Still Dodging the Rain....

Yes...I'm still dodging the rain...

I've never really enjoyed cycling in the rain even though over the years I seem to have spent an awful amount of time doing just that....
A summer shower can be quite enjoyable   but a winter downpour that just goes on and on does seem to spoil my enjoyment of the ride somewhat.....
Unfortunately over the past month, winter downpours seems to have almost become the everyday norm...

Most of my 'training' so far this year in preparation for this year's bigger rides seems to have been on my static bike, although I do try and get out on those very few and far between drier moments, not that there have been many of those.....

Last year I was pretty impressed with the results that I got from using the static bike as the centre of my training plans...it certainly didn't fail me during my ride over the Alps or on the ascent of the Ghisallo.
That having been said I would dearly love some nice dry cold and crisp winter days so that I can get out on the training bike more often....

One development over the past few weeks concerns my blog post where I highlighted the rides that I was planning for this year....
A friend of mine from the backpackers club read about my plans and got in contact to tell me that he would be interested in joining me for part of both the South Downs Way (easy) Double and the Bournemouth-Holyhead-Bournemouth ride...

Anyway a few emails later and it looks as if the dates for these rides have been set....
We should be setting off on the South Downs Way Double on Friday 27th June and the first two weeks of September should see us riding the Holyhead (Lon Las Cymru) ride.....

Hopefully we should have some other riders join us for all or at least part of these two rides but in the meantime it looks as if I will have to continue dodging that rain.....
Looking out of the window I have just noticed that it has started to rain yet again.....

Topeak MTX Beam Rack

Here is something that I have acquired in preparation for my 'South Downs Easy Double' ride which I am planning on doing later in the year...

Topeak MTX Beam Rack

This is a Topeak MTX Beam Rack which clamps to the seatpost.

It is not practical to use a standard style of cycle rack on the MTB such as I have fitted on my touring bike, due to the risk of the panniers catching on rocks and branches etc... so for off road bikepacking all the bags need to be carried higher but closer  to the centre line of the bike.

The pannier bags will be left at home and I will be using waterproof drybags similar to the ones I use when backpacking.....

Close up view of the MTX Clamp fitting

I was a little concerned at first that the clamp would not be strong enough to hold the rack rigidly enough when fitted to the bike.....I need not have worried about it, as once fitted to the seatpost properly the entire rack is absolutely rock solid...

The beam rack is able to carry up to 20lbs (9kg) of weight....and as my total summer backpacking kit weight tips the scales at just under 16lbs and I intend to spread this weight across the bike I think that this rack will be more than man enough for the job.

My intention is to carry my Tent...Sleeping Bag...Thermarest (inflatable mattress) & some items of clothing on this rack. 
As the tent is the heaviest single item at approx 3lbs I estimate that the total weight that I will actually be carrying on the rack will be well under 8lbs max.

Topeak sell a small mudguard unit that fits underneath the rack and that seems a pretty good idea in order to help keep me, my kit and the bike clean..... needless to say I have placed an order for that too..... 

Looking in two directions at once.....

That's what I'm doing right now.... Looking in two directions at once.
I'm looking backwards over this past year at the same time as looking forward to 2014.....

For various reasons this past year has not been a good one...... Apart from the success of the 'Ten Countries in Ten Days' (10in10) ride I feel that I have achieved very little.. 
Plans made for various rides fell by the wayside due to reasons beyond my control.....my cycling mileage has fallen to half of what I achieved last year and even on this blog I have written fewer posts than any year since I started  the 'PurpleTraveller'.
My Mojo seems to have gone missing to some extent.......

I can put some of this down to the fact that I lost a number of people who had figured strongly in my life over many years..... The passing of these friends and most recently a family member seemed to hit me harder than I could have imagined and I found that my heart wasn't up to doing much at all.........
Even during the year that I was undergoing cancer treatment I seemed to achieve more than I have over this past year......

Over the years though I have found that setbacks seem to spur me on given a reasonable recovery period, so with that in mind lets look forward to 2014........

First up......
Now that I have the MTB one little challenge that I intend completing is the South Downs Double.. The South Downs Way was one of the first National Trails that I did years ago as a backpacking trip and since that first trip I have backpacked the route on three separate occasions.   
The route runs from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east and is a wonderful offroad route 160kms in length.

A few riders attempt the 320kms return route in 24hrs........ but not me..! 
I plan on doing the return route the easy way by taking my time over the trip so that I can take photos and just enjoy the route more.... 

I will be carrying lightweight camping gear on the bike in MTB trekking style rather than using panniers etc as I do when road touring and I will probably give myself five or six days to complete the 320kms.......... so my ride could be called the South Downs EASY Double.....

Next up...
I will finally get around to doing the Lon Las Cymru route across Wales from Holyhead in the north to Chepstow in the south..... 
This will be completed as a traditional touring ride but there will be one big difference with the way I plan on doing it..........!!

My plan is to cycle from home here in Bournemouth to Chepstow and then to loosely  follow the English /Welsh border North before turning West to continue to the start at Holyhead......
After completing the Lon Las Cymru back to Chepstow I will then just carry on back to Bournemouth. 
In effect then just one huge loop of approx 1,000kms. 

As well as these two trips I also plan on a short cyclepacking trip with friends along the Tarka Trail in Devon as well as completing the West Country Coast to Coast route.....

For now I have been getting out along the coast on the MTB and I also plan on getting some riding in over Christmas and the New Year holidays and also spending time with the family.....

I wish you all Seasons Greetings and a really good New Year.......

Getting out along the coast....

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'.........