Author Archives: oneblackdot

Hit the North - Fail

Lashing it down.
It seemed apt for the forth & final (or not!) installment of the Hit the North race saga.
Although a bit apprehensive about how my body would react to 8 straight hours of CX bike action, the preceding weeks’ deluge and gloopy looking course made me feel a bit better about the decision.
Viewing [...]

24 hour Solo UK Championships

Woken by my 5am alarm, not an ideal start to a day when starting a 24 hour race at midday.
Up. By 5.30 two bikes have been squeezed into the car & I’m off to get my pit helper for the race.  Seb had offered to drive so I could get some sleep.
Zzzzzzzzz…. The change in [...]

That knee’s a bugger

I’ve been riding singlespeed almost exclusively this year. But today, reluctantly dug out the geared bike as a dodgy tendon in the back of my knee that has been bugging me since the last Brownbacks race (4 weeks ago) seems to be getting worse with each ride. The injury is not exactly painful, but more [...]

Brownbacks Race series 2 - final race

I had missed the previous two races in the 2nd Brownbacks Race Series as they all clashed with other events/races. So was looking forward to the final race of the Hope sponsored series.
As the only bike that wasn’t in bits the decision was made for me to ride it on the singlespeed. I’d ridden [...]

3 Peaks CX Race 2009

A first timers view on Yorkshires ’special’ cross race.

Ridley Crossbow

New Bike! It arrived just in time for the The Three Peaks (my first ever CX race) which happens this Sunday.
The Crossbow was purchased from Sam at the very helpful Sett Valley Cycles who specialize in Ridley bikes - highly recommended.
Only ridden about 3 times so far, a 55 mile hilly, sportive ride around the [...]

Montane Kielder 100 - race report

Eventually decided on riding the Genesis singlespeed for the Kielder 100 race as the weather was still looking extremely wet and there would be less chance of mechanical ‘issues’.

I took Rich up on his offer of a lift to Kielder and we arrived around an hour before dusk, enough time to register and pitch my [...]

Kielder 100

So, a couple of months ago I entered the Montane Kielder 100 billed as the UKs first ever 100 mile mountain bike race.
2 months have passed quickly and I’ll be traveling up to Kielder a week tomorrow. Although feeling fit I’m not sure I’ve done enough training and never done anything close to 100 miles [...]

Singletrack Classic Weekender & Montane Kielder 100

Off (early tomorrow morning) to the Singletrack Classic Weekender at Rossendale Quarry for the err… weekend. One bike, one set of tyres (Halo Choir Masters of course) and three disciplines; Trails, Downhill and XC - sounds ace!
I’ve also just signed up to the Montane Kieder 100 a one day, hundred mountain bike mile race on [...]

Mountain Mayhem 2009 (well that came around quick)

Just 2 days to go until Mountain Mayhem (and the weather forecast is dry(!?) mmm… we’ll see…). Took the ‘race’ bike (geared Voodoo) out last night, as its not been used since Enduro 6 and had vague memories of it sounding quite unhealthy during the race. Confirmed at the top of the first climb to [...]