Luca’s choice weekend

Got back to rampworx on Wednesday after my tumble a couple weeks ago, was with Sam Chris, Ant and Phil ... all better than me but that’s a good thing, it pushes me to do better. Even though I am twice the age of Chris n Ant so sometimes I don’t go full force like they do my body is a little more delicate than there’s ha. 

Headed straight to the 1/4 pipe that I crashed on, thought it best to get it out the way and make sure I could still 180. BRAKE ! 🙈 well it seemed it got to me I bottled it. Took a few runs but I got it again and had a good night, pretty chilled riding wise didn’t do anything special but was good to get back in the skatepark. 

Friday I got off work early so picked Luca up from school, recently I have realised that all though we always do cool stuff on our weekends together its always my choice. He normally is made up with what we do but I thought I would give him a weekend where he could choose. 

Luca’s choice weekend consisted of a chippy tea Friday ..... I like the start of this weekend already haha, and my diet has gone out the window this week. 

Next stop was playing mario kart on the switch and with that it was soon bed time.

Saturday it was raining and Luca said “can we go ice skating ?” Cool by me, I played ice hockey for a year when I was 17 and I still have my hockey skates, not skated much since that just a couple times with Luca. Quick stop to B&Q on route to grab some stuff for the camper van, we need to use it mid week at work so I’m going to make the bed and cabinet removable then onto the McDonald’s for lunch before we got to the skate rink. 

Ice skating was fun, I was rubbish for about 30 minutes then got back into it, Luca is the same, takes him about 30 minutes with a penguin 🐧 then he is off on his own. Seen a couple nice woman with there kids who may of been single ( I always do this, check out women who may be single when on days out with Luca) but as always I don’t even talk to them coz I’m far too shy and afraid I will make a fool of myself, i wish people had a sign to say please approach me I’m single and I like you 😆 

So good day today, spent 4 1/2 hrs at skating so I’m a bit tired and legs are aching and Luca’s choice of event tomorrow is go to Degla for a ride. 

Some of the lads are going to Greno tomorrow and Luca loves it there but he wants to do the black at Degla now I’ve told him I have de limited his ebike haha. If anyone has a Yamaha motor on there bike its pretty simple to do, take the magnet off the wheel and attach it to the back of the crank with cable ties, then switch the sensor from inside of chain stay arm to outside again with cable ties and it fools the motor into thinking its going slower.

Bags packed and hardtails ready (i may struggle to keep up with him without a motor ha) I will report back and finish this blog tomorrow night and let you know how we got on. 

Sat morning up early, tea and toast made we set off in the van for Llandegla. We forgot to do his school reading book last night so he is reading to me on the way. 

Set the bikes up and we were ready, partly way up through the first section of woods i realised I had left my bag in the van 🙈 back to the car park and Luca waitied on the pump track while I went to the van, gets to the van and realised Luca had the keys in his backpack 🙈🙈 back up to the pump track to get the keys and back down to the van again. Gets my bag then heads up to the pumptrack to get Luca, i was knackered by now and hadnt even set off ! wish i took my ebike and not the hardtail.

After all the messing about we thought it would be best to just head up the fire road to the top so off we went, soon as we got into the open the wind and rain was awfull. Weather report had gave 18-20 mph winds but it said it was a dry n cloudy day so I thought we would be ok. Typical Degla the weather does what it wants 🙈🙈🙈

Luca was even struggling on his ebike to pedal up and I got blown off sideways so we walked up, first section along the blue then red was windy but then as the red started to drop down it improved a little. Now last time we did the red on his ebike he had a otb off a Little Rock drop that could of been rolled, he wasn’t used to rocks and not being able to see past it to see how big the drop is. I did tell him he could roll it all but he hit the front brake and over he went. 

Not this time, there was me giving him advice as we went along to Luca replying “I know dad I can jump of a kerb you know” 😂 so the red was no issues this time and I thought he is ready for the black. When we say black anyone that’s been to Degla will know the black isn’t really a black but to Luca this was a good introduction, not sure I would take him down a black anywhere else yet. 

As we rested at the point where the black starts I heard a couple of roadies on mountain bikes ..... you know the type, all in Lycra chatting about how fast they got up the hill ! I was surprised they had stopped for a rest to be honest. Well I heard one mumble to his friend ‘ppfftt kids on ebikes now, how pathetic” I wasn’t 100% this was what he said so kept my mouth shut but I was fuming. They then set off just as we were getting ready to go, they were on full suspension short travel bikes and went off on the red, while Luca set off and headed straight into the black on his hardtail thats weighs a ton without hesitation. I felt a little smug at this point with a grin on my face and calling the Lycra boys Fanny’s we went down the black. 😁

Proper proud dad moment today, age 7 and did the whole black route except the b line. I think next time I will take my ebike and just sit in eco mode as when Luca hit boost on the climbs he left me for dead and was sat at the top chilling at every climb while I puffed n panted my way up grabbing my inhaler at the top every time (yes I’m not only type 1 diabetic I have asthma as well) 

Luca’s bike is a haibike sduro four, its a 24” wheel but has a 400w battery, most bikes come with a 500w and my focus jam2 comes with a 350w. I have no idea why a kids bikes needs a 400w battery as a full loop of degla with him using boost on the climbs he got back to the car park with 70% left, he could of done 3 laps ! I reckon I can get 2 laps out of my 350w battery in eco mode or maybe a full loop plus a blue loop in trail mode. 

Anyway, it was worth all that money for his ebike, he is a very lucky boy having a full sus / ebike and a jump bike plus the carerra crappy thing at his mums house 😆 but for a 7 year old that hates hills (just like his dad) this bike was a great buy. He wants to go back again in a couple weeks to do it again. 

Also when we went to fort William for the World Cup weekend this bike was great for him then, we must of rode over 35 miles that weekend and I don’t know many kids his age that would do that without crying or throwing there bike in a bush in a tantrum haha. A lot of money for a kids bike but to have him on big rides like that and to see this smile at the end of it all its well worth it, my little sidekick can enjoy the skatepark on his jump bike, short downhill runs on his Kona stinky and long rides at dads pace on his ebike. 

We have half term coming up and looks like we may get some dry weather soon, next on the adjenda is to give him what he has been asking for for the past 6 months ..... “dad, when are you going to take me to an uplift like Bike Park Wales” 

I really need to stop showing him YouTube videos 😩 or do I ? I love it really 😁 

Will half term be the time to take him for his first uplift ? Long journey for me to go down there (4 hr drive) and not get to ride my bike properly ..... I suppose we can stop to rest and while he sits off I can session some jumps on popty ping. We shall see.

Until the next adventure 👍 

Jan 20th - snow day

Me and Jimmy had arranged to get out on Sat this weekend but seeing the forecast of rain and sleet he cancelled Friday night and left it. I packed the van as seen there was snow but no rain in Llandegla, alarm set for 6:45am i was set to go.

Woke up and checked the weather app to see it had changed and there was more rain and sleet than snow, but i decided to go anyway. Stopped at Lymm services for breakfast and ditched Greg’s for a mcdonalds today, ive been really good counting my calories all this month and then found out 2 mc muffins was enough for breakfast and dinner. Oh well i was riding today its ok. 

On route into Wales i didnt see any snow, disappointed ! Pulled into he car park just after 9am and got changed, base layer top n pants, downhill pants, body armour, buff neckerchief, another top, fox coat, socks and waterproof socks plus knee pads and elbow pads.... i nearly put a full face on just to keep warm. Not your normal trail centre get up but i was warm and prepared. 

Off i set, it was damp and a slight drizzle / wet mist. As i left the woods i seen white. Yes there was snow on the hill and it started to fall from the sky as well. Bombing up the climb passing loads of people because i was on the ebike 😏 when clunk ! I turned around to see my crank and pedal on the floor 

😩. Problem was my multi tool was stopping me from getting a good angle and i got about 10% of a turn each time so it took a while to get back on, 10 yards on it was still loose. Back off the bike and tighten it up more, meanwhile all the people I smuggley overtook earlier were now passing me with a smug look. Prob thinking ha serves you right ebiker. A couple did ask was i ok and did i have tools. Fixed and seemed to stay tight so off i went to overtake them again haha. 

I was surprised by how much grip i had, i did do a couple wheel spins uphill but the bike was gripping well, guessing because the snow was fresh i was still finding grip on the hard surface underneath with no ice. It was time to have some fun in the snow. 

Back at the van i closed the door over and put my gas heater on while getting changed, my feet were freezing so i put my socks on the heater just for a few seconds. I turned around to find my socks on fire 🔥 oh man what an idiot, when it says “do not cover” then do not cover ! Off to the shop to buy a pair of socks to warm my feet up, it was pretty nice putting nice new socks on. Pork pie and a hot chololate to warm me up and it was time to head home. 

It seemed i timed the ride just right as they had to shut the car park due to the heavy snow fall now, i crawled down the road out in the van to be safe then when i hit the roads it wasnt long before the snow turned to sleet then back home it was rain. Just over an hour away and such radical change in conditions. Made up with my ride i got home for a hot bath before going to get Luca, we were taking my little sister out for a birthday meal tonight.

Popped into Chris’s and he sorted the hub in Luca’s rear wheel for me, love a good friend who’s good with bikes 👍 cheers dude. 

Weather is set to improve next week so there may be trip further afield going down, we shall see how work is and how the weather is. Is it too cold still to sleep in the van ? We shall see maybe ! 

2017 continued part 3

The day after the enduro (previous blog) i woke up after the rough night feeling pretty good, Sam txt me to see if i was still going to ride Revolution and i decided i would go along and just take it easy. I packed the van up left the campsite and headed off towards Revs to find a cafe for the lads to meet me at. This was my 2nd time at revs and all though i love the place, im shit at riding it. Especially the steep technical stuff, but even though i was pretty tired after the enduro i still gave it a shot. 

Bit of a long video but some funny moments and crashes.

Summer was going great and it was soon time for mine and Luca’s annual Cornwall trip (i was born and grew up in Cornwall so its somewhere we go often) I had just built up a jump bike for Luca so he had a bike he could ride on holidays and in the street at home without getting jumped for his bike. This was a good chance to get him more confident on a bike and we hit the track in Portreath for some dirt jumps. I was on my hardtail but found it a bit too big for this type of riding. This year i shall be taking my jump bike. 

Luca’s first air time 🙌

And a bit of paddle boarding at the beach. 

looking through videos of 2017 it seems this blog will be more videos and less chat, i am sure i will get much better at the blogging thing when i can write the adventures as they happen in 2018, its a little harder to remeber everything we did last year so these are more warm up blogs ready for the adventures this year.

Videos from the rest of 2017.

Me and Jimmy at Degla with the kids ...

Luca full run at Steel City (Grenoside woods) He wants to enter the race but cant until he is 10. 

And myself on a full run, I shall be putting my name in for a race ticket again. Maybe this year I will get in. 

Longboards at Southport 

Me and Sam at farmer Johns 

And as featured on GMBN’s dirt shed show this was Luca’s progression session.

Luca’s jump bike I made 

And some upgrades the to the Santa Cruz 

A new jump bike for me 😁

The jump bike is for winter, me Sam & Chris all got one and started to hit rampworx skatepark. Wow this is hard ! Nothing like mountain biking at all. Chris and Sam seem to get it quicker than me and I spent my first few sessions in the bowl trying to 180. 

Once I had this nailed I started having more fun at the skatepark, until I concentrated too much on how high my front wheel was getting and forgetting to do the 180 ! I hit the deck like a sack of spuds 😩 concrete hurts and using my enduro foam knee pads seemed like a good idea as they fitted under my jeans but not good when I hit the deck. Bruised and battered but no broken bones just my ego. 

And the new winter bike 

Winter night rides have never been so much fun ! Near where I live there are some local woods up at the beacon, I would normally head up to the point and back down in a little loop that would take just under a hour. Now I go up and over the beacon and down to the canal and back up through more woods before looping back home, still in the same hour. Its great, you just get to ride twice as far in the same time. 

I took it to Gisburn and Degla when I was on my own and got round both in 1hr, over 20k of trails in 1 hr, what a thrill this is. Hopefully this year I will get out on some longer rides in the lakes and peaks, rides my Diabetis would normally stop me from doing. I still use the Santa Cruz when with the lads and at bike parks but for pedaling up hills and long distance or just getting out for a quick blast after work this bike is amazing. 

Some clips from Degla at night on the focus ...

It was time for another lads weekend away, Windhill and Bike park wales was on the menu. Did not get any videos from Windhill but what a place, we didn’t have a lot of time here as we drove down and also had to drive to Wales to get to the B&B and a table booked for tea. But we will be back one day for a full day session. 

Bike Park Wales this time was prob one we would never forget, well at least our friend Baz. Very unfortunate off on a berm and must of landed awkwardly as this happened ......

Ouch ! That is Baz off the bike for the rest of the year 😞 

here is some clips from that weekend.... 

https://vimeo.com/234380621

And that pretty much brings us up to the end of the year, but the last day of the year is also my birthday and there was time for one more ride, this time a dad and lads ride around lady Channing’s. Great way to end the year for me with my little dude Luca riding and of course friends. 

and that is how we got to today ..... I really cant thank everyone enough for the memories 2017 gave me, with my friends and with my son Luca it truly was amazing. 

Here is to some great adventures in 2018 😊

No. 6 - 2016

2016 was full of adventure and great rides, my shoulder was better and i had got over the jump that wiped me out. Confidence is higher and life is good. But i didnt get out as much as i wanted over the winter. 

This year Luca turned 6 years old, our relationship was getting even better, some great little adventures and he really started to enjoy the outdoor life with me. 

We booked the wrong tree top course and at age 6 Luca did the high course, he is pretty tall for his age so he was just high enough to go on it. He soon realised the tricky bits he could just swing and use it like a zip wire open every section haha. 

Little surf dude 🤙🏻

Anyway back to bikes..... what did we get up to in 2016 ? Let me find some rides and see, its hard to remember when i didnt have any injuries to go by for memory haha.

Let’s jump on YouTube and see what rides there was, oh wait i remeber one for certain ! I remember because i got a 48hr facebook ban for posting this picture haha ........ sorry but its gotta be done ! Bit of an off at Stiniog resulting in some grazes.

Told you it wasnt nice haha sorry about that ! 

Here is the video ... 

As you can see at this stage i was not very confident in going fast down rocky sections, doesnt look much on camera but as you hear, this one hurt ! 

Here is the rest of the day ...

And later on this year we hit bike park wales, luckily we had some better weather for this one.

Round 2 BPW

Summer was here and it was time for my 2nd fort bill, last year was a wet affair in a 2 man tent with David so this year we took a 6 man tent, it was roasting ☀️☀️☀️ crazy hot weather all weekend and some great racing. And I had my bike with me ! The plan was to go riding on the Monday but David fell the day before and hurt his arm so it was up to me to fly the flag and ride the fort bill downhill track.

Monday morning we get back up to the Nevis range to see most of the World Cup packed away, I got my gondola ticket and went up for the red giant, red ? Was this right ? It was more like a black to me ! It was long hard and rocky, part way down I met a couple girls who asked if was on my own, i explained my friend was in the cafe as he couldn’t ride and I wanted to say I had done the World Cup track. They said you can ride with us if you want, i was made up ! I get to ride fort William with 2 hot girls in mountain bike clothes which we all know makes them 10 times hotter 😍 well unfortunately for me the ride lasted about 5 minutes before things got technical and they had me off ! 🙈 yes the girls were much better riders than me and they left me for dust never to be seen again. 

Back down at the bottom I went in the cafe while I waited for them to open the word cup track, the wait was over. This was it .... dum dum dum I was on my way back to the top to ride the World Cup track.

Now I say ride the World Cup track.... it wasn’t quite like a ride, more like a awkward dance with my bike down a hill 😆 I was going great until I hit pinball, I walked about 4 sections basically riding the flattish bit to the next drop / rock section. After that section and a few rests I was off again towards the woods, i was doing ok and on was to the hazard hoofer. I don’t think I was ever going to actually try and jump it but I didn’t get a chance because a misplaced front wheel in a hole put me over the bars just before the take off, I dusted myself off and got out off the bush to find my arms were torn to shreds. Mega road rash. 

I got to the motorway section and hit it ...... I took off in the air, it felt great. I was jumping the bumps at the World Cup track ........ then I landed on top of the table top and had to pedal to get to the end the jumps are that big 🤣 anyway I made it, the end was in sight. I got to the Scotland arch (which wasn’t there as they packed it away) and I stopped to see if my friend David was at the bottom with the go pro ready to film me coming into the finish line (which wasn’t there as they had packed it away) he was there, camera on I set off. Down that hill after the arch ..... dam,n this was steep ! And there’s logs near the bottom.... I was through I stayed on, David said I disappeared for about a minute (ok the finish was further than I thought) and then I came into site and di the 2 finish drops and pulled a big skid in the car park. I made it, i did the Fort William World Cup track. It felt great.

Sorry about the video I had to film it from my phone as lost the file and it was only on my facebook.

Our local track Bickertrax summer nights 

Revolution bike park 1st trip - This was an eye opener at how bad i was at technical rooty steep tracks. 

Found a nice bmx / pump track on one of our camping weekends

Luca on his qaud 

Cornwall holiday 

And finally an end of summer edit from one of my fave trails steel city at Grenoside Sheffield.

Im sorry this post was mainly videos from 2016 but I had a bit of mind block from this year, not because anything major happened to cause mind block i just think it was a good year and i was happy with life so didnt have any memories that caused me to remember certain things, only good memories and some good videos. I am a bit gutted my fort bill video from 2016 is only on my facebook and i am unable to save it for YouTube as the original file has been deleted, what a year that was, so hot and busy but a great event. 

I felt like my riding had improved a lot this year and I spent a silly amount of money on bike bits and gear, the bug was kicking in full force, i am struggling to remember anything from this year. Why cant i remember much ? We had plenty of adventures ... here’s some pictures from some of them while i think more.

Aha ! Here was a good trip i took in 2016, went to Cornwall by myself as well for a long weekend (i am Cornish by the way i just live up North) and went for a pedal around the north coastal path, defo one for the list again this year. 

One from a weekend camping near Dalby ... 

Pics from BPW trips

Letting Luca loose in a boat trip .... after he had a blue ice pop 😆

And some random rides photos ...

And what is this one ... i guess i did have an injury in 2016. Can’t even remember what happened on this one haha...

And i guess thats that, i am sorry I didn’t have much to say and this has ended more of a trip down memory lane for myself, but next we have 2017 which is fresh in my mind. We may need a few posts on 2017, camper van builds, new bikes, new hobbies, lots of good times and fun.

See you in 2017 ! Well the blog anyway 😏 

No.3 Bikes !

So the obsession shall we call it started with a Btwin - rock rider, yep i know haha, hey we all started somewhere before the bug bit us. It had v brakes and non existent front suspension that didnt do much at all. Now this bike was purely so I could ride down the canals and get a bit fitter, i had a 3 year old to keep up with ! At this time i didnt even know trial centres existed or there was people doing races or even a world cup, i had no idea who Steve Peat was and the last time i rode a bike i was 15 years old. 

I was always into watching Xtreme sports when i was a kid and i loved watching x games, i did grow up in Cornwall so skateboarding and surfing i knew there was a scene and knew there was a bmx scene but no idea about mountain bikes. I had one when they first came out when i was young but i since found drink drugs clubs and forgot all about the xtreme sports love i once had. 

I did a few rides down the canal and enjoyed the freedom it gave me the times i did not have my son, gave me something to do and got me out. Then a Facebook friend commented on a page about a mountain bike trail near me being built, i was intrigued as to what i would find and pedalled down for a visit. Now its only a small place, little 5 min loop and 2 short jump lines. But i was hooked, i was scared Haha. I knew straight away i needed a better bike ! At least i needed disc brakes as i had never dealt with gravity along the canal. 

The rock rider went and luck would have it that the business was picking up through the week and i could just about afford a giant trance hardtail, it was great, the brakes worked and the suspension actually moved a little. But i thought it was too big in medium for me, i am 5,7. I sold it and got a small frame which felt better for me at that time, more control and more fun. The adventures started from there as on this little local trail i met “proper mountain bikers” they were on full sus bikes and they could go much faster than me, some of them could even jump the 18ft table top jump (funny story to come later about this jump) and these people told me about these places called trail centres. What was this ? A place like this but bigger ? That sounds like fun. 

A couple Sunday’s later i didnt have Luca so off i went on my first trip to Llandegla (degla) i was advised to do the blue as i had never rode anything like this before. Now if you have been reading the previous 2 posts you will know that i am not fit at all, i am overweight and spent 15 years drinking doing no kind of exercise at all. Well the climb ............ i pretty much walked 😩 but then the blue is mostly downhill back to the centre. I frigging loved it ! Being battered about on my hardtail, going to quick on a corner, being bucked off the bike on a roller (i had no idea about riding positioning or anything) wow what an adrenaline rush this was. before i knew it i was back at the car park and gutted the ride was over, it was 12:30pm so decided i would have my butties and give the red a go. Why not the blue was pretty easy and fun and i had been told about a fire road back to the top.

Dinner eaten and up the fire road i went (walking again its just as steep) now the red was a little more bumpy but i was loving it, between puffing for some kind air in my lungs and wishing the aches and pains would go away. It seemed to go on forever, surely i was near the end now ? How long is this trail ? I hit Julias trail, those who have been will know the climb that awaits, yes its a climb pretty much back to the trail centre. I was dead ! I walked pretty much all off this uphill section and asked myself why did i do 2 runs 🙄 lesson learnt but finished the day with a very strange feeling, i was absolulty knackered, could barley get my dripping wet clothes off to get changed, struggled to get the bike back in the car and felt like i had been run over by a train. But ....... but i also felt good, felt like i had achieved something, remebered the adrenalin pumping as i went downhill faster than i had ever been on a bike, well fast for me at the time. I was hooked ! That was it, i had found my hobby, what i thought was a hobby anyway, a year or so on i found out this was an obsession, an expensive one at that 🙈😆