Blog Posts in Category: Mountain Biking

Mountain biking in Regensburg

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Mountain Biking Short Link

Having ridden my mountain bike once in the last 4 years, I was persuaded to go to a bike testival at Regensburg by a friend. This was a fairly harsh re-introduction to mountain biking as it was all technical trail riding, with the brakes the wrong way around! We did three bike tests from the test centre, two of which were with lightweight e-bikes and the third with normal bikes. The lightweight e-bikes were barely heaver than my normal mountain bike! I now certainly understand e-bikes for this type of riding, as my heart rate average was very similar for all three outings, just with the e-bikes we covered an awful lot more ground and there was much less anaerobic use of the legs, which meant less time recovering at the top before the descents. Unfortunately lightweight e-bikes are somewhat out of my price range at the moment, but the day out certainly made me want to repair my mountain bike so that I can actually use it.

2021 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Wildlife Short Link

Another year has passed and what a year it was with some outstanding high points due to living so close to the alps, but also with plenty of covid induced low points in the first half of the year. The year started with the first variant and a full on lockdown in the UK, which resulted in Becky being unable to travel backwards and forwards as required for her job and me staying in the UK until mid February. It was my first full year living in Munich and I certainly made the most of living an hour from the alps and regularly had my mind blown about what I could achieve without even taking any annual leave! I am not sure I have ever had a year in which I have spent so much time in the mountains, and I am really looking forward to Becky also discovering this properly this year! Winter After heading back to Germany in mid February winter was looking pretty bleak, with most of the snow in Bavaria having melted and no travel possibilities to the higher mountains in Austria. However, the lack of. Read the full article…

Enningalm MTB

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Mountain Biking Short Link

I finally headed out on my MTB after 14 months of being in Munich, so what better for a first outing than 40km with 1200m of ascent! We headed off from Graswing early in the cold early in the morning, and just about warmed up before the descent down the old road to Oberau. This was pretty enjoyable having not been out on the MTB for so long, but it wasn’t technical. Next we made the mistake of following my quick sketch of the route, which gave us a tough ascent which was unridable, but the descent sort of made up for it. The first section was wonderful single track, although it being entirely covered by leaves did make it a bit more interesting. Unfortunately the single track wasn’t that long and we were soon on fire road again for the final descent to the valley. When we reached the valley the cycling was still beautiful, but we certainly had the wrong bikes! However this gave us the opportunity to chill out and recover some energy prior to the big ascent up to Enningalm. An ascent of 900m on my. Read the full article…

2020 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering Short Link

Well I think it is fairly safe to say that this year did not go as planned! We were meant to be getting married in August, however the global pandemic put that on hold until 2021. The year continued to be full of surprises, on my last day in work before I had to isolate due to the COVID rules I had an interview for a secondment to Germany. While clearly the middle of a global pandemic is not the best time to try and move country, we decided to take a risk and I accepted the role in Munich. This means that I now live an hour from the Alps, and hopefully Becky will as well when travel becomes easier again in the near future. Winter / Pre Lockdown The first two months of the year started well with plenty of mountain biking, some landscape photography and an enjoyable Scotland trip, it was just a shame that yet again I managed to injure myself on the Scotland trip so was confined to the hut for half of the week. While this meant I wasn’t able to get out and. Read the full article…

Mendips MTB

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

After a long hiatus due to lockdown it was great to be back out on the mountain bike at the weekend. We took it nice and easy and headed for a well known loop from the top of Burrington Combe. As expected after the recent rain the route was fairly muddy, but nothing like the worst that the mendips can throw at you. We enjoyed the initial descent along the top edge of the coombe, before descending to the bottom of Rowberrow Warren and the all too familiar climb back up to the top. Thankfully all my road biking at left me fairly fit so the climb was fairly easy. Taking it easy we headed down the official blue run in the woods, and it has bedded since I last did it and was much more enjoyable. Maybe it was due to it being less wet, although there were some sections which seemed fairly difficult for a “blue”. We took the direct (read steep) ascent back up to the top of Rowberrow Warren, and then headed up to Beacon Batch before the final descent back to the car. It was. Read the full article…

2019 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering Short Link

Last year was a year which was dominated photographically by snow, this year is unfortunately the polar opposite as winter never really turned up in the UK and weather didn’t allow us to spend that much time high up in the Alps in the summer. Despite the lack of snow it was another excellent year, with plenty of good walking, good photography, ski touring in the alps and excellent scrambling, via ferratas and climbing in the Italian Dolomites. Winter South of the border there was even less snow than in Scotland, however we were fortunate enough to make good use of the one snowy weekend with a walk in the Brecon Beacons. Other than the lack of snow we were lucky to have some excellent walking conditions while we were in the mountains, the highlight had to be walking up to High Raise from Grasmere in the Lake District. Walking in the Brecon Beacons Carnedd Llewelyn from Llyn Eigiau Skirrid Sunrise from the Cat’s Back Waun Rydd from Talybont Reservoir A Windy Wetherlam High Raise from Grasmere Sunset from Mynydd Troed Scottish Winter We had a week booked in Scotland. Read the full article…

Lydford to Mary Tavy MTB

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

After an excellent but very indulgent Christmas and new year break we were keen to get out after our first few days back at work and do some exercise. As the weather forecast wasn’t amazing we decided to head down to Dartmoor for a short day of mountain biking. We chose to do a short circuit from near Lydford, over the moor to Mary Tavy, before heading back over the moor to the start. The first ascent was surprisingly difficult as it was heavy going up wet grass, which the bikes just wanted to tick to stick to. Thankfully there wasn’t much of it, so we were soon at the top and were able to enjoy a gentle descent across the moor and down the other side. This descent wasn’t technical, but on wide open tracks with great views of the moor. After the descent and a number of gates we joined a road which we followed for a few km before rejoining tracks and the final descent before Mary Tavy. The climb back up was the opposite of the first, as with the exception of the first and last. Read the full article…

Bog Roulette in the Doethie Valley

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

After the endless rain this autumn, we finally seemed to have a day at the weekend with good weather. To make the most of this James and I headed over the mid wales to ride the hyped Doethie Valley. The route was very straightforward for the first half, with easy climbing up firetrack around the reservoir, and then a gate (which were all locked) ridden descent down to the start of the ride proper. Despite the gates making the descent frustrating, the autumnal colours and remote scenery were fantastic. At the end of the descent we arrived at a remote cottage where we turned off the main track and the ride abruptly got harder with a fairly steep ascent which marked the end of the significant climbing on the route. This was James’s first ride with his new groupset, and he certainly seemed to appreciate his new low gears! The start of the descent was down the track, which was fairly loose with some abrupt drainage ditches. However we soon got to the start of the showpiece of the route, the long Doethie valley. The descent was all fairly gradual,. Read the full article…