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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 6:31:45 GMT
Nice one Neil, glad your bike was sorted but a real shame it meant we could only ride with you for the 2nd half - hopefully, there will be other days, God Willing (as the dear old Mom-in-law always said).
Thanks again for the idea of a forum ride up there and just for the record, you were right. No way would I even contemplate that ride in winter and no way could I have rode another trail, the same day, after doing Bowderdale!
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Post by Jimbo on Jul 3, 2015 7:07:54 GMT
Sounds like you have had an eventful ride! Looking forward to the photo's.
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Post by roundie1981 on Jul 3, 2015 7:09:04 GMT
Nice one Neil, glad your bike was sorted but a real shame it meant we could only ride with you for the 2nd half - hopefully, there will be other days, God Willing (as the dear old Mom-in-law always said). Thanks again for the idea of a forum ride up there and just for the record, you were right. No way would I even contemplate that ride in winter and no way could I have rode another trail, the same day, after doing Bowderdale! How long was the ride mate? |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 7:23:19 GMT
Think Steormy said his moving time on Strava was just short of 5 hours? but of course you have to factor in food stops, rest stops and general mechanicals - we had 2 punctures, a reverb give up the ghost and a mashed rear mech, plus we had a fair spell being lost - trying to locate a bridleway that the local farmers seemed to be making a pretty good job of blocking/hiding.
We (after trying and failing to save hodgy's mech) started at 11 and got back to the car park at about 5.50pm!
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Post by hodgy on Jul 3, 2015 8:10:41 GMT
My tale of woe ..part 2
..fast forward to Ravenstonedale and a couple of phone calls to Graham ..who it transpires was doing some sort of bike gymnastics which involved him throwing himself off the trail at various intervals while still attached to the bike .the most impressive of which saw him somersault twice fully !
Seven " offs " down Bowderdale alone ..I just wish I had given him more of a health warning when I saw the new SPD pedals on the bike this morning .
For the record ..Graham is a great rider ..and blasted his way both up and down when riding this route on flats in April this year ..but the pounding he was taking from falling off was denting his confidence and he was tensing up on stuff he would usually fly over.
After standing a round of beverages by way of an apology for delaying everyone this morning ..it was about 4.00pm when we set off from Ravenstonedale .with Colin and myself setting off a few mins earlier than the rest ..to warm up " cold " legs ..it's a bastard of a road climb for a few km's hard enough on cold legs ..but even harder on tired legs and I felt a bit of a fraud that I wasn't suffering more !
It was however good to be riding at last ..
Fast forward through the superb singletrack back to Sedbergh and having said our goodbyes to Glynn , Ste ,Pez & Kirky ( tinged with a touch of regret on my part that I hadn't had the chance to ride more with them ) ...Russell then transported myself and Colin back to Ravenstonedale to collect our cars ..with Graham ensconced in the Dalesman looking after our bikes ..and as it turned out using alcohol for medicinal purposes !
Once back at Sedbergh again Colin and myself took the opportunity to change out of soggy riding gear before heading along the road to extract Graham out of the pub ..to our horror though we had missed the chippy which had closed 20 mins earlier ( and I was bloody famished )
Upon entering the pub we found Graham about to pay for his third pint / Bushmills chaser ..he was obviously in a lot of pain ( ! ) ..so it seemed rude not to join him with a half !
Drinks consumed back to the car with the bikes ( Graham looked slightly wobbly!! ) Graham got changed ..bye to Colin ..8.45pm ..and we still hadn't eaten !
Southwaite services ..Burger King ..YES!! ...well no actually ..there must have been a teenage convention as there was ( with no exaggeration) at least 40 waiting in line to be served ..my mood was taking a huge downturn by now ..but as it would take at least 1.5 hours to get served ..we headed up the motorway and detoured off into Carlisle City centre ..where we found a chippy and had a huge mound of fish & chips .
Diesel needed so back out to the Tesco filling station ..where every pump was malfunctioning due to an " error " code . Back to the M6 and off at Carlisle North in search of a fuel filling station ..where luckily we found a Morrisons at 10.25..5 mins before it was due to close ( Jean you nearly had two lodgers !!) ...back on track again where there was a fairly un-eventful journey back east towards home ..save for the fact that Graham was hugely entertaining due to the level of alcohol consumed !
Did I say un-eventful ?
As always on a tale of woe there is one final twist in the tale ..where upon coming to the turn-off the dual carriageway for Graham's village we found road signs proclaiming it to be closed ..the alternative was a 10 mile detour ..and like a good little lad I took it ..
Like shit I did ...bollards to that is all I will say ...
11.40 I got back !
Adam, Gaz & Roundie ..you will have a fantastic time on Saturday ...not in doubt as I've used mine and everyone else's bad luck up yesterday !!!
The end ..hahaha
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Post by kirky72 on Jul 3, 2015 8:23:10 GMT
 
Yeh, with a few less of you on Saturday deducting the time spent for mechanicals you may get around 5.5 to 6 hours allowing some time for navigating and food stops.
My moving time was only 4hr 4 minutes out of the 8 hours we spent out, however I don't think theres a realistic chance I could complete the ride under 5 hours, in a way my body/knees were grateful of the rest breaks and I don't feel as knackered as I could have been this morning as a result.
It was a great day with great folks, everybody encouraging each other throughout. I felt really bad for Neil having such a bad mechanical as you can tell he was mad keen on doing the ride, just glad he got to join us for part and show us some stuff we may have missed.
It was interesting with the wide mix of regional accents, scots, Geordie, Lancastrian and brum.
The climb to the Calf seems a little daunting at first as the start of it was steep and somewhat slippy with the morning dew, the grassy climb was probably the worst. The altitude is gained in three bite size chunks though so its not so disheartening with the few chances to spin your legs in between each of the summits.
The ride itself was a great mix of terrain , the long descent after the calf isn't quite as some mags describe theres a good techy down hill bit followed by a very long stretch of extremely natural single track which rolls up and down for miles. Very rutted (too much so at times for BB height or skills) drops, rocks and a few river and bog crossings thrown into the mix. Its no manicured piece of fast track that you can just breeze down, you need to be on it and concentrating pretty much through out.
The Hodgys wood descent was great as was a lot of the single track there after particulary the long narrow one through the undergrowth after the short field climb followed by the narrow but rocky river crossing. this was followed by what looked like a straightforward section across a tree line but was off camber most of the way with nicely placed rocks to catch you out.
Thanks for the day, great to meet everybody and hope to meet again on another ride soon!
PS Graeme tremendous determination but get your flats back on pal!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 8:31:20 GMT
Good summing up that Kirky - pretty much spot on. Great day but a stressful one at times!
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Post by steormy on Jul 3, 2015 8:32:52 GMT
Just want to say . That was eventful . that ride had everything , mechanicals , extreme climbing in very humid conditions , technical singletrack , punctures , crashes (mainly involving Graham ) getting lost , superb section through the woods , wind , heavy rain , then more fast and flowy singletrack . I would like to say i loved every minute of it but I'd be lying . As Pez said , while we were up on the hillside waiting for Colin's puncture being fixed in the strong wind and driving rain , I just wanted to go home (I took my jacket out of my bag and left it in the van as I wouldn't need it !!!) .
So glad i carried on as from there on in was probably my favourite part of the ride .
Sounds like I was pretty lucky getting home , I was in my house at 7 45 .
Thanks to all for a great ride . Hopefully do it again soon
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 8:36:33 GMT
Neil I thinks it's safe to say - if it could have happened, it pretty much did yesterday. As for Graham I could tell he was a very good rider, at the start he was clearing some quite technical stuff, but after the 3rd? or 4th? off on the SPD's you could visibly see the lads confidence ebbing away. Some of these offs were heavy and made me bloody wince - especially the gamboling down the hill one which just made me thankful it was on a section free of rocks fror a change (luckily!). The funniest one though (as it was a soft landing) was the huge SPLAAAASSSHH as he landed in the sheep shit filled bog....for a couple of miles after that you had to stand upwind of him!  |
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Post by hodgy on Jul 3, 2015 9:06:35 GMT
Wondered where he had got that Country Fresh Deodorant from on the journey back home !
I've sent a PM to Adam with directions for the alternative route .
Message to Jay & Gaz ..come back soon ..you don't have to post everyday ..but rides like yesterday show the truly positive part of belonging to a forum like this ..apart from the riding I'd like to think I've made some good mates and look forward to sharing a lot more adventures with them in the future
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 9:47:01 GMT
Couldn't have put it better Neil - met some great lads already who have become firm mates and some new ones yesterday - all of who, because of shared trials and tribulations - I think of as new mates already. Jay and Gaz will be back, I'm sure. I'll keep nagging til they do.
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 10:00:10 GMT
Brilliant write ups lads!
But pez, believe the rumour. Russell was easily king of the mountains yesterday
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 10:01:07 GMT
Russell was unbelievable - riding up stuff I was struggling to even walk up!
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 10:16:42 GMT
also just to 2nd what hodgy says. its rides like these that make you appreciate being part of a forum. rides that you wouldn't even think about riding on your own unless you know the route very well.rides you will remember for a very long time...............aint that what its all about?
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Post by kirky72 on Jul 3, 2015 11:04:03 GMT
Where are your pics Glynn you must have taken some good ones (or bad for the person grimacing up the climbs).
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 11:13:56 GMT
Yeah i took loads. I'll post them later today after iv sorted thro em
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 15:11:34 GMT
I'm still here fella's.. it does feel a bit like I could have cracked a rib, but not badly(!).. only hurts when I laugh, cry, cough, sneeze, bend, stand up or sit down. Knuckles of both hands feel like they've had the attentions of the witchfinder general and are swollen, as is right ankle and left knee... head is fine though, much too thick to feel any pain there. I had to go in early this am to let nursie look at the previous shin wound which miraculously managed to not get damaged during all of yesterday's stunt riding shenanigans. That wound is healing very nicely now and dressing is off. I did not mention any of my Bowder-crobatics to her, but she spotted the red and swollen left knee and just shook her head... said it all really! Then I was needed at the office for a few hours by my boss who is hobbling round on crutches after his 2nd hip replacement 2 weeks ago... and I scrounged an assortment of painkillers from him (sadly prescription only..) But by comparison I'm in more pain than him today so I took a short day and came home after raiding Aldi for lager and ice-cream. Love all the write ups lads, not much I can add except to emphasise how much I enjoyed meeting 'virtual' aquaintances and them turning into friends in the space of a few short but action packed hours..! Can't wait to see the video and more photo evidence, spare me no blushes guys, but if there are any Harry Hill moments in there Pez, I claim my share of the £250... But I don't really want to look at my bike for a while  Now off to wash some mild opiates down with a bottle of lager or two before passing out in the sun and getting burned. Bound to really. |
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Post by hodgy on Jul 3, 2015 15:29:40 GMT
Harry Hill moments?....hell from what I've heard there's enough for a whole programme ..lol
Drugs & alcohol mix ya bad lad ... Don't forget the sun cream ..and leave yer shreddies on ...I've heard rumours !
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 16:26:26 GMT
right some pics then! it was a bit dull and overcast but heres the best ones 1.kirky climbing the calf 2.graham climbing the calf  
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 16:31:04 GMT
1.steormy havin a moment after the first really tough climb 2.motozulu breezing up to the top of the calf, look he's lovin it!  
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 16:35:34 GMT
1.steormy climbing to the first summit.........there was loads of false ones 2.the view down bowderdale  
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 16:39:35 GMT
1.graham took a tumble off the main track...........graham its this way mate! 2.bowderdale, i put this one on to put it into perspective  
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 16:45:18 GMT
1.graham and Zulu 2.this bit was orrible, horizontal rain, headwind and actually freezing cold especially for the lads without jackets. I was thinking here that we really need to get going as fast as possible after colin's puncture repair  
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 16:48:31 GMT
1.ste riding through the foliage 2. it felt a lot less cold and drier at this stage with a very nice backdrop  
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Post by glynnsixo on Jul 3, 2015 16:50:35 GMT
1. graham just having his last lie down of the day 
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