Rhayader - 17 April, 2011

Headed to Rhayader today for a blast around in the sunshine. The initial climb up the Old Aberystwyth Road was tough as always, and it was good to have a rest at the top before tackling the off-road bit of the first climb.

Having eventually reached the top, the grassy drop down the other side was good fun, with the first view of the Elan Valley, with reservoir levels looking very low!

I climbed again and descended to the foot of the Miners track. I stopped for a sarnie and then pushed to the top of the Miners track. The descent was a real challenge and it took about 5 attempts to get the gulley right!

I made my way up the Elan Valley trail before taking the Roman road bridleway back over to the top of the Old Aberystwyth Road, with good views of the nearby windfarms.

The Golf Links descent was awesome and I was back to the car in no time. Great weather, dry trails and lots of Red Kites meant a very enjoyable day!

Snowdon - 9 April, 2011

I managed to get a really early start on Saturday 9 April, leaving Warwick at 6:15am. I was heading for the Marin trail at Betws-y-Coed, but as I got closer and closer and the weather looked better and better, I decided to give Snowdon a go.

I parked at LLanberis and headed up the LLanberis path. There was a fair bit of pedalling until Halfway House and lots of pushing/carrying after that.

The views from the summit were fantastic though....

I descended via the Rangers Path which was one of the best downhills I have ever done. I had to stop halfway down due to the arm pump!

Soon after reaching the bottom of the Rangers Path, it was uphill again briefly and then a great blast back to LLanberis via Telegraph Valley.

Extended Marin trail - 29 January, 2011

Headed to North Wales to do the Marin trail near Betws-y-Coed.

I extended the ride by exploring a few new trails, including the bridleway from Llyn Crafnant to Capel Curig.

Really good day, with perfect, crisp winter weather.

Here are a few pics....

Snowy Lakeland Weekend; Borrowdale Bash - 4 Dec 2010

Gumpy and H picked Sudders up from work at 4pm, just as Dimitri was being given a tour of the Fountains Cottage in Keswick.

We headed up a quieter than expected M6 and hit the snow. It started to get a bit tricky as we headed up to the Shap summit, and the A66 from Penrith to Keswick was pretty dodgy. We were grateful to arrive and slip/slide our way to the cottage. We were straight out again for a snowball fight (H's legendary arm proved invaluable!) and straight into the nearest pub for beers and food - until the French waiter refused to serve us food (too late apparently).

We headed onto the next pub for some very interesting live music / miming "in the club style" and very enjoyable Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer.

We finished the evening with a brief visit to a "choc-a-bloc" Loft nightclub and a visit to Pizza Panorama.

The next morning was a struggle for us all, but Gumpy's breakfast certainly helped, as did the fantastic looking snow outside.

We all donned our winter gear with Sudders particularly proud of his new bib tights....

....and Gumpy very pleased with his free mbr snood!

After much faffing, we were away on the road around Derwent Water and soon enough heading steeply uphill towards Watendlath. The first climb was really hard but all ridable thanks to some 4x4s that had made it up before us.

We were soon rewarded with some fantastic views back towards Keswick....

....and we eventually found a snowy viewpoint with amazing views over Derwent Water.

The snow got deeper and deeper as we climbed, and Dimitri took a nasty tumble over a cattle grid....

....He was a bit more cautious as we passed the next one!

We soon reached Watendlath, and briefly stopped on the stone bridge for a breather before heading offroad for the first time on the snowy bridleway.

After a bit of pushing, we were soon descending - and it was tricky to say the least with Gumpy the first to take a tumble....

....followed by Sudders....

....then Dimitri!

We soon got the hang of it though, by getting our weight a bit further back we could get over the obstacles that we couldn't see under the snow. The descent was awesome and we were soon bottoming out at Rosthwaite.

Next was the Honister Pass climb which was even tougher than usual in the snow. We were passed by a landrover that was flying up, and that had most of us off and walking for a spell.

Eventually we reached a cattle grid, with Sudders clearly in need of a rest. A snow plough came flying down the hill towards us as we rested, and the driver stopped to apologise for flying past in the landrover earlier - it was the only way he was going to get up apparently.

Gumpy arrived, and we were soon on our way again. The next offroad section was covered in the deepest snow we'd encountered and we were having to pedal hard to go downhill and push on flat / uphill ground.

Spirits remained high though because the scenery was absolutely stunning!

We eventually reached Castle Crag, and the view opened up over Derwent Water. After a brief chat with some lads out walking and calling us mad, we were descending again towards Grange. This was a fantastic descent, we were all getting the hang of riding on the snow and there were some great sections to enjoy before we reached the river at the bottom of the valley.

After some road riding, we were off road again beneath Cat Bells with more fantastic views over Derwent Water.

After a last bit of road riding, we were back at the cottage. A 3 hour ride had taken us 6 hours in the snow and we were all totally knakkered. It had been a great day - a proper adventure.

Snowy Lakeland Weekend; Whinlatter - 5 Dec 2010

Fortunately we all felt better on Sunday morning than we had on Saturday morning. Although we had another good night in Keswick, we were so tired that drinking was hard work. We tried to change things up with some different drinks, but the weather meant a lack of deliveries and that meant some very embarrassing choices and (50%) performances.

We were still struggling with tiredness though, and it took us a while to get started. Eventually, we got organised, packed the bikes onto the cars and set-off on a rather treacherous drive up to the Whinlatter forest centre for breakfast.

When Gumpy eventually finished his (ahem) hot chocolate and failed with his breakfast we were off to tackle the North Loop.

The trails under the trees were much easier to ride than the previous days trails and we were soon out in the open and enjoying some awesome views over Bassenthwaite Lake to Skiddaw.

Things weren't so easy without the cover of the trees, with deeper snow making some pushing inevitable.

There were lots of photo stops with snow covered peaks and mist covering the lower level land below.

We even dusted off the 'Usain Bolt' for some team shots!

What followed was a rather more painful long push in deep snow up a gradual fire road incline. It just seemed to go on and on and the snow was just far too deep to cycle for more than a few yards.

Just as this became very unfunny, we were back onto the singletrack in the trees again. Although this was just an undulating trail, staying upright was a challenge and it was much more fun than it would have been without the snow.

After another quick fireroad section, we were on undulating singletrack again before a quick pause at the top to prepare ourselves for the downhill.

This was great fun, with berms and drops. The sections under the trees were the easiest to ride and probably the most fun, but the open sections were also good with stunning views. Hitting tabletops was really difficult though - it was hard to get enough speed to clear them and the landings were often dodgy.

We were at the bottom in no time and wondering wether to call it a day. Although the North Loop had taken much longer than expected, we weren't quite ready to call it a day, so we headed out on the South Loop.

Again, there were some rideable sections under the trees and some tricky stuff out in the open.

Before too long we reached the tiny bit of North Shore that marked the highest point we were prepared to get to in the heavy snow.

This descent is usually great fun, but it was really tough in the deep snow, and we had to pedal really hard to keep going.

We had the cottage for an extra day, so we were able to head back for a very welcome warm shower before heading home.

A very successful winter biking trip!

Sunday 30 May, 2010: Tour of Coniston

Our 6:30am start from Warwick meant that the roads were deserted and we made great progress, stopping for a much needed (and ridiculously expensive) breakfast bap and coffee at Lancaster Services, where we bumped into hockey club legend John Slatford!

From there, we continued to make good progress (fuelled by some Wasabi peas!), skirting to the south of Windermere before heading north again to find a car park off the A5084 slightly to the north of Water Yeat.

After Hedd abandoned is latest tubeless attempt and installed an inner tube, we were away by 10:30am, and heading south on tarmac before turning westwards at Blawith and heading over some great singletrack across the Blawith Fells. This section ended with a fun doubletrack blast before we picked up minor roads to Torver.

From Torver we headed skywards on really steep and painful tarmac to get us up to Broughton Moor. From here we found a great section of woodland singletrack before heading upwards again on a fireroad which kept to the right of the River Lickle.

Colgie climbs the Lickle valley, with a view over Duddon Sands and out to sea at his back

When we reached the end of the path, we paused briefly to allow some boys on motor bikes to pass before heading down on the opposite bank of the river towards Stephenson Ground. This was a great little descent, with lots of features to keep us honest and some great switchbacks.

From here I persuaded Colgie that we should do the full extended loop, so we headed around towards Carter Ground and then on some real wilderness singletrack.

Colgie on the wilderness singletrack near Carter Ground

This eventually (after a brief mechanical stop to sort Colgie's jammed chain) led us to Brock Barrow and the awesome rockfest of a descent to Seathwaite.

Colgie embarks on the awesome descent to Seathwaite

This descent was a step-up in technicality for us, and when we reached the bottom we were both suffering from 'armpump' so we headed to the Newfield Inn beer garden for a pint of Ennerdale Blonde and a Lamb Henry with chips! We were knackered.... and roughly halfway!
After a long break, we inevitably had to get going again and we both knew that meant the pain of the Walna Scar Road climb. No matter how much you prepare yourself for this, it's always really tough. the majority is a push, with only a limited number of opportunities to ride and a morale crushing view of the path disappearing skyward ahead.

Colgie struggling with the Walna Scar climb

We only rested once at approaximately the halfway point to eat the flapjacks that Emma (Riley) had kindly made for us.

There's only one reason to suffer a climb like that, and the Walna Scar Road descent did not disappoint. Long, steep in places with rocky drops and switchbacks, views, grassy sections and 100% rideable.... in short.... absolutely everything you could wish for!

Colgie on some of the Walna Scar switchbacks


Colgie flat out on the Walna Scar descent

The last section of the descent to Coniston was not without incident either, with Hedd going over the bars and landing heavily on hands, arm and ribs - a good day to be wearing pads!

We had a brief stop at the garage in Coniston to refill our Camelbacks with water, and then we were off again on minor roads around the north end of Coniston Water. In no time at all we were onto bridleways again but by this time, every climb was a tough climb (particularly for Colgie since his granny ring was unusable and hanging by only one remaining bolt!).

We eventually gained the ridge and headed towards Low Parkamoor with awesome views over Coniston Water towards the Old Man of Coniston (unfotunately I was too tired to get the camera out at this stage!).

The final descent of an epic day did not disappoint. Once again the descent to High Nibthwaite had everything, with some really challenging rocky sections which would have been tough even if we'd been anywhere near fresh, let alone after nearly seven hours in the saddle.

Colgie on the descent to High Nibthwaite

Hedd had managed a full-on day without any sign of a puncture, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to hear a hiss from the rear tyre just 10 yards short of the final gate to the road. It was changed quickly with only minor mutterings and after a gentle spin on some minor roads we were back at the car.

The Bank Holiday Monday meant that the Sunday night roads were quiet and we were back for 10pm.

What a day - an absolute epic - it does not get any better than this!

Here's a selection of headcam footage from the ride....

....and the route (although we started at the southern end of Coniston Water rather than in Coniston itself)....

Sunday 4 April, 2010: Machynlleth

Colgie and I met for a quick blast around the Cli-Machx trail near Machynlleth on Easter Sunday, with a few "off piste" sections (including a couple of new ones) added for good measure.

The weather gods were kind, and we had a good blast. Unfortunately, my helmetcam packed up before the finish, but at least I got a bit of footage, including the clip below which shows Colgie on the first (previously unriden by us) off piste section of the day.