A Small Presentation

While out on Monday for a little jaunt up to Tanfield, Jim came a cropper preparing to cross the roundabout by the Angel.
Always said those cleats were a bad idea.
Wasn't so much a crash, as a topple, and no harm done.

I hadn't the heart to take pictures though.

Hownsgill Sprint Challenge

This is one for "Competitive Ian" really, but anyone can feel free to give it a go.

Basically, it's as fast as you can from the Swalwell Visitor Centre at the start of the Derwent Walk, to the Hownsgill Tea Rooms, near the Hownsgill Viaduct past Consett.
That's more or less exactly 12 miles following the Derwent Walk.
This is a sprint for mountain bikes, none of those fancy racers with the slick tyres.
And of course, there's marvellous food to be had at the end, just to spur you on.

So, here's the route.

The route, all 12 miles of it, all uphill.

So, to start you off, here's photo evidence of my time.

That's 1hr 10mins 42s in case you can't see.

So, 1hr 10mins 42s to beat. Shouldn't be too tricky.
If you post your times in the comments, I can always make a leaderboard, but there has to be some photographic evidence.

A Monday Night Ride - Tanfield - 11th July 2011

Approx 14.5 miles

Tentative plans had been made for an evening ride, and despite heavy rain in the afternoon, warm summer sun meant it was fairly dry come 7.30pm.
Ian cried off with the "man-flu", so Jim and I set off from the Horse towards the Bowes Railway path at Birtley, picking up Tim on the way.

The rain earlier meant it was a little heavier under the wheels, a few puddles, but nothing too bad, most of it had dried up.

We sauntered up the steep section to Tanfield, at least the other two did, I was powered by a freshly cleaned and oiled chain, and pork pies and profiteroles (not at the same time), and was in a good hill-climbing mood.

Just for a change, at Tanfield, we doubled back and headed towards the engine sheds, but on the narrow dirt track that runs on the west of the railway at Tanfield.

A bike, and some plants, and a building.

There's quite a view when you get to the vantage point.

Birds. Lots of them.

Those black dots in the picture are Jackdaws, at least that's what our friendly Bill Oddie / Dr Doolittle / Jim reckoned anyway. It was like a Hitchcock film. Trying to find a roost for the night probably. Hundreds of them, kept coming in from Stanley. I've cycled through Stanley on an evening, I can see why they were leaving.

"Ladies.... please form a queue"

The bomb goes off over Consett

Well, as the sun was beginning to set, time to head back, 'cos as usual, Jim didn't have any lights.
"I'll ride on the pavement" he says.

A railway picture for Jim.

So, that was it. We hurtled back down the way we'd come, always a fun descent, slogged up the other side of the valley and back to the pub, where I left Jim getting a pint.
"Just stopping for one".
A likely tale.

Make your own caption up. I've got no idea.

This picture was lurking on the camera, so I'll let you post a caption for it in the comments.
The winner gets my undying gratitude for being the first to post a comment. Ever. Pah.

Return Of The Bionic Man - Tanfield Loop - Monday 4th July 2011

Well, we do go out quite a lot and just don't get around to blogging about it. Even managed to get Ian out with us for this ride, breaking him in gently with his new knee, although he's already racking up 40+ miles a day. A medical marvel.
As a treat, and to show off my technical prowess, I've embedded the route in a little Google Maps plugin, which lets you see where we've been.

Let me know if it works for you in the comments.




Just so you can see everything on a bigger screen in Google Earth, you know with 3D hills and that, you can always download the route by clicking on the link below.

An Old One From The Archives

Trawling through some old photos when I stumbled across this familiar face leaving the Black Horse at some point in the late 19th Century.

This original image is from the isee.gateshead.gov.uk website

Not so much a new post.

I promised Jim I'd sort out a link to his new blog of train pictures.

So, if you look at the links bit to the side of this post, there's a whopping big link to his site.

Just click on the picture to go there.

Some nice photos already. Hope he updates it more than I update this blog.

I went a bit artistic and bunged in a new title picture for us as well. I'll probably change it again in a week or two though, as it's not that balanced. Dodgy source material.

Despite the lack of blog posts, I've been out on the bike quite a bit lately, which is more than can be said for certain members of the club. 

No names though, eh Jim.
Oh, and Ian's been cycling quite a bit with his new knee, just a few weeks after getting it done. He's amazed his surgeon, but that's a different story altogether.

Fast blog - Derwent Walk - 1st May 2011

Swalwell to Hownsgill Tea Rooms and back - Approx 24 miles

A sunny Sunday afternoon, and the only two members of the club who were physically able to get on a bike made plans, and the bikes were loaded into Jim's van and we headed off for the Derwent Walk and the cafe at Hownsgill.
Jim did his usual trick and missed a turnoff, so we went "the long way", but we got there eventually, and soon we were rattling along at a fair old pace, over the Nine Arches Viaduct

A Red Kite. Probably got it's eye on Jim.

It was a nice day, bank holiday weekend, so the track was quite busy. Lots of C2C riders coming the other way.

Lintz Green Station - Jim being cruel to Jelly Babies.

Usual water stop at Lintz Green Station. We parked under the bridge, as that sun was fierce.
At this stage, I removed the jacket as it was getting quite warm, even with a stiff breeze. The large rear pocket on a cycle jersey is a wonderous thing.

That slacker Ian isn't the only one who can do artsy photos.

We didn't really stop much on the way up to the Hownsgill Tea Rooms cafe, averaged 9.6mph which is quite good for uphill all the way.
Toasties were consumed, and we chatted with the owners for a while.
If gossiping was an olympic sport, Jim would have won the gold medal.

Lamb

Goat

And then it was time to head back. It was quite breezy up there which meant the jacket went back on.
Jim managed to lose his bike pump in the car park. Ironically, I'd seen it as we left, but as he appears to have dropped it on the way in, I ignored it as an old one that had been there for a while. Oops.

We kept to a fairly swift pace all the way back, fairly uneventful except for a moment of drama at the Nine Arches Viaduct.

4 young lads cycling across the width of the path up ahead, they saw us coming and move apart to let us through, then at the last moment one of them veered across the track.
I slammed on both brakes, evidently the front one a little quicker, as the back wheel went about a foot into the air according to Jim, with lots of noise and dust.
Inches away from a spectacular pile up.
And no, there's no photo. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Anyway, that was it. Back to the van and off home.
Again, Jim missed a turn-off and we went "the long way" back. 
He's going to have to work on that.