S-Works Stumpjumper

I've been looking at the Stump Jumper for a while now and saw a 2006 S-Works carbon frame in a local bike shop so I decided to buy it. The thing had been reduced from £1800 to £1200 because it was last year's model. My bike was already in the shop getting the new XTR ST-M975 break/shifter put on.

The shop said the bike would be ready on Friday, I said that I would pick it up on Saturday. I was actually in the shop on Friday with Geordie Git, he wanted some panniers so that he could ride his bike to work putting his precious laptop in the pannier rather than in a rucksack on his back, the bike was ready and the guy wheeled it out. Nice, but I noticed that the dust caps where missing from the tiers, also the Garmin cadence thing has not on the new bike and the magnet from the rear wheel was missing.

Went back after work to pick up the bike, dust caps and magnet were still missing, which I pointed out. The guy was sure they weren't on to start with but that is bollocks, why would I take the dust caps on the tiers? Anyway, he put new ones on and gave me a magnet off the shelf.

The next problem I had was that the bike would not fit on the car rack, it was raining and I couldn't be arsed with adjusting the rack so I just put it in the car, together with the old frame.

Hexhamshire Common

I’ve ridden this route before but it was very dry then and hadn’t been raining for a while unlike today. It had been raining for about 5 day’s non-stop so I expected to get a bit wet. Started off from Whitley Chapel, a small village just outside of Hexham, at the time I got there most people were going to church so parking was a bit tricky but managed to find a spot. The first section is all road for a couple of miles, which is good because it gets you warmed up for the first off road section. This part was very wet and was more like riding up a stream than a bridleway. Once up the hill I was constancy dive bombed by birds that must have had their nests close by. Across the moor towards Sinderhope and a really fast downhill on farm track first then tarmac, you can easily get 40 mph at this part. Before I reached the downhill section I took a bit of a tumble, front wheel getting stuck in the mud and going straight over the bars, luckily I landed on my face, so no damaged done.

Once down on the road you simply follow it for about 3 miles until you reach the bridleway sign at Fell View. It’s a push up the hill unless you’re super fit. I stopped halfway up to have something to eat then continued to the top where I found a group of walkers sitting down taking a break, said hello but they never replied! From here it’s a mixture of that yellow dolomite stuff and single track pete, again very wet; had another fall here, bike wanted to go one way and I wanted to go the other. This section is mostly downhill and after the push up to the top I was pleased of it.

From here I could see the road back to Whitley Chapel and a few people gathered at the bottom on horses so I slowed down, once pasted the horses it was a fast ride back to the car.

The Street

Planned to go over to the Cheviots with Jamie and Scottish the other Sunday, Jamie and Scottish both cried off so I went up on my own. The weather wasn’t that good but it wasn’t raining when I left home. Got there about 10:30, there were a couple of guys in the car park getting ready to go out, didn’t take me long to get the bike off the car, ruc-sac on and off before they had even got their bikes off their own cars… SJF. About 3 mile down the road before I turned off on a farm track that ran up the Valley towards Middle Hill farm. This is fairly flat and easy riding but the route runs along side the river and in some parts is only 12 inches wide with a steep bank down to the river 20 feet below. Past the farm and a short run through the edge of Kidland Forest, by this time there was a fine rain falling. At the end of the forest over the bridge a bit of a push but what goes up must come down, only problem was that there were a few walkers on the other side that stopped me from bombing down the hill, what a bastard.

Following the down hill to the river I crossed earlier, over the bridge and a big push to the edge of Kidland Forest but this time straight through the middle. At this point I stopped for something to eat and cracked open the meatballs, the problem was that they were supposed to take 15 minutes to heat but but after 10 the water was still cold so I had them cold, couldn’t be arsed to wait. Anyway, poured most of the water out of the bag and headed off through the forest. After about 10 minutes had to stop because the bag in my pocket was burning my leg. Anyway, it gave me a bit of heat because by this time I was fairly wet. After the forest it was pretty much down hill all the back the Alwinton, really good downhill, in fact about 4 mile of grassy, bouncy downhill (full suspension is a must have). Back at the car when into the loo and got changed into dry cloths and headed home.