The Sonder Signal Ti - Building a Dream Machine.

The Motel du Mugling is an oasis of calm on the bustling Kathmandu-Pokhara Highway. I called in and ate an unplanned lunch with my friend Sagar, the manager. It was unplanned because I had already eaten breakfast there a few hours previously; inbetween times I had made a minor navigational error and cycled 26 or so kilometres in the wrong direction before retracing my steps to begin all over again. My initial 90km trundle to Pokhara was now to be a slightly more hectic race against daylight.

I'd arrived in Kathmandu a few days prior to this and spent my time pleasantly hanging out in the - now traffic-free - tourist hub of Thamel, catching up with old friends, drinking coffee, and riding familiar trails around the valley rim.

Familiar trails with familiar friends on an unfamiliar bike.
I'd been given a great opportunity to ride the final prototype of the new Sonder Bikes Signal Ti 29" Hardtail with the explicit purpose of capturing some high mountain images of the bike in its natural environment (see my initial review here).

Yak Attack - The Essentials (2018 onwards)

As a seasoned Yak Attacker I get asked a lot of questions throughout the year; what kit? what bike? what to expect?

I wrote a piece about this in 2013 (See here), most of which is still relevant, some of it is not.

After being involved in six consecutive editions I've accumulated a fair bit of experience. I've now pretty much got my own kit dialled. This is my attempt to bring everything up to date for the benefit of anyone planning to take it on. 

Not The Manx 100.

The Manx 100 is a 100 mile single day ultra-endurance mountain bike race around the mountainous terrain of The Isle of Man.

It had been on my radar since it inception in, I think, 2012. This year was the first time that I had found a window to enter.

Mitch, Paul, Pascal (Fluffy), Alan, and I set off from Belper with great expectations - not of winning, I might add, but of an adventure and a great challenge.

Unfortunately, as we were driving up the M6 on our way to Liverpool, Mitch received a text message announcing the cancellation of the ferry crossings due to bad weather in the Irish Sea. Sod's Law dictated that during one of the hottest and driest summers on record we were heading to The Isle of Man on the only shitty weekend for months, you couldn't make it up. We sat in limbo at the dreary Knutsford Services whilst trying to figure something out. A phone call to the ferry provider - The Steam Packet Company - confirmed our worst fears, no places were available on subsequent ferries until the following day which meant we wouldn't be toeing the start line for the race. A phone call to Nigel Morris, the race organiser, didn't bring any further hope even though he bent over backwards to help us out, thank you Nigel. It also turned out that Nigel had never known of a ferry ever being cancelled in July.

Helping Paws 🐾Ride across Sri Lanka.

A little note to say THANK YOU to everyone who has supported our fundraising effort for the Helping Paws nueter and vaccination program. We completed our epic ride, a full post to follow, and reached our initial target of £2000!

Now for something else...

On our final leg Phil spotted a very poorly looking puppy.

The next day he returned the 60kms back in a tuk-tuk, with Corinne, and rescued her.

Her name is Hari.

She has been to vets for treatment and is slowly responding to the love and affection that she has never before had in her short life. She is wonderful.

I have decided to continue the fundraising journey.

I will be cycling another 220kms or more back to where we began - Colombo Fort Railway Station - and will use this to raise money for Hari’s ongoing support.

You can donate using the same link which you can find in the “Helping Hand for Helping Paws” blog that I wrote recently. 

Please consider donating to help this poor little wretch have a better life.

You will find lots of details on the Chase the Rainbow Facebook page.

#HelpForHari

A helping hand for Helping Paws.

So, here's a thing...

A few months back my friend Phil Evans came up with the hare-brained idea that it might be good to do something, well, hare-brained, to raise some money for the Helping Paws neuter and vaccination project in Tangalle, Sri Lanka.

Phil, as you may or may not know, doesn't do things by halves (he invented Yak Attack for starters).

During our extensive travels in Nepal and Sri Lanka we come across a huge number of street dogs, most of which are in very neglected states. Helping Paws Worldwide was founded on the basis of this to try and do something to help alleviate the suffering, and to educate the locals.

"So, what is this hare-brained scheme?" I hear you cry.

Well... hmm...