All set...

...for Scotland. 3 bikes, 8 wheels and enough luggage to fill the A4!

Jon boy goes solo...

Solo, well single speed... And not on a big bike either, but a svelte baby blue SE Racing road bike.

Make up your own mind, I think it looks pretty nice but you wouldn't get me on one!

Finding the sweet spot...

It's a few weeks since I've updated the blog - summer seems to have passed us by and with the first few days of September, and with it Autumn, the weather has taken a turn for the cooler and more typically damp Macclesfield grey-ness.

So what keeps your spirits up at this time of year? The evenings are still light enough for a rag after work so out as usual every Thursday - same routes, same faces... but good never the less - infact you never tire of riding your local trails (do you?).

In the last few weeks I've been lucky enough to be slinging my leg over the Stanton Slackline on Longtermer from Wideopenmag.co.uk, and it really is a lovely lovely bike and fantastic build for these hills. Light and playful. What's become ever more obvious though is the geometry that has an absolutely divine sweet spot. An inch forwards or back in body position and it's gone, but it's easy to find, and once you hit it you absolutely fly. The bike is incredible in the gentler of the rough stuff, so planted and quick, a real pleasure to pick up and jump from rock to rock riding lines that you'd normally only entertain with a short travel full susser around these parts.

It's got me waxing lyrical about riding though, and that's the main thing - the thing that had slipped by with my regular riding companions slowly dropping by the way side... finding the spark was necessary and long over due - and just in time for a weekender in Scotland at the end of the month.

Slack by name - rapid by nature...

First ride out on the Wideopen test rig, the Stanton Slackline. The chaps at Stanton have built this up with a lovely spec and it's SO light. A totally different feel with such a light build to the Cotic - something akin to the Genesis Alpitude I reckon but with some nice touches, wider bars, adjustable seat post...

Anyway it's a great ride! 1x10 was interesting... I managed to get up to Charity Lane - somehow - but the final switchback climb was too much for my tired legs. On the descents this thing is a machine, it picks up speed like my SantaCruz Chameleon did, but the length gives real stability. The lightweight wheels make it very manoeuvrable. I was very impressed and look forward to ragging it at a few trail centres too in the coming weeks before a writeup in Wideopen Issue 17.

Six is the magic number?

Record so far this year - 6 out on tonight's regular Thursday night ride. Ryan back from 'injury' for his second ride, Jon (a colleague of Tony in work) out for his first ride. Also good to see Tony and Ross out - and Jon made his maiden voyage on board a rebuilt Orange Sub-zero.

Dry as a bone so Charity Lane was very quick! Great fun on the hardtail this week, last week's sessioning of the bottom paid off with a lot more speed carried into the bottom corner. Bottom of the Oven was very very loose - I nearly had a VERY BIG off - but somehow rode it out - Ryan said he came over the brow to see a cloud of dust and me somehow hanging on to the bike whilst we both roughly headed downhill all over the place!

Got to the bottom to find Jon had a puncture - and then found the rear tyre had been one of his 'homebrew' tubeless system which had been repaired with a tube at some point 12 months ago - hence the tube and tyre were glued together with the remains of the liquid latex! MAJOR ball ache getting it off but with the pair of us on it, things sped up a little.

Then with time against us we did the singletrack - so quick, and incredible fun on the Cotic - I can't wait to get up to Scotland in September on board!

See you all next week!

Photo shoot...

This is a bit of a delayed update after last week's ride but I've been waiting for the photos from Dunc who came out with us to shoot for Wideopen Issue 16, and the BFe longtermer write up...

Just Jon and I, both on hardtails, both pinned. A bit of sessioning on Charity Lane, Bottom of the Oven and the slippery singletrack. These photos are the 'seconds' that haven't made it into the mag, check out Issue 16 in a couple of weeks to see and read my thoughts on the BFe after 3 months of hard riding...

From Macclesfield Forest 7/7/11

From Macclesfield Forest 7/7/11

From Macclesfield Forest 7/7/11

From Macclesfield Forest 7/7/11

Check out the rest of the photos, and join us for another ride this Thursday - usual time and place :)

Macclesfield Forest 7/7/11

Trusty XT shifter...

Well I'm sorry XT shifter for doubting you. Upon stripping down the rear gear cable this evening, to replace you with a cheap and cheerful Alivio one I find this, the real reason that my shifting had deteriorated! The inner on my Clarks cables has shifted through the end cap, gripping the cable and meaning the rear mech spring isn't strong enough to pull through. Easily resolved with a spare section of outer and I also took the chance to change the brake pads on the front Hope Mini Mono, the first pair in 7 years! The BFe is ready to roll again this week...

The bug bites...

Welcome to the fold Mr Cefferty...

After over 12 months of me waxing lyrical on Fridays after weeknight rides or on a Monday after a mega weekend trip Ryan has used our 'bike to work' scheme to source a top end entry level hardtail - a Voodoo Hoodoo from Halfords... Seems a good frame with some solid components, nothing bling but dependable strong and hopefully long lasting. So yeah spot what else has rubbed off in our chats... yup they are 5:10s from Day 1, and you might not spot the front tyre that he's replaced already after just a rag around the BMX track near his home.

Anyway good ride tonight. A dry evening after a week of heavy showers. The Cotic was solid - but the 8 speed shifter is playing up I think, it's done nearly 8 years so perhaps it's time to retire it and upgrade... birthday in August, maybe a 1x10 setup on the hardtail?!

Charity Lane felt amazing, Bottom of the Oven fast. Climbs a lot easier - think it goes to show what a difference how tired you are makes to riding fitness. I feel I'm a lot more rested than the last few weeks.

So Ross joined us too and struggled a little with bike fitness, think he enjoyed himself though - that's the main thing, having a smile (or a gurn) on your face.

And what of Ryan? Well he races hairdresser's cars at the weekend so we knew he'd be competitive - and his fitness was up there with mine. Not to shabby on the descents either and big smiles - we'll see him out next week I think and he's keen to travel to one of the trail centres with us soon too...

Macclesfield Forest 30/6/2011

Snap crackle and pop...

Great ride this evening - Jon, Chris and I out on hardtails this week as things were wet and I fancied a change from the big bike...

One thing that after all these years is still such a big part of mountainbiking for me after work is the 'therapy' of climbing up to Charity Lane. It gives you a good 30-40minutes to download work and life with your mates. Even better this week we got on to advising Chris on 2x10 setups and Jon dreaming of a hydraulic deraileur system.

Charity Lane is smoothing out, as it always does in the summer. Still loose and rocky but a line has emerged and I felt fast if a little loose. Good to take the full susser confidence back to the hardtail - you pick better faster lines and it keeps things interesting. Chris said I was pulling away from him which is cool, but Jon obliterated the pair of us - both on the downs and the climbs. Animal. Jon left us for a blast back to town - Chris and I headed down Bottom of the Oven - I was expecting to find it very loose and pretty sketchy but today I just felt on it down there, pinned and very quick with plenty of pumping and jumping (pop) at the top before careering down the steep loose bit with a bit of style.

Onwards and Jon snapped a chain (snap) on the way round to the viewpoint so we briefly caught him before he accelerated up the hill and out of site. Up to the viewpoint Chris and I had a relax and reflection on how lucky we are to live, work and ride in such beautiful countryside. Then down the old push up trail which was great apart from some walkers that slowed us right down - despite it clearly saying 'bike trail' grrrrr. Still we were polite to them. In the darkness it was slippery but great fun - tons of adrenaline pumping.

Sorry no 'crackle'. Couldn't think of anything to make the title work better than that. See you all next week!

That hit the spot...

Well tonight it was just Jon and I as numbers dwindled again. Kev is out long term with an ankle injury (due back on the big bike mid August I reckon - just in time for Scotland in September!). Chris was away with work, and Tony decorating...

So it's been wet the past few days but it didn't put us off. The usual climb proved to be very therapeutic as Jon and I ranted and got lots off our chests. Charity Lane is evolving again and the climb is a lot smoother already... I wondered if this would be translated over the summit. The full sus allows you to carry so much more speed into the rough stuff, but poor line choice meant Jon closed the gap right up and then with the more level smoother bottom section held my tail to the close - result!

We both reflected that last week (singletrack) felt to short, so decided to do the whole forest loop... not before Bottom of the Oven (awesome tonight), I feel so confident on the big bike. Up at the view point watching the sun start to drop in the sky I was reflecting about next year being 10 years of Fearingout. What a milestone...

Not reflecting long though before we nailed the final descent - and Jon was 'on it' pinning and railing the corners finding grip where I thought none existed. I could only just hold him and I felt flat out on the big bike.

Roll on next week - and the rest of the summer on two wheels.