We had a very late spring this year. It snowed in May and the garden and countryside were weeks behind what is expected. I’ve been surprised, therefore, to see an early autumn. Some tree, like the horse chestnuts, have already changed colour and lost leaves. Meanwhile were having a good, dry and often sunny spellContinue reading “Great Hill. Enjoying it whilst the weather holds.”
Category Archives: MTB
Two downhills, two punctures.
Maybe I should have joined the modern age years ago and fitted tubeless tyres to my mountain bikes. The reasons that I haven’t are a slight aversion to change, the difficulty and expense of making the change and the fact that around 3 punctures per year are barely inconvenient. I can certainly remember 2 punctureContinue reading “Two downhills, two punctures.”
Normal service is resumed.
After a brief but welcome Indian Summer we had rain and thunder yesterday afternoon. It’s like returning to normality after a glorious period of dry trails and has meant that my last ride using the 2004 vintage Whyte JW4 may be it’s last outing of the year. I don’t like to put my classic mountainContinue reading “Normal service is resumed.”
Making hill climbing easy!
Using my pedal powered dinghy has revealed to me that I tend to use a rather slow cadence, that is the rate at which I turn the pedals. On my last few rides I’ve been practicing upping that speed of rotation and have learnt a lot. I live in an area of hills which areContinue reading “Making hill climbing easy!”
Spinning those pedals.
I’ve been giving cadence, that is that rate at which I rotate the pedals, a lot of thought recently. It isn’t mountain biking which has brought the matter to my attention but using my pedal powered boat. In the boat it’s not possible, due to the resistance of the water, to spin the pedals atContinue reading “Spinning those pedals.”
Cadence.
Cadence is the rate at which you spin the pedals on your mountain bike, or other pedal powered contraption, for that matter. My own cadence has come to my notice not through cycling but as a result of using my pedal powered boat. A cycling cadence for a road rider will usually be in theContinue reading “Cadence.”
Man flu.
It’s a well known fact that what may be a trifling cold to a woman is a serious case of influenza to a man. Personally I haven’t had a cold since well before the Covid crisis so it must be getting on for 2 years. This suggests that all the social distancing and mask wearingContinue reading “Man flu.”
Getting over an injury.
On my last mountain bike ride, which was 4 days ago, I had a freak accident. I hit some wet tree roots at the bottom of a set of wooden steps and slid to the ground. It would have been fine if I hadn’t fallen onto a stone structure and hit the base of myContinue reading “Getting over an injury.”
Wet.
The weather forecast was right. It rained. I don’t usually like to set out on a mountain bike ride if it’s raining already and this morning it was more a case of damp in the air than actual precipitation. I’d intended to ride to Rivington, a popular local venue, and thought I might meet plentyContinue reading “Wet.”
Valuable training.
I’d ridden my mountain bike twice since returning from holiday and felt tired on the first occasion. Second time I was better but took it fairly easy on a 2 hour ride with nearly 1,500 feet of off road ascent. I want to do a much bigger ride in the next 2 weeks where IContinue reading “Valuable training.”
Mountainbiker 