A Proper Ride For Proper Bikers

After spending the whole month of March bereft of companionship on my rides, wending my lonely way over hill and dale like some sort of outcast - this is what happens when Santa didn’t fit an electric bike down your chimney. My first ride of April, appropriately enough on April Fool’s Day, I was joined by The Breadlad who managed to squeeze almost three hours out of his busy jet-setting existence to venture to Guisborough and check out some of the new trails which have appeared while he has been elsewhere. Our route is pretty much irrelevant, like all Guissy rides it involved going uphill on fire roads a lot, interspersed with trails. Magnificent condition trails., it has to be said, we haven’t had any significant rain for weeks, the farmers are already muttering the D word. Our brief interlude was soon finished as The Breadlad departed to fulfil some husbandly duties and I was left with my coffee and the same over-friendly horse as last time I parked here.

Just Me And The Birdsong

Normal service was resumed for this ride, back to Billy No-Mates. On a day like today too with a sky so blue it didn’t seem real. In a world full of mountain bikers looking longingly out of their respective windows, I was lucky enough to be out doing it. Scaling Dam car park was virtually empty when I pedalled away, cycling beside the reservoir until I was able to turn inland, climbing gradually until the steep drop to Hardale Beck, which is followed by an even steeper climb out (aka The Slagbag). Still climbing, I ended up at Danby Beacon from where I enjoyed a circular detour, taking in a section of the Pannierman’s Causeway before climbing back to the beacon. From the beacon, it would be rude not to partake in the Roxby Moor track, especially in these dry conditions - so I did. Shame about the headwind but it didn’t detract too much from the whole carving through the heather experience, which is what Roxby Moor us all about. Another ride across the dam and I was back at the car, ready to make the short journey to Birk Brow for the all important calorie replenishment.

Squirrel Chasing With Two Friends Of Billy.

In the theatrical world, there are many “friends of Dorothy”, in the mountain biking world “friends of Billy (Bosch)” now make up the majority of cyclists , especially in trail centres, where it sometimes seems normally-aspirated pedalling is an anachronism from another age. Today, I was the anachronism, joined at Hamsterley Forest by a pair of Nissan’s finest former employees, who have left the production line behind in favour of the indolent life of retirees. Our first visit to Hamsterley for a while and mainly because we were eager to try out the new Blue Route, Squirrel Chaser, opened a mere 24 hours ago. There are some superb individual trails at Hamsterley, which can hold their own when compared to any others in this country but the convoluted routes to join them together leave a lot to be desired. The new Blue is short and sweet, if you don’t follow the official route signs which lead unsuspecting punters along a mile or two of uninteresting padding until the start of the new section is reached, after that things are pretty enjoyable, some nice berms, a couple of climbs and descents. The route is roughly circular, it finishes close to the start, so it's handy for sessioning a few times. We spent the rest of the day fitting in all the other man-made routes, which include a lot of climbing - only a problem for one of us. We returned to the car park for a tailgate picnic, after which Billy Bosch’s boys went out again for another crack at Squirrel Chaser. My analogue legs were lacking enthusiasm for any more climbing, so I did the sensible thing and headed home.

The Full Rosedale Round

Another day of tailwind/headwind and the wind was in the opposite direction to normal, so the ride hurt in places it doesn't normally. Plus the recent warm weather seems to have abandoned us, leaving beyond its cold, grey cousin, more like a pleasant January day then halfway through April. It has been a while since I did the full Rosedale Round but it was to be my last ride for a fortnight, owing to other commitments, so a few miles seemed like a good idea. From my parking spot, Blakey Bank Top, the first few miles seem like a very good idea, eight miles downhill with a tailwind, on dry, dusty tracks, beginning on the old rail track, four miles to the road at Chimney Bank, open moorland to Ana Cross, then a steep blast all the way to Lastingham. Through Lastingham, then a U turn to head back along the valley to Rosedale Abbey. A dozen or more years ago, I broke my collarbone riding a gully on this section of track - I still can’t see how. I stopped for a quick snack beneath the mighty oak tree on the village green in Rosedale Abbey. A tranquil spot, hard to believe it was once the home of thousands of unruly miners, a place where the pubs opened at six in the morning to quench the thirsts of the night shift. Leaving the village behind, I continued northwards on tarmac, passing Bell End Farm, a favourite of The Pensioner, who would pant up the road, sniggering at the signs. A short but steep climb and I am on Rosedale East rail track, which passes a number of relics from those industrial days, huge crumbling kilns where iron ore rock was once burned to make it lighter to transport, the remains of trackside buildings and the ever present railbed, now gravelled over but it is still possible to make out the imprint of old sleepers. A headwind and a slight gradient made this section hard work but the magnificent views more than made up for it. The track takes a huge loop around the head of the valley, another U turn in our route, reclaiming the tailwind all the way back to Blakey Bank Top and the finish. And the end of riding for a couple of weeks, the next blog will be coming from sunny Spain courtesy of Sierra MTB, our eighth year of hooning around the sierras of Southern Spain, a happy conglomeration of sunshine, dust and beer.