Just been mountain biking at Cwmcarn, it was interesting riding, and beautiful.

Rest day…

... so we only did a 3 hr ride (Hurricane Rim) and an 8 mile hike up a very high mountain (Zion National Park, Observation Point).

George, Johanna and Pierre pinning it on Hurricane Rim

George, Roddy, Russ, Pierrre and Johanna on Hurricane Rim

Johanna giving a high altitude hula lesson at Observation Point, Zion National Park

Russ annoying a rather large spider

Little Creek and Gould‘s Trail

Not much energy to write much. I‘ll let the pictures do the talking.

Today is my last day at Move Networks. I hadn‘t expected to be leaving so soon. I honestly thought that Move was a company that I could put a few years into, grow into and have a significant impact. That all changed recently when the funding ran out, the workforce in the US was decimated and the whole future of the company was suddenly much less certain. After it became apparent to me that the future was becoming no less uncertain as the weeks passed, I decided to entertain an opportunity that had been put my way.

So I decided to move on. I‘ll be leaving one of the most pleasant and progressive work environments I‘ve worked in and a very friendly group of people. It is a somewhat sad day for me.

What is certainly less sad is that, tomorrow, I start my holiday to Utah (coincidentally the home state of Move‘s US operation) for what I hope will be an awesome mountain bike trip with Sacred Rides. I joined Sacred Rides for a similar trip in British Columbia last year. It was a fun, chilled out trip taking in some awesome, world–class trails, guided by expert and knowledgable guides. A really great experience. All indications are that this trip will be at least as good.

When I get back from Utah I start what feels like will be a great new job as a Senior Java Developer at NetDev, in Cwmbran. As exciting as this new job is (and I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone and getting stuck in), I‘m not thinking about that at the moment… Roll on Utah!

After years of riding a hardtail I recently bought myself a full-supsension bike. It‘s a 2005 Cannondale Prophet with 140mm travel, provided by a Lefty on the front and a Manitou 3-way Swinger on the back. It was hardly used, not a single scratch or any sign of wear, when I got it and I have to say I couldn't be happier with the bike. Already it almost feels as familiar as my hard-tail of 8 years, a 2002 Kona Caldera with 100mm Fox Vanilla on the front.

As happy as I am with my new FS bike, a few niggling doubts have crept into my mind about the benefits of riding a bike that bends in the middle.

Laziness

When riding a hard-tail, I‘m always carefully choosing a line. I‘m choosing a line that will maintain speed, set me up for the right line further down the track and most of all I‘m choosing a line that will not completely kill the rear of my bike. This is even more of a consideration when climbing because in order to keep the power down the back needs to be touching the trail.

On the Prophet, I can be far less picky about the terrain I decide to ride over. This seems good to start with, it feels liberating not to have to worry about the kind of bumps and drops that would make life on a hard-tail positively uncomfortable. But now, because I can give less consideration to minor undulations in the trail, I kind of feel I‘m losing some sharpness, losing focus, losing precision. I don‘t feel like I‘m learning anything new when I go out on the trail. I‘m still new to the Prophet and FS in general. Maybe these things will come back as – over time – I gain confidence and therefore speed.

Raising the stakes

Speed. Everything can be so much faster with a bike that bounces both ends. Again, I initially reveled in the capability to go faster on the Prophet over terrain that I know I would have to hold back on with the Caldera. A graze-inducing stack and a few sphincter tightening near misses a couple of weeks ago at the Marin Trail at Gwydyr Forest is bringing into sharp focus how, with that extra freedom, comes higher stakes. It‘s making me think about things like body armour and full face helmets. These are not comfortable thoughts to be having.

I‘ll be riding the Dyfi Enduro this weekend (2nd May 2010). I‘ve never done it before, though I have ridden some of the route on a different ride.

So will I be taking the Caldera? Hell no, the Prophet is way, way more fun!

I‘d love to go back some day…

Icefields Parkway, Jasper National Park, AB.

Me at some canyon I can‘t remember the name of

Sweet riding in Fernie

The view of Golden from Mount Seven, before the awesome descent.

Bristol Bikefest 2009 was wet, treacherous, dirty and challenging. But is was a lot of fun as well.

This photo is by Pete Tiley, he‘s taken a lot of quality photos. Nice, therefore, that one of them is of me.