Town

Riding is rather rubbish back here in shrewsbury, and its frrrreeezing, so i cant see much getting done. but so you know, its 21km to town and back, joy. ill add up total riding for the christmas holidays and add it on when i get back.
xxx

Bath

Seeing as no one is here at the moment, apart from me and adam, and the fact that my bike is/was filthy, and needs to go in the car on saturday, i thought ide have a go at making it last longer and woring better by starting to clean it. we have no hose here, so it was into the bath for a nice hot... well, er, bath. ne hoo, dropped the wheels and the saddle off ot fit its huge ass 21" frame in the tub and cleaned it all over thoroughly, used a squirty radox bottle to clean out crevases. gave the disks a good scrub and then having spent aaaaaaaaaages cleaning it, went and lubed everryhting from cahin to mech to pedal bearings, running sweet as a nut. yum (smells nice too) if its gonna last, im gonna have to start doing that after every ride.

Nant Y Arian

Aber > Nant Y A > Aber
distance, 39.5km
Max speed, 63.5 km/h
10:00 14:00 (ish)

Shorter ride today, out to Nant over mountain road, then a figure 8 loop around the single tracks, Italian job, Drunken Druid etc, thought wede skip leg burner and the moors when it started to hail. grr. weather was a bit miserable, but we did nearly get run over by a stupidly low Tornado (jet). it hink my yres were a little hard, as my fingers were numbed, it was damn cold too. Ooo, i passed the 200km overall mark today, am on 206km now i think.



'Giant' Convention

Last Wednesday ride this semester

One last ride for the down hillers and freeriders, not alot to talk about, Penglais woods, then Consti, then Clarach. Then back down Consti, ending with a jump competition in the dark at the harbour. however, im quite pleased with some of the shots i got.

Drew up


Drew Down


Lee off Consti


roughly nine grands worth of equipment (bikes alone)


Arty Mike


The Team and 'Machines'


Springy bits, castle in background


Mine!


Pop off wall


Richs stupidly large disks


Lee tail whips off wall (show off)

Nant Y Moch

Aberyswyth > Nant Y Moch > Aberystwyth

Distance: 52.58km
Max Speed: 64.8 km/h
11:00 > 15:30

Second weekend and the second trek. longer one this time as a dissapointing turn out, just me, Rhodri and Si, it was going to be around 70km, but the weather turned so we decided to miss out the river crossings and head back (scary stuff)
no punctures, no damage, brakes were sorted out finaly so over all a really good tri, and i managed to keep the pace up too. yay. Headed out the usual way to the back end of Nant Y Arian, then after the first scramble track out of Bont, turning left onto the back leg of the Conti trail unti we reach the Nant Y Moch resevoir, then we turn left around it instead of left, heading off over dam and round the rest of the resevoir, we got out to the next resevoir by 13:30 and the weather was turning, so we decided to double back and take on the remainder of the Conti trail, The long double track descent section down into Bont, and then off home the way we had come. it was a good fast descent tailing 4X4s and Dirt bikes. we will probably go out next week too to get one last proper ride in before Christmas. I hope ypu can all make sense of that waffle above, i was there so i know where i mean. unless you know the Conti trail then there is no hope, and if you do then good luck to you. Either way, it was a great ride even though no techincal singletrack stuff. xx

Rhodri


Rhodri!!


Rhodri on the move! (escaping??)


The Dam




Another Action Shot

Puncture still!

Despite being ace, this bike has rubbish innertubes, i got one measly slow puncture,, and inteh process of repainring it i managed t pinch the innnertube numerous times, easily into double figures, this meant that those nice stiff new hutchinson bulldog tyres kept nipping the tube as i put it back on, and creating a puncture, They were also so stiff that i snapped my plastic levers trying to get them on and off, and so had to resort to horrid steel ones, scratching my nice black rim to kingdom come in various places. and to top it off, my pump exploded, and drews pump, i said i was gonna borow, was rubbish. so i cut my losses after 5 hours of struggle, and bought a new tube and a new pump and some lazy self adhesive patches just in case. overdraft here i come. ill make it up next year by not buying a bike and will hopefuly break even over the year.
im so damn practiced at punctures it should have been a 2 miniute roadside job, damn new tyres

Pump: £10.00
Tube: £4.50
Leech patches: £2.00
-10% club discount

Total: £14.85
is that about right?
who knows
at this precise moment i dont care. i hate bikes, they're crap. off to get a nother puncture now. grrr
think will take it easy and just got to woolies and get some washers to adjust my brakes. grrrr poo.

Brand new tyres suck ass

Went through Pengalis woods and Constitution hill and enedd up getting 2 snake bite punctures, cause my tyres are new I think. anyhoo, thats just the begining, went o mend them, and cause they are so stiff ended up using steel levers to get hem off, chippingthe nice black paint on my rims to buggery, mended the puncture and while getting them back on, pinched both tubes aain, and ended uup ahving to take them off again, more chipping of paint and struggling. I went throught this loop 3 times for each tyre, by the end of which they had softened up (ought to with that pressure on 'em). I finaly got them on, after being extra careful, got to pump them up, and my already knackerd pump, explodes on me. 'Ace'. so i had to find Drew and his bodge of a pump (held together with jubilee clips) to get going again. Anyway, 3 hours later, it is finaly repaired. I'm sure i will find a slow puncture in the morning when i go to ride, but hey, thats bikes for you. grrr. think i need a new pump now, and some puncture proof inners.

MPH brakes

Just been over to Scullys, swapped over my brakes from yank to normal way round. had a ride on right hand side of road and it felt normal being the yank way round, back brake on the outside of the lane, but after a little faffing, we are back to good old left had drive. cheers Scull. ready to rock and roll in a bit. xx

Expenditure!

Went to Summit today, bought some new gloves (Specialized Ridge Long, XXL) and a lizardskin chainstay guard, not sure if i got too small a chainstay. Got jumbo, but i think i might have an oversized frame, it fits but has to be streatched, im sure it will be fine though

Gloves : £20.00
Lizardskin: £8.00
-10% club discount: -£2.80
Total: = £25.50

Something wrong there but hey, not complaining

Nant Y Arian

Aberystwyth > Nant Y Arian > Aberystwyth
Distance, 43.58km
Max speed, 62.2 km/h
11:00 > 14:30

First real outing for the new, currently un-named bike. Cycled out to Nant with Jack and Si, (rocklobster and SJP4) and did a large section of Continental trail including 'Mark of Zorro', 'Legburner', The Moors, that bugger of a climb from the village also various other bits and pieces, in-between. was a great ride, got my gears adjusted nicley and we got some cool pictures even though the weather was a little on the miserable side. took plenty of food this time, learning for the last trips mistake of taking bugger all food. nice thermos of tomato soup at the top of legburner, yummy. Took a spare innertube too, and didnt need it, but thats the best way i guess. should ahve worn sorts, although did make showering off easier and i can wear shorts on Wed now instead. Fell off once although had a few sketchy incidents, need to get used ot these new btakes and suspension. Sus' was quite hard so skipped around quite a bit but didnt want to bottom out my forks just yet so left it hard for the sake of the tricky jumps. got away with a skinned shoulder and nicked lil finger, but also chipped paint on chainstay so not impressed about that. Will stick some snakeskin stickers over it. It was from missing the trail with sketchy wheels and nearly sliding off the hill on the tightest switchback on the 'mark of zorro'. ne-hoo, all in all an excellent ride. Gonna go work out best way to load up pictures and movie clips. wish me luck.


set to go


splash!


Go Si go!!


The Sea, more to the point, home in sight

The Arrival!

It is finaly here. After a term of anticipation and weeks of waiting and searching, it has finaly arrived, My 21 inch Giant XTC4 2005. Cause im lazy here are sum directly ripped stats from giant.

Specifications:
Frame sizes :17"/19"/21"/23"
Frame :AluxX 6061 frame FluidForm w/integrated gussets and IHS, disc only
Rear shock :No
Front fork :SR Suntour XCP75 80mm travel, w/lockout
BB set :Tien Hsin BB
Crank set :Shimano FC
Chain :KMC-Z72-8
Pedals :EXT-TEC w/toeclips and straps
Head set :TH 1-1/8" threadless semi-cartridge semi-integrated
Handlebars :New Giant Comp low riser alu
Handlebar stem :New Giant Comp Ahead alu
Brakes :Giant MPH 3 hydraulic disc
Hubs :Formula
Rims :Alex DP-17
Tyres :Hutchinson Bulldog
Derailleurs (front/rear) :Shimano Deore 9 speed direct mount
Gear shifters :Shimano Alivio 3x8 speed
Cassette :SRAM PG 8 speed
Saddle :Velo VL
Seat post :New Giant Comp alu
Extra :Waterbottle & cage
S.S.P. : 500 English gold pounds!!!

also added a bog stock Cateye speedo, so i tell you lot how i'm doing in numbers. Arent you lucky!

Whether you like it or not i think its awsome so there! off tomorow on a ride to break it in