Ride Report: Friston & Long Man, 29 Jul 07

This was DirtDiva Anna’s last ride with us as she is returning to her New Zealand homeland in the next couple of weeks. Best wishes for the future from all the Muddy@rse gang.

29th July witnessed another Muddy@rse ride this time taking in plenty of hidden singletrack in Friston Forest together with a healthy dose of the South Downs. Despite worries and concerns the weather was fantastic, bright warm sunshine with a gentle breeze. Thanks to Kevin from Evolution Cycles in Eastbourne (check them out) for putting the route together and leading the ride.

Weird Weather – what tyres ?

With this weird weather lately I have been struggling to choose a tyre for the current conditions we’ve got in Sussex.  So it got me thinking, what do other Muddy@rsers use at the moment and how do they rate them for our particular type of terrain.   We’ve got your slippy chalk, claggy mud, slimey mud, flints & roots.  All of which are horrible in the wet, and wet is what we have a lot of at the moment.  Is there a good allround tyre for round here ? So come on, find me a tyre that will deal with everything Sussex can throw at it.  I currently ride Kenda Nevegal and Blue Grooves and they are good, but is there anything better that you would recommend & why ? 

Lisa

Le Tour – Allez Allez Allez

On our recent holiday we realised the Tour de  France would be winding it’s way through leafy Kent and after a rush of blood to the head, we decided to go and watch it. So, off we trundled to a forest somewhere which had a bridleway running right to the roadside where the Tour would pass, and it was only 2 miles from the car park so not too far to cycle.  Result ! Got there nice and early, like 2 ½ hrs early, and joined the small group that’d gathered.  Had a good laugh with them as the ‘Caravanne’ made it way first, throwing out a few freebies on the way.  We got a pen, sweets and skin yoghurt (!!), lady on other side of road got just about everything else, but it was her birthday so we didn’t mug her for it J   Then all of a sudden the car announcing the leader’s arrival appeared, 5 minutes to go, David Miller in the top 5, the crowds went mad.  Come on Miller, do Britain proud… Then there they were, rounding the corner really fast, Miller up front, the atmosphere was brilliant, everyone cheering him on.  Couple of minutes later the Peleton arrived in arrow formation.  There were hundreds of them.  Filling the whole road they came past with such a whoosh you could feel the draft, amazing.  Water bottles were thrown into the crowd as they went by.  The guy next to us got one, he was so chuffed.  A keen road cyclist, it was from the Team he had been supporting for years so that made his day. And then in a flash, they were gone.  Wow !  Everyone was buzzing, chatting about how fast they were and laughing at the spectacle we had just witnessed.  One for prosperity and well worth the effort.  Even got us thinking again about buying road bikes so watch this space…. Lisa

Pics here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/7914727@N03/sets/72157601064148676/

Speedball goes AWOL!

Just before our holiday to Italy my Maverick Speedball telescopic seatpost decided to explode and spew it’s oily contents all over my conservatory, nice ! After a few phone calls to Extra UK and Evolution Cycles (thanks guys for helping out), Extra agreed to repair the post as an urgent warranty claim ‘cos we needed the bike for a week biking in Wales when we got back from Italy.  They even agreed to deal direct to save time. Apparently, the post has now been modified because the screws inside were sheering off which was catastrophically destroying them.  So, Extra put in a whole new telescopic unit (with the mod) and Rick arranged with them to upgrade the post to the remote version which currently is unavailable in the UK.  Nice ! 

True to their word, on return from Italy there it was waiting for us.  So I have to say that although I wasn’t too impressed with this expensive bit of kit destroying itself and initially wanted a full refund, I have been very impressed with Extra for the way they handled my problem.  They also gave me a new One Year Warranty so I’m happy and that’s what I call customer service.   Cheers guys.

Lisa

BikeRadar.com – Steve Peat’s dislocated his foot !

Has everyone seen this new site It’s trying to incorporate all types of cycling into one resource, we’ll add it to our shortcut links (well Ollie will if I ask him nicely!) on the RH side of blog. 

 While having a quick flick through I saw this article, what a shame I hope Peaty recovers in time for the World Champs at Fort Bill in September.  http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/peatys-prang-the-details-from-the-man-himself-11635

Lisa

Bontrager Twentyfour12, Team Muddy@rses’ Inaugural Event.

Car packed with everything imaginable – check. Bikes on rack – check. Annoying sat nav programmed – check (grrr)

We’re off then to Team Muddy@rse’s first enduro event. We’d entered the 12 hour Open Mixed 4 Person Team with the idea of giving it a go, seeing if we liked it and having a bit of fun along the way.

Our Team consisted of me, Rick, Olly and HelsBels. Olly’s girlfriend Sally came along as Pit Manager and what a grand job she did (thanks Sally), although she was also cramming exam revision in at the same time hope you did well !

It’s My Birthday…

Well, as most of you know, this year has been my Big 40 and although depressed as hell in the run up to it (that’s from xmas to June for those not in the know), I have to say that the actual arrival of it was a really nice surprise.

I have had fun times with friends and family, two fancy dress parties were the highlights (pics here 4 a larf http://photos-by-lisa.photosnaps.org.uk/c1330359.html) one of which was a girlie camping weekend with the theme ‘girl guides / the outdoors’ oh how funny we all looked.. maybe you just had to be there I don’t know.

Club Ride: South Downs – Friston & Long Man, 29-Jul-07

Our next ride will be starting from Butchers Hole Car Park near Friston on Sunday 29th of July, led by Kevin from Evolution Cycles, Eastbourne. (See our discounts section)

This ride will provide XC trails of approx 15-20 miles in and around Friston Forest, giving you access to some great secret singletrack and open downland trails in what should be the height of summer (fingers crossed everyone !!)

Start: 10.30am
Place: Butchers Hole Car Park, Friston Village, East Sussex. Car park is Pay & Display – £1 all day.

Hope to see you all there.