Pastures new

This weekend marked something of a milestone in my biking life. After waiting since Monday, I finally managed to get out on my new mountain bike frame (with all of the appropriate bits attached). In fact, the bike was out on Saturday and Sunday. It takes a bit of time to fiddle and fettle with the new rear shock and get used to the bike after all.
The first noticeable difference from my old bike was the speed at which the bike turned. It seems incredibly quick to go from one direction to another. Compared to my old frame, it feels like the difference between a Honda Goldwing and an R1. Nice..
The second thing I noticed was the difference that the Pro-pedal shock makes. With the fork locked out and the Pro-pedal on, the bike is almost rigid on the flat, with just enough give at both ends to take out the big shocks. Both of those differences were immediately obvious, just on the road ride up to the woods. Once I got into the woods, more became apparent.
The trails were still muddy and sticky after days and days of heavy rain. The mud around Bristol turns into something like mushy fly paper after a bit of rain. The drag on the tyres is very noticeable to say the least. That being the case, it was difficult to judge whether the bike climbs much faster than the old one. It will need a dry trail to be sure. The bike certainly gripped well and shifted along the trail.
Once I was on the bumpy, rocky downhill sections I really noticed some big differences. The type of adjectives used in the mountain bike mags kept popping into my head – words like plush and composed. The new frame was a huge improvement on the rocky sections. The geometry is obviously quite different, which took me by surprise a couple of times. The whole package will take a little while to get used to and increased confidence will come along with it. I’m fairly convinced that I’ll be getting faster on this bike compared to the old one, despite the rear travel supposedly being less – it certainly doesn’t feel like it is though.
The one thing that came out of the biking this weekend was that I felt like an old geezer turning up at a club, wearing all of the right clothes, knowing all of the DJ’s but not being able to dance. I need to get my fitness levels up to the level my bike deserves!
Almost at the end of the ride on Sunday, I noticed that my chain was twisted a little in one area. Keeping an eye on it, I had already decided that I would be replacing the chain in the next few days. Then, just as I had passed a group of mtb’ers who had pulled over to let me through, I put the hammer down and within 100 yards the chain gave out on me. Fortunately I had a few spare links and a chain tool in my pack. It wasn’t straight forward though. Pulling off the trail into the “light rough”, I managed to drop both links and pins during the course of replacing the knackered bits and they weren’t easy to find again.
New chain arrives tomorrow and then I’ll be ready for Thetford next weekend.

Basic biking

Here I am, looking forward to going to pick up my new, multi-pivot suspension mountain bike frame, ready fitted with my plush forks and disk brakes. It should be ready tomorrow and I am waiting to try out it’s capabilities at floating over rough trails and rocks.

So what did I do today? Well, I decided to take my hardtail round town bike, with it’s barely suspension forks (all of about 30mm travel) and V brakes. I was planning on mostly heading along small country roads, with just the odd bit of bridleway between, so no need to change the tyres. I reckoned my city slicks would manage it. I also had a route planned, but hadn’t thought about roughly measuring the distance.

So, after swapping the flat pedals for my old SPD’s, swapping the saddle over and bunging a new set of rear brake blocks on, I was ready to head out. What a lovely day for a bike ride too! Cold, wet and really windy. Just lovely.

The choice of tyres seemed to be working out ok. Most of the route was hard packed and the fast rolling 1.5 inch tyres were making life relatively easy. When I say relatively, I’m comparing with 2.1 mountain bike tyres which make a noise like a distant tractor as they drag along the roads.

The interesting part started on the first real stretch of bridleway. Riding up the rocks and mud toward the ancient Cadbury Camp settlement was an experience. A week of fairly constant rain had left the trail a mixture of mud, wet leaves and rocks. A practically rigid bike with slick city tyres was looking a little out of it’s depth. I managed to slip and slide my way to the top of the hill. The view was lovely, even in the wet and wind. Along the horizon, the sun was breaking through and the view down to the Bristol Channel, across the fields and farms was worth the climb.

I branched off the main bridleway to take a descent which ducks under one of the raised sections of the M5 motorway. The path is obviously mainly used by horses, with hoof marks all over the deep mud. Mud so deep that in places I had to pedal just to keep moving, despite the fairly steep downhill gradient. The trail slowly turned from deep mud to stones. I could hear my V brakes struggling and the sound of my wheels rims being ground away by the paste whipped up by the brakes. I had forgotten how much I detest that sound. It’s the sound of wheels slowly being ruined and sounds expensive.

Relief arrived in the form of a long road section, with loads of puddles suitable for washing of the worst of the grime. The rain even stopped. Unfortuntately the wind didn’t, but it was still a great improvement. I bimbled along the country lanes, only having to get the map out once. As the miles went by, my mind started to wander a little, only really paying when the occasional car graced the single track lanes. I didn’t even pay much attention to the potholes in the tarmac of the back lanes.

Suddenly I felt the back wheel hit one of the potholes and worse I felt the rim hit the edge of the pothole. It was one of those hits where you know immediately that you’ve got a pinch puncture. I pulled my little back pack off and pulled out the spare inner tube. Oh. I’ve only got a tube for 1.95 to 2.3 tyres. I’ve also got one of those tyres which needs severe tyre lever action to get the tyre back on again. Great care and plenty of time managed to squeeze the tube into the tyre without mishap. Good job too, I was about 10 miles from home and not looking forward to the walk.

After a lengthy uphill stretch, I was back on familiar roads and heading towards the towpath ride from Pill back to Bristol along the bottom of the Avon Gorge. As I cruised along the towpath, I made the decision to cycle from the bottom of the gorge, up through the woods, to end up at the Clifton suspension bridge. Steeper than carrying on to the end of the towpath, but more interesting. Forgot those slick tyres though. Hmmm, interesting it was. Halfway up the slippery path, my legs decided the were bored with it all. It was a real struggle to make it to the top and then back to the flat.

I checked the length of the route, roughly, from the OS Explorer map – after washing my bike and soaking in the tub of course. Turns out it was about 35 miles. Longer than I’m used to in January, especially with a mix of off and on road. Good fun though and I need to get in a few rides like this if I’m to be ready for some serious riding come springtime. Oddly, I’m looking forward to more of the same.

Taking the hardtail out was actually a great think to do. It really makes you work harder off road, but makes the on road easier. That doesn’t mean for a second that I’m not relishing the prospect of the new full bouncer. It does remind me that it’s no bad thing to get a bit a variety and make life harder every so often.