Riding on the Wyre

Down at my mum's for the weekend, I popped out for a couple of hours round Wyre Forest. It's one of those places that hides its good points very well. If you follow the marked trails, you'll spend a pleasant if dull time riding forest roads. If you treat the 'no cycling' signs as an invitation, you'll likely find some really tasty trails.
The trouble is, like I said, the good stuff is tucked away and forms a web of interlinking trails that go nowhere in particular. I get down there only a couple of times a year and just can't get a mental map of where each trail is. As a result I pootle around, lost and disorientated, sometimes finding the good stuff, sometimes not. The good stuff is very nice though, as fine as any forested singletrack I have ridden. Not technical, but fast and twisty and satisfying in way that those man made trail centres don't seem to manage. I really ought to hook up with some locals next time.

Find my elderly friend Oldgit over here

Ruthin Merida

Sunday saw the start of the Ruthin Merida, a mountain biking 'enduro' event in the Clwydian hills in Wales. You can do 25, 50, 75 or 100km on a marked course. I'd entered the 100 in an attempt to tick off one of my biking goals this year - a 100km enduro on the singlespeed.

1000 of us set of in a bunch at 9:30 (after obediently dipping our wheels in the disinfectant bath, foot and mouth having popped up again in Surrey or somewhere). Me and Wayne took a leisurely start at the back of the bunch, both intending to do a steady singlespeedy and relax into the ride. The first climbs and narrowings resulted in a 20 minute jam, and riding snailspace up steep roads is hard when you haven't got a low gear. Things got moving, eventually.

I felt pretty rough for the first half, and even considered cutting short onto the 50 or 75km, I've had a cold for a few days. I switched my brain off as best I could and just plodded on. Wayne had pulled away into the distance after an hour or so. The trails were a mix of forest tracks, moorland singletrack and grassy drags, with a real surfeit of climbing, 3000m of it. Just as I had got my head around this being a bit of a grim ordeal, I started to feel better and picked up the pace a little. After an hour or so I caught Wayne, stood at the side of the trail waving his arms up and down. He'd got a singlespeeders cramp, the muscles on his shoulder blades had seized after too much hauling on the bars on the interminable climbs.

We rode the rest together, and finished smiling, after 6:45. Nick Craig did about 4:30 :o)

Back in action

Its been an age since I last posted, blogging disappeared off my radar for a few months. No real reason, I just got busy and forgot about it.

Life and riding bikes has carried on apace in the last few months, nothing exceptional to report on, more of the same really. Oh, I did have a trip to Spain with FreerideSpain, which was the usual mix of staggeringly technical trails and laid back guiding. More on that, perhaps, another time.

The usual Thursday night ride tonight, we're back to needing lights for the end of the ride which is a slightly sad reminder that summer (what summer??) is nearly over. But the novelty and pleasure of riding into the twilight hasn't worn off yet, so that's good.

Me and a few of the Peakmidweekers are off to do the Ruthin Merida this weekend. I'll be having a go at the 100km distance on the singlespeed, which should be a bit of a challenge. I'd better take it easy tonight I guess. More soon.

Hope

It was a ride from Hope last night. “Hope at 7pm Thursday” or “Hope at 10am Sunday” has become a bit of a running joke amongst the Peakmidweek lot, being a byword for not having much imagination. The thing is though; it’s a focus point for lots of great rides, the best in the Peak really. If only the Woodbine caff would open ‘til 10:30 on a Thursday night, it would be perfection.

Me, Derek, Steve ‘n Steve and Wayne turned up. 4 singlespeeds (2 Love/Hates, one Genesis and a Bodgervento) and a Pastey Ti with a cracked weld. We could either be an eclectic bunch of discerning riders on very individual bikes, or a bunch of sheep following the latest fad, you choose. It turns out we are all doing the Merida Enduro in Builth Wells in a few weeks time, and are all reasonably matched, so it could be a good little race if anyone wants to pick up the gauntlet.

It was a slightly drizzly night, but the trails were still summer firm. The grass on the way over to Old Dam was nice and slick though, and had me sliding a few times. It was one of those nights where the legs work well, but the brain and reflexes were having a nap. Every stone and bump had a little evil pair of eyes and cackled at me as I pinged of each one like a billiard ball. The “flow” had deserted me, it had pissed of into the “zone” or something.

Still, we had a laugh, Wayne got overly competitive then fell off on a pebble on a flat trail, in full view which was very good of him. Derek rode to and from Hope on his singlespeed, it’s his ‘endurance’ week which means something like 14 hours in the saddle, ouch.

A Summer's Evening in March

The clocks went back at the weekend, or was it forward? Anyhow, there is more daylight in the evenings now. I couldn’t ride this weekend because we had visitors and pissing off out on my bike would have been considered rude (although there is a good chance they’d be glad to see me go…but that’s another story). I decided to sneak a few hours out on Monday evening.

My 5 year old wanted me to stay in and play with him, giving me some good pangs of guilt, but MrsShonky told me to get out on my bike, so I did what I was told.

It was clear, sunny and windy cool. The trails had virtually dried into their summer state, the boggy trudge sections had turned into springy peat and turf and the rocky stuff had got nice and gravely and crunchy with lots of stones spitting out from under your tyres. I saw a hare, he loped along in front of me for a bit before giving me a backward look and stepping aside to watch me go past. I think he was enjoying the early summer too.

The shooting cabin descent was a blast, I am getting used to the capabilities of the Rocky Ridge so I hooned it down the rocky singletrack. You have to pull your weight over the front to make the Marzocchi AM2 forks do their stuff, it’s not intuitive for me, but it really works. I only needed the lights for the last half hour. Lovely, long may it last. There is snow forecast for the weekend though…

Update

Another long gap since I last posted.

Since then I have:

Been to Amsterdam. What a great city. Beautiful, relaxed, cultured and chock full of cyclists. They weave in and out of the traffic, carrying umpteen bags of shopping, with a child on the kiddie seat, all the while talking into a mobile phone. The cars look out for them and everyone shares the road really well. Apparently it is one of the safest cities to ride in Europe. We have a lot to learn.

Had a pay rise – woohoo. I’m a contractor and the hourly rates have been going up recently. A quick chat with the bosses and a few days later I get a nice pay rise. At least I can tell the agents I’m not interested when they phone. Most of the new money will disappear into fixing up the new house though.

Booked some family holidays – Menorca, Northumberland and Wales. And I go to Spain at the end of April for a long weekend with Freeride Spain.

Entered the first Merida in Builth Wells, 75km on the 15th April, on a singlespeed.

Entered the Dialled Bikes Rough Ride in May.

Ridden with the Hobo lot from Bikemagic, round the Peak. A great bunch, good riders, and a superb day out.

Erm, that’ll do for now.

Monday nightride

I took a couple of hours out last Monday night to give the new tubeless tyres a test. Chinley Churn was muddy and nasty, but the skies were clear and the moon was almost full. The views over Manchester were pin sharp, and the thought of all the drones sat in their Barrett homes watching Eastenders gave me a smug satistfaction. I put some earphones in and cruised my way over the tops and down to Hayfield on a happy high.

The tyres felt a little strange. I could easily feel the ‘thin-ness’ of the Racing Ralph on the back, which was unnerving, but it hooked up really well (except for the muddy sections). The front Nobby Nic was little different to usual, just a bit softer. I held back though, not wanting a blow out and crash up on the dark moors on my own. Apparently Racing Ralphs will give out quite quickly used tubeless like this, the sidewalls can’t take the Peak abrasion. We’ll see.

Towards the end of the ride, spinning along the Sett Valley trail, I startled an owl out of the trees right over my head. It dropped off its branch, spread its wings and glided directly ahead of me for a couple of seconds, lit up by my headlight, before doing a lazy turn and swooping out of view.

I did a true 'northern grit' ride into the teeth of a gale (it'll be a hurricane next time I tell the tale), sleet and rain blowing up my nostrils and out of my ears. It were so windy the sheep were blowing past me. Cold too, although I only wore 3/4s, being a hard (stupid and almost hypothermic) fooker.I actually gave up after about two and a half hours, having worn our my rear disc pads, and coughing up grit that had made it's way up my back passage and right through my digestive tract. I must put the mudguard on next time.

I tried to make it out in time to meet up with some friends in Hayfield, but didn’t get away in time. It was a day when I really needed company.

Tubeless tryes and unfeasible thighs

I converted the wheels on the Love/Hate to an Eclipse tubeless system at the weekend. This means you can use normal tyres on a normal rim, but without tubes, meaning a nice lightweight set up and in theory, no punctures. Sounds too good to be true? Have a look at JustRiding Along. It wasn’t a pain free experience and involved a lot of huffing on the track pump trying to get the tyres seated on the rim, mucho latex being spilled everywhere and some doubts as to whether it was going to work at all. I gave up, it was Friday evening and I decided to drink some beer and try and forget about it.

Saturday started early, the kids were up at 6am, and I was groggy (beer and after midnight bedtime). Mrs Shonky was away on a ‘fitness weekend’ (a bunch of women drinking too much wine and doing the odd aerobics class), so I had no chance of a lie in. Mulling over the tyre problem, I realised that the solution was to get a big blast of air into the tyres really fast – like using a CO2 cartridge. As soon as I got a spare few minutes, I tried this and it worked first time.

No chance to test the new tyres out this weekend though.

Saturday night I had arranged a babysitter so I could go to see the World Cup Track Racing at the Manchester Velodrome. I’ve ridden there once, but this was the first time I’d been as a spectator. I didn’t know what to expect, and was prepared for it to be a bit dull. It was superb. The racing was exciting, we had seats near the finish line, the British riders won lots of races and the atmosphere was great. The sprinters are huge brutes, you don’t realise until you see them close up. They have the most unfeasible looking thighs, like something off a cartoon. Definitely a good evening out. I’ll take Mrs Shonky next time, she’ll appreciate the muscles and lycra.

Stonkin' Saturday Ride

Another weekend of squeezing stuff in 'til it squeaks. We had friends coming over Saturday lunchtime until Sunday afternoon, so my only chance for a ride was early on Saturday. I also had to fit in 6 hours or so of work, which meant working Friday and Sunday evening.

Saturday morning was one of those clear and crisp winter days that we all go on about, but rarely see. There was good sprinkle of frost and the sun was out, so I pulled the SS out of the garage, still plastered in Thursday night's Chatsworth clay (if the Duke of Devonshire sees this, he'll probably try to charge me for his mud).

The route was one of the usual combinations, Chinley Churn, Coldwell Clough and the Shooting Cabin. I have to keep reminding myself when these routes get too familiar and mundane that they are classics. Some people drive for hours to get onto the trails that I step out of the house onto. This time though they had a nice new coating of freshness, the air was diamond clear and the mud was partly frozen. The views from Chinley Churn stretched right into Wales and being a Saturday there was nobody about.

Despite the all round loveliness of being out in those conditions, my legs were not happy. I think the general weariness, stress and lack of sleep had finally caught me out. I was a slightly pathetic and slouching figure hauling the bike up the climbs and stopping for regular rests. The descents were still good though. After 2 hours I started to feel better and could have carried on, but had to turn for home, the noon deadline was approaching.

Spinning along the Sett Valley Trail, I got buzzed by another rider. He passed me at some speed, really close and with no warning, brushing my elbow as he passed without a word. Apart from being a bit rude (I think you should always at least say hello or 'passing on your right' or whatever), it was a bit dangerous. I noticed he slowed quite a bit as soon as he had a reasonable 'lead', so I got the legs spinning to see what happened. I gradually caught him (I don't think he knew I was catching up, or he would have been off again), and we met at a gate. I had a brief chat, I didn't say anything about his rudeness, and he seemed a rather grumpy fella. He was on a nice geared hardtail, and he kept looking down at the back of my bike. I was hoping he'd just say something then we could get the 'yes it's a one geared bike, yes it does go up hills, no there isn't any special reason, it really is just a bike' out of the way, but he didn't. He did keep increasing the pace though (the Sett Valley Trail is fast and flat, an old railway), so I had to spin rather quick. We soon got to the climb up through New Mills which is steep for a while, and this was unfortunately the last I saw of him. I gave him a wave from the top and he waved back whilst click-click-clicking down to a nice slow gear.

Mud and Cake

I got the new BB fitted in time to head off to Bakewell for the nightride. Derek and Ade rode over from Derek's house to meet me and Steve in the car park.

We did the Bakewell route out of the Vertebrate guidebook. The others had done the route before and claimed to know it well. We still got a little lost a few times, especially in the woods down to the golf course at the end where we developed some new freeridey trails through the mud and leaves.

Did I mention mud? There was plenty, the type that glues itself to your wheels until they drag like a very draggy thing. There was some mist too, and a long grassy slope that had been recently muck-spread. I can still taste it. We all had fun and I felt pretty strong despite being semi exhausted at the start (too many working hours and too little sleep). Maybe I function best when tired? Ade was struggling at the end, so rather than leave him to an hour's slog back to Derek's house (he'd ridden over from there) we loaded his and Derek's bike in the cars and drove back to Derek's country pile.

Derek's missus had made a great looking sponge cake, and the feeding frenzy that followed was quite something. The whole cake disappeared within minutes. It was probably the highlight of the evening...

Cups of tea and gassing meant I didn't get back til after midnight. Up at 6am again for work - I'm not catching up on that sleep am I?

Bloody friggin ISIS

I've got an ISIS chainset on the SS. I've had it a couple of years now, and whatever BB I try, they all seem to last about 3 months, by which time they feel like the bearings have turned into broken glass and the cranks wobble alarmingly. I've even had the pleasure of snapping a BB axle whilst dropping down towards Mam Nick from Rushup.

I was at the point of ditching the chainset and going back to Octalink or even the good old Shimano square taper, when a friend told me about the new SKF ISIS bottom brackets. SKF have solved the ISIS bearing problem using well sealed roller bearings, and this friend (a frequent ISIS masher) had one on test for WhatMountainBike and it was actually lasting longer than the usual 3 or 4 rides.

I bought one and put it in the LoveHate. It has lasted a month no problem, but the annoying creak that has developed has been traced to the BB by elimination. I took it out last night, regreased it and put it back, giving it a nice tweak on the spanner to ensure it was nice and snug. This final tweak resulted in a loud crack. I had sheared off the end of the aluminium mounting cup, not the loose one, the one that is bonded to the BB shell. That's a perfectly good BB fecked (in fact probably the best ISIS BB I have ever, ever owned).

The result is: I need a new BB quick for tonight. I can't wait the week or so it takes to get a new SKF one, and the only one available in Manchester is a Raceface Evolve for £45 from Evans. It's a lot of money for a bottom bracket shaped piece of Edam. Anyway, I bit the bullet and went into Evans (after a lovely lunch in Livebait with MrsShonky). The gormless chap at the counter vaguley understood what I wanted and finally found it. (As an aside, a customer was collecting his new folding bike when I was waiting, and complained that it was supposed to come with free mudguards, Evans had fitted a front and rear Crudcatcher. It looked ridiculous, and the guy was, rightly, not happy. It looked like they would foul up when it was folded. The Evans shopmonkey was not giving way though...)

Back to now. I'll slap the new tube of cheese in when I get home and head off for tonight's ride round Bakewell - we're doing the route from the new guidebook.

Love/Hate mini review

I promised I'd say a bit more about the new singlespeed. I can't claim to be much of an expert, I ride a singlespeed most of the time, and over the last few years the singlespeed has been an On One Inbred. I haven't thrown my leg over many different bikes (I believe that's how most reviews are done these days), so I can't be big on comparisons. But here goes...

First impressions. It looks cool and I like the slightly retro baby blue paint and gothic decals. Nice clean steel lines, fairly skinny tubes and an uncluttered look give it that efficient and purposeful singlespeed aura. The lack of cable guides might be a problem if I ever get round to gearing it, I'm not sure how Dialled Bikes expect you to do that (it is meant to be a geared/singlespeed after all). I probably won't ever stoop to this though, so no problem for me. The EBB looks a little chunky and perhaps a bit ugly, but if it works, I'm happy.

The first ride was a night ride from Hayfield in the Peak with our Peakmidweek bunch. It was to be a Christmas 'do' so we had a short ride and long pub-stop planned.

The lively and sharp handling seemed to translate into a reasonably planted and solid feel when climbing. That was a relief, I was concerned that the front end would lift too easy, but no worries there. The frame feels stiffer than the Inbred, maybe the big EBB shell is partly responsible for that, but still has a nice steel twang when really stomping on the pedals.

Descending was where I hit problems. I suggested a nice rocky and steep descent to the pub, a cheeky trail that none of the others had done. The Inbred was a bit 'point and shoot' on these sort of descents and loved to crash its way through rock gardens. The steeper head angle on the L/H needed more concentration and I wasn't 'dialled' into this sort of riding. I took a bad line and was off, rolling around in the heather giggling like a big kid. After this, I lost my mojo and everything went tits up. I was glad to get to the pub.

I came away from that ride thinking I had made a mistake choosing the L/H. The clear light of day, and a bit of a hangover, made me realise that steep technical nightriding is not the way to test out a new bike.

I got to know the bike over the next couple of rides, and my aging synapses gradually relearnt how to handle a ride like this. The handling has now gone from 'ooh-er it's a bit twitchy' to an instinctive 'I think about where I want to go - and I'm there!' The involving nature of the ride has livened up some of my trails and it certainly is a bit more capable than the old Inbred on the nadgery stuff (think steep step downs, trialsy rock gardens and tight singletrack). And despite the budget tubes on it, it still has a nice steel feel. Yes, Im happy.

Love/Hate

The Love/Hate is a month old now and it turns out that the name is spot on.

Dialled Bikes make it - see the link above. It is a no nonsense steel frame, butted Reynolds 520 tubing, so reasonable quality, but not bling enough to make me cry when I drop it. It has a lovely baby blue paint job which seems pretty thick after the Inbred's 'fart and it'll fall off' paint job. I built it up one December evening in an hour and a half! Aren't simple bikes great? It got all the same bits tansferred from the Inbred apart from a new SKF bottom bracket and a Chris King headset that has been sat in my spares box for more than a year.

First impressions from riding it around the street where I live were to prove quite accurate. It's a sprightly creature, turning eagerly and sharply, although it feels quite planted and solid. The front end lifts nicely and the top tube seems noticeably shorter than the Inbred. I was a bit concerned about how it would handle on steep ups and rocky drops... I was to find out quite soon.

Bye bye Inbred

It's been a long and happy relationship. We've been together 4 years, so the flush of new love and the novelty wore off long ago and we've been settled into a comfortable coexistence for some time. There comes a point though, where the little things begin to annoy, and if you let them, they can grow out of all proportion....

Enough of that twaddle, I've got rid of the Inbred. The fact that it didn't have a disc mount, and that I had to use a disc adapter combined with horizontal dropouts, was getting on my wick. Every time I took the wheel out was a right faff, and dealing with a flat tyre on a night ride, in the pissing rain was made much worse than it already was. I'd persevered with it for too long really, just because I loved the way it rode so much, and felt a real emotional attachment to it, something I have never done for any other bike.

The replacement took some thought. A disc ready Inbred wasn't available right now, that would have been the first choice. It needed to be something quite cheap and simple, my singlespeed is my everyday, bread-and-butter, workhorse type bike. I didn't want something that made me wince every time a rock hit it or a new scratch appeared. It needed to be steel, because that just feels right on a single.

The one that took my fancy was the Love/Hate, an EBB (eccentric bottom bracket) frame by Dialled Bikes. Dialled are one of the newish british microbrands to follow in the muddy footsteps of On One (Cotic and Pastey are other examples). My friend Wayne has just got one, I had a car park spin on it, so knew the sizing was OK, and he was having a lot of fun with it. So off the order went, a week before Christmas. More about it later...

I couldn't sell the Inbred, it was just too shonky. I couldn't leave it in a skip at the tip either, that would have upset me. I asked around if any of my riding pals wanted it, no one did, but then they are mostly bling loving shortarses. I put it up on the Singletrackworld classifieds as a freebie and got quite a few responses. The 'winner' is coming along to pick it up this weekend. I'll have to try and resist behaving like a father meeting his daughter's first boyfriend - "If I find out you haven't been treating her right, there will be trouble..."

Back online...

Hey, I'm back at last after more than a month. My disappearance can be blamed on - broken laptop/wireless connection, being mad busy at work, Christmas craziness and a small dose of apathy.

I'll try and get on here a bit more in future. That's not a New Years Resolution or anything though, so I make no promises...