Kell, Bell, and Bikes

This week has been a cracking week (still vegan)! Monday was pouring down with rain, and I was umming and ahing about going out for most of the morning whilst watching Aiken reduce a tree in the deluge, checking the weather channel for constant updates!

I was wearing my new Endura waterproof that Aiken got me for Christmas, I can confirm, it is VERY waterproof. The rain clouds finally buggered off , and although last week I learnt that riding pumptracks in the wet wasn’t the best idea, I hadn’t actually learnt, and headed out to Alvaston with Alex. My first time there and it was ever so windy! Luckily, the drainage is pretty good so there wasn’t a collection of puddles everywhere, which was nice.

I don’t know much about Alvaston, because this was my first outing, but I do now know that it is LIT. Not as in 🔥🔥 but, lit, so ideal for winter night rides .

Just found this on google, ‘Derby BMX club is one of the largest BMX clubs in the country. Based at the national standard BMX Track at Alvaston Park, Derby. The club is run by a team of dedicated volunteers and holds regular training sessions and races throughout the year’. So there you have it. THIS IS DERBY!

Tuesday, Bell and I went up to one of our local hills for a nice steady ride. I’m not a massive fan of solo riding, but with being off in the week a lot, it’s hard to find riding buddies! It’s a plus that I have Bell, but there’s always that fear that if you crash you’ll be left for dead in the woods and never found again. So, steady was the pace, and steady I went, although it did mean that I had to get moving on the climbs to keep warm! We headed up to an awesome view point, one of my favourite bits of a ride (got to love a good view point).

There were still bits of snow scattered and the trails were super greasy which made for fun descents.

Wednesday, I headed out to meet Liz for a ride. It was raining (OBVZ it rains like everyday of my life now) and it was SO COLD! We headed to the woods for shelter and slipped, screamed and skidded our way through the muddiest of trails. Ever so fun.

Struggled even on the flat to get going in the flippin’ mud!

Saturday's are ferda Cotic's. With a mint turn out of nearly 30 folk for the Cotic owners ride. It was a super snowy, fun ride around Hope and Ladybower. Very cool to see so many Cotic Bikes out and not one the same. Even a single speed dude was out (crazy cool/ just crazy). I found the majority of the climbs harder than usual for sure! Pedalling through the snow ruts was super difficult, the trick is to keep pedalling and look ahead, but I struggled to stay focused, which was unfortunate for the people behind me. Every slip into the powder, meant 10 more chaps after me were going down too (sorry guys!). SUPER hard work, but had some great encouragement from everyone (deffo would have pushed without the support). Descents were epic river runs, with little braking with my frozen fingers, ever so fun!

Photo taken by Baybutt to illustrate my new look.

Awesome bunch of people, cracking ride, smiles for miles and now experiencing all the tired-stoked.

Sunday has been spent resting (kind of). Aiken, Bell and I went to Hemlock for a good old dig (Although I really didn’t dig much) and I even dusted off the Kelly Kettle for a brew.

Another sweet turn out, and considering the snowy weather conditions that’s pretty impressive! I’m gonna make a vegan cake now (still vegan, just sayin’) and then relax, ready for my VERY exciting week ahead.