More trails, new forks!! and the need for training partners.

So the new found love of mountain biking continues and I found a short gem of a route last weekend that can easily be expanded by the sound of things.

First off I'll say I just got myself some new forks, a very pretty looking set of Rock Shox Revelations which look absolutely mint! But combined with some new flat handlbars and race face stem, I've knocked a good 1-2 kg off the front end of my bike, which has made a huge difference. Now add the fact the revelations actually work (compared to the crappy RST things that came with my bike!) and I can ride with loads more confidence over the roughest terrain.

Which brings me back to this route. It started off very dull - 6-7 miles of road riding to get to Macc Forest. Road riding on a mountain bike is dull... or so I've decided because after all the road riding I've done I don't like not being able to go fast on the tarmac. So it was nice when the reservoir's came into site and marked my approach to the Forest and the trails.

You can maybe see that the route up into the woods was shrouded in cloud. This looked pretty cool from down below and I was looking forward to getting up there. And I wasn't dissapointed. The trails were great, after a short and VERY steep section of road you turn off into the woods and carry on climbing for 20 minutes or so. This was more of a steady grind, and on a clear day would have rewarded you with a great view... I just saw fog! On the plus side there was this really eery mist seeping through the woods which was just cool to ride through... see below!

I started to come across groups of walkers going through the woods, which was a wee bit annoying because I had to slow down! Damn ramblers! Coming to the end of the forest trails I met another mountainbiker coming the opposite direction. Chatted to him for a bit and he told me that the way I was heading I'd be going UP this awesome downhill section, and that I should really have done the route the other way round. 10 minutes later I came across the downhill he was talking about..... and started trying to inch up it. This was where the new forks came into their own. It was more loose stony ground and I could bounce my way over rocks with far more confidence!

The picture above is a section of the descent I was grinding up, more of the loose slippy stuff I seem to be finding all over the Peaks. After the climb it was a fairly non-descript descent down some wide forest grit roads (at the bottom of which I almost ran over this blokes yappy little chiwawa dog thing..... I might have been aiming for it!). Then onto the roads and back to the car.

Overall a good route round the forest but would have been better in the opposite direction. To improve it I would cut out the road section and park right below Macc Forest, then look for other trails to make the offroad section much longer!

So still loving the mountainbiking and now looking forward to the inaugural TRI camp in the Lakes. Mountain biking on custom built trails will be awesome, the core strength advice/chat will be good too. The trail running will hurt... but might get me back into running mode.

But I think the biggest thing I've realised over the last couple of months is the need for training partners. I plugged away for 5 months in the build up to Lanzarote, averaging 10 hours a week all on my tod. I think the fact that I had kind of got fed up with that contributed to my Ironman-itus afterwards! So I've made a decision and joined Manchester Tri Club. They have loads of sessions (you can swim everday) and seem to be a very sociable club. So hopefully having a group to train with and some structured swim sessions to go to will help get me back into proper training. I definitely won't be abandoning TRI though, train with the club and race for our ever expanding TEAM!!