Midlands XC round 1

Shaun talked me into entering this, I wasn't really up for it, ive never done a short race before and im not exactly riding at my fastest at the moment. I had it in my mind that i was going to do really badly at this. We both entered the masters category which is 5 laps of a 3 1/2 mile course so basically flat out from start to finish.
The race started and i didnt really struggle i felt like i could of gone quicker if needed i was sat mind pack in about 20th place, the course was good, flat fast with hardly any mud.  After the 1st lap i knew where i was going and started racing, i kept catching people up and taking them. I was warmed up by the end of my 3rd lap and my fastest lap was lap 4. I finished my 5th lap in 6th place which im totally stoked about, Shaun came in 13th place 5 mins behind me. I really enjoyed it and will be doing another one.

Strathpuffer 2012

Everyone goes through bad patch's in 24 hour races, I just didn't expect mine to hit me on my 3rd lap. Something wasn't right with me from the start. i was slow i couldn't pick up speed and Shaun was lapping 2 mins faster than me. However we were in 1st place. I ate some food and had a drink and set off on my 3rd lap, I tried my best to ride hard up the fire road climb but half way up found myself slowing right down, i was sure 2nd were going to take me. I couldn't breath correctly and wasn't recovering from being out of breath, coughing uncontrollably and feeling weak. Then it happened while having a coughing fit while riding, i was sick not just a little bit but a hell of alot all down my jersey and my toptube, this carried on until i had nothing in my stomach. I finished the lap still in 1st and sent shaun out. Funnily enough this was good, I ate more food and drank some vimto. From now to the end of the race i was fine, i was doing the faster lap times out of both of us and i didnt have anymore bad patch's apart from being tired. I dont know why i had a bad start and i dont know why i was ill but im glad i came round.
I hadnt done much training for the race and both me and shaun had been ill through december, So i new it would be hard for us to place on the podium. The weather was very kind to us through the event, heavy rain and wild winds rocked our caravan the night before the race and kept everyone up, as dawn broke though it was nice calm and very mild, Shaun set off on the run on the first lap and was 2nd person on the bike, he held that spot and came through the finish with 2 other people (a quad rider and a soloist). I set off on my first lap and just about held everyone off, we were 1st overall.

me heading off on my 1st lap

As the laps went by the course got more and more cut up in places but this was only for the odd 100 meters, in my eyes the course was running fast and fun. This wasn't the puffer at all, the weather was nice no snow, ice, sleet anywhere, i was kind of glad, i wasn't to cold and i was warm between laps.
Night came quickly and the lights went on, lap times slowed down by 5 mins or so but we still gained minutes everylap on 2nd. Half way through and i lapped 2nd place, that was it then we had at least a 45 min gap and we could both relax and just plod round now without worrying about being caught.

warming up before a lap

We kept gaining time and come dawn we were 3 laps up, we'd done 32 laps were really tired and noway could anyone catch us, so we called it a day and threw the towel in, had a shower and watched the rest of the race from a spectators view. I watched a good mate Phil destroy everyone in the Solo cat and take the win and also Jason took 1st singlespeed. The podium had a very north manchester feel to it even though we were in the northern parts of scotland.

Healey Nab

Holcombe to healey nab. Good days riding legs gave up towards the end, hopefully due to me not having enough drink with me. All the trails seem to be getting slipperier by the day and i may have to change to a more aggresive tyre soon. Healey nab is a good loop to add in even though its only a mile long, it adds a bit more fun to the ride. Arrived back home with just over 50  mile on the clock.

Converted?

5 years ago i'd of told you it was just a fad and it would pass but  it looks like 29ers are here to stay, with big companies spending more time designing them and pushing them more and more i decided it was time for me to give one a go. I sold the trek top fuel and bought myself a trek garyfisher superfly al to use as my winter bike, a hardtail with 100mm of fork travel, 30 speed and of course 29 inch wheels.
So here i am now with a few 100 miles on the clock and all i can say is i love it. I was expecting it to be sluggish,slow at cornering and have more toe overlap(some of the bad comments you here about 29er's) but gary fisher seems to have got these bikes right, i have no problems with accelerating and its fine on tight twisty singletrack. The bike seems to glide up the cobbled road of rooley moor  with ounces of comfort compared to a standard 26" hardtail. I did notice i was using a slightly lower gear than usual but this had no effect on speed due to the wheels. The bike has slightly longer chainstays and it is a tiny bit harder to pull the bike into manual or a bunny hop but i got use to it straight away and now cant tell the difference. I can see i'm going to enjoy this bike more and more as time goes by for long distance xc rides as well as my usual after work jaunts.
I can see 29er hardtails taking over 26" hardtail  bikes in the higher price brackets over the next few years, so with that said does anyone want to buy a lapierre pro race 700 frame, fork and industry 9 wheels?

todays off road ride on it

kielder 100

What a balls up!
Was feeling a bit iffy all week before it, camped out the friday night and didn't sleep much was coughing most of it and the constant rain wasn't helping banging on the tent roof. The plan a month before was to do really well and hopefully make a top 20 place.
I awoke by mick telling me it was 5.15am, it was dark and still pissing down. I got up and changed drank some porridge(because i forgot spoons) and got my self to the start line for 6.15.
6.15 is a bit late if you want to be anywhere near the front, i was placed a few hundred places back, luckily once the race had started it was led out at a slow pace by a pickup and i did a mad sprint for the front.
Once the pickup left the top guys let everyone know who they were, the pace was unreal i was coughing my guts up straight away and let them go. I ended up on my own pretty much from the start, the leader group had left me and i was ahead of the 2nd bunch.
The weather was bad it still wasnt properly light and was drizzling with morning mist, i slowed my pace as i wasnt racing i just wanted to complete it. The odd person caught me and we chatted about how bad this was going to be. I was covered in mud and was wet to the skin after 5 miles (only 95 to go). I was feeling ok considering i wasnt well but a problem soon hit when i got to the top of the first major climb and i couldnt ride fast enough to keep myself warm, i was cold by the time i had done any flat or downhill. I reckoned i was in the top 30 riders or so and new the conditions were bad as i saw a few good riders pull out who were in front of me by the 20 mile mark! I carried on knowing that if i took it easy i would easily complete it.
The course was wet, muddy and slippy, from the 5 mile mark i could hear my xtr transmission grinding away (not a good feeling). I was determined though to do it even if it wasn't at a race pace. At the 40 mile mark i hit a problem going down a decent, my brakes weren't working! I had to hold my rear brake lever to the bar just to remind me it wasn't there. I had to ride just using the front brake which was fine until one of the front pistons sieze'd up and pumped my lever up. I got myself to the half way point at 50 odd mile at 4hours 30 feeling ok considering and had  to call it a day, i had no pads, and was coughing my guts up. I wanted to carry on but the lack of brakes meant i couldn't, they where fine on the singletrack decents (which were fun even with no brakes) but  it was the fire road decent's where you'd hit 30mph in no time and had to brake for a corner that was the concern.
So that was it from me, half way and pulled out with numerous other people. Gutted but will be back next year as i loved 99% of the 54 mile i did.

10 @ kirroughtree

Felt pretty rubbish on the bike the week before kirroughtree, my legs didnt have any speed and i was feeling very tired. This didnt bother me to much as i was entering this race for the course its self, it is one of a kind, if you ever want a good trail centre to go ride i would recommend the red route here.
The race course had parts of the fast flowing singletrack found on the red run  also linked up with natural rooty sections which when ridden fast didn't matter how tired you were, you always had a grin on your face.
The start of the race was led out by a ambulance onto a tarmac hill climb to spread every one out ( this is so much better than doing a run to your bike), i found myself in the front group and kept a good pace, the course was a bit damp in the morning and the roots in the woods were fun to say the least but the sun shone all day and the course grew faster and faster. I was leading by lap 3 which i didnt expect, but i knew greig brown would be on my tail soon enough  as he had punctured. Greig caught me and i rode 2 laps with him at a pace i didnt think was to bad, it was at this point in the race where the sun was hot and i really should of been concentrating on drinking lots and eating but this never occurred to me as i was to busy trying to work out a plan when to try drop greig. I made my move on lap 7 and got away from him only to be caught on the next lap where i cramped at the top of a steep climb and watched him ride off into the distance. From this point onwards the dehydration hit me and i had a couple of slow laps, i set my own rhythm and just enjoyed the course while drinking lots. I came round and found some energy on lap 9 only to have a mechanical, the chain jumped off and got jammed between the cassette and the spokes. I had to use brute force to get it out and it seemed like it took forever to do. i came in from lap 9 with half and our to go down 12 minutes on 1st place, i didnt need to go back out and do another lap to finish in 2nd as i had a big gap on 3rd but forced myself out on another lap. This was a bad idea, the first 3 quarters of the lap went well but i had a major bonk that hit me like never before i actually fell off on a smooth part of the trail, i had to ride the last 2km in 1st gear with my head nearly resting on the handle bars it took me forever to get back. Still i finshed in 2nd which is better than i expected and enjoyed it all apart from the last 2 km.Well done to grieg  who got the better of me again we were 1st and 2nd at 10 under the ben.
Damian also came in tired but with a excellent 3rd position in senior vets completing 7 laps, Mick also rode a good race with 8 laps, he managed a respectable 11th place.
Big thank you to liz for looking after me through the race, making and passing me drinks as i past by.

solo seniors

senior vets

coniston loop

Headed to the lakes with mick for a nice hard 27 mile loop from coniston, technical climbs and decents with also added boggy moorland.

mick first climb

Headed from coniston over to the outskirts of grizedale forest and followed the trail high up running parallel to the lake which had a cracking decent back down, i will do this ride again after a dry spell so i can push myself on the decent better, it looks like it could be so much more fun.

above coniston

heading west to hawthwaite was good on singletrack and quite lanes.

heading north now and the hardest climb of the day up to walna scar, really tuff but worth it for the decent back down to coniston

heading up walna scar

mick top of walna scar

decent to coniston