January 2019 Round Up and Video

January 2019 Round Up and Video

Too many words? Click here for video.

It’s January and like most people I’m not especially surprised to see a bit of snow and ice at this time of year, unlike the media who have managed to fill more air time and column inches than a mere smattering of the white stuff deserves. Despite being on the verge of a white apocalypse, fifteen rides were managed, every one off road, two hundred miles ridden with twenty one and a half thousand feet of ascent. Over four vertical miles.

Early in the month, when we’d barely recovered from the seasonal festivities, The Nissan Nomads joined us for a scrounge about some of the less muddy bits Guisborough had to offer, the remainder of the month was populated by those more enthusiastic souls who don’t let a bit of weather deter them. A sudden attack of efficiency on my part, meant the majority of the rides this month were blogged, except for the three below.

Mountain Bike Ride

The Breadlad, The Ginger One.

28th January route.

This was to be a BNQ (Before Night’s Quicky) for The Breadlad, his first shift back at the crumpet face, mining out delectable comestibles for our enjoyment. He is freshly returned from another of his globetrotting adventures, this time on Balkan ski slopes, whipping in and out of the trees, pausing only for a dry martini, shaken not stirred, like James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me. A lightly dusted Roseberry Topping no match for snow capped Bulgarian mountains but he has his beloved bike with him, not a pair of hired planks, so all is well with the world. We were joined by The Ginger One, recovering from the lurgy which has been doing the rounds, the parking fee at Pinchinthorpe almost sending him a into relapse. Three quid is a bit steep, considering it’s not Hamsterley, the trails are no longer maintained - other than a parking space it’s difficult to see what we, as cyclists, are getting for our money.

Our route was the usual hotchpotch of fire roads and trails, mostly icy and slippy but not sloppy. No casualties were recorded other than a pedal to the shin which is always more painful than it ought to be. The sun came out, the ground stayed hard, a perfect return for The Breadlad. At the cafe it appeared that a mass eviction had happened from a local old folks home and we had to sit outside, luckily it was a pleasant lunchtime for sitting out.

Mountain Bike Ride

The Ginger One.

29th January route.

The following day was not as grand and the forecast couldn’t rise above sleet showers all day. Me and The Ginger One met up by the river in Great Ayton, slightly damp but not undaunted. We made like roadies to Bank Foot Farm, battling against the wind all the way, simply because The Ginger One wanted to repeat his once in a lifetime feat of riding up The Incline. For the uninitiated, The Incline is a relic of the industrial past of this area, part of the old Rosedale railway, wagon loads of iron ore would be rolled down the slope attached to a cable which dragged the empty wagons back up the hill.  Almost a mile long, at a one in five gradient, the rail wagons moved at twenty miles per hour, which was about ten time faster than our effort, although conditions were against us, the headwind now treating us to a faceful of snow as we crawled upward.

At the top we were almost in the cloud but luckily we turned our backs to the wind, riding along the Cleveland Way, ice covered puddles were coated with snow, cracking noises being our only clue that we might be in for a soaking. The diet must be working, or the ice must be thicker than we thought because wet feet were saved for another day. We took a diversion along The Old Coal Road, reversing last week’s ascent, it was excellent, the ground frozen and white, not too slippy, going downhill as fast as we dared in the limited visibility. From the end, we made our way back to the Cleveland Way and then got our once a decade descent of Coleson Banks done, we always think it may have improved somehow but what used to be a slightly sunken track now resembles an embryonic Grand Canyon, a muddy defile between twenty foot deep walls, like riding through porridge seasoned with rocks. Eventually the track opens to fields of pure mud, fortunately frozen for us today and drops down into the village of Battersby, from where we made like roadies again, swapping the snow for cold drizzle all the way back to Great Ayton.

Mountain Bike Ride

Howard.

30th January route.

Boom boom, back in the room. The next day was one of those winter days when you are glad to be alive, frozen ground, white trees, blue sky, another broken down lorry on the A19 flyover, so much for the early start. A little later than planned we were leaving Kildale station car park and heading up the Yellow Brick Road, today the White Brick road, Howard heading up significantly faster than my almost on the verge of middle age body can manage. His constant training is giving him what can only be described as an unfair advantage over us guys who consider the cafe the most important part of cycling.

From the top we plunged cautiously, if there can be such a thing, down into Sleddale and continued across Codhill Heights on grippy snow. At the top of The Unsuitables a bit of exploration took us to a trail called The Forgotten Path which, in Terra Trailblazers’ parlance, “Will be better in the summer.” In other words, a bit too hard but we can blame conditions, too icy, too muddy. We’ll think up fresh excuses in the summer.

A few more wintry trails took us across to Gribdale and the climb up to Captain Cook’s Monument, the fire road a sheet of pure ice, it would have made  a challenging descent. More frozen tracks took us back to Kildale, where  devastating news greeted us, owing to an icy slip, the cafe was closed.