Pre backyard BAM evening ride. Absolutely stunning out there!!

P1060471 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060476 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060482 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

Out on the #gradventourer looking for a track someone suggested.

It was rubbish!

P1060487 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

Nice ride though. Temperatures down around 8-9C on yesterday so feeling quite a bit fresher.

If you're actually on the track right there then yes it is rubbish! Almost as bad as some Welsh pine forest 'tracks'.

Nipped our on my wife’s bike today today to swap in my commuter bike and bike trailer from storage. I only had to raise the saddle by 6 inches to make it rideable. 26” wheels, 1.5 slicks and 1x9 gearing and a really nice bike. Much nicer than my commuter in fact but that’s the bike set up to pull the kids in a trailer so needs must.

Did my regular one-hour local circuit today. I go over the top of Chalfont St Peter into Hodgemoor Woods, cut over into Browns, through Sandels then into Great Beards. up the big nasty steep rocky awful climb, across the top, down past the Harte & Maggies (sadly, so sadly, closed of course) back into Hodgemoor and home.

Honestly, I've ridden it so many times I can commentate on what's coming up. But today there was a whole tree across a bit of it that was not there last week. And I spent a very happy 20 minutes cutting it into bits with my newly arrived Laplander folding saw to clear the trail. Really nice diversion. Proper therapy.

My first proper post antibiotics ride, so I went on one of my usual morning loops. Most so I could go an check to see if the wild garlic had finally made an appearance, which it has!



Then it was simply a matter of enjoying being back on the bike after two weeks.

Park, town, river, road, woods, canal.

Rubbish picture of a swan's nest:



Even more rubbish picture of canal. BUT! In the reeds - two otters! Had heard rumours but I guess the lack of boats made them less shy. Apparently a few are making their way up the River Nene and then down the Ouzel / Grand Union. A few more years and they'll invade Paddington Basin...



Canal, woods, bridleway, town, park, home.

Hey! I know that swan . Not seen the otters, mind.

Daily "C2W" pre-brekkie bimble around the trails near Reg's woodshed, sets me up nicely for WFH.

Fortunate, in so many ways .

I'm sure that one of these days our local exercise rides might, er, happen to coincide at some unforeseen location...

Miserable and damp on this mornings ride. Obviously it's dried up now...

Lovely morning here so managed a 30km loop within our parish thus keeping to the rules that were relaxed yesterday.

I can see my house from here...
20200503_143413 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200503_145021 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

A Boner in disguise?
20200503_143512 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

I've done a couple of rides on my new Camino ti over the last few days but all on tarmac so today it was time to try it off road. I wasn't disappointed.
IMG_20200503_170759387 by Jurassic690, on Flickr
IMG_20200503_171626474 by Jurassic690, on Flickr
IMG_20200503_171944430 by Jurassic690, on Flickr

Yesterday in the hilliest part of Merseyside

Not today, or even yesterdays ride but on Sunday I went for a ride and decided to test out not wearing padded shorts. (I wore other clothes)

Result, the gooch was a little sore and my undies now have a hole. Perhaps a 'minimal' pad is a better option. The aim of the experiment was to eliminate the sweat filled sponge on long warm summer rides.

Was sent to cover Islay for a few days.



Got a few hours off between shifts and with the dry weather had an explore. I linked up some trails for a couple of 30 mile rides.









I'm counting myself very lucky to be in beautiful new places for my daily exercise.

The Scottish Hilltracks book is due a reprint this year so there's a bit of path surveying to be done, making sure the new version includes any changes. The bit up Feshie where the RoW crosses the Allt Garbh suffered a couple of years back when the lovely new track was demolished in a flood. I took a spin up Feshie today to check it out (Pushing the lockdown boundaries a bit TBH).

P1060492 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

The washout is worse than ever. Getting down to, across, and back up from the Allt Garbh was a real headache and that was without any load on the bike.

The old line of the RoW has fared much better and is a much better/easier crossing point.

P1060500 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

I'll be contacting Feshie Estate to see what their preference is for the reprint and trying to find out what they intend to do about the washed out path.

This is also relevant for anyone doing the Cairngorms Loops 300.

Had the beach to myself today :)

20200506_160924 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200506_160953 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

An evening ride up onto the local hill with Cath. Just about all the off-road stuff was cheeky. We actually went to one of the checkpoints John sent me for this weekend's Faux WRT but it's sort of hard to avoid.

Cath on her way to a QOM on this loop.


The bridge of doom!


Somewhere close to here is a grave of one of the attendants looking after the warning beacon that was in place during the Napoleonic wars.

Just nipped out to the local shop (not a SPAR)

For various reasons I found myself short on time today, almost like normal life. So, dashed out for a local spin. I think it was less than 10k but it was entertaining enough and nice to get some air.



Bike (frame) is new and its actually really good, a little weighty, but good.

Rode a trail for the first time this year - turns out the Feb storms have taken a toll!

Beautiful day tho - stopped briefly to make a quick brew before looping home.

Oof! Not sure I'd be anywhere on that side of the fence!!

Some fine local views on today's ride...
20200508_132154 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200508_133632 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

20200508_133300 by Jeff Price, on Flickr

Don't tell the helmet police!
20200508_133720 by Jeff Price, on Flickr