Local walk & a trip out to South Shields on New Years Eve

Yesterday me and Jane got a local walk in before it came down dark. It was a local off road loop route with a pit stop at Pity Me Nurseries café for a cuppa which was just over half way around the 5.5miles. The weather was great with the sun out most of the time, windy in places and plenty of mud!

 

As for today we drove through to South Shields and parked up. Then we had a walk to the swimming pool for some lengths and play on the slides etc. Then it was a walk down to the beach and along the waters edge before crossing the beach in a massive head wind and walking back along the side road, through the park and up the street to Colemans for dinner. After that a belly busting dinner it was a short walk back to the car and a drive back home via the coastal road to Roker. 

Enjoy New Years Eve and hopefully a road ride tomorrow if the good weather continues.

Another frosty and sunny winters ride

Another hard overnight frost making it a beautiful sunny winters day. When I fired the van up this morning it was -3 degrees at 6.30am. When out on the bike even though the sun was out it never got above 0 degrees by a long way. The ground was frozen which made it easy going for the out n back route along the old railway line to Bishop. On the way out I got a rear puncture just coming out of Willington, quick change of tubes in the sun shine and the offending piece of sharp plastic pipe! removed from the tyre and the job was a good'un. Again there was loads of other cyclists out as well as runner, dog walkers, horse riders and walkers.
As for the weather well it is back to cloud and +11 degrees tomorrow, so time to put the dark lenses away and fit the bright orange ones again. Might drag the winter road bike out tomorrow for an outing as the frost and ice will have gone.
Below are a few pics for todays ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon -

PS - Fresh Goods Sunday is returning after the festive holiday break in the New Year.
Regards MBE

Spin up the old railway line to Consett from Birtley

After getting back from yesterdays bike ride I went out for a lovely 5 mile local walk around the trails / paths. Today there was a lovely heavy overnight frost and the sun came out so I was on a half day so took the Slate Apex out for a spin up the old railway line from Pelton way. There was still plenty of frosty / icy sections where the sun never gets and even the slop in the woods has dried up a little. It was hard work going up but nice and easy coming back down! I charged the camera battery back up so below are a few pics, enjoy and hopefully more soon.

new cycleway between Leadgate & Consett

Festive activities catch up

Well that's another Christmas over and tried not to each too much as I have a target of loosing 3.5 stone this year by the doctor! I had a ride around to my mums and back on crimbo day to see if the Slate Apex gears were working again and they were. It was down Westys last week for 4 days and as I suspected it was the Sram Apex 1 rear mech had packed in, not good after not too many rides but a new mech and cable has been fitted so fingers crossed this one will last a while longer. After getting back home we also went out for a walk to clear the lungs out, not far probably just under a couple of miles.
Yesterday I was going to go out on the bike but it was blowing a gale and got stuck in the man cave tinkering on with a few bikes.
I fitted a new set of brake pads on the Beargrease and a new front Mucky Nuts XL mudguard but it did not clear the 5" Bud so re fitted it to the Kramgrease and just about clears the 29x3" tyres. Not tried it in use yet but can see it clogging / rubbing in any muddy type of terrain.
Then I moved on to the Slate, I tired to convert the front wheel into tubeless and after 4-5 goes I gave up and put the tube back in. The problem was air leaking around the side of the Mavic tubeless valve not the tyre / rim.
After that it was late lunch and out for a good 4 mile walk to clear the head from tubeless / mudguard fitting!
Today was a ride out on the Slate Apex, local off road route, over to Bearpark Farm the back way to pick the old railway line to Hownsgill viaduct and back, 31 miles. The café is now closed until after the New Year now. No prob's with the bike and it was a lovely sunny ride when the sun came out. There was even a ground frost in places. The wind has died down as well.
Below are only a couple of pics as the camera battery went flat at Lanchester on the way out! Hopefully more soon -

oh and the back box dropped off the car as well