On the mountain bike it’s a steady slog to the top thinking about singletrack.

Today I rode a bit, not ridden for a while and was keen to get out so didn’t pay much attention to the forecast before grabbing my summer bike, thought to grab a wind jacket as I left, automatic reflex, jacket hanging by the door. Not a proper coat but a lightweight windproof. Big mistake. Should have noticed the clouds but it was early, very early. Could have turned around at the bottom of the street to get something more substantial to wear but no, enthusiasm overriding pragmatism.

2 miles. That’s the distance to the bottom of the first noticeable climb from my house, it marks the point where a ride properly starts. On a good day on the best road bike it’s big ring to the top, never going to bother the top of the Strava leaderboard but ahead of my mates. On the mountain bike it’s a steady slog to the top thinking about singletrack. Today it was where the first bit of rain hit my glasses. Nothing to turn around for. Inner ring, legs heavy from other hobbies that demand more time. Reach the top and soon turn off the main road and drop towards quieter lanes. No sound other than birds and rain now bouncing off my helmet, wind jacket still holding out against what is approaching a deluge.

Start to climb, tarmac forming the bed of a stream. I have a bow wave forming around my tyres. Wishing for my winter bike with full mudguards, function over form. Instead carbon and minimal clearance for rubber, never mind practical additions.

Jacket surrendering to the conditions, slowly the cold damp feeling of water as it penetrates the seams, wicking in reverse as the elements try to cool me against my will. Reach the top and the rain takes things up a level, with the addition of wind and mist. Visibility now so reduced that my rear light is bounced back off the airborne reflective environment that I now ride in. Wish I had a bigger front light on. But no one else is daft enough to be out in this.

Just me.

Turn for home, not the distance I had in mind but now my feet are damp, water bypassing the old overshoes that I’d absent-mindedly pulled over my shoes. Hadn’t thought about them until that cold feeling, surprised at how well they’d done.

20 miles, no feeling in my fingers, light full finger gloves worn only because of the early start, now soaked through. Nearly home, I can feel the warmth from the shower already.

25 miles, home. Shivering and shaking. Put the bike away first, silent vow to give her a check over and some lube later knowing I will forget. Stand in the kitchen, the centerpiece of an indoor water feature. Will need to get that sorted before anyone else gets up. Hit the shower and it hurts, so turn down the temperature, colder water to warm up. Thawing. Hands red from the cold, feet the same.

Outside the sun is now shining. Steam rising from the deck. Summertime. Inside I’m smiling. Alive. A cyclist again.

The post Summer bike appeared first on Joyriders.

At the start of Dust and Summer, Mark is stirred from his slumber by his iPhone alarm (other smart phones are available). No doubt he was dreaming of riding as he’s in his kit already. And from there in Dust and Summer takes a different path to the one that most readers will be familiar with …

Do you sleep in your riding kit?

Do you wake up on a sunny, dry day, stumble from a Spanish villa into a pristine workshop, faff with a new disk rotor, load up a van and go for a ride, all the while being filmed?

Didn’t think so.

I think if any of us slept in our riding kit we’d soon be single, or sleeping on the sofa. Or more likely in the garage. Once settled in there we’d probably fix that rotor after giving the bike a clean and maybe checking brake pads before getting some sleep and dreaming of dust, and summer.

No doubt when we awoke, cold and sore from a night in our bike storage, we’d find a phantom flat. A tyre that was inflated the night before that somehow has lost the willingness to hold air overnight. So we’d grab the other bike, the one that wasn’t cleaned the night before where the gears are a bit out and we’re really not sure how old the pads are, and go ride. Or, if the x = n + 1 theory hasn’t been applied we’d curse and find a tube, or worse still work out why the tubeless setup we’re so happy with suddenly let us down.

Then ride.

Dust? You’ll be lucky. Mud, grit, sludge and probably some tarmac or trail center hardcore.

Summer? Maybe, usually in spring or autumn. Brief moments when the rain forgets to fall and trails are dry, our selective memory shielding us from wet summer days when sealskinz and waterproof shorts are pulled from drawers so we can enjoy ‘summer’.

But the result is the same. Smiles. Who needs dusty Spanish singletrack when you’ve got a slippery muddy bridleway. Two wheel dusty drift Vs two wheeled slippery slide. The smiles are the same. As is the post ride beer.

Happy trails.

The post Dust & Summer: Reality Check appeared first on Joyriders.

They set off on their adventure shortly after getting married in September 2012. Their route so far has taken them through many parts of Europe, the Middle East, and they are now about to enter Asia and cross the Himalayas. They’ve seen some amazing places, met some wonderful people and thankfully, they’ve shared it with us back home through their website (www.mcneilsonwheels.com).

If you’re planning a similar trip or are just fascinated by what can be achieved on a bicycle, then I recommend you take a look.

To wet your appetite here are a few photos and videos!

Setting of into Europe at the beginning of winter – brrr

Alice making friends

I guess this would happen a lot when cycling 30,000kms!

Off the beaten track!

Amazing people everywhere you go!

It’s amazing what you can get in a few panniers… Alice not included!

Including a sneakers bar! Small luxuries…

The post Cycling to New Zealand appeared first on Joyriders.

I entered into the 12 hours solo category (12 hours of lonely cycling around a track). I went on the understanding that I would stop once I did a lap that was unenjoyable – because there isn’t really any point in riding your bike if you’re not enjoying it.

After a couple of fast laps (I’m like a dog chasing a bone – even though I knew I had to take it easy), I was quickly relieved that I wasn’t doing the full 24 hours (like my friend Darren). Lap 3 I managed to control my competitive urge and slow the pace down, knowing that I wouldn’t finish if I didn’t.

I was adamant that I would stop on each lap – the Joyriders camp was right on the edge of the course, where my pit crew waited patiently – having at least a 10 minute snack and drink stop. After some laps, these rest stops got longer and longer, being up to an hour towards the end.

After lap 7 (when it was starting to go dark) I had that unenjoyable lap… I was aching all over which was resulting in me making a few mistakes. I was also getting a little fed up of fast climbers nipping past me at the top of the descents to then only hold me up all the way down… Maybe I should have been doing a gravity enduro rather than a XC race!

So that was my finishing number, 7 laps which left me in 28th place. But it made it an enjoyable event, with great company, great food (courtesy of Evelyn, Matt, Lucy and the wood burner/cooker).

Back next year? I’m sure I will, but definitely as a team…

I’m afraid that with all the riding, I didn’t get any good photos of the event!

The post Bontrager 24/12 – 2013 appeared first on Joyriders.

Mark and a couple of mates (Tom & Jo) packed their bikes and the scooter and set off to “Las Alpujarras” in the Sierra Nevada mountains last season (yes I know, I’ve taken my time in writing this, but I only type with one finger). Here’s our report on the riding in the area. There is huge potential for trips to this area – watch this space!!

Loose rocks! Great fun!!

With the van heavily packed with three mountain bikes, overnight kit and the scooter (which took up most of our space), we set off from our base in Cordoba to the Sierra Nevada mountains, more specifically the Alpujarra region.

The Joyriders van fully packed – scooter included!

We stayed in a really cute, but basic, wooden cabin which served our purposes well – because let’s face it, most of our time was going to be spent out on the bike. We dumped all our kit including the scooter, which was going to be essential for collecting the van at the end of the day. We then drove up the mountain as far as the road would allow. We had about an hours worth of climbing from this point, but plenty more descending would be our reward!

Cabin in the woods

Once we had located the start of the first descent, we padded up, got some fuel on board and then set off down the trail. This was a fast swooping trail with plenty of loose rocks and lots of dust! It was awesome – with a few surprises thrown in for good measure! Check out the video at the end of this post to get a better idea of the trails…

Tom and Jo take on the trails in Sierra Nevada

We eventually descended into the first village of the day, where we were able to stock up on water from one of the local springs. We then had a short, but very hot climb up to our next bit of single track, which finally dropped us all the way into the bottom of the valley. This, unfortunately means we had a bit of a climb back up to the hut, where the scooter was waiting! Thankfully I didn’t have to ride all the way up and collect the van! That wouldn’t have been a nice finish to the day.

We’re all fairly tired by the time we get back. It’s been a hot day, but as the sun is setting the air temperature starts to cool rapidly. Once the van is back, we crack open some beers, prepare food and start to talk our way through all the trails we rode that day, excited at the prospect of more the following day!

Mark tackles a Joyriders home made burger!!

It ends up being a late night chatting, drinking, eating and watching the stars – thankfully I had my down jacket with me, as it got fairly cold so high up in the mountains.

Mesmerising sunrise!

The following morning we were rewarded with an amazing sunrise! Bathing the mountains in a crisp, fresh light – what better way to start a days riding.

Todays ride consisted of a hike a bike climb out of Travelez (the highest village in mainland Spain) – and when I say hike a bike, I didn’t take into account Tom’s determination to try riding as much of the route as possible! That lad is like a mountain goat!!

Once we finally hit the top we took some time out to make lunch and get a few photos of the amazing views. We were then rewarded with an amazing, flowing descent – full of whoops and cheers!

Spanish cheese for lunch?

A short road climb out of the next village quickly rewarded us with a slightly more technical and enclosed descent, which finished with some fairly tight, but doable switchbacks.

We only really took photo when were resting!

A slightly longer climb took us to the final descent of the day – but this wasn’t a descent to take lightly! With super tight switchbacks and perilous drops, there wasn’t much room for error here! We rode the ones we felt comfortable on, but with tiredness setting in (as well as getting a sudden appreciation for staying alive) we didn’t quite take them all on…

Having spat us out at the bottom of a steep valley, the end of the days riding was therefore finishing with a rather energy sapping hike-a-bike out again. Back to the van for a wipe down shower and change before heading back home to the Subbetica – where we would be taking on Grande Cojones the following day (which was very technical and rocky in comparison to the last couple of days – but with less of the death defying drops!).

Tom tackles the trails of Sierra Nevada

All in all, Sierra Nevada was an awesome place to go for a change of scenery. It’s not for the light hearted or those with a genuine fear of heights. But there are also some super flowing, relatively smooth trails to enjoy by most intermediate+ riders. Obviously there are many more technical options for the more advanced riders.

Now watch the video:

The post Mountain Biking in Las Alpujarras (Sierra Nevada), Spain appeared first on Joyriders.

So we chucked the mountain bikes in the van and off we went. There were still plenty of signs of the recent snow up there, that should make the ride interesting!!

All wrapped up and ready to go I finally find the trail head I’m looking for (slightly cheeky), which should bring us out on the red route further down. Unfortunately this trail was a bit wetter than the last time I rode it. I’ve also not ridden wet roots in awhile, which caught me out and I slid slowly into a tree, catching the bars. Thinking I had got away with it I carried on down the trail.

The further I got down the trail and the faster I went I began to realise something was wrong with the brakes… My front brake wasn’t working!! I’d caught the hose in the bump and lost all the fluid.

But to be honest it made riding in the mud, snow and ice much for exciting!! Brake less, ride faster – simple..

A couple of loops around the red route and Matt was about dead, so we grabbed a coffee to warm up and dry out a little.

Haldon has great facilities for the local mountain biker, novice and experienced alike. I particular liked the skills training area, which had everything from small drop offs, burms to practice cornering, small jumps, balance area to north shore style boarding. Everything you need to get your skills off the ground.

It was a nice day out on the bike and definitely the place to go around here when the weather is bad. Not sure the red route should be a red though!! It was more a blue, and easily achievable for a beginner/novice rider. Probably try the marked blue first though!

The post Haldon Hill Mountain Bike Blast appeared first on Joyriders.

National XC Championships at Richmond: 29th place

“It was a good race, with some some fierce racing as you’d expect. I was gridded almost last out of 60 so could only go forwards from there! I managed to pick up a few places on the first lap. The course had some hard steep climbs and some flowy singletrack that became tricky after monsoon rain in the morning. I worked my way up to the top 40 by the 2nd lap but my left knee started to play up so I had to back off a bit towards the end. I finished up 29th which I’m pretty pleased with as this is was the first time I’d raced against the elites and on a very hard course that was worthy of a national championship race.”

Midland Series (round 3) – Hanchurch Woods: 2nd place.

“This was my favourite course of the year, about 90% singletrack through rooty woodland. Some rain on the first lap made the decents tricky so it was a test of skill and there are some good climbs. I had a good battle with Adam Biggs of Forme Cycles for 2nd place over the first 3 laps and managed to break away from him on the last lap to take 2nd, just over a minutes down on the leader. My legs felt really good which bodes well for this weekend, the National XC Championships at Richmond! I’ll be taking a kicking from Oli and co!”

Manchester Midweek Madness Series: 2nd place

British XC series at Margham: 5th place

Sweet singletrack

Steeply does it!

The post Midland Series Race Report: Tom Albutt appeared first on Joyriders.

Great result Pete

The post Singletrack Classic Weekender Race Report: Pete McNeil appeared first on Joyriders.

He finished 5th at Dalby for round 2 of the British series (pic attached of Tom riding “Worry Gill”). Here is what Tom had to say about the day:

“I finished 5th in the sport race, my best result yet. The Dalby course is a real test of fitness and skill, it’s pretty brutal in places with rock features that you’d expect to find on a DH course! The climbs are tough too so you need a bit of everything to do well.”

However Tom’s best result yet has again been beaten.. Coming 1st place at Round 1 of the Nutcracker series. Fantastic result Tom. Here is his report:

“I was racing on Sunday at round 1 of the Nutcracker series at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. It’s actually held on the MOD training ground. There’s no big hills but plenty of short and steep climbs and a mixture of rocky trails and woodland singletrack and a huge water splash which gave me a good soaking each lap! I rode well and led from the start in the Sport race, building a good gap each lap to take the win. I also passed all but the winner of the Expert cat who set off a couple of minutes ahead of us so pretty chuffed with how my training is going! If I do well enough this year I can get promoted to the expert cat which would be cool but would mean much harder competition!!”

Looking forward to seeing what we can do at this years Sleepless in the Saddle!!

The post Joyriders takes 1st at Nutcrackers: Tom Albutt appeared first on Joyriders.

Anyway we stuck to our plan and worked out it would take us about 7 hrs if we could average 25KPH. That seemed ok given the 1700 metres of climbing there would be.

We woke to a cloudy day so deciding how many layers to wear was tricky. But we both made the right choice with wind-cheaters rather than waterproofs. It even got hot and sunny near the coast.

We set off at 10:30 and set a blistering pace of 28KPH over the first hour. Not bad given a lot of the climbing was at the beginning of the day.

At 40KM disaster struck as my knee started playing up! At 60KM and after lots of stretching and saddle adjusting I thought that was going to be the end of the ride. However after one last stretch at Antequera (just before a very steep climb) I found the stretch that I needed. My knee was fine after that and we stormed away up the steep climb passing all the slow moving traffic.

We had the majority of the remaining climbing waiting for us at Antequera as the roads climbed up into the mountains of Málaga.

Howling past Wolf Parks and twisting down switchbacked roads we made good progress still keeping an average speed of 28KPH.

Stopping for a Red Bull at the halfway point we were able to reflect on the daunting fact that we were only half way!! I tried to console myself by saying it was all down hill from here, this illusion being swiftly shattered by a steep climb out of the village selected for our brief fuel stop.

We finally hit the low laying hills of Málaga after 120Kms which taunted us with quick descents and short, but vicious climbs. Every corner we turned and every hill crest we topped we kept expecting to see the sea. It never appeared. The only water we saw was the river crossing we had to make in the last 30KMs. Darren also decided he still had the energy to race local riders on an evening spin. Much to his dissapointment he didn’t get the chance to say we’d come from Córdoba.

We finally reached our collection point with half a mile to go. We headed out onto a straight, quiet road and went up and down until the counter hit 100! I had done it and I still felt remarkably fresh. What was even better though was the time. 5hrs 44mins with an average speed of 28KPH! Not bad for a first attempt and a Xmas of too many mince pies.

Sitting in the van heading back home we finally saw the sea. We also started discussing our next epic…. 200 miles out here in these hills, is that possible??

The post 100 miles to Malaga appeared first on Joyriders.