Mountain Bike Ride
Rod, Dave, The Cruncher, The Boy.
Another filthy North Yorkshire day, not a dry bit anywhere. Gloopy mud, squelchy grass, ultra-slippery roots. A flat tyre before we started and a snapped chain within the first half hour - it was one of those days. And the camera battery went flat. A young acquaintance (The Boy) came to show us oldies a thing or two about biking, he showed us he couldn’t work gears but his uphill pushing skills were second only to The Pensioner. We rode from Gribdale up to Newton Moor, well, rode some of it, the track so muddy in parts even walking was an adventure. A bit of tree dodging through the woods, combined with some more open moorland riding brought us to Codhill Heights and the fun descent to Sleddale. The weather took a turn for the better, a half-hearted bit of sun appeared but a headwind meant we pedaled all the way to Sleddale. Cafe stop was the ever-excellent Glebe Cottage, the calories were hard to justify as we had only rode just shy of 7 miles. Some of the excess calories would be burned off on the ascent of Bankside from the cafe, it’s usual gruelling self but worth it for some of the hush hush tracks on Coate Moor. A slight route finding anomaly (that’s all I’m admitting to) had us emerging from the woods at Dikes Lane rather than a downhill finish to the car park at Gribdale, which unfortunately necessitated another tarmac climb to finish the ride - it almost finished The Boy. A short but fairly arduous route, perversely enjoyable despite everyone looking as though they had spent the preceding 90 minutes following a muck spreader.
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