Sunshine and upgrades

My last post was just before my holiday, so I am now back from Gibraltar with some dodgy tan marks and feeling well rested. It was really hot over there which was lovely during the day as long as I did nothing but sit and read, there was no way I could have ridden my bike in that though!

This is what summer looks like

Since arriving back I sorted my tubeless issues on my hardtail, namely being in too much of a rush to ride it I put in less than half the required sealant and got a rear flat, so on returning I bought more sealant and also made a tubeless tyre inflator from a fire extinguisher. For non bike mechanic nerds tubeless is when you run bike tyres like car tyres that is with no innertube, so we use sealant (liquid latex with granules in it to seal holes) which fixes small punctures as we ride. This set up allows us to run lower pressures in the tyres which gives more grip as well as reducing the times we need to stop to repair a puncture. It's something I love but can be a pain to set up as you're dealing with a wheel, a loose tyre which want's to let the air escape and some liquid latex that want's to run onto the floor, your clothes, pets, kids, or explode into your hair if you really get it wrong (or are a badger). The main issue with tubeless is getting enough air into the tyre quickly enough to 'seat' the edge of the tyre onto the edge of the wheel, thus locking in the air. Compressors and high volume pumps can help, but I am poor so made an inflator from a fire extinguisher for £2. I pump up the extinguisher, attach a tube to the valve on the wheel and pull the trigger, dispensing the air into the tyre in one go, pop, pop, pop, tyres seats perfectly and locks itself to the rim. Job done.

Ghettotastic

Once my tyre issues were sorted I was raring to ride again, a fun day up the local hill was the order of the day on Saturday, the trails are running brilliantly, damp enough to provide loads of grip but dry enough to not need scuba gear. The new forks, wheels and cranks were spot on, I am back in love with the Hornet, phew!

Just need my stem and she's done! 

Singletrack dreams

hiya Glasgow, possibly my favourite view

With bad weather at the start of the week I bailed on my Tuesday night ride as I lost my snorkel, so last night a group of us went to Carron Valley for some fun swoopy jumping. I have had an issue here since I crashed on the runway jump section in the ice a while back, and for some reason one non-serious crash had put me off 2 small sections here so much that I would come to a complete standstill. Not last night, I stayed off the brakes and kept my focus and rode that section like I used to before the monkey jumped on my back, then went round again just to be sure. The monkey is dead, long live the runway! 

This weekend is filled with riding once again so should be a good one, aside from that I am trying to sell my self built camper to fund a bigger build of a similar design, but more suitable for the 4 day trips I seem to end up doing, would be nice to have a shower in it too.. at least for those around me! 

Vangelina, soon to go to a new home

Happy trails all!