Mountain bike black

Well, my new headset and forks arrived on Thursday, but I have to curb my excitement as it is going to be Monday/Tuesday before a professional with the right tools is able to actually fit for them for me. Pity, because I could really have done with my new set-up today as we tackled a longish black circuit from Varilhes in wonderfully warm (22 degrees) autumn weather. The circuit included everything from repeated sections of sustained ascent on a mixture of terrain, to technical steep single track descents to undulating woodland paths with the added bonus of uprooted trees blocking the path to keep us on our toes. Hmm, that was fun. The lack of route signage made navigating somewhat tricky in places too but that all adds to the adventure!

The great thing about riding from the plain up onto the 'Plantaurel' as the spine of hills that runs from near Saint Girons to Varilhes is called, is the contrasting views. To the right, we had views back down onto the plain with Pamiers in the distancewhilst to the left, Mont Fourcat and Pic de Saint Barthelemy could be seen
and straight ahead, Mont Valier is visible. Beautiful
It was a challenging circuit as the ascent kept on coming but my goodness, there were some fun sections of descent to make up for it! I am loving the mountain bike at the moment and am riding with more confidence, tackling sections that before I would have dismounted for. And my legs are feeling fantastic after today's ride which came in at 30kms with 800m of ascent. Full stats on the usual site