I’m Back from a Great Little Break in Spain

Arrived back in England tonight to cold and wet weather after my little break in Spain.

The weather during my week away could have been better, we did have some cooler days, and a bit of rain, but it was better than the weather in England, where there’s been fierce winds, and heavy rain, with some flooding.

I was staying with my sister in the south of Spain and the mountain-biking was spectacular! There were long winding climbs, short gnarly climbs and long sweeping descents. There were plenty of technical challenges including rocky sections, and loose shale that tested my leg-stamina, lung capacity, and bottle!

Also did some road cycling. Loads of hill climbing, and almost no cars around. Perfect.

I was well looked after by my sister Hilda, and her husband Chris (a very good cook) – lots of food, lots of wine and lots of cycling. Great.

Preparing for The Roman Challenge Mountain Bike event and how to avoid punctures

On Saturday I dusted off my mountain bike (MTB) and rode round the Roman Challenge (RC) route to ensure all is in order for when the event takes place on Sunday 14^th October.  RC is an event which Leigh and I organise in order to raise funds for local community projects.  It consists of three routes with the longest and toughest, the Gladiator route, being 30 miles long and predominantly on bridleways.  The Goldilocks route is also mostly on bridleways and 22 miles in length.  Finally, there is the family route which is 8 miles and is mainly on forest fire roads.  The added attraction is that there are cake stops on the way round and a full-on ploughman’s buffet at the end, with WI hand made cakes, all for a tenner. If you’re interested in finding out more about this event, check out the website: www.romanchallenge.co.uk

I know the route well and didn’t need to refer to maps so could push on and completed the ride in 2 hours 40 minutes.  The weather was fantastic and the ground conditions were perfect.  So I know the route is OK, albeit I have had to put a small diversion in the route due to a bridge closure.  All we have to worry about now is the weather conditions, the cake baking and the number of entrants we get.  I also have to ride the route again the day before the event to mark the route out and that’s after completing a 30 mile mountain bike ride the weekend before in Belvoir, Nottinghamshire. 

I broke a spoke on the way round and have had to have that repaired and whilst taking my tyre off and inner tube out I noticed that I had three punctures in the rear wheel.  I use inner tubes filled with a green slime which seal the punctures and so mostly you don’t even know you’ve punctured.  That’s really handy when it’s wet and muddy as the last thing I want to do is change a tube on a mud covered wheel.  I’d recommend the slime, as it means you don’t have to worry about annoying punctures.  Slime is available on-line from: www.wiggle.co.uk