Author: Cris Bloomfield

I spent part of saturday working on the Harry Hall Elan. Whilst a fairly solid commuter over the last few years, I have toyed with the idea of singlespeeding the frame ever since I had it restored. This has been due to the fact that it was built with Campagnolo horizontal drop outs which have the advantage of plenty of adjustment to run such a setup without the need for any chain tensioner, keeping things clean and neat. So off with all the gears and on with a Gusset Singlespeed kit (thanks to Kelvin and Cy).

The drop bars and stem came off (due to relocate to a new home shortly) and were replaced with a 130mm Thomson and a pair of Azonic double wall flat bars chopped down to 20.5″ and fitted out with some Deore levers and a pair of lock-on grips that were floating around in the spares box. The flat bar, singlespeed  result is something that looks a lot more interesting than it did. Based on the absence of any gear changes on my Mancunian commute I’m confident that its 50:16 setup will be do-able, but we’ll have to wait until Monday to find out.

Rode with Tyrrell for the first time this year today. Armed with Singlespeeds we rode out to test his legs. Not knowing how far would be too far we kept it a fairly open route and in the end after crossing the Goyt and the dirt jumps, decided to head for home. Essentially this was a repeat of route 28, but a plan has been hatched to do a ride to Edale from home which I haven’t done in a couple of years, so I think that’s next.

I’ve posted a further selection photos from the inaugural Eiger Sanction trip up in the photo section powered by Flickr. They remind me what a cracking trip it was! Can’t wait to get back out to the Alps for the next big ride.

Left outside year round. Subject to extremes of temperature. Lightweight aircraft grade aluminium formed into distinctive shapes and painted in memorable colours…

One of those dream bikes that I always wanted back in the mid 1990s. This one was discovered still going strong in Switzerland.

I might have finished my 30 day challenge, but every one else is now into their final week. Samuri must be a bit gutted to have made it so far in before quitting, but it doesn’t sound like he enjoyed it much other than at the weekends. Yesterday I didn’t ride at all. I’ve earned a rest day and the time was spent going through old digital photos and uploading them to Flickr, so my photo page on the site is now much healthier looking. I still have a lot of race photos and then a whole stack of old film based photos to add too. Rode into work today, had a few beers with some friends after work and wobbled home.

30 from 30 Riders

Simon | Sara | Grant | Ali | Samuri | Jenn | Steve | Marty | dRjOn

Stuart Hardy of The University of Manchester is gathering information about the views of mountain bikers for a dissertation study examining threats and opportunities for recreational activities in the countryside, with particular reference to National Parks.

A lot is said and written about mountain biking in the countryside and Stuart needs to hear the views of mountain bike groups for his study. He’s arguing the case that more active forms of recreation should be better encouraged in the countryside and wants to test the hypotheses of Nigel Curry (1994) who said that with good management there is a place in the countryside for all activities.

Is mountain biking welcomed in the countryside and is enough being done to provide opportunities? How does riding fit in with other recreational uses/users? These are some of the questions that he’s keen to learn more about. He has canvassed academic opinion in the field of countryside recreation and it would be extremely useful to hear from the people who are affected on the ground – the people who use, and depend upon, the countryside for their activities

The very short questionnaire which takes only a couple of minutes to complete can be accessed by clicking this link. Most of the questions are multiple choice and require one answer only.