Bristol – Bath Railway path.

Waking up tired and late I debated whether or not to do the ride especially as I was a little apprehensive about riding back on the same day as I don’t have a lot of faith in my own fitness. In the end I decided it’s best to get it done and regret it later. The path is a 15 mile stretch of the old Railway Line, so it’s mostly flat with only one reasonable hill at the half way mark. Being part of the line means that it does start and end in fairly industrial areas that aren’t the prettiest but the line wouldn't have existed but to carry goods for these places.

The first section travels out of Bristol and is fairly built up and I must say I wouldn’t want to ride through here in the dark there are a few dark bridges to pass under with dark corners and look to be drinking/hang-out spots. However in the daylight it’s a pleasant section with station style names at the links with roads and other people on the path seem friendly and will give a smile and a nod, I even got a high five off a young lad riding the other way and even in this area there was barely any traffic noise. If you realise you need supplies en-route then you pass a Morrisons on the way out.

A remaining platform on the left is fun to jump off as long as no-one is heading the other way, following this a long tunnel marks your exit towards the countryside proper, the tunnel is dark despite the lighting and does leak so be prepared to get dripped on. After the tunnel comes another old station where the path divides with the right hand route taking you to Bath, I have not yet explored the left path.

Mangotsfield Station

The path climbs a little here before crossing over two dual carriage ways, the only place where the traffic noise invades the quiet. Once over the bridge you turn right into a small descent, on the way back this is a bit of a climb but nothing that can’t be conquered with a bit of determination, though some people make it look easy. Between here and a popular platform cafe lies the half way point making it a good place to stop to refuel and have a little breather.

When open, this cafe can be very popular.

Further on from the café you may notice a small sign pointing right to the Bath Ales Brewery shop, which I intend to visit on my next trip. From here the path carries on and joins along the rebuilt section of the railway line where Steam trains provide a popular attraction, at this point great views open up across the countryside.

Crossing bridges over the Avon and passing the Bird in th’ Hand pub provide tempting stopping points, though I struggled to purposefully  break my rhythm once I was at a  comfortable pace. After these points you swiftly reach the outskirts of Bath and the end of the path, where there is a pub whose beer garden was crowded when I passed. To carry on into Bath you just follow the pleasant but narrow river path then the cycle route 4 signs, which are a bit small so keep an eye out.

I rode this route fairly non-stop with only a few hours before returning and didn’t find it too challenging despite my apprehension of fitness levels. Once you find a rhythm and a comfortable pace it’s easy to stick at it as there are so few hills, the biggest interruption can be looking at the views or passing families out for a walk/ride.

Having driven from Bristol to Bath in rush hour a few times I can see why there are more than a few commuters along this route, not only this but you can enjoy being able to walk or ride a tarmac path without having to worry about traffic and enjoying the peace and clean air. Ok my legs were very tired by the time I got back but I’m not very good at taking it easy and barely stopped. It took me roughly an hour and a half each way on a bike not designed for distance. For the Mountain Bikers out there, there seemed to be a few interesting trails leading off to the sides, particularly at Warmley Park, if you have the time and energy to explore.

For more information visit this site.

Crankworks and the Animal Bike Tour

I got home from work on Saturday night to be informed via Twitter that the Animal Bike Tour was going to be in Bath the next day. This seemed like a good reason to ride the Bristol – Bath Railway path again and this time take a camera.

The plan was to go to sleep early and wake up fresh for the ride; instead I got drawn in to watching the Red Bull Joyride at Crankworx in Whistler. It was immense, I was disappointed for Sam Pilgrim the one Brit representative who didn’t get chance show how awesome he is. However 15 year old Anthony Messere made up for that with truly amazing tricks that put him into first for a long while, until Cam Zinc and Brandon Semenuk put in some fantastic runs to put him in third, Messeres last run could have easily won it for him with a front flip off the first drop that no-one else pulled, unfortunately he crashed part way down ruining an otherwise winning run. Catch it again here, believe me it’s worth it!

I have put the ride to and from Bath in the next post as it started getting rather long. Once in Bath I quickly found the place the tour was taking place, and having just missed one show found somewhere safe to lock up my bike, which in Bath isn’t difficult as cyclists are very well catered for. I then set about wading through crowds of tourists to find something to eat before the next show.

About 15 minutes before the show started a crowd began to gather, and the introduction started by the time the show started proper the crowd had grown even bigger. The star of the show is Martyn Ashton who has been involved in the sport for a long time and pushed the boundaries of trials riding encouraging young riders to go higher and harder with their tricks in order to beat him. Normally there is at least one other rider, however the space at Bath was fairly limited. (Overheard from a conversation with Doddy from MBUK magazine).

The show is built around the two vehicles and various ramps ladders and rails that are attached to them and starts with Martyn hopping up and down a wide spaced ladder then bunny hopping over a pole that is raised a couple of times so that Martyn eventually hops over a 1.05 meter bar. (1.06 in the last show). The tricks get bigger and better and the crowd gets louder and more excited, finally Martyn launches down the ramp off the top of the van into a jump where he pulls a back flip. The Crowd goes wild.

He rides it out and if you’re looking carefully you notice him reach down to the front of his bike. He hops round and all of a sudden the front wheel falls off, the commentator makes out that it’s accidental and that it must be time to finish the show. No Martyn keeps hopping, down the ladder up a ramp before dropping off a four foot crate and putting his forks gently to the floor.

I’ve watched Martyn Ashton and others at shows like this before, however I’m always impressed by it and the fact that he’s still out doing these shows pushing himself harder and keeping at the top of the game marks him as one of the legends of Mountain Biking. Well worth a 30 mile round ride to see, in fact so good I watched it twice.

Oh and a quick well done to the new British National Downhill Champions Tracey Moseley and Ruaridh Cunningham.

Car trouble and wheel fixing.

I’ve been a little distracted the last week or so attempting to fix my own car, a step up from the bike mechanics wise. Unfortunately I have hit hitch after hitch and have finally called it quits and booked it into a garage, however the car won’t move at the moment so it’ll have to be towed in. The problem has been the alternator and I’m sure I’ve undone every bolt on the thing but I still can’t get it to budge! Once it’s fixed I’ll be able to actually go pick the rest of my tools up and continue with the bikes.

Meanwhile I have been restoring some of my faith in my own mechanical abilities by doing a little work on the Lanai, I got all my parts from Chain Reaction Cycles, though I did have to go to my local bike shop to get a nipple (the bit that connects spoke to rim.) for the replacement spoke and they were kind enough to give me one for free. I had tried to find one online but as you can imagine search results were interesting, so while the internet is good for cheap deals it’s often worth just going to your nearest shop and asking. This meant I could at least get the broken front wheel fixed.

Recently a number of my friends have had bikes stolen, remember to your bike securely so that nothing can be taken off it and it’s worth registering with a website such as this; http://www.immobilise.com/index.php just in case the worst should happen.

Finally the World Cup round at Windham was yet again an awesome race with Aaron Gwinn running away with it but also with Steve Peat at the age of 37 taking 2^nd place showing he’s still up there after 15 years of racing. Rachel Atherton took the women’s race, her first World Cup win since her return from injury, ahead of Florianne Pugin and Tracy Mosely. It’s been an amazing season so far can’t wait for the last two rounds and the World Champs and it’s great to be able to watch it all live on Freecaster. 

Cleaning up and sobering up

Last night turned into a last minute trip to Bath for a night out, had a great night out with good friends and new people, starting in The Salamander eventually moving on to the Porter or something like that I don’t really remember. Me and another friend spent the night on the wonderful Anna’s floor –she also gave us a lift over from Bristol! Heading back on the train this morning then stopping into Wetherspoons for a much needed breakfast. When I got home I went to sleep for a few hours before coming down to do some work on the bikes, something to concentrate on while I sobered up! First things first get everything I need ready….

Having cleaned the other two bikes I thought I should do the Fire Mountain, this also gave me a chance to try out my shiny new chain cleaning device, which for the £5 or so I spent on it works pretty well. Again it was getting the wheels off cleaning the mechs, cassette and the chainrings and cleaning the frame, toothbrush and sponge at the ready.

Once I’d cleaned up the Fire Mountain I wanted to do a little work on the gears on my Trek, re-aligning my front mech so the chain didn’t rub on it and improving the shifting. At first I attempted to just move the screws unfortunately this wasn’t enough and I had to release the cable and pull it tighter, which is flipping difficult without an extra pair of hands. Fortunately I was able to get it tight enough and then went back to using the screws to fine tune it.

Finally a massive Good luck to all the Brits and selected others (Minaar and C.G.) at the Windham Downhill World Cup round tomorrow and also to everyone taking part in the Megavalanche! Oh and of course a good luck to the guys competing in the XC at Windham right now!

Progress and pigeons

The Kona Lanais’ main issue is the bottom bracket, it’s old worn and basically knackered so replacing that is most important, everything after that is just improving the performance. Unfortunately a lot of my tools are back at my parents place. The tools I have with me so far have allowed me to remove the cranks, which took a bit of brute force and ignorance, but once off allowed me to give them and the rest of the bike a proper clean up, as well as give me access to the bottom bracket in the future. I removed the rear wheel and set to work with a toothbrush, a small screw driver, a tub of hot water and washing up liquid and some Muc–Off I borrowed from one of the lads. I previously had always thought that a bit of washing up liquid was just as good as any specially made product, and decided to test this theory out, funnily enough Muc-Off works far far better.

Removing the cassettes made cleaning them and the hubs much easier, using the toothbrush to scrub the oil and detritus off and using the small screwdriver to clean between the rings, I am waiting for the proper brushes and a chain cleaner as it should save a lot of time and effort and actually work better. As well as the cassettes I cleaned down the frames, mechs, chains and chainrings so they’re pretty shiny now.

I decided to do a run to Ikea, which was an interesting experience, only half sure of the route and in no way used to riding through traffic - I got off and pushed at big junctions. When I got there I rushed around the shop worried that my, well locked up but very visible, bike wouldn’t be there when I got back. Thankfully it was and I only had a couple of sketchy moments riding through town, such as nearly running a pigeon over and the guy who decided to pull out of a side street as I passed it.

The Beginning

I’ve always enjoyed fixing bikes and have spent the last 13 years or so doing up my own bike which started life as a rigid Trek 820. The first thing I did was replace the forks, bars and stem after I’d snapped my handle bars while doing my paper round, since then the only original things left are the frame and the saddle and seat post. While embarking on the last leg of this transformation I was asked to have a look at a few friends bikes, doing what I could to fix them.

Having now moved into a house with some old friends in Bristol I was asked by one of them to do some work on his mountain bike, a Kona Lanai and another of my house mates is having some minor issues with his Kona Fire Mountain so as the project on my bike draws to a close, more opportunities have appeared to practise my bike maintenance skills. At the same time other friends in the area have mentioned they could do with their bikes getting a quick once over. More than happy to help and only asking a couple of beers and the price of any parts I’ve set to work and decided to try and report my progress in this blog, as well as documenting the occasional ride or event.

Speaking of events big congratulations to Josh ‘Ratboy’ Bryceland and Danny Hart for their results at last weekend’s Mountain Bike World Cup round in Mont Sainte Anne.