Who would have thought it... took the wife to Llandegla
Nik_B
Posts: 270
Last week was great!
Sunday: Left the teenage daughter at home to revise GCSEs and thought we'd nip down to Delamere with our 3 year old and our bikes. My wife's a teacher and I work overseas and amazingly we ended up having time off at the same time. Anyway Delamere on a sunny weekend day was crazy and we barely got a parking space. We rode about 6 miles with my daughter on the back of my wife’s bike but once we let her off the back she wouldn't get back on again. Finally we coaxed her back on and made it back to the start where we ordered some sandwiches (very bad) and some cake which was quite good.
We met a family there and the husband spotted our biking gear and we got chatting as the kids rampaged. He mentioned how he'd just got back from Llandegla and how much fun he'd had, I was toying with the idea already but wasn't sure if the wife would be up for it. Imagine the shock when she suggested that with my daughter in nursery, and at my mums house the following night, we should go and ride the trails?!
I needed no encouragement, the bikes were left on the roof of the car and the boot was loaded up with the kit the night before. Following morning negotiated horrible teenage nastiness and managed to get out albeit a bit late. When we got there my wife was adamant that we'd only do the blue run and disappointed I said "ok left just see how it goes" We did the climb and after riding 'the Somme' we met a bloke on a single speed. I asked him if the red run was particularly bad and he said "no it's all doable these days". I looked at my wife and was utterly shocked when she agreed to do the red run! She let me run ahead and I'd then wait for her but she did great. We had so much fun and at the end we were both knackered but buzzing all the way home! We even managed to get out that same night for a meal!
Tuesday was a day off but Wednesday we decided to return. Sadly this time things went pretty badly. After the first switchback (Bob's Sleigh Run) and jump I landed hard and got a massive 1/2 cm rip in my rear inner tube. I carry several spare inner tubes but then found my mini pump (I curse you decathlon!!!) to be partly seized. A passing guy on an Orange bike saved me by lending me his pump and I got my bike back up and running and off we went.
Just before the double steep climb (red run) I got another identical cut in my rear tube and then I noticed the fact that both were on the same side as the valve! This was worrying and I changed the tube again to my last back up and managed to get my pump working but only got 18 psi in the tyre. Once back on the bike I found my rear brake was not working well and I was losing gears as well, my thumb ached trying to get it down to one on the rear cassette. On we struggled and with my bike literally falling to pieces as we went it got harder and harder, minus gears, rear brakes failing, seat came lose, and a half flat tyre made it very tough but we finally got back. this time though I'd packed a thermos and a massive cup of sweet tea really cheered me up.
In short.....bloody hell what a top week!!!
P.S after close inspection I found that the screws (for the spokes) inside the rim had very sharp edges on them and almost certainly caused the cuts to my tubes. I've now filled them down and applied extra rim tape. Additionally I have bought a new quality mini pump
plus a CO2 pump for redundancy. Bike was cleaned and gears re-aligned and appears to be ok now.
Sunday: Left the teenage daughter at home to revise GCSEs and thought we'd nip down to Delamere with our 3 year old and our bikes. My wife's a teacher and I work overseas and amazingly we ended up having time off at the same time. Anyway Delamere on a sunny weekend day was crazy and we barely got a parking space. We rode about 6 miles with my daughter on the back of my wife’s bike but once we let her off the back she wouldn't get back on again. Finally we coaxed her back on and made it back to the start where we ordered some sandwiches (very bad) and some cake which was quite good.
We met a family there and the husband spotted our biking gear and we got chatting as the kids rampaged. He mentioned how he'd just got back from Llandegla and how much fun he'd had, I was toying with the idea already but wasn't sure if the wife would be up for it. Imagine the shock when she suggested that with my daughter in nursery, and at my mums house the following night, we should go and ride the trails?!
I needed no encouragement, the bikes were left on the roof of the car and the boot was loaded up with the kit the night before. Following morning negotiated horrible teenage nastiness and managed to get out albeit a bit late. When we got there my wife was adamant that we'd only do the blue run and disappointed I said "ok left just see how it goes" We did the climb and after riding 'the Somme' we met a bloke on a single speed. I asked him if the red run was particularly bad and he said "no it's all doable these days". I looked at my wife and was utterly shocked when she agreed to do the red run! She let me run ahead and I'd then wait for her but she did great. We had so much fun and at the end we were both knackered but buzzing all the way home! We even managed to get out that same night for a meal!
Tuesday was a day off but Wednesday we decided to return. Sadly this time things went pretty badly. After the first switchback (Bob's Sleigh Run) and jump I landed hard and got a massive 1/2 cm rip in my rear inner tube. I carry several spare inner tubes but then found my mini pump (I curse you decathlon!!!) to be partly seized. A passing guy on an Orange bike saved me by lending me his pump and I got my bike back up and running and off we went.
Just before the double steep climb (red run) I got another identical cut in my rear tube and then I noticed the fact that both were on the same side as the valve! This was worrying and I changed the tube again to my last back up and managed to get my pump working but only got 18 psi in the tyre. Once back on the bike I found my rear brake was not working well and I was losing gears as well, my thumb ached trying to get it down to one on the rear cassette. On we struggled and with my bike literally falling to pieces as we went it got harder and harder, minus gears, rear brakes failing, seat came lose, and a half flat tyre made it very tough but we finally got back. this time though I'd packed a thermos and a massive cup of sweet tea really cheered me up.
In short.....bloody hell what a top week!!!
P.S after close inspection I found that the screws (for the spokes) inside the rim had very sharp edges on them and almost certainly caused the cuts to my tubes. I've now filled them down and applied extra rim tape. Additionally I have bought a new quality mini pump
plus a CO2 pump for redundancy. Bike was cleaned and gears re-aligned and appears to be ok now.
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8) see you up there, although there was someone accompanying a dog round with them last sunday which was a tad distracting.0
