[chzvacmyye]

well i'm not one to spill my stories onto the internet but this one is just too good, so here goes........

It was 7.30 in the morning yestarday and i get a call from my friend saying him and another guy are up for a bike ride in the lakes, and i am never one to turn down a chance to get out on my bike. so i jump out of bed and start packing my stuff for the day.

Go down stairs fill up my camel-back to find it has got a pin-hole in it (after this i had a feeling it wasnt goign to be a good day), grr! so i whip out my puncture repair kit, and 10 minutes later its as good as new. (i then made the mistake of forgetting to put my puncture repair kit back in my bag!!) So i go out to the car, load it up with my gear and set about making my way upto Lancaster to meet my pals. We load everything onto my mates car and set about on our way to the lakes, hurrah!

We get on our bikes and hit the trails (Ambleside / Elterwater) then the first sign of a hill (around 1 mill into the trip) my chain snaps, i thaught this was the end of my ride and i'd have to walk back, but fortunelty one of the guys i was with had a multi-tool with a chain repair doo-da on it so we spend 20 mins figuring out how it works and getting the chain sorted.

We then carry on our way, and about half a mile down the road i get a puncture!! i then frantically search my bag for the repair kit with no luck (as i had left it behind from the camel-back repair) fortunetly both the guys i was riding with had one so we patched it up, then checked my tyre for any crap sticking into it, there was none and just put it down to back luck, then carried on our way.

300m down the road it happen AGAIN, thats right another puncture except this time it was a "snake bite" puncture which happened while i was going down a rock garden at some considerable speed and it threw me off into a ditch. At this point i was not a happy camper. So i replaced the inner-tube with a spare i was carrying, then we get on our way again. yet another half mile down the road i get ANOTHER puncture. i was starting to get a bit pissed at this point so we changed the inner tube again, then all three of us checked the tyre for thorns, grass seeds etc.....NOTHING!...So it was just sheer bad luck, the strange thing is that it was only really grass and rocks we were riding over so its beyond me how i kept getting punctures.

The ride then started to pick up, we had ridden 10 miles with no drama, so our spirits had been lifted. So next we were going down a VERY VERY rocky descent towards Elterwater, when all of a sudden i here a huge "doink" and my friend had bunny hopped off of one rock and landed funny and bent his rear brake disc very badly, so we carried on riding and he carried his bike down to elterwater where we sat outside a pub with some drinks bashing out this brake disc with 2 rather large rocks, it worked (kind of!) it was still slightly wonky, but it was good enough to get us back to ambleside.

we then rode back to Ambleside with a very gnarly descent, and made our way home.

[IRMartin]

That's some serious bad luck!

I went on a road tour of Surrey and surrounding areas yesterday, and found out one very useful piece of information: never go to Bracknell again. There's nothing there.

[ZIZITOPER]

where we sat outside a pub with some drinks bashing out this brake disc with 2 rather large rocks

The Britannia is a nice place in the sun, sitting next to the beck. Just watch out for a humoungous Great Dane one of the locals has.

[doksSirmAdods]

That's some serious bad luck!

I went on a road tour of Surrey and surrounding areas yesterday, and found out one very useful piece of information: never go to Bracknell again. There's nothing there.

There is but you have to be into Mountain Biking! Braknell forest and the 'look out' have some of the best MTB trails in the country. That's where I did most of my riding a few years ago when I lived in Camberley. The road around there though is rubbish and very busy, so I agree with you!!!

I went down the Kennet and Avon canal yesterday to Reading. Its a good ride as there are no hills, which is what I needed after a few months off the bike. A few years ago I rode from Bristol to Reading on the same canal in a day. May have to do that again this year although it is over 80 miles, so better get training.

[IRMartin]

l'll take the mountain bike up to the forest then. I rode through it on the A322, looked nice.

[doksSirmAdods]

l'll take the mountain bike up to the forest then. I rode through it on the A322, looked nice.

Good work! What bike do you run btw?

I ride a Specialized Enduro 2002. Best bike I have owned.

p.s. If you need any pointers where to ride, just ask!

[IRMartin]

I think we've succesfully hijacked this thread!

I ride a custom build based on a 2003 Kona Cinder Cone frame, set up more as a freeride bike than XC, but a change of tires sees to that in most cases.

I'll go and have a venture some time in May, I'm concentrating on road riding a lot at the minute to trim back down after a "couple of years off everything" shall we say!

[gtyruzzel]

i was starting to get a bit pissed at this point so we changed the inner tube again, then all three of us checked the tyre for thorns, grass seeds etc.....NOTHING!...So it was just sheer bad luck, the strange thing is that it was only really grass and rocks we were riding over so its beyond me how i kept getting punctures.

If you were doing a lot of hops on your bike, and possibly the tire inflated fairly well, then that could've popped your tube. I remember one time I was riding my bike, did a quick hop, and then all I heard was "pffffttttttt" as my tire was deflating. [xmaslaugh]

[abubycera]

lol, thats sum funny stuff. In all my years of biking, nothing like that has ever happened. I have had my front tire fly off as the bolt some how came loss that holds the tire in place. I wasn't riding it at the time, but on my bike, the back brakes flew off while my buddy was riding it down a hill. [rofl]

Been a while since I have ridden. I have three bikes that need to be worked on. Two needs tubes all around, and another one needs brakes. I want to start riding again, as that is really when I am most happy. I tired getting into BMX, as my buddy had a few BMX bikes and worked on them like crazy. They are really fun, but I didn't enjoy riding them much as they are way small for my likings. I am 6' and he is like 5'4 so the bikes were like perfect for him.
I am wanting to get a street bike, but they are rather pricey for me atm.

[Mmzmptvk]

There is but you have to be into Mountain Biking! Braknell forest and the 'look out' have some of the best MTB trails in the country.

QFT!! when i used to live in windsor years ago, my friends and i would cycle to and from the lookout on saturday and sunday because it was so good... did that for about 6 months before i moved down to devon.

it scares me how much more i used to ride when i was 14/15 than i do now!!