Thursday 28 February 2008

Inbred Photos

I'm off work ill. Let's just say that I'm not farting with confidence...

Consequently, I am very bored. So, I took some photos of my bike and stuck them on Singletrack.

2008_02_28_Inbred 001

Friday 22 February 2008

Darlington - Hamsterley Forest - Darlington

Gusty winds and 'sticky' trails made for slow going and even downhills hard work. I decided to give up on trying to complete the full 50km.

Distance: 54 miles (87 km)
Climbing: 4948 feet
Surface: On- and off-road (20 miles on, 14 miles off, 20 miles on)
Time: 7 hours
Weather: Windy and wet under-tyre
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:16, with 2.1″ tyres)

I only realised how close I was to getting 100km on the ride once I mapped the route. If I'd known, I'd have found another13km, as I'd half-intended to try to do a metric century every month this year. Maybe I need a GPS, or a cheap bike computer? Oh well, 200 miles for this month is within reach, if I can find an extra 10.5 miles I the next week, so doing at least 200 miles every month can be my new half-assed target for the year.

Friday 15 February 2008

Half Term Plans

I'm off work next week, which means no little-and-often bike riding. It does, however, give me a chance to go out for a longer ride. I'm planning on riding to Hamsterley and doing 50km on the fireroads (Hamsterley Hill Rush) and then riding back again.

It's 114km all in and took me 8 hours when I did it in October 2006 (I missed out a 7km loop), so it'll be interesting to see how long it takes next week.

I'm hoping to get the big tryres on the Solitude this weekend so I should be doing it on that, although the brakes had siezed a little after not being ridden for a couple of months so I might be on the Inbred.

I'm on track for another 200 mile month, and also for beating last year's total for January to March, if I do this ride, but I'll need a second ride next week to make sure.

Update: Thursday is Hamsterley day

Monday 11 February 2008

Riding update

In the whole of January and February last year I rode 246 miles. So far this year, I have ridden 262. That means, on Friday last week I passed last year's total for January and February, 3 weeks earlier than least year.

Looking at the numbers (yes, there's a spreadsheet), it should be possible for me to beat last year's combined January, February and March riding total before the end of February...

(I'm currently averaging 6.2 miles (9.98 km) per day , compared to the average for 2007 of 4.6 miles (7.4 km) per day.)

Update: An extra 2.5 miles on the way home, to pick up a teddy bear. Really.

Monday 4 February 2008

Lots of inspiration

I'm going to have to add Ben Saunders' site to my feed reader. I had it bookmarked on my old laptop and it was one of the sites I checked weekly.

There are so many things just from the last few posts that I wanted to link to, or requote here.

"We are richer now, but more overworked, more deeply in thrall to the addictions of getting and spending. We have more possessions, and they tyrannise us. Each new mod con must be shopped for, maintained, insured, upgraded; each new thing must be stored, kept track of, kept secure, tidied; and the whole package is paid for in overwork, time-poverty, round-the-clock availability and round-the-clock insecurity.

We have more, and we have less. In such a world, freedom is both more precious and more elusive than ever. And one of the few surefire ways of liberating ourselves from the tyranny of the consumer society is to put ourselves beyond its reach."


[quoted in Ben Saunders: Thought for the year]



[Ben Saunders: And my feet hurt]

Arctic sea ice cover comparison

There's a scary difference between the Arctic sea ice cover on my second birthday and my thirtieth birthday.

[via Kottke, via Ben Saunders]

Friday 1 February 2008

Hit The North

On July 19th, I will be riding my bike in 8.4 mile circles for 12 hours. For fun.

Hit The North

Update: I'm in