Now I think I've cracked a rib!!

It was going to be a gentle spin round Clyne, but after chucking myself down some steps head first them launching myself over the bars into a stream, I feel a bit beat up!! I think I may just have cracked a rib. Glad I was wearing a helmet, it was a fairly full-on head plant!! IWas hoping to ride The Black Mountains next weekend, hmmm?!

I eat my words!! (Kind of)

Loeb crashes out of Rally Jordan!! I don't think it really counts, it wasn't driver error on a stage or even the car breaking, he had a head on collision with Rautenbach on a road section!! The guy's incredible, if he goes out in a stage it's almost NEVER his fault. How does he do it?

Anoraking

Bunch of blokes standing around in pub car park talking Land Rovers. Is this what I need to kick start my off-roading side?

My Hillrally got cancelled, just as I feared. Not only that, Marches don't intend to run any more. Can't blame them, they can't continue making a loss, but I'm devastated! Perhaps the fascination of a completely new event in the World Rally can make up for it - Rally Jordan. Hmm? It'd do it if bloody Loeb didn't win it. But that's as likely as the motorsports world growing some balls. All the crap going on in motorsports at the moment boils down to health & safety or the green gestapo. 1st motorsports is dangerous - let people make up thier own minds!! 2nd how much CO2 does it take to transport 30,000 people to a football match compared to running a rally. Why is our sport any less legitimate than others? It isn't!!

I'm ranting!! Mow the savanna tomorrow and if my knees are OK, gentle bike ride Sunday?

Sidewinder at sunset.

Ow! My knee hurts!

Had a spin round Bishopston Woods again. Passed over the top of one of the cliffs east of Three Cliffs Bay where the view was stunning. I guess I should say it was well worth it, but it wasn't :( my left knee started feeling the strain. So I cut about 4 miles and ran for home.

Finally sussed a good route through the woods though. That'll go on my Alternative Gower Bike Ride!!

The Cardigan Epic

This is the route of my Cardigan epic on Monday, except for the 3-most easterly off-road sections which I couldn't complete. There are 2 sections not shown which I did ride, but I would never do again because they were rubbish. And the ride to and from the hoiday cottage is not shown.

This week is slipping away from me and with other plans for the weekend, I'm not sure where my next ride comes from. With the week slipping away time is also ticking to get the Land Rover ready for Rali Bryn Cymru. Hmmm :-(

Shimano's new organic derailleur.

Works on photosynthesis - when you change up a little light comes on and the grass grows pulling the derailleur up!! :)

There were a fair few road miles on that ride, but the off-road was good quality but mostly muddy. Some of it was farm track bridleways which were hardpack, and some was hoof churned mud. And there was also a fair spattering of cow slurry - yuk!! Even found some in my hair while I was eating my sarnies!!

The Teifi Estuary and Cardigan Bay. What a great view these people have out the dining room window!!

Poppit Sands with Cardigan Island and Gwbert in the distance. My lunch break!

This is why!!!

Cardigan Bay and Cardigan Island in the far distance. The light went a bit funny so the photo turned out a bit rubbish. Nothing to do with me!!!

My first epic.

Had a couple of days in a holiday cottage near Cardigan, so I thought I'd get a bit of mountain biking in. Did a very tiring 29 miles weaving my way around the bridleways west of Cardigan, on a route very loosely inspired by the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. I can't ride most of that so why not ride all the bridleways etc. near to it?! The scenery here is stunning, this is the view across and beyond Ceibwr Bay.

29 miles!!! Bought a hydropack 2 days earlier, was I glad I did that!! That was a bargain £21 in Mountain Warehouse in Hereford. I'm sure it's a good substitute for a Camelbak. Holds 1.5l of water and 6l of luggage. 29 miles!!! The last 5 miles were the toughest, boy did I want them to end!! Next milestone (pardon the pun) is to break the 30 mile barrier, but the aches I've got today tell me I'm not ready. I think the optimum for me at the moment is around 20 to 25 miles of hilly, part off-road MTBing.


I think it means I can eat the 20 flat road miles a day to and from work! However, question is, do I want to bother wearing out my knobbly tyres on road miles I don't think I need it for the fitness side of things, so I may not bother. For: bike miles (but boring tarmac), exercise(but I can get that outside work as many times a week as I'd bike to work), Finance (Hmm £10 ish per week max), one in the eye for those that have poked fun at me for being fat!! (But do I really care? And 1.5 stone lighter and I've already got my jabbing stick poised!) Against: boring, showering in work, hassle, weather changes during a day then 10 miles home in the rain, boring cycle home after a crap day, the occasional need to get home in a rush. I think the againsts have it.

I know it's a great big farm, but it can be beautiful up here.

With the sun setting under slate blue rain clouds, Afan Argoed looked stunning this evening. My camera phone doesn't do the colours justice.

Decided that I wasn't going to spend £2.70 a time parking at the visitor centre. So from today onwards I park in the free Rhyslyn car park. This means the Penhydd trail is now about 2.75 miles longer and The Wall 3.2 miles shorter. We'll come back to this...

One of the guys from work joined me for tonight's spin. I was very pleased with how I'm progressing, I was able to hold a conversation whilst climbing and kept pace with his full sus bike on the downs. This and the fact that I've shortened The Wall suggests to me it's time to make my return to that old favourite hill of mine!!

My other "interest" finally rears it's head.

For the first time this year my thoughts turned to the Land Rover this last fortnight. This coming weekend is my motorsports club's first event - Round 1 of the British Cross Country Championship held at Baden Hall near Telford. However, the Land Rover has sat neglected and gathering dustin the mountain bike's shadow in the garage for the last 3 months. It's MOT has now lapsed and I'm unconfident that it would pass without work. Both it's ailing main and auxillary batteries are now finally dead - fixing that alone will knock on the door of 200 quid. I think it may need timing belt work too. Valve stem oil seals is also job waiting quietly in the wings. So with regret I've opted to give myself another month to sort her out. I'll not go to Baden Hall despite them having some 60 cars running. It's only a tiny site, it'll be heaving!!

My only hope is that their next event the Rali Bryn Cymru hillrally will go ahead. Talk of low numbers threatening it's financial viability loom ominously once again. It's the hillrallies I enjoy the most and it would be sad to see their demise. If that happens I'll move all my Land Rover efforts back to green laning.

But the puncture monster returned :-(

It had it's not so good moments (but not really bad ones!) I missed the turning for Brashy Track (one of my favourites) and picked up the trail on the way up to Hidden Valley. "No good," I thought, "I can't go missing out chunks of it in this weather - could be months before I ride in the snow again. Even if some of the bits I skip are my least favourites!" In fact I hate A Ridge too Far - for some reason a really demoralising climb?!?! So I turn around. Green Run turned out to be worthwhile - it was beautiful through there (see pic).

As the descents wore on I got real tired this time. I think a bit competitiveness crept out on the climbs early on. There were loads of people up there and I found myself pushing to overtake or keep up. When I got to the jump at the start of either Squeek or Heart of Darkness, I landed it badly and got an instant snake bite blowout in the back tyre! Pushed it the half click back to the carpark :-(

It snowed!! Woo hoo!! :)

What a suprise to see snow on the ground when we got up!! We don't get much here normally. So off up to Penhydd I went! I must admit I expected to find it deeper than this in the hills, but it was good despite this - not too cold, a little greasier than usual in places and stunningly beautiful, everything looked different. This is Hidden Valley.

The northshore drop-off

A real feat of engineering!!! The back of the berm.

Clyne's northshore

Again, sorry the video's on the wonk!!!

Finally found Clyne's northshore.

It's pretty mental! It's 12-15 foot off the ground. You have to jump up a steep 6 foot ramp to get on then avoid hitting the trees as you run along up to the highest point, then it's near vertical off a beautifully made quarter (more like 3/8ths) pipe into a 7 foot high berm. Then a few yards away it runs along a northshore drop-off down hill - about 5 foot off the ground. I remained with my feet/tyres firmly placed on the ground!!! Sorry the videos are 90 degrees out can't work out how to rotate them on my phone. grrrr!

Clyne Woods - a mini Afan Argoed??

One of the berms on one of Clyne's downhills. You don't want to overshoot this there's a cliff direcly behind it!

There are some cracking little downhills here too littered with tiny berms and jumps - ideal for someone of my calibre to get singletrack experience.

Penhydd is definitely a blast

I took another blast around Penhydd tonight (oh how I love Daylight Saving Time!!!). Last time I came away saying how I loved Side Winder and Hidden Valley. But after another ride I think the whole damned trail is a blast! Riding mile after mile of fast flowing singletrack is a revelation to me. I think I've said before when I used to ride Afan Argoed in my younger day the vast majority of it was fire road. Perhaps I'll find somewhere else to park, the Visitor Centre's going to cost me a bucket!!