Such Fun.

Oh I'm just having so much fun at the moment. The weather's been fine and I've been able to get out and ride almost every day. Finding new routes and some lovely technical little trails right on my doorstep has been the best thing about the past week, so I thought I'd include a little vid of the latest fun spots around here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O55zlsX8G4A
I'm getting really excited about going to Glenmore Lodge in just over a week's time to take my Trail Cycle Leader course and I hope to get some really good riding in around Aviemore while I'm over there as well. I'll be writing more about all that after the event. Then, in two weeks time I'm taking a group of 30 teenagers coast to coast from Ardgay to Ullapool which is going top be really fun trip. All in all I'm just having so many opportunities to do really good riding at the moment I've gotta consider myself very lucky indeed.

USE Atom Carbon Riser bar

I've got a pair of these bars for my singlespeed and having had them on the bike for a little while now I guess it's about time for a review...

I've always liked Ultimate Sports Engineering products and I got these bars as a little treat for myself when I finished the conversion of my hardtail over to singlespeed. 

The bars feel really light, at 170g. I know that there are lighter bars out there but I'm not the lightest guy and these feel super strong as well. They are full carbon construction, not bonded, but they do have alloy end pieces and brake area insets to help prevent crushing which is good as I feel happy using lock-on grips with them knowing that I'm not in danger of collapsing the weave.

They're not super wide at 660mm but they're a nice width for me and on a short stem (I've got a 60mm on at the moment) they track really well.

What's great is the way that they seem to soak up vibrations, mine are the 25.4 version and they seem to have this lovely springy feel and yet still feel stiff and precise. I've recently put 1.5 slicks on the bike as I'm using it for commuting duties and even on the road, the vibrations are damped by the carbon leaving me with tingle fee hands.

I guess I might have to consider getting a USE Sumo Carbon seatpost now, just to complete the set...

  

Spring is in the Air...

Sitting here and looking out of the window at the clear blue sky, all I can think about is getting out of work and getting out on the bike. Trails are starting to dry out and we've been able to get out until late every night this week, finding loads of new routes and clearing away some of the winter debris ready for a summer of fantastic rides.

Having planned to do all three of the Ten Under series as well as the Tour de Ben Nevis and Relentless, I've made now made a big decision not to race this year. The costs of racing just seem so high so I'm aiming to spend that time and money looking for some epic rides and getting out into the real wilderness as much as possible. Cape Wrath looks like an exciting possibility and I'd like to get the bike over to Skye for some big mountain riding.

On thing I am going to have to spend some money on is the World Cup at Fort William in June. I hope to get there for a couple of days and I'll try to get some video of Steve Peat, Sam Hill, Greg Minaar, Tracy Moseley and friends letting gravity do it's thing and I think Brian Lopes and Jared Graves will be riding in the 4X so right now I'm getting pretty stoked at the prospect of an awesome weekend. Let's hope that the warm weather is here in force by then and that we get glorious sunshine for a fantastic summer of riding.