EBCC Christmas Family Bike Ride - Ilkey to Bolton Abbey

Headed to the Lydo in Ilkley with Jack to take part in the East Bradford Cycle Club Christmas run, it made a change to be riding on road bikes! There was a fair group of us at the car park and after chatting for a few minutes we headed out, it was very busy with all the Rugby pitches in use, but we quickly passed this and crossed the main road heading up the quite Denton Road, staying on the east of the River Wharfe. Jack wasn't hanging around with me and quickly sped off to chat with his friends as we rode along. We made frequent stops so that everyone could catch up, this helped when keeping an eye on the kids.

The road had very little traffic, occasionally we met a car but most of the traffic was walkers and other cyclists! When we got to the main A59 road we took it very carefully and re-grouped once we had got onto the A6160. This road was busy so we took it careful and all stayed together. Car drivers must have been getting pretty frustrated as there was very few opportunities to overtake. Thankfully we made quick progress and soon turned right off the road and headed to the Cavendish Pavilion Cafe.

We got some lunch and sat outside, all the kids sat together. I quite happily sat and talked with several of the coaches who run the Saturday Kids club at Richard Dunn sports centre.

Heading back down the valley I stayed with Jim, one of the senior members who arranges many of the social events that the bike club runs, we had a puncture to mend, this was quickly sorted out. Jim fell over and banged his hip, he's in his 80's so I was relieved when he was okay! We stopped at the Stocks at Nesfield on the way back, the kids all took turns to be locked up.

Back in the car park at the Lido and Helen handed out some sweets. The route was about 14 miles but it didn't feel like we'd gone very far. Everyone had enjoyed the afternoon. Looking forward to the next outing!

Stainburn Forest Mountain Biking

Read lots about Stainburn everyone said that it is short but technical. There was a lot of talk about which car park to use, the best one is near the top of the hill on the B6451 when heading from Otley.

There's no facilities other than a car park, thankfully we'd brought a flask of tea and some snacks. There are three marked trails, Red, Black and a Decent Line. We headed out of the car park and followed the Red Route Signs after a few initial drops we headed upward into the trees at the top of the route you have a choice of either heading down the decent line on your left or turning right and following the red route back down through the trees and back to the car park. It doesn't take too long to do a lap of the red route, however you can make the route much more difficult by using some of the obstacles that run adjacent to the main route, there are several technical boulder sections and a balance section on wood work. Although the route is pretty short it's fun to do several laps trying all the different technical sections.

To do the decent line you can either pedal up the road from the car park or do the first part of the red route. The line follows a wall that which marks the far edge of all the routes. Initially you swoop through trees, once this runs out there are many technical sections, some jumps and a black listed drop off, many of the more technical bits can be avoided, so once again there's lost of variety in quite a short run. It only takes a couple of minutes to do this decent but there's lots to practice. There are several routes to get back to the car park, they are all pretty tough going as the hill is pretty steep.

We spent most of the day morning repeating these routes, Finlay wasn't too chuffed about all the climbing but Jack loved the whole place. The decent line was his favourite and he was happy pushing pretty hard trying to go quicker each time he did the decent.

After we had a break I tried to get Jack and Finlay to have a go at the Black route, we headed out of the car park and attempted the first section, the kids had no chance, even I got a bit sick of dabbing my feet and having to push through parts of the trail, it was all a bit confusing so we made our escape back to the routes we were more familiar with.

We easily spend 4 or 5 hours on the trails and it's a great place to learn about bike control. By mid afternoon we decided to call it a day, there are other trails across the road which are less technical, we'll have to come back later to have a look at these.

There are lots of trails that are not sign posed and in some places you just 'do your own thing'. The steep hill side is a struggle for the kids, this is certainly not somewhere to go for a ride with the family, it's for improving your skills and learning to do new stuff!

New Model Army - O2 Academy Leeds

Obligatory Crap Photo!

Bought tickets a couple of month ago to see New Model Army at the O2 in Leeds. I was expecting a set that featured several tracks from their new album 'Between Dog and Wolf', and predictably the gig started in this vain. I quite like the new material, the tribal beats and quite subdued lyrics do make the album different from other NMA albums. Thankfully I've been listening quite allot so the new songs were all familiar to me. Andrea wasn't too impressed, typically wanting to hear all the old favourites.

The gig went pretty fast, there was some quite unusual stuff, Archway Towers was quite a surprise! My Favourite song was 'Christian Militia', their first encore, by this time I was in the thick of it at the front, throwing my weight (what little I have) about in the ruck, all good fun. Just got to keep smiling as you bounce around off everyone!

I enjoyed the gig, but struggled (as always) with the venue, the O2 just doesn't create an atmosphere that makes you feel that you're seeing something special.

Italy v Tonga Rugby League World Cup - Halifax Shay

The only game at this years Rugby League World Cup that was really close to our house was the Tonga v Italy game at the Shay in Halifax, we'd got tickets a couple of weeks ago and I was looking forward to taking the kids to what I hoped would be a packed Shay.

After the remembrance day march we had some lunch and got ready to head down into Halifax, Finlay decided he wanted to stay at home for a few more hours, so Jack, Me and one of our mates headed into town to 'soak up the atmosphere' (drink beer). We headed into town, there was still lots of people all dressed up who had been on the remembrance day parades.

After a few drinks Andrea dropped Finlay off and we headed to the Shay. Finding the correct entrance was a bit of a chore, none of us knew the ground well enough! Once we got into the ground we soon found somewhere to stand . It was very busy so we ended up in one Of the isles' this was good for the kids as there was no one in front of them.

There was a minutes silence (the second one we'd observed). Tonga then did the Hakka, this really won the crowd over, it was really well done and gave me the impression that they were going to war!

The first half of the game passed pretty quickly, it was nice to be able to get a drink and stand on the terraces, the stewards looked a little stretched due to the large crowd but everyone acted sensibly and there wasn't a problem.

At half time it was 2-0 to Tonga, both sides cancelling each other out for large parts of the game.

We moved into one of the seated stands for the second half, this was better for the kids as there wasn't the huddle, push and shove! Tonga started to get on top, cheered on by the crowd and by the end they won 16-0. The poodle haired Fuifui Moimoi was man of the match, a popular choice.

After the game Andrea picked the kids up and we headed to The Pump Room for more drinks, we and a good conversation with a couple of guys from Birmingham, and headed back into Queensbury for a few more! I headed home at 9pm and had a pretty rough night, way too much to drink!

Remembrance Sunday Parade - Queensbury

Andrea way busy doing a cross country race so me and the kids were on our own this year. Jack and Finlay both looked pretty smart in the Scout / Cub uniforms. For November the weather was pretty good, sunshine and no wind! Very thing went according to plan, this year there wasn't any alarms going off at the Co-op and the 1 minutes silence was well observed. 

It was very busy again and several people were surprised about how many people attended the service at the cenotaph. The kids were involved in the Church service but I didn't bother this year.

After the march through the village had finished we dashed back home, had some lunch and headed off to the Rugby at the Shay, a busy day!

Sherwood Pines Camping and Mountain Biking

Half term and the last camping trip of the year. We booked this a couple of months ago, using the last few days of the half term holiday. We set off on Thursday night after work, made good progress on the M62 but there was huge delays on the A1. The sat nav helped out and directed us off the dual Carraige ways and onto country lanes.

We soon arrived at Sherwood Forest Holiday Park. It was late and dark but we were soon on our pitch and cooking a late tea. We were right on the riverside. The weather wasn't great, we had our fingers Crossed for settled weather over the weekend.

Friday morning and we got on our mountain bikes and headed down the main road to Sherwood Pines. After a coffee we decided to ride the red Kitchener trail. Andrea went in front with Jack and I rode oih Finlay. We initially we made good progress, but after a couple of miles Finlay had a nasty accident when he lost the front wheel on a damp tree root. Finlay soon got his confidence back and we continued on our way.

We made good progress and were soon at the bike park, me and Jack did a few runs through the downhill run, great fun. This exactly the sort of thing that Jack loves and we had great fun!

The last part of the route seemed to take ages and the weather took a turn for the worst, rain! I was chuffed for Finlay, his first Red Route! Back at the cafe we had some lunch and decided to do the Blue route, we got wet through but it didn't bother any of us.

Heading back to the campsite we all had a shower' put on dry clothes and settled in for the evening. The rain didn't s+op and the river got higher and higher, the campsite warden had to stay up all night keeping an eye on the river level in case we needed to evacuate!

Thankfully the river didn't rise any further. Saturday morning and we headed back to the bike trails, before we set off On another lap of the Kitchener Red route l snapped my chain? Thankfully the guys at Sherwood Pines cycles lent me a link extractor so I patched the bike up. One of my pedals was also loose and needed regularly tightening, but the pedal looks like it will need replacing? The rain had made the tracks very slippery and there we puddles and mud everywhere. Me and Jack set off riding hard. Jack had an unpleasant accident, tangled up is the bike. We sat for a while and then continued to the bike park.

This time we headed to the Jump area, again Jack had an accident, jumping one of the tabletop, he didn't hurt himself this time! we did the downhill run and Jack got a puncture! It look me a while to sort this out. We got our heads down and soon gut back to the cafe.

Finlay wanted to know why it had took us so long, Andrea and Finlay had done the route and beat us? They didn't stop at the bike part, and hadn't had to mend a puncture!

We headed into Clipstone to get more supplies for tea. The weather was terrible and the kids were grumbling. We again got showers and enjoyed watching TV in the warm Van.

Sunday morning and I looked at the bikes , the trails had taken their tole. Jack's front brake pads were down to the metal and needed replacing, my rear wheel was wobbly and needed all the spokes tightening, my rear brake pads were knackered and needed replacing! There red routes take their toll on bikes!

We headed back home after d great weekend, Andrea would have liked a more relaxing weekend but us lads really enjoyed it.

Gisburn Forest Mountain Biking

Jack wanted to go mountain biking at Gisburn as part of his Birthday celebration. We set off early to make sure we'd find room in the car park, having to use 2 cars to get the bikes and all of us up to Gisburn. We arrived at 9am and easily found parking, there are several large car parks and the weather wasn't great so we needn't have worried about finding room.

First off we headed up to the training area and spend 15 minutes warming up, the kids did pretty well and enjoyed trying the different graded areas, Finlay was happy on Green and Blue, Jack was happy on Red and Black!!

We headed off as a family on the Blue Route and made good progress, we stayed together until I got a puncture! Thankfully I had a puncture kit, however I didn't have a pump. Someone soon stopped and lent me their pump (Many thanks!) and we continued on out way. The Blue route has a mix of single track in the trees and fire roads. Some of the bigger hills are on the Fire Roads and are a bit of a drag. Once we completed this we had a cup of tea at the cafe. Jack and me decided we wanted to do 'The 8' Red route. Finlay and Andrea thought it best to stay on the easier routes.

The first part follows the Blue route so it was pretty straight forward, we soon turned off and headed into th hills. Jack wasn't too confident to start with but soon got his head around everything and realized that he had the ability to do the route. We really enjoyed the long runs of single track, there are a few runs on the fire roads, the steep section alongside 'Hope Line' Orange Route did for me and I pushed my bike up the hill. Jack put his bike in the granny gear and rode to the top, laughing at me for being rubbish!

The further we went the more we enjoyed the ride. We passed the Whelpstone Crag Drop in (Black Line). It looked too much for us, maybe next time. We were soon at Hully Gully, Jack had been talking about this for months, however stood at the top he didn't have the confidence to do it. I told him that I'd not come all this way to bottle out and made him follow me. Soon as Jack got going he thought it was ace and really enjoyed the run, sometimes a pushy dad is needed!

We continued along the route, Jack was getting more confident and did the Black graded drop in on Swoopy, I stayed on the red route and avoided the huge drop! We headed back to the cafe and caught up with Andrea and Finlay. 

We had a late lunch and then headed back into the training area, Jack got too confident jumping and had his worst accident of the day! Finlay wanted to do the Blue route one more time so we went together. My legs were getting pretty tired but I kept on pushing on.

Altogether Me and Jack did about 30kms. We all had a really good day, made it home for tea. Jack and Finlay wanted to go to Nando's so after a quick shower and change of clothes we headed out for a well earned tea!