29th November 2012 - Barbon

Sandside by day

Frozen mud by night

It was a cold and frosty eve' when 4 bikers met up at Barbon; George, Grant, Jamie and CT, apparently it had been sunny during the day and some folk had made use of daylight for a ride. The moon was out along with a friendly planet keeping it company, Jupiter I think, making a brighter evening ride. It was around freezing so a few layers and big gloves were required, although we did warm up nicely during the climbs. Whilst starting out it did occur to me that we should one day try this route in reverse just because we can and you never know what it may show up, worth doing more when it is frosty. Never the less we did the normal anti-clockwise route and along the road after the first cattle grid there was some ice, Grant found it whilst falling off! but he was OK, apparently it was good practice for later...;). Take a left and that tricky little first climb, but with the frozen rocks I actually cleaned the whole lot:) first time in ages, then along the bridleway we met 2 other riders, from Kirkby Lonsdale and I knew one of them so we had a chat, they had cycled over from KL and it was mud-fest. Onwards and upwards, road, then off-road, gears starting to freeze, so climbed up in third. Not too windy, ground firm but mud in places, keep going to the top gate, more ice, watch the ice along the track needs careful riding all the way along, down to road keep going, watch that wind-chill, now down to the common, more testing technical skills to keep out of the mud and off the ice, great fun! Down safely back to cars for flask coffee and cake. Some photos show earlier in the day and frozen mud on wheel. Next ride is Lowick. Oh no it isn't; a bit of a weather issue, Shap A6 closed, Kirkby Lonsdale A65 flooded, so perhaps stay in tonight we will re-schedule. Next week it's Elterwater.