Mud-Monkeys.co.uk

Location :

Mojo Downhill - Cwmcarn - South Wales

Date :

22nd April 2007

Description :

I have still not riden this trail but took the opportunity to take some photos of the guys who were riding the trail.

If I got an image of you and you would like it then send me an e-mail to drainus@mud-monkeys.co.uk with the file name of the image. You will find this under the thumbnail of the image. If I can e-mail the image to you then it will be free. If the image is too large to e-mail or you wish to recieve more than one then I will need to do this by CD as some of the images are close to 6mb in size. If I need to do it by CD then there will be a charge for this.

Location :

Wentwood - South Wales

Date :

3rd March 2007

Description :

This was meant to be my first go at a downhill trail. Wentwood Dragon Downhill is a small downhill trail in South Wales that is maintained by a committed group of local lads. It is steep with a small number of drops and jumps. A small road gap and a liberal number of small berms.

It was a lot of fun but unfortunately it was a little muddy and I had the wrong tyres on the bike so could not get any grip. The guys that I met, from the Bristol Mountain Bike Club, made me look pathetic but I intend to go back and try it again when the trail is a little dryer.

15th and 16th September images

Location :

Gorlech Trail - Abergorlech - Carmarthenshire

Date :

15th and 16th September 2006
16th and 28th December 2006

Description :

September :Mark was unable to join me again for this ride but I thought that I would try out this newest trail in South Wales. It turns out that it only takes about 20-30 mins longer to get to than Afan. I got 2 fabulous days for riding and made the most of this by getting 3 circuits done in the 2 days. The trail is great with no end of new things to try. Each time I went round the trail I was trying just that little bit harder and that is even though the 3rd circuit was only meant to be a photo taking exercise. I met a great group of guys out from London to try the trail for the first time too. We had a great time comparing notes on the trail.

December 16th :Finally I was able to get Mark over to try this trail and he was equally impressed with it.

December 28th :Mark and I introduced Clive to the trail as well. Mark and I experimented with the airbourne charactoristics of our bikes.

28th December images

Location :

Sheer Water - Wiltshire

Date :

9th September 2006

Description :

Due to the fact that Mark was in the process of moving house this weekend I was alone for this ride. I apologies for the lack of riders in the photos but that is what happens when you ride alone. It was a good opportunity to try out a trail that I made up in Tracklogs the other day. It is a local ride for me and I have to admit that having just completed the ride I am pleasantly surprised. It is a nice ride with lots of optional side trails available to spruce the trail up should we want to.

Location :

Christmas Common - Oxfordshire

Date :

3rd September 2006

Description :

Yet more rain before a ride. I drove through some of the worst rain of the year on the way over to collect Mark for this ride. Again though as always seems to happen the sun came out and we had lovely weather for the ride. We did manage to get a little lost on this ride even though we were following a GPS log of the trail. We managed to turn a 14.5 mile trail into 22.5 miles and also lost some of the nice singletrack from it. Still it was a good ride.

Location :

Russell's Water - Oxfordshire

Date :

26th August 2006

Description :

The weather had been poor for a few weeks so we were expecting this to be a wet muddy ride. We caught the weather brilliantly and had sunshine for most of the ride. The trails turned out to be in excellent condition with next to no mud or puddles. It was a nice ride, nothing to difficult which was perfect as this was the first ride in a few weeks for Mark. Also it was good to see Clive out on a Mud-Monkeys ride again.

Location :

Date :

Description :

Mark arranged a late Birthday present for me of a weekend riding Dartmoor. He had recently become aware that a guy called Woody had just set up a company offering guided tours of Dartmoor to mountain bikers. He booked us in for Friday and Saturday nights with rides on Saturday and Sunday. The plan was to do a 45km ride on Saturday followed by a 40km ride on Sunday. The Saturday ride went according to plan with us completing the full 45km although it was tough as it was blisteringly hot and we were all suffering with fluid loss. On Sunday we elected to shorten the ride as we (especially me) were all suffering from the Saturday ride.

The weather for both rides made the most of the scenary and made the rides magical. Woody showed us some of the best that Dartmoor has to offer, although we know that there is still plenty that we ahve not seen. He managed to fit pretty much every style of riding into the rides. It was a dream come true and all in such a small area.

Bike-Dartmoor.com

Images by Mark above.

Images by Tim one of the guides.

Location :

Porridgepot Hill - Deepcut - Surrey

Date :

21st May 2006

Description :

This was Round 5 of the 2006 Spring XC Race Series. It was not the best day in the world and this was my first ever MTB race. Mark had done some Gorricks in the past and had primed me for the fact that it would not be as easy as the 2 laps of about 4-5 miles belied. Still I was not completely convinced by him. I was wrong. The rain of the 2 days before, combined with the rain on the day and the 200 sets of tyres had churned up the track a little before the race making the climbs almost impossible to ride and the descents somewhat slippery. I came in a lowly 33rd out of 35 in the end with Mark fairing considerably better at 20th.

Location :

Barbury Castle - Wltshire

Date :

14th May 2006

Description :

On a lovely sunny day (they got lucky as it was forecast for rain all day) Red Planet had organised a Demo Day to show off some of the lovely new bikes that they offer. Red Planet is Marks local bike shop in Swindon. We decided to turn up just to go out on some of the rides and to have a look at some of the bikes on show. The bikes on display and available to demo were from Santa Cruz, Scott, Orange, Nicolai, Light Speed, Merlin and Sanderson. After the first ride round the 5 mile course that had been chosen on our own bikes we tried some of the bikes on demo. Mark tried a Sanderson steel frame hardtail and another bike that I cannot remember right now whilst I tried the Nicolai Helius XC and then the Scott Ransom Carbon. It was a lovely day with the rides well organised and well managed with plenty of assistance provided mainly by Team Extreme Endurance.

Location :

TF Tuned - Wiltshire

Date :

28th April 2006

Description :

On a day more perfectly suited to a good bike ride I took the Specialized Enduro to Tim Flooks to have the 5th Element shock custom tuned for me. I am lucky to live just up the road from TF Tuned so I took the whole bike in person and got to meet the legend that is Tim Flooks. The service was first class and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about getting their shock serviced or tuned.

Location :

Llanberis Trail - Snowdon - North Wales

Date :

22nd April 2006

Description :

Mark too a long weekend to take advantage of one of the final opportunities to ride the trails of Snowdon before the voluntary curfew came into effect. He had some more fun with his helmet cam on this and got some good images of the descent of Llanberis. Please do not be put off by this thumbnails quality. The video is very good!

(The video is 76mb in size so we highly recommend right clicking the link and selecting to save it)

Location :

Marin Trail - Betws-y-Coed - North Wales

Date :

21st April 2006

Description :

Mark had planned to ride Snowdon but after arriving at his B&B the night before found that Saturday was meant to be a better day for riding snowdon so he delayed the ride and went out for a plan on the Marin Trail at Betws-y-Coed instead. This is one of his favourite trails. He took this opportunity to play with his helmet cam again.

Location :

Cli-MachX - Machynlleth - Mid Wales

Date :

14th April 2006

Description :

One of the warmest days of the year so far and Good Friday bank holiday made this a perfect day for a good bike ride. We planned this one for some time and we were not disappointed either. It was a long 4 hour drive but the weather was perfect and Mark had the opportunity to try out his newly aquired helmet cam. The original plan was to get 2 circuits in but unfortunately approaching the top of the first climb on the second circuit my rear tyre got slashed by a piece of slate ending my days riding. Mark went on to complete the second circuit and captured some additional helmet cam footage.

Location :

Whites Level - Afan - South Wales

Date :

4th March 2006

Description :

It was about 5 degrees and there was snow on the hill but the sun was in the sky and it was a lovely day for riding. Somehow we seemt o have been blessed with great weather for riding this winter. Mark and I were joined by Danny for this ride. Mark and I were looking forward to trying out the new sections of Whites Level including the new North Shore sections and downhill section. Unfortunately, the day did not work out quite as planned as my rear brake failed about a third of the way up the climb. This made the climb a little more tricky and the new sections very hard but hey who needs a brake for the final sections of Whites Level!

Location :

Talybont and The Gap - The Brecon Beacons

Date :

12th February 2006

Description :

We started from the White Hart Inn and Bunkhouse at about 10:30 in the morning. The temporature was about 1 degree but it was a lovely day.

Location :

Cwmcarn - South Wales

Date :

14th January 2006

Description :

This was the first ride for the Enduro that I had just had put together for me. Cwmcarn is one of my preferred local trails and it is a trail that the Enduro is perfectly designed for.

Location :

The Quantocks

Date :

22nd October 2005

Description :

This was a ride organised through the Singletrack forum. It looked like it was going to be a rough day but in the end turned out to be lovely in the end. The ride was lead by a couple of locals who showed the rest of us some of the fabulous riding that is available in the Quantocks.

Location :

Dalbeattie Forest - Scotland

Date :

25th June 2005

Description :

This was the last ride of our memorable holiday riding the 7 Stanes. It was another lovely day for a ride and although the trail was relatively tame it still had some very memorable features.

Location :

Glentress - Peebles - Scotland

Date :

24th June 2005

Description :

This was the only day of the whole trip to the 7 Stanes that was less than perfect weather. Still it was a memorable ride. Unfortunately, Mark was not present for this ride as he had had a rough night and was not feeling good. The rest of us had a go at the Glentress Black. This trail was most memorable for the 2.5km climb all the way to the top of the mountain. Personally I failed to complete this loop leaving Clive and Richard to explore the Ewok Village.

Location :

Glentress - Peebles - Scotland

Date :

23rd June 2005

Description :

This was the ride that we were all looking forward to. Glentress has a huge reputation and we had a perfect day to test this out. The trail proved all of the press accurate with Spooky Wood Descent remaining the main talking point of the whole holiday.

Location :

Drumlanrig - Scotland

Date :

21st June 2005

Description :

Drumlanrig was the 3rd day of riding in a row. We were all feeling more than a little bit jaded by now but it was me who cracked first. I was having trouble with my gears on the trail and after Kirroughtree the day before my body was not up for this ride and after not much more than an hour I dropped out. I went back to the van and took the time to visit the little bike shop in the courtyard beside the house. The owner of the bike shop was a great help. He checked my gears and decided that my rear mech had too much play in it. He sold me a replacement and also took the time to teach me to fit it and to set it up. I highly recommend a visit to the shop, which doubles as a bike museum, if you get the chance.

Location :

Kirroghtree - Scotland

Date :

20th June 2005

Description :

Kirroughtree Red and Black Craig was the longest crosscountry ride that I had tried. I was nervous about this ride before setting out after reading the description. The trail was fabulous. Lots of lovely crosscountry riding with plenty of technical stuff in it. Kirroughtree offered a number of obsticles that were far beyond my abilities at this stage. For me it was a step learning curve but has left qa memory that I will treasure until I can get back there and ride the trail again. MacMoab was amazing!

Location :

Mabie Forest - Scotland

Date :

19th June 2005

Description :

Mabie Forest was the first ride of six planned in Scotland for 4 riders, none of whom have ridden the 7 Stanes before. For the likes of me this was quite an eye opener. The ride was good although hard in places. We also had a few issues with our mapreading before we got the hang of the way that the trail was marked up. The weather was damp but it never actually rained.