A whole month...

...since my last post.

very slack on my part but not as i have been lazy or had nothing to blog about.. the exact opposite.. i have been training and riding every minute spare.

With so much riding comes all the associated prep time... cleaning of kit, cleaning of bikes, fixing of bikes etc etc etc anyone that rides or does any similar activity knows that to get in a good 2 hour session usually entails an additional 4 hours of packing/unpacking.

So i am happy to be able to sit down and update.. Grace is away (back tomorrow though!!!!! can't wait).. so i am home alone and just back from a serious road trip.. that warrants its own post though.

Firstly Icebike... Madisons trade show... after dropping Grace off at airport and going for a swim i headed to Milton Keynes to go check ou the latest stuff from Madison and meet with my sponsors and especially the guy that looks after me, James Olsen, show did not dissapoint with plenty of great kit and an awesome Genesis 953 framed bike ( i want!).. after chatting to james and also Matt Rushton (marketing) i came away very happy at the direction this sponsorship is going and also getting some positive feedback on the plans i am laying down for next year.. i also came away with my new helmet... Bell Volt.. fit is reallly good and it looks good which is nice:)



While i was down that far south and with a riding spot in Woburn Sands close i organised to meet the West for a few hours riding.. we got together late in the afternoon and got some riding done on the trails there taking it into darkness to try out the Light and Motion lights i am using this year... SECA Ultra on the bars and a stella 200L on helmet. Output of the SECa is unbelievable.. quoted 890 lumens and i believe them!!




Also gave me a chance to take sneaky night pic of my IO ... i love this bike its so fast!!!



Then Catching up with an old riding friend that for one reason and another we haven't had a good hack in the peaks for far too long.. so the route was left upto Miles to decide and he came back with something i hadn't done..

The route is called Peak to Peak and stars at Peak Forest heads out through castleton and hope to Ladybower reservoir where a little loop then points you back towards the start. This is classic peaks fair... great long climbs and rocky descents.

The morning started with a catch up chat whilst Miles fueled up on weetabix.... as all good routes the start was a steady climb which earned enough credits to warrant a great downhill... Pindale.... i have never ridden this before but it was great.. the top section was rocky so it was a 'point and shoot' letting the forks do their work while the backend 'Pinballed' around hence renaming this descent 'pinball' ... the lower section smoother out and had a great flow allowing you to pop off any natural feature you could find.

This descent lands you at the bottom of the big climb for the day all the way from Hope to the crossroads where you have the choice of the super tech descent called the beast or the roman road.. which is slightly less technical and tough on the arms being so long and rocky you get a serious pump on..
We opted for the roman road descent with Miles still nursing an iffy colllarbone that was liable to break with even the smallest of falls... the switchback climb to hagg farm left another great descent to ladybower reservoir..



After the short loop we made our way back up the Beast to the same crossroads... the weather was fantastic...



after a few wrong turns on the way back we ended up with a total of 29 miles.. not a bad days work.. good day out.. looking forward to a 3 day trip camping and riding that was planned as we rode should be good times.