Brenhden's TET

[Brenhden]

<snip> I found a tick on my ankle and I made a little tick remover from a loyalty card and used to totally fail to sort the tick out. I set off around 07:00 with its head still stuck in me. <snip>

You need to get that sorted asap - like, very urgently!!!!!!

Yeah, my other half cut it out the next day. All fine now

[bowber]

I usually break twig for taking ticks off the dogs, very rare, it works quite well. You need to break it so you end up with lots of bits sticking out, one of them will have a suitable V.

Steve

[boboneleg]

Hi Brenhden, I've only just come across your recent posts as I was away for a couple of weeks. I notice the aggro you had with your tyres, have you thought of using more aggressive tyres when you're trial riding?

If you're worried about wear these bikes are not hard on tyres, here are my tyres after 1500 miles of roads and trails through France

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cheers, Bob.

[Tramp]

them tyre's worn well Bob... Have a good weekend hope to catch up in october when my heads better ..

[zimtim]

Brilliant really enjoying your TET keep it up.

[Brenhden]

Thanks all,

Bob, my bike does my daily 60 mile motorway round trip to the office on those tyres so I don't fancy any more agressive than 50/50. Also those Barkbuster Storms you recommend are brilliant. I'm sure my throttle side controls and the bones in my hand would both have been broken without the guards soaking the fall on to the rocks up.

Cheers

Bren

[Brenhden]

TET ‘20

17/05/20
Still in lock down but travel to exercise is allowed and trail riding is exercise, no camping though. Having previously thought there was nowhere left on the TET I could ride to and from in day the TET crew generously added a new bit that connects the Plain to Bristol, cheers guys. I was up at 04:00 too excited about doing something, anything away from the house. I faffed around for a few hours looking for riding gear and filling up a bag with new things I might need now there are no cafes: Thermos of tea, Energy bars, Cheese sandwich, entrenching tool and loo roll. Be prepared.
Today was a day of remembering things I’ve forgotten. I set off at 09:25 in the cold sunshine and cruised 87 miles to my start point in Durrington. On the way it occurred to me that this is the first time I’ve been more than a mile off road in nearly 11 months! No traffic on the M5/M4 which was serene, soon I was heading through Marlborough which had a full on farmers market in the centre, my eyes were on stalks to see so many people in one place! I arrived at the start and had a quick cuppa from the thermos and sit down. At this point I’ve already covered more miles than I had in the preceding 8 months on my bike. All I could hear was motorbikes coming out to play in the distance.

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Photo 1, arrived at trail.

I hit the trail at 11:40 and the first section was round the top of the plain, somewhere I’ve been plenty of times before. For those who haven’t been (you really should), it’s about 5miles of wide gravel track littered with walkers, cyclists, One Life Live It trucks, and massive pot holes. The Rally was crashing through them like a battering ram at 40mph and after a while I remembered that I’m meant to bounce the bike to hop over them smooth…

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Photo 2 the plain.

I left the plain and rode though Easterton onto a narrow, enclosed trail that had an enormous step in it. I stopped and realised it was too tall for me to simply ride over so I hopped off to walk her up. I got the front up but the back was skidding and wasn’t getting enough traction so I backed off a bit gave it the beans and dropped the clutch, she found grip, lurch and went over luckily the rear wheel didn’t catch me on the way.

[Brenhden]

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Photo 3 and 4, fallen.
Well, she was kind of up. I was sweating by now and stripped off a bit, twisted her so the rear wheel had ground underneath it and heaved. No wonder people ride KTMs, frikken honda weighs a tonne. I say this every year, I got to get to the gym, eight weeks of being home all the time has made me weak. Then I remembered to lift from behind, piece of cake.
At Grubbes Wood there is a lovely trail in a sort of carved out gorge in the woods, then a little further on at Round Way there is a chalk horse.

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Photo 5 Chalk Horse.

I stopped for cheese sandwich and tea at Bromham on an easy trail before entering posh country.

[Brenhden]

The area around Lacock (which will always make me laugh) is so thatched and fancy that it is like another world. No wonder so many people in the UK don’t understand each other, what do people round there have in common with council estates in Bradford or the multicultural community of Easton where I used to live?

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Photo 6 Posh

Bowden Hill had a lovely downhill narrow muddy trail with a bridge and a ford, which I didn’t use and turned out to be a stream with no exit.

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Photo 7 Bridge.

Next was a muddy, forest called Euridge filled with wild garlic and ruts.

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Photo 8 Cave.

After that was Corsten (Midsomer Murders?) and just after that I called it a day and headed home.

Daily distance: 304km
Daily TET: 79km
Total TET: 1869km

What I learned:
I might treat myself to some new suspension.
I'm never going anywhere again without a thermos, it is lovely to have your own supply of tea.
I am not 'match fit'.

[Tramp]

Try reastling a 200kg xt660z..... Glad you had a great day out grommet... Its what sunshine is there for...