Mountain Bike Ride.
William Sans Ami
One thing about hiring a cottage almost at the foot of a mountain is it’s going to be a hard start to a ride but it does have a good finish, said cottage being next door to a pub and over the road from a cafe. The first day of a week in the Lakes, climbing and biking, and in the first five minutes of this ride it seemed I was combining both, a 700ft ascent up the side of one of the foothills of the mighty Skiddaw - little Latrigg. Although it did not seem so little as I puffed and panted my way way up the track, condescending walkers letting me pass, baffled smiles on their faces, puzzled that a fellow on the cusp of middle age should put himself through such trauma. Eventually I reached the Skiddaw car park and passed through the gate, branching off right from the main Skiddaw track and a very welcome bit of downhill to where the track doglegs, crossing White Beck and on to Lonscale Fell, climbing again but at a more amenable angle than the previous section.
This being a Bank Holiday weekend, the weather was dull and cold with a fair amount of standing water but the early morning dampness had been dried by the strong wind. The technical - and occasionally fatal - section of track above Lonscale Crags succumbed to a “discretion is the better part of valour” approach, my feet may have touched rock more than once. I stopped to let by a team of Cube riding continentals who were coming the opposite way, German or Dutch maybe, looking as though they were enjoying themselves immensely. Yesterday in Keswick, every other cyclist was a fat Geordie on an Orange Five, no sign of them up here, probably still sleeping off hangovers. The rocky track undulated it’s way to the remote Youth Hostel, Skiddaw House, usually a Terra Trailblazers NSP (natural stopping point) but the wind, blasting straight in from Iceland or somewhere did not encourage languid moments lounging on the grass and I continued down to cross the (deeper than expected) ford before recommencing my fight against gravity.
Soon the track levels out before gradually pointing downwards, becoming steeper, looser and faster as it winds around the Whitewater Dash waterfalls, following Dash Beck, a fun descent marred, or perhaps tempered, by several gates. Flattening but still descending the track surface improves as it passes through fields full of stoic sheep and flighty lambs eventually joining a (very) minor road near Peter House Farm. From here it’s unfortunately tarmac all the way back to Keswick, although predominantly downhill tarmac so the six or so miles passes quite pleasantly even on the A591, passing a potential cafe stop at Dodd Wood, deciding to press on to Keswick for refreshments. The Pensioner woud be horrified.
It was a difficut choice, carbs or protein, this month’s nutritional trend is for protein after a ride, according to the magazines, so the carbohydrate and mineral health drink from The Pheasant was put on hold in favour of a protein filled bacon sandwich from The Filling Station Cafe.
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