M@ Members – Winter Stripping Tips..

Here’’s a selection of suggestions from recent forum discussion, made me smile, thought I’d share the joy:

• Return home from a ride of mud and rain and wind having liberally caked yourself and bike in brown goo ( you hope its just mud but you dont really want to check in too much detail). Apply muc-off to bike and hose off, then turn hose on your shoes, legs, camelbak, waterproof jacket etc. You are now slightly cleaner. Realise that the washing machine is across the kitchen (tiled floor so thats kind of ok) and the hot shower is upstairs and the carpet through the house is cream coloured and that inspite of the use of a garden hose you’re still wet and muddy and also now quite cold…Striptease is then performed next to the kitchen door….

LHF Ride with the Trolls – 7 Nov 09

Well the week leading up to this ride the weather was awful, but as if by magic on the Saturday morning it was a beautiful, clear sky and sun streaming down. I set off early to meet at Jay’s neck of the woods.

clicky link for short video:  http://vimeo.com/7501279

After the usual faffing about, we set off.  ”Hang On a Minute!”, I said, only to realise I was trying to clip my trainers into my spd pedals – thats not gonna work!   So spd shoes now on we could set off proper, a short ride along the road and we were onto singletrack, it was pretty dry and riding well. The autumn colours were amazing; with all the fallen leaves making trail navigation a bit sketchy, but Jay knows his trails and found the way no bother (and he wasn’t hanging about either ).

Upcoming Rides & Xmas Party…

Well, what can I say but big thanks to everyone who has offered to help out while I’m off the bike over the coming months.  It means rides will continue through to end of January when, hopefully, I’ll be back riding. 

So here’s the definitive list of what’s going on with all things Muddy@rse, enjoy the mud plugging (winter tyre recommendation from me are Bontrager Mud X’s , I’m sure Guy would love to chat to you all about this in much greater detail on the rides though lol!) :

November / December & January ride details below

Hallowe’en Night Ride – Boo!

Turning into another tradition is the Hallowe’en night ride.  An excuse to just get all juvenile and silly by dressing you or your bike up in appropriately scarey garb.  Brilliant fun. 

Now if you’re new to Muddy@rse (hello Nick and Paul) as you pulled into the car park you could be forgiven for thinking.. WTF!  When you clapped your eyes on this…

Ming in full fancy dress – the funniest thing was seeing him get his skirt caught on the saddle as he tried to cock his leg over   Or this….

Zombie Rich, looking very happy at the recent news he’s going to be a Dad in May 2010 (congrats to Rich & Donna from all at Muddy@rse).

But hey there was also promise of a fantastic ride, led by Jim ‘lung butter’ Kirk on his local stomping ground of Stanmer with lots of lovely sinewy singletrack to slip slide about on and to potentially lose your way; the trails are quickly disappearing under a thick mulch of fallen leaves.

Ride Report: It’s Our Birthday and We’ll Ride If We Want To!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Well, believe it or not, three whole years have passed since the inaugural Muddy@rse ride – nobody had any idea just how muddy an @rse could get!

To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we returned to the scene of the crime (Or should that be ‘grime’?) and prepared to relive the experience. The weather seemed to be unseasonably co-operative, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it was really tricky to decide how many layers to wear.

Gathered in the usual haphazard manner – cars, bikes, backpacks etc; scattered across the University of Sussex car park – banter was exchanged, last minute fettling took place and forgotten items were fretted over. Gradually, the riders gravitated into something resembling an orderly group and a head count ensued. Unfortunately, our intrepid leader, Lisa, was not able to join us on the ride, as she was still recovering from a nasty spill that took place a few weeks ago – but she was there to wave us off (And guard the cake!)

It’s Been a Funny Old Month!

It started off with jet lag following our fab trip to the States then only a few days later it concluded with this:

It hurts, but I love my new jacket, I really do!?!?

A trip to A&E following a very nasty crash that I have barely no memory of, thanks to the massive bang on the back of my head & neck.  Scarey mary!  After 7hrs being lashed to that stretcher; x-rays and CT scans making sure I’d not broken my neck (very scarey mary) I was patched up and let home.  As this happened on a night ride, that meant leaving Hospital at 5.30am…oh yes, I know how to do things properly me!

To say my neck has hurt A LOT over the past 4 weeks would be the understatement of the month, so I won’t go into boring detail.  BUT FECK IT’S HURT A LOT.  Physio is now helping and today a very loud CRACK was to be heard as it decided to re-align itself a little bit; but, oh the relief.  I’ll be off the bike for a few weeks to come yet and when I do return it will be Sustrans trails and nice flat wide bridleways for me for a bit til I get my confidence and fitness back.   That will probably mean I won’t be on a Muddy@rse ride until 2010, but it’ll soon be Xmas and before you know it I’ll be back on the trails with you all.

On that note, it’s been playing on my mind a lot about what to do with Muddy@rse while I’m not around.  Rick very kindly made sure the birthday ride went ahead and it was great to see everyone turn out for the fun; I really appreciate all your get well wishes, but what about the next couple of months? 

Basically, I need help.  Help leading club rides at end of November and end December and a Xmas night ride on 16th December too; help doing write ups of these rides; and any photos too.  It would be a shame for Muddy@rse not to continue just because I’m not around for a bit, wouldn’t it ?  Hopefully that won’t happen and some kind soul(s) will come to the rescue and keep things going while I’m not able to. 

Jay from Tunnel Hill Trolls has very kindly offered to still run the LFH ride on 7 November (see forum for details) and Jim is putting on the Hallowe’en night ride tonight (7.30pm roll from Sussex Uni), but apart from that all other rides are unfortunately on hold until I hear from anyone able to help out.    

I’ll keep you posted on progress … Lisa

October Ride Updates

Hi All,

Just a little reminder to put your clocks back Saturday and to enjoy that extra hour in bed. Following the bang to my head 3 weeks ago, I am still not allowed to ride (and won’t be for at least another 2-3 weeks!!), so Rick will be leading Sunday’s ride but help is needed please with sweeping, etc. I am coming along to the ride but will go for a walk and join you all for coffee and cake afterwards.

Hallowe’en Ride: Change of venue because Devils Dyke pub has something going on that night too so our ride will now start at Sussex Uni (Sports Centre CP No.5) and will be in and around Stanmer.

If you could let us know if your coming along to either of these rides that would be great so we have an idea of numbers.

See you Sunday
Lisa

Moab: Some Photos, more to follow

Clicky link: http://photos-by-lisa.photosnaps.org.uk/c1767750.html

Boogie, er, I mean Bivvy Nights!

Sometimes you really do need someone else to sound out ideas that, on the face of it, seem a little bit mad. This was certainly the case last month when due to a mix of poor planning and apathy I realised that I wouldn’t be competing in the Dusk Till Dawn Enduro. I did feel the need to do something a bit different but still involving a mix of night riding, camping and social but without a long, fatigue ridden drive home afterwards.

 A quick e-mail was sent out listing couple of silly ideas, some possible locations and, most importantly, a fixed date: October 3^rd.

One idea got the best response:  a local-ish night ride and wild camping trip where I could test some of my new Alpkit gear and also try for once to travel as light and as simply as possible (anyone who has seen what I take camping will understand how challenging this is). Our resident wild camping “experts” Lisa, Rick, and RichF all seemed to be up for an October night under the stars.