AC Capehart/Bike Fun

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  Two weekends ago, I went out with Simon and we tooled around in the woods and on bridle trails (usually!) for 20-odd miles. My rides with Simon have been a delight, if not exactly purposeful. Like any riding, it&#8217;s only a matter of making the time for &#8217;em. Cycling remains for me the one form of exercise that I don&#8217;t think of as exercise, but as fun. We mainly find our way up into the downs. This time, we finally completed a ride that we&#8217;d meant to do before when he started dropping ball bearings out of his headset (oops!) &#8211; Ditchling Beacon to Devil&#8217;s Dyke. This is also a &#8220;bus-to-bus&#8221; hike we&#8217;d talked about doing as a family. More fun on the bike, quicker and didn&#8217;t have to take the bus as part of it, but not as family-friendly. 🙂
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  <a href="http://gallery.accapehart.com/v/Events/Outings/IRB_3994+_EH__2_.jpg.html"><img src="http://gallery.accapehart.com/d/21045-2/IRB_3994+_EH__2_.jpg" /></p> 
  
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    AC on the<br />Capital to Coast<br />ride
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      Then, last weekend, I did the Capital to Coast bike ride (60 miles). (It&#8217;s still not too late to offer support and <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/AC-Capehart">help me raise my target goal of £200</a> for the Capital to Coast ride!) This was also quite fun. I started out with some mates from work going slowly, but looked behind me and saw that I&#8217;d already lost them so pushed myself instead. Breaks every 10-15 miles with snacks and water made it a pretty straight forward trip. I finished it off in about 5.5 hours. It feels like I should have done better. I rode pretty well, but definitely took advantage of the rest stops. There were also road-side photographers. I had no idea what they were doing, so I waved at all of them. Turns out, they were taking pictures of the riders to sell back to us. I am far more interested in pictures that make me look like a serious cyclist. Fortunately, there was one that has a bit of that look, so I did buy it:)
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      <a href="http://gallery.accapehart.com/v/Places/England/Brighton/PaddleRoundThePier/IMG_4872.JPG.html"><img src="http://gallery.accapehart.com/d/21011-2/IMG_4872.JPG" /></p> 
      
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        Martyn Ashton<br />does precision riding
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          Did another 30 miles this weekend. Just out-and-back. I intended to go to Beachy Head to see what it looked like, but traffic was heavy, I&#8217;d forgotten sunscreen, getting a little tired. Turning back, I realized how much the wind had been to my back. I slogged home, and it seemed like it was getting worse and worse. When I finally stopped, I realized the rear wheel had been brutalized somehow, and the breaks were rubbing almost continuously. I&#8217;d been working against hills, wind and breaks. After that ride, we went back down to the <a href="http://www.paddleroundthepier.com/">&#8220;Paddle Round The Pier&#8221;</a> where we got to watch <a href="http://www.ashtonbikes.com/">Martyn Ashton</a> and Blake Samson on the Animal Relentless Bike Tour.
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          <a href="http://gallery.accapehart.com/v/Places/England/Brighton/PaddleRoundThePier/IMG_4889.JPG.html"><img src="http://gallery.accapehart.com/d/21041-2/IMG_4889.JPG" /></p> 
          
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            Blake Samson&#8217;s<br />arial acrobatics
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              What a blast. While Carolyn most enjoyed Blake&#8217;s aerial acrobatics, I was primarily a fan of the precision control and balance required by Martyn&#8217;s trial riding. I&#8217;d always been impressed by trial riding, but I&#8217;d never seen any in-person, and while this was more stunt than trial specifically, it was enough to keep me up last night pouring over youtube videos of trial riding, and contemplating picking up an Ashton Diamondback trials bike while I&#8217;m here as they don&#8217;t carry &#8217;em back in the states.
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              More pictures from the &#8220;<a href="http://www.animal.co.uk/fe/htm/index/index.asp">Animal</a> <a href="http://www.relentlessenergy.com/">Relentless</a> <strong>Freestyle Bike Tour</strong> sponsored by <a href="http://www.vitosport.co.uk/index.html">Vito Sport</a>, and <a href="http://www.ashtonbikes.com/">Team Ashton Diamondback</a>&#8221; can be found in <a href="http://gallery.accapehart.com/v/Places/England/Brighton/PaddleRoundThePier/">my gallery</a>.
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