Before winter, everything gelled.   Two sets of wheels set up tubeless – a pair of Shimano XT UST wheels on the singlespeed and the DT Swiss on the Canyon with the addition of the DT Swiss kit.

Winter came though and the rear tyres on both were swapped out for some Conti X-Kings which performed well all winter but weren’t tubeless compatiable.

Spring returned and it was time for tubeless to join it.  A simple job surely…….

(L)UST Maxxis Crossmark back on the XT, sealed and inflated in 5 minutes.  Maxxis Ikon back on the Canyon…..an hour later and it still wouldn’t play ball.  It appeared that the tyre had stretched a bit so it wasn’t tight enough to create a proper seal anymore.  It didn’t help that the edge of DT Swiss’ PoS rim strip had curled in slightly.  I was fighting a losing battle and pissing sealant away all over the garage floor.

So, plan B……(L)UST Crossmark back off the XT and on to the DT Swiss.  Ikon onto the XT.  The Crossmark went up fairly easily, after a little faff.  The Ikon on the XT….still no joy but confirmation that it had indeed stretched.

Baws.

Plan C?  Raking through the garage….a pair of old and very skinny Conti Vapors (dating from the days of minimal 29er tyre choice), a slightly used Bontrager thing (great but not tubeless friendly), a set of F+R Schwalbe Rocket Ron (F) and Racing Ralph (R) – ‘tubeless ready’ according to the sidewalls, anything but based on painful experience.

I found my spare Crossmark – wire bead, but it had run well tubeless last year so on it went and…….no joy.  Still, it was tighter than the Ikon.

Time for plan D.  I made a makeshift rim strip out of a buggered 26″ tube, cut out the valve and trimmed it all to fit.  The thinking was simple enough – create a better seal and compensate for any stretching.  I chucked a pile of sealant in (meaning I had managed to use way over 3/4 of a bottle on these two wheels….) and inflated.

Lots of air seepage but lots of bubbles too and finally, after too many hours of pissing about, I had two wheels back in tubeless guise.

So much for it being easy.

It was here.  I saw it.  I rode it.  I experienced it.

It was Spring and it was here for over a week.  Blue skies, trials that were drying out nicely and riding well.  Riding fast.  Holidays, windows of opportunity all dovetailing for a good bash at the first couple of weeks of intensity training in ideal conditions.  Training that is fun though.  I’m surrounded by lots of great riding so the training feeds off the trails which feed off the training which……  Hooning around stuff is great fun.

I was having so much fun that I forgot to take any photos, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

However, its okay now.  It rained overnight and now there was an opportunity to take photos…..

.

Its now British Summer Time, I have some time off and I even managed to persuade James come out to ride up a couple of hills.

Yes, Summer is now here, as is apparent by the continued snowdrifts and ice at elevation.  However, its regressed back to the good kind of snow so its been days of hammering around fast flowing trails, with the distinctive crunch of slightly frosty powder under your tyres.  Drifting round corners and pinning it down packed down snowy trails…..

It could be worse.  Lots worse.  :-)

March 2012…

March 2013….

I’d taken stock of the situation, pulled a plan together and started to get my head down.  I’d booked a little bit of time off, plus there is the upcoming Easter break.  All good for ramping up the mileage and getting some proper training miles in before intensity training kicks off in April..

Oh wait, I got ahead of myself there as the weather has once again decided to get in the way.

So, March has turned into a series of snowy rides, the kind where its too cold to consider stopping and taking a pic and make sure you drink lots in case you have to defrost a component later in the ride.

One of my favourite trails has been off limits, difficult to access thanks to drifts and others have had their character changed completely (sometimes good, sometimes less so….) However, yet more have ridden like its the middle of a dry summer….except for the fact its -6c thanks to the windchill.

Its been great fun.

So, spring is apparently here, which means blue skies, dry trails and a massive bout of man-flu knocking me out of action for the duration of two weeks of clear blue skies and dry trails.

Bollocks.

I got to enjoy the last couple of days of it before things became ‘normal’ again and further post-lurgy riding was done in rain and mud.  Never mind….it beats being indoors melting my brain in front of the TV.

Training (ha!) was inevitably derailed by the bout of illness.  This, plus the feeling that I’ve really not gotten enough base training in over winter thanks to pretty roobash conditions over November/December/January, has left me feeling slightly nervous about the few events I’ve entered.  I suppose I have until June to sort myself out but my gut tells me that I’m not where I should be at the start of March.

What to do then, eh?  According to my training plan, I start the second half of the training plan (the intensity portion) on the 18th, so some adaptation is needed.  A re-jigging of the plan.

Man-flu out of the way, I get back on the bike, both figuratively and literally, and try to regain my mojo.   I promptly make a good, but thankfully unsuccessful attempt to gouge my right eye out with a low hanging branch, ending up with the most pathetic black eye in history then a week later this happens…..frozen shifter pod, ice packed between the sprockets…….I can’t catch a break.

This would be a good time to start planning an assault on my nemesis, wouldn’t it?  :-)

Grant vs the FCP, take four…..coming in April….