Gisburn Night ride

A few people off STW were going to gisbunr the other night, Simon and I went along. A decent sized group was already there, Lowey was running late so we tagged on with the group, should have waited for lowey but he easily caught up so no probs. The first 15minutes was all a bit ho hum, fire road and a bit of narrow trail winding through the trees, nowt spesh and I began to have my doubts but this was the original stuff, soon we got to the new and it was great. Some proper twisty stuff through the trees, bars scraping bark in some places if you weren't careful. The quarry was fun and later the optional black stuff was ace. The slab is indeed steep but rideable by most, Si went up for a go I went up to offer advice on line but by the time I got there he had just ridden straight off 1st time. The gulley was great HUGE bermed corners 10ft I reckon maybe more followed by some proper big G-outs, unfortunatley the troughs had some soft earth/mud and all of us had some sketchy moments. Si had a flat at the bottom so I took the opportunity to charge back up the fire road and down the gulley again. Some more boardwalk and then the finest bit of 'blue' run I've ever ridden, really flowy. It wasn't all top notch, I had a comedy dismount over the bars in the muddy section after the gully (see below) and nearly crashed a couple of times. Some of the berms didn't seem the right shape, getting sharper halfway round but that could be pilot error. Worth a visit anyway, bit of a bugger to get to for me but give it a go.

Nan Bield

Ooh big mountain passes, gatesgarth and nan bield, been wanting to do NB for a while and Lowey organised a trip so I just had to tag along. Weather was iffy, it had pissed it down all night and was very overcast. Set off from staveley and the climb up the fell was very damp, summer shoes may have been a bad choice. Descent to sadgill was fun grassy to start then rocky and loose at the bottom. The climb to gatesgarth was not. Loose energy sapping rocks to startlong slow grind then it gradually got steeper and steeper Then switched to grass edged slabs at a stupid steep gradient, it briefly levelled off then got silly again with more loose stuff, my climbing mojo had gone AWOL and I walked most of the last section but DJ, lowey and Jacqui were climbing well. The descent to Haweswater was loose, steep, sketchy, brake boiling, goodness. A spot of lunch then the hard bit, an hour of carrying. It was hard going but I mostly managed to not let it get to me, then 2/3rds of the way up it started to rain, grrr! A quick rest at the top and we set off with a decent gap between us, Ton got about 5 yards before he got off and started to push, jonnie went next and as he passed Ton he made a comment about riding technique, unfortunate as 10 seconds later he was on his face, a step down into a switchback had him off and he smacked his cheekbone dizzying him and got a deep cut on his cheek, lots of blood. Wors patched him up and we picked up his bike, when he was ready to go we got going again, it certainly piles on the pressure when you try to ride a section thats had your mate off and is still splattered with his blood. I made it down all the tricky stuff, sketch-tastic then on the flatter section I suffered a loss of concentration, the trail went left I went right, over a rockfield which had me off and as I went down I saw a rock that my face was heading for - eek! I missed the rock, just bruised shoulder and cut knees, picked myself up and carried on. We had to wait a while for everyone, poor Jacqui and Mel carried their bikes all the way up and most of the way down, I doubt they'll be back to nan bield. A bit more fun up and down and we were back. nice day, crap weather, bit of carnage, think I'll be back in a few weeks to show Mark.

Overated

Mark and I went out and did the 'classic' Back O Skiddaw last week, not so impressed myself, 30 mile ride 11 of it on tarmac and another 3 on a pleasent enough but boring C2C link route. Thats 14 boring miles out of 30, but what really seals it is that the best bit (lonscale fell) can be done on a much shorter 8 mile ride, leaving you the rest of the day to do a proper route like borrowdale. Nice enough day out but not a route I'll do again. Oh and Tebay services Westmorland farm shop do fantastic pies, some posh individual ones and slices of westmorland pie, cumberland meat with cheese and pickle, mmmmmm. If your going up the M6 to the North lakes call in, pricey but the best mid-ride snacks I've ever had.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I met Samurai at the singletrack weekender, I've been reading his blogs/STW stuff for ages, pinching his ideas for local routes and generally been inspired by him to ride further and faster than ever so it was cool to finally meet him.

Singletrack classic weekender

Wahey what a cracking event! Really good atmosphere everyone was dead friendly, chatted to loads of other riders, weather was brilliant (during riding times anyway) and the courses were spot on. Downhill was a bit longer than I expected it to be, as I was running late I gave my 1:40 time for the seeding then I noted the longer route....oops. Didn't shame myself in the end, a couple of little mistakes on the run slowed me down a little but 1:41.19 got me 8th spot. The trials was fun a nasty little climb then the stuff up in the practice area, 2 skinnies, the seesaw, a curved skinny and the stepped climb. I managed a clean sweep so would be starting on time. I was going to hang around till the entertainment started but I couldn't sit still, kept going back and riding the trials and other stuff, proper tiring myself out so I left after watching some of the second lot of downhillers. It rained just after I left but all the riders had got down safely before it started.
XC race day was not as good for me, we started at 11 sharp, about 12 of us with 0 time penalty. I set off too quick, was in 5th up the first climb and my throat was red raw by the top, I eased off slightly and a couple of riders came passed me, couldn't get my breath back but held it at a steady 'completely ragged' state which I thought I could maintain. Donwnhill sections were a bit sketchy so out of breath but I made it down and across the line 17m15s for my first lap, get in! Having checked the results I was in 8th at that point but I was hurting, thinking my short racing career should be put to an end as it's bloody hard work and not massively enjoyable. Halfway round the 2nd lap I flatted arrrrgh. Checked the back tyre it had ripped, about an inch gash in it, oh dear. Tried to patch the inside of the tyre with a 1cm patch, didn't have a plastic tyre 'boot' I sometimes carry for this sort of thing so bunged in a business card (also good for spacing your disc brake pads) hoping it would help, while I was at it I patched my original tube (good job) So that cost me about 10 minutes, not long after that I passed Si who had come to watch, he clocked my time, I finished that lap and started another, coming passed Si 18minutes later, pretty good, then on the downhill back into the arena I flatted again, grrrr. I pretty much knew it was over then, as I was fixing it the leaders came passed me so as I finished my lap I wasn't allowed out for the final one. Gutted about the punctures, with 17/18minute laps I could have been top ten.
Really good event I will definitely going to the next one.

Pic by Dave Haygarth

Day before the big race

So singletrack classic weekend tomorrow, looking forward to it but not for some reason as much as I thought I would be - maybe cos I'm not camping out on-site. Went up yesterday to have a bit of a practice, did first lap of the course (or as near to it as I can remember) in 16 minutes, the next lap was considerably slower, I reckon there'll be a few racer wannabes (me included) blowing up big style halfway through the xc race. Also there's a nasty little climb at the top of the main drag, it's rideable (just) I rode it tuesday, but not after just hammering up the main climb but it should sort out the men from the boys*, or atleast the men from the racers, the racers will be the ones saving time and energy running up it. I then tried the downhill course 1min50 is either way off the pace or I started and finished at the wrong places. 'The ginnel' is scary, I've ridden it a few times no probs but Ed-O told us the race line but it's defo a commitment move, you basically take the huge berm too wide and cut straight down the middle of the S bends fast, trouble is there are big rocks on the edges which you pass bloody close to. Also managed to over cook the ditch hip jump, some doubles straight into a berm, hit it too fast and high and you end up going straight over the top of the berm.
Beginning to think my hardtail may not be the best bike for racing, I can't actually reach the gear levers from the grips and while its comfy and fun riding normally it's more of a handful when your going at 100% and too fecked to concentrate on your line. Lets hope the weather holds out.

*apologies to trio and other mtb laydeez

6months in...

Well thats half the year gone already, how am I doing with my 2009 targets? Not too bad on the mileage front, 1264 xc miles is right on target for my 2500 goal. Road miles are slightly higher at 1504, with the iffy weather last month I slipped into the easier road camp again. Plenty of social rides done and more planned, in a reversal I've gone from mostly riding on my own to pretty much only commuting on my own now. Mary Townley loop still not done, neither have I done a century but have plans for one in the dales with Gaz from work, see if it pans out. Year is going well so far, lets hope we have plenty more dry weather to eke out as much offroad miles (and smiles) as possible from the summer.
107 rides so far, mostly done on (obviously/depressingly) my pompino commuter 2nd place is my inbred, in total I've only done 33 rides with gears, singlespeeding seems to be taking over. Slightly worryingly my 2 'bestest' bikes (the most expensive) have only made 7 appearances each! Parts bin bikes rule, you don't mind grinding their compnents to a fine paste when it's filthy out.

A Trip Down The High Street

Oohoo, High Street epic, not done this ride in ages, start in patterdale, up (very much so) to high street over the tops to loadpot hill, down to the cockpit and back along the banks of ullswater. Classic ride, we started from martindale to get the busy ullswater bit done while it was quiet, techno-rocky-tastic. Took us and hour to do less than 5 miles, steep little drops and climbs over gravel, big rocks and base rock, my fave bit of singletrack, hard work tho and not flowy enough for some. The climb to high street was brutal, 2miles took 1hr15, a just* rideable long steep gravelly section followed by a 30min hike a bike, on the rocks by ullswater I wasn't so sure about my choice to bring the RM but carrying up the Knott, which is practically a staircase, I was glad I'd left the heavy heckler at home. Along the tops it tried raining but held off, the trail went on for ages, nice fast moorland descents with drops and ruts and easy ups, once at loadpot the downhill went on for ever, my calves were getting really tired from standing up for so long! The back into martindale, more down, fast dry bit jumpy bit twisty properly quick, finished up at the pub, I rode up the bastard road climb to get the car while burk got the drinks in. 4hrs is about an hour quicker than usual, nice work. Good weather again, superb route that seems longer than 25miles, you keep turning a corner or cresting a hill to be met wih a view of more great riding lined up for you.
Had time to get home, shower, eat, grab my hardtail and head up to lee quarry for the STW weekender pre-ride. Ed-O showed us round and pointed out the best lines. I ended up beasting myself, going up some killer power climbs and constantly going back for another go. Good fun again and the weekender looks like it'll be great aslong as I don't over do it and crash out on the first day.
I'm in a world of hurt today, sore everywhere, even the callouses on my hands are aching. Sore legs from all the climbing, sore arms and shoulders from muscling the bike around all day, sore back from hefting bikes up silly steep hills. I love it - reminds me what a brilliant day i had yesterday, I've earned this pain :-)

*just doable by someone better than me, I cleaned the first steepest part but was on and off the rest of the way as my legs and lungs couldn't keep it up.