Stepping it up to National Level

[downhillingdemon]

(but what is that on the left side of your helmet cam?)

erm......my otherhalfs visor off his helmet????

[downhillingdemon]

Today - drove 2 hours, rode for 20 minutes, drove home

Don't feckin ask

[runner]

hope you are ok

[downhillingdemon]

:? hope you are ok

Ah thanks runner

Right - Sunday - bit more success. About 3 hrs out on the hills. Felt like we'd had a half decent workout at least.

Tuesday - 1 hour nightride. Bit crappy for me technically, seem to have lost my mojo somewhere in the last couple of weeks

[downhillingdemon]

Thursday - much better ride for me this evening. Turns out my lack of mojo was related, for once, to my bike actually being broken rather than me thinking it was broken

So my dual air pikes on the front of the squisher are only getting about 70 mm of travel (they are 140 mm)....however we still had a great nightride with a couple of mates. First hour was pretty fast paced pedalling, well, apart from when I when flying over the bars.....

Second hour was just messing about on drops and jumps (in the dark!) - which I really shouldn't have been doing without a decent set of forks....but, on the other hand, there's nowt like lacking travel to make sure you land things properly

I'm off to Scotland riding the 7Stanes for the first time next week - luckily a very kind friend has offered to lend me a set of forks whilst mine go back (again ) for fixing. Luckily they are still under warranty.

[downhillingdemon]

Friday - bit of weightlifting, kept it pretty light.

Front squats
Shoulder press

Saturday

Well, I am a climbing goddess at the moment. Where the hell my fitness has come from I really don't know but I was flying up all the climbs today. Even cleared a proper steep technical bit on the HT which I'd normally take one look at and think 'fuck that' Did about 3 hours riding with a fair bit of meterage. One day I may even get a Garmin so I can give you all some figures.

Descending mojo is still missing a wee bit, but hey ho - it always comes and goes and it always comes back eventually.

[Alistar]

Good to hear your ridings going well DHD! Hope those forks get fixed asap. Whats the 7stanes ride you're doing next week?

[downhillingdemon]

Sunday - DH day

TBH it was one of 'those' days on Sunday - you know the ones, where you have to keep reminding yourself that the hardwork and practice now will pay dividends later. I'm not too good when it gets very slippy, especially on trails I have never ridden. Oh the rooty horror! Still, we managed 5 hours of sessioning, and I managed to find at least some flow by the end of the day. I love the winter light for getting photos - here's a few of my better pics from the day....







and this one is moi

Good to hear your ridings going well DHD! Hope those forks get fixed asap. Whats the 7stanes ride you're doing next week?

Cheers

My borrowed forks have just arrived so they're gonna be set up today - it took weeks to get mine back from Rockshox last time so after this weekend I guess my trail bike is gonna be laid up for a while.

We're gonna be doing Glentress Red and Black and probably Innerleithan....I can see it being a bit of a techfest having not done any of the Scottish trail centres before! Looks like snow is on the way as well, just to add a whole new dimension to 'trying to stay upright'

[downhillingdemon]

We'll last week was a bit of a disaster - three really busy work days at the start of the week meant I managed only a brief run and a few weights on Wednesday afternoon before leaving for Scotland.

Headed up to Glasgow and Aberdeen for work only to watch helplessly as the weather changed and the guys (sensibly) cancelled the MTBking weekend. So Friday was a big drive home from Aberdeen, my bike seeing only the Travelodge car park for it's troubles

Still, we did finally manage to get out for a few hours on Sunday. Just the usual local trails.......but my, doesn't snow add a whole new dimension?

The local hills...not a bad spot really


Skid practice........


.......wasn't always successful


Some of the trails




T'was a great day for pics

[bronco]

Ah, nothing like a clear winter day. Beautiful .

[downhillingdemon]

Ah, nothing like a clear winter day. Beautiful .

It was really super to be out and about. Think MTBking has really made me appreciate the great outdoors even more than I used to.

Tonight - 1:30 night-ride

Despite being shattered after another long day and slow-slow drive home on the icy roads, I managed to get back out on the icy trails. It was nearly as slow going downhill as up tonight, but that didn't matter. Nothing did, except getting out and about and just appreciating getting some time on the bike.

[downhillingdemon]

Christmas Eve....

Got out late afternoon for a few hours on the hills and to catch a rather amazing sunset.

Riding up to the top


Sunset


Rolling clouds enveloping the Southern ridge




Christmas Day...

Had a great ride out...there are a load of piccies over in the cycling forum on this thread. Here's a few of my favourites from the day...





Even got to eat tasty carrot cake at the cafe!





Was very sketchy in places and I must admit (sorry, for all those who love a White Christmas) I did catch myself thinking "I can't wait til this feckin white stuff melts" Cornering is not a strong point of mine anyway, but when the front wheel is washing out all over the place on the hard-packed and icy trails, it becomes even worse. I'm seriously considering some studs as this is the second year in a row when I could've made use of the them....and we supposedly have more snow to come.

However, we did find a superb bit of new trail. Can't wait to try it out in slightly better conditions. We only rode the top section, but it looks like it gets proper steep at the bottom

[runner]

looks pretty nice and fun!!

[downhillingdemon]

Bluddy weather

Not got anywhere near as much riding in this Christmas as I would've liked....mainly because of the horrendous weather. Really desperate to get out on some epics but have just been riding the same old local trails. Still, my new years resolution is to ride at least 1 new trail a week.......will be awesome if I manage it!

Monday - 1 hour ride

Thursday - 2 hour ride...the hills were still covered in sheet ice - it was difficult to walk, nevermind ride on the trails so I headed down to the lower slopes and found a couple of new trails.

Friday - 3.2 mile run this morning.

[downhillingdemon]

Friday evening - light weights session

Shoulder press
Rows
Abs

Saturday - early morning ride
Just 10 miles, couple of hours social ride with the MTBB guys. It was a gorgeous morning to be out. My HT isn't particularly great for singletrack as it's so high at the front.....I'm seriously considering upgrading to some FOX TALAS so I can easily adjust down from 160 mm and still have a working fork. Still, the HT is always great for the downs as it is

Turned into a gorgeous morning




Was pretty bloomin cold though!


This is a shot of me doing the biggy.......completely out of jump practice atm, but at least I has a go, unlike most of the guys