technical you can get, both Darren and Nicky rode like experienced pro's.

Well ridden to both of them.

Happy Jon is guiding for MBMB this season and laid on some new trails for us.

He knows what we like and the trails he had found for us didn't disappoint.

Soon we were dropping 1000's of meters down rocks, roots, berms and just about every other obstacle you can imagine.

That is what we went there for.

To practice all our varied techniques of descending.

Two wheeled, front wheel, back wheel only, no wheeled (on head).

So many techniques to use.

We had plenty of crashes, as is usual for us, but no serious injuries.

Just loads of rolling around in the rocks and off sides of mountains.

(Don't tell Nick's mum though. She thinks we were looking after him)

I took my injury with me to cut out the middle man so had to do extra training in between rides.

Lifting 1kg weights as often as possible seemed to do the trick and got me fully fit for Alpine riding.

See? Look at me go. Greased lightning or what?

Great fun had by all.

All in all.

A wonderful 4 days of riding.

Very tiring with everyone sporting a few new bumps and bruises but well worth the trip over.

On Sunday afternoon Phil sorted out a bridge jump for those who enjoy launching themselves off high structures and swinging by a tiny thread above a 50mtr drop into a rocky river.

Ooohhhh. My knee hurt on that day so, obviously, I couldn't join in the fun.

cluck...cluck...cluck...cluck. (what was that noise?)

There will be plenty of video of all the jumps, screams and laughter soon.

Pictures from the weekend are on my Fotopic website now.

Only been back a day and I miss Cham already.

Roll on next year.

I will be back there ASAP.

Yayyyy... It's the height of Summer.

And P1ssing down with rain!!!!!!
We're knee deep in mud.

The dust on the trails is 6" below the water line.

Still.

There are the hardy few who still seem to think it's ok to go out in it and have fun.

The fools.

How can they say they enjoy this eh?
Because they did I suppose

I am only jealous because I am sidelined with a poorly knee.

I wanna go play in the mud!!!!!

London to Brighton Bike ride

This Sunday The Carnival, The Datchworth Badminton Crew and assorted others from Space Labs took part in the British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Bike Ride.
We had to get up in the middle of the night to make it to Clapham for our 6 O'clock start.
That ended up as a 06:30 start because of trouble on the route.
This year we took our official cheerleaders with us on the riders coach.
Last year Dorrie, Sarah and Alex (in a full leg cast) never got to the finish line at all because of a dodgy coach driver and then lack of mobility once they had finally been dropped 2 miles up the coast in Hove.
This year Dorrie and Sarah got to see us finish.
And... A year on. Alex was able to do the ride with us. Yeyyyy... It is always fun to ride with hundreds of other cyclists.
The sights you see.
There were all sorts of bikes. Some that looked like they had just come out of the shed after being stored at the end of World War One.
Gears crunching, Moving parts squeaking. I guess oil was rationed in those bygone days.
And the riders. Well....
Some who thought they were elete road riders.
FFS. It was a charity ride not the Tour de France.
Risking life and limb to keep riding flat out on the wrong side of the road wasn't the most intelligent thing to be doing with oncoming vehicles intent on killing as many of us as possible.
Of course there were the opposite of the "elete".
What would you call them??
The ones who stopped before every hill and had a fag to calm their nerves before the walk up.
Our ride consisted of a nice steady run for about 20 miles and then a stop for a burger and a bit of a chat. Then riding for the next 20 miles before stopping for another burger and a large slice (think house brick) of cake.
On the second stop the organisers had layed out table and chairs for some of the more important riders of the day. It started to rain just before Ditchling Beacon but that didn't last more than a few minutes and then the sun came out proper just in time for the biggest climb of the day.
It had been warm until then but it was roasting as we made our way up the long climb.
You had to zig zag your way through the slow moving and walking throng. Once at the top we regrouped and told tall stories about how we had wheelied all the way up and how we never got out of the big ring. Then it was all downhill into Brighton.
What a great feeling to get to the finishing line with people cheering and the sun blazing away overhead.
Once we had calmed down and taken the "I've got a medal" pictures we went off to get changed. Now what? Ah yes. All down the pub for some lovely nosh and a couple of beers with our mates. With all the sunshine it would have been rude not to go to the beach.
The kids (Chris, Haydn, Tracy included) couldn't help themselves and had to get into the sea. I was happy just to lay back and think of England.....and get sun burnt face.
That seemed very amusing to my work colleagues on the Monday morning.
The coach ride home was long and uncomfortable.
Numb bums all around please.
Thanks to all who took part and made it a great day.
A special up to Steve who organised it for us.
Many thanks to those who sponsored a rider.
If you didn't. There's still time.
It is a good cause you know.

The Breakfast Run..

This years London to Brighton training ride took place in wonderful sunshine.

Did we miss the wind and rain of last years??......

..er... no.

12 intrepid riders took part in this yearly event.

10 mountain bikes and only 2 road bikes this time.

They are learning slowly what "real" bikes are.

There was actually one real bike with us on Sunday.

Eric's lovely 1951 restored road bike.

We tried not to make too bigger fuss over it in case his head got big and he couldn't get his crash helmet on.

We took in 16 miles of warm and sunny country lanes on the way out to our breakfast stop.

It was just like an Enid Blighton book.

Five go riding in Surrey.

Except...there was 12 of us.

...and we weren't in Surrey..

The breakfast stop was a bit longer than normal.

There was a wait of 45 mins to get our food.

I had 2 cups of coffee while waiting and don't even drink coffee!!

I think they only had 3 plates so had to wait for people to finish before washing up and recycling the crockery.

It was worth waiting for though.

Hmmmm..... A number 6.

(drool)

The biggest fry-up in cafe history for a fiver.

On the return journey we split up into two groups.

The roadies did a road loop back home while the off-roaders zig zagged all over the county for the next 28 miles and 3 1/2 hours.

The trails were in very good condition considering that it had rained for several days before our ride.

Only a few mechanicals to report.

Two punctures and one broken chain.

To the rescue came both Steves producing rubber gloves from their bags.

What the hell they get up to on normal rides I wouldn't like to know.

Steve Elms also had a range of brass fittings in his saddlebag along with a large can of Brasso for those longer stops where you may need some extreme polishing to while away the time.

Everyone had a great day out and I bet will want to do it all over again soon.

Anyone seen my Baboon impression?

Many thanks to our leader for the day Haydn.

A sterling job done.

Many thanks also to Steve and Tracy for feeding us after the ride.

Those home made baked beans were just wonderful.

(parp!)

A Serious business this Mountain Bike Riding..

We put a lot of effort into our riding.

Last week we were riding up the side of mountains in Wales.

But...

There is a small minority of Carnival riders who just aren't taking things serious enough.

While the majority were slogging it up the climbs there were a few who just had to get there first.

And once there....

Take the Mickey out the rest of us buy performing Circus tricks.

So.

To those involved I say...

Stop it!

It isn't clever or funny!

Well..

I guess it is really.

What skill we have in our Carnival group eh?

:O)

DB

The May Welsh Weekend.

Still buzzing after a brilliant long weekend in Wales.
The bunkhouse was sitting there just where we left it last time.

On Friday we went and found a new trail just outside Betw Y Coed. The Penmachno trail turned out to be a little gem.
Four of us rode there in the blazing sunshine.
It was a flowy mountain route with nice climbs that didn't take the mickey out of our legs.
The downs were not over technical but still made ya grin.
The final two descents were worth the entry fee in themselves.
And I guess it was probably the first time a Big Hit has been ridden up into those mountains.
Well done to Darren who didn't whinge once (well maybe the once) about all the climbing.
Friday night saw the arrival of the rest of the Carnival. The atmosphere was great with loads of booze, banter and bolx going on.

The kitchen, for the breakfast fry-up, was heaving but still under the control of the lovely ladies who gave their all in the name of sport.
Many thanks to them for all the food over the weekend.
Well done Debbie, Dorrie, Tina and Gill.

Saturday ride was at Coed Y Brennin.
All trails have new names but are still the ones we know and love.
The Dragon trail was the chosen one for Saturday.
It's the Karrimore with a small loop hacked off.
More sunshine and great trails to ride.
I felt spoiled.
Then I felt cramp!
Then I felt like I shouldn't have drunk so much red wine the night before.
..but hey. It's a dirty job but someone has to do it.
:O)
In the evening we partied again and help Chris celebrate his "special" birthday.
(cough)*"50"*(cough)


Sunday came....
Mmmmmm.... more fry-ups for breakfast.
Then off to Penmachno again to show the others what we had discovered on our first day.
It was still a warm day but it had been raining during the night.
That made some of the rocky descents interesting.
Chris had an off into some rocks but luckily had his head to stop him damaging too much of the rest of his body.
He is old now.
He got the Carnival "left arm gash". A very sought after Scar ya know.
On the final run down to the carpark we lost Young Mark over the edge of the trail.
ooohh dear I thought as I watch him disappear.
Lucky for him he ended up laying in some bushes.
Still smiling.
Kids!
Later on the same track Darren lost it and had a roll around in rocks.
He was a bit the worse for that but later in the evening was chasing young ladies around the house so wasn't as bad as he said he was.
Then we went home to eat and party again.
Turned out to be Haydn's birthday too so we had to make an extra special effort to drink more.


Monday there was a bit of drizzle going on.
I was fooked and had a sore arse from all the riding so elected to go walk abouts with the ladies and Darren.
We drove to Machynlleth to find the Clymax trail.
While the Carnival rode that trail we walked around the town (5 mins)
....had some lunch in a cafe (1 hour)
...had a look in a bike shop (10 mins)
...then....
Had a car party!
Weyyy Heyyy.....
We know how to live the Rock'n'Roll life style.
On the Carnival's return we found out that Mark (Matador) Sims had received his Carnival "left arm gash".
Welcome to the club Mark.

There were loads of pictures taken and video shot over the weekend.
I hope to get it all sorted out and edited (to make my riding look good) ASAP.
We laughed a whole load.
Drank a whole load.
Rode a whole load
...and had a whole load of fun
Many thanks to everyone who made it the greatest road trip yet.

Cannock Chase in the sunshine...

This Sunday 10 Carnival riders joined Eamonn and his two boys Tom And James for a great blast around Cannock.
Weather was sunny and very warm.
Trails were as dry and dusty as I've ever seen there.
That made the going super fast and flowing.
Eamonn took us on a tour of some of his "special" areas.

All the tracks were riding fast and flowy with the odd surprise to keep us on our toes. One actually didn't keep me on my toes. It kept me on my backside.
There were a few stacks during the morning.
I saw Tracy sliding off on a loose off-camber corner.
Stevo fell in the woods on one of those tricky rooty corners and had a quick roll around in the dirt.
Both jumped up smiling.
I missed James and Eamonn coming off but heard about it later.
I lost it big time while thinking to myself how well I was riding (as you do).
Probably the largest stack I've had in a couple of years.
I has to happen every now and then eh?
Hung up a front wheel on a fast descent and off I went in amongst roots logs and something hard and pointy that hit me right on the right-hand side sitting down bone.
I did have a bit of bother sitting down in the saddle after that but there were no volunteers to inspect the damage so I just had to guess all was still intact down there. This was the outcome of the incident.
It wasn't easy riding side saddle for the last hour or so.
:O)
Moments to make you smile were plenty.
Seeing the whole group going off a random set of steps that were just sitting there in the middle of nowhere.
Surprise!
Made me laugh anyway..
I was having too much fun to take that many pictures.
I think Gill got some nice ones though.
We got some food at the visitor centre before finishing the ride on the famous "Follow the dog" trail.
I must say that Eamonn's trails in the morning were a lot more flowy that the man made stuff.

"Follow the dog" was a fun trail but a bit lumpy and bumpy with quite bad braking bumps. Redeeming features were the wooded wiggly bits and the boardwalk that was fun.
Back at the carpark we took the time to chill with a drink and a chat before coming away.
Many thanks again to Eamonn for the guiding.
Good to see everyone having a great day.
Roll on next time.
All the pictures are on Fotopic Website now.

On top of the world....

Easter Friday at 05:00hrs we set off to Snowdonia to ride the highest ridable mountain in the UK.

It was more like a 3 hour hike-a-bike than 100% riding to get to the top but, once at the summit, it was worth the effort.

Standing on the 1,085mtr peak of Snowdon was something special.We had packed everything we may need for the ascent except SUNCREAM!!!

So, as we frazzled in the soaring temperature at the top of the world, we could be happy in the fact that we had all lugged extra layers and waterproofs with us for no reason!!

Oh well. That's global warming for ya.

The Rangers Trail descent down the other side of Snowdon was terrific fun.

All loose shale, slate slabs, steep stepped drops and all very technical and scary in places.

A shout-out to the two young lads here for some great riding.

Nicky and Stevo were riding stuff they haven't dreamed about before.

They were having to get on with it because the rest of us were concentrating on saving our own hides.

Well done as well to Alex.

She was riding stuff she hasn't been able to for nearly a year now.

Phew..

A lot of energy spent that day.

Thanks to all 7 of the Carnival who put a lot in and got a whole lot more out of the ride.

Well done to the support team (Dorrie and Sarah).

I think they walked up the mountain faster than we got up there.

Easter Sunday Was another sunny and warm day so we went for a bike ride.

as you do..

What a lovely day too.

The scenery over Wheathamstead way needed to be seen to be believed.

A nice day for the Carnival "Crocks" to stretch their legs.

Mickey.......pulled muscles doing the garden on the Friday.

Mark.......sprained ankle playing badminton the week before.

Halford......hurt ribs from last weekend's ride.

Mind you. Only one of them moaned constantly about the pain.

I think you can guess who that was.

Easter Monday was another glorious day.

So....

Yes. You guessed. We went for a bike ride.A local blast around some of our favourite trails.

We ended up at a country pub where the wives and kids joined us.What a nice end to a great weekend.

Beer and a meal in the sunshine with your mates.

Thanks all for a really good weekend.

:O)

There are more pictures on my Fotopic website.

I would go see 'em now before they find out I've gone well over the maximum storage allowance.

oops.... :O)

We visit Aston Hill....

This Sunday we took the opportunity to visit Aston Hill.
We haven't been there for years so were interested in how things had changed.
They now have a 5 mile XC route, 4 downhill runs and a 4X track.
I must say that we discovered that the biggest change was in us rather than the area.
As we passed the bombhole area we remembered how this was a scary place years back.
We had major problems doing the few roll-in's back then.
Now. it just looked like a few silly dents in the ground.
Anyway..
We started our day with a ride around the XC route.

Aston Hill is just one big hill so..
When the route wasn't dropping down rooty, chalky singletrack it was going vertically back up the hill again.
Most of the ups were challenging.
Steep with roots. Steep with chalky surfaces. Steep with roots over chalky soil.
And steep.
The main decent of the XC route is a mini DH course in it's own right (the Red DH run).
Only 5 miles per lap??
Seemed to go on for a lot longer than that.
It was great fun and gave us the lung busting leg burning workout we don't get locally.
Then it was time to tackle a DH track proper.
We chose the The Ultimate Pursuits Downhill run because .. .. well. It would have been rude not to ride their most challenging trail eh?
This track had us all over the place.
Chalky switchbacks. (for chalk think ice!)
Large rutted rooty sections.
Drops and more roots to keep us on the edge for the whole decent. (think Chamonix)
We took quite a few crashes on the way down. None serious but enough to make us think carefully about if we should be doing this on our XC steeds.
Once at the bottom it all seemed worth it.
So. Lets go to the top and do it all again.
:O)
The weather was kind to us and, considering there was a snow warning, gave us a comfortable temperature to ride in with sunshine thrown in.
It was a good day out and is recommended for anyone who likes their singletrack testing and doesn't mind when things get on the scary side of technical.

First Welsh trip of the year...Cwmcarn.

The weather looked promising so Gill, Alex and I loaded up the car and shot down to Cwmcarn for the day to sample those lovely Welsh mountains.
What a great day it turned out to be.
The carpark was quite full when we arrived but you just know you still won't see many people once on the trails.
The sunshine bursting over the mountain mid morning was a joy to behold.
On our first loop we were down to T shirts and little crop tops in no time.
I thought my crop top was quite attractive.
This was Alex's first Welsh trip for a long time so she was taking care on the down bits to start with.
She didn't take any prisoners on the ups though.
We were left wondering what she had eaten for breakfast as she zoomed up every climb.
The beginning and middle climbs at Cwmcarn must be among the most difficult sections we have come across.
So technical and steep at the same time.
Quite a challenge at the start of a ride.
We got the usual grin factor coming back around the mountain.
Dropping back to the carpark in a cloud of dust and sweat.
The new visitor center is just a bare metal frame at the moment so off we went to the porta-cabin to see what food they had.
Yep. You guessed it. A fry-up in a box.
:O)
So. It would be rude not to do a second lap after the fry-up wouldn't it?
Off we went for lap two.
The climbing is sometimes easier second time but it was still bloody hard work.
The warmth from the sun had really got hold of the day by now but there were still people starting off on the first climb in waterproof jackets.
We just knew we would be passing them later as they stop to take off those layers.
Near the first summit there is a new Freeride area with berms and wooden drops to play on.
After that comes the final downwards sections.
I forgot to tell the girls that we were going to go right to the top of the mountain and do the DH decent.
Straight down in one go!
Wahoooooo.........!
Alex was more than surprised.
I think she was a bit nervous about doing the DH but still rode it like a star.
At the bottom we were all grins and enthusing about how good and rad (scared) we had been on the way down.
Time then to load up the car again and head off home.
Late afternoon sun was still shining.
And Steak and chips for tea.
Perfect.

More pictures here.

So I learned from Eric's mistakes........er.....not!

Here we go then.
Recently I have been showing how skilled some of the Carnival are on video.
I think it is my turn to demonstrate the skill it takes to become a Carnival Ringmaster.
Enjoy.
Clicky Delbert is an Idiot thingy.

In the old days........We were Kings.

Not many people know this but....
In August 2003 The Carnival were at the forefront....the cutting edge....the big honcho's of Northshore building and riding in this country.
In the depths of a little wooded area in Broxbourne we honed our skills on wooden constructions.
One mans talent shone through as a top exponent of the art of skinny riding.
Ladies and gentlemen....
I give you......
Eric Spinks. (click)
I think we can all learn from his riding style.

(sings) I'm Swinley in the rain....just Swinley in the rain...

What a glorious feeling...
I'm happy again...

Looking out the car window on Sunday morning at the floods and lakes that had taken over the countryside..
It made me think.."where is Noah then?"
The rain had stopped by the time we arived at Swinley Forest.
There were some very muddy bikers milling about though.
Erghh...
10 riders turned up for the Carnival.
We were pleased to find that the forest held up well, even with all the rain we must have had overnight.
Not having a local guide, we decided to wing it and, appart from one ride through gorse track hell, it seemed to go very well.
It was good to be back in the Berkshire loamy forest.
There was always a hidden trail to be discovered over the next hill.

Thanks to Stevo for being the Map carrier and all the others for peering over my shoulder and offering words of wisdom like............
"I remember being here before but don't know where we are."
and
"I think if you go up that steep hill over there there is a great bit of singletrack....I...er.. think!"
"Oh no. It must have been another hill I was thinking about!"
Joking aside. Many thanks to all for the help in keeping the ride going.
There were a few comedy moments to brighten the day.
The deep water filled hole at the end of the downhill run was a good place to get a few pictures.And then while messing about on some drops....
Mark "Matador" Sims demonstrating how NOT to be a catcher for Gill.
Here she comes...
Oh. She's coming off!
Mark! (he sweeps his hands away from the falling Gill with a dramatic twist if the body)
"Ole!"
Nice one mate.
The fry up in torrential rain was funny at the end.

More pictures here.

Thanks all for a good trip out.

Esher Shore

This Wednesday the whole Sol family had a day off.
So..as you do...
We went riding.
For something a little different we decided to investigate Esher Shore.
I have seen it in the bike mags and it looked really exciting.
When we arived we had a walk around.
It was all crammed into a very small area.
The beginner sections looked a bit easy for us.
The medium sections on closer look were a bit scary for us so we looked at the beginner sections again.
Once on the bikes we soon found that there was a big challenge in the "easy" stuff.
We sessioned the "easy"???? sections for about an hour without completing any section in one go.
Not that easy then eh.
It was great fun to have the park to ourselves.
The sun was out and we were in shirt sleeves for most of the time.
Not a bad day for February.
We are going to do it again soon.
Pictures here.
http://derek-sol.fotopic.net/c1216207.html
I do have video of me crashing big time but I' sure you you wouldn't want that on public display!
:O)
Would you.....?

We fought the mud and the..mud won.

A nice Sunday ride in the mud..
Hmmm...
Good for our skin at least!
We headed out Hertford way and soon found a few things to distract us from the mud-plugging.
The drop behind County Hall was done by everyone.

Yes. Even James made it look tame.


No idea why I'm trying to push him off.

The drop is aptly named.."Better Than Nothing"

A new jumpy bit of trail was found just above R1.

Now that is going to be fast and probably fatal for us in the Summer.
Nicky nearly managed to clip a tree as he came into land.

A bit to the left old son.

The weather stayed dry and mild for us which was nice.


A bit hard work in the mud but loads of fun.
A good mornings ride had by all.
All pictures here:
http://derek-sol.fotopic.net/c1213670.html