I haven’t written about all my pedal powered boat trips but today was a good one. I wanted to get out early before it got too hot but it took me until after 9am to leave home. I pull the boat on wheels for 0.7 miles to reach the canal and am well practiced atContinue reading “A longer trip by boat.”
Was it all worth it?
Today I was reminded of a post I wrote in the spring entitled “Life gets in the way of mountain biking”. My wife, Ali, had asked me early in the year what I’d do in our garden if I had a blank canvas and within days we were digging up many years of work. IContinue reading “Was it all worth it?”
Messing about on bikes.
Today is hot by the standards of northern England at 26 celcius. Whilst for many around the world this may seem refreshingly cool, to us it’s rather hot to be riding a mountain bike. My plan was to ride Brinscall Woods to be out of the direct sunshine and to ride with no particular plan.Continue reading “Messing about on bikes.”
Boating with my son.
My son Dylan is home for the weekend. He’s always wanted to shoe horses and had to move 270 miles away to do so but he was half way home after a college block so came to see us. He has a kayak and was keen to try the boat. We covered a few milesContinue reading “Boating with my son.”
Cruising!
Today I took my homemade boat to the canal again, not to test it this time but just to cruise. I had a tiny crowd of onlookers as I launched and forgot to start the GPS based app. Strava straight away. In total I covered around 2 miles and the mile and a half IContinue reading “Cruising!”
Riding up Ben Nevis.
Ben Nevis is Britain’s highest mountain. OK so it’s only 4,406 feet but it’s normal to climb it from around sea level so you have to ascend the whole height to reach the summit. I’ll confess straight away that, whilst I’ve climbed it many times previously it isn’t something I’ve done recently. I’ve run toContinue reading “Riding up Ben Nevis.”
I promise you this my young friend………..
In The Wind In The Willows Ratty says to Mole “I promise you this my young friend, there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” I’ve long held that it would be more true a statement if the term “in boats” was substituted with “on mountain bikes”. DespiteContinue reading “I promise you this my young friend………..”
A training ride and how I gained motivation.
This evening England play Italy in the delayed Euro 2020 football final and I hadn’t planned to do anything else today, apart from maybe a bit of gardening. By the middle of the day I needed something to occupy me so what could be better than a mountain bike ride? I thought I shouldn’t tireContinue reading “A training ride and how I gained motivation.”
Back to the hills.
On my last ride of 22 miles I only climbed 101 feet of ascent. That was mainly during my first and last half miles on my way to the Leeds/Liverpool canal, which obviously doesn’t rise at all, excepting tiny undulations of the towpath. I have a plan for a big and challenging ride which willContinue reading “Back to the hills.”
Less climbing.
My recent rides have involved a lot of climbing. In a week of 3 rides I climbed a total of 6,104 feet according to the app. Strava. I have a plan to do a big ride as a challenge for this year which should push me to the limit of my fitness and ability. HavingContinue reading “Less climbing.”
If a picture paints a thousand words…….
If a picture paints a thousand words then imagine how many more words a video could paint. I’m not an avid watcher of Youtube videos but the other day I watched some mountain biking footage, specifically routes near Darwen Hill which is one of my longer rides from home. Here’s a link to the videoContinue reading “If a picture paints a thousand words…….”
The perfect trail ride?
There are many factors which go towards making the perfect trail ride. For me, since I live in a great mountain biking area, it really needs to start from home. There’s no point in spending more time loading the bike into and out of a car and driving to the start of a ride andContinue reading “The perfect trail ride?”
6,000 feet of climbing.
No, I haven’t just done a mountain bike ride with 6,000 feet of climbing but this week I’ve climbed a total of 6,104 feet, almost exclusively off road. I set off today having already completed 4,470 feet in 2 rides so made sure that I climbed enough to get me over 6,000 feet. There’s noContinue reading “6,000 feet of climbing.”
Adding interest to a ride.
It’s important to me to keep my riding exciting and I have a few techniques which add interest. Timing the whole of a ride keeps you focussed and working hard but you can equally time sections and allow periods of relative rest. Sometimes I create a challenge by targeting a usually uphill segment, which isContinue reading “Adding interest to a ride.”
Challenging myself with lots of climbing.
Having cancelled my plan to ride over 100 km with perhaps as much as 6,000 feet of climbing last Saturday I started to think more about my current fitness. Would I really have been fully prepared for such an enterprise? Since my big ride is postponed for an unknown amount of time it has givenContinue reading “Challenging myself with lots of climbing.”
A small world.
My mountain biking world seems rather small these days. I used to occasionally ride trails centres in North Wales or the Lake District with friends but they’ve all given up riding, now. I was going to expand my horizons this coming weekend with a ride of over 100 km but I’ve called it off becauseContinue reading “A small world.”
Exploring again.
On my last ride on Sunday I used a high level route over Redmond’s Edge and commented that I needed to have a look at some downhills which I haven’t ridden in many years. Now we have the very best type of conditions for exploration because the ground is almost totally dry so I wouldContinue reading “Exploring again.”
A different way up.
After a ride of around 45 miles on fairly level ground, much of it along canal towpaths, I wanted to do another slightly longer ride than usual today but incorporate some climbing. I had the idea to ride a long climb to Hordern Stoops, which is a high point when you take the tarmac roadContinue reading “A different way up.”
Preparing for my big ride.
I had to have some work done on my car yesterday. It’s a rather specialist vehicle which my local garage don’t want to work on so I had to take it to the experts about 18 miles away, north of Preston. Previously I’ve left it there and ridden my mountain bike home and back againContinue reading “Preparing for my big ride.”
Back on it.
After feeling very tired yesterday, which I’m sure was an after effect of my second Covid 19 vaccination, I felt fine today. I wasn’t sure that I’d have my normal energy levels during a mountain bike ride so I didn’t set any other target for my ride than to go to the top of GreatContinue reading “Back on it.”
Mountainbiker 