A Tale of Two Dunnies

Date : 25th November 2010
Location : Leith Hill and Redlands
Riders : Bish, Mark 2, XC Tom, Grievious Andy

Having not been out for a number of weeks on a night ride we though we ought to make an effort. The weather has been cold lately - and understatement - so the anticipation of nice firm trails was high. Tom and I arrived a few minutes behind schedule, to find Mark and Bish holed up in the van keeping warm, bikes already to go.

It was cold... nope, actually it was bloody freezing, as we proceeded to setup our bikes, get lights on, etc. It was this point I discovered I hadn't charged my main bike light... only had my headtorch (which in previous rides had lasted about 10mins!!!). But with new battery from deal extreme, I was hoping for longer - otherwise I'd be in real trouble - especially as Tom, having said I could borrow one of his batteries from his bastids.... immediately changed his mind. That was the first Dunnie moment.

Tom then spent the next 15mins sorting out his bike - cleaning it, pumping up the tyres, getting the lights set up, locking his car..... the list goes on (all whilst the remaining 3 of us attempted to keep warm by riding around the car park, shouting "Come on"). That was the second Dunnie moment.

We felt that given Dunnie couldn't make this ride we wanted to feel that in some special way he was still with us, and both these moments provided us with "fond" memories!!

When we did eventually get going, we enjoyed a full ride taking in summer lightning, first and pausing to attempt a little jump and the stumps half way along the second section. Mark took the challenge first and..... well let's be honest - rolled it! Bish was much faster on his approach and caught some air, only to suffer a poor landing with the bike slipping away from him. I know!!! Bish fell off!!!! That just doesn't happen. At this point Tom and I felt no need to repeat the exercise and so we headed off to finish the remaining trail. Off to the bomb holes and down the other trail into cold harbour, which has escaped me at this moment, and then over to Redlands. Turning Japanese followed and then up to Nation of Millions. All good trails, nice and firm and hard, and having all warmed up - a certain level of enjoyment was had!!

Riding with only a headtorch was rather a challenge - making my riding slower - but forcing me to feel the trail under the bike - coz I couldn't bloody see it!! My headtorch was still going at 75mins when we arrived back at the plough for the usual liquid refreshment, and some annoying dog barking....

A picture of some darkness....

Winterfold 10

Date : 13th November 2010
Location : Winterfold
Riders : Bish, Mark2, Grievous Andy

Just a quick video post to show todays ride over Winterfold way....

Andy Blue Bear says "Leave the wife at home! Damit!"

Been feeling a bit wrecked lately and struggling to build up the enthusiasm to go for a ride.

Somethings not right, as I turned down a night ride and beer to go riding the trails with, of all people, my wife!!

Yes Yes, I knew I was committing a heinous crime, and self allocated Andy Blue Bear.. Even my wife thought I was a Loser going riding with her.... weird!! See picture below, at top of Summer Lightning.



Still, better to ride your missus then not ride at all... eh... opps.... I meant ride with your missus then not ride at all... mind you, both apply.

Well that's enough piss taking out of me for the year... stay tuned as I redirect some insults at some of you guys over the coming weeks.

Laters

Mark2

New Arrival!!!

Dunnie's 4-5-6 was finally completed today, in beautiful brown and gold, weighing a solid but respectable 26 lbs 6 oz (including pedals). Proud father doing well. Should be out and about next week....

Isn't she nice?

(And now I want to build another - what about a big downhill rig.....?)

Alpine build latest

The wheels have arrived!! :-) Hope pro 2 hubs with Spank Subrosa rims.....

Andy Blue Bear Says 'Where's Bish?'

A top team from OTH met at the Brockham Beer Festival on Sat 23 October.... Andy, Mark 2, Dave Edwards 1, Dunnie and Andy Blue Bear.

Andy Blue Bear missed his mate Bish... we tried to console him with solid reasons for Bish's absence, but he wouldn't believe us. According to Andy Blue Bear, no-one who sent out such e-mails as....

All
Some of you will no doubt have experienced the unique delights of the Brockham Beer Festival.
Mark 2 and I are assembling a crack squad of drinkers to attend this years festivities on 23rd October - let me know if you can attend
Rich

...and (in relation to Andy's previous visit to Brockham BF)...

To be fair he did find the beer a little "strong" last year and got a bit "tired and emotional" so perhaps the fear is understandable.....

...would possibly be absent on such a flimsy excuse as' I've invited some mates round for canapes'... However hard we tried, we could not turn around the belief of the little chap that his hero had turned into a shandy drinking poof... By the end of the night, Andy Blue Bear was inconsolable, taking his solace in strong ale.....

Silver Machine

It's here...my new toy
so how does it ride? - it's fair to say it wasn't built to climb but it nailed GA right enough and ripped a little bit of singletrack, then we took it to its natural habitat, the dirt jumps, where it proceeded to demonstrate its credentials on some doubles and the 4X track. So will I be abandoning the night lights and waterproof for jeans and a pisspot in future? Nah probably not but one thing's for sure - it's gonna be fun ;-)

Cycle show 2010 @ Earls Court

What a disappointment!!!! :-(

The two of us!

Date : 7th October 2010
Location : Colley Hill
Riders : XC Tom, grievous Andy

A night ride with two of us. Started off ok, I guess!! We found our little local jump area and proceeded to session a few little jumps and berms, but the ground was very "claggy", as they say up north, and quickly filled the treads on our tyres, turning them into slicks!!! :-(... It was at that point my helmet torch failed - 10mins if light is all it gave out tonight - cheap chinese rubbish I guess!! The ay-ups are looking more and more attractive!!

After one particular jump, I landed and was sucked in, hook line and sinker, by a tree cunningly placed in the exact spot my bike wanted to go (my mind was telling me the tree was not part of the trail... it was incidental....... It soooo was part if the trail, hence the headlong crash into it - one handlebar light bracket bust!!! Bugger!!! However, I managed to retrieve the rubber o-ring and secured the light back on. We decided to start riding a trail instead....

Off we headed up to Colley Hill, through the thick mud, and off towards Fizers!! We found the "jump" area Tom had been looking for, but without the jumps!!! So disappointed, we decided to head for home - with Tom's handlebar light now on amber...

Along the bottom of the downs - with half the downs attached to our bikes - we headed home.

The ride necessitated a bike hose down when we got home, transforming them from the weight of a hefty and portly 45lb downhill rig, back to the lightweight trail busters they actually were!!!!

We've had better rides!!!

Earth Carving

We are now in full decent towards the mud churning, root slipping rides of the Surrey Hills in Fall... hailed in by the screech of our contaminated brakes, as we dab them at every turn desperately trying to scrub off speed, as our well ridden trails go from dry grippey rail riders to slippy side ways riding bogs =(

For sure the seasonal transition is a difficult process. I looked out of the window the other day at the sight of heavy mist slowly drifting to the ground and I’m thinking.... “F**k it! I can’t be arsed”

But don’t despair because I have a plan. A plan to pay back my debt to others. A plan to make this winter and next summer better. A plan to carve the earth...Oooooo!.... Anyway enough pouncey writing – The f’ing plan involved me and Richard doing some trail maintenance.

A corner that I have always failed to ride with style, and I felt needed some work. The ground soft and spade, axe, builders gloves in the car, I got Richard who brought some rose clippers... hummmmm... oh and a wealth of experience at berm whacking. And we headed to a trail we all know – I took a before and after picture for moral boosting reasons, as after 2 hours of hard graft we barely scratched the surface of what we set out to achieve. We returned the next day to continue what we started and get the corner to a rideable state. Here are the pictures for you to laugh at and wonder what exactly we did for two hours. Enjoy.

Before

After

Enthused by our corner shaping skills we headed to the other side of the valley at a well known playground to build a small drop in, followed by a step up jump. Stopped by the failing light it’ll be a week now before we can test out our trail building skills.


Anybody who has the urge to to get stuck into back spazaming earth shifting, let me know and maybe we can organise a day where we can all get stuck in.