Monday, January 18
Abandon hope all ye who enter here
by
Billy Goat
on Mon 18 Jan 2010 14:05 GMT
First proper Sunday ride since Xmas so I thought I'd make it a good one, headed out of town and across to Geddington to ride Clay Dick, then over to Fermyn Woods, then Aldwincle, Lyveden Way, Bear Gate Track and home. Clay Dick is an old Byway that links Geddington to Brigstock and possibly the site of a Victorian Brickworks (hence the clay reference...). Anyway usually the top end is virtually unpassable, with the trees hanging so low over the trail that in some places you cannot even push a bike through......except this time the Byway had been 'repaired'.
By 'repair' I mean they have bulldozed the whole thing flat, about 40 feet wide, ripping out all the trees, bushes, rabbit and foxholes and turning it into a mile of sticky wet clay that will take months to settle  . So I rode as much as I could until my EWR stopped working and my feet started to look like Swamp Thing and then I carried my bike for 3/4 a mile  .
I fought my way to Brigstock and crossed thru Fermyn Woods which was another, barely rideable shitfest before aborting the ride near Sudborough  Wildlife count for the ride was still good, four or five Red Kites (all eluded my camera sadly), 5 fairly big deer in Fermyn Woods and six Llama's.....yeah It's true, although they could have been Alpaca, Clovius Hoofus isn't my area of expertise  Nice beginnings Mud stops Play... Magura 'Mud Magnets'...wheel locked   'Repaired' trail - The Long Walk Mud Magnets Part 2 FUBAR EWR Kapitan Billy Goat says "TARFU, Mission Aborted!!!"
Monday, January 4
World SPD Stamping Championships 2010
by
Billy Goat
on Mon 04 Jan 2010 11:50 GMT
For a year or so now my riding buddies have been extolling the virtues of SPD's and trying to sell the idea to me, you see, I still live in the world of the Toeclip so I can't see the sense. I never fall off my bike, never have much trouble 'getting in' to my toeclips and to be honest, in recent months I've gone back to flat pedals with no clips at all. Yesterday was what turned out to be a large RetroBike meet at Thetford Forest, the largest lowland Pine Forest in Great Britain, down in deepest Suffolk with 22 riders attending. Also present in large quantities was snow and ice.....LOTS of it, which, much to my amusement, seems to be THE Achilles Heel of SPD pedals  The tranquil, picture postcard 'snowscape' scenery was shattered by the sound of dozens of MTB riders furiously stamping on their frozen/useless SPD's, wobbling and dabbing the ground...hence the title of this blog post  Joking aside a great day was had by all during the two sub-zero rides we did yesterday......some pictures:Chin Wag Art Haus Wobble Fun Watching the 'Bomber Kidz' Snow Road All Along The Watchtower Iced Mech Xntrick Machinery Alien Sunset More pictures and words can be found HERE
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), that WILL get used and theoretically will be bags more fun (watch this space....)
