A couple of months of getting some bigger miles in on the MTB has been great after some longer than anticipated down time over winter. No better chance to catch up with the availability of longer events in the diary as we moved towards spring.
After some health uncertainties around continuing nerve damage in my hand I got to a point where I just thought sod it and wanted to start getting some miles in whilst the seemingly endless string of hospital appointments, scans and what not takes place. I decided to self manage and test my hand to see what happens if x y z. Fortunately I’ve managed to figure out that riding doesn’t make my hand too much worse.
So here’s a quick summary of recent outings but focused on the pictures of places travelled which have been awesome.
Bristol to Liverpool Adventure
A storm named Hannah made this one a bit interesting! Getting blown off bikes, seriously rocky trails mixed in with stunning scenery and great company. Over 200 hilly miles covered in a couple of days with fab support from MTB Epics UK.
The highlight was definitely the cup of tea served up by Vince after surviving the gale force winds at the top of the Black Mountains having completed a 50 minute slog to get to the top!
Read the full write up here
Dyfi Enduro Double
The annual pilgrimage returned this year after bad weather called off 2018. A fabulous weather weekend coupled with the family made this a cracker. A different route this year was well received, coming down the final climax trail was ace. This route is always so good that I planned to do it twice and try and catch my 10 pint handicapped mates. Unfortunately on lap one I followed a couple of others down the wrong trail which was the original route (auto pilot kicking in). We ended up hiking back up for a few minutes so a good finish position was lost.
An ice cream van was provided at the end to lift the spirits, mint! Even better I managed to blag a second ice cream after the second lap. I made it to the feed station on lap two before they were packed up and liberated some flapjack from the backed away boxes. Just after that point I caught a load of the back markers who looked a little confused as to why some lycra clad keeno was going past them at this point. No mates in sight until the end though, next year perhaps. Awesome route and all round event!
MTB Marathon Round 2 Llandovery
When the sun shines in the Welsh hills there aren’t many better places to be for the weekend. Such good value being able to deploy the caravan for 3 nights for the price of the entry fee! We made the most of the weekend and even got out on a family bike ride. The 100km Monster route turned out to be quite a beast in the sunshine and showery conditions. So much so that the monster ate quite a lot of bikes including my own.
I could only see about 6 tyre tracks in the mud in front by the time my tyre succumbed to one of a billion sharp rocks on the fantastic descents. This was bum on tyre stuff. Stabby sticks and regular pumping up just about got me through the last 15 miles but after going well it was a bit annoying not being able to push on hard until the end with a squidgy tyre. Great to catch up with lots of mates and admire the mass of motorhomes parked next to our slightly aged caravan, we’ll keep dreaming.
Upcoming plans (subject to hand being sliced up) will feature Gorrick 100 and Bikefest 8 hour before taking on the little task of trying to get round two laps of the Manx 100 (Manx Two) at the end of July.
