Benji Go Blog

Starz 'N' Stripez 4 Ever

2005-02-05T19:39:00.000Z

05/02/05: Exploring new "Druid paths" (ahem) in the Burnley area with Dave (aka Capt America). Dave was debuting his recently completed Kona A'ha which was looking mighty fine I must say (I would post a photo but me card reader's bust!). I don't think I'll reveal anything about what we found. Wanna save it for the forthcoming night ride - which will go down in history as one of the top 1000 night rides of all time. Maybe Dave's new cruiser is a lucky cheeky charm?
MUSIC OF CHOICE: 'Darkest Light' by The Lafayette Afro Rock Band.

Comin' Up Trumps

2005-02-03T23:58:00.000Z

03/02/05: Not many turned up to the usual thursday night ride from Stubbing (just me, Dave, Alec and TimK). So we took this opportunity to turn the Cheekometer up to 11 and go hunting for trails. Obviously I can't go into much detail here (or I'd have to kill you and your immediate family) but it was classic night of hits and misses. Thankfully the hits outweighed the misses and they were of a particularly high calibre; all scoring well on the twin charts of near other good trails and nadgery techno singletrack. So... yay! A couple of trails will require a bit of tweaking (did someone say "folding spade"?) but already I am looking forward to linking these babies up sometime soon. Fer shure.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: 'Hidden Gems' by Cherrystones.

Spud!

2005-01-30T18:26:00.000Z

28/01/05-30/01/05: Rob's Farewell Wales Weekender. Arrived late on friday but still managed to get right royally hammered and high as a fooking kite. Can't remember much of friday night except: the massive spun cannon; mini Creme Eggs; cheeky vimtos; Steve pouring champagne on himself; drinking from jugs; Rob repeatedly getting the teat owl joke wrong. Saturday we went up Snowdon. The weather was fantastic at the start but up near the top it went cloudy and snowy (which was equally ace really). The descent down the Rangers Path was fantastic - quite possibly my favourite UK descent. There isn't really space to go into detail, all I can say is "thread the needle, baby!!!" Saturday night was another (slightly less) messy starch-drenched affair. Sunday we played in ByC. My bike became shit so I borrowed Ernie B - which was most fabbo (cheers Coogletron). Top weekend, one of the best ever I thought.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: compilation CDR from SteveM.

Chase Is Ace

2005-01-22T18:14:00.000Z

22/01/05: Cannock Chase with Juicy Jim. It was supremely muddy for the first sections and I was really lovin' it. Jim was on his singlespeed (with its comedy tyres) and was struggling a bit. We started off trying to follow the Red Route but eventually got a bit bored of its seemingly random signposting so we managed to subtly blag an invite on to a group of local riders who showed us around for the rest of the day - result! I swapped bikes with Jim after a while so he ended up riding a swanky carbon fibre £3,400 full-sus Giant jeymobile that was 'on test' for the mag. Which he (surprisingly) really fell in love with! And I loved riding his dinky Kona Unit too - everyone's happy. The trails and the Giant have made me decide to get my Klein up and running properly again (all it needs is a rear wheel rebuild and I might put bouncy forks on it again).The guided part of the ride was excellent and we got shown some great hidden twisty stuff in the trees which wasn't so muddy. Can't wait to go back there in spring/summer and partner Cannock with the Wyre for a top weekend of cheeky forest madness.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: 'Analord 10 EP' by AFX.

Broken Biscuits

2005-01-16T21:06:00.000Z

16/01/05: Hebden ride. Just me and Crumbs. After being fed and watered by real life lesbians and a quick map consultation in Blazing Saddles we hit the dirt. Jack Bridge, Mary T to Egypt, Gorple Res, Widdop Res, Gorple Road, Hurstwood Res, Wind Farm, Whirlaw and Rodwell B (where I may have found a new trail). It was really muddy in places towards the end and this seemed to really sap Crumbs of energy. I was on an appropriate bike for once (singlespeed with spiky mud tyres) and was rocking along nicely. Convinced myself that I can get away with saggy 100mm forks on the Redline to help unleash its beastliness even further! All in all a great, demanding day out in the hills. We remarked on just how many times we've ridden this route over the years (when I used to be the one struggling) - it's a Proper Classic. Just realised I've not being doing my Music Of Choice selections since I resumed Blogging. So here goes...
MUSIC OF CHOICE: 'Shipwreck' by D'Arcangelo.

Sick List

2005-01-15T21:36:00.000Z

Hecklay: shock bushings
Bonty: dinged rear rim
Klein: buckled rear wheel
Humu: front hub bearings
Redline: rear hub bearings
Matilda: not built yet

Bianchi: A-OK :-O

Stubbing Massive

2005-01-13T23:45:00.000Z

13/01/05: Calderdale night ride from Stubbing Wharf. Unusually large group of riders (12?). Jack Bridge, Angry Farmer's Wife, Bike Photo Shoot, Whirlaw Stones, Rodwell B. Weird combination of race-speed riding and standing around a lot. And I was riding a Marin. Kinda hopin' for a return to the usual next week!

Lieutenant Harris-Evans

2005-01-09T21:35:00.000Z

09/01/05: Riding t'other end of Calderdale with Craig, Craig's Dad Keith, Dave360, SteveM and Flexi Felix. Dashed hard work today due to the lack of freewheeling opportunities (either uphill or muddy!). Assorted highlights include: Craig arguing with his Dad over route choice; the flooded bombhole; Keith's rear QR falling out (like father like son!); Flexi suddenly dashing off to save the world; careering down the mud slope behind the Orange factory (God bless Kenda Knarly tyres!); dirty-mountain-bikers-in-MacDonalds incongruity; fantastic cobbled road climb; the tunnel under the road (yikes!); Craig nearly slipping off a slimy walltop. But the undoubted highlight of the day was Flexi showing us down Headless Chicken Run (so called 'cos it has the odd low branch in it). What a great trail! It was fairly similar to Pixie Woods in Hebden but a lot, lot longer with a bigger drop to your left at first, more twistyness, more low branches, carving bends, roots, jumps, drops and a nice rollercoaster section toward the end. It finished with a plummet down a mud slope to a kids playground which everyone fucked up royally (skidding down slope on backsides, slowly rotating) except Craig (who ruled the trails all day on a cross bike!) who just flew down it (I thought he was definitely going to spill it big style!). Apparently Headless Chicken Run is festooned with bluebells come springtime. Can't wait! Flexi has earned his Cheeky Wings at last.

Cancelled? No, Postponed

2005-01-08T21:33:00.000Z

08/01/05: Supposed to ride from Skipton over Embsay Moor (etc) with TimK, Kelvin and Cy but the ride was called off due to mental winds. Bugger. Particularly gutted for Tim seeing as he never gets to ride at weekends usually :o(

Deep fried brie?

2005-01-06T21:31:00.000Z

06/01/05: Calderdale Thursday night ride from Stubbing Wharf with some Usual Suspects. Up Jack Bridge, taking it easy at the back with Kelvin and Fatbob. Along road to Slack Tracks, which was unusually muddy and slippy. Down Ali's Zig Zags, which seemed to be a bit clearer of obstacles than I remember but it still had me ditching it into the verge amusingly. Up Bastard Tarmac Climb, which was particularly bastardish. Then we spent a while sheltering behind a wall out of the noisy wind, eating Tangfastics and drinking Tim's hipflask. A decision was made and we then rode the first half of Midget's Pit (just can't get enough of the view that opens up in front of you as you emerge into the field) but instead of turning off into The Pit itself we kept barreling on down the straight open rocky track which was lots of fun indeed; jumping mini-rockeries and steering around tree stumps just about in control (the £1000 Specialized bouncy test bike I was riding was amazing!). At the road we turned left and headed up to do the last 2/3 of Blue Pig, which was even more fun than normal seeing as someone (or something) had dug out either side of the water bars making them very hard to leap over successfully (we all managed to avoid pinch-flatting somehow!). We finished with The Ginnel, Bolty's Steps (which I rode fully... on the 2nd attempt!) and Riverside Run (with Craig handily pointing out where a possible new trail may join it). Spirits were high and egos were up so a few of us had a go at riding along a wall and jumping off the end. Craig and Tim handled it no probs. I landed my shonky attempt like a bag of spanners (note to self: learn to wheelie soon). Back to The Stubbing for beer and deep-fried brie - yay! Same again next week please.

Boys keep swingin'

2005-01-03T20:47:00.000Z

03/01/05: ByC Marin Trail plus fruity additives with Juicy Jim and Air Manfield. At last - a bit of (almost) painless fun fun fun! Never had anything less than a great time when I ride ByC. Highlights of this trip: all of us arriving on time (wow!); Jim's once in a lifetime double-nose-manual-into-a-ditch manoeuvre which left him in girly riding mode for awhile and me and Steve in hysterics; attitude checks; Jim refusing at the Bus Stop Drop but being hectored into riding it by me and Steve; Jim not crashing on the Bus Stop Drop; the unfortunate set of lads struggling their way around on BMX's(!); those jumps on the middle section of the final descent (how good?); Steve saying that he wouldn't mind riding ByC every weekend; finishing in dry clothing for once! Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks again ByC.

Merry New Year

2005-01-03T00:55:00.000Z

31/12/04 - 02/01/05: Bunk barning in Kentmere in the Lake District with Rob & Co. Not a lot of riding done (more boozing and amusing ourselves in a power-free cattleshed for a couple of days). A swinging good time was had by all. Number of days consistently hungover now = 11. On the sunday SteveM arrived and joined Rob, Craig and I for his first (and possibly last) ride of the year. We went up Garburn Pass (which is ultra-pale shadow of its former bouldery self - boo!), then we went down Garburn Pass. Rob's new bike (an evil black Santa Cruz VP-Free called Ringwraith) just flew down the bugger with nary a worry. Quite impressed how me and my old skool Santa Cruz ("The Original And Still The Best") was performing too actually. Then we went along Low Track toward Ford Overend(!), turned right and climbed up some hill or other and then proceeded to fly down the other side at inadvisable speeds, jumping and bumping our way over scary-looking, black, polished-but-craggy rock. Fabulous descent. It even temporarily made up for the destruction of Garburn Pass! Getting back over to Kentmere involved a long, gradual, muddy slog (which was top fun and called on skills and manoeuvres that arguably UK bikers are the best in the world at!) and a fast'n'rocky'n'greasy plummet alongside a plantation. All-in-all an unexpectedly wikkid day out with some cool peeps triumphing against the odds and a thrilling amount of occasions where I scared myself right royally shitless. Bonus!

With A Bang (Not A Whimper)

2004-12-30T21:52:00.000Z

28/12/04: Peak District ride with Craig, Rob, Jim and Steve v2.0. I think the Peaks has had me suffering in crap weather more than any other National Park. But I still love it! Cold, wet and windy as fook. It started very well with a nice steep technical climb and a thrilling session of bog dodging and rock jumping. But I very nearly called it quits after a couple of hours - after a particularly harrowing stretch of grassy uphill slogging (with a vicious side-salad of hailstoning) - but I was talked into continuing. The deciding factor was the rare (and soon to be even rarer) combo of riding partners. Rides with this bunch are always a great laugh - with a particular honourable mention to Jim "Mad Jim" Coulthurst who was on tip-top form (maybe it was his newly refurbished Salsa?). After a few more people got slightly bored with the weather we tailored the ride to stay in the trees as much as possible and everything was way kewl.
29/12/04: Nannerch Post Xmas Comedown(hilling) - the DH yang to the previous day's XC ying. Rob, Craig, Jon, Dave360, TimC and myself spent the morning trying to find the bloody place and the afternoon riding it to smithereens. Great (and refreshingly different) day out on the bike. All about having fun and laughing at/with each other until it was too dark to ride anymore (in a playing footy after school with friends type way). Craig (and I) took a few pics with his camera and mine (to be scanned and uploaded sometime next year!). Rob in particular was 'going off' big style and we were all gee'd up by this. Personally speaking I started a bit lamely but was surprised (and impressed) how much I improved as the day went on. Can't wait to go back there. I think it would be a nice partner venue for future ByC visits.

Not Dead (Again)

2004-12-30T21:50:00.000Z

Quick round up of the past few months since my last posting...
September: Dusk 'Til Dawn.
October: Garburn Pass; ByC; Peak District; The Midget's Pit; RHS Fest; Car Wash; Ramsbottom Farewell; Borrowdale Bash.
November: Black Mountains; Singletrack Awards Weekend; Afan Weekender; Scotchlanding '04.
December: Norf Sure; Ambleside Classic; Calderdale Epic; Voodoo purchase.

Och! What A Great Weekend, Jimmy (etc)

2004-09-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

Friday: Drove up (waaay uyp) to Aviemore with Stanny Fro. Met up with the usual crew plus some other singlespeedy types. Got pissed. Went derbying. Then got into the happening nightclub. Left the happening nightclub. Got more pissed.

Saturday: Got up. Felt really quite awful. Had a dump. Felt better. Assembled at Bothy Bikes for the Euro Singlespeed Championships (woo!). The casually paced 7 mile ride out to the race venue was ace; nice just-interesting-enough trails through great scenery. The race course was unbelievably good too; tight and twisty through impossibly green lush forest singletrack with rocky outcrop bits here and there. The final descent was a screamer. After a none-more-slow 1st lap our group (me, RHS, Sex Midget, SteveM and DaveA) picked up the pace and fairly flew round our 2nd (and final) lap. I impressed the hell out of myself by riding up the steep-as-fook climb (the one with the wide "north shore" section halfway up it) without dabbing once. I lead RHS and Sex Midget down the final descent at a bonkers speed which left us all giddy with adrenaline (and aching legs). Great, great, great fun. The evening was like the previous evening, only this time it was turned up to 11.

Sunday: Got up. Felt even worse than before. I had arranged to meet Cameron from the Forestry Commission who was going to show "two or three" of us around the unopened (and unfinshed) Laggan trails. Loose lips the night before meant that 24 people turned up to the "exclusive" ride! Luckily Cameron was cool and easy-going and said it was no problem. It was decided that we would start with the Black route and maybe do the Red afterwards. The Black route turned out to be brilliantly and insanely technical. Me, RHS and Jonathan hung back after awhile and had a go at riding pretty much everything with surprising success. Some of the stuff you couldn't even see a line through (or up or over) but you had a go anyway - and it worked! Even if the trails get filled in slightly this trail is still going to be mental. Can't wait to go back. The Red route was much more normal Glentressy-type stuff. The Play Area at the end was an ace concoction of jumps and berms and things which was so good we rode back UP it to do it again!

Eventually the weekend had to end though (boo!). But its memory will long live on as quite possibly the best 48+hrs of bikey behaviour of all time. And it confirmed that the Redline is my favourite bike of all time too.

No I Am Not Dead

2004-09-15T20:59:00.000+01:00

What have you missed over the past couple of months then? Lemme think...

June 26/27: Saab Salamon Mountian Mayhem - fucking awful. Bring on next year!
July 1: Moon River Hike-A-Bike - a little bit too silly with mucho pushing but still fun.
July 3: Claiffe Heights with Juicy Jim - slippy as hell and crashtastic as a result.
July 4: Hebden Bridge with Coogle and Biscuit (Crumbs' new name) - slippy as hell and crashtastic as a result.
July 6/7/8 - Scott Bike Launch over in St Moritz Switzerland - nightmare journey, amazing trails.
July 11: Embsay Crag Classic with Coogle and Biscuit - very wet and fernmungous fun.
July 13: Oxenhope Evening ride (can't remember where or who with!)
July 15: Stubbing Evening Ride (can't remember where or who with!)
July 18: Mini-Crumbsfest with Biscuit and Coogle - did a huge sunshiny epic from Horton-In-Ribblesdale, fabulous ride.
July 20: The Car Wash with Dave, Cris and Kelvin - bonkers but so, so good.
July 25: ByC with Juicy - this trail never disappoints does it?
July 27: Coiler Dee Lux Debut.
July 31/Aug 1: Fish Out Of Water weekend with Craig up at Stu's gaff in Swaledale - saturday spent "guiding", sunday spent riding local knwledge, wicked.
Aug 7/8: RHS Weekender - saturday in Long Mynd (awesomely good), sunday in the Wyre Forest (great trails, felt crap though).
Aug 14/15: Sleepless In The Saddle.
Aug 17-27: French Alps Holiday with Coogle and Juicy - too much to go into, basically it were proper good like.
Aug 29: Calderdale Classic with some guesting southerners (and Flexi) - crap weather, good ride.
Sept 1-4: Eurobike Show in Germany.

Jim's Wedding Present

2004-06-19T22:54:00.000+01:00

Ever-so-slightly hungover exploratory ride and walk(!) near Llanberis with Crumbs, Rob and Rhian. Crumbs had a go at dropping his saddle for the descents(!!) and pretty soon got the idea of why it is A Good Thing to do. Best line of the day went to him too: "I wouldn't have chose to ride that!". I would like to tell you more about what we found but I'd have to kill you.

Jim's Birthday Present

2004-06-18T22:39:00.000+01:00

Rode ByC with Crumbs and Jim-the-40-year-old-get on the way down to the latter's birthday weekender in North Wales. It was fantastic fun (when is it not?). The weather was great again and the trails were decidedly dusty. I was on the mighty Redline and it was lovin' it big style. Crumbs (who was dressed in a very distressing Flinstones-esque sleeveless jersey) had an encouraging epiphany halfway round: "I'd forgotten how much fun this is!". Maybe he'll get out a bit more from now on, eh? I presented Jim with his birthday present (ultra top secret hidden downhill trail in the forest) and he proceeded to exercise a whole heap of Cotical Madness upon it - extra nose-manual points were awarded to him for his completion of the big drop. It was so frighteningly executed that Crumbs bailed it! (his SID's probably would've snapped anyway) Jim had to depart at the bottom (to kickstart that night's party activities) but me and Crumbs just had to go back up the hill and sample the official way down as well. It was still great fun (I still much prefer the secret way though) and Crumbs made an extra attempt to further entertain me by crashing on a jump at the very last corner and diving headfirst into a large group a brambles that left him with an unfeasibly large amount of scratches all over his arms, legs and face! Manmade trails are ace. So there.

This Site Is Temporarily Off-Line

2004-06-15T00:33:00.000+01:00

Jeez... I am sooooo tired...

Kool Kirroughtree

2004-06-14T22:30:00.000+01:00

Went with Craig to the Press Launch for the new 7stanes project: Kirroughtree. Wasn't expecting much (thought it might be like Dull Dalbeattie). I was wrong. It was fabulous. Probably best to read all about on Singletrack's front page...

Go on then :o)

Peaks Monster Ride

2004-06-13T22:15:00.000+01:00

60 miles. In the Peak District. Me, CrazyLegs, Sex Midget, SteveM and Craig (he only rode for 30 miles though). All The Gates covered in one day. Started at 7:30am. Finished at 6:15pm. Awesome. Great weather again (too hot really actually but you can't complain can you?). Cut Gate was fantastic and my recent fearless form continued as I navigated the Bonty successfully down the more mental route down to the stream at the end with Jon in a similarly groovy form too. But then I felt really down after a ridden-far-too-fast road section and threatened to pull out at the top of Chapel Gate. Thankfully I was talked out of it (there was no easy way out anyway!) and then the Chapel Gate descent and a fuel stop in Edale perked me up no end. This second wind lasted for the rest of the ride and I even rode Doctor's Gate pretty much as well as I ever have done. Somehow (probably the Bonty's new magic handlebars). Too describe the ride in detail would take all night so I won't bother. It may well feature as a Singletrack route guide soon anyway which will tell you all you want to know.

Broadbottom Rules

2004-06-12T22:04:00.000+01:00

Rode with Craig on his local trails. Percentage of Cheek was approximately 95%. Excellent. We took loads of photos (should have a few really nice ones I think). The weather was sweaty-as-flip. The beer was good. Asswhacker and The Poacher's Trail were great and twisty and most enlivened by the plunge-mungous performance of the TALAS forks on Craig's Spot (which I was riding) - eek! We then had an extended play in Broadbottom. I was getting slightly worried about how I was going to cope with the following day's intended epic ride after this day's large amount sweat-drenched fast riding so we brought the pace down a bit and pootled back to Craig's. The Sex Midget joined us later and we watched a "Drop In TV" DVD that seemed to last for several months. It was good at first but the percentage of riding to Canadians-acting-like-Beavis-&-Butthead was a bit unfortunate. We did learn several new terms though which will no doubt come in handy on the next Yorkshire Dales jeyboy ride.

Goodbye Stubbing!

2004-06-10T22:02:00.000+01:00

TimK: "Not too much to say about this Thursday night ride, apart from; i cleaned Horsehold for the first time on my SS, hurrah! [I cleaned it too - for the 2nd time - Benji] the beer in the Stubbing was fantastic, lemon and ginger, mmmm and Stanny pulled an old bird who liked the beer too, she liked it so much she licked it off his arm, eeewwww!! The only downer was that it was the last night of the current owners in the Stubbing :( Thanks very much for all the great beer you have provided!!!".

Ripper Dipper (Slight Return)

2004-06-08T21:35:00.000+01:00

Started out from Tod with Chipps, Chris and Dave with the sole intention of riding Ripper Dipper again. Unfortunately it is a right bugger to get to from Tod. After an extended map consultation we finally decided to go up past the Golf Club and do Broken Litespeed Trail. Chipps and Chris have never ridden this undervalued rollercoaster trail and I think they were very impressed by how much fun it is, especially its unexpected hairpin dip in the middle. Duke's Cut was then the scene of two revelations: 1) after a bit of dry weather the wimpy left hand option down the field becomes a BMX-style swoopathon 2) The Man has surfaced the Hell out of the boggy bit at the bottom (which I'm in two minds as to whether is good or bad news actually). I can't tell you where we went next as it may contain clues as to the whereabouts of Ripper Dipper! Anyway, that trail was still amazing and Chipps and Dave were instantly classing it as one of Calderdale's Best Ever Trails. I won't tell you where we came out or what trail we did next (for the reasons mentioned above). Eventually we came to Slack Tracks and then Chipps repaid the favour and revealed Beach Nuts to us. What a great trail - super sketchy and claustrophobic at the top (especially in the dark!), rooty and midgetastic in the middle, rocky and droppy towards the end. How none of us went over the bars is a mystery. Whilst buzzing down a minor road back into Hebden mine and Dave's Cheeky Sense tingled and we both noticed an enticing ginnel off down the side of house above a stream. "Shall we have a look?" Dave pointlessly asked and we all set off gingerly down it, trying not to smash our handlebars on the narrow walls. I can't really describe the trail as it was too dark to see it! All I can say is that it is super narrow and goes alongside the edge of some just-high-enough-to-be-scary drops to your left and right sides. Gulp. Near the end I rolled backwards while braking after a group stall and my slip-in V-brake pads fell out (forgot to install the pins y'see). There was no chance of finding them which meant I had to ride the subsequent steep and invisible drop-in with only a front brake. I very nearly pushed down it ('cos if I hit a hidden bump on the way down I would've endoed and/or screamed off over the nasty fenceside) but I was feeling confident so I thought "fuck it" and rolled down it no problem. Cool.

Industrial strife

2004-06-07T20:36:00.000+01:00

People who publish unsparing detailed information about the whereabouts of delicate cheeky trails on the internet deserve to be forever more forced to ride Marins and Whytes. Tossers.

An extra 2"...

2004-06-06T20:30:00.000+01:00

Replaced the 25" wide Syncros bars on my Bonty with some 27" wide Easton EA50's in an (assumed) vain attempt to put a bit of "fro" into its handling. Took it for a little spin...
Wowsers!
I thought it was quite testy as it was but now it's a right little nippy hooligan. Leaning right over through corners and drifting the tyres nicely and other such silliness. Cannot wait to hurl it round the Peak District next sunday.

Pedalcar passion

2004-06-06T20:26:00.000+01:00

Spent the day tear-arsing around a playground in Leicester in a stolen pedalcar. It was for a future article in Singletrack btw. No doubt you'll read all about it there soon enough. Basically, it was ace!

Ripper Dipper

2004-06-05T20:09:00.000+01:00

Went for a play in Calderdale with The Juicy One and had one of my top 5 Calderdale rides of all time. When you work out how many Calderdale rides I've been on (roughly 43,458) you'll know just how fecking good this one was. The route was heavily improvised as we went and it paid off handsomely because there's no way anyone would have plotted this route beforehand. The route in detail: Hebden Bridge, Crimsworth Dean, Lumb Falls, Limers Gate, High Brown Knoll, Pecket Well A, Hardcastle Crags, Widdop Reservoir, Ripper Dipper, Ali's Zig-Zags, Heptonstall, Blue Pig and Twisty Tunnel. We very nearly didn't even notice the entrance to our newly discovered trail (Ripper Dipper) and even when we did spot it we very nearly didn't bother riding it (I shudder with the thought). I ventured along the trail on foot to see if it was worth doing and was just about to say "nah" when I took one more step and saw a cool-looking footbridge over a stream. "Let's do it" I excitedly said. I won't go into detail about the nature or whereabouts of the trail as some of you will be riding yourself very soon... ;o)

The Big Thrash ends at last

2004-06-03T18:58:00.000+01:00

My job for the day was guiding Mark Lister and Wendy Chant on the final leg of their long distance sponsored bike ride from Edinburgh to Todmorden. The start point was Waddington - which was near enough to cycle to - so I got up early and dug out the road bike in disguise Klein, pumped up its tyres for the morning's likely tarmac-fest and proceeded to get completely soaking wet during the pre-ride ride to meet Mark and Wendy. First half of the ride was pretty much just minor roads due to a few reasons (Mark and Wendy's tired states, the ground was very soggy and there just ain't many worthwhile trails round that area) but after meeting up with Dave above Sabden things picked up. Dave took us on an adventure through the unknown quarters of off-road Burnley and discovered a fun little trail with lots of entertaining stream crossings. A night ride return is being plotted as we speak. We ended up doing the usual Worsthorne-Whirlaw-Rodwell route into Todmorden which was great fun (after finally remembering to let some air out of my tyres!). We all piled into the Tenth Muse for food and beer too (which was nice).

The evening's night ride was quite hard work after the day's soggy efforts and the extended (beer-filled) rest stop in between but I survived. The route was quite a bizarre one as we had to start over at Stubbing Wharf (to pick up some riders) but also had to finish at the Staff Of Life (to meet friends). Thankfully Dave came to the rescue by offering shuttling duty back to the Stubbing so everything was tickety-boo. Special bonus "realness" points were awarded to New-Chris for riding a fully rigid singlespeed without lights on tricky trails in the dark (which resulted in a great comedy endo on some ridge-tastic singletrack).

Bank Holiday Madness

2004-05-31T23:37:00.000+01:00

Packed up the Clio straight after the Gisburn Forest ride and headed off to Brum for some fun 'n' frolics with the SecretSingleSpeeder. Sunday night was spent throwing bottled alcohol down our necks as quick as possible in the Custard Factory and dancing like a pair of crazy gazelles to a cool-as-funk Mr Scruff DJ set. Trouser jazz indeed! I think we finally hit the hay at about 4:30am - rock ' n' roll!

Why can't all mondays be like this? Riding amazing new trails in great weather with top riding buddies (Rob, Juicy Jim and Steve 2) on a reborn bicycle (the Red Baron). Rob was heroically hauling his Stinky around to great effect, JJ was in Cotical Madness Xtreem mode and Steve 2 was climbing like a God on the orangiest bicycle on Earth (DMR Sidekick). I won't go into great detail, as you will probably already have read the ace round-up on Rob's site, but here's a run down of the best bits:

All of it :o)

I could have done without the crazy bonk attack at the end (I forgot how quickly I crumble when it comes) but I can't think of any other ride that is so demanding on skill, strength and bottle and yet so utterly, utterly rewarding. I realise I say this every week but we really did ride The Best Trail Ever on this charmed day. The stoopid grins, all out incredulous laughter and congratulatory handshakes (English gent freeriders!) at the foot of one particular descent was truly a great moment. I soooo cannot wait to go back there later this year to do an even harder ride. Hopefully after a bit more sleep and food next time!
Photo's Taken By Jimmy Of This Shropshire Lunacy.
(as usual none of the best trails were photographed 'cos we were too busy riding them!)
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Heroes To Zeros" by The Beta Band.

Guess who's (also) back?...

2004-05-30T23:29:00.000+01:00

... The Droid! Guided Craig and trainee Northerner Simon Barnes around Gisburn Forest. The weather was absolutely great, I was riding the Laser Bike (Klein) and so I got a little bit carried away and made us all ride pretty much every trail I know in the forest. Which was a bit risky considering Coogle's fragile state (hip okay but twingy hand) but I could tell that he was very determined to reign in his labrador instincts and was actually taking things fairly easy and getting off or slowing right down when things got a bit dodgy. Nice one dude! The main car parks and waymarked trails were fairly busy but The Special Stuff was deserted as usual - groovy. A cool, hot, chilled time was had by all. If only we managed to get to the ice cream store five minutes earlier(!).
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "The Best Of..." by Sly & The Family Stone.

Guess who's back?...

2004-05-29T21:17:00.000+01:00

... The Red Baron that's who! I'm gonna give it one last chance not to piss me off on a ride before I consign it to the shed for all eternity. I am giving it a sporting chance by slapping on these tyres...

... how can it possibly go wrong now? ;o)
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts" by M83.

"I only crash when I go slow!"

2004-05-28T22:13:00.000+01:00

A Classic thursday evening ride from the Stubbing Wharf. Big mixed group of riders. Some old, some new. All in good cheer (even after being subjected to the most climb-tastic start to a night ride I can remember - Hebden up to Limer's Gate). The rutted singletrack on top of High Brown Knoll was absolutely brilliant in its unusually dry state and I make no apologies for attempting to ride it as fast as possible. I was rulin', maan. There wasn't even a trace of moisture on the rock-infested gully alongside the barbed wired wall - wow! There was a group of us at the front (me, Sex Midget, Stu and TimK) who couldn't help ourselves and were riding everything absolutely at full pelt. It was pretty cool in that it seemed as if we were all on good form and upping our usual game to "compete" with each other (but in a nice way). Gotta rank as one of the best follow-the-leader sessions that I've had for an awful long time. I decided to bring the pace down a bit and turn my lights on to see the ground a bit better whilst descending Pecket Well B and instantly crashed going over a silly lickle waterbar (cut knee and bruised hip). Decided to turn the lights off and go back to riding fast again. No further problems were encountered! Rode straight down Bolty's Steps without hesitation and even rode the infamous the-walls-are-closing-in final steps (after a quick self-motivating shout of "don't stop you twat!"). Back alongside Riverside Run and into the Stubbing for a much needed pint of Coca-Cola and a beer. It was a pretty atypical ride really (1 big climb followed by 1 big descent, big mixed group, not much cheeky action, no new trails) but it has to rank up there with the best of 'em.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Anti NY" by Various Artists.

"Who knew THAT was there?"

2004-05-23T20:10:00.000+01:00

Because I am a sad loner I went for a solo ride around my nearest decent-sized forest (Gisburn). I wasn't terrifically in the mood for a ride really (much prefer riding with someone else) but the nice weather was too good to waste so I forced myself oot on't' beek. As I was on my own I was free to explore and follow whatever crazy vague trail I stumbled across without fear of p!ssing off my riding comrades. And I found some absolutely peachy new singletrack trails - probably the best ones in the whole forest. And I've been riding in this forest for about 10 years! It was quite a simple find really ie. I just decided to ride the waymarked walking routes (gasp!). Spurred on by these discoveries (and by my ever faithful Klein) I then rode ALL of the Red Route and ALL of the cheeky singletrack (including the old Sprogs race course!) which meant lots of to-ing and fro-ing and repeated use of connecting fireroads but it was too much fun to stop. Solo riding is ace! (can't wait to go back with m'colleagues though!)
Cute dappled digi pic's of my latest finds.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Heroes To Zeroes" by The Beta Band.

"It needs a bit of reworking I reckon"

2004-05-22T19:47:00.000+01:00

A mixture of old Calderdale Classics and new Unknowns with Juicy Jim. The weather was excellent (again!) and The Sheep Track down to Hurstwood Reservoir was the best it has ever been (sooo fast'n'swoopy). After the Wind Farm we intended to follow The Burnley Way from Stiperden Farm all the way down alongside a stream to Brown Birks Farm. To cut a long story short, we struggled manfully with "No Cycling" signs, never-ever ridden overgrown bridleways and vague grassyness at the start but this eventually joined up with a zig-zaggy bit down to a cute packhorse bridge, a streamside slice of whippy singletrack, a steep farmroad climb (hmm... never mind) and a great bit of narrow dusty singletrack through grass that descends sharply at first before turning right and becoming a bit more swoopsome and spitting you out on the outskirts of Portsmouth. Ace! Then it was Mary T back up to the Wind Farm (sweat-tastic!) followed by an impromptu exploration of Hurstwood Hall woods which was ace; two steep slopes to get into it and full of locals-only dirt tracks and jumpy bits once inside. Me and Jim being the responsible grown-ups that we are rose to the various challenges of the inevitable bunch of 10yr olds and rode up'n'down some steep rooty drops. We felt it was time to leave after one of the kids attempted to copy us on his huge 40lb Argos full-susser and crashed his arse off quite badly and also some bigger kids came who looked like they would whip us good'n'proper on the jumps! ;-D
MUSIC OF CHOICE: duh-de-duh, duh-de-duh, duh-de-duh!

Three Pigs Trotting

2004-05-20T19:28:00.000+01:00

Evening ride with Chipps, Chris, Qwackers, Tim, Stanny and Dave. Tonight I rode a trail I have had my eye on for several years (it finishes very near the road I drive to Tod and Hebden Bridge on). Despite these many, many years of expectation it still did not disappoint. The only downside to the route is that the only way up to the start of the main featured trail is through a hideous post-apocalyptic fly-tipping zone - nice(!). Once on top though we were awarded nice, tempting views of of a potential trail nirvana on the opposite fells (must investigate further). The warm-up to the descent proper was through some pedal-grabbing narrow rutted singletrack across a tufty field (which was ace), then it followed a wall and stream downwards which Qwackers had spent a bit of time "surfacing" (but only enough to make it just about rideable - top work fella!), a quick climb over a wall and the madness began in earnest with a slightly terrifying steep tufts'n'rubble drop on the edge of a cliffette (which I pleasingly just rode without pausing for thought - confidence coming back at last?), the rest of the trail all the way back down to the road was also a bit edgy but not so overly scary and it was packed with lots of most entertaining try-not-to-washouts, drops, micro-berms, footbridges, low branches and rocks. Everyone had big grins plastered all over their chops at the bottom and a few people instantly claimed it to be one the best descents in Calderdale (which it is). Off to the Staff Of Life pub we went and had lots of nice ale. Grrreat!
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Forged Prescriptions" by Spacemen 3.

Always pack the night before

2004-05-18T21:23:00.000+01:00

Rode to work on me road bike. 17 miles 'xactly in 1hr02mins (timing sponsored by coogle.co.uk). Fairly interesting ride - mostly due to novelty factor I'd imagine though. Forgot my office keys so had to sit on a bench in the sunshine eating a bacon sarnie until Mark showed up (nightmare eh?). Got spare keys off Mark as he left to pick his kid dudes up from school. Got ready to leave at 5pm with all my stuff packed in a nice Outcast courier bag borrowed off Chipps with my bike ready in the hallway, both of us quite looking forward to slower paced return leg in the sunshine. Remembered at last minute to go to the Post Office to post a letter. Left bag and bike in office. Grabbed spare keys and went to the Post Office. Returned to the office. Put key in door. Turned it. Nothing. Turned it again (a tad more frantically). Nothing. Shit. Locked out. No mobile phone on me either (in office) so couldn't call anyone local with a spare key to help me out. Shit. An alarmingly lycra-d TimK cycled up and stopped and we stood there for a bit wondering how best to deal with my situation. Ended up calling Mum at her work (the only phone number I could remember, weirdly) and getting her to call Dad (who was at my brother's new house) who came and rescued me. I sat on a bench reading a newspaper and drinking Fanta in the sunshine while I waited. Lessons learned 1) don't forget your fucking key you dickhead 2) sunshine is great :o)
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Black Devil EP" by Joachim Sherylee & Junior Claristidge.

Back to that old skool groove thang

2004-05-16T21:40:00.000+01:00

Big, fast, fun 'n' sunny as hell. That's what mine and Crumbs' ride was like. A truly great ride encompassing all the best things I like about MTBing: great scenery (the untouchable Dales), perfect weather (azure blue skies with the odd fluffy cloud scudding gently across now and again), a responsive and tactile bicycle (the laser-sighted hardliner Klein), ice cream (yer classic 99), beer (Phoenix brewery) and last but by no means least Mr Crumbs! We ride so similarly and know what kind of terrain/environment we each like best that it's quite eerie. This particularly special brand of telepathic cycling verisimilitude is what I have been missing of late. Crumbs showed me a new steep up'n'over section over a crag that ranks as one of the best trails I have ridden in the Dales and whereas most people would only focus on the (admittedly awesome) descent Crumbs knew that I actually liked the technical climb up to it even more(!). A special day. Crumbs needs to ride more - if only for my sake! ;o)
Pic's of this most excellent of days.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Rejoicing In The Hands" by Devendra Banhart.

No place on a pushbike

2004-05-14T21:26:00.000+01:00

Left work early and decided to borrow the team disk brake bleeding kit to sort out my Heckler's stopping quirks. After half an hour of reading the worst instructions I have ever come across (note to Hope Technology: inserting the words "the", "a", "old" and "new" into your guides would be A Good Thing so we might be able to tell which bit you're feckin' talkin' about at any one time!). Anyway better instructions were found but I still found the theory behind what I was trying to achieve unfathomable ("have I put in too much fluid or not enough?", "should the lever be to the bars now or not?" etc) and the execution overly tricksy. After over an hour of faffing, and with incredibly raw hands due to noxious brake fluid, I decided to say "balls" to it and gave up (another job for Blazing Saddles methinks).

Last year I put an Avid mechanical disk brake on my Klein. From opening the box to going for a ride was less than 30 minutes. I shortened the outer cable earlier this year when new forks were put on - 5 minute job. I haven't had to replace the inner cable yet but if I do - 5 minute job. I have put new pads in this year which brings the total amount of time spent sorting my Avid brake out to 40 swear-free minutes. They are bloody powerful brakes (better than Mini's) and the pads last ages.

Why the flaming fuck did I buy hydraulic brakes?

Diamonds on my windshield, dogshit on my pedals...

2004-05-13T21:02:00.000+01:00

Calderdale evening ride from Singletrack Towers. Quite a big posse out and all rockin' da joint to varying degrees of success. Extra bonus points for Comrade Felix for commuting 63,4567km earlier in the day - rrrrrrrrriss-spek! Honourable mention to Alec for being the complete cycling renaissance man as he arrived on a skinny-ass road bike and then hopped aboard a full-on mofo DH bike for the ride (the increasingly admired Specialized "Big Hit"). I lost style points (but gained comedy tokens) for collecting a huge stinking mass of fresh dog turdage on my flat pedals at the start of the ride while passing through Tod Park Woods. Nice. Serves me right for riding the gay Heckler which also threw various tantrums throughout the ride with tightening headset and loosening BB etc etc - back in the shed with you then! Tim's Sneaky Cheeky was 10 feet wider than usual and full of JCB-style mud troughs (boo!) but once on the hillside proper the backmarker group of Cheekfinder Generals (lead by Capt Anderson) did spot a prime zone of hot'n'saucy zig-zag action on the hillside opposite which will be ours. The section along to Orchan Rocks and all the way down Rodwell B was shockingly brilliant! I had been taking it for granted for quite some time beforehand but tonight it was really rhythmic and flowy. I made a mental note to ride the big Calderdale Classic as soon as possible (see Singletrack issue ??). Everyone was having so much fun that for once the traditionally slacktastic Singletrack night ride team opted to ride some more - wowsers! So off we went to Ollie's Drop (new to me and Dave and most entertainingly nadgery narrowness), along to the Shepherd's Rest and down Hunny Hole right into the throbbing heart of Tod Central. Quick couple of Erdingers in the Tenth Muse and off to bed. Super-duper!
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "The Stereo And God" by Joy Zipper.

"There they are! Praise the Lord!"

2004-05-11T23:55:00.000+01:00

Evening ride up Pendle Hill in a not-so-discreet group of me, Dave, Chipps, Mark, Carvel, Paul, Lucy, Phil and Steve. I wasn't in quite such good form on the technical stuff as last saturday but I was climbing very well (smooth and powerful!). I think singlespeeding so much is really helping my pedalling technique (less "stompy"). The ground was fairly dry and it was surprisingly mild on top with no real wind to speak of which is highly unusual for Pendle. The group spirit wasn't quite so slacker-stylee as usual (macho men anyone?) and all but two of us carried onwards to reach the summit trigpoint. And then we got lost! Visibility due to heavy mist was limited to about 50ft and the group quickly split into about 3 separate factions each plowing their own bearing. A regrouping was ordered and it was then that we noticed the glow of Dave and Chipps' HID lights on the horizon - revealing that the best of our directional guesses was still at least 90 degrees off! Phew - we're saved! Now I know why you're always hearing about people getting lost on Pendle - quite scary really. Anyway, upon regrouping we all descended down the slabbed section quite gingerly so as to avoid the usual pinch-flatting tedium and began the ravine singletrack. Paul has his usual light problems but was sorted out with a new set from Chipps' Camelbak of wonders. I was first to go on the uber-narrow rollercoaster trail and was riding okay but felt a bit sketchy so didn't attempt to ride any of the dicier gullies myself but I was very impressed by Mark's new found have-a-go attitude (until he nearly fell down the ledge!). The "motorway" descent after the ravine felt much less nervy and with the absence of a headwind I began to hammer it, stopping occasionally to let someone catch up so I could "race" them and/or show them the best lines. Top fun! One of the best Pendle descents I can remember actually. We'd been out a ridiculous amount of time (3.5hrs?) so no time for beer, straight off to bed (boo!)
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Midnite Vultures" by Beck.

Comfy Old Slippers

2004-05-08T22:10:00.000+01:00

After being inspired by the previous week's high quotient of techno singletrack I felt like a return to Ogden Clough's prime sliver of trail was much overdue. I neglected to set my alarm clock so was awoken by Juicy Jim banging on the door at 10am - oops! Thankfully it didn't take too long to get ready and we were on the bikes by 11am (Jim on my Bonty and me on my beloved Redline). From the very off it was clear that it was going to be a Jimmy moan-fest! Every single incline or boggy bit was met with a glum pout and/or cursing. I took this as (no doubt unintended) criticism of my guiding and tried in vain to desperately piece together an easier way of getting to and from Ogden Clough (which is fairly difficult considering it's basically the top of Pendle Hill and we started at the bottom of Pendle Hill!). Anyways, the Redline stomped over Wiswell Moor and all the way up Pendle's southern slope to join Ogden Clough's ravine-edge skinny trail's halfway point no problem. 32:17 is the future of singlespeeding! The singletrack at this point is really narrow with loads of BB-high sidewalls to catch pedals on. I know these trails very well (been ridin' em for 10yrs don't you know?) and know that the secret is to ride them as fast and smooth as possible because there will be long sections where you cannot pedal due to the narrowness and you'll need momentum to carry you on. Jim didn't know this (and wasn't taking heed of my advice) so really struggled and had to put feet down a lot and couldn't build up any rhythm or confidence (it was his first time on Time pedals too which didn't help!). The Witch Trail on to the top was too steep and too muddy to ride so we pushed most of it. The slab descent off the top of Pendle Hill trigpoint was great fun and for once I didn't have a front wheel washout on them despite them being wet and me riding Conti Vert tyres (yikes!). On commencing the start of the Ogden Clough ravine singletrack I mistakenly let Jim go first in the belief that I could speed him up to the required speed by riding very closely behind him. He didn't speed up, and riding that trail at that speed was a nightmare - really, really hard work. So I dodgily overtook him on one of the very few passing sections and proceeded to ride the trail better than I have ever ridden it before. Having no derailleur to worry about smashing and no big ring to ground out was an obvious advantage the Redline had but there was something else, something more intangible that it had too. Terry Henry would call it "va va voom" - and he'd be right! Fan-fucking-tastic! We took in the rocky descent to Wiswell on the way back (where Jim had a go on the Redline) which was quite fun but I was still thinking about Ogden Clough and the "in-the-zone" period I had experienced on my Monocog; thinking about how soon I can organise an evening ride from Barley so I can ride the ravine singletrack in one uninterrupted contrary burst of adrenaline and calmness.

Ogden Clough: unquestionably My Favourite Trail Of All Time :-0
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Guerilla" by Super Furry Animals.

Shonky Shuttling

2004-05-07T20:26:00.000+01:00

Details in the next issue of Singletrack.

Subscribe now! ;o)

Suffice to say it was lots of fun and should make an entertaining article. On a personal note it was bizarre and brilliant to be out riding with Paul "I Invented The Suspension Fork" Turner - especially duelling with him down Ali's Zig-Zags. Ace!

A New Dawn

2004-05-06T20:22:00.000+01:00

As of next Monday I am an employee of Singletrack. Money is (currently) nowt special but it sounds like it should be an interesting experience.

Want to place an ad in Singletrack? Then talk to me :o)

Also, went to watch Adem (okay but shit sound) and Explosions In The Sky (bland post-rock bobbins) in Manchester with Crumbs.

Freeride Wales

2004-05-05T20:15:00.000+01:00

Borrowed a pair of downhill monster bikes from Singletrack, met up with Rob in north Wales, found a B+B, went to pub for a few beers to catch up on things. The plan was to bag Snowdon. Due to voluntary bike we had to start at 5am.

Rob's excellent write-up here.

I'd just like to state that The Special Trail is even better than Rob implies!
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Parsley Sounds" by Parsley Sound.

North York Moors Weekender

2004-05-03T19:55:00.000+01:00

Friday April 30: Last day at work (yay!). Drove to Little Fryup Dale in the North York Moors in Jim's Juicy Wagon for a weekend of old skool MTBing exploration and navigation.

Saturday May 1: 35 mile epic based around Rudland Rigg. Mostly on pretty uneventful fireroads but the weather was gorgeous, the views impressive and the trail down off Carr Ridge was fecking brilliant - worth the effort for that section alone we agreed (re: the power of a Great Trail). Got back quite late so stayed in watching The Top 100 Erotic Moments on C4 whilst drinking organic ale. Classy.

Sunday May 2: 27 mile classic route circumnavigating Great Fryup Dale. Set off from B+B doorstep at 10:30am, returned at 10:30pm! Nine hours out and about on the bikes (don't be too impressed by the time - it was mostly due to hangover pace cruising, lots of photos and navigating nightmares!). Found some seriously amazing trails - one the best being the one straight out of the B+B, which was so good Jim had to phone someone up to tell them about it ASAP!. More ace trails followed, including one of the scariest bridleway drops I've ever done in the UK! Loads of narrow-as-hell (never used) singletrack through heather moorland, "rock garden" style wide techno trailsing, comically steep road climbs(!) and much much more! The best thing is that we can piece together an even better ride from what we learned/found and a return visit later in the year is on the cards! At 7:30pm we were on the hill that lies between the pub and the B+B. We decided to go straight to the pub and worry about how we'd get back later with no lights (very hungry at this point y'see!). Anyways to cut a long story short we found another great trail shortcut to the pub, had a great meal there, got pissed off 3 pints and cycled back over the hill lit purely by moonlight (clear sky and full-ish moon) - YAY!

Monday May 3: 15 miles around Rosedale old railway trails. I was well up for riding a lot more, Jim wasn't (due to dreaded deadlines and fatigue). Weather was great yet again (apart from 15 minutes of rain) and the views were splendid. The trails we were on were the sort that only really come alive if ridden quite fast'n'hard (ultra swoopy) so I was lovin' it but Jim clearly wasn't getting so much out of it. Thankfully Jim's lack of energy and time meant we had to improvise a shortcut across open moorland and it was here that we found The Best Moorland Singletrack In The World Ever. Wow! Swooptastic.

All in all a pretty strong candidate for my best ever weekend of biking :-D
Digi pics taken (mostly) by Jim here.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: Cee-Lo Brown's new LP.

Ridiculous Bicycles

2004-04-28T19:27:00.000+01:00

Oxenhope Evening ride with various people on bikes of varying degrees of silliness. Me (6" travel DH rig), Dave (6" travel DH monster), Carvel (singlespeed), Bob (singlespeed), Piers (rigid and fixed) and Mark (5" travel XC full susser - D'OH!). Lots of crashes from most of us with perhaps the best being Dave's unprovoked prang into a rubbly verge to the side of a smooth-as-feck farmroad or maybe Carvel's fence-snagging-to-puddle-swimming calamity! I somehow pinch flatted my rear wheel on not much at all and felt really stoopid (I seem to pinch flat every time I ride with Piers for some reason). Both mine and Dave's bikes were slow-steering wallowy pigs for 98% of the ride but they really came marvellously alive on steep drops (which were swallowed with ease) and the extra 10lbs(!) of weight wasn't really so much of a drawback as you might expect.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: None (car in for repairs at the moment).

Blacktop Musings...

2004-04-25T21:16:00.000+01:00

Solo 50km road ride circumnavigating Longridge Fell on the Redline (only joking - on the Bianchi actually). Got a bit fed up with hammering it after the first hour and decided to cruise and ruminate instead:-
I really love stinging sunburnt biceps and sweat running into my eyes...
You don't see much wildlife while roadying; yesterday we saw lapwings, curlews, kestrels, lambs, grouse, pheasants, cows and more - today I saw roadkill and vermin (behind the wheels of various BMW's)...
Why are roadbike brakes so dangerously crap?...
Isn't gearshifting with brake levers a brilliant idea?...
I prefer road climbing to road descending...
Mobile phones are ace...
I should have brought more than one water bottle...
I cannot wait to leave my current workplace FOREVER next friday...
That new section of tarmac that passes Doeford Bridge is the smoothest in the entire world and is exhilaratingly fast...
Roadies still ignore you if you're wearing baggy shorts...
The Ribble Valley is a fantastically lovely place...
I can't believe I didn't bring any money - an ice cream in Chatburn would be heavenly right now...
I hope tomorrow's job interview goes okay...
MUSIC OF CHOICE: nowt, prepping for tomorrow like a good boy.

The Best 24hrs Of Biking... Ever?

2004-04-24T21:41:00.000+01:00

Friday April 23rd, evening ride from Jim's crib, on t'Redline. I had a strong yearning to sample Ashy Valley again so we headed south-east with gusto. We rode Ashy to the very end and by golly it was delightful! A singletrack peach no less. Riding the cliff edge sections and the steps in half-light made it all the more exhilarating too. No idea where we went after that but there was a fair bit of (nice) road, a lights-out-and-creep-through-the-farmyard bit of prime virgin cheek and two extended pub stops. We accidentally stayed until chucking out time and needless to say the subsequent rocky descent back to Jim's was just a tad sketchier than normal!

Saturday, April 24th, 50km epic in the southern Dales, on t'Redline. Fantastic trails, fantastic weather, fantastic views, fantastic fitness, fantastic fucking bike! Well, I was feeling fabulous but it's fair to say that Jim has felt better! He was really struggling in places due to tired legs and lack of food but thankfully he found reserves of juicy power somewhere and lasted the distance. He didn't once get off and push (even on the bastard climb onto Barden Moor from Rylstone - which I very nearly completed on a singlespeed!). We experienced too much stuff to go into here, and for most of it "you just had to be there" so I'll link to some photo's instead (pretty uninspired digi pic's 'cos I forgot my Nikon!). The sun was out all day (bar the odd passing cloud), we were out for 6 hours in total, hence our now poor little sunburnt pink arms, legs and necks :-D
Hetton Moors and loads of other nice spots.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: Kanye West's LP on Jim's car stereo (quite possibly the most tedious rap album of all time).

"Baggy shorts an' all!"

2004-04-22T23:49:00.000+01:00

Stubbing Wharf evening ride on the... Redline (have I told you how much I love that bike?). Stanny's transformation is almost complete - he joined our merry group with severe roadie tendencies but tonight was riding with: suspension forks, 2.5" tyres, riser bars, disc brakes, baggy shorts and no peaked cloth cap under his helmet! Job well done. Still working on getting him to slap on a seatpin QR and a helmet peak though, maybe next week. Route: Jack Bridge, MTL, Pinball Alley, Snakey Twist, Ali's Zig-Zags, Heptonstall, Blue Pig (where Tim crashed and smashed one of the mag test lights up - oops!), Bolty's Steps (big up to Tom for riding the bottom section) and finishing down Riverside Run. Most of the ride was ridden without lights and all of it was excellent. Night riding is fecking ace.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Parsley Sounds" by Parsley Sound.

"How come you're so muddy?"

2004-04-20T23:35:00.000+01:00

Early evening ride round Gisburn Forest with El Crumbalini and a guy called Martin (who was on a full-sus Marin but he turned out to be okay really!). Crumbs was unexpectedly (considering the damp conditions) up for doing as much of the cheeky bits as possible. I was on my beloved Redline and was once again impressed by how it handles steep, nadgery, slippery descents. Maybe there is something to be said for huge riser bars and short stems after all! The Conti tyres were their usual comically unpredictable selves (which I'm growing to quite like - added danger factor!). The best bit of cheek through the trees (which really needs a nickname pronto) was brilliant; it was really dark in there and all the hidden low branches and slippy-as-hell exposed roots took us all by surprise - I had a major front wheel washout on an off-camber root and ended up hugging a tree trunk at one point! Crumbs had the most amusing "off" though where he was attempting to ride over a greasy pallet but came to a standstill as his rear wheel just span out (no traction whatsoever) and he slowly collapsed over on his side into a HUGE muddy puddle. Oh, the hilarity! A great fun little ride it was, made all the sweeter by the lack of need for lights and a couple of pints afterwards.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Rocks" by Cherrystones.

Blimey.

2004-04-18T22:19:00.000+01:00

Met Jim and Crumbs (yay!) early in Hebden Bridge for some breakfast. Ruby Juice didn't open 'til 11am so we went to have a browse in Blazing Saddles (where I bought some dead kewl Race Face shorts that were so nice they had to ridden straight away!). After a bagel and expresso session in Ruby Juice it was time to hit the trails. Crumbs had driven through Pecket Well on the way in and demanded to ride its infamous descent (well, he mildly inquired anyway). Our route was: Jack Bridge, Mary T to Widdop, New Laithe Moor, House Of Shit, Lumb Falls, and Pecket Well B. We had covered a lot of ground much quicker than expected so we (read: I) decided to add Horsehold (first time I'd successfully ridden it on a singlespeed btw) and Fishing Is Amazing. Good choice. Crumbs rode it all no problem (skilled mofo that he is). Then we cleaned our bikes back at Blazing Saddles (cheers guys) and went to Ruby Juice again for smoothies and pizza. Mmm...

BUT the main event of the day was happening elsewhere. Craig and CrazyLegs were still up riding in the Lakes today (attempting the classic Borrowdale Bash route). Just after passing The New Delight pub we received an alarming text from CrazyLegs saying that Craig had stacked BIG time and was awaiting Mountain Rescue. Blimey. We called CrazyLegs and despite keeping it brief (to keep their phoneline free) we learned that Craig was alive, conscious and speaking ("hello Mister H!") but it was fairly serious. Blimey. To cut a long text drama short: Craig was choppered off the hillside, CrazyLegs and the bikes were Land Rover-ed down, Craig is in Carlisle Hospital with a bust hand and a could-have-been-ULTRA-serious cracked hip, Craig won't be riding 100% for 8 weeks. Blimey.

Get well soon Droid!
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Again" by Colder.

Some PROPER mountainbiking

2004-04-17T21:44:00.000+01:00

aka "crap route makeover". Rode (my Redline) in the western Lakes with Craig (Spot) and Crazy-Legs (Stiffee). The route I had decided to do was one I had only ridden once a few years ago and thought was a bit crap. But then I had a brainwave and realised that if ridden the other way around it could actually be quite good. How right I was! We started in Eskdale Green along some nice gentle contouring widetrack with entertaining moments of roots, rocks and river crossings that brought us out in Boot. After observing an extended chaotic herding display from the UK's Worst Sheep Farmer ("come back you stupid fucking dog!") we set off up the initially too-steep-to-ride climb from Boot up to Burnmoor Tarn. Although the ground was soggy in places it was pretty much all rideable and singlespeed-friendly. The plateau alongside the tarn was brilliantly stark and imposing and the descent off the top down to Wasdale Head was completely fantastic; not too fast or anything but full of rocks, drop-offs, waterbars, mini-bridges, stream crossings, cobbles and more, and the awesome views were dangerously diverting too. Straight into my list of top 5 descents. The road spin alongside Wast Water was a bit of a drag due to a headwind but pretty soon the good weather passed and the rain started and I began to enjoy it even more! The ascent of Irton Fell was 20mins of shouldering bikes up a tussocky hillside but just as it was getting a bit too much of a joyless slog the treeline appeared on the horizon and our goal was within sight - phew! I could sense the increasing puzzlement of my riding buddies and their silent pondering as to why-the-hell I had made them come this way. But I knew it was going to be worth it. Oh, how right I was! The descent down through Miterdale Forest is unbelievably fun. Chock-full of slick roots, moss-covered rocks, low-branches and all sorts. One particular series of twisty nadgery drop-ins demanded several attempts to nail 100% successfully - what a top feeling! Nearer the bottom the roots disappear and the rocks come out to play a bit more down a wonderfully sinuous and rhythmic snakey bit of trail. Delightful. All in all it was a great, great ride with some physically and spiritually demanding sections that were more than rewarded with inspiring scenics and adrenaline-charged (and thankfully deserted) descents. What a brainwave that turned out to be :o)
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Lovers" by The Sleepy Jackson.

One Bow Shot East Of The Abbey

2004-04-13T20:20:00.000+01:00

Feeling much better (despite being inside at work all day) so went out on a much overdue solo ride around my old local biking haunts. I took the Redline again (addictive?) and was very much back on form. There's one particular section of stoney up-and-down singletrack on Wiswell Moor that is a good barometer of current form. I nailed it wonderfully. I then sat for awhile on the ridge of Nick O' Pendle serenely surveying the panoramic view. I counted seven hills that I could see and each of them has been the scene of good times at some recent point. I started to smile alarmingly. On the way back home I took in several pointless mini-loops of singletrack just because they were there (despite their concurrent bastard steep road exits) and had a sublimely fun play in the very special place where I first rode a mountainbike, which I shall refer to from now on only as One Bow Shot East Of The Abbey. Feel back to my old self again 100%.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: None required :o)

"Where's my midget?"

2004-04-12T20:10:00.000+01:00

Oxenhope. A re-enactment of the North Leeds v Calderdale ride from last year. Woke up feeling very grouchy (sleep deprivation is bad) and stayed fairly grumbly throughout the day. Two other factors contributing to my surliness was the continued absence of Crumbs and the nightmare combination of riding great trails too slowly/clumsily because of exhaustion. The latter factor was the killer; really annoying and depressing. Piers and Craig were obviously in slightly better states and spent most of the first half of the ride disappearing over the horizon and leaving me and Jim scratching our sweaty heads wondering where to go. Still, finding decent new trails is always worthwhile and I started to perk up a bit towards the end (ie. after beer).
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "All Time Highs" by The 13th Floor Elevators.

"At least the sun's out eh?"

2004-04-11T19:47:00.000+01:00

Andy Armstrong's 40th birthday weekend bash. Got a lift from the kindly Coogle up on friday. We arrived in Garrigill, found the pub and stayed there 'til gone 1am with T and Laura getting royally arseholed. No idea what I did or said for most of the night but T seemed to like me so that's okay(!). Last time I could focus on a clock face it said 5:06AM.

Awoke the next day rather too early (felt okay 'cos I was still drunk!). After an impressively extended session of uber-faffing we set off up the hill to Gregg's Hut. Felt bizarrely quite fit considering and rode fairly well (despite the best efforts of a skipping baggy chain on the Redline - grr). Paid for my efforts in the evening where I didn't really shake of my tiredness 'til past midnight when the Cheeky Vimto's appeared! Proper old-skool style birthday party (loud arguing, girls crying, drugs, vomit, not-so-discreet sexual activity etc) - excellent!

Awoke on sunday feeling absolutely dire. Craig and Lee were up for a "proper" ride everyone else was going for a teashop pootle. I eventually opted to go with Craig and Lee (partly to act as a voice-of-reason in case The Droid erupted into full flow!). The ride was... interesting. Cross Fell was quite fun but I was dismayed at my level of hungover bike-handling. The return leg over The Maiden Way was a nasty mix of vague grassy fields, bike pushing/carrying up steep climbs but the weather was beautiful, the views were amazing and the company chilled so we could live with it. Should have got some nice photo's too hopefully. We eventually got back some seven hours after starting! After bidding a quick farewell to the remaining few, me, Craig and Sex Midget (who was eager for some more riding) set off back to mine via Burger King.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: Whatever mad shit I could find on Jon's mp3 player!

Short but oh-so-sweet

2004-04-08T19:40:00.000+01:00

Chris' farewell evening ride. Started in Tod for once and canal-ed it to Walsden, bastard steep road and ace packhorse climb/descent, London Road, The Pixie Trail, canal to Tenth Muse. Jim turned up looking like Jay-Z in his new evil-looking pimpy new Golf estate. Reminded me of our forthcoming Hebrides holiday - cannot wait for that! Rode the Redline and was again impressed with its climbing aptitude on both tarmac and rough stuff. Downhill it is still the outright hooligan we've come to know and love!
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "EP 1, 2, 3" by Astrobotnia.

"OOF!" ... "AARGH!"

2004-04-06T23:21:00.000+01:00

Just back from rather an action-packed 24 hours in the esteemed company of Craig. Last night we went over to Sheffield to watch the Scissor Sisters play live which was most entertaining (helped in no small part by the large amount of alcohol I seemed to plough through quite quickly!). Today we had arranged to skive off work and explore my old MTBing haunts in the White Peak and so it went. It was a fairly punishing six hour session in the saddle and I'm not sure anyone else would have dealt with what we were put through quite so adeptly and stoically as The Droid. Good work lad! Highlights included: spending 45 minutes trying to find the start of the trail (oops!); rediscovering my old Cheeky Woods and feeling instantly at home again in there; getting a bit carried away in said woods and ending up doing a bit of "jungle biking" to get out; my super-fast endo crash at the start of The Best Trail Ever II where I landed chest first; the packhorse-esque techno-climb-from-hell; Craig's rut-induced extended bail and slide-out into some thorns; getting lost (again) in the land of a thousand muddy fields; discovering the enigmatic Ram Trail (needs to be worked into a route NOW); beer; pizza; and just generally surviving the day! Not a great day to cycle in this part of the UK (or anywhere really) but we still dug in and came up smiling. Because that's what we do.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Songs" by The Rotary Connection.

"You'll never guess what I've forgotten..."

2004-04-04T22:40:00.000+01:00

The lure of The Cheeky Woods tempted me away from the Oxenhope ride and over to Juicy Jim's for a none-more-cheeky ride around Rammy's hidden delights. Arrived at Jim's at half twelve, shot the breeze with him and Sooz for a while, faffed with bikes for a while until the the sun stopped and the rain started and then it was time to ride our bicycles. But I'd forgotten my helmet, gloves and shoes - oops. Mad dash home and back and we were finally on the trails by 3pm! Oh well, at least the rain had stopped by then. The Redline dealt with climbing The Rake and up to Peel Tower surprisingly well and as for the First Past The Post and The Bends descents... wow! This bike rocks hard. Eventually we pulled up to the main reason we were riding today: The Cheeky Woods. My word! That trail is F-U-N. The Cheekymobile felt immediately right at home and shot off like a bullet darting over greasy roots, carving down drop-ins and launching off whatever rock was at hand. Me and this bike are ONE. It also rocketed down The Rocky Plunge without blinking too. Cannot wait to ride it again on thursday's night ride (I dare say I'll be tempted to take it on The Return To The White Peak on tuesday too!).
Pic's from today's frolics.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Waltz Of A Ghetto Fly" by Amp Fiddler.

"And that goes in there"

2004-04-03T17:13:00.000+01:00

Major fettling day. Took delivery of new springs for my MXC's to reduce their travel from 100mm down to 80mm (so they'd "work" better on the Redline). Struggled to find anywhere that sold 7.5wt fork oil so ended up buying a litre of 5wt and a litre of 10wt from a dirt cheap motorbike shop and mixed them together to my own special formula to end up with a 6.5(ish)wt oil (which will hopefully speed up the traditionally slow, overdamped action of MXC's). All went fairly swimmingly apart from having a right old wrestle trying to get the springs off the rods (solved by a big feck-off hammer), forgetting to re-attach the stanchion bolts properly which resulted in fork oil pouring all over my jeans as I "filled" the fork leg back up and spending far too long being far too precise measuring the oil height level ("hmm... the manual says 40mm from the top that looks more like 39.5mm" etc). Once all back together and pumped up, plugging them into the Redline was a breeze. Initial backyard testing showed them to be quite nice (no stiction, no top out, decent sag, very supple and not too progressive). RESULT! It might be a bit of a sad thing to confess but having been heavily involved at all stages of assembling this bike I really feel rather close to the Redline and think this may be the start of a long and beautiful friendship. Whilst in fettling mode I went round all my other bikes removing or correcting all the minor niggles I had with them. Most satisfying I must say :o)
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "The Blue Trees EP" by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

"Is it safe?"

2004-04-02T22:11:00.000+01:00

My dentist had a cancellation so I managed to get an appointment to investigate my crazy toothache for today. Spent most of the time at work beforehand contemplating what excuse to use to leave work early (splitting headache? brother's had a car crash? tidal wave?). In the end I just said: "feel a bit like shit and need to go home" and buggered off pronto! At the dentist it was discovered that I have somehow smashed a chunk off my tooth (whilst pissed no doubt), and it was too big a gap to plug with a normal filling so would have to be "root filled" (ie. drilled-the-fuck-out) and because it had grown over the hole my gum was going to have to be cut back. Nice. Today's session was just the gum butchery and drill-happy madness (plus temp filling), have to go back next month to complete the mission. Can't wait(!). Feel a need to go for a solo bike ride round my old local trails to unwind...
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Take A Picture" by Margo Guryan.

"jey ... wheeze ... boy"

2004-04-01T22:42:00.000+01:00

Now that the clocks have gone forward (and also because I couldn't make it along to the usual thursday night ride in Calderdale) I decided to resume my post-work road riding sessions. "The Chaigley Loop", as it is known round these parts, was the route of choice. Just under 20 miles in length and full of nightmarish gradual rises and scary-fast descents all on deserted minor roads in lovely Ribble Valley countryside. Started out far too fast as usual, had a bit of meltdown near Walker Fold as usual but somehow managed to complete it in under an hour. 57mins 20secs to be exact (and that was with baggy shorts, helmet peak, leg hair and Camelbak weighing me down an' all!). Dismounted the bike at the end and very nearly fainted (tunnel vision etc) which was followed by a surprise half hour long attack of severe toothache! The ironic thing is that I have blagged next tuesday off work using the old "got a dental appointment" excuse to go riding with Craig and now it looks like I may need a real appointment after all! For some stupid reason I think I really enjoyed it and now I can't wait to road ride again.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "ten" by cLOUDDEAD. (b'day prezzie off Crumbs - cheers dude!)

"I take it this is The Chute Of Death then?"

2004-03-31T20:24:00.000+01:00

Tuesday night ride from Oxenhope with Dave, Piers and - wait for it - Crumbs (I'm still in shock). Arrived in Oxenhope at 7:30pm and it was still (beautiful) daylight. Summer's here kids indeed - yay! A fine time to debut the Cheekymobile...

You're probably best of visiting Dave's blog (see left panel) for details of where the bleedin' 'ell we actually went but wherever it was we did go it was proper wikkid. I was taking full advantage of local knowledge and was blindly following Piers' line at all times to great effect, apart from a section on Manywells where I slammed into a step, tankslapped wildly and nearly came off, leaving Piers to skip off rapidly into the distance. D'oh! The Cheekymobile was excellent (responsive, jumpy, gorgeous, hooligan) although I think I'm going to have to put bouncy forks on it to fulfill its demands (gasp!). I think a bit of The Droid may have rubbed off on me as I was really racing with Piers on most sections for some silly reason, although I think I did alright actually! (Lame Lamb is the best trail on Earth btw - and last night I OWNED it, ahem). Piers had a spectacular and rapid over-the-bars crash dropping into The Chute Of Death which resulted in him now needing a new helmet. Rock'n'roll! (literally). Top ride all things told and hopefully it may have persuaded Crumbs to come out night riding more often. 'Cos night riding is better than day riding (and that's already pretty good innit?).
Redline waiting to be ridden hard.
Check out me kewl headbadge.
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Music To Watch Girls Cry" mixed by Andy Votel.

"This would be a good summer ride"

2004-03-28T22:41:00.000+01:00

Attempted to ride the Mary T Loop with Chipps, Chris, Stanny and Nick. Nick got his new Maverick stolen off his roof rack before we started (twats!). This sort of set the precedent for the whole day really. Chipps' Maverick (common as muck these Mavericks I tell ya) had to have its disc caliper filed down as it was catching the spokes and later the seatcollar bolt snapped and we had to make an emergency visit to Tony's to bodge it okay again. The main problem was that the trails were super muddy and very heavy going in places which seemed to kill off Chris and Stanny pretty quickly. I appear to have regrown my legendary mud-loving synapses and was having a bit of a stormer on the quiet. It has to be said that this not-so-little lady was helping me considerably (gawd luv 'er)...

Pretty sure me and Chipps could have finished the whole loop but we sacrificed our glory like the nice guys we are and called it a day after a couple of pints in The Queen in Holme Firth. Had a quality burger in the Tenth Muse where it was "Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Friends" night (no place for bi?). Bit miffed at not completing the mission but I will back back (soon) and at least we got to see a mint condition Bontrager OR on the trails. Proper dead cool like...

MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Music Has The Right To Children" by Boards Of Canada.

"Have we gone downhill AT ALL today?!"

2004-03-27T22:40:00.000Z

Meant to meet Jim in Tod at 9:30am for a ride. Awoke at 9:38am - oops! After a frantic faff and a manic drive we were finally riding by 11:00am. Made up the route as we went along and ended up doing a rather strange bunch of stuff really (seemingly all uphill!): canal path, Bram Rigg, Summit, Walsden Moor, London Road, Chipps' Birthday Present B, Jack Bridge, Blackshaw Head, Great Rock, Keelam Heights, Whirlaw Stones, Rodwell End. I was on the Bonty and was climbing up stuff like a God (ahem). Met up with a guy on an Orange Sub5 at the top of Whirlaw Stones who started talking about Singletrack mag and theworldofdave.com website. Spooky! He tried to get us to spill the beans on various cheeky hotspot locations but we were having none of it. He did subsequently get expertly guided down all the good stuff though and came out at Rodwell End picnic site with a huge grin all over his face, effusing with superlatives and showering us with thanks and praise. Which was nice. Maybe he'll turn up to a nightride soon. We finished the ride by 3pm and was in Blazing Saddles by 3:30pm having my new cranks slapped in my Redline. Spent the evening finishing her off (so to speak). Still eager to ride some more so have commited myself to the attempt on the Mary Towneley Loop tomorrow. Hardcore. You know the score. Ruff, rugged and raw :o)

MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Lovers" by The Sleepy Jackson.

"Lights and lights and lights and lights..."

2004-03-27T00:47:00.000Z

Just finished writing up the lights grouptest for next issue of Singletrack. Apart from being unusually fixated on handlebar mounting hardware I think it's okay. Not sure if one particular shed-dwelling light "manufacturer" will be very pleased with it though! Like Craig said the other night: "If you're a guy with a well-equipped garage who thinks he can make decent light - STOP! Put the soldering iron DOWN and go and buy some you stingy get".
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Parsley Sounds" by Parsley Sounds.

"You can't endo a 29er"

2004-03-26T01:02:00.000Z

Night ride from Stubbing Wharf with a few more people than normal (11?). Final day of testing for the light mag article and I somehow ended up giving out all the good lights and ended up with the Martin-Jones "Shonky Special". Not a great light for technical trails it appears. Oh well, I still managed to have some fun. The Willits was cool as usual (soooo comfy and light) but I did go very slowly over the bars twice; once on "Ben's Zig Zags" as I underestimated the mud depth and once on "Chipps' Birthday Present A" where the trail refused to be illuminated by my "interesting" light and I tried to blag it. Oops. Jim was totally ragging it down the descents on his Crazy Cotic like a (juicy) man possessed - wow! Another top ride and another step closer to The 29er decision :-o
MUSIC OF CHOICE: "Fed" by Plush.

"These lights are mental!"

2004-03-24T19:50:00.000Z

Went out round Juicy Jim's topography for an impromptu night ride yesterday (up and over Waugh's Well etc). Getting a bit bored of night riding after having being doing it pretty much non-stop for a fortnight! (psst... I haven't really - it's ace) Partly 'cos I love its aesthetics and partly because it was already in the boot of my car I rode the Willits 'Safety' (what a grrreat name for a bike) again. We both had stupidly bright HID light systems and the way the trail ahead was lit up when we both rode side by side was comically impressive. And pointless. Might as well have been riding in daylight. The Willits was rulin' as usual (HOW much traction?). Although it wasn't really a proper night ride (too bright!) we had loads of muddy-rut fun and were out on't' hills much longer than we thought which is always a good sign innit?
MUSIC OF CHOICE: David Axelrod "Stateside Anthology".

The Dawn Of A New Tedious Era

2004-03-24T19:45:00.000Z

Behold! The exciting and rambunctious world of "Benji Go Blog" is live. Widely regarded as the best and fastest growing extreme sports website on the planet. Say you were there at the start. Hold on to your fedoras, we're going in...