Obsessive Cycling Disorder from OTT

Whilst those poor overpaid footballers where suffering at Wembley in 40 degrees we spent the afternoon in 25 degrees on a mixed ride of XC and trail through East Herts. An area I have not ridden before, but Mark M guided us ( Mark M, Mark S, Simon, & me, Rich) . Some steady climbs, with me at the back and some downhill and XC. An OTT first was me leading the group thru the first 2 miles alongside the river. The total ride was 28 miles and I wish we had filmed it as some of the sights where certainly worth recording - When we got to the A10 and could see Canary Wharf in the distance Simon and I thought we had taken a wrong turn, but that was later in our ride. Whilst riding on tarmac (arghh!) we came across a kid on a hardtail who rode a “wheelie” for the total distance, racing us in the process - respect. I am sure others will add to this story, Cheers Rich

click to see map and route 28miles

This is an initial proposal for the Saturday route.  It takes in many of the better sections from the original Evans ‘long’ route from April 18th.  I hope you’ll like it.

Some of you asked about a team jersey - so here we go unless you want to spend £37 and have a wider choice of colours etc - if we go this route I suspect no-one will agree on design etc- so I have found a company who can supply the shirts and have a local company to screen print the OTT bit - We will have to order in the next 14 day to guarantee price

 

click on thumbnail for larger image (www address on rear)

Large (40-42″), XLarge (42-44″) XXLarge (44-46″) XXXLarge (46-48″) remember these are road style and therefore close fitting - order to rich@ottmountainbike.co.uk

If you don’t like the Orange Style - take a look at - www.cycle-clothing.co.uk

Rich

Just had to buy some tubes (some of us are still using them) and a new rear hanger there are some good deals about. If anyone wants some tubes I bought a few extra, so just £2.33 each -leave a message on the board

woolyhatshop - 6 kenda schraeder tubes for £14

pearce cycles - rear spesh hanger £10

Rich

  Bit late with this post but thought I’d pop it here anyway.

  With Simon being unavailable for our usual Saturday afternoon jaunt, I decided to check out some of the other parts of the Evans route.  Basically I covered all the sections that made up the medium & long routes.  I started out from home and took the route down to the River Lea that several of you rode with me on the 9th May.  It was the same section into Little Berkhamsted followed by an immediate drop back down to the River Lea.  After a short road section, a lovely climb through a wooded area and back up to the top again. Only 8.5 miles into the ride & I’ve climbed up to Berkamsted twice - crazy! 

  The familiar section continued  until I reached the entrance of Blackfan Wood.  This is a very nice shaded ride and longer than I imagined it to be.  A steeper road section followed then into the woods again for a long ride heading North above Brickendon.  Onwards to Monks Green then looping round with a road section to join ‘Ermine Street’ - the Roman Road that takes us into Hertford Heath.  A quick loop and a bit of deer-spotting sees me back on the Roman Road and continuing South on the edge of Hoddesdonpark Wood.  Another short road section and back into the woods to climb North up to Monks Green once again.

Heading towards Brickendon and my Garmin had me confused.  It had truncated the route and it just seemed to stop the route in the middle of nowhere.  As I now confirmed that I had a puncture (having inflated the tyre twice) and another thorn hitching a ride in my sidewall knobblies, I headed back to Monks Green and down into Hertford to return  along the Cole Green Way.   After removing the offending thorns, the puncture self-sealed and hasn’t yet been repaired even after another 22 miles on Sunday.

  Overall there are some really nice sections through woods on this part of the route.  Generally most of the woodland parts allow for side by side riding and would be great for a group ride.  I’m sure some parts would also be great fun at night.  It’s very sad that none of these were featured on the short route which I feel was very disappointing.  The only part i didn’t cover was the very short section shown in green on the route below.  It still came in at 33.5 miles so a nice ride all the same.
                            

              

Mark (Trance 3) 

  

Was a great ride in glorious sunshine and finished with pint in the Amble Inn - Perfect.  Here’s the route and Motion Based Player link.

This weekend we had another “newbie” - David, who trained it up from the wilds of North London to see for himself if the rides in Herts are worth it!. Just over 2.5 hrs and 23 miles at a steady pace, I even managed the slope up to Whitwell Tower “again” and David was at home with the faster XC trails on his Marin hardtail. Both Mark and David had Garmin 205’s, so I expect we will see the route on the blog soon. The ride had a couple of minor events with Mark coming face to face with a muzzled German Shepherd (Mark won!) and I had a 7″ screw find its way into my rear tyre, seconds after telling David how good 2Bliss tyres are! - A warm sunny day followed by the now traditional drink in the Amble.  - Rich

Mark and “OTT Newbie” David

click here for a QT panoramic version of the image below

A few days away at Centre Parks Longleat with the family provided the ideal opportunity to try out my Garmin Edge 205, which was a Birthday present from the wife and kids. (Well I chose it but they treated me!) I can honestly say it was well worth it as I got totally lost in unfamiliar territory and without it I would have taken even longer. It was a reminder of some of our winter slogs through the thick mud after recent rain but was good fun all the same. The ‘interesting’ route shows how lost I was in places!

 Rich A

  After yesterday’s incident with Greg destroying his rim,tyre & tube; things could only get better. 

 Tim cycled from Markyate to join Mark ‘Sparks’ who travelled from Stanmore and myself for another OTT Sunday jaunt.  We left our usual Batford Mill starting point and headed uphill to the singletrack through the woods at the top.  Down the road and left to the start of the uphill track.  A sharp right along the edge of the woods and then down through the rapeseed fields to Kimpton. 

  Throwing a left at Claggy Road to climb the steep track into the great twisty trail through Park Wood, across the field and back into the village.   Up to the water tower atop Whitwell village for an easy reverse run down the adjacent root-strewn and stone-littered track.  Out onto Lilley Bottom Road and along until we reached the next long climbing section past Garden Wood and down into King’s Walden.

  It had been my intention to reverse several sections of a long ride I did previously and all was going well  until Ley Green.  In error, I took a wrong turn and instead of heading to Austage End we had a long road ride into Great Offley.  Oops! sorry guys.                      Luckily Tim knew a route from here with a nice downhill section so he promptly took over the lead.

  We dropped down into Lilley and then back off-road and up the very steep slope further North from the previous downhill section.  We followed this track towards Telegraph Hill and down the Icknield Way to exit on the Hitchin Road just East of Pegsdon.  We followed the road for a short distance and then took the track leading to Wellbury House.  Unsure of the route home, we followed the paths  along the edge of the fields until we joined the A505.  We were swiftly joined by a very keen cycling family from Hitchin who kindly showed us a lovely wooded climb back up to Great Offley.  Many thanks to them for the directions.

  It really was time to be heading back as the mileage was mounting up by now.  Time for another big road section following Lilley Bottom into Breachwood Green.  Once on our way out of the village, we took to the trail again across to Wandon Green Farm.  We headed back to Kimpton via Ansells End whilst Tim headed back (on the green route) to Markyate.

  Mark and I climbed the track alongside the animal welfare centre - haven’t done that one in ages.  Onto Sauncey Wood Lane and back down for a well deserved pint at the Amble Inn.   We sat in the garden enjoying our drinks when much to our surprise, there was a loud BANG.  Everyone looked round and it appeared that Mark’s tyre had just gone pop on it’s own.  After being so far from Batford it was a relief that this happened within easy pushing distance of his car.   A later autopsy revealed a 6mm hole in the inner tube with no signs of thorns and zero damage to the tyre.

  I said at the beginning that this ride could only get better after yesterday’s incident.  I am beginning to wonder if Mark’s inner tube decided to self-puncture/explode in sympathy with Greg’s tube.  One never knows.  Bicycles can be funny things.

Mark and I managed 33 miles and Tim had completed 42 upon arrival at home.  A bit more road work than I was comfortable with - my fault, but a lovely day for a ride.

- Mark (Trance 3) 
The Route

Elevation Profile

  

  Saturday 9th May saw a good turnout at my flat for a 20 mile ride round the Evans short route.  I led the way followed by ‘newbie’ Brad, Greg, James, Richard & Simon.  We cycled down Hollybush Lane, Ascots Lane & Gypsy Lane to get off-road in the shortest possible distance.  Once on the trail along the Lea Valley, we followed this until it exits just North of Essendonbury Farm. 

  We had to do a short road stretch from here to take us to the start of the ride up to Little Berkhamsted.  This path runs south past the gravel pits then parallel with Bedwell Park golf course.  A short steep climb takes us to Danes Farm and soon onto Berkhamsted Lane and through the village itself.  Right at Stratton’s Folly and onto a nice section through Bucks Alley Wood.

 Stratton’s Folly - it enabled Admiral Stratton to see his ships moored on the Thames

  Another short road section saw us join the bumpy track alongside the route of Ponsbourne railway tunnel, through Ponsbourne Park and on to Newgate Street.  Here we pick up part of the Hertfordshire Way then veer off to run through the fields and a longer road section to Woodside Place.

  A pleasant tree-lined ride takes us onto a small lane where we quickly dive off-road once more.  Having done this route several times recently, I expected no problems - even though this is the same trail that i chin-surfed back in May 2008.  We took this at a fair pace and Simon charged past on the inside when we suddenly saw the deep rut created by recent rain.  It appears that a concrete section approx. 4 feet square had been washed from the path exposing a channel with a drainage pipe.  Simon passed without issue, I followed just to the right and Greg launched his front wheel over but was followed by a sickening bang.  I thought he’d fallen but he was still on his bike.   I assumed his forks had died prematurely but the truth was yet to unfold.  

  It seems Greg managed to find the only rock protruding from the far edge of the deep rut.  This put a large 3 inch dent in his Halo Freedom rim, split the tyre and cut the tube with two 1 inch long snakebites.  I thought these wheels were bombproof but they certainly aren’t OTTproof!  James kindly supplied a tyre patch and after a false start with a pre-punctured tube, We got going again to West End. 

  From here an easy coast back down to the River Lea and eventually home.  A nice easy ride with good weather made it a great way to spend Saturday afternoon  apart from the incident that destroyed Greg’s wheel/tyre & tube.

It just goes to show that even a regularly ridden trail can hold surprises of the most nasty & expensive kind.  Fortunately no injuries occured but we should all expect the unexpected and keep a safe distance between riders - just in case. 

- Mark (Trance 3)

 The route

 Happy Greg - prior to the wheel destroying ride

L to R Simon, myself & Brad. James & Richard in the background.

->   More pics to follow shortly   <-

Take a look at the latest vids from Mark on our media pages also there are some great desktop icons available on the OTT Stuff pages - just click on the media logo below - Rich

A good turn-out (Monday night) is becoming a regular thing - Nice to see some faces who have not been able to ride lately (can’t understand why they prefer to go ski-ing in Canada & France however?). As large qtys of Aspells and Werry was consumed it’s not surprising that one of us forgot to pay for a meal - so feel free to own up (Pete got the blame, but it  wasn’t him, so sorry Pete)- I promise not to publish your name for all to see. Any suggestions for the next time out - venue/date etc?

Rich

Hi - just a quick note, I had to change the host for the website which includes stuff like the blog and e-mails - If you have an OTT e-mail address you will have to change the password again and if you kept the links oin your favourites - visit WWW.OTTMOUNTAINBIKE.CO.UK and replace them with the new ones - cheers Rich

  After a really great ride from Sandridge led by Simon (see his blog entry below); Greg & I loaded the bikes onto my car.  We headed back to Welwyn Garden City where we promptly unloaded them and immediately started on a second 20 miler.  Mad or what!  From my house, we quickly picked up the bottom of the Evans run and headed along the River Lea to Howe Green.  From here we followed the trail up to Little Berkhamsted where we picked up a nice bridleway for a short distance.  A stretch of road followed passing the excellent trail in Bencroft Wood and turning right down to Wormley West End.  Being such a glorious day, a pint just had to be had at the Woodman pub.   

After our refreshment stop, I assured Greg he would see a Lion on the route back.  Sure enough, the White Lion was sitting on the raised area in it’s enclosure as we cycled past Paradise Wildlife Park. “Told you”, I said smugly.  After a short stop to admire the King of the Jungle, we continued our journey home.

The route through the Pine tree’s was beautiful and the track was in great shape.   The uphill stretch to Monk’s Green was a little difficult but once there, it’s a nice trail through to the road that drops in to Hertford.  A few little ups & downs on the way past Brickendonbury and then into Hertford itself where we were to pick up the Cole Green Way - another former railway track - for our final leg back to Welwyn.  The path was very dry which is nice, as by now the miles were certainly adding up.  We cruised back to Welwyn where we parted to go our own ways.  Back home & the Garmin showed another 20.15 miles to add to the 21.97 we did with Simon just hours earlier.  All said, a jolly good 42 mile cycling day with great singletrack, beer & a lion.  What more could you ask for?

Here’s the route…

       

…and here’s the lion!    

 

Mark (Trance 3) 

  

I have spent a whole week without my spesh - I have even been tempted to pinch my sons rockhopper and replace his flatties with my spuds - from full suss to hardtail in just 7 days, if I get further withdrawl symtoms I may even risk using my wifes Giant Bolder (circa 2002) - Having relied on my mates to rescue me in the past and my economic approach to riding ( I am a tight ****) I have had to give in to the lure of the LBS workshop as major mechanical failure has set in (several bits have decided to collapes at the same time), so - two BB’s , a rear mech, front mech,rear shifter, chain & several cables later I may have a bike for next week - arrrrrrrrrgh (hope my wife does not read this-hence no name|)I cant expect the guys to keep me out of the bike shop forever!