24/02/2012 by Missus Toast.

I managed to get my first ride over the Chase this year two weeks ago.  After leaving Mr Toast at home with The Boy, the day started fairly eventfully, when I accidentally doused myself in petrol on the way to the Chase.  I had to decide - go back home and forget my bike ride, or go biking whilst covered in a flammable substance.  I decided on the later - unless I clipped my pedal on a rock and sparked, I was probably on the safe side.

Incidentally, if you want to get the smell of petrol out of your clothes, saturate the garment in question in coke.  As in Coca Cola, not the snortable stuff.

Surprisingly, the usual panic over whether I’d lost all of my skills over Christmas and New Year didn’t surface, and I rode everything that I normally ride without any real sense of fear.  Even though it was *gasp* muddy.  It was just after the thaw, and although most of Follow the Dog has survived the winter fairly well, thanks to the sterling work of the trailbuilders (draining the berms on Tackeroo, for example), there are a few parts that a trifle muddy - the deforested section before section 11 being a prime example.  I didn’t get overtaken much and did some overtaking of my own so I felt that this year’s riding was off to a good start.

I really enjoyed being out on the bike again, and felt suitably warm and toasty in my new thermal leggings and overtrousers.  Admittedly, I probably would have enjoyed them more if they weren’t covered in petrol, but never mind.

The queue for the bike wash was understandably huge, which meant I had an audience for my comedy moment of blasting the Professor across the cleaning area and onto his side, still stuck in the stand.  Poor Professor.

Last week was no biking for me at the weekend - it was Mr Toast’s turn, and Benny needed a haircut.  Before:

After:

You know, at some point I’m actually going to start putting pictures of bikes on this blog.  You should see the Professor now, he’s got posh red grips.

In other news, it looks like I’m definitely signed up for Mountain Mayhem and Sleepless in the Saddle this year.   Hoping to put in a better performance this year, with more laps in a faster time, and less crying.  And certainly less overtakings by unicylists.

And on a depressing note, please keep an eye out for these stolen bikes.  They were nabbed in Croydon, but obviously with eBay and the like it’s possible that it could end up anywhere.

Posted in Minor Bun Engine Benny Lava, Sleepless in the Saddle, Mountain Mayhem, Trail building, Mountain Biking | No Comments »

11/02/2012 by Missus Toast.

Rather tragically, I’ve still not managed to get biking over the Chase this year.  I’ve been over the Chase a couple of times, but it’s normally to allow Mr Toast to ride and me taking t’boy for a walk.  I’m  hoping to get over there tomorrow - I was considering today, especially as it’s bright and sunny (at least, it is here…), but it’s also very cold and I’m a bit phlemgy, and I’m a bit worried about it being icy!

Still, I’ve managed to get some bike time in commuting backwards and forwards from work - with my sister-in-law away for the week, I’ve also been popping back at lunchtimes to check on t’boy.  Getting to work is easy - a five minute ride down a hill.  Getting back home takes a little longer, as obviously what goes down has to lumber back up at some point.  I feel slightly smug though, as a lot of people don’t even bother riding that hill (I’ve even seen people pushing down it… :S), and I’m feeling a lot more confident road riding now.

I’ve got a new pair of biking trousers, so hopefully they’ll get their first outing tomorrow.  We’re also demoing some Orange 5s next week. Interestingly, the 14″ Orange 5 has more standover than The Professor, but is a little longer - I’m interested to see how that would work out for me.  Mr Toast is interested in the new 22″ - he’sbeen pondering a replacement for the Meta for a while, so let’s see what happens.

Posted in Minor Bun Engine Benny Lava, Stuff, Mountain Biking | No Comments »