After the endless rain this autumn, we finally seemed to have a day at the weekend with good weather. To make the most of this James and I headed over the mid wales to ride the hyped Doethie Valley. The route was very straightforward for the first half, with easy climbing up firetrack around the reservoir, and then a gate (which were all locked) ridden descent down to the start of the ride proper. Despite the gates making the descent frustrating, the autumnal colours and remote scenery were fantastic. At the end of the descent we arrived at a remote cottage where we turned off the main track and the ride abruptly got harder with a fairly steep ascent which marked the end of the significant climbing on the route. This was James’s first ride with his new groupset, and he certainly seemed to appreciate his new low gears! The start of the descent was down the track, which was fairly loose with some abrupt drainage ditches. However we soon got to the start of the showpiece of the route, the long Doethie valley. The descent was all fairly gradual,. Read the full article…

With another day of dry weather I headed down to the Quantock Hills with Becky for an afternoon of mountain biking. As with yesterdays biking the views were lovely, with plenty of autumnal colours around. We climbed out of Holford up the “Dog Pound” climb which took us to the top of the classic descent down Weacombe. Unsurprisingly it was much wetter than when I was last here with James in the middle of summer, however it was still lots of fun. After the climb back up Staple Hill we elected to head over to descent down Start Combe into Somerton Combe, before heading back to Holford. This was more difficult than Weacombe as it was narrower, but it was still very friendly and great fun. We were soon back down in the Dodders Combe, where we made the descent back down to the car in Holford. After biking we headed to East Quantoxhead to do a short walk along the beach. The geology on the beach was fascinating, and very photogenic.

Today we enjoyed a cycle up to Avon Dam and then onto Scorriton. This was our plan b, after aborting mid wales due to excessive amounts of rain being forecast. The route started up a small road, before a short descent which gave us an idea of what was to come, ie. lots of water! A lovely climb up the side of a valley then followed where we were able to watch a buzzard flying around. After a short descent we were back down onto tarmac for the easy climb up to Avon Dam. We made short work of this, before encountering the most technical part of the route, the rocky traverse around the Avon reservoir. After a damp climb up we enjoyed a fast and fun grassy descent down Abbot’s Way. After another short climb up a small tarmac road, and then a good track we were soon at the long descent down to Chalk Ford, and then onto Scorriton. We then enjoyed/endured the long 20% climb back up which seemed to go on for a long time! One last climb then took us up to Skerraton Down. From. Read the full article…

Last weekend I made the most of the good weather by heading out with my parents on a short mountain bike circuit around the Blorenge. It is always great to start at the top of a hill, rather than at the bottom. After a short warm up traversing the hill we were soon at the first descent. The first section was very overgrown with heather, and very rough and rocky which was interesting. After this first section was complete there was a lovely long section of single track which took us down to the Punchbowl. After an initial very steep climb which definitely involved a push up, the rest of the climb back up to the top was fairly straightforward. I was expecting the last short descent back down to the car to be fairly unexciting. However I was very much mistaken, the descent started by traversing along a terrace with fantastic views. It then carried on down a lovely grassy descent with lots of natural bumps and jumps. We were soon back on the initial traverse path and made our way back to the car. This will certainly be. Read the full article…