Yes, it’s that time of the year that you get the obligatory ‘going mountain biking then head to the pub’ post.  But we know you love it, Michael!

Dad and I headed over to Thetford Forest, which is usually a quick blast and great for blowing out the cobwebs after eating and drinking too much during the festive period.  However, this time, the melt water from the snow and ice settling nicely in the sand, and not an awful lot of human activity, meant the ground was muddy and waterlogged like I have never seen before.  Two hours of hard slog for me … not sure how my Dad was feeling at the end of it!

This is how mountain bikes used to look.

Some people better prepared than us.

Naturally, Dad had a puncture in the middle of the most severe mud.  Here he is trying to find the hole.  Using CO2 in these conditions is always a risk, and again we ended up pulling the valve out of the tube as it froze.  Great.  At least we didn’t need to urinate on our own hand to release it (like one story I have heard!).

Truly waterlogged

Grinding paste.

Playing with another camera app; 360 Panorama

And an image taken with my ‘app du jour’, Instagram.  Mud, mud as far as the eye can see!