Three To Start The Week Off.

Mountain Bike Rides.

17th July route

Benny The Brawl and The Youth.

Benny assured us he knew the way to Clay Bank car park, he failed to mention it involved a detour to Helmsley; when he finally arrived we dragged him straight up to the highest point of the North York Moors, 1489 feet above sea level at Round Hill on Urra Moor. Mentioned in previous blog posts, as highest points go it is distinctly underwhelming, a trig point sitting a metre or so above a sea of heather.

Photos taken, we left it behind and continued across Urra Moor on Pensioner style tracks, Benny’s riding preferences tend toward the geriatric at the moment, hopefully as his confidence improves so will his taste in tracks. Along from Bloworth we rode along the Cleveland Way, taking in the superb double track down Battersby Moor, lumpy, bumpy downhill gravel all the way to the Baysdale Road, followed by a tarmac plunge to KIldale. Minor roads took us to Bank Foot Farm where we picked up the old ironstone railway, a long, slightly uphill, track which displeased Benny to such an extent he felt the need to vent his fury regularly with extreme profanity. We may have found a reincarnation of The Pensioner.

Pausing to look up The Incline, we all said a silent prayer to the fact we did not need to ascend it today; instead the usual roller-coaster fire road through the woods beckoned and the inevitable short but brutally steep bit of road to the car park, which broke Benny. Seventeen and a half miles, nearly all offroad  and only his third ride out - he’s not doing too bad.

18th July route.

The Youth

Yesterday’s decent weather continues as me and The Youth revisit the Rosedale Round, a classic North York Moors ride, which mainly consisted of riding around the valley while I pointed out injury spots to The Youth; “This is where I broke my ribs.” “This is where I broke my collar bone.” Hard to understand on a relatively flat ride. We began by paying homage to The Pensioner at one of his most famous sniggering spots, Bell End Farm, before climbing up onto the old rail track which does a huge U turn around the head of the valley, passing relics of the Rosedale Ironstone industry, which last operated almost 90 years ago. At Ana Cross we paused for snacks while The Youth stared at his phone (again) regardless of the magnificent scenery surrounding us.

The descent from here to Lastingham is the highlight of the ride, today dry and dusty, giving us a fast descent, apart from The Youth, who, unbelievably, stopped to answer his phone. This age of instant communication has a lot to answer for, all these youngsters imagine they are the prime minister or something, every call a matter of national security which must be responded to with alacrity. My viewpoint: if it’s important they’ll leave a voicemail, if it’s not important, what are they doing ruining your ride in the first place?

The remaining section of the ride, from High Askew Farm back to Rosedale Abbey differs in character from the previous wide tracks and gravel, being moorland singletrack, contouring the hillside, through heather and bracken with a few technical rocky sections and the odd grassy uphill drag. Before too long we were back in Rosedale Abbey, sharing our post-ride snacks with a cheeky blackbird.

19th July route.

Benny The Brawl

In typical British summer fashion, two days of heat and the weathermen are predicting deluges of monsoon proportions and it did not look too promising as me and Benny left Great Ayton, heading up into the monochrome landscape, varying shades of grey, low cloud enveloping even the lower moors. We ascended to Roseberry Common via Aireyholme Farm while I give the lad a local history lesson, pointing out that Captain Cook worked here before finding fame, fortune and Australia. I was wasting my breath, he was so far behind I needed a megaphone. From the gate onto Roseberry Common, we shouldered the bike and plodded upward into the gloom, keeping an eye on the time, wary of the forecast, dampness already in the air when we remounted on Newton Moor.

Up and down Percy Cross Rigg and around the Lonsdale Bowl in reduced visibility, Benny had his first introduction to Fingerbender Bank, our name for a rutted and stepped section of track where, many years ago, The Pensioner did exactly what the name suggests.

At Gribdale we decided discretion is the better part of valour and flew down the road to Dikes Lane, Benny taking the lead for the first time in his cycling career, a combination of gravity and foolhardiness on the twisting tarmac. A quick bite to eat at Fletcher’s Farm - on the balcony, in the incipient sunshine, it looks as though the weather forecast couldn't have been more incorrect. We rode back to Great Ayton as summer tried to take dominance, the deluge a figment of the Met office imagination.