Since my crash earlier in the week and a post on another blog from earlier in year I have been thinking about what would of happened if my crash had been more serious? Before I go any further let me build the scene of where I was riding, I was riding in north Dorset near to a village called Tollard Royal. The actual ride starts about a mile south east of the village at the junction of two roads (Oakley RD and B3081) so not exactly a place where there is likely to be a lot of public passing by on foot (unlike a village or pub car park). Finally I was riding on my own on a route which I had never ridden.

So what would of happened if I had dislocated my shoulder or worse still broken my leg? For a start I was around 10.5 miles from my starting point (about 5 miles as a bird flies), the nearest house was about quarter of a mile away. Judging by how overgrown the top section of the track was, I guess people don’t frequently wander along the track. The particular section of track I crashed on was covered by tree foliage there no guarantee my mobile would work even if there was a signal in the area (although there was a signal half way up the hill going out the village).

I guess if my shoulder was dislocated (or broken) I could of hobbled the quarter mile to the nearest house to seek help but what could I have done if my leg is broken? Or worse still I was unconscious (remember the GPS reported I had reached 36mph down the track). You can’t just rely on shouting or using your mobile phone to make other aware of your situation or somebody to wander past and find you.

My main problem came once I got back to my car, while I had continued to ride without to much discomfort I was completely stuffed back at the car as I was unable to pick the bike up to put it on the roof rack, it would not of made much difference had it of been boot mounted cycle carrier as I still would not of been able to pick it up and put it on the carrier. Had I not been able to take the wheels off my bike with one hand and get the bike in the back of the car I would of had to try and flag down a passing car to help me. It would be even more complicated had I not been able to drive, phoning home would not of helped as I am the only driving member of the family.

Earlier in the year after I went on a night ride I realised that I was very poorly prepared on several front, one of those was telling the wife the route I would be riding, particularly as the route included riding along a river path in the dark. After that night ride I tried to make a point of telling the wife where I was going to ride and roughly how long I expected to be. Then should I not return at least she would have some idea where to advise the emergency services to look for me. While I had told her where I was going on Wednesday I don’t think she would of been able to efficiently direct the emergency services the vicinity I was riding simply because apart from telling her where I was going she had no knowledge of the route I had planned to ride.

So there are the problems what can I do to improve the situation?

Well first I need to improve the information I leave the wife (or family) when I go out riding, I had this route on my pc as a gpx route so there no reason why I could not make the wife aware where the route is on the PC so if I don’t return home on time (see below) at least the emergency service should have a good starting point in looking for me.

In regards to time the ride should take, it is easy to know how long a ride will take when it is a local ride I have ridden before but it is a bit more difficult on a ride like Wednesday. Not having ridden the route you can only assume the ride will take X hours. If you are not back within your expected hours or made contact to update a return home time then measure should be taken to find you. So I need to leave a time when I expect to be home unless I make contact with an update.

When I ride I normally carry a basic first aid kit, which should cover most cuts and bumps. Might look at investing a silver foil blanket. Another useful item which I will look at is carrying some ID, I don’t mean wallet or driving licence but these ID tags. Very useful should I end up off my bike and in no condition to answer any questions, they are currently on my shopping list.

On local rides I don’t normally carry maps or gps as I know the routes but on Wednesday I had both gps (batteries are good for about 5 hours) and I had an OS map of the area so should I of needed to make a turn for home at any point I could of worked my way back to my start point. It makes sense to carry your mobile phone particularly if the phone has mapping or gps facilities. Also how about a whistle, your voice won’t last long if you are stuck in a ditch calling for help but a whistle will save your voice. Also a torch\light not so much to be able to see but being able to signal your location to help other find your location.

I like to ride alone, its just me riding at my pace where I want to ride. I accept that Wednesday situation could of been worse and a lot of the problems from Wednesday could of been eased had I been riding with a fellow cyclist, but I like riding on my own. I guess I should curb my enthusiasm when I am riding on my own and\or I don’t know the trail I am on so I can try and limit the possibility of an incident.

Well there are my thoughts I would welcome anybody else comments or links to other web sites that cover this topic. Wednesday has opened my eye to what could of happened.

I was a little disappointed though, there is a path that goes all the way around the perimeter of the park but you can’t ride the section that runs along the shore line of Poole Harbour. There was a large gate which stopped you from going through with your bike, seemed a bit stupid as the path on the other side of the gate was the same wide path that I had been happily sharing with all the other park goers.

Once at Upton Country park it is a case of returning the way you came, there is a option to venture on to Upton Heath but then it back onto the Castleman Trail and heading back towards Canford Heath. Took a different route across Canford Heath (compared to the one I took going) just for the variety.

I got back home comfortably warm in just under 3 hours for a 21 .5 mile ride, thought that was a bit slow but then I did make some detours and stops on my way.

It is currently raining with the forecast for more rain tomorrow morning, so not sure if I will be riding tomorrow or not.

I was up early and again the weather forecaster were right, no rain, cloudy and bit cool. I opted for a short sleeve t-shirt and my jumper this morning along with the padded shorts. IT was certainly cooler on the arms and legs as I went down the road this morning but I soon warmed up. Like last week I had been concerned that the river would be up but there no sign of it flooding, there was more chance of drowning in mud than water. There was mud every where along the river and through Hurn Forest although the worst was saved till last. Did exactly the same run as last week and this time the GPS recorded the route without a problem, it was the Muvi video camera that did not work, might have helped if I had charged it up!!

When I got to the “Through the Forest Trail” I pushed it to see how fast I could do it (I thought at the time I was videoing it as well). I did the 4.5 miles in 28 minutes which is about 9.6mph and I slowed down quite a bit from the last mile, I am no fast riders that is for sure.

I was trying to keep up a good pace, I wanted to complete the ride in under 4 hours. I did not feel to hot like yesterdays ride, in fact in the shaded area I felt a bit cold. When I got to Ferndown heath I came across the worst mud of the entire ride, giant lakes of mud and water across the paths, I just dropped it into granny ring and plodded through the mud, quite impressed really as I cleared it all.

I got back home and checked the the GPS to see the stats, I did the ride in 3hrs, 49 min, I was disappointed to note that the route was not 32.5 which I calculated last week but 31.2. Of the three times I have ridden this route now, today I felt the best during and after the ride, which is even better when you considered I had the short ride yesterday.

Tomorrow is weight in night, I think I have had a good week, I will let the scales be the judge of that though………….

I found the route over the Purbeck hills on the Internet just after I started riding again so hung onto the link, so over the weekend I decided the time had come to try it. The route includes two very large hills. I started from the Banks Arms at Studland and then made my way upto old Harry Rock, from there it on and over Ballard Down. Now this was not to bad to start with as this is a gentle climb to 523ft over 3.3 miles with some of the ride along the cliff tops over looking Studland Bay, the English Channel and Swanage Bay and I can honestly say there was only one section I walked. The views are stunning from the cliff tops around Old Harry rock (especially on a sunny day) but the view only got better as I made my way inland, looking to my right I could see Poole harbour entrance and to me left I could look down on Swanage.

As the old saying goes what goes up must come down and come down pretty quick, you drop 220ft in less than half a mile most of that in a long run down to the road. A quarter of a mile later you are looking at the bottom of 9 Barrow hill and grey rock strewn path that disappears up the side of the hill. Now this is where the Purbeck Hills gained its point as I only made it about 150yds up the path before I decided to save myself and walk, I could not compete with a path that climbs over 400ft in under a mile. So after a long walk I was at the top Of Nine Barrow, the view were stunning especially when I got to the Corfe Castle end of the hill and was looking down on the village of Corfe Castle and the remains of the castle. This is where I made my first mistake, I missed the path down to Corfe Castle and decide to find my own route down the side of the hill, not a good idea. I made it, but would of been a better idea to go back and join the correct path.

Once in Corfe Castle the route became like many other routes, running along forest tracks on the Remstone estate before meeting up with the main road back to the Banks Arms. As I headed back to the Banks Arms I remembered a little path (more like a shaded tunnel) that I took the last time I rode in the Purbeck so I shot of down the path only to be confronted by a deer. I stopped some 20ft away from it and it seemed quite happy to stand there eating the greenery while I grabbed a couple of pictures. It only decided to leave when I decide to ride on.

So all in all I think today’s ride was a fair draw, I got the better of it on most of the first climb and the remainder of the ride but I was well and truly beat on the second climb (ok more like submission).

Having seen what the traffic was like in Corfe Castle I decided that once back at the Banks Arms, it was a case of load the bike onto the car and leave.

Finally to round of the bank holiday weekend, it was weight in night tonight and it was a pound and a half off (the same pound and a half I put on last week) so I can go to bed tonight contented and tired.

The bike visits Old Harry Rock

Old Harry Rock (Old Harry is actually hidden behind the other rocks)

Corfe Castle as seen from 9 Barrow hill

The un-shy Deer

Still have the remnants of the sore throat I have now had for over two weeks but it is a lot better than it was last timed I wrote about it (the wife is still croaking as well).

Went for a ride on Wednesday night done an easy 12 mile ride. Went out early Saturday morning (to beat the heat) with the wife to explore some new tracks, half of them were OK the other half were blocked off but still managed 17 miles.

Got up early again today for a ride to beat the heat, on my own this time. Did my normal loop I do on a Sunday but added a couple of bits to the ride that I tried yesterday. 24 miles and back home by 10am for breakfast. I was expecting a little bit more distance but the extra bits are really only replacing a section of road that I would ride so I guess the overall distance between the two is not much although there a lot more effort to get up the forest tracks.

The rest of the day will be spent working on the bikes (my rear hubs come loose again), cleaning both bikes, cutting the grass, erecting the gazebo and getting the BBQ grill cleaned for tonight, first BBQ of the year. Although looking at the weather I think the first jobs will be cutting the grass and erecting the gazebo so I can work on the bikes under the gazebo.

While we are talking weather, many of you may have noticed in the news that Bournemouth now have there own weather forecast after the Met office forecast was for bad weather last year over the Bank holiday and it was a glorious sunny weekend, the local council reckon they lost million pound in revenue because tourists stayed away. So anybody that coming down to Bournemouth and want to check the local weather can check the local weather here.

Well I am out of here I have some chores to do and some sunny weather to catch up on.

My only trouble on the ride was the gps, it refused to track the route I was doing, on a ride like today’s where I know the route I use it to record the distance just encase, like today I added a little extra loop into the ride. I am not sure what the problem is but I will have to investigate.

I think I have had a fairly good week this week diet wise, don’t think it is as good as last weeks but with two good rides and the possibility of going out riding again tomorrow morning before work thing are looking good. In fact they are already looking very good as I managed to fit in to two pairs of shorts today, one pair I have not worn for 2 maybe 3 years because they were to small (or should that be I was to large??) and the other pair were brand new never worn I bought them some 3 years ago and they have never fitted me. I have a wardrobe full of clothes I have bought and have never fitted, so I might end up with a whole new wardrobe this year albeit about three years behind current fashion……….

One reason for my early morning trip was so I could get back in time to watch the Formula One. I used to watch it religiously but over the years my interest has waned, it just became boring. I thought maybe this year with more teams and no re fuelling during the race it would be more interesting. But to be honest I feel the jury is still out on that one, will have to see how it goes over the next couple of races.

There was one good thing for riding when it is this cold, all the mud is frozen and some parts of this route are very muddy. As I had hoped the first sections was frozen mud, in other places the surrounding area has been trampled to death so I could get round most of nasty spots. I was not long before I was at gate 15 (or is it 16??) and the run up to the rubbish tip road. Now this is no big hill but being a fatty on two wheel it feels bigger than it is and I normally reach the top wheezing, puffing and gasping for air. But today……….I won’t say I flew up it but I rode up it with out much of a problem. There were a couple of other minor hills and I went up those without to much of a problem as well, now I’m puzzled.

I had fun negotiating a decent covered in ice and just for the added fun something had driven along the path recently and left deep ruts (to be honest this was not the only track I found this on, apparently they have been erecting fencing all across the heath so they can keep cattle on the heath to mange the vegetation, picture of cattle here) this decent leads down to a puddle of lake proportion.

The route across the heath (at least the one I ride) is normally quite short so I decided to lengthen the route, the plan was to leave the heath, ride through an wooded area close by and then rejoin the heath further round on what would be my normal route. As I headed back toward gate 15 (or 16), I turned right through the trees and came out on the track that runs up to the Pit Road. Just after the climb I turned left onto a track I have never ridden before, it was pretty much like most of the tracks on the heath, sand, gravel, clay and mud and sometimes all four types at the same time. The GPS was showing I was heading towards the main road which was roughly the direction I was going. It joined the bridle path that runs from the Crematorium, I had ridden the bottom of this in the past, a track with two lines of paving slabs (for vehicles to access a water station or something) that ends in a steep decent with a large iron gate (6″ x 6″ box section construction) across the track which leads on to the road.

A quick mile up the road and I was into Delve Woods, not an area I have been before but I followed the GPS route through the trees and then lost my directions. I eventually emerged about half way along the road I had just ridden up rather than at the starting point where I entered the woods, oh well. I headed back up Gravel Hill and then turned right into Magna Road. A mile and a bit down the road I turned off Magna Road and back along a track toward the heath again. This starts off as a nice wide track and then narrow down to fairly narrow track with a 6ft wire fence one side and a 4ft barb wire fence on the other side with trees spilling out into the path. A good 3/4 of the way down this path I came across a fallen tree blocking the path. Having made the effort to do this extra section I was not keen on turning around and going back so I climb over the fallen tree (which was propped up by the fence) complete with bike before continuing on down the path.

I now rejoined the normal route I take across the heath, the earlier decent down the iced covered track was now just water and mud as the hill faces the sun and with the sun high in the sky it was making short work of the ice.

Only done 26 miles riding this weekend, I really want to be pushing 40 miles but I just read a post from a couple of months ago where I had ridden less miles than I normally do and had had a good weight loss on the Monday weight in, well I won’t argue I could do with a good loss after the past few weeks so here hoping.

Before I leave you all, here is a very useful web site (sorry if you use it already). For those that want to plot a route for a GPS but don’t want to fork out the cost of commercial products like Memory Map, here is a free version with a very useful addition Where’s the path, click on the “OS and Google Mapping side by side”. What you actually have is an OS based 1:25000 map on the left and a corresponding Google map of the same area on the right. You can plot a route on the left screen and then export\download it for using on your GPS or you can import a route into the program from your GPS providing it supports .gpx file format (most do), have a play it is very good piece of software.

Friday’s forecast for us was rain, what we got, cloud, blue sky’s and sunshine. Today’s forecast, heavy rain shower in the morning clearing into the afternoon to give sunshine with occasional shower and light winds. Actual, damp grey cloudy morning leading to occasional sunshine, light rain shower (about 5 minutes) and winds between 18mph to 24mph.

They spend millions on satellites and we are no closer to forecasting it correctly than the guy with a rock and pampas grass in his garden. He looks out of his bedroom window first thing in the morning and concludes if the rock is wet, it is raining, if the pampas grass is swaying it is windy, if there is a shadow of the rock or pampas grass it is sunny………..you get the picture.

My interest in the weather today was based on the fact that it was supposed to be a good day today and a lousy day tomorrow. We almost did not ride today because the weather looked so miserable when we got up. But as we were being told that Sunday was likely to be a day of heavy rain and strong winds then I wanted to make the most of riding Saturday. Thankfully for us (the wife and thee) the forecasted rain this morning never turned up, the wind put in an un-welcome appearance and boy was it warm (when out of the wind). The only rain we saw was at 14:15 this afternoon as we were about to drive off from the New Forest.

The ride its self was not to bad a lot of standing water, must remember to keep my mouth shut when going down hill at speed, track water does not taste nice. We decided to do a shorten Linwood Loop in the New Forest. We started at the bottom of the South Oakley Inclosure (east of Burley), ride up to the Canadian War Memorial, then out towards the A31 going under the dual carriageway and then turning off towards Broomy Lodge and the Broomy Inclosure, then on to Linwood and the Red Shoot pub. We stopped at the pub for a nice sandwich and a drink, no it was coke in fact…….. and very nice it was to.
It was here that we had a problem, the battery in the GPS expired and the map of the route was in the car. I had only done this route once but fortunately remembered the directions to get us up onto Bratley Plain than back to the road under the A31 and back toward the War Memorial. Normally from here we would carry on past the War Memorial down toward the deer sanctuary and back to the car park where we started. But the short loop mean we go back down the track we came up on through the South Oakley Inclosure to the car park for a little under 17 miles with a few large hills (well they are to us).

Thankfully there was no problems with either bike this ride. If there is a chance I will ride tomorrow if not I will spend the day giving the bike a good clean.

If I thought my GPS problem were over no chance, I set the route up on the GPS and clicked follow, this was OK for about the first 1000mtrs, I found that I could not scroll the screen, did not matter what I did the screen would not scroll and then I lost the follow option. Switch the GPS off, turn back on reload route, select follow and we are of again. This was not to be the last of the GPS problems.

But now I had a squeak, not from the GPS but from my front disc brake. Now this was doubly annoying as I thought I had sorted this problem out on Wednesday night, a quick adjustment and then a quick whiz round the block to check (and test the rear brakes as I changed the pads), not a sound everything seemed OK. Not now, after about another half mile I had had enough of the hamster wheel impersonations, jumped off the bike and set to work adjusting the calliper again. Thankfully this time it worked without a problem, we could now ride without my front wheel impersonating a hamster wheel.

We had now gone about a mile and a half when the wife shouts at me that her rear end does not feel right, at this point I declined the urge to comment as the problem was clearly visible………….a flat tyre. So once again we pulled over and I replaced the tube. After a short interval we are on our way again.

As I had put some new pads on the rear in the week I was making the most of any downhill section to shoot off downhill at speed and then whack the brakes on to heat the pads up, the wife asks me if I am having problems fortunately the answer was no. We finished the remainder of the loop with out a problem.

Th next 5 or so miles almost go with out a problem. I find that my water bottle is contaminated, the water tastes bloody awful, so I end up sharing the wife’s water bottle. By now we are at the far end of our route where I decide that we are going to have a little excursion off into the undergrowth as I have spotted what looks like a nice dirt track. It is now that the GPS come back to annoy me. As I had been following a route I had not noticed it had not been laying a track (as the route already on the map would hide my track) but this little excursion into the undergrowth revealed that the GPS was not tracking my route. Now this is annoying for two reason, one by having a track I have a good note of the total distance we travelled and secondly I will not have a record of this route to use in the future. By now I was beginning to give up the will to live. The dirt I found was not to bad, we were unable to follow the map exactly as the track shown on the map went into a mud pool but our little excursion brought us out half way along the route we would of been on had we followed our route and where the map showed the track would of rejoined the route.

The remainder of the ride back to the car was rather uneventful (compared to the earlier parts). As our ride had been a bit short I decided that I would check out another little dirt track that I had spotted earlier on the little loop. So I left the wife at the car and headed back up the trial, I soon found the entrance into the trees that I was looking for, I was soon to regret finding this little track. This little track through the tree (imagine a pine tree plantations with the tree all neatly planted in lines) was like dodgems with the trees and up hill with the narrow track winding it way between the trees with only a couple of inches to spare and what was worse, I was stuck in high gear. There was no straight section of track I just could not get any speed to change down on the front chain ring. I came to a mud pool where I got off the bike and pushed my way through as there was no way I could ride through it, I carried on pushing up the hill on the other side, I reached the top of the hill wheezing like an unfit 50 year old (mmm, I fit that description). I am almost certain that this route should be ridden from the top where I was to the bottom where I started, there was no way I was going to try I now. I wanted a drink but only had my contaminated bottle with me. I set off down the track, it was only after about half a mile that I checked the GPS and found I was heading in the wrong direction. So a quick about turn and I kept an eye on the GPS to ensure I was going in the right direction almost to the point where I missed the corner and nearly went in to a ditch, the sooner I get back to the car the better I was going to be. I soon found the main road and made my way on to the tarmac and headed the short three quarters of a mile ride back to the car.

We loaded the bikes onto the car and headed for home, both bikes needed a good chain clean so that’s was my next job as soon as we got in. The wife hosed the bikes off while I got the cleaning kit and bike stand ready. As I am cleaning the bikes my stomach is aching, but I ignore it and carry on cleaning the bikes, then putting all the kit away while I let the bikes drip dry. I head inside for a clean up of myself some clean cloths……………………….AND THE LOO!! I spend the next hour trying to eat dinner and ignore my somersaulting stomach. Thankfully as I only had a couple of mouth full of water the iffy stomach disappeared as quickly as it arrived. It was at this point that I notice it is pouring with rain and both bikes are sat out side drying, well at least that was the intention, so I then have to sit in the rain oil-ling the chain

I guess the only good thing that came out of the ride today was the fact that I did not break anything on the bike, apart from that I think I might forget this Saturdays ride!!

Unusually the wife decided to come for a ride this morning, she normally only does one ride over the weekend and she rode with me yesterday. So we decided to try somewhere new, well there was me scratching my head exactly where, the terrain and the distance late last night, the wife comes up with these idea but then leaves it to me to fill in the blanks. Anyway eventually settled on Wareham Forest after I found a route on-line and then modified it slightly.

I had intended an early-ish morning start, but we awoke a little bleary eyed after the daughter who was (supposed to be) staying at a friends overnight, but after (the friend) had an asthma attack and a visit to A&E, woke me at 3:00am this morning to let me know she was home and not staying at her friends, so kind of her!!

After a breakfast of scrambled egg on toast we soon on our way towards Wareham, we soon found a lay-by to park-in and were soon kitted up and pedalling of in to the distance. After several false starts trying to find the correct bridleway (the imported gps route did not overlay exactly on my gps map) we were travelling along bridleway and woodland paths I never even knew existed. We had to cut one section of the ride out as it showed up as marsh land on the map and looking down the trail it was certainly living up to its name. It was also starting to spot with rain so we decided to head back a different way and pick up the path we came in on. By the time we had returned to the car the sun was shining brightly overhead, sods law. We had notched up 14 miles, there was only one hill the wife could not master and to be fair it had me wheezing a bit, well a lot at the top. We both agreed that we will work out a new route around the forest which will include a new parking\starting spot.

It is weigh in night tomorrow night, I feel good about this past week, which is no measure of anything but I hope the 34.9 miles from this weekends riding add up to a good loss (Tim crosses his fingers)

Please sponsor me on the Bristish Heart Foundation Dorset Bike Ride

Back home I finished getting ready, I picked my rucksack up and it weighted a ton, I carry spare inner tubes, pump, puncture repair kit, multi tool, air shock pump, latex glove, knee support and I had the gel seat cover from yesterday (when I changed the saddle I did not put it back on but carried it yesterday just encase). I decided that I got through yesterday without the need for it so I would be alright to leave at home. Three miles into the ride and my butt is aching (like it did the first time you got back in the saddle after years of not riding), I was wishing that I had the gel seat cover with me, next time I will leave it in there for a bit longer. After a few more miles my butt subsided into a dull ache. So to make up for the lack of pain my knee started to ache. It was only when I got back later that I realised I had not made any changes to the saddle height like I mentioned yesterday, so that on my list of jobs for the next ride.

I did my normal ride along the river at Throop, out past Hurn Airport into Hurn Forest, down past Oakdene Caravan Park and then onto Parley Common. This route bring me back onto the Hurn Airport road but I normally go in the opposite direction and head for home. But wanting to add a few more miles to my route I headed back toward Hurn Airport and then back down towards the river at Throop. When you cross the river by the weir there are two way you can go, my outward ride I took the route down past Hurn Court school, so on my return I went the other way (which is my normal way) down across the fields at the back of Merritown. To say it was muddy was an understatement at one stage the forks were rubbing the mud on the front wheel (I have fairly narrow tyres). By the time I got home I knew I had done a long distance but I did not know how far, once I had regained some composure I hooked up the GPS to the PC and imported the route so that I could check the distance (I probably can do that on the GPS but I wanted the route on the PC anyway), 21 miles!! My longest single ride to date and I am well chuffed, this give me a total of 35 miles for the weekend

We went to the woods around Moors Valley Country Park and rode (in part) a route I found on the Internet. I downloaded the .gpx file and uploaded it into my GPS. Now this was the first real time that we had done this and I found it not as easy as I had expected. For example you reach a junction in the forest, the map you are looking at on the gps show 3 tracks and what you see in front of you is 5 tracks and trying to guess the correct one to follow, we failed on a couple and had to turn round but it was always within 50mtrs.

I also collected two punctures on the front wheel, the first I repaired checking the tyre for any offending puncture causing objects, found nothing. Fitted a new tube and cycled on for about 2 miles till I got another puncture on the front wheel, now I thought this was to much of a coincidence and took a much closer look at the tyre, I even turned the tyre inside out. I was just about to give up on checking the tyre when my finger felt something on the inside of the tyre, on closer inspection these was a very small slither of flint protruding through the inside of the tyre. Getting it out was fun and games, in the end I reverted to pushing it back through the tyre with an allen key hoping it did not break off and fortunately this worked. It was only when I pushed it back through I noticed that it had sliced one of the thread blocks as it cut into the tyre. I fitted another new tube (normally carry 4 two for each bike) and we were off, fortunately with no more punctures.

Stopped at the Welcome Centre for Moors Valley Country Park and had a tea and biscuit (it was supposed to be a chocolate muffin, purely for the energy factor, honest). Then it was a brief burst back into the woods and back to the car to end our 14.8 mile round the forest, I would of liked more distance but I am happy to have had one of my most enjoyable rides to date.

The second wow goes to Clive Chapman of Massive MTBer, have a look at his web site and decide for yourself if you think riding is doing him good?

I will leave you with a picture from todays ride, it was a glorious sunny day if a bit cold.

Yours truly fixing the first puncture

Now I am in two minds at the fact I put weight on, on the one hand it was Christmas and I was not going to starve myself by avoiding all the nice Christmas goodies that were on hand but on the other it was a little more than I had hoped (but nowhere as bad as last years). What has not helped is the fact that I broke my bike and I was unable to ride yesterday or today (more of that later). So this coming week I am going to try to eat sensibly and avoid the sweets, chocolates and cakes etc. which are still hanging around from Christmas and do a bit more riding.

I managed to get a bike ride in on Christmas eve which was a bonus but it did include falling off at walking pace on black ice, I now have a lovely cut on my knee. Managed to get another ride in on Boxing day morning with the wife trying out a new route. Went out for a ride on Sunday on my own, the ride can only be described as a mud fest which included trying to ride up a track where the front wheel disappeared up to the axle in mud. On recovering my bike the pedals and wheel were covered in black gloopy mud. It was also interesting trying ride a cross a field where I was pedalling and not going anywhere, the front wheel stuck in the mud and the rear just spinning.

It was during the cleaning of the bike after the Sunday mud fest that I found a broken spoke on the rear wheel. It was not there on Saturday when I cleaned the bike so it must of happened during the mud fest ride. Not wanting to further damage the wheel any-more I decided not to ride yesterday, but I did do a 5 mile walk instead, lets just say is easier to cycle 5 miles than it is to walk.

I dropped the bike off at the local shop this morning and they quickly replaced the spoke for me so hopefully I will out again tomorrow and Thursday weather permitting. I want to get some miles under my belt not only because of my diet but I want to do an organised ride in 11 days time so I want to make sure I can do more than the advertised 15 miles as it will be in an area I have never ridden and apparently it will include a few hills!!

The GPS and mapping software has been proving useful, part of Saturday’s route came from looking on the OS map and worked very well apart from a river crossing, there was a bridge but it was the 2 foot deep water you had to cross to get on the bridge which proved a problem, result was wet cold feet. Sunday mud fest was another local route I found on the web and with the help of the GPS I was able to check I was going to correct direction, would be handy if they could tell you when the route was flooded with water though…………..

I am slowly getting used to the GPS, the total lack of manuals has not really helped as not only am I learning how to use a GPS and it terminology I am also learning how to use this particular GPS and the mapping software that comes with it. I am not saying that the GPS or the software is rubbish, quite the opposite. I have found the Memory Map Adventurer 2800 and the Memory Map software very good once I learn how to use it.

My next target is not to undo all my hard work over Christmas, last years was a disaster, so this year I don’t intend going down that route again. Apart from eating sensibly I am going to cycle as much as I can over the holiday period to help counter the festive indulgence, the only day I won’t be riding is Christmas day.

My ride distance is getting longer, I am now starting to do a couple of laps of the route I use over local heath to get the distance. Problem is I get bored doing the same lap twice, so I am trying to find two different routes that I can do. I also intend to do some exploring over the holiday period, try and find some new routes and areas to ride. Might even venture a little further afield to see what I can find.

There is one main problem, they don’t supply manuals, not in paper form not even in electronic form. You get two small quick start guides, one for the Memory Map software and one for the GPS and that is it. I have spent several days scratching my head and looking on there support forum looking for help on how to use their software and GPS unit. They actually state on the support forum that the GPS works out of the box, and I would agree with them switch it on and it works, no annoying requests to install anything to get it working it just worked. But if like me this is your first GPS, switching it on is about as far as you are going to go without reverting to some form of manual to tell you how to plan a route and load maps etc. I have since found a Users Guide (a basic 11 page document explaining the basics) for the GPS which has helped. But I can’t see the logic in not even producing a manual for your product.

Went out riding again today, only for a short ride as my son came with me and my legs were still aching from yesterday. So for an easy ride we went out to Hurn forest. My son decided every puddle was an adventure waiting to be explored and no puddle was to deep. From the very first puddle he headed straight through the middle of it as fast as he could peddle. This picture was taken near the end of our ride. Mind you I am many years older than him but puddles still seems to have that magnetic attraction to me as well!

The wife who took both pictures was not impressed as I made her wet as I raced through the puddle, how unthoughtful of her, no consideration for me as to how wet I got for her photo opportunity!! The wife walked today as she did not feel up to riding, hopefully she will be back on the bike next week.

Finally tomorrow night is weigh in night, just hope that I have lost enough weight this past week to get past that mark which has been haunting me for the past few weeks, its to late if I have not so I will just cross my fingers till tomorrow!!

But now we are into mountain bikes I can see A GPS would be very useful additions, at least I think it would? But the more I look into it the more confused I become. Let put it this way I can see three possible usages for using a GPS with mountain biking.

• a) For planning a route before leaving home and using it for directions while out riding
• b) for recording a route when you are out riding
• c) to aid redirection if you change your route while out riding

So lets start with a) this is all well and good until you find out that with some GPS units you can’t use the maps from the GPS on your PC to plan the route, you have to invest in third party software at more cost.

Then there is b) now this is fairly simple for most GPS units or so I have been told, this is useful if you find a new paths and want to record it, you just cycle down the path and the GPS will record the route for you (assuming you told it to record the route you take).

Finally c) so you have gone out for the day and you end up injuring yourself, nothing serious but it is enough to stop you from completing the ride and you need to get back to your starting point or the point where you were going to be picked up by the quickest route. So you want to be able to say, I’m at A and I want to get to B, it can do that but not in the same way as it would do it with a Sat Nav from a car. It will point you in the right direction but it won’t tell you there a large lake to go round or a cliff to get down.

Then there are the maps that the GPS units use (most come with a basic map but you need to purchase more detailed maps), various different scales, various areas of the UK and all with a nice price tag on them. Now obviously the cheaper the model GPS the less features, the bigger clearer screen the more ££££’s will be leaving your pocket. All in all it is not a cheap option.

Now before anybody says buy an OS map, I have, 3 to be exact, but they are not the easiest thing to use when out riding (also means I have to carry my reading glasses with me to be able to read the map).

I had hoped to get out riding today but the winds were just to strong, gust up to 65mph locally with the wind eventually dropping off around 5:00pm tonight. Add that to the near horizontal rain, it was not an ideal recipe for riding. Which was just as well. I had some new handlebar grips to put on my bike and when I went out in the shed to fit them I found I had a flat tyre. The culprit was a 3/4″ thorn stuck in the front tyre, not sure where it came from as the last ride was a mid week blast on the road around the block.