Inspiration - #doorstopmile #microadventure

The last couple of days have to be honest been a bit of a struggle.

So this morning I was scrolling through YouTube and up popped Alistair Humphreys and a new video.

You can watch the video below, I must say he hit the #microadventure nail right on the head.

When you think of adventure you think of possibly Polar Explorers, or maybe rafting down the Amazon, you know real epic stuff.

But what happens if you haven't time or money for these huge adventures?

This is where a #microadventure comes in - it can be something as simple as what I did today and that was ride to the coast, it only took me 10 minutes and do you know what - it did me the world of good!

I felt better as soon as I got on my bike, I knew it was only going to be a short ride so I gave it all I had and as a result I have now beat 6 Personal Records today.

So here is Al's video - it's entertaining, light hearted, and fun but it does carry this serious message that you need to get outside and do something different.




I do hope you watched it right to the end!

So my ride today was to Barton Beach and back, just 13.7km in length but I did give it all the beans in a few places and like I said came away with 6 Personal Records.

The waves were crashing on the beach and it really did make me feel glad to be alive.

Below is a very short 55 second video of me down there.

View this post on Instagram

Inspired by @al_humphreys earlier with his latest video here I am at the coast! #microadventure #doorstopmile #fatbike #bicycleandbeards

A post shared by Jools Mauro (@fatbloketravels) on Oct 31, 2018 at 7:21am PDT

From the beach there is a steep climb up to the Beach Comber Cafe.

Last time I tried to ride up the hill I had to bail out around 1/4 of the way up. Today I absolutely "Griepled" it to the top and it felt good.

Resting at the top in one of the shelters I heard the unmistakable "Wokka Wokka" of a Chinook flying in fast and low, I just about managed to get a shot of it as it followed the coast West.

The flyboys must of been having a ball doing that run.

I hope you have maybe been inspired to go and do something different, there really is no excuse not to is there?

Ride safe....................

Used Fat Bikes For Sale On Ebay UK November 2018

If you are thinking about buying a Fat Bike but not sure you want to commit to spending the big bucks then why not look at buying a used Fat Bike.

With a half decent Fat Bike costing from around £700 it's a big chunk of cash to spend if your not sure if a Fat Bike is for you or not.

Of course you could go ahead and spend half the amount of money on a brand new Chinese Imported Fat Bike, but to be honest the reliability, the components and the overall build quality will have you wishing you spent your money a little more wisely.

Silver new 26" 21 Speed Snow Mountain Bike Beach BICYCLE 4.0" Fat Tire

The above bike is a budget entry bike, and only costs £280.00 which is nothing for a new bike, but you get what you pay for.

The spec is not bad with disc brakes, front shocks, 21 gears and a steel frame, and as it goes for that sort of money it's not bad. 

Of course if you never intend to take your Fat Bike off road, and use it only for riding to the pub and back then the cheap and cheerful Chinese Fat Bikes will be more than adequate.

However, I soon found out that the inner child in me had me riding through the gnarliest, muddiest and roughest terrain I could find, simply because I could and the bike could handle it.

Not sure a cheap import would last too long!

So I decided to take a look to see what you could get for your money on Ebay UK.

I found a few bikes, so if you like the idea of a Fat Bike but want to buy a good used bike then these are the ones you should be looking at.

The first bike I found was a Mongoose - Sold via Halfords, all though I'm not sure that they sell the Fat Bikes any more? Plus many other distributors throughout the UK.

At £320 it's around the same as an import but at least you know it will have a slightly better build quality. At the end of the day this is still a UK entry level bike even when brand new.

Mongoose 26" Fat Bike Red - Hardly Used

The next bike I came across was the Voodoo Wazoo - costing around £500.00 new and this one is on at £330.00 and is hardly used.

Voodoo Wazoo Fat Bike

Plenty going for this bike with it's Hydraulic Brakes and Alloy frame, but it does weigh a whopping 16.5Kg. But again a good UK entry level Fat Bike.

+++++

This bike is around the £1000.00 when new, so this at around 2 years old and with only light use is a sound price at £350.00

Charge Cooker Maxi Fatbike, White

This is a 2016 model with an aluminium frame, hydraulic brakes and a white frame which is apparently rare these days and 20 gears.

+++++

This next bike was around the £1000.00 plus mark when new, highly regarded as a great bike and with the upgrades the owner has done is a good price for a high end bike.

Salsa Mukluk 3 (2015) Fat Bike 19" Large

The Salsa Mukluk comes with almost brand new Surly Nate tyres - cost alone over £100 so with everything else that has been added a cost of £650.00 is not unreasonable.

+++++

My next find was this great bike with all the gear you need for an off road tour.

This is a Kona WO Fat Bike - Bike Packing Expedition Ready 19" Frame.

A real head turner plus it's a great bike made by Kona, well known for their build quality. Often the choice of round the world cyclists due to it's durability.

Kona WO Fat bike - Bike Packing Expedition Ready 19" Frame

It's got a price tag of only £750.00 I say only, but the bags alone would set you back several hundred pounds before you start!

+++++

I then came across a Surly Wednesday Fat Bike 19" large - up for sale at £825.00 but you can make an offer. 

Now that sounds like a whole load of cash, but the frame alone will set you back £600.00 if you were looking at building one from floor up! It also comes with brand new Surly Tyres (tubeless) and it does not look as if it has seen a great deal of action.

Surly Wednesday Fat Bike 19” large

+++++

My final bike is a Trek Farley 9 2016 model - the equivalent today would set you back over £2000.00 and this guy has added in excess of £1000.00 worth of extras. 

So with a price tag of £1075.00 and with offers accepted this is a bit of a bargain if you have a grand to play with.

Trek Farley 9 Fat Bike 2016

So there you have a good selection of bikes for around £1000.00 or less.

Which bike would I choose? tough question, but knowing what I know now it would be a tough choice between the Trek Farley 9 and the Surly Wednesday.

If I really had to narrow it down it would have to be the Surly - only because of how I ride - the Surly has loads of welded lugs for luggage.

I'm not a racer or down hill specialist, plugging away with luggage attached is more my thing.

Hope you found that helpful, I will try to do a monthly ebay report on Fat Bikes, any questions leave a message below in the comments section!

Ride safe........

Brooks Leather B17 Aged Saddle Review 1000km Completed

I have just realised that I have now completed over 1000km on my Brooks Leather B17 Aged Saddle.

Is it worth the money?

That is a good question, and one that I will happily answer.

Firstly, why did I change and why did I choose a Brooks.

I changed simply because after riding 50km on the Calibre Dune stock saddle I had excruciating arse pain!

It's the only way to describe it - If my life depended on it I would not of been able to peddle any further, I found it really uncomfortable.

So the hunt was on for a better saddle.

I had heard about Brooks, widely regarded as one of the finest saddles made, but it does have rivals which I also looked at.

But to be honest, none of them looked or had the pedigree that a Brooks saddle has.

It's expensive, but what price do you put on your own comfort - long days in the saddle without saddle sores makes it easy to forget about the price tag.

So as it stands having now completed to be precise 1231.9km on my Brooks saddle - Is it worth the money?

Without a single doubt - YES!

It is worth every penny, in fact I would go as far to say they could double the price and it would still be worth the money.

I do not suffer from a sore arse any more, even on a 100km ride, getting back on the bike is fine, it's only my overall fitness that lets me down these days!

I went for the Aged Saddle, it is supposed to be softer leather, and right from the very first ride I noticed a difference.

I still think that it is not fully broken in yet, so will see what it is like in another 1000km.

It certainly won't be any worse!

You can buy the same model as mine ----->>>>HERE<<<<-----

A few scuffs which I'm afraid was the result of me leaning my bike against a wooded garden chair and the chair deciding to move!

Other than that it still looks the same shape as when I fitted it. I have seen some very odd shaped saddles so maybe I just haven't put enough miles into it yet!

But if you are struggling with a sore arse and you have tried better padded shorts, then you really do need to try a Brooks saddle.

They make a whole range of saddles, mens and womens so no matter what you are or what you ride there is a saddle for you.

Ride safe......

Bolderwood Loop New Forest 48km On A Fat Bike

Took the fat bike out today and headed off in search of new trails.

Up onto Wilverley Plain, down towards Brockenhurst, and cut through on a gravel track to reach the Rhinefield road.

It was a bit blowy up on top of the plain but the sun was shining so I had to stop for a quick picture.

Past the Rhinefield Hotel and over the A35, just after crossing the road I turned into the car park for the Knightwood Oak. I have written about this place in a previous post.

Through the carpark and up a gravel track with a slight incline. It's then just a question of following the track.

The first few km's takes you deep into the forest, and I was completely on my own, no road noise, nothing.

It was old forest, with plenty of large oaks around, it really was wonderful to be out, especially as the sun often popped it's head out from behind the clouds.

There really is nothing better than watching the sun filter it's way through thick forest.

I managed to see some pigs and stopped to watch them for a few minutes.

Once I reached Bolderwood I looped around and headed South once more. I was looking for a track that would take me up towards the A31.

I came across a track but it had a "No Cycling" sign on it, I could of easily not seen it, but as I had thought that I would comply and seek an alternative route.

I carried on and eventually came across a tarmac road at a cross roads.



I decided to follow the road, up past a lovely big house in the middle of no where and continued onto a gravel track which after a really long climb brought me out on a track which ran parallel with the A31. 

I followed this track all the way back to Picket Post where I turned left and headed for Burley.

Here I watched the world go by for a few minutes and had a bite to eat.

Onwards out of Burley towards Bransgore, but at Burbush Car Park I turned left onto the Castleman trail - a disused railway line.

I followed this for a short distance till I hit Holmsley Passage and made my way up the hill.

Across the A35 and into the wooded area opposite, and made my way towards Holmsley Road.

From here it was a quick blast back past the Rising Sun Pub, big gears all the way home.

I did manage to break another Personal Record so was pleased with the overall effort.

Total distance covered 48.77km


Ride safe.........

Axiom LowRider Front Panniers Fitted To The Calibre Dune Fat Bike

A little while ago I bought a pair of Axiom LowRider Front Pannier Racks for my fatbike.

There were a few hurdles to cross before I could fit them and a bit of racking of the old brain cells and some handy engineering from my neighbour Dave.

Firstly the racks are designed to slide over the axle and then with the elongated quick release axle that is supplied with the rack do up as you would normally.

Great, but this is a fatbike and the axle supplied is 9mm and mine is 15mm!

I looked at drilling out the hole on the rack to 15mm, but if I did that there would just not be enough metal left to support the rack.

So I sourced a new axle from ebay, it's not quick release, but it fits and with the spacers provided does the job perfectly.

Link Here ----->>>>15mm x 230mm Axle<<<<-----

The other problem was that the part of the rack that the axle slides through has a large outer circumference and it would not fit properly within the recess of the forks.

So the longer axle with spacers were definitively required.

Now I still had the problem of how I would attach the rack.

I came up with a cunning idea.

I had my neighbour Dave make up some oval plates with two holes drilled though them.

One was 15mm which allowed the axle to go through it, and another hole was drilled out to 9mm which allowed the original hole (the one that should of been used for the axle).

Bolting the oval plate to the axle this allowed the rack to be bolted as it was intended but instead of through the axle - directly to the drop down oval plate.

This also meant that the centre of gravity was lowered by approx 20mm and that the clamps at the top were easier to mount as the fork leg was not as thick.

In saying that, I still had to swap out the metal plate that goes the other side of the U bolt in favour of some over sized washers I found.

My original plan was to buy a pair of pannier bags, but the more I think about it, the more I am inclined to go with the idea of having a combination.

I thought of having a Molle Dump Pouch like I all ready have on my handlebars, an extra water bottle cage (with water bottle) and then below it I can attach a dry bag.

In the dry bag I will store on one side, my sleeping mat, and the other my cooker and gas canister.

Will have to have a play around with the set up and see what works.

I took the bike out for a 14km ride to make sure it was secure and it was, so I'm happy that it coped ok.

There is only thing I will need to take extra care with, and that is when riding in ruts, that I don't get snagged with either the rack or attachments.

I had not been out on the bike for a few days due to being away and not feeling 100% so when I got home and looked at my stats on Strava I was pleased to see that I had broken a couple of my personal records.

One in particular is a long climb from Wootton Bridge up to the Rising Sun pub.

When I started riding back in April it took me 13.39 mins and I could not complete the climb in one go.

I was pleased to see that over time as my fitness levels have increased that my time now is 7.16 mins and I "Griepel" my way to the end of the segment.

It's rather motivating to see how far I have progressed.

Ride safe.....

Launch Of Cycle Together New Forest

The joy's of cycling

Since I started cycling again it has opened up a great deal of discussion on many areas of cycling.

One area which really got me thinking is the fact that many people would like to cycle but for a number of different reasons won’t.

The reasons I have heard have been the following:

The roads are too dangerous to cycle on.

I cannot get to the safe places to cycle such as the “New Forest Cycle Trails” or “Sea Wall Trails”.

Either of the two safe places to cycle as mentioned above are too far away for me to cycle to in the first place!

I don’t have the confidence to go cycling on my own.

Even if I could get to one of the many miles of “Trails” I haven’t a clue where to go once I'm there.

All of these reasons are totally valid, and justified.

I came to the conclusion that many people would love to get out on a bike if only they could get to somewhere safe to ride easily, and with someone with them to offer support and guidance.

So this is how the idea of "Cycle Together" came about.

I will pick you up from your home, load your bike onto the cycle rack, drive to our location that is well known to me and is perfect for your riding ability.

We ride around for an hour on cycle trail ways, well away from any motorists surrounded by either forest or the sea.

Then once the ride is over we load up and I drive you home.

It's a door to door service which solves all the problems of why people say they will not ride a bike.

I can even higher a bike for you if you do not have one, so you cannot even use "But I haven't got a bike" excuse!

The costs are kept to a minimum of just £10.00 per person, I will run 3 sessions a day, mornings, afternoons and evenings.

I will never make me a million, but it will make me rich in fitness levels, and the joy of watching and helping people enjoy the great outdoors. You cannot put a price on that.

I have put out feelers on various social media pages and had a reasonable response to the idea.

But you can never tell, time restraints, levels of laziness, family commitments all play a part.

So watch this space!

Fitting A Mudguard To A Fat Bike

Yesterday I went out in the rain and got a wet arse!

So today's mission was to find a way of solving this problem.

Not as easy as one would think - having 4" tyres and a rear pannier rack makes for fitting a mudguard a bit of a challenge.

I have in the past used various pieces of plastic bottles, a 5 litre screen wash bottle and a 2 litre Fairy washing liquid bottle have both been cut and played with.

I even bought a Topeak Defender RX MTB Mudguard, but found that it worked itself loose very quickly and was a complete waste of time.

With nothing to loose I decided that somehow I would make the mudguard fit.

It involved a hacksaw, a drill and some tie wraps.

I had to cut the top mounting bracket off - I cut it flush with the mudguard, drilled a couple of holes in it at each end and tie wrapped it to my pannier rack - 20 minutes to think about it and 5 minutes to execute and fit.

The result a proper job, and hopefully a dry arse!

Not sure if you can tell but it is actually round the other way than originally designed, but it does look reasonably professional!

You can buy the Topeak Defender RX MTB Mudguard on ebay. Click the link and it will take you straight there.

Will find out next time it rains if it actually works!

Ride safe....

Wilverley Enclosure Loop 18.1km On A Fat Bike

It had been raining all day, so I left it as late as I could before I ventured out.

Not that I am just a fair weather rider, but I see no point in getting wet if I don't have to.

Anyway, I did not intend to go far so thought a quick ride up to Wilverley Enclosure would be about right.

Heading straight from home and heading in a direction which kept me away from the busiest roads it did not take me long to get up to the Enclosure.

Once up at the carpark there is a handy loo, so took advantage of that and headed into the wooded area.

A bit wet, which makes it a bit tougher to cycle, but with 4" tyres it made short work of the conditions.

One thing I do need to do is sort out a rear mudguard. I had a wet arse more or less within 100 metres of setting off from home!

It had stopped raining, but the trees were still dripping.

I tend to ride around the outside of the Enclosure in an anti clockwise direction, there is just the one killer hill right at the end, it's not long but it is steep.

Once I had done the loop of the forest I headed back the way I came, climbing up the hill to the Rising Sun pub, a quick rest before big gears and I attempt to "Greiple" my way back along the three straights to home.

I managed a personal best, on the last stretch, pushing a top speed of 41kph or roughly 25mph not bad for a fat bloke on a fat bike with loaded panniers and after cycling 18km

Ride safe...

Castleman Trail - Brockenhurst To Ringwood On A Fatbike

I wanted to see how far you could actually travel on the Castleman Trail as it follows a disused railway track.

It was once part of the Southampton to Dorchester railway line, built in the mid 1800's by a Wimborne solicitor called Charles Castleman and the line gained the nickname the Castleman Corkscrew on account of the winding route it took.

The views by train would of been lovely, I can only imagine the revenue this train ride would attract if it were in operation today!

Closed by Dr Beeching in 1964 as part of the railway reform.

Sections of it have been turned into very good gravel cycle tracks, but there are parts that are impassable and totally overgrown.

I wondered if it was possible to  follow the old track and see if you could actually get through.

I saw a couple of original railway houses on my trip, I think this was the best example.

The trail for me starts just outside of Brockenhurst on the Sway road.



If you look bang in the centre of the map between where the two railway lines merge and is written B3055 there is a gravel track that leads off to the left.

This is the start of the trail.

The plan was simple, see how far I could get, so I headed off along the track.

This first section of trail takes you through the centre of Setthorns Campsite, and eventually ends up just North of Wootton Bridge.

Here the trail is non existent, you have to then follow the road to Burley till you get to Holmsley Tea Rooms which was the old Station House.




Here you can pick up the trail again, this time it takes you over the road "Holmesley Passage" and as far as Burdbush Car Park.




You can still see the old track on the other side of Pound Lane, however it is totally impassable even by foot. Thick vegetation and water has reclaimed the track completely.

I decided to try and cycle across the forest using an old track which ran along side the old railway line. I got as far as the next bridge, crossing it I continued but eventually came across a fence and marsh land.




This was as far as I could get by bike, I was on the North side of the old track.

You could probably get a little further along on the South side, but as you can see on the map it leads to a very marshy area with what appears to be a small pond.

I then followed the gravel track South and eventually found my way to Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre.

Getting back onto tarmac I headed for the next likely place to pick up the trail.

This was on Barrack Lane just South East of Crow.



Here I followed the trail which took me to the edge of Ringwood.

Unfortunately as you follow the trail under Crow Arch Lane it takes you onto waste land.

Followed shortly by a dead end which is where the cars are parked.

I could of climbed over a style to get out by decided that I had done enough for the day.



The weather was closing in and looked as if it was going to pour with rain, so I retraced my path and headed directly for home.

Total distance travelled was 50.5km, it did stay dry all the way home with just a few spots.

All in all a good ride, it is such a shame that the trail could not be complete, it would make a cracking ride, and a safe and easy ride from Ringwood into the New Forest.