Commuting to Work - Bavarian Style

not a bad ride, but a glorious commute

I've lived in Germany a few weeks now, and as well as already developing a taste for the local food (Weißbier & Wurst, what's not to like?!), I'm getting settled in and have been exploring the trails in my new back yard. Conveniently for me, the woods start less than 1km from my front door (that's half a mile in English), even closer than back in the UK, I've begun sniffing out some lovely stretches of singletrack and have even found an old quarry to play in, about 4miles from home, that the local riders have started to work on by the looks of things.

My commute to work is a pretty nice way to start the day too. However, this week, my working week starts with an early Monday morning meeting in Jenbach, Austria, meaning my normal commute around the green outskirts of Munich and up the banks of the River Isar can't happen. Faced with an early morning dash on the Autobahn (blurrgghhhh....) or a train journey on the lovely, but crowded, commuter train, I was left with only one option: Cycle to 100miles to the office.

All Change for 2013 - Ich werde in München wohnen!

After a 2012 full of very big rides indeed, 2013 sees me going down a very different road indeed. I will still be riding my bike a long way and a lot, I will still be riding Santa Cruz bikes, but ....... I will be doing it in Munich!

But why? Well, I have had an offer of an amazing job, but I do love my bikes and the opportunity to live a few km from riding in the Alps, as well as living in one of the nicest cities in Europe, was just too good to pass up. For those of you in any doubt, just look at this view of the city centre and its backdrop:

Munich and the Alps, not a bad back yard at all

Apart from my local trails taking quite a different shape, not much else has changed but, as well as the forests to the South of the city, which start less than a mile from our new house, there's hopefully a lot of opportunity for adventure in them there hills :-)

The Santa Cruz Santa Cruise 2012

Pic: Josh Lewis, courtesy of Joe Whitaker

Every year the ever brilliant Joe Whitaker organises all the Santa Cruz Bikes people from all around the UK, across all disciplines, to get together to benefit a good cause close to his heart and to celebrate another great year having a lot of fun on some lovely bikes, Santa Cruz Bikes Santa Cruise. The ride is fast becoming a UK Santa Cruz Bikes institution and it's great to see so many riders (yes, this includes the legend that is Steve Peat), from so many disciples meeting up, smiling and just enjoying riding so many varieties types of bike.

Kendal Mountain Festival - A Night Out at Santacruz Bikes' Bike Night

Last weekend I was extremely honoured to be asked to talk about my adventures on two wheels at Kendal Mountain Festival's Bike Night. To have the opportunity to share what I love doing and talk about the things that I have done that bring a smile to my face was fantastic. However, I'm a cyclist (and sometime engineer), not a public speaker, so it was also extremely terrifying!

It turned into a great night out, and I was honoured to join some people on stage who were both amazing and lovely at the same time, including none other than Chriss Akrigg, Alex Rankin and Ed Oxley

The microphone looked a lot, lot scarier from the other side!

New Bike In The House & It's Not Mine - Santacruz Highball 29er Hardtail in Size Small

Grace's Shiny New Highball 29er

Earlier in the year Grace got her first 29er, a lovely black and green Superlight 29er. It was such a success, she would go on to become only the second woman to complete the 202 miles and 25'700ft of climbing of the South Downs Double. A challenge that has a success rate of <30% of the men who have started it in recent years. If you want to read more about her epic ride, you can find it all on BikeMagic here, or Cyclist No.1 here. If you want to read about a lovely little 29er hardtail, well, read on.

Having gone 29er, it was just a matter of time before the, now abandoned, hardtail went that way too. Inevitably a lovely white and green Santacruz Highball Alloy frame, in size small, dropped through the letterbox thanks to the lovely guys at Suntacruz UK, much to everyone's great excitement....

BearBones 200 - More Bikepacking to Finish 2012

BB200 Route: Click to make it bigger
Almost like it's designed to take in all the biggest hills!

This year I've found myself doing a lot more bikepacking, so it's no surprise I was looking forward to the Bare Bones 200, held in an area that contains some of my favourite riding in the UK, and through one of the sections I enjoyed the most in my earlier EWE adventure.

My race preparation hadn't been ideal: An 7-day work trip to South Korea, followed by a 9-day work trip to Austria, rounded off with a birthday trip to Munich's Oktoberfest, all finished off with a violent (and certainly self inflicted) case of gastroentiritis. No matter, a few cups of coffee on my return home got me and my kit to a cheap night in a Travel Lodge near the Welsh border and a breakfast of RedBull got me to the start line raring to go.

This was never going to be my strongest ride, but I was determined to enjoy myself and, riding through the sub-zero overnight temperatures I found some great company and finished with a huge smile on my face, earning myself a coveted "Black Badge" in the process.

And here's how it all went......

Cover Model! Outdoor Fitness Magazine

This month I made it onto the front cover of Outdoor Fitness magazine. Woo-hoo! This made me smile. 

The photo is by the amazing Dan Milner.

EWE - Bikepacking Racing The Hard Way

My reward, waiting for me when I got
home, the best prize I ever won!

I've always got an eye out for a new challenge and bikepacking, or more specifically bikepacking racing, is something that's always caught my imagination for the last several years but that I'd never gotten around to planning into my calendar, nor did I fancy my first big race to be on another continent, only to find my prep was off the mark or my equipment didn't quite work. With a few big bikepacking trips under my belt over the winter for the first time, in all weathers and with the announcement of England-Wales-England, the UK's first, super-hard, bikepacking race that would traverse off of England and Wales' national parks and would be sure to take over a week, possibly up to 10-11 days (or so we thought), I signed up to the 800mile, off road, strictly self supported adventure that lay ahead. As a sign of things to come, within a week of signing up the route had "crept" up to just over 1000miles...... and then to 1300 with 2 weeks to go. I should have heeded the first warning, to ignore the second could be considered foolish!



The race can only be described as an incredible experience for me, but turned out to be much harder than I, or Aidan Harding who had organised the event, could have possibly imagined when we set off. Beset by some exceptionally unseasonal weather, which had also made for some pretty inhospitable trail conditions. On top of this I suffered a few big kit and accident setbacks. It was just the kind of super-tough challenge of both body and mind I had hoped it would be, but one that also provided some incredibly inspiring moments too. A few weeks after I've finished and it still brings a grin to my face whenever I remember bits of it. If you want to see a bit more about the bike and dynamo light and recharging set-up I used, see this link here otherwise, here's how my ride went:

BrightonBigDog 2012 - Video Preview

Saturday sees the, now hugely popular, BrightonBigDog mountain bike race taking place in the sublime singletrack of Stanmer Park.

Josh Ibbett has made a lovely little video preview of the course, now that everything's finally dried out, to whet your appetite for treat all the riders have in store for them this weekend

England-Wales-England 2012, A Quick Round Up

All smiles as I passed Steve and Aidan's
marker, but it was hard work getting there!

2012 saw the running of EWE, the UK's first multi-day bikepacking race, through the national parks of England and Wales. The race was a brilliant experience (helped by the fact that I finished in sunshine!), and once I've caught up with real life, I'll be able to make the time for a full write up of my 10 days of super tough racing. For now, a much more concise review will have to suffice:

Brutal!

Before I sit down and write any more, I must pause to say a multitude of HUGE thank yous to the lovely and amazing people who got me and my equipment to the start and who helped me keep going along the way, without whom, I'd have been stuck at home watching the last week of the Tour de France on telly while it rained outside instead: