Wednesday 15 July 2009

Teesdale/Weardale loop

Inbred set up for long road ride

Took the Inbred on the road up Weardale and then over the top to Teesdale and home again. Pretty slow average speed, but it's hard to go much faster on 32:17 and plased that I kept the 20kmh speed on the flatter bits both there and back. Biggest ride of the year so far and felt much better than previous century (or close to) rides, with very few aches the following day too.

The road over from Westgate to Newbiggin is brilliant:

Road between Westgate and Newbiggin

Good practice for the Kielder 100 in September.

Distance: 92 miles (map)
Time: 9 hours
Surface: On-road
Weather: Mostly warm and dry
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:17, with 2.2″ tyres)

Sunday 12 July 2009

HTB/STW group ride at Hamsterley

'Led' the HTB group ride at Hamsterley, on which a few STW people also came along.

Felt really strange to ride at Hamsterley without riding up there (it's cheating really) and took a climb or two to get warmed up, not helped by running on just the dregs of my inhalor.

Distance: 16 miles (map)
Time: 4 hours
Surface: Off-road
Weather: Mainly dry and warm, but wet under tyre
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:17, with 2.2″ tyres)

Wednesday 8 July 2009

Darlington Cycle Routes Tour

Went on the Council tour of Darlington cycle routes.

Distance: 18 miles (map)
Time: 2.25 hours
Surface: On-road
Weather: Dry
Bike: Yuba Mundo

Sunday 5 July 2009

Darlington - Hamsterley Black - Darlington

Rode up to Hamsterley and did the black route, with a few other bits too.

Met Matt and Gary at the bottom of Root 666, and rode with them to the Grover, taking in the line of a new trail that's going to be put in.

Then rode on my own up the the almost-finished Section 13, which runs from the 4X car park. What a great trail! Really swoopy, with rock drops every so often. There's a massive bowl which the trail runs round on a big berm, and a brilliant gully part toward the bottom.

The continuation of the black from there has also had a lot of work done, and is also brill.

Felt really good on the ride, which is good as I seem to be thinking of entering a 100 mile MTB race...

I used my new phone to track the route on GPS, but it crashed part way round. I'll upload the routes and try to figure out the actual distance soon.

Distance: 60 miles (ish)
Time: 7 hours
Surface: On and Off-road
Weather: Wet, but dry under tyre
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:17, with 2.2″ tyres)