Had a pleasant ride on Sunday.  Despite arriving to a hail shower, the weather actually picked up and you could see that funny glowing orb thing in the sky.  Feeling a little off-colour, Mr Toast decided to take it easy and ride Follow the Dog with me.  So, off we went.  Initially, things didn’t seem too promising – as I was coming down the turns at the end of two, I became aware of a much faster chap (on an Orange P7, fact fans) closing behind me.  Rather annoyingly (for both myself and the unfortunate following biker), having people behind me makes me feel under pressure, and I tend to slow down more than if I was on my own.  Bottled the exit, and shuffled down, cursing.

Crawled up the fire road hill to 8, my knees feebly protesting.  Not really in a mood to argue with them, I switched to granny gear far earlier than I normally would, fondly reminiscing about the days when I made it up the entire hill in middle ring.  Admittedly, it was only three days at most, but that’s not the point.

Section 8 was a bit annoying and slippy, it’s probably the second I like the least when it’s not bone-dry.  Rode everything fine, stopped for a swift break at the end and marvelled at people shuffling down the exit or catching their pedals/chain ring because they’re going too slow.  It’s a bit odd, as it really is one of those things that looks worse than it actually is.

Bypassing the closed sections, it was onwards to 12 and beyond.  Managed to keep up a good speed, and on section 13 I was having to slow down quite a bit so that Mr Toast could keep a decent distance in front.  Although a) he said he was going a lot slower than usual, and b) I probably wouldn’t have been going that fast if I wasn’t chasing him!  The climb up Ill Phil’s Hill on 14 was fairly brutal but we finished the remainder of the trail without any issue (apart from walkers on the trail!).

Had a café stop and gorged on the rather pleasing blackcurrant slices they’ve starting selling, along with a cup of tea.  Feeling re-energised, I asked if we could do section 2 again, as I didn’t want to leave a day that I hadn’t ridden the not-actually-very-difficult-but-I-have-a-complex-about-it exit.  As I was riding around, I thought, “Yeah, I can do another lap”.  As I rode out of the exit, Mr Toast evidently thought similar, and said, “Go round again?”

So off we went.  Strangely, I found the climbs less brutal on the second lap – maybe I just need to warm up better, I don’t know.  The knee pain had receded for the most part, and I rode the remainder of the trail a lot faster than on the first lap.  I did have a bizarre moment after stopping just before 15 – somehow I couldn’t manage to dismount, so ended up capsizing to the right instead, with my bike landing on top of me.  Very strange. :/ Contemplating adjusting the saddle as currently it’s quite forward on it’s rails, hopefully some tweaking will make stopping and starting a bit easier – currently I can’t really hop on and off as smoothly as I’d like.

Ride: Cannock Chase

Trail: Follow the Dog

Highlights: Doing two laps (well, two laps of the open sections)

Bad bits: Rubbish knees on hills (again)

Post ride food snaffled: Blackcurrent slice and tea mid-way!

Good Dogs Seen: Spaniels (all flavours) and Jack Russells seemed to have a monoply of the Chase…

On our second day of riding, we took Jag and THE XYE WITHOUT FEAR (TM) onto Follow the Dog.  Being a Monday it was obviously a lot quieter, and for me that makes it a lot easier going –  I can actually look at the trail ahead, instead of over my shoulder all of the time.  The weather was utter bobbins – Sunday’s heavy rain materialised overnight, and there was a lot of standing water on the trail (News just in: Puddles form after heavy rainfall shocker!).

Xye had hired a Giant Talon the day before, but was on an Orange Five for Follow the Dog, and after riding the first section, she remarked how much more comfy it felt.  I gentley pootled up the fireroad hill to section 8, grumbling about my knees, whilst the other three raced up the hill.  We hit section 8 at full pelt, with Xye quite merrily going over the jumps and the steep exit, again without hesitation.  We took a break for some drinks, and gestured towards two chaps who we’d overtaken on the way round who were crabwalking down the exit, carrying their bikes.

“See,” Mr Toast said, “That’s what new people are supposed to do!”

The rest of the ride went by without incident (apart from Xye’s run in with the voles on section 13, but we do not speak of it!), and we emerged from 16 with big grins all around.  Xye announced that she would quite like an Orange Five, and seemed even more keen when I pointed out they were available in pink…

There was a quick cake and bacon sarnie stop at the café, and we went out for one last pootle.  We did sections 1&2 again, and also visited section 3, where I had a bit of a comedy moment involving mud and a loss of traction.  I stayed on though!

I rarely ride with people, and I have to admit, if I did perhaps I’d be a better rider – it does kind of push me on, and gives me a bit more courage.  It was slightly disconcerting to ride with someone who was as good at FtD as me after only 2 days, when I’ve been riding for over two years, yet also inspirational.  There’s a lot to be said for having MASSIVE (metaphorical) balls!

Speaking of massive balls, we saw a minature daschund at Swinnertons –  he was proportionally gifted.  We also saw…

Malamutes!  Huge ruddy soft things!  Again, looking at both the malamutes and the minature daschund, I had to marvel at man’s intervention with doggie genetics.

Despite the crap weather, everyone had an awesome time and ended up looking like proper mountain bikers:

Xye also learnt the fine art of accessorising whilst at Swinnertons.  Mwha hah hahaha!

We cleaned our bikes and set off home.  Overall an awesome couple of days of biking

Ride: Cannock Chase

Trail: Follow the Dog, extra sections

Highlights: General awesomeness

Bad bits:  Good fun, but it’s still better when it’s drier!  Knees still grumbling…

Post ride food snaffled: Tea, a jam flapjack slice thing and a bacon sarnie.  Stroopwafels!

Good dogs seen: Malamutes!  Not just bigs ones, ooooh no, but a malamute pup as well.  OH MY!  And the aforementioned minature daschund with massive balls (literal)

It was the Bike Radar Demo Day at Cannock Chase today.  Unfortunately, there’d been a bit of confusion in the booking system – originally attendees were supposed to book online, then after a fair few weeks those booked bikes were cancelled, and there was a hullabaloo!  I decided to forgo the delights of the Demo Day and just take the trusty Professor to the trails.  Being rather short of stature, I know that bikes suitable for my height are in somewhat short supply, and I just wanted a good ride, rather than 25 minutes here and there with loads of waiting in between.

Unfortunately the Demo Day put a bit of a dampner on my ride.  The first couple of sections of FtD had been marked as the demo loop, so it was a lot busier than usual.  This meant a lot of disruption – having to pull over for faster riders, but also being held up by slower riders, who had a disconcerting habit of stopping abruptly on small climbs, and abandoning their bikes in the middle of the trail whilst snacking.  There was also a noticable increase in the amount of litter on the first couple of sections – it was enough to make me a little bit Royston Vasey!  “This is a local trail for local riders, there’s nothing for you here!”  Then I realised I was being a bit of an elitist prick, so carried on doing my thing.

My ‘thing’ involved successfully negotiating the exit of two again.  At least, it would have done if a Cairne terrier hadn’t decided to run right in front of my wheel and stood fast, barking at me.  I put my feet out on the rocks of either side, and ended up gingerly mincing around the slightly cross pooch.

I got to the top of the hill towards eight, and there was a huge group of people.  I didn’t much fancy doing eight when it was so busy, so I carried straight on towards nine and onwards.  My performance was a bit lacking compared to last week, a combination of feeling a bit rough and the trail being a bit muddy.  I have to admit, I’m not a fan of mud, it saps me of both speed and confidence.  I’d planned to hit the green/now blue route once I got to the start of 13, but I felt oddly drained.  I finished the rest of FtD without incident, with the exception of the odd skitty moment involving mudslides into trees.  I went to the cafe for a cup of tea, feeling a bit queasy.

I’d still got plenty of time left before meeting up with Mr Toast (who was demoing bikes), so I generally pootled around, revisited the old 3 & 4 sections, and returned to the Demo Day area.  Mr Toast was riding around on a bizarre contraption:

What’s that, I hear you ask? It’s a Lynskey Pro29.  29 inch wheels!  A rigid carbon fork!  A weird twisted frame!  Bizarrely the proportions actually look fairly normal on a 20.5″ frame.  Apparently the handlebars were also incredibly wide, which caught Mr Toast by surprise as he darted between two particularly close trees – catching the bars (and his knuckles!) on one tree, then being knocked into the next.  He stayed on, but marvelled that the only real accidents he’s had mountain biking have been on 29ers…

And yes, he still wants one!

I’m looking forward to the trails being a bit quieter next weekend – we’ve got friends coming down, and they’ll be sharing the delights of the Chase whilst they’re here.  I imagine these delights will possibly involve the two gents (Toast and Jaggy) attempting to kill each other via over-competitiveness.  And possibly Wacky Races style shenanigans…

Ride: Cannock Chase

Trail: Most of Follow the Dog,,,

Highlights: Getting out riding, good dogs

Bad bits:  The trail being so busy, missing section 8

Post ride food snaffled: Tea, cake and a packet of crisps.  It was a very green meal…

Good dogs seen: Ah, now we get to the good stuff.  There was a creature that looked like a Daschund-Jack Russel-Papillion cross, that seemed to be blind in one eye and barking at everything.   A husky pup, who seemed to have a longing for flapjacks.  Numerous Jack Russells of pleasing proportions.  A Lakeland Terrier.

What better way to celebrate Mothering Sunday than a nice bike ride?  Unfortunately my mother won’t ride a bike, and has slightly put her back out, so encouraged Mr Toast and I to go out biking instead of sitting in – we went out for a meal in the evening, so don’t feel too sorry for her!

Well,  Sunday’s ride was awesome!  Again, I felt a lot more confident on the bike, and was making a conscious effort not to constantly dab the brakes – a lot smoother.  Sunday’s minor successes included:

* Not screwing up the last berm approaching the exit of 2

* Riding the exit of 2…eventually

* Actually holding my speed on the turn before the last set of jumps on 8, taking them faster.  Still rubbish, but faster!

* Riding the exit of 8

* Overtaking people (it happens!)

* Not actually feeling ill at any point!

…and to top it all off, I managed to shave off yet another 15 minutes, down to 1 hour 15!  I might actually be back to my best in a couple of weeks.  I think the secret of my success was the massive Chinese meal I had the previous evening.  Mmm, delicious MSG!

I didn’t actually ride the exit to 2 first time around – I actually did it right at the end of the day.  I was going to (honest!), but there was a large collection of walkers standing in front of the exit, and I didn’t really fancy ploughing through them.  Managed it at the end, although there may have been the odd obscenity uttered.  I think that’s the first time I’ve ridden it since I smashed my ribs up on it…

After the ride and a stop off at the cafe, we decided to go and have a pootle around.  Originally we were just going to stick to the greens, but we ended up taking a look at what used to be sections 3 and 4.  They’ve actually held up remarkably well, and 3 in particular is bloody good fun to ride – I felt waves of nostalgia, as it was the first section I ever tackled.  I even rode over the log, which I remember being some sort of unsummountable obstacle.  Mr Toast named my technique ‘donkeying’ – I took it at speed, and had my weight slightly too forward, so it was a bit lacking in grace…

Not sure if we’re allowed to ride 3 – it’s not brashed, and there were a few riders on there, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean much.  Brash can be removed, and once one group are seen riding something, others think it’s OK.  It’s kind of the curse of new/repaired trails, I just hope it doesn’t apply to old sections.  I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough if it does…

Ride: Cannock Chase

Trail: Follow the Dog

Highlights: Shaving 15 minutes off yesterday’s laptime! Getting more confidence back, riding stuff instead of crab walking over it

Bad bits:  None really!  Good ride all around!

Post ride food snaffled: Tea and a cake – some sort of rice crispie concotion.  Omnomnom!

Good dogs seen: Border collie pup, Lassie