Today's Ride

A bit cooler than yesterday, though still nice and warm, with a lovely cool breeze in the woods.

A nice though tiring ride up to and around Hardwick. The ground is still rock hard so the trails were running very fast, which is great for the most part until you suddenly hit an overgrown nettled section. Quite a lot of people out on bikes today, must be teachers.

A great ride in near perfect conditions.

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Epic exploration day turned into a quick 10 mile ride as the rear inner tube shat itself and the pads on the rear brakes fell off their mounty mount. Still a nice day though and got to ride at least
 

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Mosey through local woods and parks with the new child seat (naturally i also had to build my lava dome back up to accomodate it :LOL:). Much better handling with it being mounted on the cross bar, and opens up gentle off-road routes away from the traffic. Daughter (20 months) loved it, even the rain and the mud.
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Post-work ride out; felt the need to really cover some ground and blow out the cobwebs, so, setting off at 7.15ish I told my wife i'd be home by 8.30 and had a route in mind, mostly off-road, fast gravel tracks, and fairly hilly.

Choice of bike required little deliberation; my explosif. Light, fast rolling tyres, a good mix of stiffness and flex, and daft riser bars which make it climb really well.

Heavy rain came on towards the end and I got drenched, but nothing could stop those sweet endorphins flowing :LOL:

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Looking over towards Peel Tower
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Nice to see the later Explosif's out and about.

After a week of an additional four legged rascal staying with us - two pairs of hands needed to walk and supervise - followed by some shocking early morning weather the past 5 days (super-thick fog / rain clouds, so got the runs in the tank) it was totally ace-balls to get back on the saddle this morning. As the picture shows, the tone was set right from the start, of which this shot was taken looking down towards the airport, Sennen and the far-west. I was caught in 2 localised showers resulting in some pretty treacherous road conditions. Whilst it's not been hot - guess what, still not over 20 - it's been very dry, so it got pretty slippy. Anyway, any time in the saddle is a good day 👌

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Interesting to hear about the weather you're having down there, up here in the North West it's been warm the last few weeks but with a couple of days of really wet and changeable weather.

On my lunch this afternoon I picked a few road-side blackberries from a bush absolutely dripping with ripe fruit. Bizarre.
 
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About 25°C, light winds, 60 miles: base to Sandwich, then round on the Viking Coastal Trail through Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate, Herne Bay, Whitstable, then over the Crab and Winkle Way back to base. Plenty of fluids and food consumed en route: Waitrose cherry and almond slices are highly recommended. Lovely day riding.

Ramsgate:
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Botany Bay:
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A cool, little cut down to the sea:
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Near Minnis Bay:
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Took Friday off and before a wonderful walk to Sennen for pastys and pints, I got a 20 miler in early doors. Here's the drop down and out of Kelynack back to HQ. I really like this ramp to finish off a leg stretch.

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Saturday was nothing short of mind-blowing. I appreciate you may not want to read the following, so if you're of a nervous, blinkered disposition, look away now.

The planets aligned and I rode the new 2022 Hei Hei CR/DL for the first time. It was up there, almost (!), with riding a bike for the first time, falling in love for the first time, getting married or jumping out of an airplane. What an experience, and suffice to say, I couldn't help myself and go again yesterday. So the pics are from both days, both with blood, lots of dust but smiles for miles. Once impassable, rim busting, OTB trails, are no match for the beast. I just need to recalibrate my riding brain and get over the F.E.A.R. :LOL: Both afternoons were just under 20 degrees, but glorious, unfiltered sunshine, so sufficiently golden brown now. N/NNE breeze kept things relatively cool, and for once was very welcome on the peaks after some unnecessary climbing (well, I've got to test how well is goes up and well as down ;) ).

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