Singletrack Staff Blog

My girlfriend Tanya has just moved up from London and had a hectic week with her new job in Manchester. So last night we went out for our first ride in the evening round Oxenhope with Chipps. She rode everything - even stuff she’s normally pushed on before (Chipps rode with her so I can’t take any credit).

As dusk was fast approaching we were on top of hill looking down on the surrounding valleys knowing it’s downhill all the way home.

That time of day is always pretty magical but made more so by getting to share it with someone on their first evening ride. Thank you Chipps and Tanya. ;]

Another thursday another night ride, and once again we managed to ride a couple of trails that Alec and myself hadn’t ridden before as well as revisiting Calderdale classics like Beach Nuts, Darkside and Fishing is Amazing.

Everthing is riding so fast and dry that front wheel washout in the dusty sand is starting to be a problem. Not a usual UK trail issue granted, and one that’s starting to niggle that things are too good at the moment and it’s all going to end in a return to mulch and gloop. Or is that just me?

I have to say that the glorious weather and the perfect trail conditions are the best incentive to get out and ride every workday night and weekend moment. My plan for the forseeable future is to ride, then ride some more.

I joined Dave and a few folk for a ride over in Oxenhope last night. Start before 8pm and we did a bigger loop than is traditional, purely because the weather was good and the trails were firm and lovely. Slightly damp peat - like the stuff you can buy in garden centres - cool and damp and tacky and perfect for traction. As we were heading back just before 10 towards Oxenhope - and the Bay Horse Pub, natch, I took great delight in stopping for a moment and looking around. The open valleys around here allow you to see the houses on the other side of the hills, with their living room lights glowing, family probably all sat around the telly, oblivious to us riding up on the moors.
It’s our time.
Walkers wouldn’t get back before dark, it’s too remote and a little early, for dog walkers and all the horses are tucked up in their stables. No, it’s the domain of the evening mountain biker. The hills are ours during these hours and we owe it to ourselves, as well as to the patient countryside, to get out there and enjoy the scene.
Chipps

With most of my regular riding buddies otherwise occupied I accepted an invite from some Midlanders to join them on an adventure from Rhayader.

Not sure I would have accepted the invite had I known just how far Rhayader is from Calderdale! Happily the time we spent riding (about 7hrs) was longer than the time it took the get there and back

But I’m glad I did as the riding was ace (rocky and fast over some very big but gradual hills). Very different to my local trails. I was riding one of the test bikes for the next issue. It’s always good to ride big miles across different terrain to see how the bike behaves.

I fell off my bike into a large pond (mini lake?) on sunday afternoon.

It was quite warm and very silty. Due to riding in rain through an ace new “Car Wash”-style trail I was already pretty wet!

Thankfully my bike didn’t follow me in.

Cheers to Craig and Felix for dragging me out

Back in the office after a week away and I’m faced with over 400 non-spam emails to wade through… Oh well, eh?

It’s good to be back though. Having ridden on super dramatic and steep scenery in Lake Garda and then in the murky forests south of Munich, it’ll be good to ride some familiar terrain on a familiar bike. Tomorrow we’re hoping the trails are dry enough to ride the classic High Brown Knoll. Hmm… I’d better get the Maverick back out of the bike bag and together again.

Talking of bike bags - Lufthansa - I was 14kg over my baggage allowance on the way out with my bike bag, so they let me off 4kg and charged £7 a kilo for the rest - £70!

Flying back from Munich from the Lufthansa terminal, they didn’t even weigh it, nor charge me… Crazy.

A busy week has meant late nights and no riding for me so it was a pleasure to get out today for a spin.

Only it wasn’t a spin, the ride seemed to develop into “death by hills”.

Riding alone meant no excuse to stop and chat. I’d forgotten how brutal a lone ride can be if you’re in the right mood.

After starting (grunting?) up Stairs Lane, riding on autopilot with no planned route I somehow managed to take in some of the best local moorland riding and all in superb bone dry condition. Revisiting a trail I haven’t ridden in at least 8 years I found it had developed into a fantastic piece of singletrack, definitely one to include on the next night ride we do round here.

Just hoping the legs recover for tomorrow mornings ride.

Went for a biggish ride in the southern Dales yesterday (Skipton, Rylstone, Embsay Crags etc). Hey, these bikes won’t test themselves you know. Everything was going swimmingly - the sky was extremely hazed over so the photos were looking a bit dull - but apart from that things were rolling along nicely.

Until the replaceable dropout on the test bike Felix was riding exploded into several million pieces. Needless to say he was “just riding along” when it happened. A few minutes of very sweaty bodging later and we had semi-successfully singlespeeded it. Okay, so chain was so tight that it kept loosening the chainring bolts… and the chain snapped every twenty minutes or so… and the climb up to Embsay Moor is not best done with one (increasingly steep) gear… but we struggled on manfully and had a good ride.

I don’t think I sat down for the last hour of the ride because my arse was so sore from riding in the Worst Cycling Shorts Ever. Despite feeling a bit sun-scorched and generally a bit knackered we still attended the regular thursday night ride (riding some different test bikes) and that was great fun too - despite having several very ‘Calderdale’ climbs in it.

Well, I’m somewhere south of Munich being shown all of 2007’s new Specialized bikes. There’s a lot to write about, but as it’s midnight and I’m tired, you’re just going to have to wait until Monday to find out about the new shocks and forks and carbon frames and rocker link designs…
Chipps

Jet lag aside (We were up swimmining in the hotel pool at 3am) Vancouver is probably my favourite city. It just seems to have got the balance right between recreation and work. There’s proper cycle lanes and paths all over the place and unlike home they are not covered in pot holes or broken glass. Boarders, skaters, riders… pedestrians seem the minority here compared to other self powered transport.

We went Whale watching yesterday. Around 4 hours of speeding about the bay to find Killer Whales. We found lots!

It’s 7:30am here right now and we are just heading off to Spokes Bike Rentals on the edge of Stanley park to pick up some bikes for a leisurely day around the park.

Whistler tomorrow and some lift assisted nonsense.

ps. the food here is, well, massive just about covers it