Author: Cris Bloomfield

Usually mountain biking in the North.

Remembering Nick Wallis

My IF riding friend Jam Price just forwarded me the sad news that my friend through bikes Nick Wallis has made the choice to take his own life. I didn’t know the sad news until today and it’s come as a shock. Nick and I always saw eye to eye, even in recent times when his actions distanced him from even some of his oldest friends. At the time many people couldn’t understand his strange and uncharacteristic behaviour. I’m sorry to hear he saw no way out of his current situation.

I have fond memories of cooking teacakes in the Singletrack Office with him and then going out for a cracking ride around Hebden and Tod – on the frozen trails and warm winter sunshine the day after Chipps’ 40th Birthday… (Tim K, Ross, Nick and I were the only ones that made that ride).

Nick Wallis

This was Wuthering Bikes in 2006:

Nick Wallis

Nick had many friends who will miss him and his cheeky grin enormously. He will remain very much be in my thoughts.

Fuel Crisis

I haven’t touched a bike in weeks, not even to clean one, a job I’ve been putting off (repeatedly). The government mishandling of a potential strike by fuel truck drivers and the media shit storm that’s resulted from it has resulted in panic fuel buying here in central Manchester. My wife went out before 7am this morning to fill up and found our coal Esso station completely drained of fuel and all the pumps therefore marked as out of order.

The whole thing’s quite bizarre as the first news item I heard essentially said that Army drivers had been given training to ensure fuel deliveries continued during potential strike action. Yet as the mess has unfolded the government is now saying everyone should top up if their fuel tanks reach half full. Filling up is an expensive business as my pal Dave in scotland has just discovered:

Fuel bill

The whole thing is a great way for the government to fill the coffers as the tax of fuel is a fixed-rate on the underlying oil price and is a very large proportion of the cost consumers pay. The result is that it’s gone mental.

Prices

Now this whole business doesn’t really affect me, I drive my son to nursery each morning which is probably only 2 miles each way. Once I’m recovered we’ll be biking that, so the fuel cost will be nil. I perhaps put some fuel in the tank each month, but may be only £30. In fact I’ve never filled the tank, but I bet it wouldn’t be cheap!

As I walked into work this morning fuelled by coffee and dodging a £1.70 bus fare each way, I realised that single occupancy commuting is the norm here. No car-share commuting for folk in Manchester. Or park and ride. The city needs a plan, because let’s be honest fuel prices are only going in one direction in future. Up.

Off the Bike

Went in to hospital for an operation on the 24th February to get treatment for an ailment that wouldn’t go away. One of those things you kind of shrug off, but it’s not gone away in ten years so I’ve decided to get it ‘fixed’ as it’s had an impact on biking which is starting to affect other things in life too. It means no riding for the a month or so whilst things heal up. This means that in the short term things suck, but long term is looking brighter. Gotta focus on that.

2500W

There’s some irony in the fact that the one day I managed to ride to work this week not only did I get rained on commuting home, but some genius in a white Transit van tried to kill me by not signalling and turning right as if they were parking up alongside the kerb and then swinging left across the road into a driveway. The ultimate cut up. Still not like a bus driver tried to kill me.

I’ve done some power output efforts on the Watt Bike trials a few times, but I’ll never come close to this: 2,500W power. Awesome (even for an Aussie).

Snow is Here

Managed to ride three days out of five last week which seems to be about average at the moment. I suspect I will probably struggle to match it this week. It’s been cold on the bike too. Cold enough to arrive at the destination of the ride with an ice cream headache even with a Giro merino cap on under the lid. I may have to resort to the standard issue merino fleece lined beanie if the temperature stays sub zero.

The weather turned from cold to snow on Saturday here in Manchester. It started falling around midday and stuck straight away. We were heading up to Carnforth and as we drove out of the city on the M61 there was a lot of slush and poor driving conditions. The Bridgestone A001 winter rubber was great and was a sound investment. Ironically the conditions just south of the lakes were snow free and 3 degrees warmer (albeit still on the cold side of nought degrees).

Whilst the thaw started late Sunday, there is still plenty of snow on the ground. I’m still hoping to get out for a proper ride soon. Fingers crossed.

Something and Nothing

Well not much going on in the world of riding at the moment. Since New year I’ve yet to put tyre rubber into contact with trail dirt and it’s not looking particualrly likely to happen any time soon. Even riding to work has taken a beating as I often find myself in a situation where it is more practicable to walk to work than ride in. Still the days I have been on the bike have been fairly uneventful.

Partly this is due to using the new “safe route” and avoiding the knobheads who’d generally try and kill you on the way home and the also in part due to being more prepared. So when the HID ran out of juice a week or so ago, I just turned on a back up. Even the weather is playing nice. The harsh winter never arrived, there’s been very little frost or ice and as a result it’s been happy days on the commute any way. There’s even been some good sunsets, which is a rarity in Manchester given the sky is usually obscured by rain clouds this time of year.

Manchester Sunset

Wasting Light

Catching up with a friend in Llandudno left me rather late arriving at Betws-y-Coed for a ride today, so I knew it was going to be tight fitting in a full ride this close to the shortest day. What I hadn’t factored in were the trail conditions. After parking up in town and riding up past the Bryn Afon guest house and up the ‘I swear this road has become steeper’ climb to the Marin Trail, it must have been past 2pm.

Snowdon

Despite the ticking clock I pressed on. The first section of Singletrack that you reach when joining the trail this was is through a thick conifer plantation and was almost pitch black to ride through. After that most of the trails weren’t too bad at all for light. The section through to the carpark at the official start to the trail above Llanrwst was awesome in a brakes off, letting it flow, kind of way.

Marin Trail

After that of course is that climb, the long drag that goes on and on and then again once you’re across the road. The trail conditions steadily worsened and there was more and more snow further around the trail. Conditions were pretty severe and without any lighting or proper winter spec clothing, I bailed after Pixies Paradise and took the A5 back to town. It was properly dark by the time I made it back to the van and I had feet and hands like blocks of ice.

It would have been very foolhardy to have pressed on with the trail even if I had just taken the fire road a bit further to the road descent down from Pont Banog, let alone trying to take in the final section of Singletrack. The conditions were getting icy and I would have potentially have just been another statistic. These mountains can’t be underestimated, especially in conditions which have already claimed the life of others.