Hello. How are we all then? Feeling a bit better this year? Good.

Now, I have this mountain bike. Its got some really very powerful hydraulic disc brakes on it, from the Shimano Saint stable. That’s got to be a good thing, right? Well, usually that’s considered to be a very good thing – especially compared to my other bike, whose v-brakes are just downright scary. But thats not always the case.

So there I was yesterday, pedalling like a ballistic missile down the trail, clattering through the roots, really really going for it, when SLAM!

An overhanging bramble bush grabs a brake lever. All of a sudden my very powerful front brake finds that its being applied – hard. I’m still going forwards, but my front wheel really isn’t going anywhere fast, except perhaps sliding sideways out from beneath me. And now I’m lying face down in the dirt and the bike appears to be on top of me. Someone behind me is laughing. Wha…?

I’m really not happy about that happening, so after getting up and making sure I’m still in one piece, I take it out on the rest of the trail, which quite frankly rocked. Its the best way to make sure it doesn’t knock your confidence too much.

Today I seem to have a nice selection of bruises all the way up my right hand side and various strained muscles. Not only that but I have a feeling I may have ruined my nice red RaceFace jacket – seeing pink bubbles in the bottom of the washing machine isn’t right is it? Bah. Oh well – what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Or something.

Oh and Grant – This was not some sort of karmic balancing for my not going up to Scotland to play on bikes with you lot. I was going to crash either way. I think I was due a good one.

Time to head for home. Unlock the bike, put the lights on, climb aboard. Pedalpedalpedal, swing it out then carve into the first corner, same as normal…SCKRE-THUD!

****!

Get up, look down at the bike. Look back at the ground. What the hell happened there then? Brush myself down. Somehow I hit my hip, my arse and the front of my knee. That bloody hurts.

You okay?

Aye, fine thanks. Its a bit slippy there.

Pick up bike. straighten out mudguard. Get back on. Carry on as normal — but slower.

That still bloody hurts.

…I’ll be opening up my Marzocchi Super-T Pros for the first time. Wish me luck!

And then a bit later on…

I’ve just had one of those “OH B******S!” moments.

I went over to the Windwave site and downloaded some of their excellent technical guides to servicing your Marzocchi fork. They explain the whole oil and spring change in a very clear and simple manner — unfortunately they can’t take human error into acocunt.

I took everything apart. I poured the old oil out. I noted how the oil in the damper-cart leg was black and horrible, and how it was lovely and clean in the other leg. I replaced it with new oil. I put everything back together. I rode around the car-park, noting that the fork is now a lot more supple, but there’s still perhaps a little too much oil in there. “I’ll sort that out next time around”, I think to myself.

And then it happens. I’m disposing of the old fork oil when “Ooh, whats that?”. That’ll be one of the washers from inside the fork then. That really ought to be on the inside of the fork. But I’ve got no daylight left, and there’s no lights in the garage. There’s no way in hell that I’m doing this in the flat.

Oh well, that’ll have to wait for next weekend then. The complete lack of daylight in the winter is such a pain in the backside! You live and learn…

And then about a week later…

I emailed Windwave during the week to find out where the mystery washer should go. It took about five minutes flat to take the top-cap off of the the fork, take a few bits out, put the washer back where it was supposed to go and then put it all back together. I could probably have done it in the dark. I still think there’s a bit too much oil in there but I’ll test ride it first.

Its only a short blast through town, but I always seem to turn it into a balls out rampage from A to B.

The Cove is set up as a 32:16 singespeed. I tend to go everywhere at the fastest possible speed, so I always find myself spinning out on the long straight bits.

The flip-side of that is that I can accelerate out of junctions like an ICBM. If there’s any moisture or ice on the ground I find myself spinning out the back wheel as I try to force the full power of my legs through the balding rear tyre.

If there’s any traffic that I have a cat in hells chance of keeping up with, I’ll play the part of that cat and stick to their bumper like a limpet. I’m learning to trackstand for longer and longer at traffic lights, and on the narrow roads, waiting for cars to come the other way. If there’s a kerb in my way I’ll try to hop up it. If there’s a fast sweeping corner I won’t brake if I can get away with it. I’m even starting to dart through gaps in the traffic only slightly wider than my handlebars. Every morning and evening bring me a new challenge.

Its just pure unadulterated fun!

I had meant to ride my bike up Leckhampton today, but Brett saw to it that I didn’t. By the time I got myself together, he’d put my bike on the back of the car and was waiting impatiently for me.

So I skipped breakfast. Bad move. Instead, I bought a load of custard doughnuts from the local co-op and wolfed them down. JABBBA!

We got up there and I was immediately hit by just how unfit I was feeling. Its about three weeks since my last proper bike ride (barring the five-minute commute I’ve started doing again recently). That’s far too long. I’ve also had my perpetual winter cold, and have been going to bed far too late. Its added up to a catastrophic effect on my fitness.

I was immediately hit by just how unfit I was feeling.

If it was my lack of fitness that nearly killed me on the way up, coming down the hill was an entirely different story — this time it was my lack of confidence that saw to me. I just wasn’t willing to commit to anything at all for the first couple of runs. The sticky mud wasn’t helping my mindset either (even if it wasn’t actually affecting the handling of the bike a great deal). I was making stupid mistakes everywhere. Washing out in the mud and landing my hip on a big tree-root didn’t help matters.

It wasn’t all bad. I was flowing beautifully through some of the trails – from the chute down to the new rock garden was working beautifully for me, as was the last section down to the car park. That last section flows beautifully. Its just a pity that none of the rest really came together for me. I’m never the fastest rider of the bunch, but today was especially bad.

I guess I’ll just have to keep on riding, keep on building the confidence back up. It’ll come back, it always does.

One day I’ll nail that trail top to bottom. One day.

You may remember that a while back I was on about how it’d be a good idea to get myself some lights for my bike.

Well, I’ve started down that path, with a set of commuter lights, which should see me getting to and from work a little bit quicker (in as much as I’ll be able to use my bike again now). I’ve had one of those rear lights before — they’re very bright and offer a cool “Knight Rider” mode. The LED headlight seems to be very bright too, though obviously its not good enough for any serious off-roading. It ought to get me to and from work in relative safety though.

What price security? About £56.99

Whilst my bike’s there, it’ll be pretty securely locked to the railings, thanks to a slightly OTT Kryptonite New York Lock, along with the Kryptoflex that I’ve already got. It weighs a ton and seems to be one hell of a lot more secure than the cheap and nasty lock it replaces, though to be fair, that wouldnt take much. Its also one of the newer ones that can’t be broken into with an old Bic biro, which is nice. The key has a car-style light on it so that you can see the keyhole in the dark, which is a totally ace feature to have on a bike lock!

I am slightly worried that I’ll be laying down a challenge to potential thieves rather than deterring them though ;-)

Its a long long time ago. So long that my old GT LTS was my regular bike. We’re talking more than seven years here.

I’ve gone over to my cousin Tom’s house, somewhere near Hindhead in Surrey, and we’ve gone out for a play on our bikes. We having an ace time, blatting down hills, darting up singletrack, generally having a good time. We’re buzzing!

We’re bombing along this bit of track, no wider than my handlebars. There’s trees along one side, and a small rancid ditch on the other, full of thick, dark, gloopy “water”. There’s roots growing straight across the track. You can see what’s coming can’t you?

All of a sudden my front wheel makes a sideways dash for the stream. There isn’t a single little thing I can do to stop it. Before I know it, I’m lying on my back in the steam, looking back at my bike, which is stood upright with the front wheel wedged into the ditch. I’ve somehow managed to complete a 180° somersault into the stream. Pure genius.

Just thought I’d share that with you.

We spent today playing up on Leckhampton Hill. I took the oppurtunity to play with my new camera.

I haven’t got the hang of action shots yet at all – I struggled to get the riders even vaguely in focus. More experimenting needed there methinks. The light wasn’t great either, which is never very helpful, but thats life. I had a bit of fun playing with the macro modes, getting nice close-ups of various bits of the bike, as you can see below.

As for the riding itself, it was ace. I struggled with the mud a bit to begin with, but once my confidence started to return I really enjoyed myself. I was starting to flow really well until blammo! My chain device decided it wanted to lose the chain — for the first time in months. Maybe it was something to do with the chain having more mud than lube on it, or perhaps running the chain a little too long isn’t helping. Maybe one of the grub-screws coming loose had something to do with it. Either way, a few minutes with an allen key sorted it out, and it didn’t come off for the rest of the day.

We rode most of what Lecky has to offer today — everything from tight nadgery singletrack to flat-out wide open rocky chutes. It really is a great mountain bike playground. If only it was a little bit bigger…

You can see the pictures over in The Gallery.