Chill Out !

[sidevalve]

Just been out for a short run on the [old] road bike and found a short bridleway, decided to have an explore, it was BRILLIANT ! Like being twelve years old again, wrong type of bike on the wrong type of surface doing 3 - 4 mph tops, dodging nettles and brambles, sliding in the muddy bits [no mountain bike tyres here] and having to jump off when the brakes were covered in cack [at 3 mph it's no big deal] ! Really took me back to when, as a kid, we used to ride whatever we had where ever we wanted to go.
So here's my recipe for a good chill out day, DON'T take the mountain bike, DON'T take your prize road bike, get that old lump from the back of the shed find some farm tracks/bridleways, DON'T take the cycle computer [no prizes for this and time is irrelevant]. Talk to anyone you meet [talk to the horses over the fence if you want,no one will know] you may fall off but it wont matter, no speed, no stress, nothing to prove. If you meet a tractor coming the other way get off, let him past,and have even more fun in the mud he leaves behind him.
Give it a try, it aint competitive but it is good fun.

 

[Pottsy]

Great idea side valve - I love those rides when it's like being a kid again.

I bought a bike specifically for those sort of go anywhere days. I believe is the perfect sort of bike for it - a single speed cyclocross bike. In my case a Felt Breed. It's really simple, no gears to fuss with, light if you need to carry/throw/lift it during the ride, cyclocross tyres for the mud but you can still go pretty well on the road sections.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Excellent post!

I did just that last week. It was wonderful! What time did you do?

I'm going out again this week on the same route, hoping to beat last week's time.

I should be able to do that if I can get the ramblers to jump out of the way faster. The AirZound should sort that.

There's nothing like chilling out and just enjoying! What pressure were your tyres at? The right pressure gains you precious time.

You might want to fit a cassette with a better spread of ratios, too.

 

[Oxo]

Boris you can forget that idea as I have already beaten last weeks time. Today I got back at 10 o'clock and and last week I hadn't even set off by that time.

 

[HovR]

I've done this before - What starts of as a road ride, and then you see a hard pack track you want to explore - And the terrain gets rougher and rougher from there, great fun!

Had me worried about punctures though!

 

[gbb]

Yup, did it last year sometime...started out as a 'normal' ride, i quickly found myself faced with a singletrack road i'd never explored before...ah, what the hell. i also reaslised i couldnt be bothered to push on so it became a meandering ride wherever my nose took me, probably about 10 mph.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I love this type of ride, although I always take the gps cycle computer so I can track where I've been.