Well my first foray onto the dirt in awhile didn't go very well. My poor neglected bike let me know that just pulling it out of the shed and slapping a bit of chain lube over the crustiness infecting the chain and sprockets just wasn't going to cut it, oh and the brakes had a …
Continue reading A Three step Plan for Mountain biking Mediocrity.
Well the answer is literally nowhere really. I just haven’t been riding much at all. I haven’t been injured, had the dreaded ‘C’ word, had all the bikes stolen …….. I just haven’t been riding. Since the last MTB ride I did at the end of January Strava tells me I’ve ridden my road bike …
The basis for riding heaven? So, for those that read my last missive, here is the result of much internet auction site searching in my quest to replicate the unobtainable Santa Cruz dream machine that realigned my Mountain biking expectations last time out. It’s a 2019 Cotic Rocket frameset and this will be the basis …
One of the perhaps lesser known Biblical parables is the story of the Merchant and the Pearl often known as The Parable of the pearl beyond price. To heavily paraphrase the verses basically a rich Merchant see’s a beautiful gigantic pearl and is so consumed with the need to possess it he sells everything else …
Continue reading The Pearl Beyond Price. A Mountain biking Parable For Our Times.
I rode au-natural the other day. Casting off the shackles of my normal riding conventions I set off unburdened and free into the unknown. It was a challenge, it was painful and exhilarating in equal measure and it felt good. Don't worry I did have lycra on. It wasn't that sort of ‘au-natruale’. I’m talking …
It's been a busy couple of days in Declining Cyclist land. One might almost think I was thinking of taking my riding seriously again! Two days running I've put a significant ride in both in and out of doors. I'll give you a quick run down, I know you're all waiting with bated breath and …
There I've said it. It's out in the open. The secret is out, and the angst in my cyclists soul is laid bare, but that's fine. You see they say with age comes wisdom and experience. Well I'm not sure about wisdom and all experience seems to tell me is that getting up in the …
Continue reading I’m not the rider I could be, and I’m cool with that.
Ever had a ride when you get home and wish you hadn't bothered? One when you've spent almost the entire ride wondering if fishing might actually be the sport for you and how much a decent rod and reel would cost? Well I did yesterday. I've had such rides before and I'm sure I'll have …
So long time to blog, and seeing as the last one was written around the subject of Fish Keeping, it's even longer since I put both middle fingers to keyboard on the subject of bikes and the riding there of. Well mea culpa (whatever that means), sorry, I know I've been letting down my loyal …
Continue reading Spring has Sprung at last – Time to ride mes amis……..
Well, firstly let me say there really isn't one. This is just an exercise in finding excuses for the lack of recent cycling in my life, but having thought about it while I've been typing this first sentence I think my semi-fertile grey matter may have conjured up a very tenuous connection that I can …
Continue reading The Link Between Marine Fishkeeping and Cycling
The Declining Cyclist 