Eating shit & flowers...

Got some of the new Coalition/Union grips from Cyclone in the mail today. After a flying visit to the local bike shop for some patches & back home for a puncture repair, I fitted the grips to my 20"

I use GT85, a teflon based lubricant/degreaser (WD40 also works well) to fit grips, as you can slide them onto the bars easily & they dry on in about an hour. A liberal squirt down the grip & a quick rub around with a finger of your choice is all you need :-) I've never had problems with grips slipping yet & you don't get any residue when it comes to cutting them off when they are worn out, like you do with glues or hair sprays...

To say they are bright would be an understatement! but I think they look nice & they certainly feel nice too. As the nfo sheet that comes with the grips states: A quality grip with swear words on...

& they match my garden flowers perfectly!

Thanks to Cyclone for their usual 'super fast mail order'

Sun is out so a spot of riding is on the cards...

Ghostrider...

Looking for some alternative cycle interests, outside of BMX, I came across this site...



A poignant reminder of how riding down your local street can get you dead.

RIP

Hello old friend...

I'll tell you, the odds seemed against a session at Combe bowl yesterday, people dropped out, the weather was looking doubtful, my ribs were still giving me shit but, alas, the hardcore got to caress those luscious Combe curves once again.

I picked up Sboy's bike as he was in Oxford & we arranged to meet in the village. The car trip was one of anticipation, cloud watching & finger crossing that the rain would hold off & soon enough I was parking up at the cricket pitch. Bikes unloaded & a short wait for S & we were walking the field, feeling that 'Combe vibe'. No one else riding but plenty of people around, enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the park, chilling out & watching the men in white & their little red ball. We made camp & started with a few runs from the top of the keyhole :-)

After a short time spots of rain began & it continued to deteriorate into a shower so we took refuge under the trees & spent some time discussing the trials & tribulations of life & pretty soon the rain had stopped & the sun was making something of an effort to get us riding again. Some dumb kids turned up for a game of football in the bowl & after some blatant ignorance, on our part, they gave up the 'can you do a blah blah blah' banter & went on their way. With the bowl drying out nicely we sessioned again, S made some nice hip jumps, fast plants & carved the bowl fast & with style. I think I made some nose picks (surprise) & even a pretty good 540 variant. When we had had enough & the sky was looking like more rain was imminent, we called it a day & walked back up the field to the cars.

I'd love to know who actually built the bowl, just so that I could say thank you to them for the effort taken to do so & for the good times that I've had there as I'm sure, anyone who's ridden there over the years, has had too...


Splendid.

bruising

Check me out

Day after crash:



Day after day after crash:



Bruise is spreading, and there's a little bit on the inside of my ankle now too which is new today.
That dark stuff near my toes is bruise too, not fluff, as I initially thought.

Story goes, I was gonna go riding/play with camera, so I headed in to town, down that monster hill that is broad street, and swing round the corner into marlborough street, which is surprisingly full of parked cars and two people in the middle of the road. I miss the people, and the first car I was going to hit, realise the second one is coming right for me and bail, roll my foot over a goodun, and get my bike wedged under a car. Joy.
"Oh my god are you alright?" is pretty far down the list of thing I want to be hearing right now, but they say it at least three times. Cunts. I also have some gravel rash on my elbow.
I untangle my bike from the car(this makes a nasty noise, I think they have some door/bodywork damage but I honestly couldn't give a flying one) and start to continue into town, thinking I can still ride, putting my seat straight, but my foot is swelling up before my eyes and my pedal is at a horrible angle so I head home, where Emma convinces me I should go to hospital, so I do, and sit around for ages, and they tell me it aint broken, and walking on it normally and keeping it moving will make it heal quicker/better, but it'll probably be a couple of weeks before I walk normal, and six weeks before I can do "sport". Yippee.
And I banged my right thigh(other leg) and have difficulty bending my knee, so walking is nae fun.
Did I mention that on saturday I ordered new forks, tyres and shoes, what with it actually being dry.

From a bad one to a good one...

Yeah! it's always good to follow a poor riding session with a particularly good one! You gotta make good use of the little sun we've seen so far this year, so Sboy & I were, once again, tripping over to Chacombe for some Saturday afternoon BMX'ing. We both made some stuff, rode hard & had a good little session in the lovely weather...

What more could you want!?

A Splinter or two...

Here's the result of a nice slide across the plywood.



I've had to shave my leg so that i can pull out the splinters without clumps of hair coming with them (ouch) A build up of puss has now set in (yummy) so I'm off to try & dig out some more...

... now where's those damn tweezers?

mid week session...

I often find myself writing negative things about riding sessions & yes, BMX in general I suppose, so when I got home last night, I was feeling like I wish I hadn't bothered...

I've not ridden spiceball for a while as we have been having some good sessions over at Chack (when the weather is forgiving enough) so I figured I should go get some riding in, down at my local. SB has a funny vibe to it, sometimes when it's quieter & there are a few riders getting their groove on, it can be great but more often than not, the shitheads are in attendance. Last night was not good for me, I couldn't make nowt & I don't dig riding on my own so, along with a few wipeouts & the aforementioned shitheads resident, I was defeated & heading back home...

Today I have a shin full of plywood splinters & a feeling SB is best left well alone...

Combe anybody?