Sunday, June 19, 2011

Found out what the clunking sound was...

Weds night, we were piling into some reasonably sized doubles and I had the same issues I had the week before - I though DU bushings. No. Main pivot bearing case had cracked and the bearing popped out! I'm now bikeless again...


Man o man. I'm feeling the pinch a bit on the busy front and the Trek Remedy is loosing out big time. I have a full set of bolts and most bearings and I am genuinely wondering whether to get the frame resprayed...

Rode/dug/felt sorry for myself today at Woburn, with Tam. I was on his 24" with serious headset play. ;)

Other people did cool stuff:

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Monday, June 13, 2011

Bang for your Buck!

Absolutely knackered today after a real onslaught weekend in Wales. Here's a teaser...

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Snowdon Ranger track...

Dorset Climbing

Daryl also said he would post on his Dorset climbing...

Skye!

Daryl and Itzi did a mini epic. No internet means no post yet, but I look forward to one!

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Here they are at the nudist beach...

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Skye-bit late!!

Hear me now!

Awesome trip up to Isle of Skye with Itzi for a week of TGO!

Epic drive saw me getting all excited so up at crack of dawn on the first morning and a walk/scramble up the North West Ridge of Bruach na Frithe. Beautiful sunny day and a nice grade 1 scramble allowed Itzi to find her mountaineers feet and meant I got up on the Cuillin Ridge-can't wait to do the whole thing now!!

Climbers on the Bastier Tooth-Cuillin Ridge
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Itzi in tourist mode on the way back down!
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Second day and I was still full of beans so we set off on the mountain bikes to see MacCloeds Maidens. I thought it would be a long walk, hence the bikes but it turned out to be a bit too rocky and uphill in parts so we shelved the bikes halfway through-not much chance of getting nicked round these parts. Which meant they were up the top ready to roll for the downhill-quality!

Itzi checking out the view
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After all that exertion the sun was still beaming hard so we went to the Coral beach, which was amazing-white with clear water. Shame it was bloomin freezing! Oh and Itzi fell over and cut her knee-on the beach of all places!

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Nice bit of pub dinner at the Stein Inn and whiskey back at the cottage sorted that one out!

Next day we thought we'd take it steadier so we got on Seamus' boat from Elgol to Loch Coruisk via a load of seals chilling on rocks. The Loch was absolutely amazing and wet my appetite even more for the ridge proper. Also a great view of Dubh's Ridge which is definately on the ticklist

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Next day off to the Quirang-again amazing and then the business in the afternoon.....

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The Old Man of Storr had been beckoning since I saw it on earthed 4. Almost ran up to the top with my bike I was so excited. Got a bit nervy as a few of the stepped rocks looked quite big coming up, but got on with it and it was amazing. one of the best 5 minute downhill runs I have done bar none. definately worth doing and possible straight from the main road!

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After all that excitement all that was left was to have a relaxing rain day-which is what we got! So a brief walk in the rain up to The Fairy pools and then a tour of the Talisker distillery rounded it off nicely!!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Dorset-Easter climbing

Easter Weekend saw brilliant sunshine and me and Itzi popped down to Dorset for a lead climbing crash course for the Spanish one!!

Got down to Hedbury on the first day and after a couple of interest moves with the rope Itzi soon got the hang of it-certified expert!

We hooked up with some other guys-very friendly and got a few good climbs in, nothing too hard but fun nonetheless;

Daryl on Goddam Sexual Tyrannosaurus 5+

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also climbed New Age New Style, Very Ordinary Route, Another Contribution, Moral Flexibility and Sea View

Next Day we headed to portland, The Cuttings and it was actually too hot! We had fun though and Itzi managed to climb Eat, Stick and Die, Charity Work Mate and Bonsai. I struggled on some savagely polished 5ish route which wasn't in my old guide before deciding I had heat stroke!!!

Had a nice chilled out day on Monday and walked along the coast route from Kimmeridge Bay towards Lulworth followed by lunch in a lovely cove-again boiling hot-amazing

Itzi taking a well earned swig!
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Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Leith

Recent ride out with amazing new trail sections being ridden at leith hill. Genuinely great days riding on super flowing new tracks. Loving Leith!

Mid trail double on flytipper - firt time we'd ridden this trail and we knew there was a double in it so a bit cautious and then sessioned it.


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