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It's been a while since my last post, due to being incredibly busy with work etc. However, I have been riding, and have made a few purchases
that I'll be able to review shortly.
Firstly, the rides. D and I decided to have another attempt at the SDW going towards Chichester again from Arundel. This is in preparation to
learn the SDW route in order that we may ride as much of it as possible in one day on as many occasions as possible, in order to prepare for the British
Heart Foundation Randonee Challenge, which we've now applied to take part in.
However, this ride was cut short when, about three miles in to the ride from Arundel, D's brake cable snapped! Luckily it wasn't on a
steep downhill, but it was enough of a disaster to necessitate turning back ; (
That was my only off-road ride worthy of mention (if it could be described as that), but have taken the Dawg in to Evans for a Stage 2
service, so rode in to work on Monday. The bottom bracket will finally be replaced from the one fitted during the London to Brighton ride back in June,
when Bike Hut fitted the wrong size.
I've also recently purchased a handlebar mounted GPS system - the Garmin Edge 205. In addition to this, I purchased Memory Map on DVD
which has Ordnance Survey and arial photography views of the whole of the south of England.. I've used this to plot routes and download them to the GPS
device, which works pretty well but has a slightly basic display. Review coming soon.
Have now written up a review of the "Fundamentals" an MTB video which is a great watch.
Decided pretty last minute to give the Arundel ride another go, this time on my own. I got to Arundel about 11:30, which was a big improvement on last time, and quickly got to the river.
Luckily, the river had subsided by huge amounts, revealing why it had flooded so easily - there is a flood plain about 20 metres wide, which is completely flat - not difficult to flood
after a bit of rain. Riding alongside the river, I decided to try wheelying over some roots which were growing out of the ground straight in front of me - I timed this a bit wrong and landed on the root,
resulting in the front wheel sliding out from underneath me. Needless to say, I cut my leg open slightly and also made some holes in my Altura leggings.
I pressed on, getting to the junction of the road and the SDW by about 13:30, over an hour and a half earlier than we had on the previous occasion, meaning some serious potential for
further progress along the SDW.
I rode until about 14:30, getting as far as the A264, which leads down to Chichester, past Singleton etc - it's about a 7 mile ride by road. All in all a really good ride; I really wish
I could've got a bit further, but next time we'll aim to get to Arundel a bit earlier to allow more SDW time.
Also bought another MTB DVD, this time "Fundamentals" - this is absolutely brilliant - I'll stick a review in the reviews section soon.
As the balding rear tyre proved to be such a pain during the Arundel ride, I decided to buy a replacement. So I popped out at the weekend to buy a new one.
Just went along to Halfords in Shoreham, so not a huge choice, but I ended up choosing a Maxxis Advantage XC 2.1. This had widely spaced knobs, which should prove good
for shedding mud, and didn't have any garish red stripes going round it like my first choice (in terms of the tread pattern) did.
I'm fitting the tyre at the weekend, so will get a page in the reviews section once I've completed a few rides.
Also decided I wanted an MTB DVD to watch - I ended up buying "Chainspotting" - a pretty good watch, but I was a bit surprised when I realised it was
10 years old! The bikes did look pretty old school. My next video will be "Roam" or something else a bit more recent.
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