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

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

You know when something is bugging you .............

Do you ever get that feeling??
Something's been bugging you but you don't quite know what it is.
Well.
Ever since the council put "that" fence around the Mardley bowl it has been a little challenge in my head to still ride all our favourite drops.
Why should we let them spoil our harmless fun?
We did go back and ride drops each end of the fence.
Then, looking back at my previous post about Mardley, I saw that I had written.
"Wobbly Knee is not doable. No run in."
THAT is what has been bugging me.
I have looked a couple of times and there was about half a bike length between the drop and the inside of the fence.
So.
This Sunday we took a nice little ride over that way.
Once at Mardley, Chris found a new drop-off.
It had a nice run-in and looked a good drop for us to do.
He managed to get it squirley as he landed on wet leaves.
That made us laugh.
No doubt, we'll be back there to all have a go.
Then off to Wobbly Knee.
I had a couple (3-4) of dummy runs and nearly manage to throw my bike off the edge but finally managed the tight turn and off the drop I went.
Following that we had Nicky, Chris and Gill going off it.
I was really pleased that we have now managed to do (almost) all the drops that were fenced off from us a few months ago.
Carnival 1 ... Council 0.
A special well done goes to Alex who rode the complete ride although she was very tired at the end.
It can only get easier my girl.
We had the usual slips and crashes during the ride from a few of the Carnival.
Mini took a heavy fall and moaned about his ankle, knee, hip, wrist and everything else.
...as you do..
James "Mickey" showed Mini how to do the front end crash properly.
Straight down like a sack of spuds and then leap back up with a grin on your face.
He he he.... A classic comedy dismount.
:O)
A good ride had by all.
DB

Rain rain rain rain ................

It's done nothing but rain over the last couple of weeks.
We still go out and ride in it but it does take the edge off the fun and games a bit.
Still....
I suppose you have to earn your good days eh?
And we do have good days.
It's just hard to remember them as you're plugging through foot deep mud and failing to get enough speed for that little jump that you'd been doing throughout the Summer.
So.............
We need a little reminder of what we were up to just a couple of weeks back.
Here's a short film clip to cheer you all up.

Happy days.
DB

Return of the Alex. The Carnival Strikes Back.

A long long time ago.....
In (Afan) a Universe far far away.......
The Dark side took from us one of our own....
She has been in the wilderness for many months....
But now she has been returned to the Carnival....

And what better place to be for that return than...............
CHICKSANDS.

An elete band of merry men (and women) went over to Chicksands to have a good old muck around.
We actually had two ex- invalids with us.
Alex, of course, who is coming back from major knee surgery and Mark who is coming back from a major error in judgement and a broken hand.
We took with us the (new) headcam and another video camera to capture the day.
I wasn't expecting much in the way of special footage there but how wrong can you be??
We managed to capture enough good video to put together another Chickie film.
Now.........
What can we call it?
I know..
Chicksands 3!
Gill managed to capture the biggest prang I've seen in a while.
A couple of chaps who followed me down the XC section just after the jump area.
With video still running..Gill captured the trailing guy coming in to land nose down......
Yoicks....... cabin doors to automatic!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_46xaiSRwI
He survived with a lot of gravel rash and broken Sunnies.
He was more concerned that the glasses were Oaklies and borrowed from his riding partner.
A great day had by all and a few new jumps and drops nailed.
DB