Clock

Velo 5 instructions (pdf file, takes a while to load)
OK, im gonna risk setting my clock on my Speedo, cause its a bit out, (im a perfectionist) but i mite loose my ODO distance, so for the record its currently 675.5km, wish me luck....
Success, phew.
XXX

Slime update

Well, would appear that the slime didnt mend that puncture i got yesterday, BUT on closer inspection i found that the puncture was a pinchon the insied of the tube, the slime couldent reach there obviously, and i remember hte rim crunching on a drop onto a rock yesterday, wen i took the tube out to mend it, it left lots of little green spots otneh tyre, where it had mended little thorn holes! so Ha all yo doubters, they do work. :p

Epic

We did the Nant Y Moch Epic today, set off at 11 (we had bike probs) and then. laden with Nutrigrain and Marsbars, set off on out extensive journey, we did 62.70km in total, including a trip to LLanbadarn on the way back to borrow the Agri campus hose.
Had 1 puncture (100meters fromt he end so i rode it home before it went down goo an proper, we played in snow, had snowball fights, fell in (damn cold) rivers. Rhodri nearly lost his bike in a river while trying to cross it, (luckily hardcore steel rigids dont float) we made snow angels and wrote abermtb in the snow, I didnt take a camera so ule have too oogle at Jacks pictures. instead
Si, Rhodri, Jack and I, all got extremely muddy, and overdosed on elevenses cake bars. all in all an extremely satisfying day, you cant really see in the pictures at all how amazing the landscape was, open moorland, covered in snow layers, much like Tundra (nott hat ive ever seen tundra, only on telly) amazing how before htese rides i reallly cant be bothered, but am always so glad i did the slog up the hill off sealevel to some silly height. all good fun.
Multimap of Nant Y Moch, youc ant reallys ee any of the route we did, but it is in there, around Drosgol too i think.
I think,we did 62km off orad today, its 73km home, we did 7 hours riding today (home at 6), coming up for a ride home soon! we will see, ill prefer slicks and some pedals that are worth having, off to CRC now.

Brakes update

Has occoured i never did update you on the brakes situation,
I thinkt eh coating of soot was more of a contaminant than a help (but looks cool having black arms on rotor disks)
got sevedre squeal and vibration after the operation, but having riden down cardiac hill, i think i over heated em and got rid of a lot of the contamninant. the vibration however rattled my bolts loose and i didnt notice the 10mm of play in them till i got to the bottom of penglais slalom hill (Aber riders kno where i mean).
Jump into action with my trusty park tool. its been seeng a lot of action the on the weds rides, and ive started pocketing my chain tool too. Better to have it and not need it isnt it?

Get wheely fit

How to get wheely fit

having had a fiddle on google, and googlism (see main blog) , whadya know. Im kinda famous inteh bike world already

Wednesday ride

IMGP1425.JPG @ Fotopic.Net

Check me out flying (sort of) down the Clarach top trail. More club pictures by clicking 'abermtb' link (as its the club gallery)
X

Computer n' stuff

It would appear that my cable for my cycle computer has worn through! it split on me. grr, so im going to be missing a mile or 2 off the clock when the totals are added up. I took the opertunity however to reroute the cable tidier route under the hydraulics hoses etc rather than over, and reinforced the cable with insualtion tape (great stuff) I repaired the break by stripping the wire and twisting it all together, in the abscence of electronic construction equipment, using yet more tape rather then solder to hod it fast, and it works again, ace. I also think that i Maybe have found a nut to hold the brake caliper on now that the thread has stripped. took a long bolt to a short hole and used a innertube valve stem nut on the opposing side. thats univeral fittings for you, promoting bodging around the world. n' stuff. anyhoo, loctite-ed it just make sure. As i think it'l be softer steel, i mustn't over tighten it either!
Greaaat!

Weather

Index of met office Gifs

Cor, I found this.
the pictures are updated daily
link them into a blog, and they will be refereshed everytime you open the page.
simple weather chart for website!






now to sort out frames n stuff

(edit), i have a horrible feeling this is not quite Kosher. shall i just shut up now

Woof

Thought id'e give my brakes the once over. took out the rotors and doused em in petrol, woof. Then gently torched the pads, but with a bit more finesse, as not to risk cracking em, im sure some one will tell me this was a bad idea, but i have been told, and it makes sound sense, that burning them with a high volitility substance, will dissolve and then burn away any thicker, less volitile contaminates, like oil and WD40 etc. Without leaving a residue, unlike WD40. In theory, the braking will be a bit sloppy for a few revolutions, then after wearing away the soot properly,should be sharp as a Mofo. Ill let you know how it goes. Entire operation was done in the dark for added effect

Fore Slime

Managed to get another puncture, on the non-slimed tube at the front, while on the wednesday street ride, so have come home early and bought myself anothe rslime tube from summit. fitted and raring to go, ace. thik i need some new pedals still, some cheaish £9.99 DMR clones or something. peggy an grippy, i alsoe think im gonna bend my bike one day, by riding these street rides. I want another (more suitable for crasing) bike! Doh.

Busy busy busy

WELL! its been a long time boys and girls. and a hellovalot has happened in the past week or so, so much so i dont kno where to begin, is supose we could start at 'le begining'
tuesday, we had the Aber MTB social, which was keeewl, first one ive been to this term, involved, melv being very sick again, Andy having a tete a tete with the police again, and general mayhem, i didnt feel very well. then on wednesday i managed to hospitalise myself for 2 hours by knocking myself on some concrete for a few miniutes, i dont know how it happned, i wasnt there.
http://abermtb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=533
but heres a wee thread for the post Andy put on the forum.
if i wasnt wearing my helmet would have been splattered across the road i think, so i needed to buy a new one, as the old one was well and truly shagged. After much though and indecisivness, i came to choosing this one, not only cause its not to expensive and looks pretty, but cause its a 661, and i can look pimpin.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com//Models.aspx?ModelID=1978
I also managad to chew up the front of my brakre resevoirs on the old impact, but it has straightened them out for me, a silver lining you could say (although they are now astheticaly mangled and required a good thump with a hammer to un-foul). it appears i cant rememebr things from one miniute to the next, but that will improve with time apparently. (great!)
im well and truly grounded till my helmet arrives, because im afraid of riding without one now. I think i need some new, more grippy pedals too. To stop me going arse over tit again.
ooh well, on an up note, i am linked on chain reaction now, so if you go tot eh main page, look for me on the right hand side. ace.
wen ive hosted videos, ill get some funny clips of drew making a fool of himself on the sea-front online too, look forward to it.
cheery bye
me
xx

Neowwm

You cant really see the height at all in this, its much scarier than it looks ;-) is about 20ft high, to about 45% slope

Ill get a video next time and work out how to host it

More Damage!

Not only did i bust a chain yesterday at clarach (i will have to carry my chain breaker now too)
but i slid down a gravel run off on my butt (was pretty steep, required steering, and i didnt have any on that surace). which made short work of my very very worn shorts, initiating a hole in the paper thin fabric, which with tearing up and down clarach, became quite a substantial hole. So ill be riding in jeans this afternoon and then off to find some new shorts. bummer 9maybe wil buy some riding trousers, but will still needs shorts i guess, for general wear. so will buy shorts first I reckon.
On a better note, I made a belt that will actually suppor the weight of my camera, (my leather studded one is wearing the hole through with the weight on the back, its made of webbing bits and pieces, and seems to be good good. xx

Wednesday ride

Mike considering doing something really stupid (in my opinion at least)


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