Bank Holiday Friday Road loop to Northumberland / Weardale n back

After a rather stressful week dealing with incompetent people it was time to release the pressure this morning on the bike. I was up and out by 6am with the sun blazing away. I started the road loop from Lanchester village and headed straight up the hill out of Lanchester to Hollinside then straight on through Satley and up to the A68. After crossing the A68 I dropped down to Wolsigham, lovely and quiet at that time of morning. I then turned left to Frosterley and took the back road over the bridges to Stanhope. Stanhope was also quiet but it was before 8am. I then turned right and tackled Crawleyside in the sun. Once near the top the wind was blowing away. Once I reached the top I turned left and along the narrow road crossing the lovely moors to Bay Bridge crossing the Northumberland border and into Blanchland. There was not a sole kicking around Blanchland so after taking a couple of quick snaps I headed off towards Edmudbyers passing through Ruff Side. The sun was blazing away and by the time I reached the layby the Garmin was reading over 18 degrees. I descended into Edmudbyers and turned right and up the long draggy hill to Waskerley. Luckily this was in shade so the temperature had dropped right down. Once back on the top the sun was back out again for a lovely descent to Healyfield / Rowley. From here it is nearly all down hill to Knitsley and the back country lane to bring me back into Lanchester. All in 44.50miles with 4250ft of climbing in 3hrs 9 mins, ave 14mph.
Below are some sunny and not so sunny snaps. Enjoy and hopefully more soon -

 

 

 

Local spin with Jane & Arran and a catch up

Sorry for the lack of blogs recently but Ebay sent me a Free listing / £1 selling email / special offer on Thursday night so I spent all day Friday sorting through my bike spares tubs and had a good clear out. It takes for ever to sort through the stuff, clean it, take photos, list it on ebay, do some research to see how much it could be worth. Then wrapping it up, taking to the post office, updating the ebay / paypal account when its sold. In the end though I have cleared nearly £1.8k in 36 hours! I was still sorting the stuff out on Monday after three days sold.
Anyway back out on the bike today with Jane & Arran. It looked lovely and sunny but by god there was a freezing cold wind. It was just a short steady spin down to Durham / The Trod / Houghall woods and home. There trails are still rammed packed with people. Below are a few sunny snaps, enjoy and hopefully more soon -

The locals down at Brasside  / Frankland are kicking right off about this

Fresh Goods Sunday - IceToolz Bosch Active Locking Remover M081

When I replaced the chain on the Cube E mtb it was sucking around the front chainring / sprocket so to replace this you need yet another specialist tool to loosening / remove the chainring lock ring / guard. I have been meaning to buy one since I first bought the bike years ago but never got around to it but knew I would need it one day. There are only a few tool companies make one inc Bosch themselves but that is very expensive. The IceToolz model is good value for money compared to the Bosch model if you are not going to use it on a regular daily basis. There is also a second model come out for the newer generation Bosch motors by Park Tool!
Anyway back to this one, simple enough to use, remove the crank arm, slot the tool over the bb axle and fit a 1/2" wrench / driver bar and turn clockwise to loosen. Refitting is the same but in a anti clockwise direction to tighten the lockring. It is easier with two people for tightening to hold the bike, put the brakes on and put there foot onto of the other pedal to allow the lockring to be nipped up. You have to make sure the tool sits into the lockring flush and flat otherwise you could round off the slots easily.
PART 2 next week will follow on in replacing the chainring / sprocket.

RRP £13.99-£17.95 and I paid £14.41 from SDJ Sports inc p&p

Manufacturers blurb - IceToolz lockring remover M801, Bosch Active, black
Artikelcode: 240M801
--------------------------Specifications---------------------
• for Bosch® Active / Performance Line
• use with 1/2” Two-way Ratchet Wrench (#53R4)
material: Cr-Mo steel
Unit:0.158 kg

5,1 x 5,1 x 3,7 cm