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Date:
3rd January 2009 The lot of a mountain biker in England is that waterproof jackets play a key part in the planning for any ride. Way back in February 2001 I bought an Altura Nevis jacket although this went the way of many waterproof jackets many years ago and lost it's waterproofing. I have read about those re-waterproofing kits you can buy and stick in the washing machine but neither I nor my wife have been very keen on those. Next up was a Fox Convert Jacket, a present bought in October 2007. I love the Fox styling and brand and I really liked this jacket. It also has removable sleeves to turn the jacket into a windproof gilet. However, within 4 months of buying this I had ripped the pretty thin sleeve as I fell against an old tree stump lying alongside the trail and last month I ripped the other sleeve. The Fox convert jacket was only really showerproof anyway and was not totally waterproof and with significant venting it was not particularly warm either. Which leads me to the point of this story which is I just bought another jacket and this time I went the whole hog and bought the much raved about Endura Stealth Soft Shell Jacket. It's not cheap but it has all the features that an avid mountain biker could want including:
It turned up in the post this morning from Wiggle and given that it was minus 5.5 degrees Celsius when I dropped my son off at work at 7-15 this morning I am keen to see how it performs tomorrow. It's one of those ergonomic cycle-specific fits and there's not a lot of room for layers beneath it. One reviewer claims that it's "so warm it is rare that you need anthing but a short-sleeved base layer underneath" but I can promise you that I will have more than that on when I take it for it's maiden ride tomorrow.
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photos and content copyright of Richard Sear 1999 to 2010
Date:
4th
January
2009 It was a New Year wake-up call today with Colin and Davebus leading us around a circa 25 mile route starting out at LOMAC. So that's another ten miles to add to the odometer as I rode from Ewell to the meeting point and back home afterwards. I arrived early and just Dave was waiting around. I decided to have a quick spin on his new Carbon Stumpjumper but it seemed to be in too low a gear as my foot spun to the bottom of the pedal stroke. Try again and nope, definitely something amiss. Yes it was, the Shimano rear hub had frozen and the pawls were failing to engage. Dave headed for home which luckily is close and picked up another bike while the rest of the cast assembled. It was a surpisingly strong turnout given that the thermometer was reading minus 2 degrees celsius and with the windchill factor it was easily minus 4. Only two no-shows; you know who you are! But we had 3 new riders to the group, Keith, Nick and John who turned up with Tim. We all suffered from frozen Camelbak tubes which was a first for me but the plus point was that the trails were hard packed, dry and fast. I was wearing the Endura Stealth soft shell jacket and as mentioned in my initial review was wearing an Endura fleece below it over a Helly Hansen base layer. I certainly wouldn't say that I was toasty warm but once I built up some body warmth I was fine. I was also wearing 2 or 3 less layers than I have been and when I finished for the day was far less sweaty than I normally am. It was an interesting route, part 'Big 8' heading through a frozen Walton-on-the-Hill, part Box Hill and back and part Dave and Colin special but it was a fun ride with the only low point being John's rear mech deciding to explode meaning he and Tim had to turn for home just as we got to the fun part of the route. There were plenty of horses, dog walkers and ramblers out today with the best comment I heard from an old lady being about the couple of us who were wearing shorts "I suppose it must not be fashionable to wear long trousers, they want to look cool". That's right Gran! Rob was suffering from cramp after his long lay off and Nick was cramping up too and struggled for the last few miles and has "never been so pleased to see his car" at the end but I think both him and Keith enjoyed the outing and I have a feeling that they will become two more of the 'regular' riders. The group split up at Stane Street on the return leg with a number of riders heading off down the quaintly named trail 'Alsation'. Well it is until you realise it is so called because some bloke who owns 3 of the aforementioned quadrapeds chucks their do-do over the fence and onto the bridleway; charming.
Thanks to Davebus for pictures 20 to 33 and he retains copyright. Check out the latest videos we have uploaded
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photos and content copyright of Richard Sear 1999 to 2010 Date:
9th
January
2009 An impromtu day away from the office thanks to frozen points at Ashtead and a borrow of Cas's Lupine night light means that I am able to make this second night ride event in two weeks which beats the previous not very challenging record of two rides in two years by quite a margin. So it's back to Holmbury YHA but this time I am also wearing the bargain £7-95 fleece that I picked up in Decathlon underneath my Endura stealth jacket and it's just as well as the temperature veers between minus five and minus seven degrees Celsius in the 3 hours that we are out. And it's an eventful ride too with us discovering new pieces of singletrack thanks to Dango, a puncture that took 20 minutes to fix in the dark with cold fingers and a numb brain, some doggers driving around the bridleway's claiming to be 'looking for a place to stay' and Dave and Dango offering to demonstrate their martial arts skills whilst we took in the delights of the Deer Trail, Reservoir dogs, Barry knows Best, a sneaky climb up to Pitch Hill, Christmas Pudding, the bombholes and Trails Two to Five before the long climb back up Holmbury Hill and Telegraph Road to finish at gone 10pm. Phew! Oh, and I was definitely warm enough this week with the new fleece although my face still felt the cold.
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photos and content copyright of Richard Sear 1999 to 2010 Date:
11th
January
2009 A local ride this week starting from Belmont Downs sees a cast of 13 riders attracted by the promise of unknown trails on their own doorstep. An even dozen of us set off and are soon cruising past the local female prison which is all quiet this morning (you can hear some very strange sounds emanating from behind the walls in the high summer) and across to Woodmansterne where we meet the lesser spotted Woolly. On round this classic xc route which includes a number of urban or 'street' sections as we fly down alleys or along narrow bridleways borded on both sides by garden fences or hedges and with plenty of gates to be negotiated, dodging onto short road sections before ducking down narrow gaps to suddenly be apparently in the middle of a wide open countryside again. The freezing weather is on the turn with a relatively mild 3 degrees today and the sun is melting some of the snow and frost on the trails but the route is mainly dry at least until we get back to Belmont where the bombholes are a chalky, claggy mess and we all pick up more mud in five minutes than we have done in the last month's riding. A small group of four of us manage to become detached from the larger group on Banstead Down and it's ten minutes before we rejoin the others once I have figured out the right way to go and Woolly has had a heavy fall on the same spot Rob had fallen and cut up ten minutes earlier. Luckily Woolly is unhurt although his helmet does the job as he gives it a firm smack on the ground. Terry later falls to the ground too in a Ronaldo-esque dive although examination of the pitch, err I mean trail shows that there was clearly nothing there ;-) We take a detour when we reach the bottom of the route into Chipstead Lane and turn left into the farm before the fast descent under the M25 and then up for a break at Reigate Hill NT cafe where only Steve (the youngest) manages to make any impression on the young girl serving there... Back across the M25 and we hook back up with the route near Surrey Downs Golf Club before heading for home via Banstead. Some nice mileage under my belt this week following the night ride on Friday and Tuesday's 40 minutes on the turbo trainer on the rejuvenated steel framed Raleigh thanks to Evans for the bottom bracket and Lee for the crank bolt.
Thanks to Davebus for pictures 25 to 31, he retains copyright. Check out the latest videos we have uploaded
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photos and content copyright of Richard Sear 1999 to 2010 Date:
18th
January
2009 It was back to the 70's for me this weekend. It all started on Friday evening when we had a power cut at home for two and a half hours followed by another power cut on Saturday evening which was only resolved at 10pm and made it very difficult to read this month's Singletrackworld magazine. The 70's themed weekend continued on Sunday morning when I attended Head for the Hills Demo Day in Holmbury St. Mary and was (Brooks) saddled with the singlespeed, rigid, 29'er drop handlebarred Singular Gryphon whilst the rest of our guided group were all on £2k, £3k and £4k full sussers supplied by Nicolai, Trek and Commencal and it was like going back to my teenage years on my converted Ralegh Racer with knobbly tyres. Needless to say, I took a lot of stick but you know how big my ego is and I was able to cope with it. The group was ably guided by the all biked up boys, Glen and Richard a.k.a. Jay Kay and took us on a nicely put together route from the village hall that took in all the usual favourites on Holmbury Hill but also threw in a couple of new trails that I haven't ridden before and those are now firmly banked in the memory map for future use (that's my brain I'm referring to as I don't have a GPS or any mapping software). So what was the Singular Gryphon like to ride? I have never ridden a singlespeed before and it felt very strange for the first 20 minutes or so. The route we took was rolling and there were no lengthy climbs but I soon found 'that' rhythm that singlespeeders settle into and was first up most of the climbs as it's a case of either stand and climb at a steady pace or get off and walk. This is no surprise to regular singlespeeders but was jaw-dropping to Rob and Gazza who are normally used to me spinning up climbs at the back of the group in granny gear. The 29'er wheels also rolled well on smoothish surfaces although I struggled when it came to more rutted surfaces and Yoghurt Pots was a real test. However, the drop bars and rigid forks were a different matter and although I got down or through everything eventually the weight forward stance and lack of suspension gave me a terrific sense of fear on anything remotely gnarly which of course is what I like to ride. I was hanging on for dear life on Telegraph Road which isn't hugely difficult and found it difficult to brake as I had a 'death-grip' on the bars and didn't want to let go. So overall, I don't think I will be pining for a Singular at anytime in the near future. After a plentiful lunch (provided you liked cheese) back at the WI hall it was time for my afternoon ride, a Commencal Meta 5.5.2 which was only available in an XL size. I thought this might be like a gate but it fitted perfectly. Again, I rode with the guided group as I like to ride with different riders and different leaders and to take in different routes. Even on familiar trails it was interesting to see how Glen and Richard strung trails together in a different order to how I normally would and how some trails flowed together much more naturally in places. The Commencal Meta 5.5.2 was riding really well although I could feel my legs were heavy from riding singlespeed in the morning. It was light enough to climb well only lifting up at the front slightly on one steep ascent. Wayne, one of the Trek demo boys pointed out how much more I was bobbing on one of the climbs than Glen on the Trek at which point I switched the pro-pedal on but it still felt good even without the pro-pedal. I am sure that given unlimited fettling time I could have set up the rear shock, rebound and pro-pedal to be just right for me but even without doing this the Commencal was great. The descents were a transformation from the Gryphon. I flew down Telegraph Road faster than on my normal titanium dialled bikes frame and it was the same on Barry Knows Best. This is a great bike and perfect for the trails around the Surrey Hills. Thanks
to
all
at
Head
for
the
Hills
for
an
entertaining
day
out,
my
first
ever
demo
day
and
if
you
are
thinking
of
buying
any
new
bike
make
sure
you
get
a
chance
to
fully
demo
it
before
committing
to
buy
it.
You
won't
regret
it
Check out the latest videos we have uploaded
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photos and content copyright of Richard Sear 1999 to 2010 Date:
31st
January
2009 I didn't get out last week but managed to maintain my fitness with two 40-minute sessions on the turbo trainer on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. With the sun out and the trails much firmer I was feeling up for it as we met at Epsom Downs with no particular route in mind. We headed up to Walton-on-the-Hill before deciding to take in the 'Secret Singletrack' trail and this was where the fun began. The trails across Headley Heath are just as good 'both ways' and I somehow missed the turn although still being on familiar ground I didn't realise it. A quick vote decided against turning back as we had just crossed a particularly boggy section of trail and as Jason suggested an alternate route we pushed on across the Dorking Road and onto the North Downs Way past Pfizer climbing gently towards Colley Hill. However we then took the often passed but never ridden and ever so enticing trail marked 'Steep descent take extreme care' which offered exactly that, a glorious, steep, fast descent with sweeping bermed corners which took us onto the side of Juniper Hill. From hereonin we were on virgin trails with only Jason having ridden them before. There was some great singletrack although some of the chalky soil was extremely slippery under rubber and some short sharp climbs that required us getting off to push. We somehow cut across to exit onto Pebble Hill Road, turning left for 400 metres and then right, off-road and heading uphill again past the Chalk Pit and climbing the steep escarpment of Boxhill to end up on Boxhill road near the 'Roof of the World' caravan park. A short stint along the tarmac took us to a well earned cuppa and cake at the NT Cafe where Terry spotted an old flame behind the counter and swapped memories for a good 10 minutes. After cooling down we unwisely took the rip-roaringly fast (and hence cold) chalky stone descent to the bottom of Zig-Zag Road where Cas got the first flat of the day. Once this was fixed we passed Rykers Cafe and across the A24 climbing up past the back of Denbie's to end up on Ranmore Common Road and then turning right to take the fast descent down to the Youth Hostel where Steve got the 2nd, 3rd and 4th flat. It took progressively longer to change these as the cold and distance travelled were telling and we pushed on towards Bockett's Farm and then along into Ashtead. There was just time for Lee and then Jason to get the 5th and 6th flat of the day before our tired legs dragged us up from Ashtead to 30 acres barn and back onto Epsom Downs for a 29 mile epic ride. Another 3 miles to go for me to get home added to my journey up there in the morning made it a hard 35-mile day in the saddle. A long ride and | |||||||
