Early Sunday morning dark/light local gravel loop

The forecast was not looking too good for today, in fact it was forecast solid rain from 10am onwards so I decided to charge up my lights and fitted them last night ready for an early ride this morning. I also had to swap my wheels to my 650b Hunt wheelset, more on this in todays Fresh Goods Sunday later. It had stopped raining through the night so the roads / trails were still wet when I headed out at 6.30am. It was also pitch black! with sunrise at 7.44am I had just over an hour before it lightened up. I had planned on just doing a road loop but as I had my 650 x 2" tyres on I headed off road onto the old railways lines at Baxters Farm. I then headed towards Ushaw Moor and straight up through Water Houses to Stanley Crook. I did a short road loop around Stanley Crook before dropping back on the line down to Crook. I took the road from Crook to Willington and turned off left at the Coop back onto the railway line again. By now I was finished with the road and daylight was in so turned off all my three lights. It was cold, 3.2 degrees on the Garmin and its time to drag out my winter tights and winter boots now. My feet were freezing in my Sidi mtb shoes. There was also a very strong 27mpg wind which did not help. Once back at Baxters Farm I headed back home. It was only a couple of miles from home and heavens opened, over an hour early! All in 27.5 miles in 2hrs 4 mins and nearly 2000ft of climbing. Below are a few dark and lighter snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon.

 

and a short video clip at the top of the climb on the old railway (Stanley Crook)

 

Trip down to Richmond & Catterick Garrison + Fresh Goodies

We don't have many free weekends between now and Christmas so we decided to have a day trip down to Richmond. It has been quite a while since we have been to Richmond so was looking forward to it. We parked up and had a walk down into town past the park / cricket club where Richmond CC used to do the grass track racing. We had a walk around the town centre / market place and did some shopping then had a tootle over to The Station on the other side of the river (opposite the swimming pool). We had a cuppa and some bait then hauled ourselves back up the hill and back up through the market place for some more shopping. Once back at the van we loaded up our shopping and had a short drive down to Catterick Garrison to their shopping centre place. Jane  was after a pair of new walking shoes so tried some on in Cotswold Outdoors. Did some more shopping in the other shops then back in the van and back to Richmond, trading industrial estate to the Alt Berg factory. Jane tried on more walking shoes and hit lucky with a pair of slight seconds marked down from £140 to £50!
From there I was going to call in past Arthur Caygill cycles but forgot so headed to Bishop Auckland for food shopping and fuel. We did not get back in until late afternoon and both of us were tired and feet up time.

 

And below are some fresh goodies that was bought / landed this week.

 

Both my inspection lamps are on the blink and drive me mad going on and off all the time so I thought it was about time I treated myself to a new re chargeable one this time. I swapped over the summer wheels to winter wheels on the van and Angus's second car this week and the lamp come in very handy as it was dark by the time we got finished. More on this in Fresh goods Sunday soon-

 

I have looked a this magazine a few times but decided to buy this this issue as Mason Cycles are featured in one of the articles. I bought it straight from Sidetracked website £10 + £3 p&p. When it landed a few days later, the magazine come in a lovely strong carboard envelope with "sent from Newstand" Britain's biggest magazine distributor. So I had a look on their website and discovered if you buy the magazine direct from them you don't have to pay the £3 p&p! Here is a link and they do loads of other cycling and none cycling mags inc ones from America LINK

 

Some new crystal bling for the fire place

 

and Jane's new walking shoes from the Alt Berg factory, HERE

Fresh Goods Sunday - Cranked cc Magazine T Shirts

I subscribed to this magazine when it first came out but when my sub ended I did not renew but since then I have been buying a few issues from WH Smiths if the contents don't have too much downhill / abroad articles in. Anyway back onto the subject I was after a couple of new cotton cheapo t shirts and when these popped up I ordered a blue Crakedwagen one and a red Crancked one. I did not notice that the sizing was different for each T shirt so had to email Seb to change the sizing on one. They landed straight away and are good value for money. There is nothing fancy or technical about them just a reasonable quality cotton t shirt to kick around in. Sizing is about right. Grab one whilst you can and get the latest copy of the mag!
RRP £20 and I paid £10 each inc p&p

Manufacturers Blurb -
The Crankedwagen t-shirt is made from 100% heavyweight cotton. Designed with a detailed line drawing of our team transport – complete with bike in the back – and a logo and #metaltothepedal hashtag on the back, it’s the ideal addition to any mountain biker’s off-bike wardrobe.
Prices include shipping – sale shipping to UK only, sorry.
Now available in women’s sizes (blue only) – just select from the drop-down menu. Please be sure to check sizing before ordering – you can find the info you need under the ‘additional information’ tab.

Women\\\'s sizes: small – 8/10UK medium – 10/12UK large – 12/14UK x-large – 14/16UK Men\\\'s sizes: small – 34-36in chest medium – 38-40in chest large – 42-44in chest x-large – 46-48in chest xx-large – 50-52in chest

– 200gsm 100% pre-shrunk cotton – seamless twin needle collar – taped neck and shoulders – quarter-turned to eliminate creasing   Cranked T Shirt -     Manufacturers Blurb - The Cranked t-shirt is made from 100% heavyweight cotton. Designed with a conversation-starting reversed logo on the front and self-explanatory logo and strapline on the back, we think it’s an essential addition to any mountain biker’s wardrobe. But then we would say that, wouldn’t we? Prices include shipping – sale shipping to UK only, sorry. Men's sizes: small – 36-38in chest medium – 38-40in chest large – 41-42in chest x-large – 43-44in chest xx-large – 45-47in chest Product details – 190gsm 100% semi-combed ringspun cotton – ribbed collar – taped neck – tubular body – twin needle stitching   

Early Sunday morning local road ride - Durham Villages

The forecast was for rain all day but a couple of hours of dry early morning. I had not planned on going out on the bike but when I looked out of the window at 6.30am it was not raining so dragged the bike out and fitted some lights. I had charged up the rear light from yesterday but the two front lights were first time out this season straight from my tub. I did not have time to charge them so put them on a medium high power mode just in case. It was pitch black when I set off around 7.15am and very misty. It was also very cold with the Garmin hovering around 5 to 6 degrees. I could not believe how much traffic there was on the A167 around Nevilles Cross area at that time of day on a Sunday. Once I turned and headed of the A167 it was much quieter. I did not do my full Durham village loop and did some diversions etc but still covered 26.5 miles in 1 hr 40 mins with 1500ft of climbing. All my lights lasted the whole ride and are now on charge ready for the next dark outing. The camera does not show just how dark it was early on but as you can see I defo never had any sunrise / sunshine lol. Enjoy the few snaps below and hopefully more soon -