Front Light

I've been working in Oxford this last week so snuck my bike down in the back of the car just to burn some stress.
So tonight, I *may* have been burning up through the centre of town, riding a little too fast - as I was running late for dinner with our good friend Frances Voon :) so - naturally – I took the short-cut (the wrong way) up a pedestrianised section of the high-street, riding one-handed (was on the phone with Jo and didn't have a hands-free), rear-light was on fine (did that with the hand that wasn't holding the phone) and (mum, don't read this next bit) helmet on, but not done up (two-handed job) when a police office yelled, “hey!'”..

I'll spare you (and, indirectly, me) some of the broader context about joint exposure of Driver's Licenses and bike riding, but suffice to say, I said quickly and quietly to Jo, "I'll call you right back".

The good natured officer asked me if I had a front light on my bike; "Of course, Mr Officer, I thought I had turned it on...oh… that's better..."
"Thank you laddie” he said, “Have a good night"
" ... arh, thank you, you too" peddle-peddle-peddle.... "Jo, sorry I had to hang up before..."

Freezing Cold!

It's still freezing over here.

This is a picture of my first day back at work in January 2nd. They say it is only going to get colder....oh no!

Outstanding !

I've spent a little too much time away with work recently and Jo - in her gracious, understated way - warned me not to book anything between Christmas and New Year.
Shortly before Christmas there appeared numbered, flat presents under our (real ! ) tree. On Christmas day they led me via vague pictures of Sheep, Castles and 'Mountain-Bikes-this-way' up the M6 to five days (four of them riding) past Dumfries, Scotland and eventually, to the renowned 7Stanes. The 7Stanes are 8 amazing, man-made, mountain bike trail-centres in South-West Scotland that all met Jo’s mandate of ‘no network coverage for Matt’s work-mobile’ and ‘nowhere for Matt to recharge his laptop’.

On the Saturday we warmed up at Ae Forest, a trial we’ve ridden with friends before. I was feeling pretty shaky as I hadn’t ridden for ages; Jo graciously suggested we just ‘don’t push it too hard.’ That lasted about 10minutes ☺ Soo much fun getting back out on the trial even though most of the best singletrack was closed thanks to logging.
We even met some of the locals when we tried to sneak past him in his ‘drive-over-trees style’, logging truck in our camouflaged lycra and shorts.

Sunday and Monday we rode the Black and, then Red, trails at Glentress. Absolutely Outstanding ! The Black trail was 98% singletrack and probably the best man-made trial I’ve ridden in the UK.
Jo rode the full 30km 'V' Black Trail – including most of the Diamond Descents… ☺ Well impressed. We rode the 24km Red trail the Glentress Freeride Park on Monday as we both decided we needed a rest day ☺ - and in typical fashion rode till the car-pack was empty and the trail so dark we could barely make out the corners (Mums should read this as a metaphor for something…)
At Jo’s suggestion, we rode Drumlanrig on Tuesday; while not one of the 7Stanes, it is by far the most natural ‘man-made’ trail and while the car-park didn’t make it above -7 degrees C all day and the trail wouldn’t have broken freezing, it was a blast. Most of the puddles had frozen through – those that hadn’t shattered and exploded like glass panes; the mush and thick, black muck had frozen rock hard (MTBers will know what a God-send that is) and the leaves and undergrowth snapped under tyre-weight.

Thanks Jo !

See here lots for more photos