.....good and gone.....

Sometimes the things you need are right back where you started from............

........I'm trying to get better because I haven't been my best........

It has been a while but I felt an update of sorts was needed if anyone is interested that is?

I've lost it somewhere I don't know quite where. You know the thing, my mojo, my enthusiasm to ride my road bike, the reason why? I'm still riding but it doesn't feel the same I can't quite explain why. I can count the number of events I've done on two fingers this year, one I hated most of the way around because I felt crap mentally and physically. The other I really enjoyed because I rode on my own and set out to achieve something which I did. As last year I rode between Birmingham and Taunton for a great person and good cause again. This time we headed south and we had the weather, the wind and a peleton of sorts which made things easier.

Sadly I bailed on a ride with a mate basically because I didn't want to ride, get up, drive somewhere, I really couldn't face riding with people and struggling to keep up. I'm not proud.

Whilst out riding the other week someone went past me going up a hill, no acknowledgement, no hello which I always think is a bit rude but sadly the norm. Over the crest of the hill they decided to turn at a junction, hit some gravel and subsequently fell off into a heap. Was it karma? I stopped and helped them up and checked they were okay until one of their mates arrived and I carried on, wondering.

Something needs to change I probably just need to bloody cheer up and have some of that carpe diem. I need to get out and ride, enjoy the view, go and see some mates that's if they want to see me of course. I'm sure things will get better........

In the meantime I've always got my mtb..........

Walking through history......

Up early, no cycling today my less than perfect lungs are having some function issues but hey I can always walk and go and take some pictures. I ventured up to the Brendon Hills to take a walk along the The Mineral Line which has always intrigued me having come across the railway bridge at Comberow some years ago and thinking why is there a railway bridge in the middle of nowhere? It's a very pretty and tranquil nowhere though and somewhere I've ventured to on a bicycle on the odd occasion. Comberow is down at the bottom of the hill though and I was visiting the top today to take some pics at Burrow Farm engine house and the Winding house at the top of the incline.

I parked up in "Naked boy lane" the meaning better explained in this article by Martin Hesp. There was a bitter wind blowing up here you must be a hardy soul (or sheep) to work up here on a bleak winters day. The old track bed is still really defined no doubt grazed by the sheep in the surrounding fields.

Naked boy stone

Track bed.

This engine house was originally built in nearby Chargot woods but after twelve years that mine was closed and it was taken down and moved two miles to this site, Victorian recycling?

I retraced my steps and not really knowing the area I headed back down the road and onto the Winding house and the top of the incline the 1 in 4 slope, that's 25% for those using metric. The carts were hauled up and down using steel cables housed in massive drums the anchor points for the drums were excavated and still remain in the ruins. Apparently passengers went free, at your own risk! I went a little way down the incline but I think I'll save further exploration for another day as I was puffing a bit walking back up.

Looking down the Incline.

Anchor bolts.

Steps to the incline made of railway sleepers.

Looking back up the Incline.

I'll have to revisit another day and bring a bicycle and ride the bits that are permitted and do the length of the whole route to Watchet.

Smile!

............so in the stillness of the moment........

A selection of some pics from the year, some taken while out cycling and the odd one of other people cycling, as they say on Strictly.....in no particular order...........

 

......I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall..............

Long time no blog so time to bore you again. I was starting to worry I wasn't riding enough, my mileage is steadily dropping a bit like the temperature but as my mate keeps telling me, I worry too much. Looking back the road miles have dropped off but the mountain bike miles are going up. Last year I think the dark months slogging through the mud on the mtb really kept the base fitness up and really helped once I got out on the road bike in the summer.

This year though I've had a bit more company with my friend Bonus really enjoying his cycling. We've really made the effort to go looking for new trails to ride and enjoyed it along the way and now have some great route options every time we ride.

We even managed to follow a route out of a magazine using an app but I still took my trusty OL9 map just in case and we never got lost once. A cracking loop around the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth which meant the ascent of Contisbury Hill, the road bit was the easier bit and that's saying something when it ramps up to 25% from the off and Bonus promised he'd buy chips at the end. After that it was some great trails up and down through Watersmeet and then more ups and some great descents to eventually reach the Valley of the Rocks. Short but tough in parts but the promise of chips kept me going. Turned out the chippy was shut until February, the perils of out of season riding, next time!

I've got out on the funny green bike venturing up the toll road on my last ride to see how I got on with the different gearing. It turned out to be a very steady and enjoyable spin up into the fog on the moor. I quite enjoy being up there in the mist it's very still and peaceful, just me and the ponies and I had great fun picking my way across the moor when I went off road. 

Today was probably the muddiest ride of the year, great new trails but oh so muddy and we even had to climb a fence through a garden when we found the trail blocked by some lads chopping and chipping trees. Would they be lumberjacks or tree surgeons?