The website is up and running. Warren has had a real push on it this week and has done a brilliant job of it. If you want a website that looks blimmin fantastic, he’s your man.

The online entry system needs some fettling but should be done by the end of the week. The entry form is on the site so we’re officially accepting entries 😉 Yay!

This is going to be ace. I’m looking forward to seeing how all this pans out, and I’m PROUD to be a part of it.

Here’s to a successful, sold-out race and loads of money raised for sick kids, bushes and bats.

My Fred Whitton Challenge entry was successful. This time I’m gonna nail dat sucka (not get lost in other words). Hopefully I can fit in a couple of sportives before that, namely the Lakeland Loop and the Cheshire Cat. I still need to give some focus to the Gran Canaria enduro first though but given the weather at the moment I’m road riding mostly anyway. I can’t be arsed with the mud and gloop most of the time these days – maybe something to do with the complete lack of summer last year. It’s not been much of a winter either, so far. In fact, it feels like it’s been autumn for over a year….where’s the frosty, solid ground and fast night rides? I’m only 7 weeks from Gran Canaria on Monday, so I’m going to be forcing myself to get the mountain bike(s) out more regularly. Say hello if you’re on Rooley Moor Road at 10pm on a Monday evening….

I’m ready to start assembling the Global Ti Softail this weekend, now I’ve got all the remaining bits. That should get my MTB mojo going again. I’m quite ashamed of the fact that the frame has been in the cellar, unbuilt for over 6 months. The fork has been sat there for almost 2 years!

I’m also getting a ride in this weekend near Macc Forest on the singlespeed. I’ve got a fiendish 28-mile route in my head that should put some hairs on the old chest.

30 miserable, late night miles.

Quick(ish) road ride last night. Felt pretty good for the first 45 minutes or so, I had a strong tail wind and I felt like I could easily ride at 30 mph for ever. The rain, however, was starting to get on my tits as it wasn’t about to stop, in fact it was getting heavier. I rode through Bury, up the old road towards Rochdale and rode up the Ashworth Valley climb to Cheesden. I could hardly see through my misted-up glasses, the road is unlit and there was a river running down it. Once at the top and I started to ride down to Edenfield things got worse until I couldn’t see at all with the glasses on, and was getting sprayed right in the eyes with ice and grit with them off. I held a car off all the way to the bottom of the hill though. No way he was going faster than I was 😉

I’m not a superstitious person. I don’t worry about walking under ladders, throwing salt in the eyes of kitchen-dwelling antichrists nor do I have any qualms about putting my shoes on a table. I have started to think though that I’ve upset a god or two just before Christmas.

It all starts on the way to the ride at Llandegla. I was late, so I was driving too fast. My fault then that I got a speeding fine through the post. Then I got a cold. Boxing Day was crap as a result, and the following few days were spent suffocating under a blanket of snot. I’d planned to ride to the cottage we rented for New Year up in the Lakes. The cold put a stop to that.
First day there and I realised I’d left my camera at home. Grr! Later that day I reversed Deb’s car into the propane tank. Ooof! I’d taken the road bike with me so I did get some quality rides in whilst we were up there and for a short time it seemed like my bad luck had evaporated. The day we were due to come back to Manchester I planned to ride home. It then started to snow quite heavily. By the morning, the roads were about 6 feet wide. So I canned that too.
I thought that it was the end of it, but last night I went for a quick ride on the singlespeed and got about a mile from the house. My light packed in, the chain tensioner expired (causing the chain to come off) and I rode through the biggest pile of thorns in the world and got an instant flat tyre. All in the space of about 10 feet. Tonight, I was on my way out for a run in the woods and the sky erupted with marble-sized hail, lightning, thunder, wind and general fury. Perhaps I should stay in the house for a few days before I get killed.

The rides I did up in the Lakes were ace though. I managed a few rides over Whinlatter and a couple up at Honister and Newlands. I’m much more confident about the Fred Whitton route now and hopefully the entry form I sent today will be successful. I reckon I rode all of the northern section of the route a couple of times anyway.
Before that though is the Canary Open MTB Enduro in March – 90K in lovely sunny Gran Canaria. What a way to end a week by the pool with Deb and the girls.

Loads of us descended on Llandegla yesterday for a Christmas ride / catch up with mates kind of thing. We finally all arrived and did some “off-piste” riding on a recommendation by some Singletrack forumites, up to the mast, down the rocky trail to the road, back up to the forest on the railway sleeper boardwalk. This is a really nice diversion, a gradual climb then becomes a fast, narrow, rocky downhill that then becomes a slippery, muddy slope that’s obviously going to be much better in the summer.

The climb back to the forest on the sleepers is good too – just narrow enough to have you holding your breath once or twice (especially with ice all over them).

Michael was recovering from a cold, which was bad enough for him, and then he crashed on some ice at the first fast, jumpy bit of the Llandegla trail. He went down hard. Unusually for him, he was quite shaken but we persevered. It was getting more and more obvious that we just needed to get back to the car as he was in a fair amount of pain despite Andy’s kind donation of 2 Ibuprofen. We left the others to complete the ride and off we both went, down the fireroad back to the car. Except we were not headed for the car park. Despite asking for directions, we found ourselves at the same point we were at an hour ago, obviously getting a bit frustrated by this point.  We re-joined the red route and allowed it to lead us back to the car. I felt sorry for the lad. I hope it’s not put him off.

Thanks to all our mates for waiting for us (although Simon had no choice cos we were giving him a lift).

Merry Christmas to everyone!