No Aslan Or Fairies

Well it has to be said that the weekend just gone was a good one. Family, shopping, friends and bike all rolled into my two days off.  If most weekends were like this then I'd always be a happy man.

My ride out was a mixed bag of fun and frustration as well as a bit of fungi interest but more on that in a bit.  I went out to hamsterely with the intention of having a good blast round my favourite trails.  As it happens I wasn't doing much blasting, the only thing that was, was the strong winds that built up during the day.  My first climb up and things weren't right.  Someone had swapped my legs during the night without telling me and giving me some duff ones.  My god it felt hard.  Maybe it was more to do with two months with me not being off road but I felt sluggish all the same.  Getting out of the saddle seemed to help even less.  Still later in the ride this issue soon wore off and the legs regained some composure, and I was finding the long climbs less hard.  Shame my gears are still playing up.  Seriously starting to annoy me now.  I've realigned them countless times, twice on this days ride but each time the cable either stretches or beds in.  Since its first instalment the cable has had to be pulled through at the rear mech by over an inch!  My legs not working is one thing but my bike is not on.  I've worked as mechanic over the rears and know how to set up gears of many different types but never has this set of new cables caused me so many issues.  If you are wondering they are Clarkes Cables.  Never again!!

Still, the ride was on the whole good.  I was pleased to not have lost any of my flow and felt like a deer through the trees, fast and graceful.  Shame that certain technical aspects continue to let me down.  I need to get more confident on two aspects.  Firstly getting my bike airborne and not being scared to do so. I'm not talking wanting to do big jumps just short drops and rock lips that I can launch off rather than braking like an idiot and rolling off.  Doesn't help with my speed.  Falling off my bike and breaking and dislocating both my elbows at the same time as I have done in the past really knocked my confidence.  Secondly rocks and roots in the wet.  Never was good at this but I know that comes with practice.  So this winter I'm just going to have to face my daemons and take them like a man.  Particularly if I want to do better in races.

As you can see I've been taking a couple of pictures on my ride around.  The first one is at the start of Transmission descent.  The stone table reminds me of the one in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Its very Narnia esc and the views across the horizon or as beautiful as ever.  Still there was no sign of Aslan or for the matter a white Witch, however, there was this suspect gnome sitting at the base of the table which you may just be able to see.

Also going along with the fantasy theme was this large amount of toadstools or Fly Agaric to be precise.  True fairyland toadstools.  I've never seen so many of this type of toadstool in one area in my life.  This photo only cover a part of the many that surrounded me on the skills section in the woods.  No fairies though......

Back home in my kitchen progress has been made with my road bike.  The new tyres are on and I've done the handle bar tape (bloody pain in the bum to do as ever) aslo the brake cables have been done with some lovely Goodridge sealed cables.  All that remains to be done now are the gear cables, cassette and chain.  That'll have to wait till next month though.

Till then, happy riding folks

Jez

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Hamsterley Forest- My Way

I love Hamsterley Forest.  I love it as its my home in terms of riding.  Its really changed over the last few years and some excellent trails have been made there including the new Tansmission and Section 13 Routes.  Like all good forests there are the usual graded routes, from Blue, to Red and Black.  Black being the most technical but at the same time the most rewarding.  There's lots of climbing around here so if your only used to flat riding this may come of a bit of a shock!  Still you shouldn't let that ever put you off.  You will always get a good reward with rolling singletrack, berms and sometimes challenging sections.  All the things bikers love!

There are lots of ways of riding around this forest but recently I've found my favourite way is to head out straight to Transmission first. It's a swine of a climb to get up to it but as they say what goes up must come down as this video above shows!

After this I tend to hook up to the red trail which leads back up to the top of the downhill course but aslo Section 13.  This is really fun too, lots of swoopy berms much like Transmission.  Then it onto the black route and the singletrack route back to the car park.  Its not really as quick as I've described this bit alone will have taken about an hour or so to do.
 

After this I climb back up and away along the black route before hitting this nice decent which you view on the right.  This bit of trail has been around for years and often been used in mountain bike races of older.  More recently its had a face lift making it more of an all year around trail and still gives plenty of smiles.After this its time to follow a quick fire road section to Beehives which is a twisty nadgery and sometimes slippery route and a good tester of handling skills.  I'm bad at this.  Technical stuff is not my strong point so usually I'll have a crash or something to amuse the guys......I nearly once mucked up the stream crossing at the end and fell in!

This probably the last of the descents before hitting the valley road and riding back.  Its all very good stuff.  There are much better places than Hamsterely for sure but this has some real gems in it, and those willing to look there are some great hidden trails too as well as a great downhill track, play area and Jumps.  No doubt people have better ways of getting around and I'd love to hear them as I always like to vary what I do to keep me interested.  This is just a way I like at the moment!  Hope you get the chance to try it out one day!!



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