Eat Your Carrots

Sunny Sunday

It was a gorgeous day today and the Muddybums were out biking again. We rode from Rosedale Abbey on a route that took us over some of the area's most stunning scenery. The weather was perfect for both riding and photography - beautifully crisp and clear. Despite being no more than 4C it felt like a summers day (probably something to do with the amount of clothing we were wearing).

Here are some more photos.

Lunch stop.
Taking in the view over towards Fryup
Remains of the mining industry at Rosedale Abbey
On the trail.

Muddybums Dinner

Today was the annual Muddybums Christmas dinner. I'm not sure how many years it's being going on, but it was my first, this also being my first year of riding with this illustrious bunch of Teesside mountain bikers. They're a great bunch of lads and it was a nice evening, rounded off by an excellent meal at Joe Ragatoni's in Stockton. There's many a Joe's in this area and as such I expected the food to be just "formula Italian" and nothing special. I was wrong; my main course was one of the best pasta dishes I've had anywhere, basically giant ravioli-style parcels filled with aubergine & cheese, served in a rich sauce of tomato, basil, parmesan, cream  and more roasted aubergine slices. Wife's Rigatoni with roasted vegetables and goat's cheese was pretty delicious too, and portion sizes were such that we couldn't face desert. Service was brisk and I don't think there was a single word of complaint from any of us. I'd thoroughly recommend the place.

Fun In The Sun Snow

I was out biking again yesterday and the weather was what can only be described as "adverse".

We'd intended to ride from Rosedale but couldn't get there due to the roads being snowed up. This wasn't anticipated at all when I left home. I was in two minds as to whether  or not to go when I thought it was just cold, wet and windy. If I'd thought it was going to be snowy with gale force winds blowing hail into your face then I'd have probably stayed in bed. As it was I was glad I went out. The money I've spent lately on decent winter biking wear proved to be money well spent and I was fairly toasty and the "man against the elements" feeling gave us a fair bit of satisfaction.

We rode from Castleton, through Commondale and Westerdale up to Ralph's Cross and then back down to Castleton "the fast way" - downhill all the way going as fast as we dared in the icy conditions. On the approach to the village the automated anti-speeding sign on the lamp post flashed at us "Slow Down" - yes, we couldn't wait to get back to the warm tea room with its homemade soup and scones!

On stripping off my riding gear to change back into civvies (oh, if only you'd been on Castleton high street right then) my whole body was steaming, like some thoroughbred racehorse after run out. It was quite a bizarre sight I imagine.

Biking Good Fun

I've not written about it much, but I've been out mountain biking on a regular basis now, almost every week since May in fact. I'm so glad to be back into it, and glad therefore that I found "The Muddybums" with whom I've been riding. We've done some really excellent routes and over the months I've noticed my skills improve a bit and my fitness improve a lot. Where once I was always the tail-end straggler I'm now no longer the one everyone has to wait for. It's a good feeling.

The summer was rubbish so I never got to go out biking with wife as we had done last year, so meeting this group of lads who go out in (almost) any weather was a godsend. I'll have to invest in a bit of winter gear though; Sunday's ride was bloody freezing (it was only 4c when we set out) but at least it was dry. Some warm and waterproof clothing will be on my Xmas list.

Some of the places we pass are quite amusing - who names these places out on the moors? We've had Crinkly Bottom, Booze, Turnip House, Surrender Bridge, Nanny Ward's Wall and on Sunday, Dead Horse Gill!

Wonderful stuff.

New Toy

I've got a new toy - a Garmin eTrex Venture HC. It's a hand held GPS unit with full colour screen and high sensitivity GPS receiver. It has on-screen mapping of topographical features - roads and tracks, contours, streams & rivers, forests - the stuff you need for being out in open country as opposed to navigating by road as you do when in a car.

I bought it for mountain biking, for three main reasons;

1. So I know where I've been. Strange as this may sound, after many rides where someone else is leading I have absolutely NO idea where I've been!
2. So I can follow those routes (and others) again. The unit has route guidance built into it, though it's not the "get me to there" type of guidance that you get with car-based sat nav units.
3. 3 So I know where I am if I happen to get lost.

It's a lovely little device. Coupled with Memory Map mapping software it lets you see in great detail exactly where you've been - it's actually been a surprise to me how accurate not only this device but Ordnance Survey maps are. The routes we follow on moorland tracks and bridleways tie up with the maps almost to the inch. It's comforting to know that this degree of accuracy is achieved.

Being a bit of a stats whore the features that the Garmin/Memory Map combo provide are fantastic. Speed, times and altitude profiles of your route are shown, with a nice little "dot" that moves around the route and the profiles at the same time so you can tie them together.

I'm a bit obsessed with it at the moment though, and take it with us when we walk to the shops, then analyse our performance when we get back.

Wife really needs to pick the pace up a bit!

Biking Fun

Despite the very poor and wet summer that we've been having I've still managed to get out mountain biking every Wednesday for the last 10 or so weeks. Usually it's with a group of lads I met on the Internet ("The Muddybums") but lately it's been with some guys from work - and a girl!
Last week the weather on Wednesday night was totally  gorgeous and made for some lovely photos - all taken on my trusty phone. Left is Highcliff Nab, a prominent lump of rock that sticks from the hillside above Guisborough Forest.
From the Nab there is a stunning view over the town of Guisborough and out to sea. It's quite a climb up to Highcliff Nab, but it's worth it for the views as well as for knowing that the exercise must surely be doing you some good!
From Highcliff we ventured out onto the open moors towards Sleddale, a quite stunning vista. Tranquil too, far away from traffic and only a handful of bikers and walkers about on this lovely summer evening.
From Sleddale over to Captain Cook's monument - it seems no ride is complete without passing here, it's such an obvious landmark. It wasn't on our route originally but we couldn't resist lengthening it to take it in. The views from up there over the plains of Cleveland were lovely.
Here's the cycling gang. Naturally the vaguely pink bike at the left of shot belongs to the girl of the group, but since this picture was taken she's invested in a "proper" bike, she's been enjoying biking so much.

Let's hope the weather can hold for another few weeks, which is all that we'll have left for evening biking, the nights drawing in by a 1/4 hour per week now.