About me

Why Mr O......

......the only person who sometimes refers to me as that is my bestest cycling buddy Tim, mainly cos like other people he thinks i am little obsessed about all things Orange, so it seemed appropriate for the title of the blog as he is probably right.

Some more about me

I have been tinkering and modifying and customising bikes since I was a nipper and of course riding them, the fiddling it has to be said though, is as much an obsession as the riding, more so sometimes, always planning and researching the next mod or the next bike, be it mine or someone elses.

still in my 30's i have a couple of sprogs who are old enough that i can fit cycling around them quite easily and use my commute to work (28 miles each way) for training to lesson the impact on the family....btw, i dont commute every day but it is a goal

My cycling

First and formost i have always considered myself a mountain biker, for many years i also considered myself to be quite a good one until i saw some proper riders but hey, i get by and i can hold my own with enough lack of fear to keep things interesting. I started riding regularly after changing jobs and working somewhere that backed onto miles of military training ground with public access and for training i can think of nowhere better.

2010 i was casually asked if i wanted to cycle from Lands End to John O' Groats with a bunch of guys from church (yes i go to church) to raise money for a couple of charities, Meal-a-day and Help 4 Happys, sounds like a laugh i thought, but I ain't no roadie (this was my first attempt at a blog).....so using the cyclescheme i bought myself, sorry....lease hired.... the closest thing i was prepared to ride to a road bike....cyclocross, oh yer i ain't wearing lycra neither.

It was on this ride than i found that great cycling didn't have to be adrenalin fuelled singletrack and could in actual fact be found in calm scenery, killer hill climbs and being able to cycle pub to cafe chatting with ya mates, well about 5000 miles and 4 pairs of lycra bib shorts later i reckon i can legitimately refer to myself as part roadie at least.

I love riding my bikes but my cycling habits change frequently, so my favourites come and go and one bike might sit for a few months before getting excited about it again. 

The stalwart though which if i could only have one bike would be my Orange evo2, it is still after nearly 10 years the single best purchase i have ever made, 2012 was to see it retired in favour of my new Orange Elite but i thought i could just keep it going with some of the scrap i still had, mostly worn out bits from when it was new, however after piecing it back together for winter hack, single speed use i just just fell in love with it even more and ended up spending more pennies i didn't have on it.

Why a Blog

Every purchase made, ride ridden, goes through a painstaking OCD researching stage before commitment and execution, so with this in mind i thought i might give something back by sharing some of my cycling experiences so others can make, hopefully, more educated decisions on their own purchases and/or events as i have used so many other peoples info to help make my decisions.

additionally i have a useless memory so i thought it would be helpful for me to keep all of the cycling information that is important to me in one place.