I decided this morning to do a big ride on big hills. I followed the bridleway from the house up through Birtle, up the stream and towards Rochdale. Then climbed up Rooley Moor, dropped down into Edenfield then home. I reckon that’s a good 40-50 miles. Felt like it anyway. I realised on reaching the top of the moor that I’d been climbing for a good 3 hours or so…

Lots of ice up there and a young lad on a quad who asked me if I “had a puncture”. No mate, I just thought I’d take my tyre off to give it a clean.

I’ll just be doing some short rides (or sessions on the turbo) this week before we go over the Garburn TWICE on Thursday. Then we all vote for which way was the bestest. That reminds me, I saw Nopies Simon earlier today near Nordern. He rode past me going the other way and didn’t stop despite me shouting and waving my arms about. He probably thought I was a hillbilly mountain biking murderer or something.

it was a full moon last night. No wind, no cloud, “crispy” temperature. I just had to go for a quick ride after the kids were in bed. 10pm- The first few miles were great – fast, chilly and quiet. The moon was behind me most of the time and it was soooo bright that on occasion I was able to switch the halogens off, which was nice.

 I stopped for a few pics on the hill overlooking the Irwell Valley. A particular favourite spot of mine is where you can see the city centre all lit up like a christmas tree.

After a few mins, I started to get cold and thought it was about time I pressed on with the ride. Noticed I had a pucture. Bollocks. Got the spare tube out of the backpack. Wrong size valve – again. These On One rims have holes only big enough for Presta’s, and I had a big fat Schreader. So, get punctured tube and put some air in it and hopefully I can find the hole. There it is. Put a patch on it.  Now find the thorn in the tyre….there it is (ouch). Getting really really cold now, and I’ve got a small LED torch in my mouth. I’m dribbling over it like a mental.

I couldn’t get the thorn out. It was a big one, but it had gone through one of the centre knobs of the tyre and it was stuck fast. Ten minutes with the mini pliers and the Swiss army knife and I’ve got an interesting section of tread pattern and “most” of the thorn removed. Sod it, the tube’s going back in. By this time I was colder than I’d been for a long time and I was cursing my lack of a jacket and the LED torch that was now trying to extract my teeth.

 Tube in, then on with the C02 inflator. Now, you’d think this was flash until I tell you that I could’ve farted more pressure into the tube. What a sack of shite. Anyway, good job I’ve got a pump too.

Back wheel back in, then I drop the bolt from the end of the QR skewer in the grass. AAARRRGGH! Ten bloody freezing cold minutes I then spend on my hands and knees looking for it. There it is. Grrr. Bastard.

All done. everything back in the bag. Gloves on. Turn the bike over. SMACK. I belted the handlebar against my shin.

So that was worth doing. Got back at almost midnight.

I went over to Darwen last night for a ride with Simon and John. I’d not seen either of them for yonks so it seemed like a good idea to catch up and take full advantage of my recent acquisition of a car! John was late again so Simon and I pissed about for a bit with an Ipod. Itunes – that’s got to be the least intuitive interface ever. Or maybe I’m just getting older. Whatever, it didn’t beat me, but it came close. So we rode for a couple of hours up and down some big fog-covered hills. God knows where we went. There was only one scary moment when my chain somehow slipped off the freewheel and as anyone who’s ridden a singlespeed up a steep hill will tell you, this is really not good and normally results in a knackers/stem interface situation. I got away with it this time but I’ll need to check that chainline again. It was probably a bit of chain stretch though making the bugger go slack. More puffing and panting and thrutchy manouvres and out of the saddle honking followed as we continued on this rollercoaster of a route until we’d gone full circle from A to A. The best thing about singlespeeding (and there’s a lot of good things about it) is the way any ride with any kind of incline or “bumpy bits” is a challenge. With gears you can click it down a few cogs and sit down. On a SS you’ve got to stand up, use far more energy and brute strength and shift your weight appropriately to maintain traction. I’m loving it more and more every time I ride this thing and speaking purely from a training angle, it’s making me a fitter rider. And that can only be a good thing. And now I’ve got a lovely White Industries freewheel with seals and everything. No more shagged freewheels after one wet ride for me!