Middle Pack

I did my first ever mountain bike orienteering race last night. Only 2 hours but still has left me drained today.

The event was local to me, local enough to bike from work then bike home afterwards. I knew all the trails, the only difficulty was finding the checkpoints as they were fire hydrants, road signs etc etc and you had to answer various questions to prove you had been there e.g. what is the number on the telegraph pole, south side of road, how many rungs on the gate.

The evening before I had a quick fettle of the bike and ensured I was running smooth. I tried to put my map board on but the board wouldn’t fit on the handlebars. Ah no map board? I thought about grabbing some cardboard as it was all I had but predicted rain would have destroyed this and I had no zip ties. So option 3 was elastic bands and strapping the map to my arm.

After arriving at the pub/start and starting I realised that it may not be as easy as I thought just to strap a map to my arm. I understand why I don’t see anyone else doing it. Elastic band too tight, losing circulation, too loose dropped off, map in teeth, cannot breath, in hand, cannot brake or change gear etc etc. Decided losing circulation in my arm isn’t too much of an issue so strapped up it was, but it meant that I only had about 4 km square visible so couldn’t properly plan routes and often had to stop to re-arrange and re-fold.

Happy with the way I rode, and the way I kept pushing on. Especially from someone who has not really been mountain biking too long with any serious intent. Just a bit annoyed at not having planned ahead enough to fashion a map board from a for sale sign or similar. Near the end I was close to a further 25 pointer but just didn’t have it in me to get that and get back to base without being late. I figured I could have got some of the 25 points but lost the majority for being late so decided to head back to base.

Final results I came 4th in class with 340 points. Winner was Rik Thompson with 368. I reckon with a map board and less faffing around I could have got that 25 pointer. Putting me in second place. These things you learn. I should be happy with 4th as a first mountain bike orienteering race. Will definately do some more and am tempted by the 5 hour event in Swaledale this weekend but we will have to see. Another race tonight may finish me off for the weekend.

Some good results for the Valley Striders running club, with Maria Dixon first lady and Mick Loftus and mini Mick (Ronan) coming first in the generation class.

What better way to spend a sunny bank holiday than riding the Mary Townley Loop!

I was invited along on the loop as a way for a friend to celebrate his big four o. I am glad I accepted as it was a great day out. He had invited a few others along that seemed to know each other and it was also good to meet come fellow keen cyclists.

We met in Hebden Bridge at 8.30am. I had caught the train there so had warmed up with a 4 miler to the train station and maybe a mile wandering round Hebden Bridge looking for a bacon sandwich (I failed). But the others soon arrived and the thought of bacon sandwich was put away for later.

A great collection of bikes were put together. 3 hardtails and a couple of full susses. Nice to see two of the three hardtails were Rock Lobsters! My Aluminium and another Steel one.  A quick apply of the sun cream as it was already getting hot and off we went.

It was decided on clockwise and the long drag up towards Stoodley Pike. Three of us ahead and two a bit further back. This was to be roughly the order of the day, but as speed wasn’t the name of the game then it just meant the faster ones had more of a rest when holding gates.

I had never ridden around Calderdale, but had gone running many times. I knew that bikes would be fun but I have to say that the riding was first class! Great both up and down. The terrain really had a bit of everything. From good tracks, to boulder strewn singletrack to sharp ascents and swooping descents. A real mixed bag (as you would expect from 47 miles of riding.

We stopped for lunch briefly in a pub but were soon on our way again. The second half was starting to show more. It seemed that we were constantly going uphill, like an Escher Drawing but still the riding was great.

Some cloud cover came over in the afternoon which I was thankful for as we continued on our way. Forever upwards!

Before long we were at Widdop, the towards Blackshaw head and then with a ting of sadness I always feel on finishing an adventure, the long fast descent back into Hebden Bridge.

After managing to catch the train, I had to contend with someone nicking the signal cables in Pudsey so I had to bike across Bradford to swap trains and then bike the final 4 miles from the train station to my house. They must have been the longest 4 miles of my life and also the longest section of road I encountered all day.

All in all a great day out. Thanks Andy for the invite. It has wetted my appetite for all day epic rides so watch this space as I have some other 40+ mile routes already sorted.

Spent a couple of hours the other day turning my front wheel to ghetto tubeless and found it an easy enough task (if a bit fiddly). If you don’t know, then Ghetto Tubeless is a cheap way to turn your bike wheel into a tubeless designe i.e no innertubes. This makes it much more like a car tyre. If you also put in some sealent then you have a puncture proof wheel that you can run at lower pressures.

Not quite sure what to make if it yet? I run front and back at around 30 psi and never suffer pinch flats but decided to make the change after a few rides with a couple of punctures per ride. Since then I have not had a puncture front or back so unsure if it is making a difference or not.

I suppose it will be helpful to have less thorn punctures but all the other supposed benefits are a bit too slight for me to notice.

I will be doing the back wheel soon and I will put up a picture step by step tutorial when I do it as I found the ones I looked at made it just seem really easy. I would like to put up a tutoruil including what not to do, what may go wrong and what to expect.

Will I ever go back to running as much? Have to say probably not. A great bike and I wish I could give a decent review of it but as I have so little experience owning decent bikes I feel it unfair. Suffice to say it is damned fast and great fun to ride although the back end does kick a fair bit.

Done just shy of 200 miles in the first two weeks that I have owned it, however I have now decided to take off the computer as I am only checking total miles. I am experiencing a different type of tired than from running as you can really notice the difference between a battered impact tired from running to the general dull ache of biking.

Also managed to get myself to Dalby on Sunday and have another go at the Red route that I did a couple of months ago. Set off from the bottom car park and the first section up to Dixons hollow I was bouncing and pinging off rocks all over the place. A quick stop to deflate tyres and then I was setting off with a bit more speed.  I managed to get stuck in a pack of 4 lightweight full suss bikes for the next section. Bit of banter and I tried to hang on downhill whilst not running into the back of them on uphills. As most of it was sharp downhills then I was probably going as fast as I dare.  As soon as the flat ground re-appeared I was off then up the adders back climb, with them just a distant memory.

I had my first major bail soon after as well. A head over the bars moment, a bit of blood but the most important thing was the bike wasn’t scratched! Really my own fault for hesitating on a drop and ending up going too slow. From there it took a good 5 minutes to get any decent speed up without hanging on the brakes but I soon got most of my confidence back on all apart from the steeper stuff.

Dalby is surprisingly a lot bumpier than I initially remember (I was on a full suss). Not very tricky or rocky, just loads of little bumps and roots that can shake you around a bit. Once the tyre pressures was sorted I was good to go though. Finally managing the whole route in 2 hours 11 minutes.

Enjoyed that as a good workout, pretty annoying timing that the physio has told me to start running again. So I supopse I need to put my bike down for a day and give it a go?

Well it arrived Tuesday in a big box at work. The bloke who signed for it didn’t believe a bike was in the box. I just couldn’t belive it had finally arrived.

I hummed and arrghed about which forks to get. Rockshox Reba Race or the Fox F100′s. Both mean little to me apart from fox are white and expensive and the Rockshox not so expensive and black. Finally decided white was the way to go.  Technically I think I wouldn’t have noticed any difference as I class myself as a keen bimbler when it comes to bikes. So decided on the expensive forks as I would never buy them new so probably my only chance to get a pair. I have to say I am very happy I did so far.

Been on a few rides of a couple of hours and so suprised at the difference in riding from my old bike. Whoever said it is not the bike but the rider obviously hadn’t rode my old bike. I find that I scare myself at the speed I can quickly get up to on singletrack.  Climbs are a joy, especially short sharp ones! I cannot wait for a longer all day epic on it and then see how it fairs but I am reckoning it will be great for that as well.

So now I am looking at a few races to have a pop at? Maybe the brownbacks series at Lee Quarry or possibly the Gisburn Enduro although any other suggestions welcome?

So now I have a new bike, anyone fancy a ride?