Season's end, baby Théa's beginning...

It's a girl! Born on Sept 13th, weighing as much as a large domestic cat or a juvenile badger and looking as cute as can reasonably be expected for a human being who'd just done what she had, Théa Nancy Morris completes the Bikevillage sticker set. She and Lyndsey are now back at home and everyone is doing splendidly well, albeit in a slightly tired fashion.

Her arrival coincided with the last week of the season, so we got off pretty lightly there! A massive thanks goes out to everyone who came to visit in 2011 - we had an awesome summer with some truly epic riding, some even more epic banter at the table and lots of lovely new friends made, which is pretty much why we still love doing it eleven years in!
As ever, plans are afoot for new rides for 2012. I'm sporting a slightly sore wrist just now so recce' work is being done in porno shorts and fell running shoes. Just be glad there are no photos of that! The BV house is also getting some poshing up with another new bathroom so I'll post when that's done.
Right now I'm off to help Lyndsey's continuing celebration of her return to the world of booze with a lovely bottle of 2007 Pommard from Borgogne - thanks to John, Maddie and Andy for that one!
Cheers to all and here's to Théa and 2012!

Insurance for older riders?

Does anyone out there know of any companies who'll do sports/travel insurance for older riders? We've just spent an awesome week riding with Bob Grundy who, at 69, is a stronger rider than most half his age. Alas Bob's not having any joy looking for insurance for next year as most companies stop covering people at 70. Please give us a shout if you have any ideas!
On the plus side, I'm now looking forward to at least another  37 years of mountain biking - thanks to Bob for the inspiration!

Alpine nocturne

I went for an awesome nightride with our chef Thor this week. We climbed up onto the south facing side of the Tarentaise, so that's les Arcs and Sainte Foy you can see in the background. About 45 minutes of granny gear (or the 1x10 equivalent) grinding up a fire road to be rewarded by a stunning star-lit panorama over the whole valley and a pretty savage descent back into Bourg St Maurice before sneaking along Scary Bear Trail home. Now that's mountain biking!

We risked a fast 'n light strategy and took nothing at all with us bar the tiny camera and a couple of MTFU stickers on our top tubes. At this time of year zipping out for a ride without a huge guiding pack on is a real joy! The gamble paid off and we had about the best 2 hour ride you could ever wish for. With autumn approaching it's probably good to be honing the torch-lit singletrack skills anyway!