Nightrider

Today I took my very first MTB night ride! I wasn’t sure how I would cope with riding in the dark, but more significantly how I would manage riding off-road as it seems like such a long time since I have ridden any of the MTB trails. Before we set off I was pretty apprehensive, but at the same time excited!

On leaving the village we kept to the larger bridle paths so I could get myself used to riding in the dark before venturing onto the single-track. Immediately I was having fun!The limited visibility and dense (fallen) leaf cover meant that I didn’t have time to see any obstacles that normally would un-nerve me and I just rode over stuff that usually I would have panicked about.

In the dark everything seemed really different. Not in a bad way… just different! I had borrowed Mikeys Lupine Wilma so had a super bright light which gave me great front visibility, but on the narrow single-track I kept getting a little freaked out by the hedgerows. The complete darkness to the sides really left me struggling; everything in my peripheral vision felt it was leaping out at me and far too close for comfort. Admittedly sometimes it was too close and I returned home covered in nettle stings and bramble scratches. Some of the tracks were very eerie with tunnel of trees now having dangling long tendrils of bindwind falling out, which looked really pretty in the moonlight.

It was such a great experience, the world seemed so peaceful with just the rustle of leaves and hedges as we disturbed the wildlife. We didn’t see as many animals as I would have liked. I wanted to see a Badger and a hedgehog, but was happy enough seeing a few rabbits and a frog and a fleeting glimpse of a bat. The highlight was most definitely a huge rustle and wooshing noise above us in the trees as we obviously disturbed a monstrous pterodactyl. OK, so it was more likely it was a large owl or a buzzard but it sounded HUGE and made me jump.

Despite the lovely recent weather some of the singletrack was covered in very deep mud. Most of which I pedalled through without incident, but some of which I ended up having to dab into the deepest mud in the world. Nooo… my beautifully white shoes are no longer white! Next time I will remember to wear my winter boots, even if it's lovely and warm outside.

We returned home with just under 10 miles on the clock, which I was pretty happy with as it feels like its been a long time since I have riden off road and I coped with it all pretty easily.

Can’t wait for the next MTB night ride. ;)

A lay-dee on a bike

5 rides this week; 2 to meet Mikey from work, 2 other road rides and 1 off-road ride.

The 4 road rides were pretty uneventful. Just the usual idiot car drivers and some run-ins with tourists and dog walkers. The most memorable bit though was when I caught up with a youth on his MTB on the coast path. As soon as he saw me gaining on him he accelerated off but within minutes he had slowed and (without increasing my speed at all) it wasn't long till I caught him again. Another glance over his shoulder to see me and he again tried to burn me off - only to slow again 25metres along. Again (effortlessly) I caught him and then off he shot, this time barely managing 20metres before slowing. He was tiring himself out and what for? Just so he wouldn't be overtaken? Silly boy! This happened a few more times before I could see he was broken, at which point (still without trying) I glided past him with a cheery "HiYA"! He frowned. Ah stuff him and his male pride. ;-)

Today's off-road ride was good fun. The sun was out - shorts and shortsleeves weather. The usual bridleways and singletrack were much drier than last week so it was much nicer (and easier) than last time. 




Todays drier trails

 No rain all week meant that on the whole there were very few puddles. That is, apart from one! We had just swooped down some ace sweepy bridleway when we hit it. There was no way around. It looked deep and was about 10metres across. (Ducks wouldn't have looked out of place swimming on it. It was a pond!) Praying that it wasn't as deep as it looked, I was mortified when I found my feet submerged on every down pedal stroke. Yuck! My shoes now contained lots of muddy water as today's temp of 18degrees had lulled me into a false sense of security and I wasn't wearing my lovely waterproof boots. Ah well, cold and wet feet couldn't stop me from having fun in the sun. ;-)

On the last bit of bridleway heading back in to the village, we had a very amusing moment when trying to pass a family strolling and taking up the whole of the path. I called out politly and as I passed the Mum said "ooOoo look, its a lay-dee riding a bike!"  Oh the horror! What has the world come to? Not a lady on a bike? I have to say though, that I am pretty sure I look far from lady-like with so much mud splattered up my back and on my face.

Muddy Marvellous

For the last few months I have predominantly been riding my road bike (with the exception of a few jaunts down the coast path on the cross bike).  However, in my quest to keep up my mileage, I have completely over-used the easy-ish local roads so have inevitably become bored of riding. I needed to get my mojo back.

So last Wednesday, as the weather was fair, we decided that we should venture out on our Mountain Bikes and ride the local singletrack. It was great fun.

The sun was out, however after the last few months rain, the ground was muddy - in fact, some tracks resembled lakes. The muddiest parts were a tad hair-raising as I'd kinda forgotten how to ride a MTB and the greasy and deep mud was doing its best to take me out and scare me senseless. Comically, on one occasion a deep rut managed to catapult me into a hedgerow, where I got wedged on thorns whilst my bike continued without me. Just as amusingly, some puddles were so deep that whilst riding through them you suddenly found that at the lowest part of the pedal stroke, your foot was actually submerged! Thank heavens for winter boots!

It was great fun, quite an adventure and also an eyeopener.  Although, I was "technically" a bit rubbish, this ride showed how much I had improved; particularly my level of fitness -although I found it quite tiring (I'd forgotten how much of a workout your top half gets compared to road riding) I had the stamina to ride easily for ten miles.

Riding a mountain bike also showed improvements in my riding position as numerous tweaks were necessary. My seat was too low, my bars too high.  (I guess after all the riding on drop bars my back is more flexible). The only negative tweak was that I had to loosen my pedals as I was having to dab a lot to save myself flying into the gorse and brambles.
Really looking forward to my next MTB adventure. I just hope we get some dry weather soon as it would be nice to ride some drier tracks.

Shoulda stayed indoors

Yesterday was obviously a bad day for cycling, what with the "Tour" riders having to deal with a loose dog on the course and then the chaos in the last 3km.

As for my ride, it was just as disastrous. After reading an old copy of "What MTB?" I felt inspired to do some of our local singletrack. The weather was grey and miserable and Mikey wasn't overly enthusiastic about riding anywhere, but my eagerness spurred him on to join me.

So off we set. The weather was seriously horrid. It was really wet - but too hot and humid to wear waterproofs. My happy mood quickly changed as I got wetter and wetter. Oddly though, Mikey had now cheered up and he was now the eager one as I dragged my feet.

The dirt tracks that I had been so excited about were trickier than ever. The recent warm weather had dried them out but with this down pour (and the recent winds) the dust had been washed off and there was nothing apart from slippy greasy rocks. After a fair few dodgy moments where I nearly went face first into the ground my confidence had vanished and progress was slow.

I kept telling myself that I was having fun, but just as I managed to convince myself, the first disaster happened. Whilst chattering to Mikey, a huge fly decided to fly right into my mouth hitting me quite forcefully at the back of my throat.  An involuntary gag reflex unfortunately took it further down, which made matters worse and induced vomiting. Yuck! I wasn't best pleased. Ah well, it was only a fly; isn't swallowing flies all part of the joys of cycling? See, I was still convincing myself I was having fun.

Onwards! Grrrrr.... now I had a puncture - a tiny wee hole in the tube caused by one of the many overgrown brambles.  After a slow and mud infused tube change, we were off again.  But not for long. Just 5 minutes later I had another flat on the same wheel. I couldn't believe my luck, I now had an inch long thorn and a very large hole in my tyre. This time, we had to do a quick tube repair.

In another case of misfortune, I then lost Mikey.  He was leading the way and one moment he was infront of me, the next he wasn't.  I just presumed that he had accelerated off down the dirt track and I'd find him at the bottom, but when I got there there was no sign of him.  A few moments later he trundled up behind me. Turns out he had taken a turning off, expecting me to follow, but as I was so focussed on not falling off I had somehow not seen him. Silly me, that'll teach me! ;-)

By now, I was seriously naffed off and soggy wet. I wanted to go home. But on the way back, I had 2nd thoughts - Things weren't too bad, it was only a fly and a couple of punctures - which are all part and parcel of cycling. So what, if the weather was miserable? Doesn't mean I had to be. We decided against going home and took a detour to do a loop of some old fave local haunts. I started to have fun again. Weeeeeeeeeee! This was more like it. I had my Mojo back! Amazingly, at the next junction that could have taken us home, I decided to continue. Wooooppppeeee. I was having fun now. I liked riding my MTB!

Unfortunately, the joy didn't last long before the big disaster of the day. After stopping for a moment to choose a route, we went to set off again. I put one foot on my pedal, then the other, then "snap"... OUCH! My lower back had just gone. The pain was immense (it still is). Not sure what happened, why it happened or what I've done to it. All I know is that it hurts. Worst thing was we were 2 miles from home and I could barely walk. Sitting on the bike was not an option.
 
Who's silly idea was it to ride Mountain Bikes today? (Oh, ;-) that would be me!)  This cycling malarkey is bad for my health; there may be a dramatic improvement in my overall fitness and lungs, but I keep getting silly injuries that I wouldn't of got if I'd stayed indoors watching TV! :-P

Pimping my ride!

Can't remember if I blogged about the last time I rode my Mountain Bike - it was about a month ago and was just a ride along the bike path to meet Mikey in Penzance.  I'm not sure why I decided to ride him (Gary) rather than Ted - there was a reason at the time, but can't remember why now. Anyway it was an awful ride. Gary felt heavy and sluggish, plus I felt very uncomfortable; the position felt wrong, despite lots of en-route adjustments.  It kinda felt like I was on a sit-up-and-beg bike.   For the first time in ages I didn't enjoy the ride.  As I struggled into a strong headwind towards Penzance, it even crossed my mind that I possibly preferred road riding now. It made me feel sick just thinking that, as I have always enjoyed riding off-road and loved mountain biking.

Thankfully watching the MTBers at the 24hr race and then my Scottish cycling experiences (where i'd cried out for suspension and knobbly tires) rekindled my love for mountain bikes and I was desperate to get home and dust Gary off and ride the local single track. 

So on our return to Cornwall a plan was hatched.  First of all I needed to adjust my riding position, so I borrowed a flatter and longer stem off Mikey. But just as importantly I needed to make Gary lighter - so off came his bell and bottle cage.  Predictably, this didn't make much difference and he was still a tad heavy - after all, despite the years of having him, he was still practically how he looked when he came out of the factory with lots of entry level heavy parts.

Coincidentally, after seeing Deb's bike (during our very brief pitstop in Mcr) "Cindy" (which is the same Kona frame as Gazza but with lots of shiny parts), Mikey also had a plan. One of his bikes was currently out of action - something to do with leaky brakes, so I could borrow the forks and wheels off it.  Mmm... now that lightened the load considerably. 

After shedding possibly 6lbs, Mikey also offered to lend me his carbon bars. This was super! By the end of the morning Gary was a whole new bike. He even got some new pedals as I changed them to SPDs. He looked awesome and was such a dream to ride.

And ride we did.  We stayed local for the first ride.  There were clouds of dust from back wheels as we zipped across the bone dry trails. Loose rocks and ruts posed no problem to the new suspension and Gary and I floated over stuff like never before. Tracks that I have often struggled on were effortless and I had no time to over-think obstacles, we just breezed over them. Mikey seemed genuinely impressed with my achievements and pointed out that it was my first "proper" off-road ride with SPDs and that I hadn't batted an eyelid.   I was having a blast, it was super!

Still hyped up the following morning, we decided that as were going to the LBS in Portreath (to get me some new baggies), we may as well do the Coast to Coast ride again, so we packed the car. Just before setting off we got a call from my Mum, who we invited to join us.  After helping her get her hybrid into the car, we set off.  The weather was slightly duller than the previous day but the track was still dry and dusty. Another super ride was had and 19more miles added to my weekly total.

(I can't mention my Mum and this ride without mentioning her spectacular fall - Sorry Mum, it has to be said - It was pure comedy gold as she attempted to ride over a 15ft high and steep mound that the kids use for "sessioning".  She was practically at the top when she started to fall. Crumpling into a heap with the bike on top of her she landed on the floor. After confirming she was OK, hysterical laughter ensued as she stood up covered from head to toe in a thick layer of dust!)

Mountain Bike Mudbath

Today, I planned to do my first bit of off-road riding since Christmas day. I was really looking forward to it. I only had a couple of miles left to meet my weekly target so I knew that I could achieve this easily and have some off-road fun at the same time.

I was excited as I knew the mud would be deep. The sun was out when I woke and I was itching to get out before it hid behind the clouds, but annoyingly Mullerton was having a lie-in. I waited impatiently before banging and clattering around the house to wake him. ;-) Yay! He was soon up and we were eating our porridge, but then to my dismay he told me that none of his MTB's were in working order. Something to do with siezed pistons. Grrr... after an hour of him fettling in the garage (and me obsessing over the blue skies, looking for any sign of grey clouds), he decided to just remove the front brake off his "Spot" altogether. I was concerned about his safety but the desire to ride, over-rode any of my concerns. We arranged to meet my Mum and eagerly set off. This was gonna be ace.

I wasn't wrong... it was better than ace. The conditions were perfect (blue skies and no wind). The singletrack was fun (deep mud and even deeper puddles). Even better still, I was surprised to find that my overall fitness had dramatically improved since the last time I rode this route. I nailed it! Despite the sucky mud, my feet were dancing on the pedals. I skipped around the singletrack as if riding on a cloud - floating over obstacles and managing to stay upright. My legs amazed me - there was no pain or fatigue! Although, saying that, I am the first to admit that there was numerous pitstops - mainly to check my mum was still with us and not face down in the mud!



I was on fire, zipping down the loose rocky tracks that used to scare me. I was full of adrenaline and enjoying every moment. This is what I have always loved about mountain biking! I think through my concentration to increase my stamina and agility through all the road riding during these winter months I had completely forgotten how much fun biking is. I just can't wait to get out there and do more - C'mon Spring!

I just can't express the rush it has given me. It wasn't just the great ride though; it has also given me an extra confidence in my abilities and new strength. More importantly it has reminded me why I've spent so many tedious miles on the turbo and the occasional monotony of riding laps around the village.

It felt wonderful out there and it has left me with such a great natural high. (LOL, if I hadn't spent the last 30mins bloggin' about it, poor Mikey would have to endure more of my constant ramblings about how much fun I had and how awesome I was.)

A festive mince pie on the Beach.

While most people were basting turkeys and looking for batteries for their new must-have gadgets, we decided to get out and ride. We have been toying with the idea of a mince pie and a brew on the beach, for a while now, but never really thought it would happen as Christmas is notoriously a chaotic and stressed day where family and friends have other plans.

Anyway, as most of you already know from my constant gloating, we have an idyllic beach less than a mile away from our door. So, after opening our presents and devouring a scrummy cooked breakfast we prepared a flask of tea and packed the homemade mince pies into a Tupperware and set off, collecting my Mum en route.

We set off enjoying the unusually quiet roads but then, as I was taking the lead, I made a snap decision to take a detour and veered off onto a sweeping muddy bridleway which took us downhill to our first beach of the day. The sun was out and when we hit the rocky beach we had a brief stop to admire the views and take some photo's.

Mullerton's bike, some rocks & the Mount!

It was then back up the hill to head to beach number two – our local and favourite beach. By this time there were a number of people walking along the coast path and the novelty of cheerily calling out “Happy Christmas” to all as we rode past soon became tiresome. Baa humbug! ;-)

We broke out the mince pies and tea when we reached our destination. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to check tide times so we were unable to ride across the sand but it was still enjoyable.

Mikey's bike, a flask of tea & a mince pie.

We then packed up and took the long way home, which included a blinkin’ hard off road climb, some more up-hills and then, as if my legs weren’t already tired enough, we decided on an extra detour to take in a mile of very muddy singletrack. I kid you not the mud was deep. If you were unlucky enough to have to put a foot down, you were at risk of loosing a shoe. Was great fun though – and even funnier when Mikey, managed to fall off into the mud.

Mullerton's hairy leg (not mine)

It was then time for a quick wash (bikes & humans) and then to the local pub(s) just in time for last orders. Then back to my Mum’s for Christmas dinner.

Ahhh, what a nice way to spend Christmas – if only every year it could be that simple and relaxed. ;-)

Anyway, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got everything you asked Father Christmas for.

More muddy adventures.

The weather has been pretty abysmal here in Cornwall over the last few weeks but by Friday it culminated in torrential rain and storm-force winds. Yeah yeah, I know that the weather has been miserable everywhere, but I demand my money back. When we moved to Cornwall we were under the impression that we would have lovely weather all year long. Pfft! How wrong could one girl who is always right be? Living so close to the ocean we get the harshest winds and the wettest rain too - I kid you not - we have wet rain! ;-) Within minutes of a downpour you are soaked right through to your knickers! Anyway, that's enough of my weather woes, for more on the South West's weather see our local BBC weather reporter - creepy David.

As you can imagine the recent weather has left everywhere very soggy and there is plenty of mud and lots of localised flooding. Hehehe... Yay! All this makes for a good ride on the local singletrack. So, yesterday, I decided to don my wet weather gear and take myself off on my Cindercone and ride through as much mud as I could find. It was great fun but exhausting, so after just a few miles I opted for the easier option and took to the marginally dryer farm-tracks and country lanes. I had a jolly nice time and saw tonnes of wildlife including the ubiquitous bunnies, a cliche Robin on a spade handle and a spectacularly huge Buzzard, sat only 1ometres away from me on a low fence post. Irritatingly, I do not have any photos of it, as by the time I'd got my phone out it had decided enough was enough and had taken off over my head. I then found myself a temporary trail hound when a local dog decided to follow me for 200 metres. After a while I decided I best send it back, but as I motioned for it to go home it took great offence and started barking at me, like a scorned teenager .

Anyway, I managed to get in a fair few miles without breaking a sweat but headed home before the night drew in. Also my gears started to play silly beggars by ghost shifting, which was quite annoying.

This morning, after a quick fettle and a new gear cable I was ready for the off, as I'd promised to ride off-road with Mikey. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to tell my legs that they too needed to be ready. They were empty and despite trying to ignore them by frolicking through loads of puddles and mud I struggled. Despite the pain I was enjoying myself but then the first climb broke me completely and I hit a mental block. I was angry with my lungs! I was angry with my legs! I was angry with the nasty head wind that was taunting me. All I wanted to do was go home... but there were more evil hills between me and my sofa. Argh! We slowed the pace and somehow I mustered up the energy to get through the last bit of singletrack and up the chattery rock-strewn hills. Phewph! I made it. Mmm... and how I celebrated with a nice piece of cake and a hot cuppa.

Don't get me wrong, overall I did enjoy the ride; there's nothing I love more than splashing through puddles and sloshing through mud... but today I was spent! I just wish I'd had the legs for it as it coulda been great!

A long way off target!

After August's successful month riding over 100miles, September hasn't been such a good month and my mileage is way off target... in fact I am currently a whopping 60miles from my goal!

I shoulda known that the success of last month couldn't continue when the month started off so badly. On the 1st September my luck started to fail when I got my first EVER puncture! This wouldn't have been so bad if I had been out with a good "boy scout"! Who woulda thought that a keen cyclist such as Mullerton, would go on a bike ride without being prepared and taking some essential bike repairing kit? Oh OK, I'll give him some credit - he had most of what you'd expect - tyre levers, a spare inner tube and a puncture repair kit ... but hmm... what is the point if you don't have a freakin' pump!?!

LOL! Thankfully, we were only 2miles from home, so off he rode, leaving me stranded on a grass verge on a lonely country lane! Woulda been simpler if he had left me with the tyre levers, etc, but he didn't so I ended up using a few branches to help me remove the tire - good old mother nature helping out a damsel in distress! ... 'Tis a good job she did too - as none of the men in any of the cars/tractors that whizzed/rumbled by did. Pfft!

Anyway, 5 mins later Mullerton was back and we were soon back on our merry way... but I shoulda known that this turn in my luck was a sure sign of things to come.

Unfortunatly, during the first week of September I started to get saddle sore - despite my gel pad shorts and women's specific gel seat - and after a week off serious discomfort on my bike this tenderness mutated into the BIGGEST abscess I ever did see. But that's enough of that... I'm sure you don't want the details, but let me tell you it was sore! OUCH!

Thankfully, after a week off my bike the pain was subsiding and it was starting to heal... but as I didn't want it to flare up again, I decided it was probably best to let it fully heal before I got back on my bicycle.

So that was that, 2 weeks off my bike! Oh my! How bored and frustrated was I? I had got the "bike bug" back and I was itching to go.

Obviously, this has left me well and truly off my original target, 2 weeks cycling equates to 50+miles.

Thankfully, this week I have gotten back onto my saddle. I know I wont make my target but I can but try!

As Gary the Cindercone hasn't been out for a while I decided Wednesday was his turn... which was probably a bad move - I'd forgotten how to ride off-road and I had definitely forgotten how to ride a bike with suspension.

(Gary - Kona CinderCone)

It was like I had never ridden before. From the outset I felt like a fraud... I felt like I should have had a red "L" plate stuck to my back - I was a wobbling mess!
It probably didn't help matters that the initial bit of the ride was a quite tricky bit of singletrack, which I have never found easy at the best of times. Unfortunately, my already unstable riding ability was worsened by all the fallen leaves disguising the potholes, jutty tree roots and big rocks... but my god, if I had to put my foot down once I had to do it at least ten times. I even managed to hit myself where it really hurts (but I imagine if I was a boy it would have hurt much more) when I hit a huge hidden rock and my bike stopped dead but my momentum carried me forward! Ouch!!

Ah well, by the end of the ride I had found my Mojo again and it was like me and wee "Gazza" had never been apart! We weren't as fast as we had been at the beginning of the month - but I wasn't expecting miracles after 2weeks of no exercise and a terribly sweet tooth!

Anyway, I'm off out for a pootle around with my Mum in a bit - just to get some mileage in, but for those who know my Mum, you will probably know that what starts out as a leisurely activity will probably end in choas!
I'll keep you posted!
*Edit* Phewph.... by the end of the month I had made some headway towards meeting my target and managed to do a 63.50miles! Which is good, considering I had a full two weeks off!