Today I was reminded of a post I wrote in the spring entitled “Life gets in the way of mountain biking”. My wife, Ali, had asked me early in the year what I’d do in our garden if I had a blank canvas and within days we were digging up many years of work. IContinue reading “Was it all worth it?”
Messing about on bikes.
Today is hot by the standards of northern England at 26 celcius. Whilst for many around the world this may seem refreshingly cool, to us it’s rather hot to be riding a mountain bike. My plan was to ride Brinscall Woods to be out of the direct sunshine and to ride with no particular plan.Continue reading “Messing about on bikes.”
Boating with my son.
My son Dylan is home for the weekend. He’s always wanted to shoe horses and had to move 270 miles away to do so but he was half way home after a college block so came to see us. He has a kayak and was keen to try the boat. We covered a few milesContinue reading “Boating with my son.”
Cruising!
Today I took my homemade boat to the canal again, not to test it this time but just to cruise. I had a tiny crowd of onlookers as I launched and forgot to start the GPS based app. Strava straight away. In total I covered around 2 miles and the mile and a half IContinue reading “Cruising!”
Riding up Ben Nevis.
Ben Nevis is Britain’s highest mountain. OK so it’s only 4,406 feet but it’s normal to climb it from around sea level so you have to ascend the whole height to reach the summit. I’ll confess straight away that, whilst I’ve climbed it many times previously it isn’t something I’ve done recently. I’ve run toContinue reading “Riding up Ben Nevis.”
I promise you this my young friend………..
In The Wind In The Willows Ratty says to Mole “I promise you this my young friend, there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” I’ve long held that it would be more true a statement if the term “in boats” was substituted with “on mountain bikes”. DespiteContinue reading “I promise you this my young friend………..”
A training ride and how I gained motivation.
This evening England play Italy in the delayed Euro 2020 football final and I hadn’t planned to do anything else today, apart from maybe a bit of gardening. By the middle of the day I needed something to occupy me so what could be better than a mountain bike ride? I thought I shouldn’t tireContinue reading “A training ride and how I gained motivation.”
Back to the hills.
On my last ride of 22 miles I only climbed 101 feet of ascent. That was mainly during my first and last half miles on my way to the Leeds/Liverpool canal, which obviously doesn’t rise at all, excepting tiny undulations of the towpath. I have a plan for a big and challenging ride which willContinue reading “Back to the hills.”
Less climbing.
My recent rides have involved a lot of climbing. In a week of 3 rides I climbed a total of 6,104 feet according to the app. Strava. I have a plan to do a big ride as a challenge for this year which should push me to the limit of my fitness and ability. HavingContinue reading “Less climbing.”
If a picture paints a thousand words…….
If a picture paints a thousand words then imagine how many more words a video could paint. I’m not an avid watcher of Youtube videos but the other day I watched some mountain biking footage, specifically routes near Darwen Hill which is one of my longer rides from home. Here’s a link to the videoContinue reading “If a picture paints a thousand words…….”
Mountainbiker 