Finish at 5, pack up and head to Whinlatter with a van full of bikes and bikers. The clouds looked as though we were gonna get a right old hammering of rain…but alas it stayed dry! I have always been about the rush of the ride, get down as quick as possible (and get up if you can be bothered!) but more recently I have stopped trying to go all out on the descents, only going 80% normal pace just to try and get some more flow and maybe even some style into my riding. I did just that here at Whinlatter, and I must say, I enjoyed the trail a lot more than I usually do! I even thought the climbs were ok! (and I didn’t use granny gear at all). Good group of guys to go biking with, and then ended with a cumberland sausage and chips in Keswick. Job done!

Top of the north side fire road

I used to pride myself on being one of the quicker folk down the fun bits, but even though it hurts me a little bit to say it, that is definitely not the case anymore, I am noticing more and more people gaining distance from me while I am in chase on the wonderful downs. I put it down to, me not getting slower, just not getting faster, while everyone else is out every weekend honing their skills I ain’t as frequent, thus not improving quite as much. So instead of trying to keep up and failing (and falling) I think it is time to work on my flow, because it is one thing to get down a technical descent, but it is another thing to get down it and make it look good and smooth. So that is what I am working on for now.

Took a handful of photos during the ride, none of them were perticularly good, so I loaded up the old faithful picasa which has recently updated to include some lovely instagram type effects, at the click of a button, your crap photos can turn into nice little arty pictures. My favourite effects were Lomo-ish, Holga-ish, Orton-ish and Cross Process. See if you can figure out which one is which 🙂

Big old Blue, he took the milky way.

After using the medium format camera, I now have a love for square photos

Smile for the camera 🙂

Ian with Richard in hot pursuit

Top of the North Side

This one isn’t actually editied…this is what it looked like!

Big Blue with his new wheels and vinyl wrapped bonnet (cheap mans bonnet bra)

Creepy massive cloud hangs over Keswick