Brand New MDEbikes website

That´s right, my favorite Mountain Bikes builder has a new website and I can assure you it´s really great.

New MDEbikes website

MDE bikes has renewed its site once more and this time they also presented some more frame models.

Beside the aesthetic factors what drew my attention were the new frames, specially the new Cudgel (XC) with the i-Link rear suspension system and the new Carver with a new and more logical rear shox position allowing the use of a bottle cage (which it wasn´t possible on the previous design of this frame).

 Cudgel

Carver

Great work guys, congratulations for your new site!

Time out...

I have not been riding lately because I went through another surgery, this time to my left wrist. That is the main reason of all this time without posting here.

It is true I made several very good rides before the surgery but time was too short and I didn´t managed to find the time to write :(

During the last three weeks I had the time but I didn´t want to think about bikes...
I believe I´ll be able to start riding again next January... not sure though. Until then it is not likely that I will post again.

I can not wait for the day I get on a bicycle again... my legs just keep asking me to take them for a big ride but I don´t like spinning for long times so it´s expectable that I will lose some of my physical condition :(

See you all soon on some trail somewhere ;)

Why can´t we live life in slow motion!?

Sometimes I feel like time is never enough... why? Why can´t we live our lives in slow motion!?

Things would be much easier, tasks would never be postponed and we would have time to keep our blog posts updated... eheheheheh

Last month has been full of work but fortunately also great rides. After buying the Garmin Edge 705 HR I started to play with it and enjoying all the info it gives me.

The first experience was made during a ride from Setúbal to Alcácer do Sal (67km) in the company of my good friend João. This journey was the second stage of the VPBTT (Portugal Crossing on Mountain Bike) and I hope to finish all the stages I missed before the entire crossing gets to an end.


Next weekend I went to a meeting of friends who met each other through a MTB forum (www.projectobtt.com) and because it would be a short ride on Sunday I decided to ride from home on Saturday (101km). As I needed to stay overnight I had to carried all my stuffs on my new bicycle trailer.


On Sunday we had a great time riding through very nice trails and amazing views.


Last weekend I went to ride on the highest mountain in Portugal - Serra da Estrela - and even though I am not a big fan of road rides I must admit that climbing till the 2000m among good friends made it a wonderful experience. We rode 100km (Total climb: 1,385 m [4,544 ft]) on Saturday and 50km (Total climb: 1,687 m [5,535 ft]) on Sunday. The big difference was due to the fact that it was on Sunday that we climb to the highest point - Torre.

Saturday ride: Covilhã-Manteigas-Belmonte-Covilhã.

Sunday ride: Covilhã-Torre-Covilhã.

Life in Slow Motion (YouTube video)

It´s great to look behind and see everything in slow motion... so many good memories shared with good friends. What else can we ask for!?

The return of the blogger...

I want to start by apologizing to all of you for all this time without any update. This does not mean that I haven´t rode lately, matter of fact I have been riding more than ever, the problem has been my work which has taken almost all my time.

Let´s see, since my last post I have made several mountain bike crossings and also some marathons.

First I started by going through the first two stages of the VPBTT (Portugal Crossing on Mountain Bike): 1^st stage – Lisbon/Sesimbra (105.00 km in 06:35:00 hours at 15.95 km/h ); 2^nd stage – Sesimbra/Setubal (75.00 km in 05:30:00 hours at 13.64 km/h ). I made it with three great friends and it was an unforgettable weekend.

Photo by pguedes.

On the next weekend (18/04/2009) I attended the 3th Alcains Marathon (80.00 km in 05:30:00 hours at 14.55 km/h ). It was very difficult for me due to a breathing problem which didn´t allowed me to pedal properly :(

Photos by pguedes.

Until May 29, I made a few rides around my area in order to save some money from travelings expenses.

Photos by pguedes.

On this weekend I did two more stages of the VPBTT - 13^th stage Serpa > Mourão (97.00 km in 05:30:00 hours at 17.64 km/h ) and 14^th stage Mourão > Elvas (105.00 km in 06:45:00 hours at 15.56 km/h ). This time it included a prologue of 152.00 km (in 06:30:00 hours at 23.38 km/h ) to get to the starting point (Serpa) coming from Elvas. The prologue was made through very hot Spanish roads.

You can watch the pictures from this two stages in this Portuguese mtb forum.

On the 6^th of June I went from Arrábida to Albufeira (222.42 km in 09:52:00 hours at 22.54 km/h) both on the trails and roads. We finished it like we almost haven´t started yet and we went to party all night long :D

The beginning

Half way

In the end

On the following weeks I went to several marathons and did smaller rides with my better half ;)

Then it came the biggest challenge I ever attempted so far – The second attempt of the OneShot - Crossing Portugal side by side from Monsaraz to the Atlantic cost (223.00 km in 11:13:00 hours at 19.88 km/h) and i am proud and happy to say I was one of the eight who did it!

Photo by Ricky Rock.

There is no words which can describe what we felt when we got to the ocean...

On the next weekend I joined 22 friends and we rode from Almada to Avis (185.00 km in 09:10:00 hours at 20.18 km/h) where we spend the entire Sunday enjoying the pool and the kayaks ;)

Photos by JorgeMariaBolacha.

You can follow all the pictures HERE.

Finally, last Saturday I went to the north and rode through an old railroad which was dismantle a long time ago and we went from Albergaria-a-Velha to Viseu and returned to the starting point (176.00 km in 09:15:00 hours at 19.03 km/h). The astonishing views and the extraordinary company of good friends allowed it to be one of the best riding days I remember :)

Pictures of this day!

Photos by pguedes.

Now you know why I haven´t had time to update this blog LOL. Long working weeks followed by short (but unforgettable) weekends made it impossible for me to keep the posts updated.

I just want to finished this long post by saying that I probably never felt as great as I feel right now – Mountain biking rules! :)

A dream come true!

After more than a year waiting for the moment when I could start participating on the low-cost mountain bike Portugal crossing, I finally was able to join this amazing journey.


The VPBTT (Portugal Crossing on Mountain Bike) began in the end of 2007 and has been crossing Portugal from Lisbon through the South Portugal littoral, it went across the Algarve and now it started to rise north through Portugal`s interior. Of course this has been done during several weekend stages because we all must work to afford the expenses (even being low-cost LOL).

Now that I am already able to ride my mountain bike I finally joined this group of great friends on this country traversing. And I can only say that Portugal it is really BEAUTIFUL!


This last weekend we started at Vila Real de Santo António, near the southeast border with Spain and we headed to Mértola where we all slept on a gym before heading to Serpa during Sunday.

Packing my sleeping bag after a good night sleep.

During my first stage (it was the 11th for the rest of the group) we made 115km and on the second day we rode 70km. But, even though the terrain was not easy or plain, I would make it all again just for the fun, the views and the fellowship. From now on there is nothing that will impede me from going through the rest of the stages, and when it gets to Lisbon I will go through all the first stages I couldn´t participate because of my injuries.

You can find more pictures on the following links:
11th stage (VRSA-Mértola);
12th stage (Mértola-Serpa).

Next stages will take place on May 30th and 31st and I will be there to enjoy every kilometer.

It is finally ready...

Well, in fact it has been ready for almost a month but as soon as I got my new full suspension mountain bike assembled I couldn´t let it go so I have been riding since then LOL.

OK, I am kidding. The truth is I have been really busy with work and I have not been able to post here.

My new assembled mountain bike

Now that I have rode more than 300km I can say that I have found my new lover and it was love at first sight.

A couple weeks ago I decided it was time to attend my first mountain biking event with my new bike. It was a 4 hours mountain bike race which went really well and where I had lots of fun riding on very interesting and enjoyable trails.

I hadn´t have so much fun in a long long time.

This weekend I entered on a 24 hours mountain bike race and I had lots of fun riding it even though the course was really tough with steep uphills and some technical downhills. If I hadn´t this marvelous piece of machinery I would never be able to go around such difficult track, specially because of my handicapped wrists.

Can you tell I was having a fun ride just by my smile? This was more than 20 hours after the start of the race.

The most difficult for me was the night riding. Even though I had very good lighting system the risk of falling made me stop and rest until the morning.

In the end I achieved all my goals:

• Do better than I had made back in 2007;
• Finish the 24 hours riding;
• Avoid falling;
• And most importantly, have lots of fun.
  

It is finally here! My new MDEbikes Carver frame

As I have told you earlier I was expecting the arrival of my brand new full suspension mountain bike frame. And after a torturous wait it finally arrived yesterday!!!

Can you feel my excitement!?

Before I present it here I must warn everybody to put sunglasses on because it will become brighter and shiny in this post. You know how stars can shine, don`t you?




Are you ready!?

My brand new "shining" Carver frame

I tried to photograph it from different angles with and without flash but nothing worked... It really shines LOL.

I already started to assembling it but that will be subject for another post soon ;)

My skin has never been so smooth...

That is right, after two "muddy" week-ends I am sure both my skin and my bike have never been smoother LOL. I must admit I am starting to think if I should wait for better weather before going back on the trails again. Too many expenses with maintenance are making me consider the possibility of staying home and pedal on the spinning bike only.

This was before last Saturday night ride under a big storm. As you can all imagine I have not taken any photos myself. Check out more pictures HERE.

I have rode more than 100km (60 miles) during the last couple weekends and most of them on very muddy conditions. My bike`s transmission is starting to cry for help and I will have to change the brake pads after less than 500km...

Photo by Jorgex, I am the one with the bright orange jacket in the middle of the peloton.

I love mountain biking but I will try to stay on the roads as much I can during this next rainy weeks. At least my bicycle will thank me, that`s for sure.

MDEbikes has a brand new website for 2009!

That is right, MDE bikes just launch its new 2009 website with a new design, lots of pictures and latests informations. If the old one was already very easy and intuitive to navigate through all the information, the new one it is even better.

New year equals new "face"!

And that was what MDEbikes has done, but although having changed the image it will maintain its fresh happy feeling without changing their goals:

"... design and make each and single piece with an extremely high attention for quality."

Do not miss the opportunity to check it out and see all the new models for 2009:

WWW.MDEBIKES.COM

Have fun!

Saturday ride

I woke up yesterday and immediately felt the urge to ride all day. I began by warming up doing a little road to get to the beach and breath some of that marvelous ocean air while standing there watching the waves hitting the sand (Sorry, I forgot I had the camera).

After that refreshing moment I pointed to the trails and ride 20km until getting to Óbidos village where I went uphill to the castle. I never go to Óbidos without drinking at least one "Ginginha de Óbidos", this time I had two lol.

Photo by yudis_asnar

Photo by Supermariolxpt

Now that I had warmed my guts was time to get on the trails again and this time I went around Óbidos Lagoon (I live on the other side) riding on the new eco-trails that go around the entire lagoon.

I decided to lunch at home and return to the trails just after eating. At this point I found my friend "Rafa" who was finishing his lunch and he decided that he also wanted to ride that afternoon so back on the trails we went. But this time we took a bottle of red wine to keep us hydrated lol.

But it did not take long before we had to stop because of a flat tire (I believe he did it on purpose). Thankfully I had spare tubes and he managed to change it or else we would have to walk his bike home lol.

At this moment and because there was not much time before sunset we headed home with a almost empty bottle.

In the end I have made 55km and drank two Ginginhas and almost half bottle of red wine (good one by the way).

Another great day having fun riding my MDE Slider!