Christmas Eve local spin down and around Durham & Maiden Castle.

 

Motivation has ben lacking recently to get back out on the bike with some real crap weather but the sun finally come back out for a couple of hours this morning so I made the most of it. I dragged out the Cube E mtb for a change to give my legs and lungs a rest! I waited until sunrise before slinging my leg over the saddle. There was an overnight frost again and with the near continuous rain yesterday and last night it was icy under tyre! On the plus side it was fairly quiet out on the tracks n trails apart from the Park run runners on the way back in. The ground was saturated with plenty cold muddy spray in places where is was not frozen. I enjoyed the ride and the sun defo made this mornings ride. I passed The Keep barbers where my cousin works and it was still very busy. All in just under 16 miles in 1hr 20 mins with 750ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps from the ride enjoy and hopefully more soon, I am off work now until Jan 3rd so hopefully manage a few more rides in between all the rain and wind forecasted. 

Fresh Goods Sunday - Go Pro Long/Short Set of Same Direction Straight Joints - Adapter Mount Set. Part 4

 

This is the final part of the this Fresh Goods Sunday series on the mounting system for the Bontrager bar/stem combo mounting system. After a few rides with my Exposure Sirus light mounted to the underside of the stem it was angled slightly too far in the distance away from the front wheel. I could not angle it anymore down as the back of the light was hitting the underside of the stem. After a quick Google I found these extension pieces which looked ideal. I did not want the longer one but they come as a pair. I removed the exposure helmet light bracket, fitted the extension piece then fitted the Exposure bracket to the extension. The quality looks good and strong and did not have to wiggle it between the fins. After some adjustment the got the angle of the light further down to bring the light beam closer to the front wheel. For the money I got two straight extension joints inc p&p for just over £4 and they arrived within two days. Certainly cannot complain at that and I have the longer one in my spare parts tub as a spare. 

RRP £4.25 and I paid £4.17 inc 48hr p&p from Ebay 

Manufacturers blurb - 

This is a set of Straight joints where the pivot is in the same direction as the mount it would be attached to. These arms go in the opposite direction of the standard 3 way Pivot arm.

Contents
1x Short Straight Joint
1x Long Straight Joint

Freezing cold but enjoyable spin along the line from Bishop to Broom Park n back

 

Back out again today on the frozen lands of Co Durham. The temperatures are still around zero and below all day every day and todays ride the Garmin dipped down to nearly minus -6 degrees. There is very little snow around Bishop Auckland but when I hit the outskirts of Willington the tracks were nearly white all the way through to Broom Park. More people out today and some crazy dogs jumping straight towards my front wheel for some reason. Hopefully we might get above freezing this weekend but not by much! I took the Creo e gravel today and had no problems. It was steady away with 650ft of climbing and three long sleeved top layers on! My lower half was nippy apart from my feet which were not too bad in my Northwave Artic xc boots and Endura MTR winter socks. Just remember to wiggle your toes every 15 mins or so to keep the blood circulating. 

A few sunny and shaded snaps below from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon - 

A little warmer when I got back! 

Back out on the Trek Procaliber XC Hardtail in the snow & ice

 

Well the forecasters were right it has never gone above 1 degrees on a good day all week. Most of the time it has been well below zero. I picked this stretch of old railway line as it does not get much sun so the snow does not turn to sheet ice. With the overnight snow shower it was not too bad at all under tyre on the xc hardtail. The only hard part was biking into a 15+ mph freezing cold head wind all the way up from the Lambton worm towards Stanley. After 6 miles I decided to turn and head back down, not sure if I felt colder as I was doing more than double the speed I went up the line! The Garmin dropped to minus -4 degrees! Anyway on the plus side there was hardly a sole out so did not have to brake much which was a good thing. 

Below are a few snaps from the 12 miler with 500ft of climbing. Enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Fresh Goods Sunday - Exposure Light Clip - EXPHMAPCLIP. Part 3

 

If you follow my blog you may have noticed that I reviewed this same bracket back earlier on in the year as I have one fitted to the underside of my Specialized out front Garmin bracket on the underside for my Exposure Sirus light to clip into. 

This time I am fitting it in a very similar situation, on the underside of my Bontrager mtb carbon combo bars / stem. This is a follow on blog from the Bontrager Duo Base adaptor where I am going to use the 2nd lower mount for this Exposure helmet light bracket. Again it was simple enough to fit with just one allen bolt. As I found out when fitting the first bracket you have to give it a wiggle to get the bracket in the slots. Once I clipped in the light the back top edge of the light is very close to the underside of the stem with just has enough clearance to angle the light at the correct angle. As per my previous review the rrp is just plain crazy but the quality is good. 

In next weeks Fresh Goods Sunday it is Part 4 of the mounting system to the stem/bar combo. 

RRP £7.50 and I paid £7.91 from SDJ Sports inc 48hr p&p 

Manufacturers blurb - 

Adaptor allows you to fit our range of helmet lights to action camera brackets such as Go-Pro, AEE, Sony and many others.

Product Compatibility:

Axis BOOST Diablo Diablo SYNC Joystick Link DB Link Plus DB Sirius DB Zenith