Two weeks holiday in France gone in the blink of an eye. One minute I was there, and the next I was back at work. All those tomorrows turned into yesterdays. All those planned routes ridden.

So that all the days would not merge into one fuzzy memory I kept a diary. This would let me relive our trip from the deep depression of my desk. Carla took it even worse than me. We have been back almost two weeks, and she’s still not back! Continue reading →

I still like to use a bottle and cage. I had a Camelbak once (1994), but hated it. It was one of the early ones. I hated the way it made my back sweat. I hated the way it rode up and started hitting my helmet on descents. I didn’t like the look of it, and I thought it was uncool. Not to mention all that faffing about keeping it clean.Hydration packs have come a long way since then. Carla has one, and she much prefers it to a bottle. She reckons it’s cleaner, easier to use, and you’re more likely to drink with one. She has convinced my brother, and now he has one. He’s even taken the bottle cage off his bike! Says it spoils the lines.

My brother (Wal) was asking me why I don’t use one. I was joking, but my first two reasons were… what if I needed something to throw at someone? I’d have no bottle, and what if someone was trying to get hold of me? They’d have those straps and things to hold onto making them very difficult to get rid of. While Wal was mildly amused, he thought it said quite a lot about the kind of confrontational person that I am. I disagreed.

Carla has washed a few bikes in her time. With several seasons cyclo-cross pits under her belt, not to mention some 24hr Mountain Mayhem sessions, the odd MTB race, and Road Stage races. She has washed bikes for professional riders, and more than a couple of national champions. So well qualified as a bike washer then, yes?Anyway, following a few questions lately from novice bikers on the best way to wash a bike, Carla has written a bike washing guide complete with pictures. You can see it here.

Over 1500 riders ferried safely to the top of the downhill course at the Pearce Cycles winter Series round 2 by the Magnificent Seven. Actually it was just over 300 riders, but each rider had 3 practise runs, and two timed runs, so that’s 1500+, it’s just that some were multiples of the same! And the Magnificent Seven? That was the team of 7 highly skilled drivers of assorted vehicles with trailers doing the uplifts. There were two Landrover Discoverys, a two wheel drive tractor, and four four wheel drive tractors. The trailers ranged from purpose built uplift trailers with racks for bikes, to cattle trailers (some of those riders are animals!).Some trailers were faster than others, and some took longer to load than others, and some had twice the carrying capacity of others. Despite this the team operated a slick service with no rider having to wait more than a couple of minutes. It was a great sight, and a great buzz to be part of a convoy snaking up the hairpins loaded down with bikes and riders. The noise of those big tractors working hard is something special!!!

Despite having a late night of pre-birthday celebrations we were still up early, and out on our bikes before the cock crowed. Well, pretty early. Conditions were excellent and we zipped along the towpath shouting cheerie salutations to all we met. Carla was in the driving seat, and just after the Stewponey lock we caught up with a couple of bloaters on full sussers. Carla stepped the pace up as we passed them to deter them from jumping on, but hearing her cheerie “hello” as we wooshed past must have affronted their machismo because jump on they did. Yeah, but not for long. I reckon they lasted less than half a mile. Carla was in wicked birthday mood, and anyway big groups on the towpath is naff for all.After stopping for a birthday piss we climbed into the Million and tested our skills on a new bit of singletrack we have found. It felt good, especially as I was riding a thoroughbred Stumpjumper Hardtail. Compared to the slug I had ridden yesterday the Stumpy was like a rocketship. We dropped out of the woods, and as there were some horse riders coming in the opposite direction we joined the road about 200 metres before we would normally. This was to have an important consequence. I caught a glimpse of something lying in the wet grass, a £20 note! We looked around to see who might have dropped it. We asked horse riders if they had lost anything. We asked a group of ramblers if they were short. No takers. Being the one that found it, and it being Carla’s birthday I gave it to her. Someone obviously wanted her to have it.

We followed our usual route home, pausing to take a couple of birthday pictures. I let Carla win the final sprint and congratulated her on an excellent ride. We spent the rest of the day bike washing, car washing, and building up an appetite. I made a special evening meal (with a little help), for the official birthday tea. It had been a great day. In fact it had been a great weekend, over 9 hours of bike time. Happy birthday.