Tuesday 5th May

I came across a mud flap whilst out riding tonight, in the middle of nowhere, miles from anywhere, strange, I wonder how it got there. But hey, what a great word - Mud flap ! I wonder if Mr Tomkins ever thought of naming his famous Crud Catcher the Crud Flap, probably not.

Monday 4th May

I recently emptied the Photo Gallery of all last years photos except for 3 that refused to be moved !  I've added some new photos, there's a couple in the snow back in February and a few of Mark when we've been out putting the route together for the multi day ride I'm planning. There are 2 which were taken when we bivvied out.

Wednesday 29th April

Merino, that's what I was going to talk about last night. Up until recently I've always worn Helly Hansen Liffa's but after a recent visit to Skyline'shop in Glyncorrwg -

Skyline Cycles, I'm now a Merino convert. Unlike the Helly's they don't smell ! I found that after wearing the Helly liffa's for a day, people around you knew you'd been working hard on the bike. Towards the end they were even smelling musty after they'd come out of the wash. I've been out for a ride tonight and once again wore the merino top - the third day running and still there's not even a hint of that familiar musty smell.

Have a look at the Ground Effect site, they're a company in New Zealand who do some great kit.

Tuesday 28th April

I had to force myself out on the bike tonight. Now I haven't felt like this for a while but just couldn't get motivate myself. We've had a fair bit of rain the last 2 days and I wanted to check a climb out to see what it rides like in the wet.

Reluctantly I got changed and loaded the bike onto the car, half hour later I was there and starting to feel a little better already. Lifting the bike off the roof it felt 'light' to carry, always a good sign. Once on my way,the feeling that I always get when I'm out in the hills came flooding back. The back was alive and positively zipped along, everything felt 'just right' and I even cleaned the climb.

Now, I've forgotten what I was going to witter on about tonight.

Sunday 26th April

Great weekend, thanks to Tony, Iain, Sean and Chris, 4 great lads. Out in the Beacons today merely reaffirmed my idea i mentioned in the previous entry. I'm going to organise a multi day ride that will cover the the mountain ranges in South Wales - The Black Mountains, The Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountain. I've done a fair bit of route finding over the last week or so but still have some bits to finalise. Now, do we travel East or West ? Suggestions would be welcome.

Thursday 16th April

I seem to be having more than my fair share of bad luck with tyres and tubes recently. I managed to pop the tyre off the rim yesterday. Now I've never done that before. The tube didn't puncture so I just had to let the air out, put the tyre back on and pump it up again.

Whilst I was lying in the grass pondering my situation I came up with a fantastic idea for a multi day ride. I'll sus it out over the next week or so and I'll post it on the blog. Still waiting on our webmeister Gary to sort out the BLOG, shouldn't be too long.

Tuesday 14th April

Another puncture whilst Guiding yesterday, what's going on ?!

Sunday 12th April

The midges are back ! I was out Wednesday evening and picked up a puncture - the second this year when I've been Guiding - it was definitely a shorts evening and the midges had a field day on my lilly white legs. Time to dig out the 'Avon skin so soft'.

Tuesday 31st March

I've always ridden a steel hardtail but for the first time - after chasing Richard down 'The Wall' on Sunday, this weekend I considered a full sus. I even put a larger tyre on the back to compensate, but on those sort of trails at speed, it just wasn't enough. It's obvious why the vast majority of you who ride these trails prefer a full sus. But who was it who said " You can ride anything with a hardtail, it's just not a comfortable as a full sus " ? I think I'll stick with my Prestige, for now at least.....

Wednesday 25th March

Today was one of those great late afternoon/early evening rides on the bike. The excuse for going out - do I need an excuse ? was to break the new saddle in ready for the weekend. The ground has now fully dried out and although it was windy, the air was almost still in the valleys. I watched a large Red Kite floating effortlessly in the wind looking for carrion, and on one of the descents I disturbed a Buzzard resting on a fence post, she flew away in front of me and I'm sure if I'd reached out i could almost have touched her.

When it was time to go home I was undecided which way to go - in the east the wind farm above the man made trails of Afan, in the west the sun setting over the Prescelli's. Go west my son !

Sunday 22nd March

Sorry, I haven't written for a while. The weather's been great so I've been riding a lot. The ground is dry, the puddles have gone ! A loop in the hills above the house which would take about an two and a half hours in the winter, can now be done in about two, it's great.

Wednesday 4th March

All the stuff I wrote in February has dropped off - somewhere out there ! Our web master Gary is working on the new BLOG page so hopefully it should be up and running soon.

The snow is back ! 5 cm fell in about 2 hours this afternoon. It was great out on the bike, the air was still and the only sound was the gurgling of the streams and the tyres as they rolled through the snow. Oh and my heart beating on some of the climbs !