Sunny but very windy ride in Weardale to Cowshill / Killhope.

Well what a few days of glorious sunshine, cool'ish temperatures, overnight frosts and the bloody wind again. Todays route was up in Weardale, Co Durham. It was an out n back ride to Cowshill / Killhope. The ride out was on the quiet country back lanes but on the return leg I was on the A689 back to Stanhope with a huge 25+mph headwind for 13 miles. There was no escaping the wind apart from the last couple of miles to Frosterley from Stanhope as I decided to turn back off the main road. I took the Cannondale Synapse Neo and had no problems. Not like my legs as they felt hollow for the whole ride. I was over dressed on the way out with the tailwind and just right on the way back with the wind chill factor. Below is a few sunny snaps, 27 miles with 1700ft of climbing, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

 

A spin up the C2C/Waskerley Way to Parkhead and Waskerley Reservoir on the way back down

 

Well today is back to no sunshine but also no gale force winds either. I was just under 25 miles short of my 300 mile monthly target so headed for the hills as it was a lot warmer than down in the valleys. I parked up at Delves Lane and headed for Park head. The higher I was climbing the warmer it was getting. There was a head wind on the way up after the last carpark on the open sweeping moor section. It was lovely and quiet on the way up only seeing a few others out. The line was dry apart from a couple of wet sections near to the top. I had to do a couple of extra loops on the way back down to make up the mileage a little. I dropped down to Waskerley reservoir where there was a few fishermen out in the water, it looked really cold. On the way back down there was quite a few other cyclists heading for the top. All in just under 25 miles in 1hrs 44mins with 1100ft of climbing. Below are a few miserable looking snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Fresh Goodies & Man Cave jobs - Teravail Cannonball 700c x 47

 

After I set up my second pair of Hunt wheels for my Creo2 I was on the look out for some new 700c rubber. I wanted something wider than my Gravel Kings I am running on my Creo 1 gravel bike. I was originally not going to fit the Specialized Tracer 47mm tyres the bike originally come with as I thought the tread pattern was too bald for my general type of use and terrain. I found these on Lyon Equipment Distribution website with 50% of inc p&p, £35 each. Since then I have been using the Tracer tyres and have had great success with them so going to put these into my spares tub for when the Tracers have worn out. 

Onto my Trek Marlin+ e mtb hardtail, I fitted some lock on Cannondale grips ages ago as the original grips were crap but the Cannondale grips were too thin and rough for my hands. I have been meaning to swap them for ages but never got around to it. After todays ride where I wanted to take my gloves off near to the end of the ride I couldn't as they are too rough for my bare hands. I had three sets to pick from but ended up fitting the Cannondale XC Silicone + grips which I have had in storage for a while now. 

That was one job sorted, now the creaking seatpost / saddle noise has come back again so I removed the post from the frame, cleaned and re greased that, remove the seatpost clamp, cleaned and re greased that and lubricated the seat post clamps/bolts and saddle rails. Put everything back together and hopefully no more squeaking for a while. 

Next up is my Cannondale Synapse Neo - I had removed the original Vision wheels a month or so ago and had my original wheels from my Creo 2 spare but the rear wheel required re dishing to Cannondale strange offset. I dropped it off at Infinity Cycles and £25 later the wheel was re dished and ready to go. I swapped over the tyres and set them up tubeless and swapped over the cassette and brake disc rotors.

I also treated the bike to a good wash, dry then AutoGlym Super resin polish followed by rapid ceramic spray protection on top.  It is now shinning like a shit house door handle. 

A blast down / around Durham and Maiden Castle on the Trek Marlin+

 

My legs were a little tired from yesterdays ride and there was a 41mph gusting wind so I decided to keep it local on the Trek e hardtail mtb. I dropped down into Durham and over to Maiden Castle. I did not go into Houghall woods but went up The Trod. The descent back down to Old Durham Gardens is normally 30+mph but today with the headwind I had to pedal as hard as I could to go downhill! Most of the route was more sheltered and it was sunny for the whole ride. There was loads of others out so very stop / start. I was a little later in getting out than normal as I had a lie in. Below are a few snaps from ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon-