27th March 2014 - Troutbeck for Robin Lane...and beyond

4 met up at the layby in Troutbeck George, Grant, Jamie and CT, note Jamie was riding a rigid 700c cx bike, he had rode down to met us, having parked up at the MiLs. So route decision made as we usually go to do a bit o' Graburn, instead thought we'd go towards Ambleside so Robin Lane, should be good on a cx;) check those tyre pressures. OK so there is a little hill climb to start but you can't have everything....nice and steady, up and over Robin Lane. Nice route down towards Ambleside, Grant even made it down the rocky section in one piece, then we decided to carry on towards Ambleside and take the coffin route and up around Rydal via the caves; so off we headed, going up the back lanes to avoid the main road to get to the coffin route, a slight detour towards low Sweden bridge, but we made it down to the right road and cruised along, we were then passed by a group with hardtail mtb, a narrow tyre one-one with niner fork and assorted others, so we rode with these guys for a while along the coffin route until we paused at a gate, whilst CT added some air to a rear tyre adjustment stop. Then onward to those testing bits of the coffin run and safely down to the road and over to climb up to the top of red bank (note a newer section has been prepared, maybe they need some singletrack down by the wood:)), a brief rest for a bit to eat, then race down past the caves and back on the road, we re-grouped at the car park opposite Hayes and discussed a route back, lets stay off the main road so back up Robin lane and back to the cars, down past the church for the last singletrack and oh wait Jamie had ridden all the way down, so he had to ride back up hat hill to his car;( we were at the cars for 10pm! Good ride, no real rain, jobs a good 'un. Next ride will be Keswick, park Brundholme Road, back of Fitz park at bottom of spoonygreen lane.

20th March 2014 - Ings

Charlie, Neil, Joel and CT met up for a quick blast around 3 rivers before a meal at the Watermill, Ings, where Jamie met up later on his road bike. We also passed 2 other small groups of MTB riders although it had rained in the day time it was a fairly nice evening. Charlie's bake pads were in, Neil’s seat-post clamp was fixed, Joel was looking forward to an easy evening ride, so all good, now just to clear the 3 river crossings...all OK; Joel took a tumble over some rocks, but survived. All back safely, now just to make the food choice...nice chat over the grub, new ride list out shortly, but for now Thursday 27th March is at Troutbeck.

Saturday 15th March - FAT demo ride = FUN

Wheelbase Big Demo ride had managed to get 'Genesis bikes' to bring a Caribou FAT bike and I booked onto the 2pm Garburn ride. The only down side was that the demo bike came 1x10 with a 32 teeth front ring, so the climb up Garburn was going to be hard! Big 4" fat tyres roll fine and it is basically a rigid bike, so similar to my hardtail, but with BIG tyres. The idea is that the large tyres run at lower pressure giving both grip and some level of suspension, so getting the air pressure correct is the factor. There were sixteen folk on the ride round Garburn and the FAT caused much amusement! I took it steady up Dubbs and then went for the climb, a little bit of out of the saddle climbing was required and the tyres dug in well and I managed to keep going to clean the climb:) rest at the top and take some air out of the front tyre. I took the downhill carefully as usual for me and it was fine, only lower down and the section down 3 rivers did I fully enjoy the descent, the big tyres run well and the blast down was great. Photos to show the bike and group heading up Garburn.

FAT bike, Genesis Cariou

Group Demo ride up Garburn

13th March 2014 - Gilpin Bridge

Charlie, Neil, Grant, Joel, George and CT met up near Gilpin Bridge, setting off down the Lyth Valley road heading for the bridleway opposite the Lyth Valey Hotel. Here Charlie decided to change brake pads (best have some brake pad material) then we set off up the bridleway, which is a nice testing climb up to the fireroad lane through the trees. Then down to the lanes and on towards the muddy climb,along the way we passed another group of MTBers. The muddy route was actually not too bad and we re-grouped near the school, on to the woods, here we took the higher tree lined section which is real nice, a couple of logs to hop over and one to limbo under, then to end with a steep pitch down which is a great test of slow riding Neil and CT cleaned it, George and Grant needed a dab, everyone down safely. At the bottom after heavy braking my leg touched the rear brake disc and Ouch it burnt! Nice ride back down through the trees and back to the cars, around 11 miles, a bit more for me as I rode home. Next ride is at Ings with a meal after.

6th March 2014 - Clappersgate

7 met up: Ian, Grant, Charlie, George, Jamie, Mike (not been out with RADs for a while!) and CT, parking next to the river. Route involved heading south on the new-ish cycle path, it's gravel and gets you off the road, follow the path until it gets to the bottom of snake bite alley, here we headed to base camp and up to the guide posts for the extra loop of down and back up the climb, then down the descent to Colthouse along the road, onto the lane, out to the road and head back for snake bite alley, on the way Charlie picked up a puncture, so a quick pit stop, then onward to snake bite alley it's a good test but muddy at the bottom; Ian headed off and we chased him down. The cycle path back is quite good and again gets you off the road. A good ride and it only started to rain once back at the cars. Next ride Gilpin Bridge, park in lay-by down Lyth Valley road.

27th February 2014 - Satterthwaite for a bit o' Grizedale

Grant, Neil, Jamie and CT turned up, after dealing with the diversion at Haverthwaite, I diverted via the pig farm and there was a flood, hence I was a tad late, now to start we climbed up the lane then left and west into the forest, see link for Neils route, a few fire roads to start, then just as Grant was mentioning lack of singletrack we headed left towards Lawson Park, initially Neil did not recognise this route, when we do it we normally do it the other way, now it s a tad tricky with tree roots, but god fun, especially as it was not raining but wet under hoof! Now climb back up and round the NF, interesting the forest looked different this evening and it took a while to work it out.....but there have been many trees felled or blown down and so stretches have been cleared and so the land looks different. There are a few rock sections to try out and some variations on timber board walk ( I bailed off the NF climb timber and had to go back to re-ride it), some sections are damaged, but it looks like it will be removed when a new route section is opened. We ended up with the descent down to the cars, just watch out for the drop offs, Grant I said WATCH out... Ooops OTB, luckily no one was hurt. Back to the cars around 10pm and great starry night. 23km in 2 hours!! Next ride is Clappersgate.