Carbon-Monkey

I’m the first to admit that me and ‘training’ don’t get on too great.

I ride my bike because I love riding my bike and training seems to be the wrong reason to ride, so I don’t stick at it all that long, unless I trick myself into ‘training’.

Now I can’t trick myself into long training rides . . . → Read More: Cross ‘training’

Today is a good day

Today is real youth development work

Today we are in the woods, cooking lunch under canvas and using nature as our . . . → Read More: Working in the woods

It’s been a slow and generally I’ll feeling festive season for me this year which has meant very little time on the bike. Now I’m back to the daily commute every day I drive past Barr Beacon and it’s starting to feel like it’s been way too long since my wheels last rolled over it, . . . → Read More: It’s been a while

@James_Gillies and I have spent the last few evening rides linking together all the cheeky trails, singletrack, towpaths and parks we know north of the city and we now have a huge network of great off road loops.

This winter is going to be spent spinning round endless trails in our backyard, what a treat!

What’s in your . . . → Read More: an evening of off road around birmingham – easily doable

Most of us are guilty of it, flicking through magazines and websites, packing up the car (or van) and driving to get to some ‘awesome’ trails.

We’re so convinced that the good riding is all in trail centres or on someone elses patch that we often forget to look on our doorsteps.

Well grab an OS map, put . . . → Read More: make the most of local trails

Whilst sat in the van having breakfast with a view this morning a man walked past following the tide line with a bag in one hand.

I wondered ‘what treasure is he looking for’ as he wandered past peering into the grasses and sticks that make up the tide line.

As he carried on down the beach . . . → Read More: the beach cleaner

This is yesterday’s sunrise, the last one of british summer. As if on queue this mornings sunrise was hidden behind a blanket of grey.

If you’re a fan of night riding our time has now come, the lights are on charge and new 2012 models on order. If you’re after lights to buy or hire . . . → Read More: beautiful sunrise

On the last day of summer I got up early and headed out on the bike for sunrise. I got a real treat this morning with a spectacular sunrise and I stumbled across a load of cheeky singletrack just minutes from my front door.

What a great day for a bike . . . → Read More: 2 minutes from home

Seeing your kid nail the massive 5m start ramp and whiz round the whole olympic standard perry barr BMX . . . → Read More: pride is…

On Saturday I met back up with John and Steve who’d come on a to day skills course with me last autumn for a ‘learn to fly course’. This time John brought his brother along with him and the four of us set off for a great day of riding in awesome weather.

We started off . . . → Read More: Learning to fly

A fairly concise piece that might hit home quite hard and unexpectedly.

Do you suffer from burnout?

It’s time to re-charge the batteries and give burn out the boot, dust off the bike and get out for a . . . → Read More: avoid burnout – get out and ride

We’ve spent the day at the cycle show wandering round, getting tired feet and eyeing up some lovely kit.

Amongst our finds are some really inspirational parts and innovations, including these new helmets that will launch next year, and yes, that is cardboard!

I think I’ll be getting my hands on one of these next year and will . . . → Read More: interesting kit at the cycle show

The little red and black boat moored up in Inveraray is called ‘vital spark’, which is what I feel like I’ve found this week whilst here.

Nature and wilderness are great levellers and have inspired me to take carbon-monkey forward to new heights.

The time is . . . → Read More: vital spark

Ok so it might be overcast and a bit bleak looking but after four days in the wilderness on a youth leader development programme the future’s looking bright to me.

So many options and so much to think about…

First decision is that I need more time on the bike

One step at a time . . . → Read More: from here the future looks bright