That's how it used to be for me back in Nottingham. Thankfully I've been at university in north wales the last four years and will be here for a little longer with any luck

As for "earn your turns", I do enough pedalling that I think I'm allowed a bit of lift assisted riding once a year

I put together a little video from some helmet cam footage on a little evening pootle at my local trails on Sunday, didn't turn out as well as I'd have liked because of the sun being so low, but ah well. Here's the link. http://www.pinkbike.com/video/368390/

Edited 24 June, 201411 yr by samj2013

I've had MTB's (Full sus/hardtail/retro)/road & cx bikes over the last few years and have now found my ideal bike's

 

Planetx 456c with 120-150mm adjustable forks & a soon to be Planetx Dirty Disco cyclocross bike.

 

For the last couple of years I've been commuting 34miles per day shift (twice every eight days) with the odd night shift thrown in too & cover lots of miles on my days off, just done my 1st touring and looking forward to doing it again.

 

My 456c

 

No pics of my Dirty Disco as its currently being built

 

Here's some the bikes I've owned over the last 3 years (apart from the Hardrock). I think I have a problem!

 

Specialized Hardrock

 

'91 GT Avalanche

 

'92 Marin Palisides Trail

 

Cannondale F6

 

Cube AMS125

 

Marin Rocky Ridge

 

B'Twin Forme5

 

Merida Cyclocross4 (By far the best bike I have ever owned)

 

 

Loaded up, cycling Coast to Coast June 2014[/url]

 

Matthew

 

  Properly au fait with my Boardman Comp hybrid now and have completed a few commutes on it. I have to say i'd never expected to actually enjoy commuting in this manner but I do. Coming home last night I flew through lines of traffic i'd normally be sitting in and covered so much ground so much more quickly. An utter delight so far Yet to see rain or a puncture mind... 

Been commuting on a bike for the last 16 years and wouldn't go back to a car, unless my commute got over 10+miles. Buy the right gear for the weather and commuting year round is easy. I love it in winter doing a ride in the snow that nobody else has touched.

Had a quick ride on my road bike today and had forgotten how much quicker it is than the mountain bike I commute on.

Oh go on then - you've tempted me to post mine up, matt. And you thought you have a problem?!

 

This is over the last maybe 5 years, since I've gotten properly into mountain biking, in chronological order from oldest to current.

 

Carrera Vulcan - was £200 + some upgrades, awesome bike for the cash

 

 

Orange Patriot - first 'proper' bike I guess

 

 

Mongoose ritual - for street and park. Went when I moved to somewhere with nowhere to ride it

 

 

Scott Genius - swapped the patriot for this

 

 

Commencal meta 5 - Scott was too small, so I got this

 

 

GT Aggressor - cheap bike for uni

 

 

On one 456 - stripped BB on the commencal so got this instead

 

 

Commencal mini DH - moved to north wales for uni so got this to try out downhill

 

 

Orange patriot (newer this time) - found lots of cracks in the Commencal, so this replaced it

 

 

Rocky Mountain Slayer - decided to condense to just one 'do it all' bike

 

 

Changed my mind and bought an Orange 223 (this stayed a while

 

 

And a Ragley Bagger... (this also stayed about a year)

 

 

Iron Horse Sunday - because I cracked the 223 

 

 

Changed my mind yet again about having a downhill bike and bought a Devinci Hectik as a 'one bike'

 

 

Didn't like the Hectik, bought a Reign x (kept this for like a year)

 

 

Saracen Hack 2 - for road rides/training (I still own this)

 

 

Orange Alpine - got some money and decided to treat myself and replace the reign

 

 

Nukeproof Mega TR - didn't like the way the Alpine pedalled, so I got this full build brand new a few weeks back for a bargain. Still got it, and hope to keep it a while!

 

 

Edited 1 July, 201411 yr by samj2013

Very short local ride this morning with a mate before coming into the office, was only about 7km, but 300m of vertical and took in some of my favourite descents around here, sweet

 

I don't photo well... Plus it was windy as **** and had just started raining up there 

Edited 3 July, 201411 yr by samj2013

Enjoy the odd cycle, used to do it a lot more, got a new bike last year, Norco Nitro 6.3.

Just did the London to Brighton and for not cycling for quite a while I was quite impressed with myself,

OK I havent got time to upload pics atm, but will update later (PIC placeholders)

bit an MTBr myself, used to ride local forest fireroads years ago when I was a kid, then stopped. got myself a nice little Viper TR hardtail in 08 (plan was to get into MTB with mates, they didnt bite) which I used for about a year to ride fireroads again,

PIC

then it lay unused until 2012 when one of my buds got himself a little Carrera Vengence hardtail, so dusted it off and we started some proper MTB riding local natural trails and all the trail centres in the country.

PIC

broke/wore out or outrode most of the parts, so upgraded bits and pieces (all cheap second hand parts)

PIC

Then decided I wanted a full sus upgrade to have a little more comfort/grip

PIC

now Ive broken/worn out or outridden most of this, so going to treat myself to a brand new bike this year I think, something like the Vitus Escarpe 275 VR

Also just finished getting my first DH bike built, so looking forward to starting that:

PIC

 

 

  Properly au fait with my Boardman Comp hybrid now and have completed a few commutes on it. I have to say i'd never expected to actually enjoy commuting in this manner but I do. Coming home last night I flew through lines of traffic i'd normally be sitting in and covered so much ground so much more quickly. An utter delight so far Yet to see rain or a puncture mind... 

 

That's pretty much I got into cycling, I bought a bike for commuting and was surprised to find I actually enjoyed being out on the bike and ended up wanting to do more.  Part of it I think is modern bikes as you can get something very good for not much money so you get something you can really enjoy riding.  

 

I had my first go at a trail centre this week (despite having been mountain biking for a while) and really enjoyed it, normally I ride on local trails which can be quite muddy and rooty plus the climbs are steep so I loved the smooth flowing trails at the centre even on the uphill where they were still good to ride.  It's my first time back on the MTB after crashing it a few weeks ago so chickened out of a few drops but didn't want to end up not being able to ride the bike again.

 

Also ordered myself a new bike for winter, last year I was frustrated by the wet trails and frequently slipping and falling so I fancied trying a fat bike with the additional bonus of no suspension to wreck.  However there weren't really any available for sale as packages as few of the big companies have done little more than dip their toe in however after a discussion about fat bikes with a workmate, I noticed Trek had added the fat bike into their standard range after a very limited run last year.  So I've ordered one as I prefer Trek at the moment, their fat bike is more designed for trail riding rather than touring and the price is quite reasonable compared to others.  I'm not sure how well it will work in practice but you don't really know until you try it.

 

John

Went up here the other evening, highest bit of tarmac near me, 630m elevation, ish. 

 

Nice picture and certainly looks one hell of a climb! 

 

 Starting to become surprised by the amount of ground I can cover and just how quickly it can be done. Looking forwards to some recreational cycling next week

Cheers, yeah was a good old climb! It's a bit of a favourite of the local roadies. The last couple of KM of it just zigzags up the hill fairly steeply, gotta just keep grinding away! Also because it's a closed road up to a reservoir, you can nail it down without worrying about cars I got 91km/h last time with a bit of wind behind me!

 

And yeah I know what you mean, when I first got on this thing, though it's not exactly a purebred roadie, but I was still surprised how much faster it is than a mtb on the road, and how much ground you can cover!

Edited 11 July, 201411 yr by samj2013

You can just see the dam wall in the right hand of this photo - cool place, it's the top lake for the dinorwig hydro power station.

 

Edited 11 July, 201411 yr by samj2013

Ah Electric Mountain, the olds were fascinated by the place when they visited last year. How long does it take you to climb that?

 

Intend to head out into the countryside towards Weston and Sandon but there's nothing that would compare with that climb. A mate went up Holme Moss last week whilst attending the TDF, couldn't believe he'd been climbing for about a mile before reaching the village. At the foot of the hill  

According to strava, about 40 minutes from sea level, ish. About 15 minutes for the last steep bit up to the lake from where the road is closed off. The climb isn't so bad, goes up about from sea level 300m to that plateau you see in the photos where it's flat for a few km and then steep again up the private road to the lake. I've not actually been to the visitor centre, as an engineer, I'd probably find it quite cool! There's a road around the other side of the hill to the surge pool above the bottom lake, that's a similar elevation/distance and you can see llanberis, snowdon etc. Good ride that.

 

There are some savage hills in yorkshire! I prefer to drive them though Hooning down snake pass has to be one of the most fun things I've driven!

Edited 11 July, 201411 yr by samj2013

Yorkshire Hills are awesome, can't wait until I get me next bike so I can get out again.

Yorkshire Hills are awesome, can't wait until I get me next bike so I can get out again.

 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.381497,-2.02067,3a,75y,354.2h,88.96t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdiO_no4yF2gy7YbG-WjZeQ!2e0

 

 

When I was undertaking my biology A-level we stayed at the Punchbowl Inn in the Swale valley. This bad boy was something we had a stab at running up, the optimism of youth. I don't think we made it much further than those cottages.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.381497,-2.02067,3a,75y,354.2h,88.96t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdiO_no4yF2gy7YbG-WjZeQ!2e0

 

 

When I was undertaking my biology A-level we stayed at the Punchbowl Inn in the Swale valley. This bad boy was something we had a stab at running up, the optimism of youth. I don't think we made it much further than those cottages.

 

Awesome, I'd love a go at that.

I have a friend who lives near Ripponden in Yorkshire and the hills are incredible, I don't know how they managed to produce such steep roads.  There's some steep tracks around here but nothing like that road wise, need to take the bike with me next time for some training

 

John

Got a 2011 Boardman hybrid and a 2014 Ribble R872. Commute every day 120 mi/week in the summer 80mi/week in the winter with another 40-50 miles at the weekend but only late spring through to early autumn. Used to use the Boardman all year round but it's been relegated to my winter bike - with 35mm knobbly(ish) tyres and its hydraulic disc brakes it's great in the poorer weather.

Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk

Left the house at 6:30 this morning for a ride - best time for a solo jaunt, quiet roads, blue skies, countryside just waking up. 40miles later, arrive back home and the family are all still asleep - lazy sods are missing out on the best part of the day.

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Just a bit of a reminder for everyone with a decent bike to make sure it's specified as an individual item on their contents insurance. My mate at work had his bike nicked at the TDF in Yorkshire last week from the campsite at 2.30am. He's only had it 12 months and cost him over £1200 with the accessories. It turns out he didn't add it to his home insurance and was gutted when I said because of this any payout (if he managed to get one at all) would be on a pro rata basis less his excess, so in effect little or nothing.

Because of this and the increase in premiums he'd face he's not going to claim.

He thought he wouldn't need any as normally he never leaves his bike anywhere so he's now got to save up for another one which is a hard pill for anyone to swallow.

with the cycling season well into full swing it's worth making sure you're covered as the thieves only need you to leave your bike for a few seconds to get a drink/icecream/go for a pee etc. for it to be gone.

He hadn't even considered it might get nicked from his garage.

cheers

Ade

Just a bit of a reminder for everyone with a decent bike to make sure it's specified as an individual item on their contents insurance. My mate at work had his bike nicked at the TDF in Yorkshire last week from the campsite at 2.30am. He's only had it 12 months and cost him over £1200 with the accessories. It turns out he didn't add it to his home insurance and was gutted when I said because of this any payout (if he managed to get one at all) would be on a pro rata basis less his excess, so in effect little or nothing.

Because of this and the increase in premiums he'd face he's not going to claim.

He thought he wouldn't need any as normally he never leaves his bike anywhere so he's now got to save up for another one which is a hard pill for anyone to swallow.

with the cycling season well into full swing it's worth making sure you're covered as the thieves only need you to leave your bike for a few seconds to get a drink/icecream/go for a pee etc. for it to be gone.

He hadn't even considered it might get nicked from his garage.

cheers

Ade

Cheers for that  - i have separate bike insurance on my M&S policy, but I've not updated it since changing bikes, so cheers for reminding me!

Cheers for that  - i have separate bike insurance on my M&S policy, but I've not updated it since changing bikes, so cheers for reminding me!

no worries. I feel sorry for my mate because he had to get so many goody points to get that bike and now he's had to dust his old one down and try and make the best of a bad job until he's got enough to get the go ahead to get another. What ticks me off is the low life that nicked it is well known to the police and he had my mates and another for sale on gumtree for 400 each so makes more thieving than my mate does doing an honest days work. The police tried to set up a sting but the tea leaflet rumbled them so no arrest and no bike. No one wants to loose their bike but at least if its insured you'll not loose everything to these toe rags.

Awesome, I'd love a go at that.

 

 

 Click on the road and just look at how the road climbs! 

 

 Good to know about the insurance, i'll check with our contents tomorrow.