Cwm and Play

FMFT’s two week break form here was not overall bike-related, but did allow for the odd bit of riding. It also allowed for a bit of breaking bikes.

The major casualty was a suspension fork. It had had a question mark over it for a while but its demise was confirmed as I hit the top of the route at Cwm Carn. Pointing downhill it became clear that the leaking oil, rattling, and general movement probably meant it wasn’t a happy fork. It didn’t especially improve the ride as I was bashed down the increasingly rutted and rocky tracks in the Welsh centre. In some ways I would rather have been riding a rigid bike where at least I would have expected the hammering my hands and arms took.

Still despite all that it’s still an awesome ride and still left me grinning as I got back to the carpark. It’s almost all been captured on film as well and may well feature in future projects.

I followed up this ride with a windy blast round the Timberland Trail in Bristol. This proved a challenge as the fork still refused to track reliably, but was still a testament to the stress-relieving properties of riding a bike hard.

The fork is now off the bike and off to be serviced in an effort to find out if that will sort the problem. I suppose putting it through all sorts of abuse for 7 years might reasonably make it need a service eventually.

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