Chicksands and more old friends.........

Skippy

This story is a bit late but we do have an excuse.
Over Christmas we met up with a couple of old friends for a Chicksands play.
Happy Jon came down from the Lake District for the Christmas period and did a few rides with us.
And.
Our good friend Skippy came over from Canada just to get in a seasonal ride with the Carnival
...and of course to visit his family and other friends.

Here's Skip and Jon posing.

We had a lovely day out but it was cut a bit short by Gill taking quite a big crash on her head.
It took a week to get shot of the poorly neck for her.
In the mean time our central heating went pop and we then lost the will to live for a while..
...as you do.
Before we knew it, Skippy had returned to Canada and we had missed the opportunity to get together for a chat and picture sharing over a beer or two.
So sorry about that.
Have to be next time Skip.
We will try and get over to see him I think.
He does live very near some of the best biking areas in the whole world after all.
Hmmmm...................
A Line..........................
(A Homer type drool)
Mind you. We do have a bump or two over here.

Many thanks to "Mickey" James for the pictures.

There is a Video of our day out available from Delbert.

(According to James it looks the same as any other Video shot there :O)

Chicksands and old friends...

Got an email from Suicide Dave saying he'd be over Chicksands this Sunday so loaded up the car and took a drive over there to say hello.
What a glorious day it was too.
Not too cold and brilliant sunshine that sparkled through the trees.
Gill fancied a bit of a XC ride so I swapped the Big Hit with Alex's Cove and we went off for a 30min blast around the woods.
I did get a few funny looks from people wondering why an old bloke would buy a shocking pink bike.
I didn't bother trying to explain.
Once back we got on with the job of launching off of anything we could find and riding a few wooden constructions.
Chris and Nicky were on the money with the north shore riding.
Later, just before leaving, we went to dog s**t sand pit where Nicky was dropping off 4-5ft lips.
Well done Nick. And hard luck Chris for having to match his riding nowdays.
We were very pleased to see Alex getting some of her nerve back and riding sections of shore.
It's not easy after a serious injury.
Then she nicked the Big Hit and sailed down the 4x course faster than she's gone for a long time.
Good girl.
We didn't get back home till late afternoon.
All suitably knackered but happy.

We had a very Mardley Sunday.

Sunday saw the sun come out for the first time in 16 years.
A lovely bright (and not too cold) day meant the headcam came out to play with us.
And, as soon as cameras and videos come out with us we go all silly and try stupid stunts.
Well. Be rude not to wouldn't it?
"Mickey" James took us to a secret fallen tree so that we could session it for a while.
Session in the Carnival's dictionary means .... "...to crash on and generally be stupid with"
Then over to Mardley where we found a tree to ride through. Or into really.
Once we had damaged enough fingers, by trapping them between the handlebars and the tree, we moved on.
This time at Mardley we were going to do all the drops that had been fenced off.
And we did.
Nickey showed us how to land on his head without getting too hurt.
"Halford" James showed us all how to bail on a drop without leaving your bike.
Usually we make sure a rider is ok BEFORE laughing at them.

This time.... Well... James just made it look so comical that we couldn't help have a titter.
:O)

Ride him cowboy!!

Luckily the video is on YouTube (clicky button on right) for you all to enjoy these crashes.
Good day out thanks.

First picture posted in 2007

Sorry but it has to be me.



:O)

"Mickey" James has taken 3 sets of pictures over the Christmas holidays.

All very nice. There are some great shots of individual members of the Carnival.

Ask him and I'm sure he'll let you take a look.

Nice one James.

Happy New Year 2007

Here we go again..
A new year. A blank canvas to paint on whatever we want during the next 12 months.
Gill is currently making a list of places to ride in the year ahead.
Alex is getting stronger on the bike again and is looking forwards to revisiting Afan to ride rather than sit in A&E for 4 hours.
I will be planning to learn all the trials skills that will make me a biking God.
(I plan to do this every year and fail to do anything about it)
(I've bought the bike, bought the protective gear and got all the videos)
(Just what excuse to make when I don't do it this year is beyond me)
Whatever you do this year..........Have a great one and stay safe.
DB