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!

I Love "Revenges"!

That´s right, while waiting for my new full suspension frame to arrive I decided to join a group of friends (more than 30) who were going to revenge the fact that one of them did not reach the end of one of the latest mountain bike rides they had made. The challenge was to ride more than 100km (60miles) on trails between Casa Branca and Pinhal Novo (Portugal).

Even though it was a bit cold that morning everybody was happy and anxious to get started. We decided that it was best if we all left our cars at Pinhal Novo and take the train to Casa Branca. All the bikes were carried by an open truck.

This was my first long mountain bike ride since 2007 when I broke both wrists and so I have to admit I was a bit nervous.

But that did not last long because as soon as we started riding I felt great and I didn`t even want to stop (it was really cold LOL, there was even some ice on the trails).

We arrived at Vendas Novas at midday and we had a real banquet with a delicious fish soup followed by meat/bread/wine, and in the end we even got a big birthday cake!

After such a great lunch we had to be strong enough to get on our bicycles again and finish what we had started.

For me, dancing was the only way to warm myself before restart riding LOL.

In the end my cycle-computer showed me 114km (I rode back several times to keep from freezing while waiting for the slower group LOL).

And for ending a great day nothing better than drink some beers and eat something surrounded by friends ;).

If you wish you can check out more photos of this day at ProjectoBTT.com

It is almost done!

That´s right, my new frame is ready for finishing. Thanks to Giuseppe`s photo I can now dream with my new frame LOL.



It´s great to see my new baby being held by the skillful hands who made "her", thank you so much Federico! I can not wait to have "her" here ready for assembling and be able to start riding her through all those trails which she will love so much.

I don´t know if it´s because it´s Christmas time but I really feel like a child again, waiting for that special toy that seems like will never arrive LOL. This year my Santa Claus is from Torino, Italy. And for the first time I know where He lives: MDE General Headquarters.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a 2009 that will bring everything you want!

Have fun!

Back on wheels!

After more than a year after my last mountain bike vacations to the French Alps where I broke both wrists I am back on the trails again :)



















I have been training myself to be able to do almost all those things I used to do with my mountain bikes but most of all to feel happy and alive doing one of the things I like the most: riding bicycles!

After a couple months of trainings I am already able to ride 60/80km before my wrists start complaining. The worst thing is I can not grab the handlebar as I did before and that is a big problem when I want to ride standing up to relieve the end of my back :D

For that reason I decided to buy a full suspended frame which will make my rides a lot more comfortable and safe. Here is the one I chose - MDEbikes Carver i-Link `09:

As to the color I will leave you thinking about it and then I will show the finished frame in one of my next posts ;).

Have fun!