Archive for the ‘Biking’ tag
South Downs Way 2011
Yes I really did just ride the South Downs Way again – this time with my cousin Steve.
The ride came about when last Christmas he mentioned that it’s always something he really wanted to do. Never one to turn down a cycling opportunity I agreed to do the trip straight away. So, a little later in the year than we’d thought (due to me being in Mongolia for 3 months) we set off on the 3 day, 100+ miles, hill climbing marathon from Winchester to Eastbourne.
And… it went almost entirely without any problems. No fallings off, some light rain on the 3rd day but nothing to slow us down, no mechanical breakdowns, relatively few aches and pains and most of all: NO PUNCTURES! After my previous experiences (with between 4 and 8 riders) having just 2 people (and 2 bikes – both in good working order) made things a lot more straightforward.
Thanks again to Liz for luggage support on the first day (after that we carried it).
We also discovered some amazing vegetable curry pasties in the general store in a little village called Jevington – last stop (and 2 hills) from Eastbourne. So good we went back for a second one (though they got my second one wrong and it turned out to be cheese and onion – still bitter about this!).
Here’s a video I put together of the trip – some gimmicky stuff in this one:
A great way to round off the summer of cycling. Now I’m not commuting I’m looking for some more cycling challenges to motivate me to keep the fitness up through the winter. Anyone???
Biking through Ulaanbaatar’s Ger Districts
Rather than riding south as usual, Hutch and I thought we’d head up through the Ger districts and up onto the hills overlooking the north of Ulaanbaatar.
This ride brought some sights I’d not yet seen in Mongolia including:
- A large white date marked on a hillside built out of either chalk or light stone. Thing was it was the correct date – presumably updated daily by the inmates of the prison in the valley below.
- Stunning panoramic views of Ulaanbaatar (see photos)
- Rubbish! Tons of it – on the hills just outside the Ger districts – sometimes we were riding over whole hillsides of broken glass and other rubbish. The hills just beyond that though – beautiful.
At one point we attracted the attention of a group of young boys who decided to ‘help’ me up a hill by holding onto my seat post and running alongside. Eventually I had to give up as I could barely manage the hill even without the unpredictable tugging on the bike in all directions. After exchanging lots of grins and waves I managed to break clear of them when the gradient eased. We ended the ride with a fast descent back through the Ger districts – great fun.
Tachyon XC Micro – cycling with a helmet camera
For several months now I’ve been using a helmet camera to record first person video footage of all my cycling endeavors! After quite a bit of research I bought a Tachyon XC micro camera – having looked into rivals such as the Oregon Scientific models and the Go Pro. The main reasons I picked it over the competition were battery life, ability to take up to 32MB cards and (based on reviews) good value for money in terms of video and sound quality.
Atlas Descent Video
Well here is my attempt at capturing the flavour of my recent Atlas mountains mountain biking trip in a 3 minute video…
Devices used in recording the video/stills were a Tachyon XC Micro helmet camera, Cannon Digital Ixus 70 and an Apple iPhone.
Day 6 – Atlas Descent to the coast
Day 6 had just a single 4km climb – on which by attempting to keep up with Steve I think I found some totally new higher heart rate and (later) exhaustion zones. Finally – to finish out the trip, a 35km descent, dropping 1500m all the way down to the sea – fantastic!
The gallery below is the best of my photos from the whole Atlas Mountains trip – unashamedly featuring lots of me!
Day 5 – Up and Down
Day 5 was a good combination of up and down with 3 main climbs and lots of down hill – all of it fairly technical offroad stuff – the kind we mountain bikers like!
Some tricky downhill - just after a fall!
John arriving in a remote Berber Village
Day 4 – Cycling Shopping Game and split chain ring
This mornings bike maintenance time entertainment… “I went shopping and I bought: an axle, a brake, a chain, a derailer (front), an elastic band, a front wheel, a gear cable, a handlebar, an indexing system (Shimano), a joly nice front fork, a Kona frame, lube, a Mavic rear wheel, a nut (large)”….. Etc… And some people here call me a geek!
In other news I split my small chain ring today, I am now competent at pouring mint tea from height and the riding was great.
Split and bent small chain ring
Mint tea - yum!
Day 3 – James Blunt in the mist
Typical morning greeting on this trip: “Morning – how are your thorns?”
Most people have at least one still in their tyre from the night before…
Anyway day 3 included some barely rideable single track, some ‘good’ climbs and an awesome fast offroad descent. Also a broken shoe, some James Blunt on a misty hilltop and some ‘falls’ on the singletrack – see photos and video…
Our trusty support vehicles
Tim with helmet camera at the ready
Juliette's bike after her crash
Emergency shoe repair
Day 2 – 11km climb
Well no-one did the extra bit today because again it was dark by the time we got back. It was a full on day – including a long long offroad descent, an 11km road climb and a 12km road descent. That’s it for now. I’m off to see some carpets!
Start of day 2
My (hired) bike for the week
In a gorge contemplating the 11km climb
Day 1 – rocky descent in the Anti Atlas
Im mountain biking in north Africa – the scenery is dramatic, the riding technical and fun and the hotel has wireless so I’m able to blog from my iPhone – can it get any better?
After a very late arrival Sunday night (3am uk time) in Agadir we started with a 3 hour transfer by 4 wheel drive to start the first days riding. Then proceeded the setup/checking over of the bikes – 15 hired Specialized hard tails and 1 non hired Specialized hard tail. This took a long time as all the bikes needed to be adjusted after they’d been in transit and a number of people (including myself) had brought their own saddles and pedals. There were also several stripped threads to deal with.
Once we got under way the riding was excellent. A rocky, fairly technical descent becoming smooth and quick towards the end. We did suffer from punctures though and after riding through a village almost every bike had at least one thorn induced puncture so we arrived at our hotel in the dark. I loaded up on pasta and meatball tagine which was excellent. 1 beer and 1 glass of wine later I headed for a fairly early night as I was still recovering from that late flight into Agadir.
Day 2 is to be a 70km ride with a mix of road and off road. 80km if we add on the section we missed on day 1 due to the fading light. If you’ve cycled with me before you’ll know I’m unlikely to turn down the chance to do a bit extra!
The following are two photos of the scenery during the day and the last is the view out of my window in the hotel!
First Descent of the trip
Evening sunlight on the hills
View from my window
