I’m hoping to ride the Mary Towneley Loop a week on Friday. It’s a 47 mile circuit with 6,500 feet of climbing and is almost all off road. Before then my wife and I are visiting our son 270 miles away in Sussex where I might get a ride in. I’ll return next Monday, sixContinue reading “Preparing for the big one.”
Tag Archives: boardman
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.”
13 minutes 50 seconds.
Thirteen minutes and fifty seconds was the time I set last time I rode from the top of Great Hill down a big, mainly downhill trail to the Goit, which is a straightened river. Today my plan was to ride the same downhill but making sure it wasn’t a race against myself, with the inherentContinue reading “13 minutes 50 seconds.”
I can’t stop riding my new favourite trail!
I have fitted a new 11 speed cassette to my Boardman FS Pro mountain bike. That means that this year it’s had a new mech. and the 3 components of the transmission, chain, chainring and now cassette. This must have cost me over £200 in total but should last a couple of years, though IContinue reading “I can’t stop riding my new favourite trail!”
Bike and body maintenance.
I recently changed the chainring of my Boardman FS Pro mountain bike. I’d been losing the chain occasionally so thought it was time. The 3 components of the drive train, chain, chainring and cassette of, in this case 11 gears, all wear together so often if you change one part the chain slips and youContinue reading “Bike and body maintenance.”
Back to training.
My last few rides have been trail rides where I’ve had an objective to reach and return from, rather than a structured training ride. I don’t want to allow my improved fitness to diminish so today I decided on a ride with a structured training element. I’d ride to Brinscall Woods and do 10 lapsContinue reading “Back to training.”
A sunny day for a few laps of Healey Nab.
A month ago I was doubtful as to whether I’d ever be able to write the title of this post. After almost 30 years of riding my nearest hill the larch trees have succumbed to a fungal disease and all 2,500 have had to be cut down. This has destroyed much of the man madeContinue reading “A sunny day for a few laps of Healey Nab.”
A birthday treat.
Yes, it’s my birthday! For the record I’m 58 today and since my wife was at work I went for a mountain bike ride. I struggled to think of the best place to ride today. Healey Nab is having the trees felled and after a record breaking wet February the ground is still quite wetContinue reading “A birthday treat.”
Man Flu.
Newspaper reports have confirmed that men suffer far worse from respiratory infections than women! “Man flu is real, reported the Daily Mirror . Many newspapers reported the news that scientists have found men suffer from flu more because they “invest in their spirit of adventure at the expense of their immune system” (The Daily Telegraph ).” ThereContinue reading “Man Flu.”
Things will never be the same again.
Today was too good a day to stay indoors. The sun was shining sporadically early in the morning and by 11 am we had clear blue skies. The rain we’ve had over the winter was hardly likely to have dried up overnight but my main intention for today’s ride was to do some hill climbing and take a look at Healey Nab. I’ve seen some pictures on Facebook of the tree cutting and wanted to see how it had affected the man made trails. An easy plan was to ride up Great Hill and return via the Nab.
Mountainbiker 