25 June 2014

Lovely dry ride on the dusty trails

What a lovely day for a ride out, the trails have dried out lovely now and are fast and dusty rolling. It was lovely and cool through the wooded / shaded sections and warm on the exposed sections, with the sun in/out/in/out. I took my Salsa Carbon Beargrease to chill out on but ended up putting the hammer down alittle on the way back in as i ended up andding an extra loop on and was running out of time. Below are a few photos from todays ride, enjoy and more soon -  





22 June 2014

FRESH GOODS SUNDAY - KCNC Razor Rotors

 When i bought my Salsa Carbon Beargrease i removed the standard Avid XX1 brakes and sold them. I had a pair of XTR to go on but didnt have any rotors. I come across these when i was looking for a seat post clamp and liked the look of them. After several months in use they are just as powerful as any other rotor i have used and have never caused any problems yet. They are good value for money and come with the bolts. I am using a 160mm on the front and a 140mm on the rear. The 160mm is £18.99 & 73g and 140mm is £17.99 & 62g. They also come in 180mm as well
SPEC - Nice open braking surface/pattern to allow debris and water to clear, and dissipate heat.

High grade 410 stainless steel/Heat-treated to 42HRC
Double ground for superior flatness
Includes stainless steel rotor bolts.




Early morning Sunday local offroad ride

We have family doen from the wee Highlands so only had a hour or so spare early morning so it was an up and out 7am ride. Weather was warmer today and the sun was out with no wind. Still lovely and cool/shaded in the wood sections which are also drying out nicely now. The ride was all local in and around the Durham area and did 17miles of pure fun on the Carbon Beargrease. Its nice to be back on the full fat 4" tyres again but i did get a rear puncture - thorn. Below are a few photos from the ride, enjoy -  
Ponds drying out @ the nature reserve

Council have finally cut back the verges, this track was down to less than a foot wide last week

This one was over 6ft during the winter months


Rivers running low at the moment

Under the old viaduct


Now this is a steep short climb, cannot really show the ture gradient in the photo

Down the steps and onto the flowing singletrack sections

Flying through the bomb hole until!

I came to top on the other side and found this fallen tree with a section cut out and a dirt ramp in front, i got the shock of my life

Over a foot drop off on the other side

Baths bridge - plenty of rowers out today

21 June 2014

Saturday morning road ride around local City of Durham villages

Woke upto blazing sunshine through the bedroom window but by the time we got the bikes ready and out the door for 7.30am it had clouded over and a cool 12 degrees. Todays road ride was a local loop that takes in loads of villages on the out skirts of Durham City. As you may know its not exactley flat so there was quite a few steady climbs as well, the best thing is there was very little traffic during most of the route. There was a breeze again which cooled us down nicely on the climbs. Below are a few photos from the ride, enjoy, more later

No Durham Park run this week, two other events @ Maiden Castle


Heres Paul after 40 miles running around the track with another 60 miles to go in 24hrs, started at Midnight Friday




20 June 2014

Friday evening local ride on the Beargreases

For one reason or another i havent turned a wheel this week until today. The sun was out and i needed to get some cycling done so me and Angus jumped on our Beargreases and did a local ride down and around Durham then back. It was a cracking evening with the sunshinning, shaded in the woods and a cool breeze on open sections. Durham riverbanks were packed full of people chilling out. We covered a lovely 16miles of steady away riding inc a stop off @ Elevet Ices for some icecream. Below are a few photos from the ride -  












19 June 2014

New mtb event in the middle of no where but plenty of granny climbing ;-)

Get you hiking boots on as there will be plenty of walking/slog. Just hope the wind & rain keeps off as well, very exposed over there. Same price for all three distances, check out the metres ascent, its more than enough to bring tears to your eyes.

15 June 2014

FRESH GOODS SUNDAY - MT ZOOM Top cap & Bolt

This week follows on from the previous weeks bling parts. I ordered this topcap/bolt when i bought my stem & spacers. Again the quality is excellent & lightweight with the bolt intergrated into the cap. I was going to use it on my Carbon Beargrease but it didnt fit as the top cap has alot of downward dish and with the carbon steerer tube / expander it was not compatiable. Not to worry Angus fitted it onto his Beargrease with alu steerer and star nut set up within seconds. SPEC -
The ultimate ultra lightweight top cap.

In total weighing 4.7g, the lightweight Ritchey carbon top cap and titanium bolt which this replaced weighed 15g.
The bolt hole is sensibly big. Deep at 8mm and takes a 5mm allen key.
Good for road bikes as well as mountain bikes.
Link here not sure if the cap will collect water with it being so dished, wait and see. rrp £9.99