It’s a while since I’ve ridden repeated laps of the same circuit so today I thought I’d go to Birkacre for it’s excellent little loop. A lap starts at a high point and drops through various twists, turns and straight sections right to the bottom of the area before climbing to another high point. AContinue reading “How to ride a circuit faster!”
Changing trails.
After the driest spring on record in England we’ve had a very wet period. The temperatures have dropped from nearly 30 Celsius a couple of weeks ago to only 13 Celcius (55 Fahrenheit) for this morning’s ride. It is also windy now but the good news is that this will help to dry the soakingContinue reading “Changing trails.”
High and dry.
After May being the sunniest month ever in England, June was not so good. 2 days into July and things haven’t improved. At least I’ve got mountain biking to cheer me up! I have to take weather conditions into account to plan a ride. Even if it had been sunny earlier today the ground isContinue reading “High and dry.”
Summer rain.
Looking on the bright side rain in summer gives us some different ground conditions to try! We’ve had rather a lot of rain since my last ride so I expected that it would be muddy today and this was confirmed when I walked the dog. At first I thought that I could ride to BirkacreContinue reading “Summer rain.”
Exhaustion and recovery.
On my last ride I became concerned that I might exhaust myself at an early stage if I put too much effort in on a big climb. It seems to be too tough a gradient for me to have a chance of riding the whole of without stopping at my current age, though 25 yearsContinue reading “Exhaustion and recovery.”
Riding on a hot day.
In England we don’t often suffer from heat. Today it’s likely to reach 27 celcius or 81 farenheit which is hot by our standards, particularly in the north of England where I live. I had no special plan for a ride today until I saw the picture which appears when I access the app. Strava.Continue reading “Riding on a hot day.”
Don’t over think it!
I’ve been giving my riding technique a lot of thought recently. I’ve tried to get my weight distribution just right to get the perfect balance of front and rear wheel grip. The problem that’s occurred to me is that on downhill banked corners I’ve felt uncomfortably far forwards on the bike, with my head aboveContinue reading “Don’t over think it!”
Great Hill.
Great Hill rises to around 1,250 feet above sea level and is at the northern end of a line of hills in the West Pennine Moors. The highest point is Winter Hill at 1,498 feet but it also has a TV transmitter rising another 1,000 feet. The whole area provides excellent mountain biking with countlessContinue reading “Great Hill.”
Enjoying a trail ride.
I was rather tired yesterday so didn’t ride the mountain bike. I’d ridden 164 miles on my scooter on Sunday to Kirkby Stephen in the Yorkshire dales with a group of friends and was surprised how much it exhausted me. Today I started by replacing the bottom shock absorber bush and mount, which had developedContinue reading “Enjoying a trail ride.”
How it used to be.
I’ve been giving the handling of my mountain bike a lot of thought recently and made some changes to try to improve things. Bikes have changed a lot over the last 7 years or so. Wheels have generally become bigger and tyres wider. Bikes are longer, throwing off their road bike geometry which persisted forContinue reading “How it used to be.”
Mountainbiker 