Goodies, April Fools, a Book and Some Ridey Type Photos.

As ever, if any photos look fuzzy to you, just right click and open them in a new tab.

Well I'm all behind with this update, and there's a lot to get through, so no proof reading or anything too professional, let's get down to business.

First up, last weekend saw April Fool's Day and in among all the over the top and very obvious foolish stories, a couple of cycling ones caught the eye.

The first, the Quadrant Chainring as shown on Pinkbike, was obviously an April Fool, but a very well executed one.

There was even a very convincing looking video of the chain erm... ringthing in action.
It's still available to see at Pinkbike

Meanwhile the good folk over at Cyclist magazine also got in on the act with something that I'd bet really did fool a few folk - The accidental tarmacing of the infamous cobbled section of the Paris - Roubaix route.

Oh sacre bleu! Quelle dommage! Buggere Moi!

For the French speakers though the confirmation this was a fool came with the naming of a local councillor as Jean Marie Trompe, trompe being French for deceived.

Anyone wanting to check out the full piece, it's HERE

What now then?

Ah, my latest read...

The best book I've read yet, and I've not finished it yet, on how nature is vital to our well being and how we should be incorporating it, or elements of it, into our daily lives if we want to maintain good health.

The evidence presented is compelling, and in some cases, quite extraordinary. Yet we seem as a race to be hell bent on removing ourselves from nature as much and as quickly as possible. Well worth reading for anyone interested in why just being out in the fresh air and amongst greenery has such a good effect on our moods and general health.

Talking of which, there was also a very good article by Hannah over at Singletrack on just taking the time to stop more, and spend a while just taking in your surroundings. An excellent piece in my opinion, although I already stop every few yards anyway for a good gawp, maybe a photo, sometimes even for a rest (it's my age you know).

Again, well worth a read, and it can be found HERE

Right, cracking on, also this week I have received a couple of goodies from the good people at Spa Cycles up in Harrogate.

Hello, what's all this then? If this was Youtube I could do one of those thrilling unboxing videos, but it isn't so you'll have to make do with a shot of a plain cardboard box.

The plot thickens. Inside the box was a soft cloth bag that took me right back to my primary school days and the shoe bags we all had to have to keep our Plimsolls in. No comfortable and shiny floor friendly footwear in here though, it's a 

Spa Cycles Nidd leather sit upon.

These are a ton cheaper than the equivalent Brooks B17 at £39, and have longer frame rails for more adjustability, and thicker (8mm I believe) Australian leather. Giving it a tap is liking banging on a coffin lid it's that hard, but it is a thing of classic beauty alright. That thick leather also means it takes longer to break in than a Brooks, so a sore backside beckons until I get some miles in.

None of the fancy boxes, packaging and weird newspapers that you get with a Brooks, just the slightly odd soft bag, some instructions on how to fit and care for the saddle, and a spanner and Allen key for adjusting the tension. All held together not with the usual plastic cable ties, but instead with a bit of hairy string! Proper old school!

But that wasn't all, as still on the school days theme the other article reminded of a school satchell when in its packaging...

A Carradice Barley saddlebag.

I've long fancied joining the Carradice club as it were, as these bags just ooze classic quality and class.

Nice work Andrea.

It's good to see these are still handmade in this country using labour intensive traditional methods and so on. A lovely piece of very practical kit indeed.

And here they are on the bike intended for them - the Marin.

They might be an odd sight on a mountain bike, but who cares about that, and I actually think they suit the bike anyway.

I've lowered the seat height as the Nidd sits higher above the rails than the standard Marin perch, and I've adjusted the angle of dangle since these shots were taken to give it a slightly more nose up profile which is how I like it.

The big question now though is... Do I fit a rear mudguard to help keep muck off that bag? I do love the open wheels and chunky tyres on this bike, but I think I'll be getting a Mudhugger, as worn by Fatso, as they are the best rear mudguards for mountain bikes around in my opinion.

The left side pocket takes two spare tubes easily, while in the right side pocket I've got a cloth, a plastic bag for... something where I'd need a plastic bag, and some Jelly Babies - the riding fuel of Champions! I have a TUE exemption for the Jelly Babies, they make me happy as well as giving me a short energy boost when taking on some ugly great hill or other.

I've been talking to a few folk, doing a bit of research, and I'm going to try eating while out on a ride to give me a bit more energy and therefore the ability to ride a bit further. The bag will be very handy for a few nibbles, as well as the Trangia, kettle and load of coffee sachets. Hopefully, if successful, being able to eat a bit while out will move not just my riding forwards, but also how I cope with my various ailments. Confidence is a big issue, and if I can gain in that area it can only be a good thing all round.

I just need to bite the bullet, take some extra strong bravery pills, and get out and get the Marin dirty more often now!

I think that's the housekeeping done, now onto a couple of rides.

Way, way back on the 26th of March, I took the already mucky Jamis out for a brief trundle about in the lanes.

The day might've been dry, but by crikey it's been a wet winter and spring so far. All this ground to the side of the road is saturated and very, very soft and boggysome. Going off the tarmac armed with my tripod for this ride by selfie I sank in right above my right ankle and nearly lost my boot pulling my foot out. I knew then how Wun Wet Shoo the one legged Chinese Window Cleaner in the village must feel...

Erm... errr... it's a bike, in a lane, with some trees.

Not long now and the trees will be in full leaf, and the skeletal, gnarly tangle of branches will be hidden again.

Well that was quick, not many photos taken on that ride.

April the first though saw me wheeling Fatso out for some light manouevres in Idless Woods.

Not at the woods yet... but at Treworgan and the rather splendid display of Cornish Hedge topping Daffs. Yes, that is a 'hedge' despite looking more like a wall. Cornish hedges get their name because they are mounds of earth faced with stones on either side. Plants are encouraged to grow out of the walls, as are (usually) trees out of the top. This is a relatively newly built wall/hedge, but older ones resemble hedges due to all the plants growing out of them. The unwary motorists sometimes get caught out when moving over to allow another vehicle to pass, as what they think is a soft hedge turns out to have a hard centre that can inflict some expensive damage on the average car.

Now we're in the woods, and Fatso is looking surprisingly clean. Don't be fooled though, it was actually quite a mucky article when viewed up close, and indeed, got a proper wash once I got home.

On what I think of as 'The Chute' in the woods, but was I believe a Drover's path. It runs from the very top of the hill that the woods lie on, straight as a shotgun barrel down to the very bottom and bears all the hallmarks of a once busy thoroughfare. Riding down it is huge fun, even at my modest velocities, and not unlike those Minis hooting through the sewer pipes in The Italian Job. Well... in my imagination it's a bit like that anyway, but it is great fun.

Not fun is this!

For pity's sake, why do people do this?

They go and buy the special bags (and this looks like an actual branded dog poo bag - very expensive, the clever dog owner buys supermarket basic own brand nappy sacks). They then remember to carry them on their walk, then they do the right thing and scoop up their pooch's poop, but then they go and spoil it all by switching their brain off and hanging the bag in a tree or bush. Presumably they intend to pick it up on their return, but evidence suggests few do. It would be better if they didn't bag the doings at all but instead flicked it into the undergrowth if on a path, or if not, just leave it, as it will degrade down in fairly short order if left open to the air. In a plastic bag though it's going nowhere.

This platform bugs me. I have found absolutely no information on it at all, and I want to know what it was for! It was presumably for loading something onto wagons/trucks, but what? Logs possibly or maybe gunpowder barrels as the ruins of the Gunpowder works are nearby, but not close enough to make the link a definite. Perhaps though, Gunpowder was stored here ready for loading away from the main works as a safety precaution.

Aw, never mind mate, life isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway...

Oh fer ***** sake...

Well that was that too. My good luck with the weather continued, as I got home, washed Fatso, and got in the shower just as the heavens opened and it battered down with rain.

But overall, it's been a very stop start riding year for me so far and therefore a bit of a frustrating one. Most of that is down to the usual medical suspects, but by heck the weather has been crap as well and hardly conducive to enjoyable cycling.

Fingers crossed though that things will pick up, the trails will dry out and the sun will shine, and I can get some miles in on that saddle!

Happy Cycling!

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Well That Escalated Quickly...

As ever, if a photo looks a bit fuzzy at your end, right click it and open in a new tab.

An alternative title for this guff might have been 'The Beast from the East - The Sequel', because we've had some more solid weather in the Duchy of Cornwall in the last few days. 

As ever, the media had been going into a frenzy in the build up to the weekend just gone, as the forecast suggested we in my neck of the woods, could see a bit of snow on the Saturday night and again during Sunday afternoon. By Monday, it should all be over. Nothing too dramatic you'd think, but a quick look on the local newspaper's web page on Saturday found this:

One iffy night and following day in the forecast, at the weekend no less, and people are panic buying. 

But anyway, for a snow lover like me, all this sounded very exciting - could we here in Cornwall, where snow is a bit of a rarity, really get a second helping after having just had an unusually large dollop a couple of weeks beforehand? Excited but also sceptical I was as Saturday passed along with only the lightest of snow flurries blowing in the wind.

However, come Sunday morning, I woke up to find a little snow lying on my shed roof and in the grass, but better was to come when consulting the Met Office web site which had got rather interesting since my last visit. Nothing much through the morning but come 12 pm a 30% chance of snow, and from 1 pm through to 3 pm, a 95% chance... Now that looked very promising! 

Anyway, I was feeling up for a ride, so delayed my departure until just before 12, when I set off mainly bound for Ladock Woods, and hoping things would get interesting as the ride went on.

On the climb up from Trevella Stream towards Five Turnings and a quick Daffodil photo stop. More of these particular Daffs later...

Feeding the birds that morning I'd found the air a tad sharp - it was pretty flipping cold. So I'd set off wearing my full Arctic going attire of multiple layers, including disposable rubber gloves under my winter gloves, long johns under full trousers, and with leggings over the top and so on. During the previous bout of snow I'd worn a fleece lined hat with drop down ear flaps and setting off on Sunday I regretted my decision to leave that piece of loft insulation at home on this occasion. My ears and the back of my neck were really feeling the cold, and I was wondering just how much I was going to enjoy this ride, and even pondered wimping out and going home again. Thankfully though, I soon acclimatised and any thoughts of wussishness were swiftly forgotten.

Sunday started off a beautiful, if chilly, day, with bright sunshine and blue skies. The temperature for late morning was supposed to be 2.7 degrees with an 8 mph East North Easterly wind, so nothing too bad even if first exposure to the great outdoors did cause a little consternation at first, mostly around my ears.

Well it's all green on the hill up from Boswiddle Ford...

And still nothing unusual to report as I took a swoop along the lane beside Ladock Woods towards Trendeal. I couldn't make my mind up as to where I wanted to end up riding really, so went back to the original idea of having some off road nose pokery around the woods. So, I turned round and started back the way I'd just come.

By the way, who says Fatbikes can't chooch on tarmac? They are nowhere near as slow and draggy as some folk would have it, and 20 mph (No funny money KPH here thank you, only Great British Miles Per Hour) on the flat is an easy(ish) cruising speed to maintain.

Now, I've said it on here before that when the Met Office get it right, they get it very right. And very right they got it on Sunday, as just ten minutes after the suggested time, at precisely 13.10, the first flurries of snow floated about in the air. It was actually snowing lightly when I took this photo of Fatso bothering an unsuspecting gate, but so small and fine were the snowflakes, they barely show up in the image. Anyway, back to Ladock Woods for some off road fun, only to be...

Denied!

This new sign has appeared in the car park so I thought I'd go and have a read, see what was occurring. 
Oh Bums. Big Bums.
Well there it is, 'No bikes.' Doesn't say what sort of bikes mind, it is rather (and I suspect deliberately) vague in that respect, but I imagine they include mountain bikes and pedal bikes in general. If they'd meant motorbikes only, they'd have said so. 

So Ladock Woods is a no fly zone after all - I have wondered in the past to be honest, hence my preferred day to visit being a Sunday when there'd be no official lumberjack types around to tell me to beggar off. Damn shame though, as I've enjoyed my woodland rides there.

The next time Old Big Ears (otherwise known as 'Chuck the Hippy' or more formally HRH Prince Charles, the Duke of Cornwall) is down this way I think I'll go and have a stiff word with him.

By the way, I have met Charley once before, at Tregadillet Fair. It was a scorching hot Summer's day, and Charles was there to open the fair, but interestingly, on such a hot day, he was wearing a Fox Fur hat. Well I thought that was odd, and the poor chap was clearly sweating like crazy, so I went up and spoke to him - "I'm sorry your Royal Highness, but I can't help noticing you're wearing a Fox Fur hat, and wondered why you'd chosen that Fox Fur hat on such a hot day."

"Well" said Prince Charles, "I was at breakfast this morning with Mother (HRH The Queen) when she asked what I was doing today. I said that I was going to Tregadillet and she replied - "Wear the Fox hat..."

Ahem, the above story may not be entirely true...

Anyway, joking aside and back to Sunday's bimblery. The snow was starting to fall a bit thicker by now, so having been denied my woodland potter, I thought I'd make my way towards home, so took the lane towards Trispen and set about ambling along wondering (hoping) if the snow would get better.

A quick photo stop on the bridge over a stream (no names given on any of my mapping) and a close look reveals there is snow falling alright, but it's not yet settling.

It's the same story just a little further along the lane...

Just a little snow falling and nothing much to panic about. However, I had noticed, when stopping to take a photo, how quiet it was, a sure sign of snow in the air.

Now look at the road ahead in the above shot, and around that left bend lies an ugly great hill, the sort of hill you find yourself tipping over backwards when riding up it's that steep.* 

Well, by the time I'd slogged my way up that hill, things meteorological had moved along a bit.

*May be a slight over exaggeration... 

This was the state of affairs at the top of the hill, and it's getting a bit blizzardy. Settling too! Those trees are looking very photoworthy for a start.

Some Primroses and Daffs looking good in the hedge, but back to those trees...

Woo yeah! This is getting good!

No monochrome processing in the above shots by the way, they are in colour it's just the world went a bit black and white.

Messing about taking shots of the flowers and trees, I'd left Fatso parked in the hedge for a few minutes, and came back to find the bike copping a good covering.

Oh we're having some fun...

Pity though that it wasn't settling on the roads.
It might look a tad inhospitable, but I was toasty warm, and dry too, so riding slowly along taking in the occasion was nothing but a pleasure.

 Well maybe it is settling on the tarmac after all...

It was after the above shot of Fatso that the GoPro battery threw in the towel. I'm still using the battery it came with, and it's run time has reduced dramatically anyway, but in cold weather it really doesn't last long at all, despite me doing everything I could to prolong the charge.

The wind turbine near Five Turnings, and yes, some of those snowflakes were big. And wet. Some of them come fitted with an ear homing device as well, landing squarely and wetly in my unprotected lug holes with unerring accuracy.

With the GoPro out of commission, I had to take even more chances with the G1 X, which lacks weather sealing.

Five Turnings Junction.

From here I could've turned right behind the big tree in the photo immediately above, or gone straight ahead and down the hill towards Trevella Stream. I was undecided which way to go, so went left instead...

 And was rewarded with this scene as the lane winds up the hill towards Four Turnings.

 The same stand of trees following an ancient hedge, but from a different angle.

And zoomed in. (Starting a sentence with 'and' is supposed to be a big no-no, but knickers to that...).

While snapping the above shots, a woman walked into view and commented on me being 'brave' being out and about on a bike in that weather. Well you weren't so sane looking yourself out walking my love!

Anyway, I then rode back to Five Turnings, and after more indecision, I elected to take the more direct route home, via Trevella Stream once again.

Remember those Daffs at the start of this blog? Well here they are again a couple of hours later.

Taking the shot of the Daffodils saw the G1 X throw a tantrum and the LCD screen turned all white. I still got the above zoomed in photo of the lane leading down to Trevella Stream by deploying guessery and estimation. I suspected the issue was with the rather wet, and cold LCD screen rather than the camera itself, so was banking on it still recording photos ok, as long as I could compose them. But I did still have the DSLR in my armoury, so out that came as these trees were just too good not to photograph.

Moving on I got down to Trevella Stream but couldn't get a decent photo of the bridge or water so made for a gateway instead.

Habit (and forgetfulness!) saw me grab the G1 X again, and I found the LCD screen working as usual once more, just long enough at any rate, to grab this last photo of the day. 

From there, I made my way home as the snow had eased up, and I was in need of food, and coffee too.

Thankfully, the camera appears to have made a full recovery, and is working again as per normal. Fingers crossed it stays that way and no hidden damage was done by the weather. I'd hate to have this camera go kaput, as I don't know what I'd replace it with to be honest, other than another used example of the same model. It really is a very good camera and ideal for my requirements, other than for macro work that is, it's pants at that. So much do I like it, I'm considering buying another used one anyway, just to put away for the day when this examples chooches its last photo. 

Anyway, we had another goodly dump of snow, and hugely enjoyable it was too riding along in it and seeing the landscape being transformed before my eyes in such a short time.

The other good thing was I was pretty much (lone walker apart) the only person out and about, and even by a Sunday's standards, the lanes were quiet and everything was so peaceful.

Meanwhile, despite all the above, we here in my part of the country got away lightly, as further up, particularly in Devon and Somerset, they copped a right hefty fall, so I was still a little jealous - I'm a greedy git you see, always wanting more when it comes to snow!

So here I am, at the end of a beautiful sunny day, but nursing a tricky spine once again, thinking how good value 2018 has been so far, but that we've probably seen the last of any snow for a long while. Ah well... let's have a mooch around the internet, starting with the local news site once more, and hello... what's this then?

No... surely not, it couldn't snow down here again, could it? 

Fingers crossed...

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