Been back to Norfolk for a long weekend and managed to hook-up with Jed for a trip down to Thetford. The place has changed yet again and I continue to find it really hard to orientate myself down there. The trails were great though. The singletrack down there isn’t the swoopy stuff you find in Wales, but it is the stuff that really pushes you to go harder and the faster you ride it the better it flows.
Jed knows that place better than anyone I know so I was just following him through most of it. Well except the bit where I went first and managed to lose him – sorry mate. Anyway had a wicked time and can’t wait to ride it again.
As the titanium spokes hadn’t showed up I needed some new wheels for the M5, so I bought a pair of Crossmax from the shop and hooked on some Conti Cross County’s on them. Some of the guys in Guernsey used to race on these skinny little bad boys all year round. They’re so skinny they look like ‘cross tyres. Plenty of grip, but they cut the trails up really badly and on such a rigid bike, you just need some comfort from the tyres. Something a bit bigger needs to be tried.
Of course when I arrived home, the spokes from Marwi had arrived. That’s just typical that is. Anyway this link to a website about crap towns was the highlight of my afternoon at work, the productivity of which was far from high after reading it.
This is in from Big Dave:
From: Big Dave
Subject: On my way out!Today I start outprocessing Camp Doha, Kuwait. Thank goodness. This place is starting to get crowded again and it’s getting really hot.
Lots of marines are rolling back in and washing their vehicles before they put them on the ships. The are grubby messes when they come into the chow hall. They usually spend about 3 days here, then head to the docks. You can tell they are ready to get on the ship. They can shower and do laundry then just sleep away the time until they get home. It’s about 35 days to California and about 21 to the east coast.
The rest of us are awaiting airplanes. Hopefully sometime next week. Too bad I’m not in good enough shape to race Big Bear. I’d be sucking major wind.
Jen’s gonna be killing me on the bike. She’s doing her 8th stage race since I left. She’s currently holding 8th right now at the Gila. I’m going to be crying for about 2 or 3 weeks I’m sure.
Johnny Smoke from radical films sent me the Kranked DVD’s. I finally found a computer that would run the DVD-r. Great photography and some sick riding. Too bad it was quiet time and we couldn’t turn up the volume. Some dudes didn’t believe they were riding bicycles. Thanks Johnny. I’m trying to get a photo emailed to me so I can email it to you.
I’m motivated to get home. I’ve got some mandatory leave saved up that I will have to use, then I’ll be back to the B.S. I’ll probably get tooled around for a few months, then hopefully I’ll be out soon.
Thanks for all the care packages and stuff that you guys sent. You made many more soldiers other than myself very happy…and you saved us a huge wait in the PX lines. I stopped by the other day, they still have not let up.
Big Dave
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