Surpassing myself falling off *

(* actually, should really be "falling over" as I was stood next to the bike at the time).

Sunday just past Ed and I headed out on offroad on a great loop neither of us have done for ages, effectively a half MTL route. Starting from Clowbridge Res, picking up the MTL for a while until on Deerplay, past Thieveley Pike and down to the Bacup Road, over that then heading through the post industrial landscape towards Ramsden Clough on some interesting bridleways, pick up the MTL around Whitworth again and a pretty much follow it all the way back, with a diversion into the new stuff at Cragg on the way.

Set off into fairly persistent rain and low cloud, the surface easy going due to being MTL and still pretty dry. Once off the MTL and particularly over the Bacup Road find actual boggish tracks for a while, it's a grassy slog generally but I've seen it a lot worse. We once did this route in the winter into a raging headwind, it took us three hours to go 12 miles due to the wind and soft tracks. The bike was actually good and filthy for the first time in ages.



Anyway, skittered down a short, steepish, grassy slope and got bogged down in some rocks. The track was raised, with a drop to either side. I did think about getting going again then thought better of it, got off the bike at the edge of the narrow section to push it on a bit. I'm not sure what happened exactly but as I pushed the bike it sort of fell over onto me, I obviously wasn't very well balanced and I just timbered right over like a sack of spuds off the side of the track, bike landing on top of me. Unfortunately it was onto:

Right onto that big pile of pointy rocks, track is on the left. It wasn't quite onto my back but almost and not surprisingly it really hurt. Due to the Titus being on top of me I couldn't actually move, fortunately a very concerned Ed picked the bike up off me and I got up. Nothing was broken (probably) so decided to get riding asap, usually the best thing to do, keep moving so it doesn't seize up. This was about 7 miles into what in the end was a 30 mile ride.

I can normally tell by the state of my riding how bad a "crash" was (not that I can call it a crash), it quickly became clear that the last thing I wanted to do was fall off again and add to the pain...you can imagine how and tense wussy my riding became, I had to shout at myself, a lot to get off the brakes and look ahead etc. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to cut the ride short and try to head back to the car but it didn't. I was actually enjoying being out in the mud and rain, I thought the pain would ease off...it didn't.

The long drag up Rooley Moor Road was a complete miseryfest for me again, legs were fine (apart from the huge throbbing bruise above my left knee) but my lower back had gotten progressively more sore and stiff. I stood up once in an effort to stretch it and it felt like someone had knifed me in the back, I'm sure I saw stars briefly. The sun had also decided to come out especially for the climb and for once the Rooley Moor headwind was missing just to add to my overall misery.

By the time we got to Cragg it hurt the least sitting and pedalling steadily, standing pedalling was excruciating, standing without pedalling was a bit less excruciating but the worst thing was transitioning from not pedalling to pedalling, particularly if spinning madly due to too low a gear choice. I basically yelped and grimaced my way all around the fab Cragg trails (and they were good) but I was in no fit state to do much other than hang on and pedal a bit (as low cadence as possible). We decided against another lap!

By this time any lumps and bumps on the trail seemed to vibrate up into my back, I was on a full-suspension, I hate to think what the hardtail would have been like. The descent down to Waterfoot, normally a favourite, passed slowly in a blur of clenched teeth and whimpers. Thankfully, the rest of the route is fairly easyish going but getting on and off for gates really hurt, particularly when my Camelbak re-settled itself on my back. We finally got back to Clowbridge, total relief! Except I had forgotten about the last two flights of wooden steps down into the car park, it was like someone attacked my back with a pneumatic drill as I rattled down them, there were tears at that point.

Getting packed up was interesting, my ability to bend was almost zero and getting out of the car at the other end was painful.

Having said all that it was a good ride, really like that loop!

Faceplanting

Woke up yesterday and stomach felt normal at last, hurrah! An evening night ride was planned to kick off from Rivington, five of us riding which is the most of an evening for a while. Set off at a fair lick in usual Jez style, though with lots of pauses to wait the latecomer - usual Mr S style! Dry, dusty trails and we're altogether for the dive into Healey Nab.

It's the first time most of us have been there in what seems like forever, climbing up to the new trails we were a bit gutted to find they'd mashed the orginal track and replaced it with a motorway, a badly constructed one at that...think Tony is going to having some words...


Onto the trails, I'd forgotten how tight the berms were on the top part, ended up on the black for a bit somehow as its a bit confusing in there then down to the new stuff at the bottom which is all really nice, the berms aren't anywhere near as tight. Up the new singletrack climb then up another one that is only partially constructed, though we only did that because it was so dry.


Over towards Great Hill, past White Coppice and on the new bridleway until Wheelton Plantation. Jez goes straight up the main footpath the rest of us decide to try a piece of singletrack that I've run part of and I'm pretty sure follows the fenceline up and around to where the main track comes out. It does. It's very steep to start and very rooty and bits of it aren't really rideable as an up but it was an interesting new track and probably much better the other way with gravity assistance I would imagine though those roots in the wet would be entertaining.


Up to Great Hill on the big track, getting quite dark as we're on the summit, lights on for heading down. I tell everyone how dry the moorland crossing to White Coppice is but that there are possibly still a few front wheel traps. Obviously visibility very reduced with lights so can't see too far ahead on the line I've chosen and come to a bit of a dip that looks a little soft. I'd ridden through a smaller one just minutes earlier and it was fine so rather than go round I went in, expecting to roll out the other side.


Front wheel drops in and sinks, then sinks more, then sinks even more. My weight wasn't very far back at all as totally not expecting it and everything slowed down as the bike started tipping over....I thought I could save it so started pushing back on the pedals but it was to late for that and tipped over. I stuck my hands out but they went into the dip and I broke the fall with my face, what seemed like my two front teeth in fact, striking the edge of the dip. Ouch, bloody ouch! Watch those front wheel traps!


Got up and spat a gobful of peat out, thankfully both front teeth still there and somehow not wobbly. My mouth is completely numb though at least there seems to be no blood and no other damage to me or bike. So get riding again before I have time to think about it and no further mishap.


Well no more until about 5 minutes later when I get to the last rutty, loose and rocky drop into White Coppice where I part company from bike again. No idea what happened but one second I was riding well and confidently, the next the bars were wrenched round and the front wheel flopped to the left, perpendicular to track, which never tends to end well. Luckily I wasn't actually going too fast but crashed off to the side with a "bloody hell not again" and a few other choice words!

After disentangling myself again I noticed a whopping boulder lying on the track, I'm sure it wasn't there before I crashed so maybe I clipped it at the side of the track..who knows. Back on once again and catch up with the lads and we start heading back to the cars.

Onto the cheeky track around Anglezarke and I suddenly feel like my arms have turned to two bits of string, no strength to lift the front wheel. My legs start following suit soon after, it took a while for me to catch on what was happening but a quick time check showed it was 9:45 pm and I hadn't eaten anything since 4pm (a long time for me). I was starving and heading towards the dreaded bonk. The last mile or so was like wading through treacle. It's been quite a while since I've headed that way as I've been making a real effort to avoid it, though had been wondering if taking bottles of energy drink and slices of malt loaf out on my long road rides was overkill, err no, not for me it's not.

We didn't leave Riv until after 10, picked up some food on the way home. Eating so late meant it took me a while to get into a decent sleep so shattered this morning and resting HR was something ludicrous like 65 (normally around the 48 mark) so I had a complete rest day today.

I woke up with what felt like a massive fat top lip but thankfully it didn'tt look anywhere near as bad as it felt. The inside of my lip is very bruised and has a cut from where I bit it, I have a few small scratches under my nose and I had a few bruises on my legs but other than that I thought I had gotten off really lightly. However, as the day wore on my jaw got increasingly stiff and the side of my face a little tender. It feels like I've been smacked in the face, which I suppose I have. I also now have very sore ribs on the right hand side and probably a good few more bruises but really, I have gotten off lightly.

Bleurgh!

This weekend was almost a complete write off for me. Gran plans for a hard road ride over Waddington Fell and Nick 'O Pendle, perhaps with a circuit of Pendle Hill thrown in if legs up for it. Plotting the route out on Friday evening and I suddenly had no enthusiasm for it whatsoever, tucked up in bed by 9:20 pm barely able to keep my eyes open and woke up with a very dodgy tummy on Saturday, just great.

Managed to eat and move around until Saturday afternoon when I was sofa bound for most of the afternoon, couldn't face food and any movement just made me feel queasy. Lots of (boringly mild) curry and I felt human again that evening.

I felt up for a bit of ride on the MTB on Sunday, had to take it very easy on hills as stomach not happy if pushing hard and heart rate would just rocket to silly levels, however dry conditions and a full suspension bike made pedalling most things fairly easy. I had another hour or two of sofadom afterwards but was able to get out and spend some time cleaning bikes later. My On One was so filthy it took most of the afternoon, that'll learn me not to take the DirtWorker. My plans of getting several bikes done failed, only got the On One and my road bike done.

Monday I felt a bit better, headed out for a run from White Coppice after work, running up the hills seemed fine and only had one slight queasy moment, oddly on a flat piece of track, the rest of the time things were ok. Amongst all the unusual dusty dryness I managed to stomp into a patch of ankle deep bog, strangely reassuring!

Tuesday, still felt a little out of sorts in the morning but decided to have an easy spin into work on the road bike. I didn't pay much attention to the forecast and was happily tootling along through a sheltered Preston when I turned off to the docks and straight into a raging headwind, think I went from 18 mph to about 8 in less than a metre. It was a long, long slog against it all the way to work, so glad I was on the road bike to at least get down on the drops a bit. Not really what I wanted that morning.

The ride home was obviously faster but the wind was more of a crosswind in parts and I got blown sideways into the main dual carriageway at one point, luckily no cars coming. Even with faffing through Lytham and Warton, almost wearing a bus and having to stop, being scared more than once battling to control the bike and often not pedalling too hard I was averaging 18.7 when I got to the roadworks at Strand Rd which I thought was quite impressive, wish I could do that normally. By the time I'd crawled through them I was at a more normal 17 and tootled home from there quite happily.

Almost wished I hadn't bothered.....almost.

Home after work, cycling gear on, waiting for Jez to get back to go out riding. Dragged the Titus out as it hasn't been out this year and it's an expensive bike just to be sitting in the garage. Pumps tyres up, air in shock, change Garmin mount...hear the racket of Jez's motorbike engine...Jez arrives with a big CBA to riding. I go anyway, thinking I'll get a good spin in before it gets dark, being on my own will mean minimum faff (yeah right!).


Drive off, a bit of thought about where to go, as I'm on my own decide to ride Great Hill but where from? Abbey Village is the closest and most sensible time wise so get there unpack bike, get rest of kit on, lube the chain. Whilst back pedalling the chain to lube it it falls off the cassette and jams between cassette and spokes, grrr. Had to undo powerlink to fish it out, get it out and make note to do some serious bike cleaning (of all bikes) as chain is black and so now were my gloves.


Put it all back together and linked it up but failed to notice between threading it through derailleur and joining the powerlink it had fallen into the spokes again, grrrrrrrrrrrr! Undo it all again, rethread, join it back up, gloves even blacker, put car key in jacket pocket, jacket pocket now covered in black, oily fingerprints. So much for a quick and faffless start!


Set off riding, a few pedal revs later the grinding noise tells me I've done my usual crap job of threading the chain through the rear derailleur, seriously, seriously tempted to chuck everything back in car and go home but the prospect of dry, moorland trails is too much.


Pull over at Sawmill, undo it all again, thread chain through properly this time and manage not to lose powerlink in the long grass, off again with no grinding and working gears. Quick map check to locate the first piece of cheek I was intending to ride and head off to it, getting used to a squidgy bike again which was creaking annoyingly from the swingarm. It felt a lot heavier than the On One, particularly lifting it over gates.


Off up a section of relatively well packed double track onto the moor, will be a bit of a grassy slog in the wet but only one section looked like it would get boggy, mainly due to tractor tyres. Get up onto the moor and pick up one of my favourite pieces of running singletrack. In the spirit of minimising faff I stopped to take some pictures, it was lovely:



On again towards Great Hill and I'm finding the rear suspension (and the front to an extent) a bit of a liability to be honest, was like riding a pogo stick. I remember that last time I rode it I found the same and it needs some settings tweaked, more rebound damping I think, the rebound adjuster on the shock is turned wholly to one side (technical description) so I turned turned it completely the other way to see what happened.


Onwards onto the big track to the summit of Great Hill, more photo faff and the creaking seems to have stopped from the swingarm. Cracking view of the sun dropping, more picture faff and general staring:


Up to the summit of Great Hill, stare a bit at the sun dropping then head down again. Just as I was setting off I heard the low battery beep from my mobile, oh great. So now if something does go wrong with bike or me the mobile is about to die. That did make me pause a bit, original plan was to head to White Coppice but maybe it would be more sensible to take the big track back.


I got to the decision point and headed to White Coppice, it looked more fun. I do ride more cautiously on my own (especially with a dying mobile) and fluffed a few things across the rutty moor that the application of a little more speed would have probably fixed but it was fun and mainly dry. The rear suspension seemed a bit better so will need to twiddle the forks a bit soon.


The sunset was gorgeous and one of the reasons I headed up here, I know from past activities that the view is pretty good from Great Hill and I did watch for a bit, however I had lights/layers and food with me this time, the working and charged mobile phone thing obviously needs some remedial work though:



The bit I was worried about was the rutty drop to White Coppice but I had a whale of a time on that and was briefly tempted to ride/actually push (let's be honest) back up and do it again. Sense prevailed and I pegged it along the new bridleway for a bit then back up through the woods to pick up the moorland singletrack. I got down, just, without putting my lights on but fired them up for the last short bit of road back to the car.

Quick drive home for Chinese after a mainly satisfying ride and a cat runs across the road in front of me, I stop in time, just.

A ride out of Hebden Bridge - 25th Sept

I am so behind with posting.......

The long spell of dry weather had me fancying a go over High Brown Knoll so I planned (then re-planned) a route out of Hebden Bridge. The original route had me checking out a long stretch of the Bronte Way from Oxenhope, however I realised this would be quite committing so revised the route to give me plenty of get outs. The final planned route was an ambitious 40 miler with over 5000ft of climb. In the end I took a get out option and the actual route was around 30 miles with still over 4000ft of climb.

My legs hadn't properly shaken off the Rivi half really, I don't know why I was surprised as it took about a week and a half to shake the last half marathon I did. I should check my training notes more often!

The ride starts with a long drag out of Hebden Bridge on the Keighley road. I was on the Titus as the On One seemed to have developed a knocking headset and the front brake was squealing with the pitch of nails down a blackboard, urgh. I had tried tightening the head set but to be honest the bolt was tight and I didn't want to twist it so much the star fangled nut wrenched out of the steerer tube (not that I've done that....recently).

Anyway full-suss magic carpet it was. I think the climb went on for about 2.5 miles, its not steep, just a drag but it gives a good indication of how things are. My climbing legs were not at all there, which was going to be a problem on a ride with a potential 5000ft of up.

A strong, cold headwind greeted me as I climbed out of the valley. I seemed to have a perpetual headwind for most of the day, the area isn't dotted with windfarms for nothing! I finally get to the bridleway to head over HBK and I had completely forgotten about the first part. It took all my mental resolve to not just roll back down the hill again.

The first part was indeed dry but its quite "steppy" and rutty peaty track, hard to describe but it can be tricky to ride and a pain to get going again if you stop. Then it leads to a short push - always a push which I had forgotten then onto the lovely track I remembered, dry as a bone and once on it initial petted lip forgotten:

It's not the best picture but it was the only one I took of the fantastic dry singletrack on the ride as generally I was enjoying riding it too much to stop. The trig point was practically luminous for the obligatory bike shot:

The lead grey skies never really brightened up much, Stoodley Pike is just visible in the distance. Due to the totally flat light I never really stopped to take many pictures. Anyway across the moor, almost entirely dry though there were a few boggy and foul smelling patches still.

Then it was the descent to Luddenden Dean, saddle down for the top steep part which was fun then about half way down it seemed to really have disintegrated. Normally, I am following one or two people down so you can see which ruts work and which don't. I had to find it out for myself and I had to pull the bike out of a dead end rut more than once, though I at least never parted company from it in an "over the bars" stylee.

What drops steeply down must come back up again (at least around Hebden Bridge) so it was a road slog up out of Luddenden Dean then pick up the bridleway along Cold Edge - which was indeed cold due to the wind. I also realised along Cold Edge that I hadn't in fact sorted the Titus gears properly and they were all out by one!

When I thought I was in lowest gear I was in the second lowest, great. I could get it into the lowest gear but I don't think it was great for the drive train, though in my typical fashion I pushed the worry to the back of my mind. I needed that gear dammit!

Soon it was the fast drop down to Ogden Water where I was glad I was on the Titus, flattened the cobbles out a bit. The cafe was open so I stopped and had a can of coke as I needed all the boost I could get and checked the Garmin to see what was what.

About 10 miles ish, 1.5 hours of riding time, a whopping 1 hour of paused time (where?) so far and an average speed of 6.9. Hmmmm....rethink. The full route is probably not a good idea, tired legs etc and I'm obviously in faff mode. Had a map check. I still really wanted to do the bridleway from Ogden over Thornton Moor to Oxenhope. I can then climb out of Oxenhope and head back towards Hebden.

Plan made and off towards Thornton Moor. The track was quite frankly, lovely! Dry as a bone, multiple line choices and I managed to not make a bad one. Great fun until the end when I got to a now sanitised piece of rocky descent - boooooooo:

It was still fast though and there is a promising looking track off to the right which needs some investigation. At the gate I was originally supposed to head straight down but a memory was dredged up from somewhere and I realised we normally head off left. Along and down another fun and rocky track which I really like. It finally pops out at a road and I have to get the map out to check how to get back on plan.

A grassy roll down a bridleway which eventually seems to go through someones garden, it felt a bit wrong riding my bike effectively on someones lawn, especially as I was now on a footpath I walked that short section. Productive greenhouse they had!

I kept checking the map going through Oxenhope and at one of the checks I finally noticed the name of the hill I was about to head over..."Stairs Hill"....that means I'm about to climb "Stairs Lane" oh feck. Not a sight for sore legs I can tell you:

I was in fail mode before I even got to it, convinced it was going to be one long push once the tarmac ran out...Bottom third or so was quite loose and I CBA'd fighting it but it also didn't take me long to get bored with pushing. The upper two thirds while still steep were mainly dry cobbles so I trundled up in diesel truck mode and managed to clear most of it.

I realised that whilst my legs hadn't livened up they hadn't actually gotten much worse either, steady effort was fine short hard efforts were not. Back up into the wind and a rather nice track across the top then a fast, eye watering, descent off the other side.

I was getting pretty close to Hebden again, one more steady climb then I could roll back into town. I thought I would roll straight onto Crimsworth Dean, dive down the little fun bridleway at Hardcastle Crags then back to the car.

However, I arrived at the turn off for the bridleway over to New Laithe moor and decided I wasn't ready to go back quite yet. I would head over to New Laithe moor then roll down the long fast fireroad, then the Hardcastle Crags bridleway back into town. A bit more descending payback I thought so off I headed.

Another nice stretch of bridleway which I haven't been on for a long time, through a field of cows and onto the wide track at New Laithe moor. I again decided I wasn't ready to go back to the car....so headed on towards the Gorple reservoirs. I knew the tracks well and they were steady riding, apart from the headwind, it was a bit of a grind for a while. It would also mean I could finish the ride with the descent from Jack's Bridge.

I soon pop out at the turnoff for the Pennine Bridleway past the Gorple reservoirs. I did have a big moment of indecision but sense prevailed and I decided not to head up over Widdop, if it had been less of a pig of a climb I may have done. Average speed had climbed up a little to 7.3.

I continued trundling past the reservoirs and up and over Heptonstall Moor. Finally, as I turned towards Colden I got a tailwind. A fast, easy ride down through Colden towards Jack's Bridge and the final descent of the day. This made me laugh:

I hate to think what has tried to get down there as the tarmac runs out quickly and it becomes a narrow track for a while, with a drop to the left. A Smart Car might be able to make it, just. Its a fast descent to finish on and I only had to slow for walkers twice on the whole thing. It was a great way to finish the ride and I was buzzing at the bottom and wondering if I really should have headed back to the car.

Then I just had to remember where I parked my car in Hebden Bridge. I stopped behind a bus at some traffic lights, then realised as a policeman cycled past me that the bus was parked. I got the map out to make it look deliberate....

A quick hose off of bike and a wander around Hebden Bridge before setting off home.

A final total of 30.02 miles and 3:45 of riding time (faff time not recorded!). After the fast riding from Heptonstall the average speed had crept up to 7.9 mph, amazing what a tailwind can do.

Friday Lakes Ride (Wray - Loughrigg Terrace - Elterwater - Little Langdale - Claife Heights)

I fancied a ride in the Lakes, I did think about it last week but decided to avoid it around the bank holiday particularly as I was looking at riding around Loughrigg which is a walker magnet. The final route plotted out to be just under 26 miles but I ended up doing closer to 29 after a couple of navigational snafus (again, not always my fault though!).

I've ridden all these bridleways before, some like Loughrigg and those out Elterwater way not for quite some time, the stuff around Hawkshead and Claife a lot more recently (and more often). I've pretty much always ridden them in the direction of the planned route, not sure why but after the ride I decided I needed to do the ride the opposite way soon.

Weather was still really windy but at least wasn't raining when I was packing the car up. I think I left home at about 8:30 and it felt great to head straight past the M55 turnoff. I parked up near Wray Castle which meant a road cruise to Ambleside at the start but an easy finish offroad along the edge of Windermere to finish. I figured it was best to get the Ambleside section done early.

I know a lot of the bridleways are fairly sheltered and it wasn't a full waterproof day, just felt too warm for the trousers. I set off in my waterproof jacket and rolled off down the road and was quickly turning off for below Loughrigg. I had planned to take the permissive bridleway up around the caves today, thought the waterlevel in Rydal water would be a bit high to attempt to ride through and I hate that rock step, its lethal in bike shoes.

I've never ridden the permissive track but it was really nice a few steep sections, a bit of rolling along some rock steps, some I had to have two goes at but it was a nice track. It joined back up with the other bridleway just in time for a steep loose climb (I had hoped it would miss that) that I spun out on and couldn't restart. A short push then back on eventually reaching the road.

I found the Garmin a lot more tricky to follow on this ride, mainly because there was often such a choice of tracks/roads heading roughly in the same direction. I had a lot of map checks using the Garmin to back it up if I got it wrong. Generally worked pretty well.

A fast road descent down to Chapel Stile where the waterproof came off then a spin along the road into Great Langdale for a bit before picking up the bridleway to Baysbrown. So far I had remembered a good deal of the ride but I didn't remember this bridleway though I knew I have done it before. It was pleasant riding too. Cloud level was pretty high so there was a good view of the hills. The water level in the stream I had just crossed over was very high too - there would be lots of water on this ride.

Some good riding on the bridleway to Baysbrown, I really enjoyed it, quite wet in places but any stream crossings were actually quite shallow. I actually decided against the bridleway up through the woods from Elterwater, I remembered it as steep an rooty and a bit of a push so I decided to take the road round thinking it would be more rideable and less steep, wrong on both counts!

It was quite steep in parts and very loose and rubbly, probably made worse by the fact it was a stream, a lot of water had come down it. I rode most of it, spun out a few times but managed to get going again until near the top where it got very rough and I just couldn't restart.

Joined back up with some rideable stuff then headed down to the ford at Little Langdale, waterproof had gone back on at some point prior as it was cold again. Zoomed down the road towards the ford, passed a couple of MTBers going the other way then approached the ford. No intention of riding it as I knew it would be very full today but I hadn't bargained on the depth of the puddles just before it. The first one was fine, deepish but not too bad. Second one was a lot deeper and I had to give a big push to the pedals to keep from stopping.

The bridge is looking somewhat rickety I have to say! Then off towards Hodge Close. I set off on what I thought was the way but the Garmin told me I was off course. Thinking I was being daft as usual I rode back to the ford as a known point and got the map out, checked it, sure I was correct so headed off the same way again. Garmin told me I was off course again.

Maybe I had plotted it in wrong (unlikely) so I set off on the other choice of track but it got to tarmac which I knew wasn't right and the Garmin said I was off course again. So I'm wrong whichever way I go? I was in some tree cover so headed back to the ford, set off on the original choice again. It said I was off course, I ignored it and about a minute later it told me I had found the course again! Think the tree cover was upsetting it.

I was approaching one of my favourite little climbs in the Lakes, a short push up a slate covered track where the slate is almost musical as you go over it. Except I couldn't clean it, no matter what line I chose. Bah. It was a stream, lots of water running down it so no tinkly slate as the water muffled it and it has washed lots of big chunks down which I kept getting bogged down it. Its normall like the foreground section here, lots of small slate with the odd slightly thicker piece:

But it was a lot rougher than that, especially up near the wall. After three attempts and knowing I still had two tough climbs to come I pushed. Not a happy bunny, lots of big bits of slate though and lots of water:

Next, the pig of a climb up Arnside Intake, not a favourite as it hurts a lot but I usually clear it. Like a lot of the other tracks today it has had a lot of loose stuff washed down it and annoyingly I managed to climb until about a bike length away from where it eases off when my rear wheel spun out and I couldn't get it back. Pah. In order to get a good go at it again I would have to go down a fair way so just scootered up a bit and got going again - I'm not that annoyed at not cleaning it.

I had a butty break at Iron Keld then down towards Hawkshead ready for the worst climb of the day. I was actually feeling a little disappointed as I knew that once the climb was out the way I wasn't that far away from the car. Another bit of navigational faff but I got to where I should be then almost at the bridleway up from Colthouse the Garmin said I was off course. I didn't think I'd missed it as I knew I was looking for a big deer gate but I rolled back anyway.

It was wrong (more tree problems possibly), I was right and I got back on the bridleway. I knew this one was going to hurt, I knew I wouldn't ride it all but I had a go at it all. It was quite wet and very loose and very steep in parts. I had a couple of "regroups" on flatter bits. Pushed up a few short bits where I couldn't keep pedalling. My legs were really starting to feel it, I was suddenly pleased the car wasn't too far away!

I got really worried for a guy descending it on an MTB purely because he was riding so slow and nervously. This bridleway is part of the Hawkshead trail race (both as an up and down). I ran all of it as an ascent at the start of that race and I now fully understand why my legs died on me at Far Sawrey! Ouch.

The top finally came, a bit of forestry track then onto one of my favourite parts of Claife Heights, the open area with the tarns, lovely, the sun was out too:

Fast down to Far Sawrey, past the pub then brace for the loose climb to the gate.....which has been sanitised. A bit of a reprieve for my tired legs but now very boring. Soon at the top of the last descent of the day, one of my favourites and the reason I chose to do the ride this way.

Saddle down as it can have its moments, some slippy sections at speed and rode it much faster that was really sensible on my own, hee hee. I didn't have any skaty moments at all for a change, excellent fun all the way down. From there it is an easy undulating spin back to the car.

The water level of Windermere was very, very high. On the last section of track before the climb (I always forget that little climb) back up to the car the lake eventually was high enough to pour onto the track. A couple of very deep puddles to wash the bike off:

So whilst I didn't ride in Rydal Water I technically rode in Windermere. Hope noone wants to get in here soon:

Pack up, hose bike off. The bloke parked up next to me was absolutely fascinated by the Dirt Worker. A quick trip into Ambleside to visit Lakes Runner before getting a slice of Bath bun from the Apple Pie Shop - decided a whole apple pie was excessive. Then drove home.

Dales Ride (Horton - Hawes - Horton)

I'm behind with my blogging got quite a few started posts but haven't finished them! This is for last Fridays ride, 30th of August....

Being on call for the bank holiday weekend meant I was pretty limited in what I could get up to, I have to be able to log onto the systems within an absolute max of an hour so I am kind of tied to my laptop. However, on call doesn't start til 5.30 pm on Friday so I had the day free, albeit with a time limit of sorts.

Plan was a 30 mile ride in the Dales, one I have done a few times before though not for a few years, one that is very rideable and should have few navigational challenges (though I always seem to be able to make one). Forecast was appalling I have to say, heavy rain, gales....still decided to go. I plotted the route on the Garmin, printed a map out from Memory Map, marked the route on it and laminated it.

A bit of discussion with Jez about the exact route showed that I had picked up the bridleway out of Burtersett which would be a push at the top at least, possibly more. We normally head up the road a bit and pick up the Roman Road further down. Rather than faff around and change the map etc I just thought I would remember it wasn't that difficult a detour.

Friday dawned, I had prepped everything the night before intending to get away at about 8:30 am. The rain and wind had other ideas and it lashed down, if I squinted really hard and stared across at my neighbours palm tree it looked like some tropical storm. No point getting drenched so I stayed in the house, made another coffee and waited.

As suddenly as it started, rain stopped, sun out so car packed, coffee taken with me before I had time to change my mind. I got off about 9:40 am soon on the A59 heading for Horton. I impressed myself by remembering the way to Horton (I'm normally a passenger and retain nothing of the journey) and parked up in the lay by just outside town. Noone else there and it was getting on for 11am, an indication of how crap the weather was.

It wasn't raining there but it was threatening so I put full waterproofs on, the strong wind was cold so it helped keep the windchill off. Off through town to start climbing first on the road then on the Pennine Way. The first 9 miles of this route are basically uphill to Dodd Fell. Pretty easy riding and I was sheltered from the wind and apart from a brief shower was missing the rain.

Steady plugging away to the junction of the Pennine Way with the footpath to Old Ing. I got the map out rather than just follow the Garmin. Only a choice of two possible tracks and I chose the wrong one, luckily it said it was a footpath. The embarassing thing was I put some thought into that decision.....

Onwards and I could hear this roar of water and I eventually got to what must be Calf Holes where a torrent of a stream suddenly dropped down a large hole underground. Not a day for caving then.

I passed a few walkers here and there on the continued climb and jumped out of my skin twice when I opened a gate to find a bunch huddled behind the wall on the other side having tea breaks. The second time I was giving myself a running commentary...well no one else to talk to! The wind was pretty noisy so don't think they heard me.

Nearing the top of the climb I joined then end of a tarmac section of the Roman Road, this was a cut off point I could ride from here across to the top of Fleet Moss and then head back but I felt fine and carried on towards Dodd Fell. Just leaving the road I soon realised how much I had been sheltered from the wind up to now as all of a sudden I was getting the full force of it as a crosswind, with a slight tailwind bias. Which was great until the track changed to two ruts.

Under normal conditions they are fine, wide enough to easily ride but definitely noticeable ruts and the wind was doing its best to try to throw me against the edge of whichever rut I happened to be in. It was hard work keeping control of the bike, the wind was so strong I had a Vulcan death grip on the bars, was leaning over against the wind and could only concentrate on the foot or so of track in front of me. Slow progress.

I missed the turn for the grassy bridleway down to Hawes I was having to work so hard against the wind I just didn't see it or notice the Garmin but I realised quickly when I started losing height. The track I was on apparently becomes an unrideable rubble strewn mess so I had to push back up as I couldn't get going against the wind. Onto the grassy bridleway, I rode a short section, then it became very narrow singletrack with a drop to one side that just wasn't wide enough in the scary strong wind.

After a bit the track became a lot wider and riding recommenced. The descent was very, very wet and muddy. It was the kind of bog that's quite deceptive, you roll through a few sections that are surprisingly firm then just when you get confident your front wheel sinks past the hub and you stop dead. By the time I got to the bottom I was sprayed head to toe with mud and grinning.

A fast drop down on the road, even against the wind and into Hawes and I had lost all the height I had gained earlier. It was like entering a parallel universe in Hawes. The sun was come out and everyone was wandering around in shorts and t-shirts eating ice cream having a jolly old time, even the wind seemed to have dropped down. There I was cycling through town in full waterproofs and covered in kack.

I forgot all about my detour and blithely followed the Garmin and my original route onto the bridleway at Burtersett. Having now swung round I was right into the wind and the bridleway was steep. I ground up in granny gear fighting the wind, I did well for a while but eventually it started to get difficult. The bridleway had a lot of loose stone on lower down and the wind kept blowing me across the track into it where I spun out due to the low gear I was in. Eventually I was pushing more than riding then I remembered I wasn't supposed to be coming up here, oops. Decided just to keep pushing up.

I pushed most of the rest, even on a less ferociously windy day it would be a challenge and some of the top section impossible with rocky steps and MotoX damage. Its one to be tried as a descent though, one day. Eventually I reached the top and joined up with the Roman Road. I took a leaf out of the walkers book and hid behind a wall for a food stop. Ominous black clouds were massing but I had been very lucky with the weather so far.

Back on the Roman Road and some easy riding was made very, very difficult by the stupidly strong headwind. Just as well the track was wide as I was being blown all over it. I joined up with the road and headed up to Fleet Moss where the wind was just getting silly. I tried to take some pictures of the black clouds I was avoiding but the wind was so strong I couldn't stand still and I did think that perhaps bringing a bike up here in this weather wasn't one of my best ideas, none of the shots were really sharp.

I did wonder if I was going to have to pedal down Fleet Moss? I had to wait a bit as flock of sheep were driven across the road, being sheep they were jumping around everywhere so I waited til most of them were across before heading off.

The wind was really scary heading down Fleet Moss, I was being overly cautious and the wind was wobbling the front wheel then it seemed to really catch it and I was pushed right across to the other side of the road. I let out a massive girly scream before deciding that speed was the order of the day and got down as fast as I could.

I always find it interesting which bits of a ride stick in my memory and which bits don't, I had pretty much remembered everything so far but I appear to have a complete blank about all of the tarmac section of Langstrothdale, which is not short.

I had forgotten it is mainly uphill, undulating but uphill. I really don't remember the limestone pavement, I love limestone pavement, I think its unlikely it has been placed there recently. I had forgotten how long it goes on for too and was convinced I had missed a turning. My luck with the weather finally ran out and the rain started. A brief shower at first which gave me an excuse to stop and take some pictures of the pavement. The wind was right in my face so I turned my back to it for a bit, the rain stopped and I got going again.

Then the rain lashed hard, I sheltered behind a building for a bit but it was only getting me cold, I only had about 6 miles to go. Off tarmac, onto fire road then off onto more interesting track (which I did remember), normally quite fun when its not a river and today it was a river.

Actually, more of a stream as the streams were now rivers. There are about three water splashes along the Birkwith moor track which were now pretty deep. I tried to ride the first one thinking that I could see the bottom so it should be ok, it was a lot deeper than I thought and I stopped dead against something. Luckily managed to get feet down before toppling, pretty cold!

The other two crossings were both very deep at the rideable parts so I walked though them, I was pretty wet by this point anyway. The track was quite sketchy and most of it wasn't limestone, what limestone there was was treacherous. The back wheel was slithering all over the place, I tried to avoid steering as much as possible which made for riding through some very deep puddles.

I know the last drop down to the car has quite a few rubbly sections on in, not as bad as I remember it but still difficult due to the water hiding everything. The sun had come out again and was shining off the surface of the water so I could only see the odd rock sticking up out of the water. If I picked up too much speed the water thrown off the front wheel blinded me. I pretty much got away with riding slowly but its not the best way to get through rubble.

Back at the car with a pretty clean bike but very muddy waterproofs, hosed the lot off with the Dirtworker before heading off home hoping not to get stuck in bank holiday traffic. All I can say is that I was glad I wasn't trying to head into the Dales.

Bit wet and windy in the Dales today!

I am on call this weekend so today was my only real chance of getting away somewhere and I wasn't going to let a bit of wind and rain stop me! I did a 30 mile loop in the Dales from Horton over to Hawes and back again.

Even with getting blown sideways more times than I can count, even with "riding" (that will be pushing actually) on the bridleway out of Burtersett that I wasn't supposed to take, even with the headwind/crosswind from hell , getting blown right across the road in a most terrifying manner when coming down Fleet Moss, almost falling off in deep river crossings where there should be shallow fords, rivers for trails and wet limestone as slippy as ice I had a great ride.

More later.

I think I love my waterproofs.

Swiss Trip Day 4 (Monday): S-Chanf to Scuol

Bit of a hiatus in posting as away for the weekend...the last day of the trip was the longest at around 46k but actually the easiest with no monster climbs. Scuol is 465 metres below S-Chanf but there was still 900m of climbing between them though the longest climb was only 20 minutes (did I just write that!).

As we had to get back to Zurich to get flights that evening we needed to be back in Scuol and have the bikes packed up by 2pm at the very latest ready for the 2.5 - 3 hour drive. With this in mind it was an early start, we were riding just before 8.

It was a glorious sunny day, a little nip in the air at that time due to the height but the forecast was for about 27 degrees, a complete contrast to two days ago!

The plan was to take in some singletrack before picking up the track to Zernez that Jez and I rode in on the day before. The initial climb up to the singletrack was a bit cheeky. Although the long climbs had been long they were generally not really steep and this one was. Hard work straight after breakfast and I was a little nauseous at the top though there was no way I was walking it.

The singletrack was contoury with a drop to the left and very rooty, mostly dry roots but still a little slippy, particularly on the large ones or the "steps". I had a couple of rear wheel step outs right at the start. Of course the wheel stepped out towards the drop which I really didn't want to go down, lots of trees and broken/fallen branches all the way down.

I wasn't riding well and was worrying that I was still very tired but I was actually still suffering a bit from the initial climb. When my stomach settled and I stopped having to think about that my head snapped back into what I was supposed to be doing and I was riding roots, drops and tight switchbacks that even less than a minute before were making my bottom lip wibble. Mountain biking is such a head game!

A bit of portage to get back onto the main track at the end of the singletrack due to forestry operations causing destruction, we could hear the machinery crashing around near us somewhere. I was glad I got back into the riding as it was the only really bit of technical riding all day, most of the rest of it was undulating fireroad.

The track back to Zernez was so fast in the direction we were heading, no wonder everyone else was caning it the day before. There were a few slight undulations but in general it was down all the way.

After Zernez we dropped a little bit more height to Lavin at 1387m, the riding wasn't technical but it did mean it was easy to look at the views:

After riding through Lavin came the longest single climb of the day, we had to gain about 300m back which wasn't too bad really though that wasn't all the climbing done with. We had a bit of a descent before the final drag up to Ptan at 1700m, after that it was downhill all the way.

Not a bad spot to have some food:

My bike enjoying the sunshine before the last down of the trip:

All that was left was to drop the 500m to Scuol on quite possibly the scariest descent of the trip and it was all fireroad. Steep and very loose fireroad, scarily sketchy. Particularly rounding a corner and finding a workmens' van blocking the track. Quite a few times the bike was squirming everywhere, excellent fun in a terrifying sort of way. It seemed to take no time at all to get down and ride back to the hotel.

We arrived just after 12 so there was plenty of time to chill, eat, pack the bikes up etc. The only slight fly in the ointment was that our bags hadn't arrived yet (and our passports were in it!). We didn't really consider that one.

Bikes etc were soon packed up and plates of chips consumed. A bit of an anxious wait until the bags landed at 2:05pm, whew! All stuff squashed into the cars and then off back to the airport. We didn't take the road pass this time, instead we took the tunnel through the mountain instead. This involved being transported on a train, you don't actually drive. Our hire car went absolutely bananas going through the tunnel, kept flashing and beeping and telling us to stop the vehicle!

A fairly easy drive back to the airport then lots of faffing getting checked in and sorting bikes (and being robbed blind again), didn't have time to realise it was all over. We arrived home just after midnight knowing I had work the next day and just hoping my legs wouldn't be too dead for the Velodrome trip planned for after work (they weren't too bad though tired really quickly).

Swiss Trip Day 3 (Sunday): Livigno to S-Chanf

Day three and the sun was blazing! Glorious blue sky but at 1800 m it was actually still quite deceptively cold. A good breakfast where I tried to stuff my face to liven myself up a bit but I did feel totally drained, not entirely due to riding and not eating enough either.


Dressed and out to get the bikes, warm in direct sun but still really parky out of it. We rolled down into Livigno itself to find out what the trail conditions would be like. Day three involved riding over the highest pass of the trip and was going to involve a lot of pushing with or without snow. I honestly was really worried about it and knew I was going to really struggle and hold them up, my brain was woolly and my limbs felt like bits of chewed string.

A bit of discussion after the trail report ended up with Jez and I opting to have a touristy day lower down, we would end up doing double the mileage of the others but without the sapping climb, altitude and snow. I was relieved and looking forward to actually seeing some of the area properly without being too tired to appreciate it, particularly now that the weather was so good and you could actually see how spectacular it was. We also had a time pressure on our ride on day 4, the longest mileage wise as we had to get back to Scuol, pack up and get back to the airport for our flights, I needed not to be tired for that.

The rest of the boys set off on their big climb and Jez and I headed for Lake Livigno. Our plan was to ride alongside the lake to the border where there was a tunnel. No bikes were allowed in the tunnel but we would be able to get a bus through then ride from there to S-Chanf.

It was a bit of a gradual downhill to the border, first on a cycle path then on a road through some "tunnels", built to protect the road from rock fall and avalanche. I had taken my knee warmers off when standing around in town but I regretted this as the wind had a real bite to it still, brrr.



We saw lots and I mean lots of roadies, very fit roadies, roadies that wouldn't look out of place on pro teams and they all seemed to have standard doubles on. Super strong. We saw a bunch of six riders whipping past in Lampre kit.


We got to the border and found the "bus", it was in fact a mini bus with a bike trailer attached to the back of it:




It was due to leave about 5 minutes after we arrived so timing was fantastic, it only cost 5 Euros which is basically the cost of going through the tunnel. It was a single track tunnel so we had to wait until all the traffic had come through from the other way before heading through and emerging back into Switzerland (no passport checks at all). When we got to the other side we unloaded our bikes and a group of roadies filled it up with their bikes heading the other way.


That was all the bus did, shuttle cyclists and pedestrians through the tunnel. We then started gradually climbing up on tarmac, we hadn't really realised it was a climb until we saw cyclists absolutely flying the other way. It was a bit of a relief to see that as we thought we were being doubly pathetic not being able to pedal flat tarmac.


We climbed up for a while on the road as it snaked nicely up the valley, it had a few steeper ramps but nothing too dramatic. The strange thing was when we got to the top of the road, the pass was at 1810 m, just 10m above where we started from yet we had been climbing for quite a while. I don't know how we lost so much height, there was some loss alongside the lake but not that much, maybe the tunnel was downhill?

It was lovely new tarmac at the top and a fantastic view, then we headed down towards Zernez. After the last couple of days we were determined to keep food intake up so decided to head into the town itself and find a bite to eat once we got there....first was a road descent to contend with.

I put my arm warmers back on (which was a good choice) and zipped my gilet right up then followed Jez off down the hill, picking up speed nicely. Zernez is at just under 1500 metres so we had 300 metres to drop, all on this road.

It was typically alpine in nature, long sweeping bends. I remembered watching Fabian Cancellara's descent where he hit 90kph and wondered how fast I could get the Titus - Jens Voigt hadn't had his crash yet, if he had I might have been less gung ho!

Needless to say a fat tyred full-suss MTB was no match for a skinny tyred road bike but I was very, very thankful I was on the Titus and not a road bike. The tarmac was obviously not up to TdF standards of smoothness and I rounded one sweeping blind bend to find some whopping great pot holes all over the road which the Titus just ate but still.

I then rounded another sweeping blind bend to find no tarmac at all! About 50 metres of the tarmac surface had been lifted and was just gravel, I hit it at a fair speed and even on fat tyres and suspension the bike squirmed quite a bit through the gravel. That would not have been pleasant on a road bike, particularly with the five centimetre drop in level first - shudder! There were some proper road works further down but the random gravel section was a bit interesting and it wasn't the first, the drive over the pass to Scuol had something similar so if you ever do some fast alpine road bike descending really keep your wits about you!

I had been trying to lay off the brakes as much as possible but in the end I only maxed out at 68kph, boo. Jez got a little faster as he is heavier than me, pesky momentum!

We rolled into Zernez and found a cafe whilst I tried to remember some basic German. We had some food and Jez had a "kleinus" beer. I just can't have alcohol and ride so I stuck to coffee. Having dropped down so far it was now pretty warm, it was really nice sitting in the sun in the cafe watching a very two wheeled world go by. Cyclists and motorcyclists everywhere.

After our lunch we then continued back on the 444 towards S-Chanf. As we were riding out of Zernez a group of 8 - 10 side by side roadies came flying through. They were all dressed the same (though I couldn't make it out clearly) and they were really noticeable due to the speed they were shifting at, even though they seemed to be sitting up and chatting. Then an Astana car came flying though after them, that's why they look fast!

S-Chaf is at 1665m so we had some climbing to do to get to it. We were both starting to feel a lot more perky and the climbing wasn't too bad. There were a few downhill sections to break it up but in general we were heading up, lots of cyclists going the other way very fast though. Before long we arrived at a bench looking across the valley to S-Chanf, which was below us, lovely:

A fast roll down into the town and we headed to the town to find the hotel. Our bags were there waiting for us so we checked in and had a shower and got changed and headed downstairs to wait for the boys to roll in for some well earned beers. I was feeling pretty good now, shame I wasn't like that in the morning.

I think they rolled in about 3:30, having taken 5.5 hours to get there and it sounded a great day so I have unfinished business with that pass! The boys did 20k, Jez and I did 40k but about half the climbing and in half the time. I felt quite drunk after two beers (oops) and it was scorchio. I had a bit of a lie down before stuffing myself silly with a great dinner, just hoped it would be enough to kick start me for the ride back to Scuol.

Swiss Trip Day 2 (Saturday): Sta. Maria to Livigno

Well the snow didn't hold off, we woke up to a snowline that was considerably lower than the day before and we were going to be heading up into it. It was raining (heavily at first) rather than snowing down in the village so we had a leisurely breakfast to delay the inevitable. Unlike the day before the cloud didn't lift and it was also really cold. The ride was to be similar in length to the day before but would have two long climbs rather than just one. The first climb would probably take about two hours again.



I had thermal tights, base layer, thermal layer, buff, waterproof jacket and trousers and windproof gloves and I still felt a little chilly setting off. I had a very stuffed camelbak too as I had other layers in there too, can't remember the last time I rode with such a stuffed pack. After usual pre-ride faffing we set off into the rain which had lightened up a lot.


Up a tarmac climb that appeared to be an easy gradient but felt really tough at the top where we joined back up with the 444 trail. I was worried I was shamefully knackered but when I looked behind me and saw how much height we had gained in such a short time I let myself off. The track had been sneakily increasing in gradient all the way up. Waterproof trousers came off, too warm even in the cold drizzle due to wearing of fleecy tights. I put a pair of baggies on to protect my bum a bit as Jez had taken the guards off our bikes (July, dry and dusty right!), I also tried out the drop tail on my jacket, to be fair it did work surprisingly well but I missed my mudguard!

It was fireroad climb all the way up and being wet was slower progress than the road climb of yesterday so it was another set a nice effort level and plug away. We had a regroup for some food but I don't think we really regrouped after that, certainly not after we got to the snow line. I was riding comfortably again but Jez was really suffering, even more so than he had yesterday. Long steady climbs are even less of his thing than mine but even so he was finding it surprisingly tough and was walking a lot.

As he often has to wait for me I waited for him, nothing worse than being at the back particularly on such a cold miserable day. I'd ride a bit and wait then ride a bit not getting too far ahead and not stopping long enough to get really cold. There was a cow shed at the very top of the pass that the others kept riding up to, the rain soon changed to snow as well though I was warm enough in my layers the only thing I was worried about were my hands as the gloves were not massively warm ok on the climb but the descent would be a different story.

It looks like we're almost there at this point but there was quite a bit to go (and I can tell just by looking at this picture my saddle is far too high so why didn't I really notice when riding? It would cause me problems later):

Upwards even more, still quite a bit to go



Eventually we got to the cow shed at the top of the Doss-Radend 2234 m, I think we'd started at around 1500, it had "only" taken me 1:45 of ride time:



Jez get some Tour de France stylee encouragement to the top:

The cow shed was absolutely spotless, it smelt very strongly of cow but it was scrubbed clean. We had a food break and layered up for the descent, my waterproof trousers came out again as did my windproof skull cap. Ready to freeze:

The descent was baltic, my fingers and face froze solid. Though it was fast and fun and didn't need much braking action which is just as well as my fingers wouldn't pull the levers. At the bottom I had hot aches in my fingers which really hurt. We had dropped back down almost below the snow line again but were about to divert off the 444 to follow some singletrack.

The singletrack started off promisingly then got a bit difficult for a while due to lots of fallen trees that required lifting the bikes over, quite entertaining on steep ground in bike shoes. Then it settled into fantastic singletrack again, I was used to the steepness by then so was grinning all the way down, a nice open flattish section before dropping down fast again:

We then had a fantastic rolling piece of track which followed a river for a while, being a countouring track it often ended up with a large drop down to the river to the side, some drops more precipitous than others. It really reminded me of some of the trail centres but it was a little bit more unpredictable, rounding a corner to have lots of rubble strewn etc but it really was fantastic. Everyone was grinning after that:

We rolled downhill for a bit on some wide track and passed the Swiss/Italian border, which consisted of a marker stone only then down to a picnic area for a bit of food. I still wasn't eating enough even though I had resolved to do so but had a bar etc and a bit of a sit down. Also took off my waterproof trousers as the second climb of the day was about due. We'd dropped down about 400 metres which had to be gained again.

Jez decided to set off on the second climb a bit earlier than the others, I thought I would join him so we set off. I was aware that something was missing but I couldn't put my finger on it, just as we got to the start of the climb it dawned on me, my helmet! D'oh so I rode back to get it, the rest were just packing up so I got it on quickly and headed back to the climb to get a bit of a head start, I knew they wouldn't be long catching me.

I was finding the second climb a bit harder than the first, it was steeper in places but my lower left back was starting to ache, I realise now that I had put my saddle up far too high after the descents but it didn't dawn on me at the time at all. I had a few stretch breaks, standing up pedalling a lot but I still rode it all, albeit a little more slowly than the last one and it was really bugging me, my legs were surprisingly good still. There were a few moments on the climb where I wished I hadn't looked up but it was just a case of getting on with it. I caught up with Jez eventually quite a way up so again waited for him and took the opportunity for some stretching.

We were back up towards the snow again. We regrouped with the rest who were hiding behind a big rock and had a few undulations to contend with before the actual top of the pass. Short undulations are just absolute killers after long steady climbs for some reason, I wasn't the only one to find that, think my legs either wanted to be climbing or descending not swapping between both.

We had to negotiate a bit of a snow bank of old avalanched snow:

Then we were at the top of the last pass of the day Alpisella at 2299 m, downhill pretty much all the way to Livigno at 1800m. Another fast and cold wide descent then my memory is hazy a bit as I was a) cold and b) hungry and couldn't be bothered eating!

I do remember we did a very fast descent that took us a lot of the way down. It wasn't quite double track wide and it wasn't massively technical but the surface was very loose, the track was pretty straight and steep so it was very, very fast and very, very sketchy at times. I had a few both wheel slides and wobbles, hee hee. I was grinning like a loon all the way down apart from the few moments of sheer terror when I thought it was all going to go wrong. We passed a few walkers on this descent as we were getting nearer civilisation, I remember one elderly couple grinning their heads off at us as they watched us go past.

There was a short section of rather terrifying black graded singletrack that even if I hadn't been tired and hungry I wouldn't have been able to ride much of. It was stupidly steep with lots of tight switch backs and some steps on it. It was scary walking down it, the only way I may have been able to ride some of it was to roll to the switchback, lift bike round, repeat. Very scary but some of the boys managed to ride pretty much all of it.

A bit of a push across a river bed then another piece of track that started out ok but then got unrideable due to the fact it wasn't wide enough. It had a bit of a rocky outcrop to the left, a two metre or so drop to the river on the right and it was only about 20cm wide so there was barely enough space to walk on it. It also was also rocky, slippy and a short climb. I had to carry my bike in my right hand suspended over the river and grope with my left along the rock which had no handholds on it all the while trying to stop my handlebars from swinging round. Lovely, I was disappointed to find no one rode it! (Not).

It was then a nice easy track to roll down towards Lake Livigno, really nice and easy until a short section with loads of tree and rock debris on it. I managed to take evasive action in time to avoid hitting a large boulder just lying casually in the trail. From there it was an easy spin into Livigno, I remember along here some where thinking my saddle was too high but thought I would leave it until morning as we were nearly at the hotel.

It was an interesting ride through the centre of Livigno, lots of people dodging. Rob and Danny set off to check out the accommodation and i should have had something to eat but didn't. Eventually we made it to the accommodation which were some small apartments and a very hot shower and a bit of a late dinner (again)!

Distance was a mere 25.6 miles and my ride time was 4:28 and I think I was climbing for 3 hours of that. Ouch. The forecast for day 3 was for sun!

Officially the ride was about 1240 metres of climbing but my Garmin has the much more impressive figure of 2857, wow!

Swiss Trip Day 1 (Friday): Scuol to Sta. Maria

Which was just under 23 miles with at least 1200 metres of climbing (though my Garmin reckons 3275, err no). We woke up in the morning to heavy rain and lead skies, not what was forecasted:

We wouldn't be setting off until after 11am anyway as the last member of the group was driving down today. Up for a leisurely breakfast watching the bouncing rain then start assembling bikes. The hotel had an outside covered bar area which we comandeered for a couple of hours. I was wearing a full set of waterproofs at this point. All members of the group, now 6 of us, were soon present. Just as it was almost time to go, blue sky was spotted up the valley and it was heading our way.

The sun was soon out and there were lots of last minute decisions on layers, waterproofs were off. Our main bags were due to be shipped to our next hotel but they hadn't gone yet so it was a bit of frantic stuffing things back in before setting off into glorious sunshine:

It was a brief but fast down before the climb commenced properly. The first section was a brutal stretch of steep fire road, thankfully short. It got the heart and lungs working, they appeared to be working properly, that didn't last! It was then a long tarmac climb, which would change to fire road eventually. Started climbing, climbing, climbing, steady pace. Not sure how long it went on for but it seemed for ever up, no point looking up, it all looked the same:

I rounded a bend to a gap in the trees and a cracking view down the valley, I almost kept going as I was in a nice rhythm, which is important on these climbs but then I remembered it's not something I see everyday. It was gorgeous:

Due to the earlier rain it was actually quite steamy on the road, stuck in the trees the wet road had a sauna effect. We were passed at some point on the fairly narrow mountain road by a large bus, a sheduled service no less. As it powered up the hill we all noticed it had bike racks on the back, of course the Switzerland residents knew that! They also knew it was headed for the cafe at 1800m that we were, neglected to mention that. It was the first demonstration of how much bike friendly infrastructure there was here.

Our route was predominantly sign posted too, we were following the 444 signposts which marks the route of the Swiss National Park MTB marathon, yes some very fit people do the whole thing in one day! The route skirts around the national park as MTBing is not really allowed within it, we deviated a little from the route on the descents by taking singletrack.

National Park MTB Marathon Route

We kept climbing on and soon we were off tarmac and onto more fire road style. We were heading for the little town of S-Charl at 1810 metres. Once onto the fire road I was starting to notice a bit of a lack in oxygen. I was ok if I kept a nice steady pace but if I pushed hard and let my HR get above 165, say to climb a rise, I found it hard to recover and bring it back down. This got more pronounced as we kept climbing, so steady pace it was. I was climbing ok which I was a bit surprised about as long steady climbs are not my thing but it reminded me of my long training runs for the marathon, it was that kind of effort.

There wasn't much regrouping after we got onto the fire road sections, the lure of the cafe was too strong. So I had to remember to keep looking back and trying to take some photos on the move (not always successful!)

We caught up with a British couple doing pretty much the same route as us, although they weren't doing the bag shipping thing. The lad had a trailer with panniers and the girl had a very large rucksack. The trailer really consisted of a single wheel, with panniers on either side of it, nothing like a Bob trailer. We would see them a few times:

It almost looks like we haven't far to climb but no, not even at S-Charl yet. A bit more climbing then finally arrive at S-Charl for bit of a break. As I hung my bike up in the stand I checked my wheels as I was being plagued by a brake squeak. I thought it was the front and as I checked the wheel it spun fine but did give a little squeak, I checked the rear and it didn't spin much more than a revolution before stopping. Ah, I did think it was sluggish.

A break for a large glass of full-fat coke but no food (bit of a mistake that one), in fact only Danny, the guy who had joined us that morning had any proper food. Then onwards and upwards, still 400 metres of up to go. I didn't bother about my brake as I didn't think it was that bad however, there were some short downhill sections on the climb and I noticed I was rolling to a stop on them rather than picking up speed, which was a little unfair.

At the next regroup Jez changed my brake pads out and I had a free spinning wheel, it was so free because my rear brake decided to stop working altogether, the lever coming right back to the bars. I wasn't worried about this at all (as I had no idea what the descending was like at this stage or I certainly would have been) and carried on riding. On any downhill sections I dragged the rear and eventually it started coming back to life, I was more pleased it was easier to climb. Well, the altitude was affecting me more but would have been worse with the rear brake on.

We approached what I thought was the top, but no, we diverted off the main fire road onto some single track. It was undulating with an upward bias but it wasn't just a case of spinning away, it needed some oomph sometimes. On a couple of occasions my head felt as if I had stood up too fast and I had to be carefull of the effort. This section reminded me a bit of the Dales and of course I forgot to take a single picture of it as I needed to concentrate, proper riding. Luckily other people did:

Finally we reached the Pass da Costainas at 2251 metres, hurrah! Not quite all downhill from here but almost.

Next it was saddles down for the descent, the two Swiss residents just did it the Brits all asking if it was worth it. Long descent! Started off steep and fast fire road, I had a girly moment when I spotted one of the guys ahead getting thrown around on the track ahead and rounded the bend convincing myself it was going to be awful. I stopped dead at the top of a section because there were...wait for it....some rocks! D'oh, perfectly rideable if I'd kept going but due to steepness a bit tricky to get back on here. What I needed was some food.

Anyway on downwards, apologising to Ed who I caused to stop too then caught up with the others. It starts to get a little indistinct in my memory here. I think we headed for the first piece of proper single track (or single trail as its called here) and it was graded red.

One other piece of bike friendliness, specifically MTB friendliness, is that there is an official published map of the area that:

1) Is the perfect size for folding and sticking in a pocket

2) Is made of toughened, water resistant paper

3) Has all the worthwhile singletrack marked on it

4) The singletrack is all graded: blue, red, black so you know what your letting yourself in for.

How fantastic is that!

I think there was a bit of climbing in there before we hit the singletrack and I had a bit of a wobbly start on it until I got my head around the steepness. The singletrack seemed to be of two types, either steep and following the fall line of the hill or contouring along the side. The contouring sounds nice but the hills are generally steep so there is often a drop of varying degrees of scariness to one side. The penalty for failure could be high.

Soon I was pretty into it and being very, very thankful for my working rear brake. It was more rooty and woodsy rather than rocky but speed was picked up very quickly and I didn't take my camera out once, too busy having fun/being scared. There were a few unfair undulations, mainly on road as we worked our way down the hill. Rely on the camera to flatten things out:

It really was great descending, worth the climb, honestly. We had a section of "black" trail to ride which I have to say I was a bit worried about, thinking we would be riding down a sheer cliff but it was quite an easy rooty section which had been misgraded, really a blue. Well I say easy, not when your riding like a plank. There were perfectly rideable lines if you were paying attention, which I was struggling with I realised I need to get some calories in asap so had a caffeinated gel and hoped it would kick in soon.

I got a bit better and then the sugar and caffeine kicked in just in time for the best bit of track yet. Fast, contouring, tracking the river, some big drops to the side, roots, overhanging rocks (being a shorty was a definite advantage). Really enjoyed it. As we were close to the valley floor we came across various people who were all really encouraging rather than grumpy, everyone got out of our way rather than hold us up.

I rounded one bend to find Rob picking himself out of the river having looked behind to check where people were, on, I have to say, a bit of trail that could really do with full concentration not backwards glances. He rode off the side and was highsided by the bike into the river which was luckily only about 5 feet or so below, best crash of the trip. He seemed unhurt if a little wet.

From there it was into the village of Sta. Maria to the Hotel Stelvio. It is a "bike hotel" so it had a large bike garage to lock up lots of bikes, workstand, pressure washer, drying room (cheesy feet!), bike wash etc. More infrastructure. Unfortunately the bags hadn't arrived yet so we had to wait, have a little beer and watch the weather roll back in. The sugar in the alcohol killed my appetite which wasn't ideal as I needed to eat but didn't until much later. We hoped the snow wouldn't materialise:

I think I climbed for most of the riding, about 2.5 hours out of less than 3.5.

More Dry Fast Trails

Another Wednesday evening ride made really enjoyable by dry dusty trails, looking forward to hopefully spending some serious quality time with my MTBs over the summer. There were 6 of us in total so a nice group, 5 lads and me as unfortunately Pam couldn't make it.

We rode out from our usual parking spot near the barn, up the always surprisingly hard work Commonwealth down where my legs were quite tired. I was expecting them to be this tired when commuting on Tuesday really but I was fine as long as I didn't try to push too hard.

Over towards Winter Hill we found some new (to us anyway) concessionary bridleways, took the nice gradual singletrack climb up to the masts and followed the diversion track to the top of the Belmont Descent. It was unbelievably dry, one or two slightly soft patches but no real bog.

By the time we were heading down to Belmont it was still light but it was failing and the track had a monochromomatic feel to it, lots of the detail was missing really, interesting hitting bumps that I hadn't seen.

I was doing pretty well until near the bottom where the track broke into ruts and I found myself heading at speed for the edge of a rut, a little grassy lip really, less than a tyre width. Too fast to really change direction and drop into the rut next to me happily. I'd need serious trials skills (and a lot less speed) to actually ride along the lip so I somehow managed to bring myself to a stop without falling off or catapulting myself off the track, which was very lucky.

I managed to get myself into that silly predicament by not looking far enough ahead, my descending speed is starting to come back now so I need to look where I want to go before I get there! We all enjoyed the descent and headed up the road climb then dropped off the cheeky track towards Lead Mines. It was pretty dark by then so it was fun riding some new stuff. Once at Lead Mines we decided against the road hill (my legs wanted none of it) and back to the cars.

A really enjoyable 15 miles.

Dry trails!

I love MTBing in daylight and on dry trails, it feels like cheating after slogging about in the mud and darkness over winter. The ride on Sunday was planned as an easy ride to spin my legs out after my long (ahem) run and to get the On One to Pam to ride whilst she sorts out a replacement bike.

I got outside before packing the car up to the unusual sight of my On One with a handlebar clamped to the seatpost rather than a saddle. The seatpost still wasn' t moving and it took some serious brute force from Jez, the extra leverage from the handlebar and each of us sat on a wheel (not comfy) to finally get it out of the frame. It had corroded a little, so it has been regreased and SPD pedals put on. It was greased when we originally built the bike up but its not something I had thought to check regularly. I very rarely change my saddle height out riding but its nice to be able to.

We also found an old saddle of mine to put on as I know that Pam really doesn't like my Flite saddle (weirdo, love my Flites). She has to go through all the faff of getting another comfy saddle, Specialized don't make the one likes any more.

It was greased when I originally built the frame but its not something I had thought to check regularly. I very rarely change my saddle height out riding but its nice to have the option and Pam needed the saddle a lot higher than I did anyway.

My legs were pretty up for riding but it was very warm again. We set off just after 10 and took it nice and easy. It was horse central today, I've never seen so many horses out and about around here. We came across a huge organised ride too, everyone really smiley and friendly. We didn't see any horses up around the Tower not sure why, they are entitled to ride up there?

It was quite nice to just cruise up to the tower though the trail is now very boring. The rutty trail was fantastic as you could look way ahead and pick the best rut and there was no mud to slide around in, fantastic. Over the top, down to the road then off down the cobbly Mill Lane descent. Huge grin at the bottom, the Titus makes it all too easy really. Pam seemed to be getting on ok with the On One, the only slight complaint was the reach but we do have completely different body proportions. She has long legs short torso whereas I am the opposite so it was never going to be a perfect fit.

As it was quite busy the cheeky path through the woods was out of the question so back up the main track. We diverted up to the fence track and rode that in the opposite direction from normal. As it is mainly downhill this way it had a completely different feel to it, the fact it was almost completely dry helped too. A quick game of dodge back to the car then to the pub to sit outside for some lunch and a cold beer, I could feel my peely wally Scottish skin burning a little, the sun is getting really strong.

Wednesday Evening/Night Ride

Wednesday evening ride at Rivington, summer shoes, 3/4 lengths and gilet and summer gloves! A lovely evening for a ride. There were four of us riding, Ed and I and Stu and his mate from work. A last minute e-mail panic about lights had me turning up with Jez's light hoping it was charged (it wasn't). It took me a while to find it as it was still on the last bike he rode, hung up int the garage and I can't get it down easily as it ends up tangled in the rafters/other bikes. I ended up knelt on the garage bench trying to get the light off and ended up being almost late.

We decided to head over the Nab to check out the new trail in the daylight. When we got there the sunset was lovely:

I was feeling tired after a couple of crap nights sleep but nice to be out. The new red trail was fine in the daylight, easy to see why it was a little confusing at night with the steeper black trail cutting down too. Due to the fact I could see them none of the drops were that bad during the day though I almost had a stupidity attack by riding off the edge of one of the berms. I was looking at the construction of the edge of it (no idea why, caught my eye) rather than where I wanted to go so of course the bike tried to go where I was looking. I managed to get it round but almost flopped the front wheel competely. No style points at all.

We decided against riding up the long road hill and headed along the cheeky track by the res as Ed had never ridden it. I had forgotten about all the awkward gates but hey, it saved a climb. When we got to the woody bit near the other end the light had faded enough that lights were required. Unfortunately when switching Jez's light on the battery was dead as a dodo. We had a couple of headlights between us and sorted one of those out.

The plan was to head to Lead Mines then up and out towards Hordern Stoops. As we left the picnic area we ended up going the wrong way, my fault! I knew there was a bit of a climb on the way to Lead Mines from here but forgot about the bit of flat road before it and I just saw a climb and headed straight up it. I was asked if I was sure but I was confident! I did think it was a little steeper than I was expecting but my legs were tired and it eased off quickly. Then we realised that the big hole in the ground next to us was Anglezarke Quarry, oops. So we climbed up to the top of the moor anyway though the climb is significantly easier from this side.

A re-evaluation of the plan, head down LMC then continue as normal off towards the Pike. On the road over to the car park at the bottom of the ICR we had to dodge loads of little frogs on the road, I think we managed not to squash any. My legs were feeling a little tired, unlike last week where I seemed to be able to take it easy on the cobble infested corners to the Pike I found them hard going this week, even with full-suspension. Up to the pike itself and a strong wind nearly blew me off my bike, where did that come from?

Down to the bottom at silly speed due to no eyeball rattle then straight down the grassy descent to the woods again. A quick blast along the reservoir and another round of frogger and it was back to the car. By the time I'd gotten home, put bike away, eaten and got my stuff ready for riding to work it was gone midnight and I then had yet another rubbish nights sleep.