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.

Friday, two and a half hours, on my best bike in glorious sunshine. Saturday, three hours on my best bike, glorious sunshine. And, dry trails! Didn’t even need to wash my bike. Combine this with a super riding partner (Carla), a few apre-ride beers, and fish an’ chips, and you have a perfect weekend. Perfect for me anyway.Sunday we were up early, and drove over to Ludlow to help out at the final round of the Pearce Cycles/Specialized Downhill series. It was a great day, and some bloke called Steve Peat showed up and gave everyone a master-class in downhill racing.

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!!!

Last year I rode a Specialized FSR Pro, with 4 inches of travel at both ends. It was a great bike, and just the job for the Marathon type stuff I was doing. I sold it at the end of the year because it was too nice to ride through the winter, and I planned on getting an 05 bike for this season. I spent the winter on either my Kona Unit, or my old steel Stumpjumper. When Spesh announced the new FSR 120 I thought that it would be just the bike for me, and could not wait to test one. Anyway, the test bike arrived at Pearce Cycles, and today was the day to test it.

First impression was that it was a bigger bike, pretty obvious really, with more travel it was bound to be higher off the ground. There was a good group out today, and as we climbed up to the Forestry offices all was well. I experimented with the lockout and damping controls on the forks, and shock to familiarise myself with their action. We headed out along the middle road, and the bike rolled along nicely, I commented on how comfortable it was. We joined the cross-country course, and I climbed over the tricky roots with ease due to the superb traction that only a full susser can offer. I arrived at the top of the course feeling good, and ready for some downhill singletrack action….. Continue reading →

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.

The weather was good, the trails were dry, and we had a great night ride on thursday. The usual route with a few variations to celebrate the dryness of the trails. Got a very close look at badgers three times. The first time was on Kinver Edge, badger coming down the trail, Carla and I going up. Face to face meeting. Luckily for us the badger turned round and shot off into the bushes. In the second encounter, along Kinver lane, the badger ran across the road just in front of us. It’s no wonder they get killed by cars. No road sense at all!!! Our final badger encounter was along the lane that runs down toward Cookley. The badger was running along the road in the same direction that we were going. As we approached it was looking for an exit, but with high banks on either side there was none. Anyway, in panic the badger turned around and headed in our direction. We were sorry to have caused it stress, but thanks to all the badgers who made our ride so interesting. Finally we stopped for a second on the track through the equestrian centre. A quiet still night, the silence shattered by a horse nearby breaking wind. Made us jump. Can horses fart or what?

Having not been on my bike for four days I was like a dog off a leash, pedalling until my legs hurt just for fun. I singlespeeded along the towpath like a man possessed, then up through the Million, down through Enville, and back along Kinver Edge.The trails were in perfect condition and I felt fantastic, fresh and full of energy. Great for me, but not so great for Carla, who wasn’t feeling so good. However, she never complained, not a word, even when I swung onto the permissive bridleway for an extra loop. She knows that her turn will come.

I’ve fitted some RockShox SIDs with a handlebar lockout to my Singlespeed. These are great because it means I can run them really soft to accommodate my dodgy shoulder, them firm them up when I want to get out of the saddle on a climb. The only problem with them is that the control mechanism fouls the frame if I turn the bars too far. I worried that a crash could put a serious crease in my frame. Thing is I’m enjoying them too much to do anything about it at the moment.

The second of the training rides from Pearce Cycles, and with the weather looking good Bircher Common was on the menu. Only four riders this week, Carla on her S-works Stumpjumper hard tail, Gibbo on his singlespeed, and Matt and I on vintage steel Stumjumpers. We set of just after 10:00am, it was very chilly, but with the first hour and a half mostly climbing we soon warmed up, and by the time we rode across the top of the common we had a good sweat on.After stopping to admire the view, and negotiating a huge fallen tree we headed into the forest, and down toward the pools. What was so far a clean ride now turned into a very mucky one as we slipped and slid along the tracks.

Eventually we left the forest behind to return to Ludlow along the lanes. We had two and a half hours hard riding under our belts and I was starting to feel a little weary. Luckily for me, it was Carla who was cooked first, and we eased a little on the climbs so that she could hang on. Just under three hours saw us back at the start, tired, dirty, and hungry. Cannot wait until next week.

Last weekend I went along as a helper at the first round of the Specialized Winter Series downhill mountain bike race, held at Hopton Castle. Close on 250 riders took part. The skill and daring of some of the young guns has to be seen to be believed. On a muddy track, latticed with slippery tree roots, and greasy rocks the speed at which the top riders go is incredible. They appear totally fearless, as if their life depended on saving every second. Look into their eyes as they go past and you’ll see extreme concentration.They fly through the air for yards, and land with the softest kiss of the ground. They’re so smooth. Contrast that with some of the novice riders who land with a thud, and you know that it’s only the suspension of the bike that has saved them. As the top riders approach the finish line they sprint, out of the saddle, head down, legs a blur. After just over three minutes it’s all over, some of them fall to the ground gasping for air having given their all. With a timing system that can time them to the nearest 100th of a second giving everything is the only way.

At the end of the day there was one cut lip, one suspected broken collar bone (which turned out to be OK), and two broken ribs owned by a spectator who had decided to get too close to the action, ouch!!!