It's Arrived....

Wednesday's delivery

 It arrived early on Wednesday morning.....very early...so early in fact that the courier actually got me out of bed......
The delivery consisted of one large box containing my new mountain bike..... quite a speedy delivery, as I only ordered the bike on Monday....

The contents of the box.....

I told Anne that it was an early Christmas present from me...to me!!
Inside the box the bike was very well  protected with sealed foam wrapping and cable ties.....
Within twenty five minutes I had the bike fully assembled and all set up.......

All prepared and ready to go...

Getting a new bike of any kind is always a fun experience......
Every time I get another  bike I always say 'that will be the last bike that I will buy'......I mean, lets face it, at almost sixty six years of age how much time do I have to ride four bikes...? 
So I will say it again... That will be the last bike that I will buy..!!

'Head to the woods' on the seat tube...

As you can see in the picture above......On the seat tube there is the legend 'head to the woods'.....
So that is exactly what I did.....!!

I just had to.....

GENESIS Core 100

I just had to..... buy a mountain bike that is....!!  
Following my recent ride with my daughter and her husband and the two boys it seemed silly not to... I mean I didn't want to have to keep borrowing my daughters Felt MTB everytime I go for a ride with them...having my own MTB seemed to be the way to go.

I didn't want anything too expensive, as a MTB will be just an add on to my real love of road riding but I did want something that seemed good and capable and I wanted good value as well....
I asked for some suggestions on twitter and Gary @gazwagon  came back with a recommendation for Genesis bikes.....

Luckily at this time of year there are a lot of good bike bargains to be had on existing models as the manufacturers introduce their new range of bikes....

I managed to get a Genesis Core 100 with a very nice 40% discount..... the only drawback is the colour...bright orange..!!  
Mind you my youngest grandson will approve of it as it is the same colour as his bike....

Changes........

Wicker and Wood Bike....

This time of year a lot of people seem to change their bike... buying the latest models that the bike manufacturers are promoting....

I have always thought that the start of the winter is not exactly a good time to be buying a new bike unless of course you are buying a new winter bike.... 
If I am going to change a bike the springtime seems a much better time to be spending my hard earned cash on something all shiny and new...

Having said that...since my recent ride with my daughter and her family I have found myself checking out MTBs online... I'm not saying that I will actually buy one....just looking you understand....

If you are thinking about a change, forget  steel...carbon...titanium...aluminium..or even bamboo... why not go for wicker and wood.....that is what the bike in the picture above is made from.
I saw it outside of a shop in town. 

It probably won't give you the fastest or most comfortable of rides, but hey...you will be different and you certainly won't be one of the sheep following everyone else.......

Talking about changes....there are going to be some quite major ones for me over the next 18 months or so. 

First of all, after fifteen years here at 'Purple Towers' it's seems pretty likely that a move to a different location is a distinct possibility. 
I can't say when exactly, but I would expect to re-locate sometime within that 18 month time frame. 

Anne and I are already spending more time in Devon so that seems to be a favourite area for us to move to... 
More information on that as our plans develop and unfold.....

I also plan on starting a different type of adventure than some of those that I have done in recent years....This one will be with Anne...
I can't say more that that at present but I will share more on this over the coming months. 

I still intend to continue with my big annual cycling adventures and I have a number of plans for next years ride in the mix.... I just need to work out the logistics of each route before making the final decision... As soon as that decision is made I will tell you about it here......

Half Term Ride.....

As it has been my grandson's half term holidays this past week,  my daughter and her husband invited me to join them all on a day out at the Moors Valley Country Park and Forest on Wednesday......

My Daughter and her Family.....

 Moors valley is not too far from where they live so they often pop over there with their bikes and make a day of it.... 
The weather forecast was for a nice day with only a small chance of rain.. 
I must admit that I had doubts over the accuracy of the forecast, as the moment I got into my car to drive over to their house near Wimborne it started to rain, but this cleared up and by the time we were all ready to set off from their house it had all the promise of a really nice day.....

My Grandsons and their bikes...

Being a road obsessed cyclist I don't own a MTB, but I was able to borrow one from the stable of bikes my daughter and her husband have....
We had a good ride along the gravel track forest road and also on the single track that winds it's way through the Pine forest with technical bends and tight turns...nothing too difficult... but at a moderate grade it is great for the kids...as well as sixty six year old roadies..!!

Bikes taking a lunch break...

We enjoyed a really nice lunch at the picnic area near the car park, but it wasn't long before the boys wanted to get back on the bikes and ride some more.... soon we were on the single track again....
On the way back home we stopped off to take a look at the steam railway......

One of the Moors Valley Steam Locomotives....

 Moors valley has an authentic narrow gauge railway which is obviously very popular with the kids...it currently has 17 steam locos and 2 diesel versions...apparently most of these were actually built at the Moors Valley railway workshops......

A view of the station area...

All too soon our day out on the bikes was over....
The weather had remained fine and dry for us and I really enjoyed the MTB riding as it made a nice change from my road bikes.....
Looking back on it I would list it as another of those 'special days'.........