Parked up at the Marin trail car park in Llanwrst and rode away from it and went through Betws and up the hill to Penmachno. Rode the trail there then rode back the way I came through Betws again, back to the Marin and rode that. All planned like that so that the car was in the “right” place at the end and so that I rode the harder Marin second. The total distance was 45 miles (28 off road), with 2500 metres of climbing (which is quite a lot I tell thee). In my wisdom I took the Patriot that just so happens to weigh just under 40 pounds and has 2.5 inch tyres – so I was maximising the “training effect” somewhat. Yeh, it feels bloody heavy too. Probably not a good choice but I’d not ridden the Big Bike for ages and it’s loads of fun and it climbs “kind of ok” with a firm rear tyre.

Anyroad, as soon as I started the ride it started raining. Oh well, I’m used to it now. 10 miles along the road and I reached the first manmade loop of the day. Then the rain turned angry. Then a flash of lightning and the biggest explosion of thunder I’ve ever experienced. It must have been right above my head and the boom reverberated through the forest and through my skull. Then there was the hail. It didn’t stop raining for 4 hours from that point on. Types of rain included “bouncing off the ground” heavy to “that fine rain that soaks you through”.

The Penmachno trail is a corking ride. The skill of the trailbuilders really shines though in the sheer amount of quality singletrack and thrills on offer. It’s very, very fast especially on an overbuilt bike with DH wheels. One small section crosses a stream that was flowing very quickly as the rain continued to fall. PLOP. There go my expensive Adaptalite sunglasses, floating down the small series of waterfalls…too fast to rescue. Gone. Bugger.

Once back along the road again, I did prepared for the fireroad climb-fest of the Marin. This trail is good, but you have to have the ability to switch off your pain receptors and climb A LOT. There were a lot of mincing beginners there today. One woman was really nervous on this really rocky downhill (Dragon’s Tail I think it’s called, in an Alton Towers kinda way) and I stopped to check she was ok. She said she was, but it was obvious she wasn’t. I’m sure she got back to her car eventually. Or she was rescued by a nice man with a helicopter. On the last downhill to the car park I was Droppin’ Da Bomb 😉 and then there was a loud CRACK as the shock mounting bolt on the bike sheared. Shit. I thought I’d snapped the frame at first, so was thankful it was just the bolt. I then rode back to the car a bit gingerly as the swingarm rattled about on the bearings. On inspection, it looks like I might have got away with it but I’ll know if I’ve ovalised the mounting holes once I’ve got some replacement bolts.

So eventful, but well worth doing.

Day off work today for some extra training. Parked in Torver after dropping Deb off in Manchester this morning and rode straight up the hill towards Walna Scar, via some muddy FC land (which seemed to be much more of a slog after I did this last time, probably because of THE RAIN). From the quarry, I rode up to the summit of the Walna Scar Road, turned around and rode back down again. Repeat 3 more times, then ride down to Coniston via the “scary side” as the weather (and the pain) start to close in. That downhill to Coniston is like armageddon under your wheels. It will be good training for the Megavalanche next year 😉  

You can see some of the main climb in the pic – the rest of it is in that cloud.

All the walkers I saw on the WS Road today thought I was quite mad, as they saw me ride past on the way up, on the way down then on the way up again.

1500 metres of climb in a 17 mile route. Perhaps travelling all the way to the Lakes for a hill training session was a bit extravegant, but it was a change of scenery and the coffee and apple pie in Coniston was a nice treat at the end.

This weather is really pissing me off now. We wait in anticipation all winter for the dryness and warmth of summer and the sense of well-being it brings. What do we get instead? Miles and miles of murky cloud above our heads and constant rain for weeks in the HEIGHT OF SUMMER. What makes it worse is that apparently it’s only us that are getting it! Europe is in the middle of a heatwave and we’re dealing with an extended winter/early autumn. I know this isn’t news to most of you lot, so I thought I’d rant about the weather for the benefit of my overseas blog visitors (I know there’s at least one of you).

This morning I got soaked AGAIN on a training ride. Tonight, I’ll get soaked again. Tomorrow I’m up in the Lake District and guess what? I’ll be getting fucking wet, that’s what.

What am I supposed to do? Not train? FFS, I’ve got to go to the Alps in a few weeks – it’ll probably rain there too!

Forced to ride the turbo trainer last night, I noticed that my sweat over the last few months is rusting a hole in the top tube of the 70’s Raleigh that lives in the cellar (attached to the turbo). Well, I rescued it from a skip so I’m hardly going to worry about it am I? It’s a bit of a sorry end though. Death by stinky sweat. Still, I had a great session last night. I’ve rediscovered my old drum and bass CD’s – I’ve put them on the iPod and for turbo training, Grooverider, Roni Size, Dillinja, etc, are spot on for a bit of monotonous pain in a dark place….

Feeling quite tired today, plus the constant rain removed the little motivation I had. So bollocks to it, stayed in and ate some nice food. I’ve slept for about 4 hours this afternoon – I definately needed the rest. Big week this week (again). Usual schedule or running, riding and running up that sodding hill with a bike on my shoulder with the addition of Thursday off work for some extra miles. I’m going up to the Lakes for some big hill climbing on the bike…Walna Scar probably. The Walna Scar is a good 3 mile climb each side plus it’s bloody steep. It’s near Coniston so I can do a repetitive loop and get my dinner in a twee tea shoppe or something.