Cold weather. Good Fun.

What ho. Have managed to squeeze in a good dose of riding this weekend in the biting cold wind and sleet! Saturday I hooked up with Rob B for a sesh at Chicksands where the wind in the car park nearly made me pack up and go home, whilst waiting for the Polo of death to arrive. Apparently Rob has a sweet modification that allows you to hit all three pedals at once...

It was dry and early. After a few warm up runs, we had a bit of a play on the less scary wooden stuff and hit some of the kickers. I managed to ride the drop off/kicker at the bottom of the wall ride and Rob did some of the gappy shore stuff. Very good.



Then it was on to the 4x. I'd not ridden it before and had a bit of trouble getting to grips with things, but Rob was loving it and getting well involved. Next to the Dual and pump races. Turns out I'm about as fast a Rob if I pedal or not. Hmmm. Was fun though and the left line is definitely slower!



Anyway. Sunday saw overnight snow and a full on rain assault. Proper nasty, but I hooked up with Bob and the wonder bus in Dorking for a bit of Leith action. Wet and muddy style.



Not my best angle...

It was a bit cold and savage and after a few trails, we decided to session the awkward little jump pictured below, before retiring to dry pants and ale...

Howdy Doody

Getting ready for t'winter out here, Drove up to Avoriz a couple of days ago to seee what the conditions were like, it's not quite ready for boarding yet but there's 70cm of snow forecast over the weekend so fingers crossed the start of the season will start with a bang.


all arty farty looking across to the high peaks in Avoriaz from the top of the Super Morzine way of getting
into the resort.


same position looking down over Avoriaz and down into the valley that Morzine sits in.

Also getting ready for the arrival of the international Bob of mystery, looks like we might live in not only the same country, not only the same region but in the same town for 6 months!! Christ, look out Morzine, this is what happened last time!!!

Bracknell. Wet, AGAIN!

Bracknell radness went down to the tune of a few trails and some sessioning of the tree runs. Brilliant! Check the insane-ness of it all...

Glentress

Watcha, Daryl here....went to Glentress on Saturday with Joe and Ken and rode the red route plus hit up the Freeride area. Absolutely fantastic place even in the wet especially spooky woods which has to be one of the best pieces of trail I have ridden full stop. Tabletop, Tabletop, Berm, rock step down, tabletop, tabletop, berm, berm brrrrrrrrpppppppp, brrrrrpppppp, berm etc. etc. etc. Will have to go back ASAP avec camera.

Possibly the best Sunday EVER?

Well, big claims, I hear you say. Exactly right...

Fireworks and some rocking out to JL's band down the Craufurd helped set the scene on Saturday night...


Wake up. Daryl's on time from the South, Bacon sandwich and off! Straight to a very rain soaked Woburn, where the idea was to have a chilled and fun session, doing a few jumps and not killing ourselves. We had a great time running some of the soggy runs and trying to work some lines. The fact that the jump spot is so close to the car park, made me force a photographic mission, so after those sweet warm up runsof warm up runs, we hit the the hip line and broke out the camera. The following ensued!












Pretty happy with the one hander (even though small), but Daryl was killing it and we had an awesome day!

Even better, we got homr in time for the Grand Prix, for the most exciting race of the season and nice one Lewis for winning in the most tense 3 minutes ever!!!!

After which, Steffi had an amazing roast on the table in minutes and the new top Gear was on. WALLOP!!!!

Peaky and Cold

On Thursday I had to drive up to Manchester for work so I decided to make the most of my altitude, have Friday off work and go riding with Jez who resides up here. After the excitement of seeing Bryan Adams live at the MEN arena on Thursday night (very, very random but free and strangely entertaining!!), Jez and I headed out to Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District.



Firstly it was bloomin cold with a lot of ice and a bit of snow on the tops, so I donned the bib knickers and off we set. We did a big loop up and over 3 peaks and back down the other side. The first climb was steep and saw us off the bikes and on foot fairly quickly, we then traversed across between peat bogs and icy puddles and got covered in mud. Onto the first downhill which was a real challenge trying to pick the way between big boulders and peat bogs, which much to my amusement Jez did not quite manage towards the end, and fortunately I had the camera out ready to snap him coming down-superb over the bars moment-see pic....


looking good


ooopps over he goes


like a cat

We then crossed the reservoir by the weir and took a wrong turn up and onto the steepest track up the next peak!! We could have turned back but instead in true English Gent fashion carried on regardless which saw us shouldering our bikes up the steep rooty and wet climb! The next traverse across took us through the heather and onto the old roman road which made for a good descent and saw me suffer the same front wheel in bog, over the bars quickly type dismount! On through to a cracking rocky descent through the woods which tested the suspension to the max and past some cross country boys who quickly dissapeared from the known universe, another climb and a similar fast downhill took us back to the car park, a quick hose off of the bikes, a cup of soup and some hideous sights for the poor people trying to enjoy the views of the reservoir on a Friday afternoon, as we bared our white asses in a hasty change out of cold wet muddy keks.









A quality ride which served as a great introduction to the winter to come, and a nice change to ride some proper hills.