A bit of a late minute decision this one.
I wasn't going to bother riding some of the Wiggle rides this year, but went along today with a mate, and rode the 32 mile Wiggle Ups And Downs.
Despite the heavy rain first off, I was glad that did. I had intended to ride it on the pedal MTB, but my left knee has been a nightmare this week, and just pushing down on the clutch pedal in the motor has been enough to send me reeling in agony.
So the e-mtb it was.
Usual cheating comments abounded, but given that I can very easily kill the battery in less than twenty miles, I don't consider riding 32 miles and still returning afterwards with less than two fifths of energy gone, cheating. I'd say that I did bloody well to conserve it and shows just how much that I must have ridden unassisted.
One post ride, knackered looking, scratched to hell Nyon display. I need to find the time to fit the Intuvia system to the bike.
Mid way through the ride, I became separated from the lad that I was riding with. I was in front of him and had assumed that along with a group of other riders, that he had taken a wrong turn. I waited for 15 minutes for him to appear, then set off again, only to find out after the ride had finished, that he had received a puncture. I also suffered one, which was on the front tyre that contained the Stans tubeless set up. It took ages for it to re seal! Given that the Stans tubeless set up has failed and balled up after only months of use, I can't recommend it to anyone.
Speaking of tyres.. After not being able to fit the rear WTB Vigilante to the Swiss DT rim again, I was running a very odd set up of a Rocket Ron on the rear, but still had a WTB Vigilante on the front. It felt odd to start with, and the back kept stepping out, but I quickly got used to it, and actually made the most of it. Even if I say so myself, my down hill times today were pretty impressive, right down to me getting wrongly agitated by slower riders. When I got back and looked at Strava, I was really surprised to see that all of the down hill times were very creditable, and on one section, I had a third fastest out of 346 riders, but this has now changed to fourth fastest out of 503 riders, and three seconds behind the fastest time that was set a year or so ago. My poor forks also took a mega bashing when I hit a ditch square on at roughly 25mph. I had them set to trail, not descent, and the noise of them bottoming out, must have been heard in the next county! Thankfully they stood it, which is testament (and luck) to their quality.
This was only the second time that I have ridden this route and some of it had changed, but interestingly I had 25 down hill personal records, when compared to last year on the BH, and the only slower stats, were up hill sections, where I was just poodling along at my mates speed, and not taking the full benefit from the electric motor. Total achievements were 48, which isn't bad for one ride
I had a slight close one the road, when a van in front stopped to give way to an oncoming vehicle. I pulled up to stop, then couldn't release my foot from the clipless set up. I was just going over, when the van moved forward, and somehow I managed to move forward enough to prevent myself from falling, and release from the pedal. That one could have been embarrassing!
I also pulled my bad knee pretty badly, whilst trying to stay hooked to the rear of a fast rider on a descent. He must have known the terrain, and I wasn't about to let him go, so followed every line that he did, but his bike was much lighter and agile, and after a very quick flick left then right, I couldn't carry it off and pulled my knee trying.
The final bit of fun came on the last descent. I hooked onto the rear of three lads that were going balls out, and tried desperately to pass them, but at 32mph, I was spinning out, and just wasn't getting anywhere despite me trying as hard as I could. When we got to the bottom of the descent, I happened to glance down and couldn't see the rear derailleur. A WTF moment went through my head, mainly because I could still pedal, but wasn't moving forward. My faith in the Bosch motor is already zero anyway, and I instantly thought that yet another bearing failure or worse had occurred, but upon stopping I realised that the chain had jumped off from the front sprocket! Good old Bosch, nothing changes! I thought that issue was supposed to have been sorted, but clearly not.
Look a clean bike!!!!
