With my new job I am now working more hours, 30 over 4 days. This means I get Thursday,Friday and Saturday off. Yesterday even though the sun was shining through my bedroom window when I awoke I just felt 'nowt flash' as they say. So it was a relatively boring day lounging about.
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| Great to be out |
This morning again the weather did not look too bad so I decided to go for a short tootle out on my Silverback Synergy Fat Bike. As I went to get my bike I thought 'Ooh there is still a nip in the air', so I popped my old Royal Racing soft shell jacket on top of the 2 base layers and my Royal jersey.
I manoeuvred my bike past both Ern's new car, he has been getting a 64 plate Citroen Multispace and my little car 'Tango'. I then pushed my bike through our garden intending on going out at the front of the house. Yay all set to go, as my bike was outside on the pavement I pressed the lever to drop my saddle and 'Grrrrrrr' the bloody thing had gone wonky again. The seat post, which is a Race Face Turbine dropper did the same thing just last week. I am now regretting not going for a Rock Shox like on my Sandman and Ibis Mojo. The Rock Shox uses hydraulics and the only prob I have ever had is wear and tear, where the post starts to get worn and moves a tiny bit side to side. The Race Face is an air, plus cable operated system. For some reason the cable keeps getting stuck, this means the post just will not stay down when sat on. It will not lock.
Ok so not best pleased and muttering to myself I escort my Synergy Fat back into the garden and around to the back door, so that I could go and grab some gear and try to fettle this annoying seat post. I tinkered for around 15 minutes, releasing the cable from the cable mounts and adjusting the tension so it was as slack as possible. I then made sure the seat post was locking out and readjusted at the bar end on the lever. Get in I am a little more happy as I fixed something lol.
Back through the garden out the front gate and I was off, heading towards Craghead. My plan was to head over to Chapman Well's. I like it over there because it is quiet, off road and you have a few options to ride in various loops. It is also not too far from home so knowing I would get tired fairly quickly it is ideal for getting back home.
The first challenge was when I got over to Craghead and turned up past the Punch Bowl pub. There is a bank that is fairly ok to climb when you are fit. However when you are just back on the bike following a chest infection it is horrible. The Silverback Synergy uses a single chain ring up front. I have actually swapped it out for an Absolute Black oval ring and you know what I think it works. Yeah the climb was tough, however I did not get off and I think I will use the bank to gauge my fitness upon each ride. At the top of the climb I stopped to remove my jacket, who's idea was it to put a bloody jacket on I was roasting. This morning I had been too lazy to fill my Camelbak water bladder, so I had just brought along a litre bottle of diluted pop direct from our fridge. I really struggled to get jacket and said bottle of pop in my backpack and wow it felt a ton weight.
The ride across the top lonely road as we call it (Wagtail Lane) and past the wind mills (turbines) was pleasant. I even said hello to a friendly crow who was admiring both my very cool bike and leg, well in my head.
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| Muddy trails this morning |
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| Bright sun played havoc with my shots |
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| BTK Crossover |
As I came out at the T-junction I turned left as if going towards Burnhope. A short jaunt down this road and I crossed right to get onto the Farmers lane. This leads directly onto Chapman Well's nature reserve. I had brought both my little Panasonic Lumix and GoPro Hero 5. Always handy to have them along just in case. I seemed to take lots of time lapse pictures today with the Go Pro, however after looking at them was not to impressed. I think I had the settings a bit off. Never mind got a few, it was more about just being out. A quick stop off at the pond to view the Geese and get a few snaps then I was off again.
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| Synergy Concept and the BTK Crossover |
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| Silverback Synergy Fat at Chapman Wells Pond |
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| Popped me old Berm lid on |
A loop around Chapman Well's a little ride on the road heading to Maiden Law then I was able to get back on to the other side of Chapman's and this took me back towards Quakies. From here I was able to get into South Moor park at the drift end. I noticed they have put a new sign up, it is all about the history of the area and the drift mine that used to be there. The trail is called the Heritage Trail.
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| My blog |
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| Heritage Trail |
Once through South Moor Park I could have chickened out, but decided to beast myself up South Moor bank, well it is the only way I am going to get fit. Once up South Moor bank I came out at the Arch and was able to head down through Stanley front street and make my way to Wear Road through the sub way and head down Durham Road and home.
Things I have noted today...It was really muddy and the Maxxis Mammoths were not great. The tyres are awesome rolling wise as they have hardly any tread up the centre. But in thick gloop they slide and cannot get any purchase. On a few occasions I almost lost my bike as I came through a muddy turn.
Oh I also noticed that I must have left my GoPro turned onto video inside my backpack as when I got home I had 23 gig of footage of the inside of my bag lol
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