Hi guys
Just a quick heads up that I’m organising another film night for the GFT at the end of this month. Details of the tour are below. Glasgow will be hosting the European premiere of “From the Inside out” from the team that made the likes of The Collective and Seasons. Continue reading
Weather looks ace – clear skies and warm so who is up for heading out at 7.45?
I’ll be doing the biscuit run after as usual. I’m guessing all the custard creams will have disappeared again. It’s funny but there’s usually at least half a packet left at the end of a Wednesday night but come the following Wednesday, when I open up, they’re all gone!!!!!!!
Like the title says, I have a brand new 19 inch 2011 Cove Hummer for sale. It’s a warranty replacement for my old frame and is still in the box. The frame is made by Lynskey and features a replaceable drop out. It’s designed to be run with a 140 mm fork and is ideally suited for everything from tight woodsy singletrack to rocky big mountain descents. The frame comes in a limited edition brushed finish and looks rear smart.
The reason I’m selling it is that I’ve been bitten by the 29er bug and am looking to replace it with a full sus frame.
List price is £1600 but I’m looking for £1,000 reflecting the fact that it is brand new.
If you are interested and fancy a new 19 inch Ti steed, feel free to e mail me.
Cheers
Sanny
So did the weekend away happen? I hope it did. Marky Mark and I were down riding High Street yesterday and it was stunning. Great weather and dusty trails. Gutted that I wasn’t able to get down for the whole weekend. Brilliant day out.
After a magic spin on the crosser last night out to Wheelcraft, I’m keen to get out again tonight. However, Lennox on a warm night with midges isn’t really floating my boat so I was thinking of heading up the Whangie or the Knockie Buckle. The weather is looking stunning as are trail conditions. Any takers? Planning on taking the camera as I’m hoping the views will be even better than the ones we were treated to a couple of weeks ago when we were last up the Whangie.
Sanny
“Ben Lawers on Sunday?” I texted Ross. Knowing his love for the area, I knew the thought of some hikey bike munro bashing would not be a hard sell. With blue skies before us, we left Glasgow just after 7.30 in the morning reaching Killin before 9 where we bumped into Shearer at the coffee shop. Cue one unplanned stop for bacon rolls as our guide for the ride, Alex aka Captain Mainwaring was running late for our scheduled start point at the Lawers Inn.
A quick pre ride faff and we were soon spinning back along the road towards the Lawers Visitor Centre Car Park. To our right was the hulking lump that is the Ben Lawers Massif and our target for the day, Beinn Ghlass and Ben Lawers. The two and a half mile road climb was despatched with relative ease – the gradually easing gradient making for a pleasant climb up through the trees and out onto the open moor. Reaching where the visitor centre should have been, I was surprised to see that it had been demolished since I was last up. With nary a snack van to be found, hopes of a mid ride coffee break were dashed. Unperturbed, we started on the off road climb proper. Winding its way across the moor, the trail was an absolute delight to ride. I’d been expecting a push and carry from the start – instead, we enjoyed a mostly rideable trail alternating between exposed rocks and hard packed dirt all the way up to the split. Passing by a fair number of walkers including one particularly cheery Scandinavian woman who probably thought we were stalking her judging by the number of times we kept passing each other, everyone we encountered seemed in good humour and enjoying a glorious day on the hills.
Regrouping at the path split, the Captain whipped up the excitement factor. Pointing to a ribbon of trail snaking down from the Bealach, talk of a 5km continuous descent came to the fore. Suitably psyched, bikes were shouldered for the carry up to the summit of Meall Ghlass, a great test for my new Shimano walking boots. Not one for letting common sense and experience interfere with a bad decision, I’d chosen this ride as their first outing – blisters and sore feet be damned! Thankfully, the boots proved to be a great fit and seemed to find grip over the loose, rocky trail all the way up to the summit. Progress was remarkably quick – the steep gradient making for rapid height gain though Ross was suffering from post Yoga sore legs for much of it. To be fair though, he plugged away without complaint and got to the top just as quickly as the rest of us. Probably the bad chat and Amy Winehouse jokes spurred him on! Though not one for today, on the way up we all took turns at spotting lines down some of the steeper more technical sections. Step downs and stone pitching made for what would certainly be some full on mountain riding and worthy of a return trip.
Cresting the summit, bikes were dropped and rations broken out – the bacon and black pudding roll I’d bought at the café being a mighty fine reward for the effort thus far. Pictures were taken and the view in all its technicolour HD glory taken in. From beyond Ben Nevis to the north west to the Pentlands and Tinto Hill to the south and East, we were in big sky country and were feeling mighty smug at having picked the perfect day to go up with the bikes. Of course, we were only one summit down meaning we had a descent and climb to follow. The descent drops perhaps only 100 vertical metres but feels like much longer. Flow is an oft used expression but this had it by the bucket load. We weren’t going too fast though we did have one walker caution us to be careful – which was nice! At the bealach, the final summit push started up the main track. Lines were committed to memory. “That looks doable” was the phrase of the day. Stopping to chat to a fellow walker, he jovially commented that there was no road at the top. In my best Dr Emmett Brown voice, I couldn’t help but reply “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!” His wry smile denoted a fellow fan of Back to the Future! As with Beinn Ghlass, progress to the summit cairn was quick and relatively pain free though the gusting wind at the top meant we took shelter in the lea of the hill for the inevitable food stop. “Twix eh? Don’t mind if I do!” It’s not often that Scotland comes up trumps weather wise but the views were sensational as we kicked back against the rocky summit outcrop and watched the passing scene.
This being a ride and not a walk, we could only put off the beckoning calls of the descent for so long. After stopping for a walker to take a pic of Ross and I at the summit with our bikes (though only after he assured us that the pics weren’t for some special interest website), we headed down the descent. “You go first!” encouraged Shearer, obviously valuing my presence in the manner of a crash test dummy. Cheers for that, fella! The descent was definitely on the technical side of steep and technical. Poorly placed water bars in a couple of places and the occasional strong gust of wind briefly impeded progress but the slow speed trialsy descent (with fork locked out to stop it from diving) made for an absolute belter of a passage down. For a rider of 55 who has only been riding for a few years and who protests of his lack of technical skills, the Captain seemed to be in his element. Reaching the bealach crash free, we were all grinning like ejits! “That’s better than Ben Lomond!” I exclaimed. We had barely even started the descent proper yet we were already taking cheesy grins to Commonwealth standard. As good as that was, what followed was even better – a thin ribbon of footpath skirted round the side of Beinn Ghlass – hard packed with the occasional rock step, it reminded me of a trail high above Verbier on the way to Pierre Avoir. Damn, this trail had flow by the bucket load. Even a stop for Shearer’s exploding tubeless tyre – trust me, the sight of a man pumping up a frothing tube is one that scars your for life, did nothing to interrupt what is surely one of the finest singletrack descents around.
The smug grins were at Olympic levels by the time we got back to the car park. “Is that in your top ten rides?” asked the Captain. Before I had time to reflect, Ross butted in with a “that was brilliant!” Given that he had done the ride twice before, we ribbed him for having kept it to himself just how good it was. As it was only early afternoon and with the sun in awesome day mode, we decided to extend the ride by dropping down the road descent for a short road bash back towards the Lawers Inn where we could turn off for another big climb. Stopping at a gate by the road side, Ross was hesitant about the climb. “I think I might just head back but you guys should continue”, he said. After a little gentle persuasion and some shockingly unscrupulous threats “ Ross, what will I call the ride report? How about Ross’s Shame as the title?”, he ignored his sore legs and joined us for the 1300 feet of land rover track climb to the
water culvert track high above us. The sun was blazing down on us with Shearer finding it particularly hot though for me, after two weeks of riding in Mallorca in temperatures up to 47, 25 degrees felt really pretty pleasant in comparison. Cresting the top of the climb, the culvert track gently followed the contour of the hill round into the valley below An Stuc. Spotting three walkers off trail, Ross did his good biker thing and checked that they weren’t lost. A true gent. Rejoining us, we donned pads for the final descent of the day. A glorious grassy descent that follows the course of the Lawers Burn. As a descent, it was almost a match for the first big descent of the day – again, though not technical, it had that tangible feeling of flow that all the best trails have and seemed to go on for ages. Popping out at the road side beside the antler shop, a two minute spin saw us back at the cars. We’d been out for 7 hours. We’d climbed and descended nearly 6000 feet. Was it an epic? Well, nobody lost an eye so not quite but it was a fantastic and memorable day out. However, the Lawers Inn tipped it into epic status – the quality and portions size of the post ride food we had were tremendous. Shearer’s veggie bake was the size of his head while Ross couldn’t finish his meal much to our amusement, prompting the obligatory piss taking that follows such things. You know you’ve hit pay dirt when Ross leaves a pile of chips on his plate and the barmaid tells you that they have to use an even bigger plate when the sell steak! Happy days! All told, it was a great day out. The Captain had shown us some great riding and a terrific post ride pub. As Shearer would put it, “Legend!”
Just like the heading says! I plan to head out at 7.45. Forecast is good. Anyone else planning on a spin?
On a different note, Shearer and I headed up onto Beinn a Ghlo group of munros near Blair Atholl on Sunday. After an initial hikey bike up to the saddle, we were rewarded with some mighty fine plateau riding and a couple of terrific descents. The final one of Carn Liath is a loose, steep and rocky stunner. The mountains have been on my to do list for a while and they definitely lived up to expectations.
Next up on the must do list are Ben Lawyers and the Inverar horseshoe – the latter being 4 summits on a big plateau. Ross and I walked it on a perfect winter’s day a couple of years back and the final descent would be amazing on the bike.
Cheers
Sanny
Fancy a trip to the Lakes?” read the message from Ross. With stunning weather forecast, I was in. Marky Mark took no persuasion either meaning the three of us were on the road at the crack of a sparrow’s fart heading down to Keswick to do the classic (and ever so slightly cheeky) Skiddaw and Ullock Pike ride. The trip down was the usual heady mix of terrible patter, Ross’s “interesting” musical choices and the odd missed turn off. Reaching the trail head at just gone 9, we were met by my mate Pete, ace web expert for Planet Fear and dab hand on a bike and his good mate Dave, ace snapper resplendent in a Troy Lee top that made him the double of Dennis the Menace.
The plan was simple, head up Skiddaw on the bridleway then take in the cheeky trails avoiding the walkers on the way down. With Pete promising a particularly tricky descent off the summit, we were itching to get going. The climb itself is something of a Lakeland test piece. Recent improvements to the trail mean that it is possible to ride from the bottom all the way to the summit. Despite coming off the back of a nasty bought of gastro enteritis, I was feeling good in the sunshine and decided to go for the non stop approach. It was all going really well until a walker and his dog on the way down took the line I was aiming for and the inevitable dab happened. Gutted but it didn’t make the climb any less enjoyable as it gave me the excuse to take a few pics. Meanwhile, the guys were all making good progress up the mountain with Pete definitely getting the hardcore award of the day for hauling his Sunn DH bike replete with Boxxer World Cups up the mountain.
The sun beat down on us as we crested the shoulder of the hill and stopped at the gate below the lower summit of Little Man. As I relaxed in the sunshine and soaked in the scenery, I got talking to a friendly walker who told me all about his caravan and his regular trips to the Lakes. It sounded like he had his priorities straight and even managed to make caravanning sound like fun! Kicking back, I was soon joined by Ross who despite having a bit of a light headed moment on the climb which nearly knocked him off the bike, had stormed up the mountain. Mark, Dave and Pete joined us in quick succession thereafter. Bumper packs of Fruit Pastilles, Haribos and Randoms were tucked into as we contemplated our next move. Up the bridleway or take the steep footpath onto Little Man. Opting for the latter, the path proved too steep and loose to ride up making for a two minute carry to the summit. Hitting the cairn, we were treated to stunning views in all directions – Derwent Water looked amazing as it glistened in the sunshine while to the west we could see the hump that it Ullock Pike beckoning us over while the lower path looked like a surefire way of squeezing a second big descent out of the day. From Little Man, a couple of short descents and climbs saw us reach the summit of Skiddaw and earned us the usual good natured comments from walkers wanting a backy down the hill and asking if we had ridden our bikes up. As young Pete and I reflected at the summit, it’s very rare these days that mountain bikers in the Lakes will be at odds with walkers when out on the fells. The demographic has definitely changed over the last few years with mountain bikers being regarded as just another group of outdoor enthusiasts enjoying nature at its finest.
With a light breeze for company, the summit was the cue for the scoffing of sandwiches and various crisps and sweeties. Self praise is no praise but I reckon my home made bacon and sautéed mushroom toasted Panini (with brown sauce accompaniment) followed by a tangerine custard pastry was contender for lunch of the day award. Having truly stuffed our faces, Dave led the way to a descent I had never done before. Cresting the summit, we arrived at a cairn where he pointed down. Pete and Ross set off first with me behind. What didn’t even look like a path turned out to be an absolute peach of a rocky and loose, slate covered switch back descent. It was all hands on the brakes as we plummeted down the side of what at the bottom looked like a ridiculously steep scree slope. It managed that almost impossible feat of looking even steeper from the bottom than it did from the top and even after having ridden it, we were hard pushed to distinguish the trail from the bottom.
Regrouping at the small tarn below and after having taken a lot of photos, we were ready for the main event – Ullock Pike. I have to be honest and say that this has to rate as one of the finest descents I know. It has everything you could want – proper ridge line singletrack, rocky drops, chutes, jumps, fast and flowy sections intermingled with slow speed hop the back wheel tech. Coupled with exceptional scenery and great weather, there was no place I would rather have been on Saturday. With saddles dropped firmly into frames, we were quickly off and riding. Following each other down really brought the trails to life – oh for a head cam. Even two pinch flats in quick succession didn’t spoil the fun. Rounding a corner, we came across the chute of much steepness. This had proven to be my undoing last time round – a steep, off camber chute that I had gotten down but then stopped dead at the apex as I couldn’t hop my wheel around. This time I was determined to nail it. Pete led the way with a simple straight line at speed approach while I went for the slightly slower drop in and hop approach. At least, that was the idea but as I made a repeated arse of the line going in, I knew today wasn’t to be the day. England 1 – Scotland Nil. Gutted.
On the plus side, there was a whole heap more trail to enjoy which finished off with a truly fabulous section of grassy singletrack that I spotted and decided to take a gamble on. The gradual descent and drop to the left made for out loud laughs as we freewheeled down with the compressions making for a real sense of speed and flow. Marvellous! Reaching the bottom gate on the Allerdale ramble, Dave’s chain jammed up in his chain device while my rear tube finally gave up the ghost. As it transpired, Dave’s chain set was 2 bolts short of a set of 4 – oops! A quick repositioning of the remaining bolts meant he was able to continue the ride and balance was restored to the Force. Catching up with Ross and Mark as they enjoyed some welcome shade from the 22 degree sunshine, I spotted a trail heading up above the tree line. What would be a perfect singletrack climb was marred by the close proximity of a fence meaning that bars would catch the unwary. A wee bit frustrating but it cut out a long drop to the valley floor and subsequent fire road climb. As we broke clear of the trees, Pete pointed out two DH trails plummeting to our right. “Shall we give them a go?” I asked. Pete was definitely not keen, Despite being a Whistler Season veteran, he was very much of the not without a full facer and body armour opinion. Fair enough. One for another time.
Spinning gently along the fire road under Dodd, we soon reached our next objective of the day, the steep ( and I mean very steeeeeeeeeeep) descent to under Skiddaw. However, having spotted another path off Ullock Pike earlier in the day, Pete, Dave and I headed up a rocky footpath to join it while Mark and Ross opted for a welcome afternoon siesta. With bikes shouldered, we made short work of the climb up to the white rocks outcrop high above us and the main path up. Though not particularly steep, the combination of water bars and loose rubble made for tough going for the kilometre or so push for the summit of Ullock Pike. Dave and Pete soon opted for the sitting in the sun approach while I pressed on. “I’ll just be 5 minutes” I shouted down to them. 15 minutes later and I was back at the white rocks. Having spotted a grassy singletrack descent off the main path, I opted for that instead of the straight line approach and it proved to be the right option. A perfect combination of gradient and trail conditions made for a terrific descent and a slightly bemused pairing of Dave and Pete as I shouted up the hill for them as I returned to the white rocks. Dropping down the rocky trail to rejoin Ross and Mark, we followed the wall line to the next descent. No sooner were we past the first steep rocky section than Mark and Dave both succumbed to punctures. Doh! With the sun still beating down on us, a relaxed approach to puncture fixing was adopted. Despite the next part of the trail being perhaps my favourite of the day, I was content to sit and chill. Tyres and tubes fixed, we continued the descent. Rocky, hard packed drops, step downs and tight switchbacks were replaced by considerably steeper, loose, rocky dirt path. This was back of the saddle, delicate slow speed tech riding at its very best. Stop and you would struggle to get back on – go too fast and you were looking to tumble a very long way. Having ridden it before, I led the way picking my line down, the odd back wheel hop making for an extra bit of sauciness. Reaching the grassy slope at the bottom, I looked round to see Pete straight lining towards me while Mark, Dave and Ross were a little further back making good work of the trail. Ross looked to go off trail onto the grass in an Andrew Arendt style ( we still remember Ben Lomond, Andy!) but insisted that he had stuck to the path as I gently ripped the piss. A stupidly fast whizz to the gate below and the descent was over.
Feeling remarkably fresh after the best part of 5 to 6 thousand feet of climbing on the ride, we headed up the country lane to do the final descent of Latrigg that we had climbed up earlier in the day. Though not in any way technical, it is a cracker of a descent and one that spat us out beside the cars. It had been a truly memorable ride and easily lived up to the expectations I had created for Ross and Mark having harped on about doing it with them for well over a year.
As with all good rides, it wouldn’t have been complete without post ride food and drinks. The usually reliable Loose Box Pizzeria proved to be a major disappointment – closed for a refurbishment. However, we came up smelling of roses as a short walk round the corner located another pizzeria which I reckon was easily a match for old reliable. Sitting by the shore of Derwent water with your mates in the early evening sunshine looking up onto the fells that we had just ridden and eating some great pizza, does it get any better than that? A truly brilliant day out and a reminder of just how good the technical riding in the Lakes can be. Magic and worthy contender for ride of the year and it’s only April!
I should mention that you can see Mark’s pics on his Flickr account. Some really terrific shots there which capture the ride perfectly.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markforrest/sets/72157626343966377/
Nice work guys and gals on the new site. It looks terrific!
A great wee ride last night – out over Drumclog and onto the top moor with a great mix of some familiar and some not so familiar trails. As predicted, it was frog central. Good to see a few faces who we haven’t seen out in a while too. We pushed the pace on the descents meaning we got back bang on ten for a right good post ride blether. Here’s hoping the almost hot weather continues for a while.
