Author: Cris Bloomfield

After a long time of making excuses and never quite getting around to it I finally lived up to a long standing promise and made it over to southern Italy to catch up with an old friend. When I flew out of Stanstead it was raining and when I arrived back it was still raining, but in the time inbetween I was enjoying Mediterranean sunshine and temperatures in the 30s. It was great, there’s a few photos from my time in Pompeii here. It’s pretty much core national curriculum teaching in Italy, but there is some information about the fate of the famous roman city here and here.

A few emails have come in over the last few weeks. Here’s a few:

From: Chrissy
Subject: Croatia

Reckon you could ride on these local trails?

I think that’s rideable. I’d love to get out there and check it out, now all I need is some more holiday time, so, er, that’d be sometime after September. This next one is in from a fellow fan of Belgian beers.

From: Tyrrell
Subject: 10 FACTS

10 – Life is sexually transmitted.

9 – Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

8 – Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see one without an erection, make him a sandwich.

7 – Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; Teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks.

6 – Some people are like a Slinky… Not really good for anything, but you still can’t help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
5 – Health freaks are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

4 – All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

3 – Why does a slight tax increase cost you 50 quid and a substantial tax cut saves you 50p?

2 – In the 60s, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and People take Prozac to make it normal.

AND THE NUMBER 1 THOUGHT FOR 2006:

1- They know exactly where any untaxed car is located among the millions of cars in Britain……

But they haven’t got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the DVLA in charge of immigration…….

This one is in via Shaun at Aegishosting and it just goes to show that there’s a good chance that not everyone who stumbles across this site does so because of the bike related content.

From: Martha
Subject: INFO: wrong date

Please contact the designer of this web page you are hosting the flood was in 2005 not 2006.

Bit of a balls up that, but well spotted. I’ve sorted it now. Here’s some local news from Jed…

From: Jed
Subject: Hanging Around

I missed this last night on the news… apparently it was a cracker and this farmer was a real country guy.

Finally when is a Vehicle not a Vehicle? Perhaps when it is a bike… The law regards the bike as a vehicle, and IMBA is constantly chiding Local Authorities for issuing orders to restrict vehicular access, when they actually mean motorised vehicular access. Unfortunately such wrongly worded notices cause a lot of confusion and aggravation as they appear to reduce routes available to cyclists. So it is of particular concern when the well regarded Lake District National Park issues a widely distributed but inaccurate letter stating that 31 routes in the National Park ‘have now had their vehicular rights extinguished’. This mistake is a result of a clause in NERC which is thought to extinguish motorised rights over highways which are on both the definitive and highways maps – and even includes some bridleways! So keep a watchful eye for similarly wrong statements in your own Local Authority areas and contact IMBA if you spot any.

I’ve just put together the provisional itinerary for this summers roadtrip…

Tuesday 4th July

Leave Norfolk about 8.30pm and drive down to Folkestone
Total distance: 161.9 miles (260.5 km )
Total estimated time: 3 hours and 50 min

Wednesday 5th July

EuroTunnel Outwards Journey
Early doors rag it across France to Switzerland. Hopefully crash at Suzi’s place in Luzern in central Switzerland. If we get there early we can chill by the lake 🙂
Total distance: 507.6 miles (816.9 km )
Total estimated time: 8 hours and 41 min

Thursday 6th July

Riding opportunity in the morning. I have routes 🙂
In the afternoon pack up and head over to Grenoble to see MacPuppy.
Total distance: 253.1 miles (407.3 km )
Total estimated time: 4 hours and 18 min

Friday 7th July

Riding opportunity in the morning courtesy of MacPuppy with luck.
In the afternoon head off for Argentiere. Settle in and check bikes over. Meet guides and briefing for the trip.
Total distance: 91.8 miles (147.7 km )
Total estimated time: 2 hours and 1 min

Saturday 8th July

Ride to Le Tour and take the gondola up part way to the Col de Balme with stunning views of Mont Blanc and the Chamonix valley. A fantastic but technical descent in places to Trient and an off-road climb on a grassy track up to Col de Forclaz. A tough road climb gets us to our over night stop of Champex – a beautiful Swiss lake side resort. 35km approx. 2,000m descent. 1,350m ascent. 5 hours.

Sunday 9th July

A fantastic, fast sweeping descent from Champex to Sembrancher on paths and tracks. A gradual off road climb through woodland followed by some technical singletrack descent and a short road section bring us to the gondola ride up to Verbier. Then it’s play time for the rest of the day as we sample some of the best singletrack descents in the area. At the end of the afternoon we take the last cable car up to 2,222m before climbing the remaining 300m on double track to our stunning over night stop at Cabane du Mont Fort. The sunsets here will take your breath away, as will the panoramic views from the Petit Combin to Mont Blanc to the Dents du Midi. 45km approx. 3,060m descent. 1,250m ascent (cable car assisted). 6 hours.

Monday 10th July

The elite pro racers do the next two days in one as we follow the Grand Raid Cristal Alp course, but its still tough for us as we climb around 3,500m today and tomorrow. In fact today is arguably the toughest day of the trip, certainly the longest in distance. From Cabane du Mont Fort we descend back to 2,222m on single and double track before traversing to the top of the Croix de Coeur at 2174m followed by a fabulous descent on rocky, rooty and swooping singletrack. We will do three climbs today, mostly on forest track with some road and some singletrack. We may get a helping hand on the second climb with a chair lift, depending on the time of year. Either way, we are rewarded by a switch back descent through pine forests on rarely ridden, technical singletrack. If we take the chair lift then the last climb before our overnight stop at Evolene will be the toughest, with 600m on road and dirt track up through forest and alpine pasture before an exciting traverse on technical singletrack with beautiful views to our left, followed by a fast descent into the town. If the chair lift is out of action then we will skirt round this final spur and take the lower road climb up the valley to our overnight stop. Evolene is a picturesque rural Valais town which has retained all of its traditional alpine charm. 75km approx. 2,400m descent. 1,750m ascent. 9.5 hours.

Tuesday 11th July

The big one today and we start early to get the coolest temperature as we tackle the Col and Basset de Lona at 2787m and 2792m respectively – the highest points we shall reach on this trip. The route up is mostly rideable on double dirt track and then singletrack but the final section will involve some pushing or carrying. There is actually a double pass here with the Col coming before the Basset. The descent from the Col is smooth and flowing and the climb up to the Basset is all rideable. Spectacular views from the top all the way back to Mont Blanc and the Grand Combin we left a few days ago. It gives a great sense of achievement seeing how far we have come. The descent is fast and again spectacular as we approach the lovely turquoise water of Lac de Moiry. We continue our seemingly endless descent towards Grimentz on varied, fun singletrack where we break for coffee and cake and a rest for the brake pads. A lovely forested singletrack descent to our overnight stop outside of Grimentz. 45km approx. 1,950m descent. 1,750m ascent. 9 hours.

Wednesday 12th July

Today is a well-earned half rest day. We have the option of a road or off-road climb followed by a funicular train ride up to Tignousa where we can spend the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the views or visiting the spectacular Hotel Weisshorn which has a wonderful location perched high above the valley. For the brave at heart there is the option of riding the Swiss National downhill cup course which twists and jumps it’s way down under the funicular (500m descent). From Tignousa we will receive our first and only veiws of the Matterhorn before we reach the Zermatt valley. 15km approx. 200m descent. 500m ascent. 3 hours.

Thursday 13th July

Another big pass today over the Illhorn at 2,552m. Depending on the time of year we may be able to take a chair lift assisted route, otherwise it’s a climb on dirt track before a short push on singletrack and a narrow traverse to the Col itself. It’s another double pass day with a technical descent followed by a 20 minute push to our highest point of the day. From here follows an awesome, uninterupted 1,300m descent split into three distinct sections; the first is fast, high alpine with big views, the second and hardest section forms the start of our descent into the trees with boulder-strewn switchbacks, the final section in the woods is the best by far with corner after corner taking us down steeply through the trees – 58 switchbacks at the last count! Taken as a whole the descent will test some riders to their limits but the first and last sections should be almost 100% rideable for every one. You will have to go a long way to find a better descent than this! After a short road climb there follows yet more descent, on fast and flowing singletrack through woodland. More great riding brings us back to the the very edge of the Rhone valley and our overnight stop at one of the best hotels en route. 35km approx. 2,270m descent. 1,200m ascent. 8 hours.

Friday 14th July

Today we say goodbye to the Rhone valley as we turn the corner into the Zermatt valley, ever closer to our final destination. It’s a fantastic day which contrasts nicely with yesterday’s high alpine experience. We follow varied singletrack trails with a series of short sharp climbs and descents on soft pine needles, through beautiful alpine villages which cling to the valley side and more of those never ending switch back descents! The day ends with the “technical singletrack challenge” – a testing climb on a rooty trail which brings us out near our home for two nights – the comfortable and friendly Hotel La Reserve in St Niklaus. The hotel is run by a member of one of the oldest mountaineering families in the area, the Pollingers. The modern day Pollingers also make an excellent pizza! 33km approx. 1,120m descent.1,050m ascent. 6 hours.

Saturday 15th July

A fitting end to our trip we head up the valley on cycle trails by the river and marvel at the height of the mountains surrounding us – the Weisshorn, the Briethorn, the Dom and of course the Matterhorn. Once in Zermatt we take the Sunnegga Express funicular train up to a high view point for breathtaking, stunning views of the Matterhorn. The perfect spot for lunch and a celebratory photoshoot. From Sunnegga there is a choice of descents back to Zermatt town. You can take the leisurely winding doubletrack descent with glimpses of the Matterhorn through the trees or alternatively climb up a bit further from the lunch stop on singletrack before a spectacular traverse trail leads you to a hard technical descent into Zermatt. There is time now for shopping and sight seeing in the town centre. As if the day couldn’t get any better, the jewel in the crown is an excellent singletrack route back to St Niklaus which gives a magical end to this classic route. 52km approx. 1,500m descent. 700m ascent. 7.5 hours.

Sunday 16th July

Departure day from St Niklaus. Hopefully Hitch a lift back to the car in Chamonix and then drive over into Italy and head for Lake Como. Crash at Chris’ Kitesurf place down by the lake.
Total distance: 165.5 miles (266.3 km )
Total estimated time: 2 hours and 54 min

Monday 17th July

Relaxing day by the lake and hopefully a bit of kite-surfing and then think about the drive home…
Total distance: 632.3 miles (1017.5 km )
Total estimated time: 10 hours and 46 min

Tuesday 18th July

EuroTunnel Return
Arrive back in Norfolk.
Total distance: 161.9 miles (260.5 km )
Total estimated time: 3 hours and 50 min

Reality Check. It’s going to be epic.

It may only have been four days long, but it’s been an exceptionally busy week. A combination of an avalanche of work, lack of sleep and lots to catch up one has left me feeling quite relieved that it’s the weekend. A chance to get on top of those pesky things that have been backing up and a chance to get out for some proper riding.

Summer finally seemed to arrive this week and at least the early part of today still had a remnant of the warmth and sunshine that arrived on Thursday. It was a chance to get out for a proper route-revisited ride on the road bike and see just how much form I’ve lost from the days when I was getting some good pavement miles in. A fast pace through the Cheshire lanes from Altrincham spat me out at the foot of Alderley Edge and the climb up the hill demonstrated two things.

Firstly that it’s easy to forget just what an evil little climb it is and secondly that most of the effort in climbing is convincing yourself that your really can keep pushing that painfully high gear and that you are much better off sitting in the saddle than getting all gangly over the handlebars. I remember now that road riding necessitates a bit more finesse than thrashing the singlespeed up bastard hard Calderdale climbs.

Simon has been busy getting out there and enjoying the countryside too, check out his sunshiny photos. These are the latest adverts from Apple and have been generally well received by people and finally there is a more generally accessible and affordable way of replacing sealed external bottom bracket bearings, check it.

Three days. An enormous amount of calories burnt and consumed and much fine Welsh real beer sampled and approved. We made it and battled through four seasons of weather over the hours of riding involved. It was a real adventure for all the right reasons. The big question is what do we do next year instead? I’m currently thinking that the much discussed traditional British Coast to Coast is favourite, but maybe with a twist…

Here are details of some crazy mapping project that is happening in Manchester. I wonder if they have invited any of the bike messengers to participate. I suspect that would be an interesting exercise.

I suppose I better clean the bike from the Wales trip.

Update (August 2006):

Photos from this trip are available in this gallery, added after the Singletrack magazine article of this trip was published.

The Trans Wales trip starts on Saturday morning first thing. We have the maps, we have everything in place. Originally this is the kit I had outline to take. Riding gear for three days namely:

3/4 length pants or baggies (depending on weather on 1st day)
Merino t-shirt.
Merino mid layer.
Waterproof shell.
Merino socks.
Winter boots.

Carrying in rucksack:

Beanie
Pertex Gillet
Microfiber trousers
Merino t-shirt
1 pair of socks
1 pair of pants
First aid kit + survival blanket
Standard trail tools (pump, PR kit, multitool, xc lube) + spare chain and 3 tubes total.
Maps & compass
Wash kit (toothbrush, toothpaste & showergel)
Notebook & pen for trip notes
Digi Pocket Camera.
Camelbak bladder
Food

Now the weather has turned and it’s properly warm and like summer I’m not so sure. I think it’s better to be safe than sorry, but you never can tell what the weather is going to do.

I am thinking that I need some more stuff to put up on the walls and I like some of these. Just trying to work out which ones look best. Talking of arty things. If I was any good at photography (like Dan), I’d be seriously interested in the Red Bull Illume competition. It has a seriously amazing prize up for grabs…

On a computing front it is interesting to see some of the Apple Mac Kit that Micrsosft are running in their R&D labs. Check it out. 150 Mac Minis… that’a ace.

Tyrrell is still trying to convince me to do the Cape Epic. We’ll see if he’s so keen after Wales has beaten him this weekend.

Had a couple of email too. Chris sends word from Norway:

From: Chris
Subject: Greetings from Norway

I am still here
nearly a year and a half later living the laid back Norwegian
lifestyle and getting in plenty of time on the slopes during the
winter and hopefully plenty of time on the singletrack this summer.

I have been keeping up with your antics though the regular updates on
rothar and see that you are riding more and more with the guys from
singletrack. The mtb’ing out here had been limited so far what with
finishing off the PhD when I first arrived and being carless it meant
limited riding around Bergen which is like the highlands of Scotland
on steroids its either fireroad or full on DH, I have scoped out the
norwegian cup DH course near the city centre after watching some
footage of racers walking section and thinking ‘lightweights’ I was
shocked to see that the course looks un-walkable in places so they
were doing well to walk it!

As a result (of having no car and the lack of riding buddies for mtb
action) most of my riding has been on the road both commuting and
recreational. However the fixie (did you ever see the low profile
late 80’s track fame I had set up for the road with the top tube that
sloped significantly down to the front?) albeit nice to ride is a bit
of a handful on some of the local climbs (12% ers) so I am in the
market for a decent road bike.

Ben is back on line up in Scotland too. Sounds like he is riding true to his word and getting in some great trails both on the burly beast and the DMR. Now all I need is a long weekend in Scotland to catchup. When are the mozzies on holiday?

From: Ben
Subject: HowdyBoyo

Ey up mate.

Wanted to send you a mail as I was a little tipsy when I saw you. Was good catching up though. Was a bit of a hectic visit to manchester so sorry for not getting in touch, wasn’t personal, I just tried to spendtime with my wee brother, don’t get to see him much.

Anyhoo, Not a huge amount to report, just that I’ve been doing as much riding as I can. Getting right into xc stuff (well thats what i call it – I do ride a trailstar….), the red run at glentress is dope if a bit worn. Gonna head back and teach the black route a lesson,
hopefully there’ll be no snow this time – It happened again, its a personal curse obviously. Just ordered some Flat crowns for my triple 8’s, finally It’ll ride a bit less like a harley.

Rode the newer dh at innerleithen when we were in the area. It rocks (even in snow), the
jumps are sooooo sweet, the nice wee drop into the chute down across the fire road into a big jump then doubles. I could stay there all year.

Finally got myself a descent digital camera, so I’ve been playing with that. No real riding shots yet, when it doesn’t rain I’ll get it sorted. But I did update my blog – been meaning to do that for a while! Kinda mainly landscape shots, but check it out if your bored.
Anyway, just wanted to say hullo. We should meet up at glentress sometime (unless you wanna get a dh bike!), would be a good laugh. Right I’ll shut up now.

Enjoy youself mate and see you soon.

Ben.

It’s all built up. Thanks to everyone who helped out with bits. Photos here.

Popped into Harry’s tonight to get some bits and who’s there? No one other than Ben down from Scotlandchestershire. Cool to catch up with him. Check out his blog over at West Coast 100. There’s even some photos of Dunoon! It looks like an ace place to go riding and that’s for sure.

Finally finished building up the Harry Hall frameset tonight. Put it on the scales and was staggered to see it weight in at 20lb. Damn that’s light. I thought it was going to be a lot heavier than that! I’ll take some pictures and post them up soon.

Woo! I have a road bike again. Quite excited about it. Just trying to work out where to go for a ride first…

For about the last nine months I’ve been putting up with a less than wonderful car. There was an engine problem in which the car was fine under normal driving until it was floored or even asked to accelerate moderately fast. The symptoms were that the acceleration was hesitant with loss of power and then it comes back on tap in stops and starts.

At first I assumed it was a fuel starvation issue, but running injector cleaner through the system and several full tanks of Optimax didn’t have any effect. Then I suspected a turbo/airflow related issue and a vacuum leak.

I replaced the main turbo hose and the two intercooler pipes with Samco silicon hoses and put in a Forge DV. This seemed to make it better, but the fault was still there. Not long after one of the speed sensors went on the front nearside front wheel so it went into Audi Macclesfield to get that fixed (ABS and ESP warning lights had come on).

The dealer spent two hours looking into engine problem for which i wasn’t charged, but they couldn’t see anything obvious. A diagnostics check revealed it was pulling more air in than normal so they suspected that it is a vacuum-related problem. The turbo tested fine, no other errors came up on the VAGCom or what ever else it is they use to check such things.

The head technician suggested that it could be a brake servo vacuum leak. He said this is a common fault in S3s. It certainly wasn’t something I have come across on the web and neither had any of the guys over at RS246.

The technician also noted that the brake pedal felt ‘spongier’ than it should. Apparently the brake system works off the same vacuum system as the engine and the proposed solution was that the car went back into the dealer for further tests at the diagnostic labour rate £85 per hour. They will need to get the car up on the ramp drop the engine out and test it fully. If the brake servo was found to be the fault replacement, a replacement is £300 for the part plus the associated labour. Probably looking at £1000 all in.

I wasn’t too impressed with this verdict and decided to try some of the suggestions that were made by other owners’ First up was a new Mass Airflow Sensor, which made absolutely no difference. Not long afterwards the car was up for it’s MOT and was whisked into the Car Care Centre in Padfield.

I asked for them to investigate the engine fault too. This is a great Independent firm that I have used before with previous cars.

They hooked up to a diagnositics computer that read the ECU memory and this identified a misfire as being logged. Audi were out of coilpacks, so he put in a new set of plugs and it completely transformed the engine. Closer inspection reveals that the plugs have probably not be changed from new. That’s 65K on a set and they were looking very worn.

Really miffed about:

a) Audi claiming to have run a diagnositics test and having missed this simple thing.

b) The car having done 65K and never having had the plugs changed (from what I’ve read this should have been done at 20K and 40K, but probably wasn’t because they’re difficult to get at).

c) The fact that the service also revealed that the rear disc pads were changed, but the discs weren’t – but needed to be – when it was last done. That’d explain the shoddy braking as they are very ‘lipped’ on the inside surface.

I’ve been up to the Yorkshire Dales before, but as with the Lake District, I’ve never ridden there. I decided in the New Year that I was going to get at least one ride in at both this season and when it was suggested recently to make a mid-week trip up towards Malham, I wasn’t going to turn it down.

The ride started with a big climb out of Settle and then spread out across the moors with a loop around Malham Tarn. Unfortunately a navigation cock-up (racing ahead down the hill from the only person who knew where we were going) led to an erroneous descent into Malham. As Dave and Sharon had turned off and gone the right way ahead of us at an earlier puncture stop, we had to retrace our steps and a 150m vertical gain climb marked with double chevrons on the map proved to be a complete beast on the Singlespeed back up.

Photos from the ride are up here…

New disc pads arrived for the geared bike today, but the singlespeed coped easily with the riding thrown at it today. I’m still not sure what to take to Wales…

Worked late at the office tonight and left just as the big black rain cloud that had been blowing in from the Wirral all day finally arrived in Manchester. The result was getting a royal soaking in about 30 seconds and a good test for the very orange 17 seconds jacket. After a few rides in the stereotypical April weather I’m really impressed. It’s kept the elements out and seems to breath much better than the Goretex XCR I’m used to. I think it probably needs a longer test, but the first impressions are excellent.

Gary Fisher watch out. Simon and Nick have a cunning plan. Quite why the bearded old hippy didn’t think of it first I don’t know. Clear demonstration of Britain leading innovation. Nick has the arguments.

From: Tyrrell
Subject: Virus Warning – Please Read
Warning! There is a dangerous virus going around. It is called WORK.

If you receive WORK from your colleagues, your boss, or anyone else, via e-mail or any other means, DO NOT TOUCH IT!

This virus wipes out your private life completely. If you should come into contact with WORK,put on your jacket, take two good friends and go straight to the nearest pub. Buy the antidote known as BEER.

Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

Chilly says we’ve been accepted for the Bonty 24/12. New race, new venue, new team mates. It’s going to be ace.