Another local sunny ride around Durham's old railway lines.

 

Two days in a row now for sunny rides! I was up and out  a little earlier today so was colder than yesterdays ride but again there was sunshine for the whole ride. Todays loop was again a local one taking in two of County Durham's old railway lines. I hoped onto the line at Langley Park and headed for Broompark, from there it was straight on at the junction and up to Stanley Crook. The lines are all mainly bone dry, dusty and fast going under tyre with the recent good weather. Once at Stanley Crook it is the fast steep descent down into Crook to pick up the road to Willington. At the COOP I turned left and along the old railway line back to Broompark then Langley Park. Again not that many others out n about early doors. All in 26miles in 1hr 58mins with 1200ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Local mainly gravel loop from Meadowfield to Bishop Auckland etc.

 

Back out my bike after the bank holiday weekend in the glorious sunshine for a change. Still a cold nippy start but soon warmed up with just a cooling breeze in places. I did a loop from Meadowfield as I had to call in past Infinity Cycles when I was finished the ride. It was a simple loop using the old railway line to Bishop Auckland then over the viaduct and through the market place, half way up the hill and pick up the track to Spennymoor. There was a few others out enjoying the good weather but it was not too busy. From Spennymoor, through Tudhoe Village, back way to Croxdale, Sunderland Bridge, Brans Den then back to Meadowfield. All in 23.5 miles in 

1hr 48mins with 900ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Fresh Goodies - Hope RX Centre Lock 160mm discs (Black) & Centre Lock Disc Lockring (Internal/Black)

 

If you follow my blog you will know that I have swapped over to Hope RX2 brakes on my Specialized Creo2 gravel bike. I also run two sets of Hunt wheels, one with 29"x2.2" tyres and the other with 700c x 45mm tyres. When I got the brakes fitted due to the cost at the time I only got one set of discs for the 29" wheels that I was running at the time. I did plan on swapping over the discs onto my second set of  wheels but I could not be bothered to keep doing that every time I wanted to swap over the wheels. 

So I removed the Dura Ace rotors and cleaned up the wheels and added some fresh tubeless sealant. I ordered another pair of Hope RX Centre lock 160mm discs and a pair of matching Hope Centre lock lockrings for both the front wheels. They took a couple of days to arrive as they had to be ordered in from Hope. I fitted them onto the wheels and swapped the front lockring on my other front wheel for the Hope bling one. Now I have both wheelsets ready to fit / ride without having to do anything. 

Disc rotor - new rrp £85.00 which is shockingly expensive for one rotor but I paid £59.50 

Lockring - new rrp £10.50, I paid £8.08 

plus £3.99 for 24hr p&p from Slam 69. 

Early morning Easter Sunday local spin out on my Specialized Creo 2

 

Well it has been a while since I have been out on my bike, 23rd March. The sun was shinning and I had a reasonable nights sleep for a change so decided to get back out again. I took my Creo 2 with my 700c x 45 wheels on. We had storm Dave rattling the roof tiles last night and rain like I have never seen before. I was out just before 7am dropping down into Durham and there was not too many puddles considering  but there was loads of branches / small trees down. There was not many others out around Durham / Maiden Castle early on so I enjoyed the quite tracks n trails in the sun. The wind had died down to around 30+mph gusts but was sheltered on most of my route. Below are a few snaps from the 15 miles in 1hr 20miles with 800ft of climbing. Enjoy and hopefully more soon inc a couple of Fresh Goodies blog as I have been splashing some cash!