Fun With The Golden Child

Don't worry. It's not all carbon road bikes from now on. I am still just as enthusiastic about other types of cycling.

I've been having fun the last few days with my daughter. She is so close to losing the stabilizers IMO but balks at any suggestion I remove them, even for a trial period. Difficult to bargain with a 5 year old when her mind is set and I'm not going to force her to give them up. She is happy with them and that is the main thing for me. I am disappointed because I would like to go for family bike rides with her and the missus, particularly while we have some Summer left. She used to love riding in a trailer buggy when she was smaller, which we hired on a couple of occasions, but she is getting too big for these now and I certainly don't want to buy one. 

My brother in law had a 'tagalong' to take his youngest out for rides. It is a saddle on a single wheel driven via a standard pedal/chain arrangement but no front wheel. Instead, at the front comes a pole which sports a handlbar. There is a hinge at the end and a clamp which fastens to a seatpost on an adult bike. The hinge moves up and down and left and right. I say he had one because his youngest has outgrown it and he got rid of it, luckily he did this when I asked him if I could borrow it. He just gave me it and said he was glad of the room! Thanks Andy.

My Marin hardtail has been chosen as the steed to pull this rather than the Santos. I miss being able to throw a pannier on for picnics, etc, but know I'm mainly going to be using it on trails and tracks with various grades of mud and stuff but generally in good weather. I can still take a small picnic and toolkit in my trail/hydration backpack. I also didn't want to have to move the seatpost mounted light on the Santos. I cut up an aluminium can to make a shim for the seatpost as it was a little loose without but apart from that and putting some air in the tyre it was ready to go. 

I suggested to the Golden Child we had a ride and she said yes (cautiously mind you. She's like that). We ventured to the park down the road from us and she loved it. Just a short trip the first time but when I asked her if we go further the next day she was over the moon. We went through a local park/clough and picked up National Route 6 along The Outwood Trail through Ringley Woods all the way to Radcliffe and back - a trip of 10 miles. She had a cracking time, pedalling some of the way and singing her heart out most of it.

View Tagalong Bike Ride in a larger map

The whole assembly with child handles much better than I expected. We have been leaning into corners and she isn't getting worried when we are going slowly. I thought it would wobble a fair bit but have not really found this an issue. I can pull it quite easily and only needed the small ring once to climb the hill up to the motorway bridge. I see it as good training really. Tissington Trail here we come. Just have to get her Mum as enthusiastic now!

Having an ice cream in the park

Rocky Road

I promised another post about my trip to south Manchester to see a secondhand bike and here it is.

The bike I was looking at was a lovely example of a 2009 Marin 'Rocky Ridge' XC hardtail mountain bike (Bike Radar Review of '09 model). I used a hire model when I did some mountain bike skill development last year, thought it was a great bike and have been keeping my eyes peeled for secondhand one coming up in the right size and within easy travelling distance since then. Well I saw and handled the bike last week and decided to make it the one to go for. I bid with 10 seconds left on the auction and got it for £200.00 less than I was willing to pay. I'm collecting it Wednesday. And I did come clean to the wife about the purchase too!

Mountain Magic

Atop Rivington

I am the orange one and my brother is the pink one!

I organised some mountain bike vouchers from all the family for my brother's birthday July 2009. He still hadn't used them up to April 2010 which is just like my brother. As I was quite keen to enhance my somewhat basic off road skills I suggested I join him for the course and so we arranged a day.

The vouchers were for Mountain Bike Skills which operate out of Rivington, The Lake District and The Yorkshire Dales. As we live near Rivington it seemed the obvious location to go for but what was less obvious was the course to choose. Did we class ourselves as beginners or intermediates? A phone conversation with Mike Stafford from the school pointed us towards the beginners course and so one sunny day last month we found ourselves meeting up with Mike at the Rivington Great Barn car park for a briefing before 5-6 hrs of skill development.

The day was very, very good. Despite there being 6 advertised places on the course, Mike had actually scheduled the day to fit with us as short notice and so we were the only two attendees. We practised bunny hopping, low speed turns, how to cycle down a steep hill and back up a steep hill before breaking for lunch. In the afternoon we cycled up the big hill, practised descending some 70-100cm drop offs as well as riding some single track. My brother was certainly more able than I with the drops off (he is a mad keen skier) and so later I took the fast gravel track from the top while he and Mike took the more technical route before we all met up for a fast and very enjoyable downhill back to the car park. 

I was happy with my performance and definitely learned a few things. I am certainly going to be getting off road when I can (more after the Pennine Cycleway ride) and may even go for an intermediate course next year. For the day I'd hired a Marin Rocky Ridge from Mike and loved it. It is obviously head and shoulders above my old Marin Bear Valley and so now I am on the lookout for a good second hand one. Just don't tell my wife I am getting another bike!

New Bike!!

Spoke to my wife about our plan to buy a "runabout" car this year. We both had a car before getting married but have only run one between us for several years. She misses the independence (especially when she has our little girl while I'm using the car for work).

I am averse to spending money without good reason and since cycling to work think we don't need a second car, particularly as we live next to a Metro Station and on a main bus route. However, I do have my sights set on a new bike (see my Dream Bike section) and suggested to my better half that I buy a bike for commuting/touring instead (thoughts of the Pennine Cycleway next year), she has the car for her own use while I'm at work and I convert my Marin back to a mountain bike for messing around on i.e. put knobbly tyres on and take mudguards off. She said yes!

I am going to order a Koga Signature in the next month or two using the cycle to work scheme. Just need to confirm my current work situation (might be changing employer soon) and then will have a visit to the local UK dealer - Cycles Sense - in Tadcaster to firm up frame size and get thier opinion on some decisions to be made. Do I go for front suspension or use rigid forks along with a suspension seat post instead? rim brakes or disc brakes? is a "butterfly" handlebar as good as made out or just posey nonsense?

The choices to be made!