First Proper Ride For A While and other stories.

 

First blog for a bit, had a little rest to allow my ribs to heal (hopefully) and owing to lack of footage, no June video, July’s video will just have to be twice as good. Started with some gentle rides for the last few days of June and the first couple of days of July and here are the results. A few people have been asking about The Breadlad, whose presence is lacking nowadays, not from his usual jet setting, international playboy lifestyle but a herniated disc in his spine, no doubt caused by many hours in economy class seats. He has returned to work but is not ready yet for the high-octane, perilousness which is a Terra Trailblazer's ride. Interestingly enough, despite not being out since early April, he still leads in the attendance stakes with twenty rides, although SuperBri is coming up fast on the inside with eighteen rides, third place goes to Keith who has managed thirteen rides even though he has to travel down from Sunderland. Looks like some people need to get their fingers out.  

First Proper Ride For A While.

Not exactly “Sun’s out: guns out.” as we used to see when we were rock rats, nowadays it’s more, “Sun’s out: belly out.” as the dreaded middle aged spread turns my once magnificent body* (*may not be factually correct) into something which looks like a partially-melted waxwork dummy. Diet and exercise are apparently the remedy, I have exercise and I have a diet, in fact the only thing I struggle with is passing the butchers...and the bakers and the special offer cases of Guinness. Must be genetic. A Swainby start today and a surprise visitor in the shape of Oz, recent addition to the Nitrates Retired Gentlemen (N.R.G. although there’s not a great deal of that amongst most of the other retirees) We embarked on a fairly standard route, although seeing as Oz appears only slightly more often than The Ginger One’s bank card, it was all new to him. We began with a hill climb taking us up to Whorlton Castle, or the remains of it anyway, from where we continued down the road to Whorlton and over the fields to Faceby, heading into Faceby Plantation, climbing slightly before dropping down to the hamlet of Heathwaite. Being cautious because the ribs are still giving me a bit of grief, I still managed to fall off on a steep track through the trees, a wee bit greasy from the weekend’s lash down and a bit too much back brake. Luckily, I fell onto my right, the unscathed side and Oz was spared the indignity of a grown man crying. Entering Scugdale, we crossed the beck and climbed up one of our “fields of heavy gravity” into Clain Wood, following the nice roller-coaster bridleway until it was time to shoulder the bikes and plod up the steps. Despite the weather becoming almost Mediterranean, the car park at Sheepwash had spaces, I guess that’s what happens when the shops re-open. A few of Rod’s trails in the woods above Cod Beck Reservoir were ridden, somewhat cautiously, before we crossed the valley and pedalled up the road to Scarth Wood Moor for another nice downhill, which was a lot nicer when it went through trees - they have been chopped down because they were ‘non-native’ species. Tree racism, who’d have thought there could be such a thing? Emerging onto the paved section which runs across the moor, we headed back up the hill, so we could take in Olly’s Folly, a pleasant descent which runs straight down the moor to Sheepwash. We made it to the bottom unscathed, which is more than Olly once did, hence the name. A brief bit of tarmac later, we were on our last track of the day, through the trees parallel to the Scarth Nick road bank. A little greasy still but fun nonetheless. Five minutes later we were, quite literally, basking in the sunshine outside the Rusty Bike.

Sunshine? Two Days In A Row?

Another decent day, could this be an inkling of a summer to come? Voice from future - “Is it bollocks.” Me and Simon T. met up at Ingleby Greenhow, the sun already hot in the sky, birds singing, insects whizzing about, a grand day to be alive. Introduced Simon to the Coleson Banks start, which basically climbs from the start of the ride and keeps climbing, about a thousand feet of ascent in five miles or so, plateauing on Ingleby Moor, where we took the track along the edge of the moor to Bloworth Crossing before doubling back on ourselves along the old Rosedale rail track to the Incline Top. It may not have been the most technical riding in the world - or even the moors but the views made up for it, the whole moors a kaleidoscope of yellow tracks, purple heather and green heathland beneath a blue sky, all shimmering slightly in the heat haze, winter-coated sheep, soporific beside the trail, sluggish and unconcerned as two cyclists rode past. From the Incline Top, we scooted back onto the top track and briefly retraced our tyre tracks, turning off at Burton Howe and plunging down the Old Coal Road toward Armouth Wath, plunging being a relative term as a headwind suddenly appeared, great for cooling us down but not so good for our average speed. We headed north east, rejoining the Cleveland Way above Battersby Crag and riding our first bit of singletrack, the bridleway to Ingleby Bank - or Turkey Nab as we know it. The steep downhill was resurfaced a few months ago but the rock slabs which made the downhill so much fun are already beginning to peep through, water and 4x4 drivers will soon have it back to its original state. At the gate we turned left into Battersby Plantation to ride some of the tracks through the trees, the topmost one, Loaminator, is surprisingly overgrown, the middle section almost obliterated by bracken, they can’t be ridden as much as we imagined. The last track, Back To The Car, is not so overgrown, a pleasant loamy flow through the trees, a nice finish to our ride. Back at Ingleby Greenhow we gave the new coffee shop, Cafe 1756, attached to The Dudley Arms a try, it’s our duty as good citizens and ambassadors of the mountain biking world to sample as many cafes and pubs as possible, so you, dear readers, will never go hungry after a bike ride. It’s gruelling work but our dedication and philanthropism is unbounded and we do it all for you.

I Can Think Of Worse Ways To Spend A Thursday.

Another Great Ayton start and the river is reduced to a measly trickle, the lowest it has been in a long time. Me and SuperBri did a pretty standard start, through the farms to Roseberry Common and up the steps to Newton Moor. SuperBri had been out walking the other day and found the old red route downhill, Les’s 1, which he’d never ridden, so that was our first objective. Seeing as it was all new to him we did the whole trio, which are imaginatively named Les’s 1, 2 and (you’ve guessed it) 3. My ribs, which have been slowly improving, took a definite dislike to this downhilling business, every bump and bodyweight shift punctuated with a swift jab of pain, which didn’t do much for my already feeble downhill skills. Although the pain is now more akin to being skewered with a knitting needle rather than being hacked with a chainsaw, so they must be getting better. Another trail, The Robinsons on Strava, dropped us down even further toward the bottom of the forest and from here, as Yazz once said, the only way is up, although I don’t imagine Guisborough Forest featured too strongly in the songwriting process. We climbed upward, forever upward, on fire roads, trying the occasional trail until we found ourselves on top of Highcliffe Nab, taking in the view across to the north sea, before moving across to Codhill Heights and a speedy descent to Sleddale, the track suffering from a dose of lockdown gravel in places, making things a bit sketchy. Lockdown gravel is just an observation regarding the amount of tracks which have been gravelled over the lockdown period, in most cases unnecessarily, making it harder to pedal and taking away a lot of the fun. And loose gravel doesn't last, a bit of weather soon washes it all away. We pedalled around the Lonsdale Bowl to Gribdale, getting in what might be the last descent of Andy’s Track before the triffids take over for the rest of the summer, head height bracken, impossible to get through unless a machete is part of your riding kit. Fun over we headed down the road with only the butchers to look forward to. Back in Great Ayton, the riverside was packed with picnicking families taking advantage of the weather, enjoying the sunshine but probably not as much as we were enjoying our pies. 

Easy One To Finish The Week.

Fourth ride of the week and I have to admit, the broken ribs are feeling the strain a bit but the morning after a ride, they feel so much better, with this in mind I found myself flying solo from Scaling Dam on my now legendary minimum climbing loop. It’s only legendary because the other Terra Trailblazers believe I keep it to myself and make them suffer the rides with a couple of thousand feet of ascent. They might be right but it is for their own good. If only I could find a way to cut out the mile of moor road it would be a perfect ride. The route is pretty well documented but here it is again, start in one of the Scaling Dam car parks, the east end one is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday but as a bonus it has a burger van in place those days, the rest of the time use the other car parks, the only difference being the ride along the dam which will either be at the beginning or the end of the ride. From the boat club, join the moor road (A171) and brave the traffic to the Danby turn off, a little more (thankfully) less busy tarmac takes you to Robin Hood’s Butts and the start of the off road riding. Just over half a mile later, a small cairn marks the Sis Cross track, singletrack climbs slightly to the cross, which is actually a small standing stone, before the track takes a downward turn in the best possible way, snaking through the heather to the road above Danby. Crossing over the road there is a link to the Lord’s Turnpike, a track more commonly known as ‘the flying bees’ after the ‘beware of flying bees’ sign lower down. A grammatical pleonasm which used to infuriate The Pensioner to the point of incredulity. The route then heads north to join the Pannierman’s Causeway, climbing up onto the Danby Beacon road and some easy pedalling to the beacon. Danby Beacon is an NSP, (Natural Stopping Point) with fine 360 degree views on a good day. Which today is. Another Terra Trailblazers favourite follows, Roxby Moor, a speedy doubletrack down Brown Rigg which later climbs up onto Roxby High Moor, emerging at a farm road, which leads back to the car park and, if you’ve chosen your day wisely - the burger van. 

Clicking on the route names will take you to the Strava page for the route. Where you can marvel at how slow we are.