A loop round the town, using bike paths and bits of off-road and taking in a few laps of the pump and 4xtracks.
Distance: 31 km (map)
Surface: Some off-road, bike paths, bits of road
Time: 1 hour 52 minutes
Weather: Nice and warm, sunny
Bike: Inbred SS (with 2.4″ tyres, 32:17)
I needed to get out on a decent bike ride and I needed to pick up my tickets for Dales Bike Centre‘s Ride the Divide cinema night. Getting them by the shortest and easiest route would be a bit silly, right?
So, with only four non-commute rides in my legs in the last 7 months, riding fixed gear via the highest pub in Britain was the obvious choice.
Home to Barnard Castle to Bowes to Tan Hill to Reeth and then home again. 73 miles, with some off-road built in. Hills. And no freewheeling.
It was a lovely day so I had an espresso and a pastry in Barnard Castle.
The climb from Bowes to Tan Hill pub is long and bumpy.
But there’s beer at the end of it.
The road home has its share of bumps too, in places.
Ace day out. My longest fixed ride ever, off the back of very little riding.
I hurt now.
Distance: 73 miles (map)
Surface: Road and easy off-road
Time: 9 hour 30 minutes
Weather: Nice and warm, sunny
Bike: Solitude fixie (with 28c tyres, 34:16)
Another quickie.
Distance: 21km (map)
Surface: Road and off-road
Time: 1 hour 18 minutes
Weather: Nice and warm, sunny
Bike: Solitude fixie (with 28c tyres, 34:16)
Quick post-work spin.
Distance: 12km (map)
Surface: Road and off-road
Time: 45 minutes
Weather: Nice and warm, sunny
Bike: Solitude fixie (with 28c tyres, 34:16)
After only two rides as Project Gnarr, the Inbred got nicked from my garage last weekend.
Project Budget Endurance Machine is go…
Another lovely ride from dales Bike Centre with Simon. Swaledale is still ace. My second ride on the Inbred with suspension and gears proved that they’re quite good fun, really. It still feels like cheating to get to/from a ride in a car, but bad things can be good, right?
Distance: 31km?
Time: 4 hours?
Surface: off-road
Weather: Very windy, misty, drizzly
Bike: Geared Inbred (1×9, with suspension fork and 2.4″ tyres)
I had my first ride on Project Gnarr (my SS Inbred, rebuilt with 1×9 gearing and suspension forks) on Friday. About 30km in Swaledale: along the valley bottom from Dales Bike Centre, up the valley side from somewhere between Gunnerside and Low Row onto Great Pinseat, then down Surrender Moor and over Low Moor. Swaledale is still awesome.
This was my first ever ride with both gears and suspension (only my second ever ride with suspension and first with gears in a couple of years). What I learned: gears make it easier to ride up hills; suspension makes it easier to ride down hills. So, they really are strength compensators and skill compensators
32:32 is plenty low enough as a bottom gear. It’s the same ratio I rode round there as a beginning MTBer 18 years ago (28:28 in them days), and that was on on a heavier bike with weaker legs. 32:12 is plenty tall enough for a top gear. 1×9 is definitely the way forward.
The fork isn’t set up properly yet, but I quite liked it not doing too much until I hit something bigger/harder and it doesn’t bob about too much when climbing. It’d be interesting to have a go on a modern fork with clever lockout things as a comparison.
I think I like it. But, it’s heavier and complicated, so I think I’ll be sticking with rigid forks and non-variable gears for proper rides and save boing and variable gears for shorter/group rides.
I think I might even have done a little bit of a jump. Stoked, dude!
Distance: 31km?
Time: 4 hours?
Surface: off-road
Weather: Warm and dry for the time of year – so, a bit drizzly and very windy
Bike: Geared Inbred (1×9, with suspension fork and 2.4″ tyres)
Distance: 103 miles
Time: 13 hours
Surface: off-road
Weather: Warm and dry
Bike: Ragley TD-1 SS (32:18 and 2.1″ 29er tyres)
Spin up to Hamsterley, picnic and walk with family, spin back. Lost GPS thingummy, but remember it being my fastest ever trip each way.
Distance: 47.5 miles
Time: sub-4 hours ish
Surface: on-road
Weather: Warm and dry
Bike: Ragley TD-1 SS (32:18 and 2.1″ 29er tyres)
Another ride in Swaledale – big hills and big views.
Road to Hurst. Fremington Edge, Low Moor, Surrender to Great Pinseat, Gunnerside. Dales Bike Centre. Road home.
It were reet hot.
My bike sounded like the bag of spanners that it is.
Distance: 105km (maps: to Dales Bike Centre and from Dales Bike Centre)
Time: 9 hours 45 minutes
Surface: road – off-road – road
Weather: Warm, dry
Bike: SS Inbred (32:17, with 2.4″ tyres)