tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41549707003232302982024-03-14T03:15:00.094+00:00Bob WightmanBob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.comBlogger248125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-55016008171427906462022-06-15T19:13:00.006+01:002022-06-15T19:22:36.832+01:00A Differerent PaceWhile I like to challenge myself on ITTs sometimes it's just nice to travel in a more relaxed manner. Cath had long ago booked the week of the HT550 ride as holiday with a view to riding it but working from home and a short spell of Covid had put paid to that. Still, a week in Scotland was not to be sniffed at. I'd a few "trails" in mind to explore, some had been talked about here and there but to some extent they were definitely "trails less travelled". We'd actually nearly two weeks to play with so no rush, really we'd just see where the time and weather led us.
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We elected not to take the tarps but use the tent instead. A couple of reasons: a bit more protection should the weather turn; midge season was starting. Slightly heavier (750g each when split) and a bit more awkward to carry the poles but the extra comfort would be worth it.
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Similarly with cooking kit - usually we go with alcohol/meths stoves and have simple "boil water, add to something dehydrated" type meals plus a bag of chocolate something or other. We took a small gas stove, a lightweight frying pan, oil, pre-chopped onions and veg, herbs, spices, etc. and made something a bit tastier. Not that you can't do that on a meths stove but the fuel usage does go up for longer cooking times and meths isn't energy dense so you end up needing a lot of it. For three of the nights out we took wine! Small bottles (17cl or whatever) on a couple of nights but a full bottle of white on one night that sat in the river chilling while we cooked and generally faffed about.
One thing about not taking lots of cooking kit is due to packing it, pots and pans are just awkward to pack on a bike, so it got us thinking about making some full frame bags for the bikes. Depending on frame size there's a limit to the diameter of a pan packed inside one, there's also a limit to the pan depth of about 100mm due to Q-factor and the like. Most pans however maintain proportions and increase depth at the same time as increasing width. The only problem then would be fitting a water bottle or being forced to go to a backpack but it should be possible to have a twin compartment bag with the rear one sized to fit a water bottle or maybe a Sigg bottle if I was taking the MSR stove.
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Perhaps the best indication of our overall pace, attitude, was that our bivvies/camps lasted close to fourteen hours, each! The antithesis of "arrive late, leave early" though being in the Highlandas and only three weeks away from mid-summer meant that "darkness" only really lasted from 2300-0300 at most. In fact bivy time seemed to outweigh riding time and other stopped time such as cafés combined. We seemed to arrive in the 1800-1900 time frame and would leave around 0900. Dead lazy! This being the Highlands, no-one was bothered.
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We'd ridden the Deeside Trail from Ballater over by Lochnagar down to Braemar (with café stop of course) and then on to Derry Lodge. Six hours or so for 52km but only 4 1/2hrs riding. It was just 6pm when we got there, masses of daylight left but it meant that we could spend time to find a camp spot away from everyone else - absolutely no need to crowd anyone when there's plenty of room. We got the tent put up in the afternoon sunshine (it needed some drying after the deluge of the previous night) and just chilled. I'm making a brew when I notice movement in the river beside me. There's a couple of, very small, brown trout feeding in the evening. A bit of investigation and there's another four using the trunk of a fallen tree as cover. The trout were small, I'd be surprised if they were 100g, and it got me wondering both how big the fish grew in these rivers and how long it took them to do so as there's not a lot of apparent food other than the gluts of Mayfly, etc.
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A couple of days later we were camped right on a gravel shoal "in" the Quoich Water river bed as it was the only flat area around. As I was cooking tea there were a couple of small trout rising to snatch mayfly dancing over the water. Obviously the rivers have enough food for these predators, a bit surprising as somewhere I'd picked up on a comment that Cairngorm rivers were somewhat sterile due to the granite base. (need to dig out where I found that, might just have been a misinterpretation on my part).
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Overall our riding speed wasn't much slower than when doing an ITT, it's just that we weren't bothered about the stops and the proportion of riding time to stopped time was much lower.
Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-23163917951553376522022-04-24T21:43:00.001+01:002022-04-24T21:43:42.980+01:00Sweet Dreams are made of this<p>I'm flat on the road leading to Honister Pass screaming in pain. If there was anyone (really) close to hear by then they'd think I'd broken my leg but it's my right hamstring which has a habit of spontaneously going into cramp. This episode has been brought on by the wind blowing me off the bike. I walk the rest of the way to the summit.<br /><br />I grew up in the Lakes and have done lots of stuff there: fell walking and running; climbing; biking, so the Lakeland 200 would be a good way of visiting old haunts. I've wanted to do it for several years but somehow each year things didn't happen. A prolonged dry spell and with a forecast for it to continue I made the rather late decision on Easter Monday to set off on Friday morning as early as possible. The forecast was also for being a bit cooler than recently which always helps. Being a loop you can start anywhere you want, the supplied GPX starts/finishes in Staveley but that's as much because most people would be coming from the south and that's the nearest point. I settled on starting from Coniston which meant that the second biggest climb was done right at the start and the crux section of Black Sail Pass and Scarth Gap came while I was still relatively fresh.<br /><br />I'm pushing quite a bit of Walna Scar, my legs haven't warmed up yet.<br /><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>There's the turn off to Goat's Water and Dow Crag, an old climbing haunt. The last time I'd been up there was to scatter a friend's ashes who'd died from an overdose.</i><br /></p><p><br />The wind had nearly got me earlier just dropping off the top of Walna Scar when it nearly pushed me off the track so I had to walk a hundred metres or so (downhill on an easy track) until it was safe to ride again. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1omEDljHKSM3Wa60GIcj9oofHAs98rRTRa7mJZanj5u0Zlf1xKqm3klhfp1WhQSZBwURg0OQP1hOPquegKImf7S_eyr2PpXHGrVS6ZcJ1ECNa8RGIXjfqAI_gAuzoGVaaClIjuJAuBNe0RdRyT_NmpHtq9hObGvVlcy9y3ZCHIja6Q2wTIiKklbZhvg/s1000/ll-200-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1omEDljHKSM3Wa60GIcj9oofHAs98rRTRa7mJZanj5u0Zlf1xKqm3klhfp1WhQSZBwURg0OQP1hOPquegKImf7S_eyr2PpXHGrVS6ZcJ1ECNa8RGIXjfqAI_gAuzoGVaaClIjuJAuBNe0RdRyT_NmpHtq9hObGvVlcy9y3ZCHIja6Q2wTIiKklbZhvg/s320/ll-200-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise over the Lickle Valley<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p>There's some really nice riding by the lovely named River Lickle and skirting to the south of Stephenson Ground that I'd not done before then it's the rocky descent to The Newfield.<br /><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Ah, The Newfield, we spent many a Sunday in here post climbing or other activity. One time: Simon, a Cornishman known as "Arr", and Pete (universally known as Nitto for some reason) decided that they'd jump into the Duddon from Birks Bridge as you do, in January. After said activity we retired to The Newfield and played one of their old university drinking games where you took it in turns to say "Arr" and if Nitto didn't like how you said it he drank your beer! Only ever seemed like one winner there. A couple of years ago whilst riding the Jenn Ride I mentioned to the landlord that I remembered him from when we visited in the 1980s. He stared at me: "That. Was. My. Dad!", Oops! "You're banned" With a twinkle in his eye.</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br />I twiddle up the lane to Birks Bridge and I hear a bike approaching behind. He's the first person I've seen since I set off. We stop to chat, he's off on a quick loop over Wrynose Pass, turns out he's from a village not far from where I live.<br /><br />Harter Fell is a long steady climb, a bit of a rocky plateau then a good descent. Halfway along the top there's a worrying "Pffft" as the rear tyre burps and partially deflates. Oh, well, get the pump out. Hmm, is that a cuckoo? As I begin to try to inflate the tyre the bird starts up again. The pump isn't working so plan B is to use the CO2 canister which works first time. All right cuckoo we've heard you. Drop the seat for the descent which is great fun.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH1B1lhlOqIj0gCWzMOgD2laaMeroTDp4QTjWd2WRySHuoQKiWAl-fDKTFu23mipdNiciz4o2DGdJyd6QSjtMaXtIvQD8uflk6Tjh2Xm8Y-CTFCcrOkr6Vzz5OjNAuLg0NcQrPqVqZyY5s_otNu9RDmfh8ibvzm5UZcNtoiZXzK0qzPh6K_dN-HbMP5g/s1000/ll-200-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH1B1lhlOqIj0gCWzMOgD2laaMeroTDp4QTjWd2WRySHuoQKiWAl-fDKTFu23mipdNiciz4o2DGdJyd6QSjtMaXtIvQD8uflk6Tjh2Xm8Y-CTFCcrOkr6Vzz5OjNAuLg0NcQrPqVqZyY5s_otNu9RDmfh8ibvzm5UZcNtoiZXzK0qzPh6K_dN-HbMP5g/s320/ll-200-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The start of the descent off Harter Fell<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br />A new bit of bridleway to me leads down the valley but there's a worrying noise from the bike. On inspection the lower jockey wheel is stuck, it rotates forward OK (ish) but won't move when spinning the pedals backwards.. Curious. A little later it's cleared itself, must have been some dirt jammed in there. Another odd loop to take in a bridleway rather than road and I arrive in Boot. It's shut.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5itcBRS0eExZYug9_HC3cL7BvJDe5XP1-KNc2q2fr3-0y0hnsMbaZWQ5DOXmXH8Z6SYOt5HA-JQ9SoT10d-HJs75BF4HVkjXGXO1kJARCgrTkgrJANIx-XU82ckDgXxqDP2BZuqA02GLQIzsAgsSCrLiFx7Z9GVPvk1KM9SI0B61NLG4GcY2uood0mA/s1000/ll-200-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5itcBRS0eExZYug9_HC3cL7BvJDe5XP1-KNc2q2fr3-0y0hnsMbaZWQ5DOXmXH8Z6SYOt5HA-JQ9SoT10d-HJs75BF4HVkjXGXO1kJARCgrTkgrJANIx-XU82ckDgXxqDP2BZuqA02GLQIzsAgsSCrLiFx7Z9GVPvk1KM9SI0B61NLG4GcY2uood0mA/s320/ll-200-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The old water mill at Boot<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Across the valley from Boot is Gate Crag. Four of us had headed up there prospecting for unclimbed routes. Al Phizacklea found one and about 10m up posed around hanging from a large hold. A short while later keen to get the second ascent I set off up it. Grabbed the hold which promptly broke off and deposited me on the (fortunately sloping) ground with luckily only bruises to show.</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The old corpse road over to Wasdale doesn't go quite to plan as I mistakenly take the path to Miterdale instead! A bit of cross country through tussocks gets me back on track.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Down to Burnmoor Tarn which is very unusual in that the main feeder beck and the outflow are very close together, maybe 200 metres apart which must make for some strange hydrographics.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnyt9B84qNzx_LY6mAvXwB2iABXt63ZvptZZIov8iT2SDcvm16ftm-aa_EBqth1BEYooA5RQCztfSsR7pssL6zZHcu0Ogrw2vuCCxACprWkDQxTS7jRbB5w4qSJmPg5xdyykM3vt99wAIt4xJo7OVlJwfGGUxhimYWOXFc0Slv9uVUtvsUvDksqTNh1Q/s1000/ll-200-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnyt9B84qNzx_LY6mAvXwB2iABXt63ZvptZZIov8iT2SDcvm16ftm-aa_EBqth1BEYooA5RQCztfSsR7pssL6zZHcu0Ogrw2vuCCxACprWkDQxTS7jRbB5w4qSJmPg5xdyykM3vt99wAIt4xJo7OVlJwfGGUxhimYWOXFc0Slv9uVUtvsUvDksqTNh1Q/s320/ll-200-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuROEQ1Ymg7J2V7v0LfS1a8uEGVuWCT2SuYb2PPF3l1NujkVQyNJenxLHNzSBzl6lcCtuuCHtrz65I5hDhr1Rrfu5T97gV_JEQDakTZwadJdZ72kzOMCwW6VjVhqhvYtSxn6DR87LqLkA6EPRSQyQuL8_jZDFzExWtG4zQ5lHQFIAo2DimYYIoUjDmLg/s1000/ll-200-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuROEQ1Ymg7J2V7v0LfS1a8uEGVuWCT2SuYb2PPF3l1NujkVQyNJenxLHNzSBzl6lcCtuuCHtrz65I5hDhr1Rrfu5T97gV_JEQDakTZwadJdZ72kzOMCwW6VjVhqhvYtSxn6DR87LqLkA6EPRSQyQuL8_jZDFzExWtG4zQ5lHQFIAo2DimYYIoUjDmLg/s320/ll-200-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Wasdale is the first time the route crosses paths with the Bob Graham Round (BGR), no matter which way you do it there's a big climb out of the valley. I was definitely "feeling it" by the time I got here way back in 2005.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjSyUsbCkkFQzPU8bDAPt7Fp7g4VPAK3-IY_WDf9ywgoxCCnLY69zMK5ujmFEiVapJWza49bWE3i12AmGMCjkzgcNprKLDq7ZndqpC9Q9unr8pRyEPSVMVrhhTkNFEK7zcH9Rsi6X27Ovhjl_er-gSzJgSmATVQO0_V88nQcUNWBgkIbNb-9RmZWLlGQ/s1000/ll-200-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjSyUsbCkkFQzPU8bDAPt7Fp7g4VPAK3-IY_WDf9ywgoxCCnLY69zMK5ujmFEiVapJWza49bWE3i12AmGMCjkzgcNprKLDq7ZndqpC9Q9unr8pRyEPSVMVrhhTkNFEK7zcH9Rsi6X27Ovhjl_er-gSzJgSmATVQO0_V88nQcUNWBgkIbNb-9RmZWLlGQ/s320/ll-200-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>The Wasdale Head Inn. I had my stag do there, ended up with a Karaoke session, don't think they did much trade after that.</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">I didn't feel much like stopping again so soon after Boot so pressed on up Black Sail Pass, the crux of the whole route.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>I'd been having problems with my rucksack - no matter how I packed it it always seemed to niggle and dig in my back. Finally as we headed up Black Sail Pass to get to Pillar Rock I decided to sort it out once and for all. I emptied the sack and got my mate to push on it - the niggle was still there. The sack had a sleeve for a foam mat to sit next to your back, out with that and the culprit was found! A peg (piton) had fallen in there. A comfy sack once more.</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Black Sail Pass is our next meeting with the Bob Graham as it drops off Pillar and head onwards up the screes of Kirkfell. It takes almost the quickest route between here and Honister Pass. The LL200 will take a more circuitous line.<br /><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>We usually approached Pillar Rock from Wasdale Head via Black Sail Pass and Robinson's Cairn but for our visit in 1984 we approached via Ennerdale. This was before the days of mountain bikes so would normally have been a long walk from the car park at Gillerthwaite but sat in the car was a rather large and sharp blade for a bench saw. Tony King had been sharpening it for a woodsman who lived next to the Youth Hostel. We were due to meet Dave Kirby and Penny Melville at the gate. <br /><br />We were about to set off when the woodsman looked at our sacks and asked where we were heading. "Oh, hop in, I can give you a lift to the bottom of the path". Dave and Penny pulled up as we were walking down to his car on the other side of a rise in the track. Soon we were at the foot of the climb up to the rock, our lift headed back by a different track. It was a lovely warm day and the steep but now thankfully short walk-in was soon dispatched. Sitting by the beck in the sun someone noted, "Isn't that Dave?" Sure enough heading up the path were Dave and Penny.<br /><br />"You lot don't half shift!" he panted as he got within earshot. We looked at each other guiltily wondering if we should let him know.</i><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>They hadn't seen us get in the car so when they got to the gate a minute or so after we had walked out of sight we were nowhere to be seen. "No problem, we'll see them round the next bend." At every bend the track ahead was bare and they sped up sure that they would catch us up: "It's a long straight after this bend, we'll definitely see them!" They had taken just fifteen minutes longer to walk the whole of the valley than we had in a car!</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The route down from the pass is hardly less arduous than the ascent and I'm only able to ride for the bottom third. Scarth Gap though lower is just as rough.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Heading from Gatesgarth towards Honister and I'm in bottom gear on the flat due to the wind.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>"What's your name?", "Paul", "Where are you?" "I don't know." That was worrying. We were doing the Borrowdale Bash and Paul had decided to fall off at the only point where the track leading off from the Honister Pass road wasn't protected by high bracken and had fallen into a rocky gully. We get him down to Seathwaite and the ambulance takes him to Carlisle for a scan, fortunately nothing serious.</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSEUuXrLwd6Jhcq0GEvd49IgZu_XMyF11wg8W8NsdDKf4d2EETahrNmyjOj3IEzyUoMbfKYsV5TQTH5FBLqwOlC__dYlL43C8gLEIc471fwOX5Oopc5NduSn1ckvFvyhiysv-9PvHy4seuqMP0GWVGyAe82VzcBUoY23VdWIzKPAfKaOy7GhXo_-ck5Q/s1000/ll-200-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSEUuXrLwd6Jhcq0GEvd49IgZu_XMyF11wg8W8NsdDKf4d2EETahrNmyjOj3IEzyUoMbfKYsV5TQTH5FBLqwOlC__dYlL43C8gLEIc471fwOX5Oopc5NduSn1ckvFvyhiysv-9PvHy4seuqMP0GWVGyAe82VzcBUoY23VdWIzKPAfKaOy7GhXo_-ck5Q/s320/ll-200-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p style="text-align: left;">The last bit of the Bash leads me into Keswick, it's taken 10 1/2 hours to get here.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQEQavpjBIWmyWgSNlMVyVFPiOS3pPqcEK_TQZoqaQZQcc9HTqpVyNTLSpQ42nzBy_hTgdyPPv8-3Ib-x3-bqmvf7fC4WydhcO5dhb16CTC6EMcqiHLIVYlshmFfquFcUb82EomfK-7TV4O8xEfasALn1J2jvYZo09tBQuKxAQFAjOlYMu-PUiHvl4A/s1000/ll-200-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQEQavpjBIWmyWgSNlMVyVFPiOS3pPqcEK_TQZoqaQZQcc9HTqpVyNTLSpQ42nzBy_hTgdyPPv8-3Ib-x3-bqmvf7fC4WydhcO5dhb16CTC6EMcqiHLIVYlshmFfquFcUb82EomfK-7TV4O8xEfasALn1J2jvYZo09tBQuKxAQFAjOlYMu-PUiHvl4A/s320/ll-200-9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p style="text-align: left;">The first bike shop doesn't have any jockey wheels, aagh! Fortunately the next one does, £11 please sir. Back to the Spar to get refreshments and more provisions and I make the jockey wheel change in their car park, the original was actually seized, I'd probably effectively had a brake on for most of the ride so far!</p><p style="text-align: left;">The route follows the BGR again out of Keswick as far as the car park on Latrigg then heads round to the Glenderamackin valley. Cath had warned me not to attempt to ride the rocky section here but there was no chance - the wind meant I could only just stand let alone ride a bike. The next bit was good riding and once on the other side of the valley and out of the wind it was much easier going.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsbh1ngd-hqyoks49EMyPAnbbOF242rp5uvFFcwQuxo7ZfBZuXaoaOhzKPaomM4N7NLcvIPYu_mOXmc2VFhzh9NHq9SiVxF8sTcBPiUoMJbbeYhH6SHzzo8EfTxdhqgd0ItzwZEnwDYfwDykWs-nd5t3kKKjPhxDJHBbEPpvai2TIJuUThvvPjkR_5g/s1000/ll-200-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsbh1ngd-hqyoks49EMyPAnbbOF242rp5uvFFcwQuxo7ZfBZuXaoaOhzKPaomM4N7NLcvIPYu_mOXmc2VFhzh9NHq9SiVxF8sTcBPiUoMJbbeYhH6SHzzo8EfTxdhqgd0ItzwZEnwDYfwDykWs-nd5t3kKKjPhxDJHBbEPpvai2TIJuUThvvPjkR_5g/s320/ll-200-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bit you really don't want to fall off!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p style="text-align: left;">Crossing the A66 I decide to get out the wind and ring Cath. I'm tucked under a wood at the start of The Coach Road before I find anywhere just "quiet". </p><p style="text-align: left;">The first dip in The Coach Road is the last time the LL200 and BGR cross paths, the BGR sticks mostly to the west of the Lakes, Fairfield being as far east as it ventures. The LL200 on the other hand manages to visit nearly all the main valleys of the Lakes, just a few to the far east that are missed out.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLwMv1HNh0h4CA5G1r1QaDUko0qqMhJAxPvVWfvUngy1dOZO52XCXko_7JQ3kPOQY5SiMMYytZIbHn_OA2GLwWlewh1ckAYckar8iqAx865gXM5E0ANRuzfT_-Gi3oZ_A7jXiNOBnYOyUlrHWT10QxyEqfaSl3ggVbJtvYdCCQN42wti1FSmwLiX3Kg/s1000/ll-200-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLwMv1HNh0h4CA5G1r1QaDUko0qqMhJAxPvVWfvUngy1dOZO52XCXko_7JQ3kPOQY5SiMMYytZIbHn_OA2GLwWlewh1ckAYckar8iqAx865gXM5E0ANRuzfT_-Gi3oZ_A7jXiNOBnYOyUlrHWT10QxyEqfaSl3ggVbJtvYdCCQN42wti1FSmwLiX3Kg/s320/ll-200-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Heading to Pooley Bridge after The Coal Road I make a mistake in not putting the windshirt back on and I chill on the descents. I'm pretty cold by the time I get to Pooley Bridge, even a coffee in the shop and the next climb don't really warm me up.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYDmw3iswnhJXwS_aAMSBbwmw53DW4BBts7Tjck8EkkqS4fHdmx4wA5XKWKX0Xq23KclYQsbEEj2gDsx7cDS-nwfGVBc20F1dhArBzXiIE_znBvSHrl_lHD9IrfsTtZza8-XIZf4rpk1RywGrKdvRCJBenxbJuaxqJ4lCICQDnwcPxb-OLts1jAdS_A/s1000/ll-200-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtYDmw3iswnhJXwS_aAMSBbwmw53DW4BBts7Tjck8EkkqS4fHdmx4wA5XKWKX0Xq23KclYQsbEEj2gDsx7cDS-nwfGVBc20F1dhArBzXiIE_znBvSHrl_lHD9IrfsTtZza8-XIZf4rpk1RywGrKdvRCJBenxbJuaxqJ4lCICQDnwcPxb-OLts1jAdS_A/s320/ll-200-12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GNlRgeg3_yLTDN7XWwxb-xen43Oh0gbOf1IGDI-CRpH967Sb7fdQzxQrUAV83LiGBAkqRxgQOoxDudGqSrdLzIlt7r6fCUjItUlDiPzwBvW6vfcZF-NYmd5qDLe_tskIWKUmJ7EvTKwZfVETIgS4L9Prm7sG3tsz1_AGHuBqNUQ7E4cz4OSJAK1iNQ/s1000/ll-200-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7GNlRgeg3_yLTDN7XWwxb-xen43Oh0gbOf1IGDI-CRpH967Sb7fdQzxQrUAV83LiGBAkqRxgQOoxDudGqSrdLzIlt7r6fCUjItUlDiPzwBvW6vfcZF-NYmd5qDLe_tskIWKUmJ7EvTKwZfVETIgS4L9Prm7sG3tsz1_AGHuBqNUQ7E4cz4OSJAK1iNQ/s320/ll-200-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p style="text-align: left;">It's starting to get dark now. Rather than follow the ridge from here to High Street the route drops back to the valley before climbing back up again before another descent and yet another climb back up. The first descent is a blast I just get to the bottom before I need to actually put on my lights. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I'm still cold and decide that I'll find a barn or something similar to get out of the wind and bivy for the night, I might even ask a farmer if I could use a building. The first one I decide to check out I turn my lights to the door and am met with barking. No good there then. The next faces into the wind. The third has been used as a lambing shed but is unoccupied but is empty. The floor is, shall we say, slightly soiled but it's not too bad. In we go.</p><p style="text-align: left;">It takes me about an hour to warm up. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I awake and check the time 0230 and I need a pee. I'll get up now and get going. I'm away by 0300 and the route begins with the first big climb up Breda Fell. Once on top the wind makes the singletrack awkward. Seat down and the next descent to Hartsop is a blast in the dark. It's still only 4am! </p><p style="text-align: left;">I stop before the next climb from Hartsop for breakfast.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Off in the gloom to the right lies Raven Crag, Threshwaite Cove. A friend who began climbing in the 1960s said it was known about back then but left as it was definitely a crag for future generations. It wasn't until the mid 1980s when the first route was done at a standard at the top of what the climbers of the 1960s were capable of, the rest are quite a bit harder still.</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br />The next climb up to The Knott is the biggest on the route. I remember this from a school fell-walking trip, it was a pain then, it's still a pain (with a bike) fifty years later. Once on top there's a bit more pushing until you get to the Roman road running across the top of High Street. Even two thousand years later it's still rideable. The wind is back and making things very cold, I've little feeling in my hands. Then you leave it for one of the few Lakeland tops that I've ridden a bike to the summit, Thornthwaite Beacon, notable for its remarkable cairn some 4 metres high.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEcwBPADUUJibzyT5AIfzU52ti4cEvyzBdefYPX3mNs4EVkxil2dqkt7ClYWfsGJF5gm95Vb0XQ_Dxed9cfJnDHT6piNHZGZYBdesvFnG41hfj8bBLy1m7eD1eFH3VHFn82IRUPk8ALs_jKl1fmNvPwUshXAX2TpQMa5fPrNT5I7VxtqTHgARvKQ2TQ/s1000/ll-200-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEcwBPADUUJibzyT5AIfzU52ti4cEvyzBdefYPX3mNs4EVkxil2dqkt7ClYWfsGJF5gm95Vb0XQ_Dxed9cfJnDHT6piNHZGZYBdesvFnG41hfj8bBLy1m7eD1eFH3VHFn82IRUPk8ALs_jKl1fmNvPwUshXAX2TpQMa5fPrNT5I7VxtqTHgARvKQ2TQ/s320/ll-200-14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br />What goes up must come down and I pick my line through the mist until I spot the main part of the descent heading off right. There's another "pfft" and my rear tyre burps again and is flat. It's so windy I need to walk downhill for several hundred metres to find some form of shelter. Even then my cold hands can't unscrew the valve so I have to resort to pliers to do so. I use the last of the CO2 to mostly inflate the tyre. The rest of the descent will need care, really not sure what Garburn Pass will be like with a tyre in this state. There are sections that are unrideable, not least because of the steep hillside to the right and the fact that I'm wearing a very slippery windshirt and I'd be unlikely to stop very soon.<br /><br />Some of the few easy tracks lead to the foot of Garburn, a push up this (into the wind) and a wary descent just trying to stay upright and things have warmed up enough to take off the windshirt. The Three Rivers descent leads down to Staveley. A detour to the bike shop to get more CO2 and provisions then back to the route. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7k4gfcFLTnSe8xDwXtICMYyXRNGs3S2PIB0EUZAUYm9reBvdAuAVQPgpLmLtYNDMjXzLAXhBqSRIO2u_k3jTpEVbzsPsmsbNXkCHHbljOHGXg9Xw4Ctpv2RDlcCqEt1o4pDb36geQ7uoMqMD4eiDWdFMWib6WYo6KbTkyTzdSlOKE0KQej5ER2pDpg/s1000/ll-200-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7k4gfcFLTnSe8xDwXtICMYyXRNGs3S2PIB0EUZAUYm9reBvdAuAVQPgpLmLtYNDMjXzLAXhBqSRIO2u_k3jTpEVbzsPsmsbNXkCHHbljOHGXg9Xw4Ctpv2RDlcCqEt1o4pDb36geQ7uoMqMD4eiDWdFMWib6WYo6KbTkyTzdSlOKE0KQej5ER2pDpg/s320/ll-200-15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Heading westwards with the destination now in sight there's a couple of riders heading towards me. I recognise one as Alan Goldsmith the proginator of the Lakeland Loop. We have a chat, he's somewhat stunned that I'm attempting it in the current wind conditions. "Just the easy bit to do now." he notes, unfortunately he doesn't know the state of my legs.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdCrSs6Z3sOoshYgyBdfGZmg1riWwC7nGX8ypkCfFBWwD1wN-7V1J07IQ8vnyOr9HS184pf4Aj8ZaaXdF2abWE2jysri0KDv5cqHvIhq5y_3U2tMA2sK0lD7jwELmLeC3WTVaB0PUqdSWbWMJVRTtvIhUTFMjPiwiVMSLzHGUVyGChn5p3TuWCjgFklQ/s1000/ll-200-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdCrSs6Z3sOoshYgyBdfGZmg1riWwC7nGX8ypkCfFBWwD1wN-7V1J07IQ8vnyOr9HS184pf4Aj8ZaaXdF2abWE2jysri0KDv5cqHvIhq5y_3U2tMA2sK0lD7jwELmLeC3WTVaB0PUqdSWbWMJVRTtvIhUTFMjPiwiVMSLzHGUVyGChn5p3TuWCjgFklQ/s320/ll-200-16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br />An ice cream in Troutbeck then over to Ambleside via the last technical descent of Jenkin's Crag. I'm in no mood to tarry in the town, way too full of tourists. The next climb is a walk, no way can my legs manage a 20% gradient.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sXE0W-bOmhyg5wTS_jInicmcQjyIRg5onbHkgoPdJKyauomWgLJE3b99Kev21-wdzqCoc0L_ciIQoDxhwnGQXyxpufYRsQPwkVLmrvTlxvDKP_02cQCOAQMSBcphzrRfWSk9dgMDKBUwlLzopfbRYiRrcr64V9CsJSYhFEtQpEsLRDOu-YHnCCvw6Q/s1000/ll-200-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sXE0W-bOmhyg5wTS_jInicmcQjyIRg5onbHkgoPdJKyauomWgLJE3b99Kev21-wdzqCoc0L_ciIQoDxhwnGQXyxpufYRsQPwkVLmrvTlxvDKP_02cQCOAQMSBcphzrRfWSk9dgMDKBUwlLzopfbRYiRrcr64V9CsJSYhFEtQpEsLRDOu-YHnCCvw6Q/s320/ll-200-19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let's ride, err...<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Without realising it I'm slowing down dramatically, just about any upward rise means I'm walking. Even when I get to a section I know I can ride in my condition I'm presented with wind blown trees blocking the way. Finally I'm at the top of the last climb, just the descent of Lawson Park down to the road leading round the head of the lake back to Coniston. Except the top 200m or so is again blocked by wind blow and takes some time to circumvent. The lower descent is ace.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvzpGGBms63N-0IS0VRS0IVFisnf8iuBlTpK9WoVdGvWM98zDVuOC_tctumJKB3AFBp6i9uq1gGp24F_tLoCw9GUOldMOH-3XUqB2fsZFOPVkkVSRMbXNRZ1QuV0XYxr_Kjub8e5soWmxFOVfh2t16naBlga8rp0caBP5oYn62a_ZIDEsNUzoPyMcWQ/s1000/ll-200-20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvzpGGBms63N-0IS0VRS0IVFisnf8iuBlTpK9WoVdGvWM98zDVuOC_tctumJKB3AFBp6i9uq1gGp24F_tLoCw9GUOldMOH-3XUqB2fsZFOPVkkVSRMbXNRZ1QuV0XYxr_Kjub8e5soWmxFOVfh2t16naBlga8rp0caBP5oYn62a_ZIDEsNUzoPyMcWQ/s320/ll-200-20.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The end is nigh!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />On the road I very nearly overcook it on the very last bend of the last descent, eek! Stand up, pedal for a few revs, coast, pedal, coast. I return to my start point and hit stop on the GPS, 38hrs 1 minute. I'm absolutely knackered. <br /><br />Back at the van I ring Cath, she's been worried as she though I would have finished several hours ago and was thinking of calling the police to look for me.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;">That was really hard, harder than something like the Cairngorms Loop. Glad I've done it but not something I'd do again in a hurry (or even slowly).<br /><br /><br /></p><br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-24508865847345315272021-03-04T13:54:00.005+00:002021-03-04T13:56:35.295+00:00The Aire Watershed<p> This has its genesis in two threads on the Bearbones forums: the <a href="https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17282&p=220266">North Peak 100</a> and the <a href="https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=19238">Strictly local</a> threads.<br /><br />When Shaf posted up his NP100 I thought it was a good idea and worked out a local loop in the southern Dales of similar length but it didn't really feel consistent and then the second lockdown started so it got shelved.<br /><br />Craig's "Strictly Local" ride around the city limits of Aberdeen was interesting. Locally the boundaries of North Yorkshire, the largest county in England and Wales would be way too big to fit within the current guidelines. Our local authority area, Craven, would also have a large boundary, not really doable in a day. As a "rural" sort of chap, human imposed boundaries didn't really sit well with me, a more natural solution would be better.<br /><br />A short ride last weekend gave the solution: the watershed of the upper River Aire. A bit of searching came up with this: <a href="https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/OperationalCatchment/3484">https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/OperationalCatchment/3484</a>, pull the bottom end up to Steeton/Silsden to avoid Keighley (if you've been there, you'll understand), onto bikehike and plot a route that follows the watershed as closely on legal RoWs as possible and I ended up with around 108km. Mostly road and stone track there were just a few potentially boggy sections. Very little technical terrain - the descent of Stockdale Lane being the hardest.<br /><br />With fine weather forecast I decided to head out yesterday for a "midweek" hit. I rolled down to the "start" at Steeton & Silsden railway station but since I met the route a little before that and hit the lap button on the GPS at that point. The roundabout by the station was thankfully quiet and into Silsden before the long drag up and over to Draughton. Draughton's phone box is one of those that have been repurposed, in this case as a book club, it made national headlines a few years ago when it was vandalised. <br /><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ9lowT3oqnZPzFW-PJpt_f5knA5plc0LOFZBUuB_v96Qn0yMMqfX05O93GND25y5KA4H6jY7DdhkHy065GpV-bxcheuf9M0htJcrK1G83NkYrV5zrh6dlFu94XKMZV9jB-ndXQI8ql89f/s1000/aire-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ9lowT3oqnZPzFW-PJpt_f5knA5plc0LOFZBUuB_v96Qn0yMMqfX05O93GND25y5KA4H6jY7DdhkHy065GpV-bxcheuf9M0htJcrK1G83NkYrV5zrh6dlFu94XKMZV9jB-ndXQI8ql89f/w400-h300/aire-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />Down to the A59, crossing this can also be worrying as it's a fast road with an overtaking lane at this point, then into Halton East which according to my unofficial schedule was to be my first hour point but I was ahead of that. The first off-road section will be familiar to those who've done the YD300 & YD200 routes as it's the last downhill section. A bit harder going uphill! The last thirty metres to the gate is the hardest and reaching it marks my hour point. The next section leading up to the road is the first boggy section but I'm in luck - the farmer has filled in all the deep puddles and it's pleasantly straightforward.<br /><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNst0NvtVJlAQogIQneez5uQvL57KRvcXCU66H19AhV1lr1ih90_iguIeHLTx91T9r6npn5-_xxVI6HQu_-mGRnViDFKnkaVosVNgDgz-F4mP5obWOXH6N6XrAcqj5pue5Mh1ZXLCpQfQ/s1000/aire-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNst0NvtVJlAQogIQneez5uQvL57KRvcXCU66H19AhV1lr1ih90_iguIeHLTx91T9r6npn5-_xxVI6HQu_-mGRnViDFKnkaVosVNgDgz-F4mP5obWOXH6N6XrAcqj5pue5Mh1ZXLCpQfQ/w400-h300/aire-2.jpg" title="Moor lane above Halton East" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /><br />Not so pleasant is the strong wind that greets me when I get to the road, it turns out I'll be riding straight into this for the next three hours or so. The climb up and over Barden Moor is taken steadily, no need to burn matches at this point. Two weeks ago much of this track was sheet ice and we had to ride on the moorland to the side, today it's just slightly damp.<br /><br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglErCmkx-tPXn6CIbgZDVuKdC1P-QSaAu7p96pWNSsvy-71ZIFr95rOkIdDjMide_SxWMzStR3BCEvgCrejafv7Qp4yI0m1sqboecAs2cRjNuBbi9Bf1q_YqMyztPQLSV2IwLFz74bhPAA/s1000/aire-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglErCmkx-tPXn6CIbgZDVuKdC1P-QSaAu7p96pWNSsvy-71ZIFr95rOkIdDjMide_SxWMzStR3BCEvgCrejafv7Qp4yI0m1sqboecAs2cRjNuBbi9Bf1q_YqMyztPQLSV2IwLFz74bhPAA/w400-h300/aire-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br />The climb over the moor is straightforward but harder work than it should be because of the wind. Even the start of the descent needed pedalling rather than a straight freewheel. <br /></p><p>This gate was frozen in place a couple of weeks ago, the ice was about 30cm deeper than the water level seen here.<br /><br /></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00ojFBEk_JLK9GZ9_UAB7M4mOVd615HCOB92ri-Z_S8sPx5t7t4dt7Ict2xcmXl2WHNG3B4WoOCMHbrFxlKgndd9RROuNF8pEyW9qkpk3CC7ydMKwS5ax7Xzzn6pUUXOT9DYVne7nmqHw/s1000/aire-4.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00ojFBEk_JLK9GZ9_UAB7M4mOVd615HCOB92ri-Z_S8sPx5t7t4dt7Ict2xcmXl2WHNG3B4WoOCMHbrFxlKgndd9RROuNF8pEyW9qkpk3CC7ydMKwS5ax7Xzzn6pUUXOT9DYVne7nmqHw/w400-h300/aire-4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />I'm still ahead of schedule at Hetton but the first "boggy" section slows me down. Normally it's ridable but I have to walk a couple of hundred metres due to the mud caused by the farmer out feeding stock, just no traction so I'd end up spinning comically at a standstill. The subsequent rocky track is fine as is Boss Moor which isn't as damp as I expected and the bit by the old barn hasn't been churned up too much by the cattle so is ridable with a bit of oomph.<br /><br />Once I'm onto Mastiles Lane the going becomes firmer but the wind is pushing me back, slight downhills where you'd normally feather your brakes need hard pedalling. My third hour mark comes and goes but I'm now well "behind" schedule. I get some respite from the wind as I pass through the trees around Malham Tarn but then it's back into it as I head to the last big climb for a good while which leads to the top of Stockdale Lane. <br /><br />I'm actually a bit cold by now - the temperature is nowhere near the forecast 10/11C and the wind is making that feel even cooler. My level of output is only just enough to stave things off. As soon as I turn east at the foot of Stockdale Lane the effective temperature soars and I begin to warm. The next bit is one of those RoW anomalies - the BW just stops in the middle of nowhere. There are plans to link everything up and local riders have used it for years without problem, the last time I rode it I met the farmers and had no hassle so I've no problem in including it. <br /><br />Back on the road at Otterburn it's easy going to Coniston Cold and the second crossing of the A65, again relatively quiet. I'm riding through the next set of fields when there's a regular ticking from my back wheel, the rear brake pads have worn through, I'll fix it when I get to the next road. Unfortunately I don't have the right sized hex bit to undo the retaining bolt so I'll have to do the rest of the route with just the front brake, luckily there's only one steep descent remaining to deal with.<br /><br />Another stony track leads across to the the A59 (again) but no need to cross it as I drop down to the Leeds Liverpool canal and pass under it. The canal is followed, muddily, as far as the Pennine Bridleway in Barnoldswick then it's the next big climb up Weets. Six hours ticks by as I start the climb, my unofficial schedule had me at the top by now. The climb is steepest at the start but then just seems to drag on and on. The last section to the next road is the last of the boggy bits, my rear wheel grinding at the brake pads that aren't there.<p></p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBFOfc-YDhRyk9x-wad_Gy7G2DW9SnhUA2IrW_XcKyOHBgwkFsjZ_wmTMaDIODCmUOTZREg9VV3YhHjqAVj9WDWVcjNbcAlH-8J6tUP8yhIS9IzKzl3KPWZ9aBozRFNtwRgMNuAf_LIF4/s1000/aire-5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBFOfc-YDhRyk9x-wad_Gy7G2DW9SnhUA2IrW_XcKyOHBgwkFsjZ_wmTMaDIODCmUOTZREg9VV3YhHjqAVj9WDWVcjNbcAlH-8J6tUP8yhIS9IzKzl3KPWZ9aBozRFNtwRgMNuAf_LIF4/w400-h300/aire-5.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><br /><p><br /><br />From here to the end is nearly all road but I'm debating whether to modify the route slightly and just follow the main road for a bit rather than a long climb on a minor road. In the end I decide to stick to the planned route. After Foulridge there's a ford to negotiate, well I say ford, it's more like the road follows a river bed for 200 metres, it's possibly the longest ford in Britain!<br /><br />The ford ends around two corners just before the trees!<br /><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-EGHUb4r4Vv3XxtYeMMjPdBSym8NL8IAYeuNoU3O5LloSbaB5hm6_rfMyBTbs3vG9H_0AApbs5nPLQ9RuJtT07X9HG35IwPPvR4DHopgFyiFhILBDrcnCiyh-4H6T4-j8Geoq0kurG6-/s1000/aire-6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-EGHUb4r4Vv3XxtYeMMjPdBSym8NL8IAYeuNoU3O5LloSbaB5hm6_rfMyBTbs3vG9H_0AApbs5nPLQ9RuJtT07X9HG35IwPPvR4DHopgFyiFhILBDrcnCiyh-4H6T4-j8Geoq0kurG6-/w400-h300/aire-6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />A long road uphill then a long road back downhill lead to some lanes near home that I don't remember ever riding. I pop out on the A6068, it's quiet at this time of day so straight across and onto ... <br /><p></p><p>The last section - I've only ridden some of this in the opposite direction so make one or two minor navigation mistakes but then it's one of the very few bits of the route I'd not ridden before and it becomes a really steep downhill! With only one brake it's a bit sketchy. Fortunately it soon eases off and after a couple of small fords it's a steady climb up the other side.<br /><br />Moon rising.<br /><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzYuoB23OvUGmaLrAzqVxt63MtdEfPhRO5L31AeG-5j8ENYt3FwSK5-kVyBttmxWhAEWZhHwoWmZ8GJSHmuBMkZujuuFOz_yVaAGO6nspPfJI7DcBIJDvPTHKD1HzErWvudVxJKLYROiN/s1000/aire-7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzYuoB23OvUGmaLrAzqVxt63MtdEfPhRO5L31AeG-5j8ENYt3FwSK5-kVyBttmxWhAEWZhHwoWmZ8GJSHmuBMkZujuuFOz_yVaAGO6nspPfJI7DcBIJDvPTHKD1HzErWvudVxJKLYROiN/w400-h300/aire-7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /><br />Eight hours sees me at Keighley Tarn, it's nearly all downhill from here, just one off-road section to finish things. The light is going and with it the heat and I'm getting properly cold, no heat being generated. I turn off for the final bridleway and it's there's an uphill to reach it that I've forgotten about. The true last descent appears and sunglasses are inappropriate under the trees in the gathering gloom. The road leading down to my finish is really rough as it's made up of sleeper sized lumps of stone.<br /><br />I debouch onto the main road next to the chippy along with a socially distanced queue. I hit the lap button 8hrs18mins. I ring Cath, turn on lights and head (uphill) back home.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><span></span><p>So there you have it: The Aire Watershed, 110km with 2400m ascent. I was on a rigid 29er but given the road-track-field distribution it should be perfectly fine on a CX/gravel style bike, even more so if it was a bit drier. The route is 100% ridable, no hike-a-bike sections, though obviously a little conditions dependent - I walked about 300m in total because of boggy ground. At a guess there’s 50km of road, 50km of track/gravel & 10km of “rough” - if you use Komoot then it might give slightly different figures but the proportions aren’t far off. There aren't many facilities between Silsden at 2km and East Marton at around 70km:</p><p>2km Lots of shops in Silsden.<br />71km Cafe at East Marton.<br />76km Cafe at Greenberfield locks<br />77km Shops off-route in Barnoldswick<br />86km Shops and pubs in Foulridge<br />92km Pub at Black Lane Ends<br />109km Chippy and shop in Eastburn<br /></p><p>Water might also be a problem since the section from Hetton round to the bottom of Stockdale Lane is on limestone so not many surface streams.</p><p> </p><p>If you want the GPX and route notes see the first post in <a href="https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=19303">this thread</a>.<br /></p><p><br /><br /></p><p></p><br /><br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-67697654748098311262020-10-19T19:55:00.003+01:002020-10-19T19:55:34.552+01:00BB200, the Covid Edition<p>You know that scene in Independence Day where Will Smith and Jeff Goldbloom have taken the alien fighter from Area 51 and are inside the alien mothership having downloaded the virus and left a primed atomic bomb as a present, are then being chased by other alien fighters as the mahoosive doors in the side of the ship are being closed and they get out in the nick of time?<br /><br />Well this was nothing like that.<br /><br />With the "fluid" situation regarding Covid this year's BB200 was, erm, different. Firstly, rather than being in Mid-Wales it was a bit further south around the Brecon Beacons, an area I really didn't know - I can't even remember taking family holidays there - certainly never walked or biked in the area. The second main difference was that rather than being on the second weekend of October and starting from one location we could choose when (in October) and where on the loop we started/finished.<br /><br />Event entered, GPX received it was time to start planning.<br /><br />Having decided on one starting point just before the biggest climb of the route we changed our minds and began about 40km before that which meant that we'd hit two, possibly all three of the towns on the route during opening hours. You've got to think about these things.<br /><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">People</h2><p><br />Debouching from the sunken track I head up a thankfully dry and firm farm track. A fancy car is heading down. "<i>Are you lost?</i>" says the woman driver in a very well-to-do voice, "<i>Err, probably!</i>", "<i>Follow me, I'll show you where you need to go.</i>" With that she reversed at speed back up the track - obviously done that before. Once I'd told her where I was trying to get to she explained where the track went and what to avoid. Very nice woman.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLutgbgpJbiwPYz_Ejp2VowIG5u0KtCUmn-oaRN7gSLH2d9qnwWt3gKNeyTenLJZhJLRjCsVDHC79tSPE1JQQOvriHPsg4_xaL3wX3lJUmx8xWrIaCQYXQg_kZDOez0MLHPRMhem1qJ4HS/s1000/bb200-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLutgbgpJbiwPYz_Ejp2VowIG5u0KtCUmn-oaRN7gSLH2d9qnwWt3gKNeyTenLJZhJLRjCsVDHC79tSPE1JQQOvriHPsg4_xaL3wX3lJUmx8xWrIaCQYXQg_kZDOez0MLHPRMhem1qJ4HS/s320/bb200-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />There's a shout from the driver of the flat bed Transit, whatever he'd said it didn't sound like the usual anti-cyclist tirade, turns out they were looking for a farm or something, "<i>sorry mate, I've never been here before so I'd be no help.</i>"<br /><br />There's definitely fresh tracks in the mud. Two MTBs and one gravel bike. On the big climb I see a figure ahead pushing a bike up a steep grass slope. The slope is actually rideable but the mud bank after the stream definitely isn't so I might as well walk to the top. The rider waves, I wave back. Eventually I catch up, it's a woman on a gravel bike: "<i>Ah, you're the set of tracks I've been following this morning!</i>" A few words in reply but I'm now back on the bike and breathing heavily so can't reply, sorry. I get to the top and look back, she's heading back down the hill, maybe she's dropped something. Whatever, she's the only other rider I see.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gsRl2tTyBqO4lEG7hVmtyPVS51ZTriA8JfWyUr4PFRdbaZQnhDTVhl9-KvCOISGuJGnE2hmlQ-WcBO86QZX7T5lvhaOTnoFpllwsH_ePxs0lQhteSTmgV4cR3On73aNh3i39ftL7QXze/s1000/bb200-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gsRl2tTyBqO4lEG7hVmtyPVS51ZTriA8JfWyUr4PFRdbaZQnhDTVhl9-KvCOISGuJGnE2hmlQ-WcBO86QZX7T5lvhaOTnoFpllwsH_ePxs0lQhteSTmgV4cR3On73aNh3i39ftL7QXze/s320/bb200-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />I never did see the two MTBs though occasionally there'd be a wet set of tyre prints on a rock.<br /><br />It's about an hour after dark and I've just shut the gate at the end of a farm track when a car approaches and indicates to head down the track so I open the gate for them. "Thank you!" says the farmer with a smile. Apart from a couple of walkers he'll be the last person I see until the finish in another twelve hours. Being alone on ITTs is common, you need to deal with it.<br /><br />I ride on in my small pool of light.<br /><br />Going past properties at night can be tricky, you need to keep your lights pointed down rather than shining into bedroom windows and waking people up. Then the dogs start barking. Nothing much to do about that but carry on and hope that the gates are easy to negotiate and don't creak or bang.<br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Kit</h2><p><br />It's quite chilly. I decide to take two pairs of long fingered gloves rather than one short and one long. I start with arm warmers and a windshirt thinking I'll take them off later in the day and put them back on at nightfall. It turns out that I never take them off but just undo the windshirt on climbs. A buff (also used as face covering for shops) is my only other temperature regulator. Ease off on the climbs so as not to sweat as the descents could be fast.<br /><br />BEEP! My GPS shows low battery so despite only having done 60km I swap in my spare set. Hmm. BEEP! It's 1am and again my GPS is showing a low battery warning despite only having done another 100km. A good job I'd thought to buy some plain AAs when at the filling station, just hope they'll last to the end. The rechargeables are Duracell, maybe they're at end of their life. <br /><br />I'd be worried about riding this route with tubes. The farmers have been out cutting their hedges and the roads are littered with the thorns and brash that haven't yet had time to become weathered or trampled to soft pulp by passing cars.<br /><br />One section of moorland down another three to go. I'm passing through the farm on the edge of the moor when my bar light starts flashing, the battery's running out of juice. Hmm, a long way to go yet, if the other light goes I'll have to sit things out until dawn. It's been hard enough distinguishing the ruts and mud with both lights, it will be much harder with just the one especially since I'll have to keep it on one of the lower power settings to see me through the next six hours or so. The dead battery pack is probably fifteen years old, maybe time for a new one. Annoying, you need to be able to trust your kit.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2MIc66dtNZeqVTY7XoeMDh3k0oiD1pBrnpG3U1tCqkgAAMKRNs1MCYCMmdP48CZSRZFbFtqyLpXrabhjUBiwJLH7aE2nX3GY-0lrnLe7fF5Cz2AHeeiReXIkUBA7FF3MwhQsiA_wEzEY/s1000/bb200-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2MIc66dtNZeqVTY7XoeMDh3k0oiD1pBrnpG3U1tCqkgAAMKRNs1MCYCMmdP48CZSRZFbFtqyLpXrabhjUBiwJLH7aE2nX3GY-0lrnLe7fF5Cz2AHeeiReXIkUBA7FF3MwhQsiA_wEzEY/s320/bb200-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />I ride on in my smaller pool of light.<br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Wildlife</h2><p><br />A Red Kite is quartering the hillside. She flies close, silent, tail rotating to hold her steady in the breeze, her massive wingspan shading that part of the sky. Close enough that I can see the outline of each pale feather on her head, eyes unblinking, she's obviously checking me out but decides it's too early, she'll come back and pick over my carcase later.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhccr2hjiwEZZ2QynzpTB4xcO5DA2NT_CZdgKl-PgZe9NVl4_8VR2ZxGvVLgnpTnx5iVNjHXswxaCUC4c9k70VtvYebXztRaBUAlv0pydd3SCRdGab62WCGAwrPvTaD4ScjKAIOHnCcXV3h/s1000/bb200-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhccr2hjiwEZZ2QynzpTB4xcO5DA2NT_CZdgKl-PgZe9NVl4_8VR2ZxGvVLgnpTnx5iVNjHXswxaCUC4c9k70VtvYebXztRaBUAlv0pydd3SCRdGab62WCGAwrPvTaD4ScjKAIOHnCcXV3h/s320/bb200-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />A pair of spots glint in the dark. It's a fox. It scurries back and forth unsure what this one-eyed monster is, never too far away that I can't also see the shape of its body in the faint beam of my light. The cattle further on were less sanguine. Somehow I drift away from the line and have to heft my bike over a fence and head across the field until I find the track again Then it's downhill, with that comes speed, even though I can't go too quickly because of the light levels, and chills. <p></p><p><br />Bats flit around in the dusk, a sign that I need my lights. No idea what species, too quick in the low light for my eyes to determine. Late in the year for them I suppose, but they need food to have enough weight to survive their winter roost. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Mind</h2><p><br />I only check the GPS for the mapping, ignoring the data screen except at specific points. I'm pleased to note I'm on time at the first town, down at the next. I'm also pleased to note that I reach my next milestone at 9pm, 125km done, 75km to go, 20hrs is doable. If only.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1hjTQsrKh008tk8cun1AUwmRe0zvYQwYbAUE6dsJxnmIRhcvCoKH4yPSF0P4Wl8k_VLA9BkyG7mLsRoD32jPW4LQ7RETJh1p7Uwmodb5IsiEQhuuaQRxiQnqhdtzUF_DeiFUGvfafFhY/s1000/bb200-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1hjTQsrKh008tk8cun1AUwmRe0zvYQwYbAUE6dsJxnmIRhcvCoKH4yPSF0P4Wl8k_VLA9BkyG7mLsRoD32jPW4LQ7RETJh1p7Uwmodb5IsiEQhuuaQRxiQnqhdtzUF_DeiFUGvfafFhY/s320/bb200-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYXyp0efqMJZYiNIdHbnWCERZfsM-pMNutyqcQ8lmiXw1EXk0V_0o17No_JSdI0coTeXZRWgJftBhZUFC3ELBcKu05q8793c-LZKfT9uzunf7S3SCkwHWI8XQKnXhZkzhmcHuuBrEeLaY/s1000/bb200-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYXyp0efqMJZYiNIdHbnWCERZfsM-pMNutyqcQ8lmiXw1EXk0V_0o17No_JSdI0coTeXZRWgJftBhZUFC3ELBcKu05q8793c-LZKfT9uzunf7S3SCkwHWI8XQKnXhZkzhmcHuuBrEeLaY/s320/bb200-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />I'd miscounted the moorland sections, there's five. A myriad of tracks twisting hither and thither make progress frustrating in the dark and my "line" is a sawtooth as I drift away then ride back to the line. There's full cloud cover so I can't fix on a star or constellation for a bearing and ride to that. The last section finishes with a steep descent, would be great in the daylight but not at 4am having been on the go for over nineteen hours.<br /><br />I carry on in my small pool of light.<br /><br />My mind's playing tricks on me. I've turned off the main road and turned right and right again so I'm heading back towards town? I'm not, the left bends are bigger than the right and I'm heading the other way but I'm totally confused. It's as if I've been blindfolded and spun round and asked to point to North. <br /><br />I trudge on in my small pool of light.<br /><br />It's getting lighter, the dawn is near, and I'm at the end of the last off-road. There's form to the land now, faint light and shade rather than mirk and dark. The main road arrives soon enough and climbs away at that awkward angle you think should be easy but isn't. I'm wishing for the summit at every turn. The pedalling suddenly eases and I'm picking up speed. The downhill is short and the van appears where we'd left it, no police stickers or anything to say: "<i>You shouldn't be here</i>". 22hrs45mins. Twelve and a half hours for the first 125km, ten and a bit hours for the next 75km. I'm knackered so leave the bike lying outside, grab the sleeping kit and crash out for a couple of hours.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8AxJ4HcXOm8Eg07bskCzIgn7rhAdVQIRXviGvUNxLcwl2f7tlMBGR_IwgpBz7WGPH7SMPyXeCXFxpvJkqOIg395Q8hYzRg4zhb9FUjI9GMmNxtz4Q-dqTSwsneDO0g4d0TL0Kynr1IXk_/s1000/bb200-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8AxJ4HcXOm8Eg07bskCzIgn7rhAdVQIRXviGvUNxLcwl2f7tlMBGR_IwgpBz7WGPH7SMPyXeCXFxpvJkqOIg395Q8hYzRg4zhb9FUjI9GMmNxtz4Q-dqTSwsneDO0g4d0TL0Kynr1IXk_/s320/bb200-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /><br />Perhaps it was something like that. Elvis has left the building.</p>Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-41416984468800322952020-09-16T13:05:00.001+01:002020-09-16T13:05:06.436+01:00Stubborn is as Stubborn does<p>"<i>You're supposed to be my FRIEND!</i>"<br /><br />I'm lying on my back, head down on a 40 degree slope of wet heather above a turbulent River Tilt nearing the end of this year's Cairngorms Loop. My bike is on top of me with my lower leg jammed between the chainring and the bottom bracket. I've been walking this bit because of the wind and still ended up like this. It's actually the second fall, the first saw me fall onto rocks with my elbow. It's not really my bike's fault.<br /><br />I struggle to push the bike away, any potential injuries to my leg aren't of concern, I lean over the bike holding back sobs.<br /><br />"<i>Look,</i>" I say out loud because no-one's near enough to hear "<i>you are just really tired. Get on with it.</i>"<br /><br />Just sixteen loosely congregated riders were in the car park at the start on Saturday morning. Colin Cadden, who'd taken on the organiser's role from Steve Wilkinson for this year, was trying to get us all ready in time but herding cats would have been simpler. There were one or two who I knew already and a couple who I'd conversed with online so there were bits of chats going on. In the end we rolled out four minutes late, not that it would make any difference over the course of a day or two. Cath had entered but decided her fitness wasn't up to it so was doing the Tour of the Cairngorms which is basically the outer loop less the sting in the tail.<br /><br />There'd been talk of people going for fast times but Huw Oliver had broken the record a couple of weeks earlier so that particular hare wasn't riding this weekend. My plan was just to get round.<br /><br />The initial pace was quick but tempered by a decent headwind. I rode alongside Phil Clarke who I'd not seen for a while, he was on a singlespeed Jones so speed was limited on the flatter sections. There was also a rider on a singlespeed fat bike. I'd joked about bringing mine along but decided against it. Pretty soon we were at the crossing of the A9 and Phil pulled away on the climb because, well, he had a single speed. "That's the last I'll see of him." I thought.<br /><br />The track to Sronpadruigh Lodge was fast, helped by the now tailwind. The burn crossings were low which augured well in comparison to three years ago. Then it was a bit of bog trotting to get to the singletrack alongside Loch an Dun. </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrWKJHoRzFcxqS-5jUp0tCViN-I8i401wJ5Sh8z7AZcL6hiWJ-hzmmyvhRORCtTPtjUIuB4ZLbH0fIRXBWjIB570AKf2EtalLHY6zi35lJ8KD51yxO607LIONDHrUTx4zskxluPCgmeSq/s1000/cairngorms-loop-2020-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrWKJHoRzFcxqS-5jUp0tCViN-I8i401wJ5Sh8z7AZcL6hiWJ-hzmmyvhRORCtTPtjUIuB4ZLbH0fIRXBWjIB570AKf2EtalLHY6zi35lJ8KD51yxO607LIONDHrUTx4zskxluPCgmeSq/s320/cairngorms-loop-2020-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>This is just ace and all rideable though I did get blown off by gusts of wind a couple of times near the end. A rider caught me here and we rode together as far as Rothiemurchus. The next river crossing which had stopped last year's group ride in its tracks was low and we just rode through it. My companion lived at the foot of the glen so we got the turn off the road right unlike the pair ahead of us who shot past it.<br /><br />We head into the lower reaches of Glen Feshie and wend our way along the singletrack through the meadows. A slight confusion as to the exact route at Feshie Bridge and we are heading through the woods on Feshie Moor quickly followed by Rothiemurchus Forest. This always seems to take longer than it should. Still we pop out onto the road and arrive at the shop in Glenmore in just 4hrs30mins, really quick and some forty five minutes quicker than previously. I'm surprised to see Phil there, he'd only been a few minutes ahead but of course in the woods even 30 seconds is out of sight. A quick loo visit, a drink and I'm ready to go. Phil leaves at the same time.</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OY-DDnTIz3nyVBhrdHBs4xgit2ZQTsDLIENhB8KeGITY16Qkqtm-vkrMfEprdu1OY3VR3eK6A8hLErT-SDNoF3Qn7ci6LafxZlhad-67ZKg53etJYFbRE4fLldjAmViTN4K9RmBFQw3G/s1000/cairngorms-loop-2020-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6OY-DDnTIz3nyVBhrdHBs4xgit2ZQTsDLIENhB8KeGITY16Qkqtm-vkrMfEprdu1OY3VR3eK6A8hLErT-SDNoF3Qn7ci6LafxZlhad-67ZKg53etJYFbRE4fLldjAmViTN4K9RmBFQw3G/s320/cairngorms-loop-2020-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simon and Hamish<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />The Nethy is low, last time it was a brown torrent, so I refill with water again. Then it's the climb up Bynack Mor, I get so far then get off and push, no point in red-lining just for the sake of it - there's another 220km to go. As I near the top of the steepest section a rider passes me - he's managed the whole climb without dabbing which is very impressive in the windy conditions. I do see him dab once a little later but I think we can let him off with that. "<i>I'm Hamish</i>" he says as I catch him "I<i>'m waiting here for my mate</i>" - he spent most of this section as intervals, riding off and then waiting for his mate. <br /><br />I struggle on the next section to the Fords of Avon (pronounced A'an) and take one OTB where I bash and bruise my legs. The first burn, the Uisge Dubh, is crossed dry, last time it was waist deep! The fords themselves are low and the crossing is easy. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVw3d0molaqK_FRhhksfEYx4NZLLdXvbMFUSHUdVsrEl0Nb09Tg_FV5h96DqD9G7mubmP_CghfPA1JHSX4kfS_YCO31xWlisMrLCy0XIHFjD6gzkiIsxj88ErydvSLwLeHIYzVxfDplDm/s1000/cairngorms-loop-2020-4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVw3d0molaqK_FRhhksfEYx4NZLLdXvbMFUSHUdVsrEl0Nb09Tg_FV5h96DqD9G7mubmP_CghfPA1JHSX4kfS_YCO31xWlisMrLCy0XIHFjD6gzkiIsxj88ErydvSLwLeHIYzVxfDplDm/s320/cairngorms-loop-2020-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCF21EknoSmKApgOgWK3aqGF6tNZWzfY8DdwaVH5U-l2mTLvBFWlac3fxFM1cxNxke8IvNZx5zpaHArUlSkBWYoUacAyLkHgsxYVorYPpXUlJgz5Y7NXArflZ5e8abqa8h8Vmxk_wLQUOE/s1000/cairngorms-loop-2020-5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCF21EknoSmKApgOgWK3aqGF6tNZWzfY8DdwaVH5U-l2mTLvBFWlac3fxFM1cxNxke8IvNZx5zpaHArUlSkBWYoUacAyLkHgsxYVorYPpXUlJgz5Y7NXArflZ5e8abqa8h8Vmxk_wLQUOE/s320/cairngorms-loop-2020-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Compare the above with these shots from 2017<p></p><p><br /><br /> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDN43UEu6xs3FRJzRoEJJQesk58Wbl8w7nldmx7ndk9Gu76P6aHSYm2UaE7DQk-1F_-YM4xGH8TBfKsYBepmTouqrYdqLx0KAlhAHiznOpIaze_Yvmmxr3BzhW31uoe2yPS59mGOOuBws4/s4608/cairngorm-loop-18.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDN43UEu6xs3FRJzRoEJJQesk58Wbl8w7nldmx7ndk9Gu76P6aHSYm2UaE7DQk-1F_-YM4xGH8TBfKsYBepmTouqrYdqLx0KAlhAHiznOpIaze_Yvmmxr3BzhW31uoe2yPS59mGOOuBws4/s320/cairngorm-loop-18.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQvAFAuE_8jecDmr7m79g3J60B4btzuMVyqty-UY3HkMZuBtJBRnP1VUJpSQJ2G9c51wjIQrCiOhfvbEf5Gb6t24pRkeo3J2prK0ncy3NkuxvtELvjn1vejVXZLdwwo8yjhHm7KUWEhid/s4608/cairngorm-loop-16.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQvAFAuE_8jecDmr7m79g3J60B4btzuMVyqty-UY3HkMZuBtJBRnP1VUJpSQJ2G9c51wjIQrCiOhfvbEf5Gb6t24pRkeo3J2prK0ncy3NkuxvtELvjn1vejVXZLdwwo8yjhHm7KUWEhid/s320/cairngorm-loop-16.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p> </p><p>I don't think I rode any more of the section from there to the Lairig an Loaigh on the Spearfish as I did last time on the rigid Solaris, maybe the wind played a part but I just couldn't get going. Four of us reached the pass together and then it was the blast down into Glen Derry. The others were quicker than me but I catch one up, Hamish's mate, - "<i>puncture or valve playing up</i>" - he'd got kit to sort it so no point stopping. Further down we pass a chap on a gravel bike heading to the Fords, we think he was under the misapprehension it was rideable! <br /><br />Once in the glen floor it's very quick riding again apart from the occasional water bar. Most of these have now got bypass lines to ride but there's still one or two "big" ones that can catch you unawares, I'd taken a tumble on one last time as then the light was fading. We reach Bob Scott's in full daylight, in fact I'm nearly two hours up on last time. I've now just one companion who introduces himself as Ian. "<i>You rode that glen smoothly</i>" he says "<i>you just swept away from me.</i>" - I'm confused as he must mean me since there's no-one else around.<br /></p><p><br />Straight through the Linn of Dee woods and the long drag up to the Geldie Burn. This is straight into the wind and I begin to struggle but we're catching another rider. It turns out to be Steve Waters and we'll end up riding together to Aviemore. The Geldie looked wide but really low, good news for later. Part of this year's rules was no use of bothies (the MBA have closed all of theirs due to Covid-19) but was surprised to see lights at the Red House. It turned out to be an MBA working party getting it refurbished for future use. No stopping, on over the watershed.<br /><br />Lights went on at the end of the vehicle track and we managed to ride a surprising amount given that some of the "holes" cast by our lights were rather deep. Steve took a couple of tumbles, no injury as they were into bog not stone. Ahead were a couple of lights but we didn't catch them. Ian noted that he felt quite spooked by this terrain and scenario but having grown up in the country it felt quite normal to me. In fact it felt a bit weird having company on a night section of an ITT, I was totally on my own the last time I crossed here. Eventually the Eidart appeared, or rather the sound of the waterfall began to be heard over the wind, and the rickety bridge was more rickety with a board or two now broken. This time I managed to find the singletrack that winds in and out of the muddy argo-cat trail - much nicer riding. The forecast rain is just starting.<br /><br />As we are dropping down towards the Feshie my light starts to flash. Surely it can't be running out of juice? Unless it had turned on in the bag and been discharging for most of the ride. My recharging system only really works when I'm not riding so I was stuffed. Fortunately Steve had a spare Joystick! Game back on! Then we came to the Feshie. </p><p>"<i>Err, we've gone wrong lads, should have turned off about 50m back</i>". </p><p>We find the track leading to the landslip and drop into the tracks in the glen. "<i>Your mudguard is flapping around</i>" I'd wondered what the buzzing sound was, turned out a couple of the zip ties holding the Mudhugger on had snapped. A simple fix. Hmm, bad luck comes in threes?<br /><br />Then we drop into the Feshie river bed, err, this is wrong. We back track through the undergrowth and get on the track. Then my chain breaks! Fortunately I've a quicklink so we get that fitted. While getting out my tools and spares I notice I've no spare brake pads, I'd moved them to the Solaris for the YD300 and not moved them back. I say nothing. Lights appear, "<i>Who's coming up the glen at this time of night?</i>" It turned out that we'd set off on the track in the wrong direction and it was us going the wrong way. The lights turned out to be Sean Belson, Hamish and his mate. The glen is mostly a blast, we pass the bothy, this turns out to be "locked" by the simple expedient of the estate renting it out as accommodation! I notice that two of our group were missing - nothing untoward they'd planned to bivy in the Glen so had stopped. It later transpired that they scratched at that point.<br /><br />The tracks were fast until we got to the Allt Garbhlach, last time I'd crossed this higher up but now we'd reached the bit where it had really washed out and it involved a steep downclimb and climb out manhandling our bikes. After this things sped up and soon we were on the road. Rear lights on (don't know why we didn't see a single car!) and then it was time trial mode to get to the 24hr filling station in Aviemore.<br /><br />Where the fuck did all the time go? The two hours I'd been "ahead" had all gone and I arrived here at the same time as last time. Sean had arrived a little earlier and had ordered his grub. You couldn't go into the shop so you ordered at the kiosk, not easy when you don't know what they stock. A coffee and a bacon butty later, oh, and a bollocking from the Polis for using a mobile on the forecourt (actually I'm turning it off as there's only 7% battery left - hence no more shots), and I'm ready to go.<br /><br />"<i>You don't hang around</i>" notes Sean<br /><br />"<i>Starting to get cold and I've nothing else to do here.</i>"<br /><br />"<i>Where are you bivvying?</i>" Ian asks. </p><p>"<i>I'm just heading on the route through the woods until I find a dry shelter or somewhere to bivy.</i>" </p><p>"<i>Mind if I join you?</i>" </p><p>"<i>Not at all</i>" </p><p>And with that I set off. I turn off the Glenmore road and notice there's no lights behind me, oh well. I need to get some warmth into me before bivvying, fortunately the butty has done its job and I've plenty of energy. I pass where I bivvied last time and turn into the woods. A few km along the tracks and there's an old horsebox next to the track. Perfect. A bit of rearranging of the dry hay on the floor (really) and I'm just settling down when Sean rides past.<br /><br />"<i>I'm riding through. Steve's light is playing up so he and Ian have bivvied just outside Aviemore</i>"<br /><br />With that he rides on and I get into my quilt. It's 0200.<br /><br />"<i>What's that?</i>" Something moves nearby. I'm not sure if it's a mouse or rat nestled in the hay near me or something just outside the horse box. I'm too tired to worry and drift off to sleep.<br /><br />I wake at 0530 and there's just a bit of light in the sky so back on with my wet cycling kit (euch!), pack everything away and get going by 0550. No chance of using my stove because of all the hay. I notice that I'm only 100m away from a group of houses, shows how close you can bivy to folk. About fifteen minutes later there's a light at the side of the track. It's Phil who was putting away his bivy kit. Again we ride together, noting potential bivy spots amongst general chatter until again he pulls away his single speed being well the single speed he has to ride.<br /><br />Alone again I push on, little energy in my legs or body, there's a tarp fluttering in the wind up above the track, it turns out to be a guy bivvying but I don't know if he's a rider or not. Quite how his tarp is offering any protection as it's set at about 2 metres above the ground. He waves and I wave back. I catch Phil up in Eag Mhor and we ride on through heather to the Dorbach burn. "One of my favourite bits of riding" he notes. Again he pushes on and I won't see him again.<br /><br />The Burn of Brown is an easy crossing, it was this burn that was impassable three years ago, I say crossing, you actually cross it back and forth seven times. Tomintoul is still shut, I don't even ease up pedalling and turn into Glen Avon. Breakfast will have to be in Braemar 40km on. "Glen Avon's going to be a bitch in a headwind" Phil had noted. Actually it wasn't that bad for the most part. The worst bit was my drive train, it was making an awful racket. A five minute stop and application of oil sorted that out.<br /><br />The singletrack around Loch Builg was nice apart from the gusting wind. The loch is meant to be in a wind funnel so if this wasn't so bad then it boded well for the rest of the route. No chance! I dropped into Glen Gairn and almost came to a halt. Even the flat sections along the glen floor were a real effort. Light showers hid the view and added to the fun. I'd already walked sections by the time I got to the fancy shooting hut at the foot of the Cullardoch climb. I walked nearly all of that. I'm at the summit when I notice a figure on the climb, probably Ian.<br /><br />Even the descent from Cullardoch was a bit dicy with a cross wind but then I was on the descent through the trees to Invercauld, lovely. Braemar looked so close but you ride for a couple of km in the other direction to get to the bridge. Of course you then had that couple of km plus some more into a headwind to get to the village. Straight to the cafe. </p><p>"<i>Only customers using our app allowed</i>" stated the sign. WTF! </p><p>"<i>How am I supposed to know that in advance? Plus my phone battery is dead.</i>" </p><p>"<i>Just fill out the card</i>".<br /><br />While waiting for my food to arrive, Steve Waters turns up. It turns out Ian was struggling a bit and since he'd arrived by train had realised he wasn't going make any of the Sunday services to get back home so was taking it a bit easier. An hour had gone by by the time we'd finished eating and chattering. I needed some medication for my arse which was really sore so headed to the Co-op.<br /><br />Steve was long gone by now. I ate my ice cream while riding along looking for somewhere I could pull off the road and apply the arse cream. Slightly better. It's all road to the Linn of Dee but it's also into the wind and is hard work. Not as hard as the next section which is the only bit of the route that repeats, Linn of Dee to the Geldie Burn. This takes me an hour. My mood's worsening, I'm screaming obscenities at the wind. Just before the White Bridge I have to walk as I feel the first twinges of cramp. Normally I get this after about twelve hours so to get a day and a half into a ride is good for me. Doesn't do anything for speed though.<br /><br />Then the Geldie. Yesterday this was benign, now it had risen substantially and was brown with flood water. Nothing for it but to wade across. It wasn't particularly deep, maybe knee high at worst but I knew there was more to come. Almost immediately there's two crossings of the Bynack Burn, the first of which looked really deep and strong flowing. A slight detour to find shallows meant trudging upstream along the middle of the burn until more shallows led to the other side.<br /><br />The wind still hadn't let up and was pushing me around making what would normally be easy riding very hard work. As I approached the Tilt watershed there was more and more walking involved. I note the Tilt flowing down from the opposite side of the strath, I'm finally on the home stretch, just the Tilt to cross to get to the Sting in the Tail.<br /><br />Then the wheels came off. By the time I got to the Tilt crossing I was in no mood to continue. Looking down the glen there were black clouds heading my way. I really didn't want to be up high in that lot, I really didn't want to have to cross the Tilt. I headed down the glen.<br /><br />Even this was hard work - normally you'd do a couple of pedal strokes and freewheel for a minute or two. Not today, half a dozen pedal strokes and you got maybe three bike lengths before you had to pedal again. Plus my sore arse meant that I had to do all this standing up! It took nearly an hour and forty minutes to reach the car park. Cath had got there about ten minutes earlier. We got changed staccato due to all the dog walkers going past then headed to the pub for something to eat. Even the pint felt heavy.<br /><br />I think my lack of mileage showed. The first 80km to Glenmore were really fast even accounting for being on a full suss rather than a rigid with the amount of road involved. Even with the high winds the section over Bynack Mor and Lairig an Loaigh I was over half an hour faster. Mechanicals and faffing/getting lost then ate up all that time gain. I ate reasonably well but probably not enough given how I felt on the second day, I should have stopped somewhere sheltered and cooked the food I'd brought with me rather than just pushing on.</p>Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-91671027676491644892019-12-17T13:44:00.000+00:002019-12-17T13:45:30.261+00:00Bikepacking Toolkit and SparesA while since I've posted so since I haven't done any notable rides I
thought I'd do a few posts about the kit I take. Starting with bike
tools and spares.<br />
<br />
Despite our best intentions
occasionally things go wrong and generally there's no-one else around to
sort it out. Enter the tool-kit. With a little forethought you can
carry tools and spares that will fix most problems short of major
breakages. So here's a run down of things to take along with techniques
and the occasional tip. As with most things in life, prevention is
better than cure so a well maintained bike is less likely to suffer
problems - "A stitch in time" and all that. They still happen though and
accidents do occur - the only time I've needed to use any tools out on
the trails in the last few years was to refit my shifter after a crash.
Before we get to the tools and stuff there's a couple of ancillary items
that are well worth taking.<br />
<br />
Firstly a light of some kind.
Obviously if you ride at night then you'll have a light on the bike but
these are pretty vicious in terms of output, even at their lowest
settings, and aren't designed for close up work. In the case of dynamo
lights they are fixed to the bike and the standlight only lasts a couple
of minutes anyway. So a small headtorch (with charged batteries!) will
let you see what you are doing. Petzl Zipka, Alpkit Muon or Viper are
all fine and pack up small, the Zipka with batteries weighs just 65g. An
alternative (and something that you are likely to have with you anyway)
may be your mobile phone - some have a "spotlight" option. Next, if
it's cold (or winter) then one of those chemical handwarmers to keep
your digits nice and flexible and capable of doing the work or even
putting on the area of bike being worked on to avoid cold induced
brittleness.<br />
<br />
As ever with practical things it's worth practising
in a comfortable environment - being out on the moors in driving rain as
darkness is falling isn't the time to start reading the instruction
manual: "<i>Thank you for purchasing this product, we hope it gives you many years service ...</i>".
As above it's pretty rare things go wrong: I've only used a tyre plug
in anger twice in seven years which is hardly enough to become
proficient.<br />
<br />
Examples: <br />
<ul>
<li>get an old tyre and stab and slash it to see how plugs/anchovies work and how to sew a tyre back together; </li>
<li>use the chain tool on old chains or the bit of chain you removed when fitting the new one. </li>
</ul>
<br />
Even
then when using the tyre plug it's a different matter inserting it on a
mounted tyre than on an old one just lying around, you've got to avoid
puncturing both another part of the tyre and disturbing the rim tape.<br />
<br />
<b>Multi-tool</b><br />
<br />
Seemingly
derigeuer these days, choose your favourite one. There's a few newer
designs that aim to make use of empty space around your bike such as
inside the crank spindle or the steerer column. But while convenient,
multi-tools by their nature try to be all things to all riders, they're
the Swiss Army knife of biking but do you really need all those bells
and whistles?<br />
<br />
Work out what your bike needs in the way of tools.
There's a small range of hex/Allen keys that will do most of the bolts
on a bike: 3, 4 & 5mm covers my Cotic Solaris' needs while my
Singular Puffin fat bike needs 2, 4 & 5mm. Disc rotor bolts are
usually Torx T25, some chainring bolts are Torx T20. Mech hanger bolts
are usually 2mm hex.<br />
<br />
I've got a set of Fixit Sticks that were on
sale in a local bike shop. Only four "tools" (3, 4, 5mm hex and a
Philips screwdriver) but the two halves slot together to make a T-shaped
proper sized tool you can hold in your hand. Fixit also do a set of
these with magnetic holders and replaceable bits. On a similar note a
magnetic holder/wrench with the required standard hex bits is another
alternative and can be lightweight and cheap to put together but does
leave the problem of a chain tool.<br />
<br />
You may need either a flat or
Phillips screwdriver, in cold weather a regular screwdriver might be
worth considering. One tool that is well worth taking is a set of
pliers. For bike purposes the Leatherman Squirt covers most bases.
Again, work out what you need and how a particular tool or feature will
work in conjunction with your other kit.<br />
<br />
You don't have to buy
bike specific "kits" or tools, a look around most hardware stores will
get you something that does the job if a little less elegantly.<br />
<br />
In
really cold weather it may be more worthwhile just taking full sized
versions of whichever sizes of Allen Key your bike uses. The four needed
for my fat bike weigh just 40g and I can get my whole hand around the
handle/long side. Wrap in heat shrink (but not over the business ends)
to avoid contact cold burns. Similarly a full sized Leatherman or Gerber
tool rather than something like the Squirt will be easier to handle in
the cold.<br />
<h4>
Pump</h4>
You need a pump designed for high
volume as opposed to high pressure tyres. There's only a handful that
are genuinely useful out on the trail: the Topeak Mountain Morph and the
Lezyne HV mini-floor pump. Both have a "foot" as well as a T-handle for
easier pumping and they both come with a hose so you aren't putting
strain on the valve. The pump doesn't get used much so check that the
seals haven't dried out prior to heading off on a trip and that it will
pump the tyres up to the required pressure, again maintenance plays its
part.<br />
<h4>
Inner tube</h4>
Even if you don't run tubeless (why
not?) having a spare inner tube covers those situations where the tyre
is damaged to the point where on its own it won't hold air. No need to
go overboard, get the lightest tube you can find, something like the <b><a href="https://www.charliethebikemonger.com/surly-fat-bike-ultra-light-innertube-26-x-30-48-toob-5268-p.asp">Surly ultra light</a></b>. <span id="goog_1859560856"></span><span id="goog_1859560857"></span>
See a little later for mending tyres. There's also the Tubolito which
are even smaller and lighter but various people have had problems with
them. They aren't cheap either!<br />
<h4>
Tyre plugs</h4>
When
something punctures your tyre and it's too big for the sealant to work
then somehow you've got to plug that hole, ooer missus! Enter the tyre
plug, often known as anchovies or bacon strips. Basically a strip of
material along with applicator that you use to push said material into
hole. There's a few systems around, they all do the same thing, usually
there's two tools - a rasp or file to roughen up the edges of the hole
and the applicator. Some also have a small blade to cut the material
once you've plugged the hole but any knife/blade will do. I've the
Sahmurai Sword which replaces the end caps on your handlebars thus
making use of a somewhat wasted space. <b><a href="https://cyclorise.com/collections/sahmurai-sword">https://cyclorise.com/collections/sahmurai-sword</a></b><br />
<br />
The
strips as supplied are a bit long so cut them in half, they only have
to be long enough to pass through the tyre wall when bent in two. <br />
<br />
<b>TIP</b>: <i>fit one length of the material in the applicator before heading out so you are ready to go.</i><br />
<br />
Assuming
you are quick off the mark, put a finger over the hole to try and stop
too much air from escaping, after all you are only going to have to pump
the tyre up again in a minute or two. Grab the rasp and push it into
the hole and roughen the edges. Now grab the applicator and push in
until the strip is in the hole a reasonable amount then put a finger on
the strip and gently pull the applicator back out. Trim off any excess
if you feel the need. Pump up the tyre. If you want to make a really
permanent job then when you get home clean and dry the area and apply
some flexible superglue over the strip and let it set.<br />
<br />
Back to
inner tubes. One side effect of the tubeless system working is that you
tend not to know when you've had an "incident" that with tubes would see
you stopped at the side of the trail either repairing a puncture or
replacing the tube. Sometimes it's obvious when the sealant sprays out
but more often than not the sealant just does its job especially with
larger volume tyres that run at lower pressure. An inner tube should be
your last resort for when all else fails. If you are lucky then you'll
find the thorns and nails by running your fingers (carefully!) around
the inside of the tyre before fitting the tube. The problem is that
often you'll get embedded sharps that don't fully push through the tyre
carcase and only show themselves when that part of the tyre strikes an
edge and the thorn or whatever pushes into the tube then retreats back
into hiding. On one occasion I put in a tube after carefully checking
the inside of the tyre. The tube would slowly deflate over a couple of
hours. When I got home and checked there were six pin-prick punctures in
it!<br />
<br />
<b>TIP</b>: <i>get some tissue paper or similar and wipe it
around the inside of the tyre. Any thorns will snag the lightweight
paper and will be easier to find. Leatherman/Gerber like tools usually
have some form of pliers which are ideal for removing any thorns.</i><br />
<br />
<h4>
Spares</h4>
Again this is very bike and component specific.<br />
<br />
Spare
valve and valve cores: Over time tubeless sealant can clog up the valve
so grab a few spare valve cores, and pack one or two. You'll need
either a valve core tool or a pair of pliers (e.g. Leatherman Squirt) to
remove/replace it. If your multi-tool has a chain tool then there's a
suitably sized slot on that that will also work. I also take a spare
valve especially if it's a remote trip or I'm heading somewhere where
I'm not sure whether I'm going to get spares. <br />
<br />
Chain: Quick links
of appropriate size for your chain. Also keep that short length of
chain you removed when originally fitting it, if you do break/wreck a
chain then it's easy to repair. You don't need any special tools to
remove the quicklink, an old piece of gear/brake cable or even zip-ties
can be used to squeeze the two sides together - thread the cable through
the links either side, cross the wires over and pull. Alternatively use
some pliers. One other technique is to use your chainring: position the
quicklink so that it sits on the chainring, now lift the chain at one
side and pull it towards the quicklink by one link such that you form a
triangle sticking up from the chainring with the quicklink forming one
side. Now push down on the QL and it should come apart.<br />
<br />
One
"tool" that is worth having is a chain holder - basically a piece of
wire about 10cm long with hooks at both ends. Some chain tools and some
multi-tools come with one but they are easy enough to make out of an old
spoke or wire coat hanger. They are used to hold the chain either side
of where you might break it with the chain tool or when putting the
chain back together so that there isn't any tension in the work area. <br />
<br />
To
fit the quicklink it's a case of applying enough force to pull the pins
into the correct parts of the slots. Put the quicklink together and
spin the cranks until it is in the upper part of the loop where it will
be under tension. Now stamp firmly on the pedal and it should snap into
place. Make sure that both sides have engaged!<br />
<br />
Gear cable: Some
people pack one but I've yet to break one, again with proper maintenance
this shouldn't be necessary - I'd replace gear (and brake cables if
you've mechanical brakes) prior to a big trip. Then again only 10g and
takes up next to no space.<br />
<br />
Spare brake pads: I'd pack a set but
it does depend where you are heading. Make sure you pack the correct
pads for the bike! My Puffin has Avid BB7 brakes but I've a Hope rotor
which has a set of rivets holding the braking surface to the spider
which foul on the arms of the Avid pads so those need to be cut down
before I head out. <br />
<br />
Mech Hanger: One of those items that's almost
impossible to source should you break it, I've bent one when out riding
but not broken it. You'll almost certainly need a 2mm hex key for the
bolts holding this.<br />
<br />
I'll divide the spares in to generic and bike
specific packs with the latter living permanently on the relevant bike.
The pack is marked up with the bike's make/model so I don't head out
with the wrong set of spares but I've usually got bags permanently fixed
to the bikes and the kit lives in there.<br />
<br />
In the shot below are
the contents of one such bike specific tin, it measures 90x32x32mm and
is at top right of the shot, an ex-work colleague vaped and this is one
of his empty vaping gunk tins suitably washed (several times). All the
items beneath it plus the nitryl glove go in to it.<br />
<ul>
<li>Allen key with magnetic holder</li>
<li>2, 3 & 4mm hex bits (the Allen key "handle" is 5mm), T25 bit</li>
<li>Loctite flexible super glue</li>
<li>pack of tyre plugs</li>
<li>a set of spare brake pads and spring with retaining bolt</li>
<li>spare valve core</li>
<li>various nuts and bolts</li>
<li>cable end crimps</li>
<li>chain powerlink (appropriate size for the chain)</li>
<li>spare mech hanger (with bolts)</li>
<li>chain holder. </li>
</ul>
Total weight of tin and contents is 130g.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr6i_NTRJLDHJTP-LQsWAMNPkljD4A4rVHEzcRXUVIGO5Zel1sWaQsh8Apge2iFKNFoshyphenhyphen88matXQSTDIDD7wR1xEECubYOddzKVV46bPWQaRuFEyeRhdUlRAt8Woya8TaoIRCvX0AR98n/s1600/tools-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr6i_NTRJLDHJTP-LQsWAMNPkljD4A4rVHEzcRXUVIGO5Zel1sWaQsh8Apge2iFKNFoshyphenhyphen88matXQSTDIDD7wR1xEECubYOddzKVV46bPWQaRuFEyeRhdUlRAt8Woya8TaoIRCvX0AR98n/s400/tools-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The
pump is a Topeak DA something or other. There's a few wraps of Gorilla
Tape around the handle. To the left of this we have: tyre boot (old
toothpaste tube); Leatherman Squirt tool; tyre lever, Topeak mini chain
tool (40g).<br />
<br />
Along the top: Sahmurai Sword tyre plug tools that fit into the bar ends. A bunch of zip ties. A Tubolito emergency inner tube.<br />
<br />
All
that lot comes to under 500g (the pump and inner tube account for 200g
of that) which isn't a great deal. Volume wise it's not a lot if you
exclude the pump, I've a Wildcat Cheetah "Jerry can" top tube bag and it
all goes in there with room to spare.<br />
<br />
For
more remote trips items like the Unior lockring tool that lets you
remove the cassette and the Fiberfix emergency spoke can be useful. In
the latter case a few spokes taped to the seat stays or inside the seat
post (held by foam to stop rattling) is also an option.<br />
<br />
The
above should show that there's no reason a comprehensive set of tools
and spares need either cost the earth or take up masses of room. Working
out just what you need can pay dividends.Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-29715847650788076142019-07-09T14:58:00.002+01:002019-07-09T15:03:00.969+01:00JennRide 2019Back to the Lakes and rolling in to the car park and the first four people we see we know. It's that kind of event. Tent up and it's off to Wheelbase to listen to a variety of short lectures ranging from bovine avoiding Highland Trails to windswept Asian plains.<br />
<br />
Up early, well this is the Lakes in summer, breakfast in More then a bit of hanging around until around 9am we decide not to wait for the Grand Départ and set off. Familiar lanes lead to the top of a descent I've not done before, a bit blind and rocky and quite narrow, not one to be in a big pack descending really. Minor lanes lead to the ferry crossing on Windermere. We've just missed one sailing so by the time the ferry is back on our side pretty well everyone from the GD has arrived.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj0zaixrJA1Q-6MQae2N36dkeypfK2XhMZzbN8XyeFI9y-nPZjpZ6rjBrgddjCVw3E1TPxDAB-yL8_ylkE2DpwTKl3tqH-3nUiZ7v-jtoGyzrzcxuYBu6ghGJgDWbF8TM2XMfH5Tmm_EZ/s1600/spearfish-jr2019-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj0zaixrJA1Q-6MQae2N36dkeypfK2XhMZzbN8XyeFI9y-nPZjpZ6rjBrgddjCVw3E1TPxDAB-yL8_ylkE2DpwTKl3tqH-3nUiZ7v-jtoGyzrzcxuYBu6ghGJgDWbF8TM2XMfH5Tmm_EZ/s400/spearfish-jr2019-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rather a lot of cyclists on the ferry.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Once across I'm riding alongside Tony who's on an ebike and fairly shifting! He's only out for a short spin with his wife so after a couple of km he stops and waits for her. A check to see if Cath's OK before the climb over Claife Heights then I push on.<br />
<br />
The first technical climb and I almost make it without dabbing, Stu Rider gets passed me and cleans it so now I've a target to keep up with. The descent past Wise E'en Tarn is fast, I don't realise how fast until I get home to discover I'm in the top ten on Strava! That never happens on a descent for me.<br />
<br />
Riding round to the next bit of off-road I'm chatting to Alan Goldsmith about my bike and I make the stupid comment that I've finally got it dialled for climbing. "Now's your chance! This next one's tricky". And so it proved, I'd not done it before but got within a few bike lengths of the end of the difficulties. Annoyingly Alan got to within one.<br />
<br />
A rocky descent into Grizedale before climbing up on The North Face trail and over towards Parkamoor.<br />
<br />
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<br />
A quick stop for something to eat and then on to one of the main descents of the route. This went well until about halfway down when I got the wrong line, stopped then as I tried to get going again went over the bars! Landing on bedrock hurts! Then I noticed something flapping on the bike - turns out the bolt holding my shifter to the brake had chosen that moment to disappear. A zip tie and a bit of tape from Mark (the chap in the shot above) and I was good to carry on.<br />
<br />
Easy riding led to Torver and the deli at The Wilson Arms. Pete McNeil offered a bolt to fix my shifter but it was slightly too short. In the end Alan Goldsmith came to the rescue with a slightly longer one - "that'll be a DQ then" he remarked.<br />
<br />
Up and over Torver Common, past Stephenson Ground and another rocky descent down to The Newfield Inn. Time for refreshments.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
A couple of pints later and I was ready to go. Now the JennRide has a short option and a long option and the Newfield was the turning point for the short route. But it was only 3:45pm so way too early to start heading back. However I didn't really want to go over to Wasdale so decided to do a medium option of my own: Road up on to Ulpha Fell then cut right and take bridleways down to Boot then another BW along the valley floor to by the Woolpack Inn. Sorted!<br />
<br />
By the time I got to my turn off the official route Stu Rider had caught me up again. The BW down the hillside was great, not technical but just nice fun. The one along the valley floor was a little different having been subject to some recent bulldozing in places to make it passable for farm vehicles.<br />
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<br />
<br />
There was a music festival on at The Woolpack so no stopping. On to the climb back over to Dunnerdale. This is basically a push for half an hour or so. As I reached the top of the steepest section I got a text from Cath - she was doing the same as me but using the roads in the valley as she didn't know the BWs. On the final track before the Wallowbarrow Descent I started with cramps which was a little annoying.<br />
<br />
I got back to the Newfield three hours after leaving so time to grab something to eat. Tony Craig was there having come off on the rocky descent down to the pub - he'd end up getting a (expensive) taxi back to Staveley. I spent nearly two hours in the pub! There was no rush I was going to bivy on the Coniston side of Walna Scar so only had to get there by dark.<br />
<br />
Chatting to one of the other riders it turned out that we'd both worked for the same building firm in Kendal many years ago so there was a bit of "what's X doing now?". He chose to set off with me and head up Walna Scar.<br />
<br />
It looked like my timing was right, there were long shadows on the push up the bottom section.<br />
<br />
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<br />
My companion dropped back then another rider appeared and caught me up at the midway gate. We walked together up the next bit, my cramp preventing me from attempting to ride any of it. Finally at the summit we were treated to a great sunset.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
It was a bit chilly on top, time to head down. I managed to ride more of it than the last times I've ridden it but I was still a bit shaken by my fall earlier in the day so walked a couple of sections of about 50 metres. Then it was just a blast down to the easier track.<br />
<br />
There were plenty of people bivvying out but I thought I'd better find somewhere that Cath could find me. I ended up just on from Boo Tarn (more of a reedy swamp these days) and texted her to let her know. She arrived about an hour later having missed me in the pub by about fifteen minutes.<br />
<br />
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<br />
The morning turned out grey so we didn't get the matching sunrise. Ah well. A quick butty from the filling station in Coniston then it was time to start heading back to Ambleside.<br />
<br />
There were a few bridleways in here that I'd not done before. The one below is a fairly steep lane leading up from Yew Tree Farm.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Round past Tarn Hows then another new to me descent towards the Drunken Duck. I'd done the bottom bit the other way some time ago but the main part of the descent was new. The last new to me bit was a bridleway from Outgate towards Brathay then it was familiar territory into town and breakfast.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
All that was left was up and over Jenkin's Crag and the bottom bit of Garburn Pass (which has been pitched with stone since I last rode it, definitely much easier to try and climb now). Round by High Borrans where Rich the organiser and another rider caught us up which meant that we could sort ourselves out and take turns to open gates.<br />
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<br />
Then just the Three Rivers descent and back into Staveley in time for lunch.<br />
<br />
All in all a good weekend even if I'm still somewhat battered and bruised from my low speed, as in 0 kmh, over the bars incident.Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-39724662437805451592019-03-07T15:13:00.001+00:002019-03-07T15:23:56.023+00:00Rovaniemi Kit<b><a href="https://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2019/02/what-lays-beneath.html">This year's race</a></b> was a bit different to that two years ago primarily because of the temperature being 10C or so warmer. Although I've not "raced" on the fat bike at home I was far warmer during the <b><a href="https://www.rovaniemi150.com/">Rovaniemi 150</a></b> than on most UK winter rides where I've ridden it.<br />
<br />
I'd done some adjustments since last time - <b><a href="https://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2017/03/rovaniemi-kit-what-worked-and-what-didnt.html">https://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2017/03/rovaniemi-kit-what-worked-and-what-didnt.html</a></b> , changes are noted in the comments, they are mostly about better cold protection but it just so happens that I'd have been OK with the kit I'd used last time.<br />
<br />
I've put links to the manufacturer's pages for some of the items but the standard stuff is easily located on CRC, Wiggle, etc.. <br />
<br />
<h3>
The bike</h3>
<i>Singular Puffin medium frame with Travers Fat Prong carbon forks. Industry Nine hubs with Sun Ringle Mulefut 80mm rims. Tyres were 45Nrth Vanhelgas set up tubeless. Raceface Aeffect cranks with Absolute Black oval 26T chainring. Shimano rear mech and Sunrace 11-42 10spd cassette. Avid BB7 brakes. Nukeproof Electron plastic/composite pedals. <b><a href="https://www.jonesbikes.com/jones-sg-2-5-aluminum-loop-h-bar/">Jones SG Riser Loop bars</a></b>.</i><br />
<br />
Apart from the Jones bars this is the same setup as two years ago. I'd originally fitted a set of carbon Jones Loop bars to the bike but got nerve damage after the last time. I suddenly realised it was because the previous owner was a little shorter than me and the steerer had been cut to suit so the front end was too low. The only way to lift it would have been to get a new set of forks but then Jones released their riser bars. Perfect!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Bags and Kit</h3>
<i><b><a href="https://www.wildcatgear.co.uk/shop/handlebar-systems/wildcat-gear-mountain-lion/">Wildcat Lion handlebar harness</a></b> with 20L Exped dry bag. Two <b><a href="https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/cockpit/MountainFeedbag">Revelate Mountain Feed Bags</a></b>. </i><i><i>Wildcat Snow Leopard frame bag. </i><a href="https://www.alpkit.com/products/fuel-pod-medium"> <b>Alpkit Fuel Pod</b></a><b> </b>top tube bag. <b><a href="https://www.wildcatgear.co.uk/shop/seat-systems/wildcat-tiger-drover/">Wildcat Tiger seat harness</a></b> and <b><a href="https://www.wildcatgear.co.uk/shop/dry-bags/tapered-dry-bags/">tapered dry bag</a></b>.</i><br />
<br />
The 20L dry bag held a <i>Rab Expedition 1100 sleeping bag</i> and an <i>Exped Winterlite</i> sleeping mat. I can get the bag in to a 13L bag but it's a struggle. I used the 13L bag last time and wrapped a CCF mat around it.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/handlebar/WilliwawPogies"><i>Revelate Williwaw pogies</i></a></b>. A big step up from the Alpkit model but a bit warm this time. Garmin Oregon GPS mounted on the front loop of the bars.<br />
<br />
One Feed bag held trail food and the other my goggles and battery from MTB Batteries for one of my lights.<br />
<br />
The frame bag came with the bike and is one of the prototypes. It contained <i>a spare inner tube; two spare buffs; three spare pairs of gloves; small pan; more food</i>. GoPro lay along the top of the frame bag and strapped to top tube.<br />
<br />
The top tube bag was fitted at the top tube - seat post junction to aid with standover. It held spare batteries for camera and GoPro; tools (multi-tool, Leatherman squirt, sewing kit). I also had a <b><a href="https://sahmurai.com/">Sahmurai Sword</a></b> tyre plug system which fits in the end of the handlebars. I had a Topeak Mountain Morph pump strapped to the down tube.<br />
<br />
The saddle bag held: a spare thermal top; spare socks; 3/4 length waterproof trousers; lightweight waterproof; PHD lightweight down jacket.<br />
<br />
Lights were a Hope Vision 2 mounted on the front loop of the bars and an Exposure Joystick mounted on my helmet (Lazer Revolution). The helmet has an inbuilt GoPro mount so I've an adaptor between that and the Exposure style mount. Generally you don't need a huge amount of light because the snow reflects so much so both lights were on their lowest settings, even with virtually a full night of riding I hardly used any of the battery charge. A small rear light was attached to the Tiger harness.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Food</h3>
Mostly nut and raisin mix with a bar of marzipan (doesn't freeze or crumble in to bits). I'd also a packet of precooked rice and grains and a couple of packets of porridge (hence the pan) but didn't use this.<br />
<br />
<h3>
On Me</h3>
Bridgedale socks; Scarpa Mountaineering boots with in-built gaiters; Madison thermal bib long; long sleeved thermal top of uncertain make and vintage; Gore Windstopper Jacket; lightweight buff under helmet.<br />
<br />
Between thermal and jacket I had a <b><a href="https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/accessories/Wampak"><i>Revelate Wampak</i></a></b> drinks pack with a 3 litre bladder.<br />
<br />
Camera and a few cereal and chocolate bars in the jacket pockets. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Thoughts</h3>
Mostly I got things right with just a few niggles. As stated several times the conditions were somewhat atypical and all the kit I'd bought to supplement/correct the mistakes from last time weren't really needed.<br />
<br />
One worry was the chainring getting bent on the flight out. I'd taken a spare but packed the wrong tool to replace it so I ended up (carefully) bending it back into line. It held up for the race and I didn't have any shifting problems so a bit lucky there.<br />
<br />
Later on I had problems with the brakes freezing up. I think this is because of everything being so wet earlier on in the race then when temperatures fell that turned to ice. I'm not sure if it was the callipers freezing up or water in the cables. I've seen a <b><a href="http://coastkid.blogspot.com/2018/11/building-surly-wednesday-prepping.html">blog post</a></b> about weatherproofing BB7s so will investigate that. <br />
<br />
I got tyre pressures pretty much right this time - I was riding quite a
bit more of the lake than those ahead of me for example plus on the long
tracks heading to CP7 where there was a lot of soft or broken snow I pulled away from Mike Collins who's much stronger
than me. It's a bit of a balancing act between having pressures low enough to ride but high enough to reduce drag. The route surface also ranges from soft tracks to ploughed roads so it was a matter of judging whether each section was long enough to justify stopping to adjust pressures, having done the route before made this easier.<br />
<br />
I didn't think they were too low until I got off the second
lake and the rear felt "squidgy". Whether it was the drop in temperature
or I'd caught the edge of an icy rut and the tyre had burped some air I
don't know but it needed a couple of PSI adding. I was possibly down to 2psi at that point.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUU6NTRfhZAKC_nNnAXPn96o_cV3VUxeLsBPdCQN0HcWBgE6hxy04ZrijIshJ-M19o8Hq4erLx1jGklTEPwptB8UzbQWGIbMAdTQf06dq7modbJW7eoUnPbn28Yh14cPb2esgmSQ0lmRSG/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUU6NTRfhZAKC_nNnAXPn96o_cV3VUxeLsBPdCQN0HcWBgE6hxy04ZrijIshJ-M19o8Hq4erLx1jGklTEPwptB8UzbQWGIbMAdTQf06dq7modbJW7eoUnPbn28Yh14cPb2esgmSQ0lmRSG/s320/rovaniemi-2019-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how low I got with tyre pressures - probably a bit too low at this point!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
My hands were roasting for most of the ride! I had the ventilation zips on the pogies open all the time until after the temperatures dropped well below freezing. I only used one of the spare pairs of gloves. In a similar vein my feet were very warm until the dampness built up from sweating. They only really got cold due to this at the stops, particularly the hut at CP6, but warmed up once I got moving. Constantly wriggling my toes helped.<br />
<br />
The Williwaw pogies have their own bar end plugs to use as part of their mounting system. Using the Sahmurai plugs meant that I had to loop the mount on to the bar grips which didn't really work.<br />
A) they would slip off the end of the bars occasionally.<br />
B) the mounting loop sat under the palm of my hand and was somewhat irritating.<br />
<br />
I'd wanted to have my sleeping kit at the back of the bike but I've no saddle bag big enough to stuff it in. This meant that I'd 2.5kg or so on the front of the bike affecting handling. One option might be to use a rear pannier rack and strap the bag to that. It would add around 700g over and above the Tiger harness and dry bag. While "soft" bikepacking kit is generally fine, it's intended to be streamlined to allow riding through narrow trails. On events like the Rovaniemi 150 the terrain and trails are much more open so that isn't so much of a problem. Certainly if I had to carry more kit it would be an option.<br />
<br />
I'd strapped the pump on the downtube next to the frame bag. When I came to use it after getting off the second lake it was rather icy so it might be better strapping it to the top tube. I'd not had this problem last time because it was so consistently cold.<br />
<br />
I'd looked around for a quick release mount to be able clip the GoPro and its "selfie" stick to the top tube but didn't manage to find one so I ended up using Velcro One-Wrap to fix it. As a result it was awkward to release and start using so I didn't get as much footage as I'd have liked. <br />
<br />
Of all the mandatory and spare kit I carried on the bike, the only items I used were the pump and one pair of gloves. Of course most of it is for when things go wrong or you are much slower and intending to sleep out.<br />
<br />
Ever more learning!<br />
<br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-56194314710665493022019-02-28T09:16:00.002+00:002019-03-01T11:36:03.752+00:00What Lays Beneath<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Snow's weird. Well its primary constituent, water, is weird. In fact it's one of the weirdest compounds known. The only substance that is naturally solid, liquid and vapour at the earth's surface. One of very few substances whose density isn't linear with temperature (the others are mostly rare elements), it's densest at +4C which is why ice floats on water and forms on the surface of bodies of water and not at the bottom.</span></i></span><br />
<br />
We woke to -25C. Putting a bike together in those temperatures is "<i>interesting</i>". A bent chainring should have been swapped out but I'd forgotten the adaptor so some careful rebending with a set of adjustable spanners was in order. The day was forecast to get warmer, a lot warmer, by the time we headed down to the mandatory gear inspection and race brief it had risen to -15C. Two hours later it was -5C.<br />
<br />
Race day and it was just below freezing as we headed down to sign on. It wasn't even nippy standing around on the river waiting for the start.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaC4IDu_-2z8ZHAC_o-ymsQKu2B2A-NBUhAjg0sQXQ_3dGfcAvwDv8njZqEh6ycnyH3qE-LfZGA_ImdKN5prOtlQEtqgu2-GDW_nTv-4A5INbcySOXXWpOg_3lClI9gCkStaEh-zPNPV82/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaC4IDu_-2z8ZHAC_o-ymsQKu2B2A-NBUhAjg0sQXQ_3dGfcAvwDv8njZqEh6ycnyH3qE-LfZGA_ImdKN5prOtlQEtqgu2-GDW_nTv-4A5INbcySOXXWpOg_3lClI9gCkStaEh-zPNPV82/s320/rovaniemi-2019-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The start</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibL0CAcm9YXA9NrtvZ5sgthjLLq4FCOhmWD7FvkBc4YZSA-pt_Dxql1NRYLHtanQRodrPqigTpnMvjpva6mUVVS_iNKR-Tu2m7fVsxxP2jfS-B5ETwqFM6Cqq3HQAm7Md17FZkhCv-efeY/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibL0CAcm9YXA9NrtvZ5sgthjLLq4FCOhmWD7FvkBc4YZSA-pt_Dxql1NRYLHtanQRodrPqigTpnMvjpva6mUVVS_iNKR-Tu2m7fVsxxP2jfS-B5ETwqFM6Cqq3HQAm7Md17FZkhCv-efeY/s320/rovaniemi-2019-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Clarke at the start</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqwsLmXMSI3zj-hZW19Gcx-8VWxNBUUXgpGqUc9Gq4fuUHmxM_ENwfA_KZh81h-rQsTNaQOce_LEeDngpNPiEr-GdZrjI1P-8zX4n4d6DlMU3LaNnVgKnyzS_yxMxMN9-deCyhE6eJHbg/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqwsLmXMSI3zj-hZW19Gcx-8VWxNBUUXgpGqUc9Gq4fuUHmxM_ENwfA_KZh81h-rQsTNaQOce_LEeDngpNPiEr-GdZrjI1P-8zX4n4d6DlMU3LaNnVgKnyzS_yxMxMN9-deCyhE6eJHbg/s320/rovaniemi-2019-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simon and Lisa Bryant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The start was the typical dash. We've 11km of this to spread the field out a bit and already the conditions feel harder than two years ago. I keep pace with Phil Clarke, one of the many British riders in the race and who I'd ridden with for a couple of days on the Highland Trail in 2017. We pass Mike (Collins) who'd had a puncture within the first kilometre. <br />
<br />
I'm on my limit when Phil pulls away as we work at passing a couple of other riders and he's leaving the first checkpoint as I head in. 47mins to there, a full eleven minutes slower than last time. Hmm might be a long day. There's a long minor road section before the first of the proper off-road sections. It feels firm until I get to a lead where there's soft windblown snow across the track and I'm off. Time to let some air out of the tyres. Soon I'm at checkpoint two.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASiVQ8RCQt7LICrFNBlgJoNQ_s5Jg3SWuWd521e7uq1wHyy_SCns5rQDBPKfo2Nj1r2ibdq5vLU6YK9Uzu4bKV_HvocuJ-gZvs-ohUDDg9rtl2gxiE_XQ6fD5VaftZrc4BMVK4v_Mz_vr/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASiVQ8RCQt7LICrFNBlgJoNQ_s5Jg3SWuWd521e7uq1wHyy_SCns5rQDBPKfo2Nj1r2ibdq5vLU6YK9Uzu4bKV_HvocuJ-gZvs-ohUDDg9rtl2gxiE_XQ6fD5VaftZrc4BMVK4v_Mz_vr/s320/rovaniemi-2019-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The forest road on the way to checkpoint two</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Each of the race distances (66, 150 & 300km) have separate sheets to sign. I notice there's only five numbers before mine. "<i>Is this the first sheet?</i>", "<i>yes</i>". Gulp, I wasn't expecting that.<br />
<br />
The next bit is one of the pain in the ass sections and is unrideable. It's so narrow and convoluted twisting in and around trees that the organisers can't use snowmobiles to create the trail but have to flatten it using snowshoes. It doesn't feel as bad as last time and soon I'm on the lake.<br />
<br />
It's definitely warm on the lake, probably +5C, and it's hard work. Ahead, still some way in the distance, I notice riders getting off and walking before remounting for a short distance then walking again. I stop to let more air out of my tyres. There's lots of overflow on the lake, these are definitely walking sections but the rest is mostly ridable - it's just a case of choosing the right line and speed for any one obstacle. I catch one of the riders I'd seen earlier. No, no, no, NO! He's walking in the main tyre tracks with his bike to the side thus wrecking any semblance of line for those following. He probably thought I was a grumpy old git going past.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ice lying on water isn't static, it lives and breathes in response to the weather and its immediate environment. One factor is variations in atmospheric pressure, these cause the ice to fall with high pressure and rise in low pressure. These changes lead to cracks forming in the ice and the underlying water overflowing on to the surface.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With dry, i.e. uncovered by snow, surfaces this water will freeze if air temperatures are below zero but remain liquid in warmer conditions. More interesting is what happens if the ice is blanketed with snow.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In such circumstances the snow acts as an insulator (well it's the air inside the snow that actually does the insulating) and the water remains in liquid form at temperatures well below freezing, the actual temperature depending on the depth of snow and ambient conditions. Unless someone has passed across the overflow then it's effectively hidden and the first you know about it is a sudden wet squidge. If air temps are well below zero then the water can freeze near instantly to boots, skis, drivetrain.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As much of a worry is the thought always at the back of your mind that this isn't actually overflow but a break in the ice.</span></i><br />
<br />
The next rider is some way away and it takes a while to catch them: I'd pull close on the tricky sections but then they'd pull out a lead when it was easier. Eventually I was close enough to see that it was a woman rider and when I passed I noted that she was riding the 150 as well. Her troubles were caused by too high tyre pressures for the conditions. I was in fifth! By the time I turned left at the route junction I looked back and she was just a dot in the distance.<br />
<br />
Finally, after 11km of sheer bloody effort I'm off the lake. Last time this had been fast smooth ice. A bit of road (still snow/ice) and then it's the longest and steepest hill on the route. "On your right" a voice announces, I wobble and fall off the marked track. "Shit! Sorry!" It's the woman again. It takes me several minutes to find purchase to climb back on the track.<br />
<br />
I catch her on the descent and she passes me again on the next section of road. I see her for the last time at the third checkpoint. Also there is Phil. He's been there a while sorting out a chain dropping issue. I leave on my own. For the next few hours the only riders, indeed people, I see will be at the checkpoints.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81kMI2etHlWQXc3m2BwzsdUmr8pEsAZIdkMUn9OZYm1hQi__0sSe_g_iPJoejyJ9qcN6apMs0D5Kxvo-dRS5zzjpJlkQkBPLgWydQzlrYDtxyrvmg1TbQK3wmcT2zsCB4qBXgtOtHAk5y/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81kMI2etHlWQXc3m2BwzsdUmr8pEsAZIdkMUn9OZYm1hQi__0sSe_g_iPJoejyJ9qcN6apMs0D5Kxvo-dRS5zzjpJlkQkBPLgWydQzlrYDtxyrvmg1TbQK3wmcT2zsCB4qBXgtOtHAk5y/s320/rovaniemi-2019-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Checkpoint three</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
More track, more road (with reindeer!) and more track get me to checkpoint four. The sunny morning has turned to a cloudy afternoon and it's really hard to make out features on the track. It's the Bridge of Doom next and the descent to it sees me headlong in to the snow at the side of the track as I catch a rut where one of the riders ahead has pushed through the surface. The bridge isn't as bad as last time - it gets its name due a competitor who fell in the stream and carried on rather than returning to the checkpoint five hundred metres back. He lost most of his toes to frostbite. The second pain in the ass section follows.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBt_y1Ykh-sAM6Pr28E56_Sh1a_LR4Xa7E2yhWzDB-P7aChs9NSJGjk6BkcPphDbnuYti3aMOW4pEs7USsmORZK4W7RLhjHFQkV4XqwZLPP6qS46WesThQJtIWjaGLBczj1EbdAoaWk4xd/s1600/rovaniemi-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBt_y1Ykh-sAM6Pr28E56_Sh1a_LR4Xa7E2yhWzDB-P7aChs9NSJGjk6BkcPphDbnuYti3aMOW4pEs7USsmORZK4W7RLhjHFQkV4XqwZLPP6qS46WesThQJtIWjaGLBczj1EbdAoaWk4xd/s320/rovaniemi-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bridge of Doom (photo from 2017)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A longish road section then tracks through the forest with more comedy
falls - they don't hurt, other than pride, the snow's too soft and deep
for that. <br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even several metres of dry snow can't support the weight of a bike and rider so we are following snowmobile tracks through the woods. The machines are a tracked rubber band (for want of a better description) with an outboard pair of steering skis.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> This has a micro effect on how and where you ride.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tracks thus formed need time for the cold air to firm up the disturbed snow, it's almost impossible to ride on fresh snowmobile tracks, especially uphill.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How quickly and how steadily the driver has passed along the track can affect the firmness of the track: a little too much throttle can lift the front end just enough that the skis don't compact the snow quite as much.</span></i><br />
<br />
I'm following the line of a steerer ski when my front wheel disappears and I'm over the bars. Giggling I look at the bike - the downtube is lying on the snow surface. I lift the bike out and carry on.<br />
<br />
In and out of checkpoint five without stopping other than to sign the sheet. I need to get the next bit done before dark as it's probably the most technical. The steep descent done it's lights on and I'm reduced to walking to the next checkpoint after a couple of snowmobiles pass in the opposite direction.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEOCKXSNTrl9y-B_8YYWQP3PzfMm8lciBCWNsgCkJafr8zPimml9u9aNpA-70KQ6DH1-41Xi5xbyDbeHLNR8EE751_YTJQf9S1SXXDnY2HskpwR16BN3ZXB3560QT35wyLB6c4eTzNerWA/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEOCKXSNTrl9y-B_8YYWQP3PzfMm8lciBCWNsgCkJafr8zPimml9u9aNpA-70KQ6DH1-41Xi5xbyDbeHLNR8EE751_YTJQf9S1SXXDnY2HskpwR16BN3ZXB3560QT35wyLB6c4eTzNerWA/s320/rovaniemi-2019-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the trails after checkpoint five.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Checkpoint six (out of eight) is actually just over halfway in distance and just under halfway in time. I spend time in the hut by the fire drying gloves and buffs whilst eating as much as possible. Two Italian riders arrive, they are on the 300km race, then a while later Mike turns up. He must have been storming to catch up after fixing the tyre at the start.<br />
<br />
Mike leaves before me but I catch him again on the long descent back to the starting river. He's having a bad time mentally with the conditions. I ride with him for a while but eventually the elastic snaps and I'm on my own. The forest track gives way to minor road and I reach the river and pass through the village. A food stop under the street lights then onward. It's 34km between CPs 6 & 7 and it feels very lonely.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Riders also have an effect on the trail - follow someone who hasn't lowered their tyre pressure enough for the conditions and there'll be wiggles in the tyre tracks as they slip around and dips in the track as they apply too much torque and the tyre begins to dig in. In the worst case they'll step off or fall off and leave holes in the trail.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>There are so many micro conditions to contend with: breaks in the trees allow the wind to fill over the track or the sun to soften it. </i></span><br />
<br />
There's a light behind, it can only be Mike. I push on, the gap closing as I reach the climbs, extending as I hit the descents. At the turn on to the forest track there's no light in sight. I push on. This section just seems to last for ever as you follow forest tracks in the night. Like last time I smell the wood smoke from the fire before I see the shelters of the checkpoint. I spend time holding various bits of clothing to the fire to dry them out. I'm about to leave when Mike arrives. He's thinking of kipping here for a while.<br />
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A snowmobile pulls in to the checkpoint and leaves again just after I've got going. The track is now too soft to ride so it's more pushing. Eventually I get on to a forestry track and the surface improves. The snowmobile is heading back, the driver signals me to stop: "<i>man then woman ahead, about 5km on the lake, but woman is not looking good. If you see her check with her.</i>" It turns out that she'd taken one of the many tracks leading off the route on the lake and rung race HQ to say she was lost. Somehow she got back on track and finished in fifth.<br />
<br />
I'm halfway across the lake and all of a sudden the wheels come off. Not the bike, <b>me</b>. I've bonked. Apart from the road sections it's all been hard work, the track surface just soft enough that you were pushing maybe a centimetre or more of snow in front of your wheels. It was like riding with a binding brake. I've eaten enough, I probably ate 2/3rds of the food I took and we'd stocked up with more than we thought we'd need. I'd also drunk plenty. I walk significant parts of the track across the lake.<br />
<br />
Mike's light appears on the lake behind me and the catch is made just before we reach the far bank. I stop to put air in my rear tyre (I think a drop in temperature had also had an effect) and apart from his rear light blinking in the distance it's the last I'll see of him. The hill over to the river is a long steady drag, still mostly rideable but I have to walk a couple of bits.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-7Zose-QQLc8jk4b8cYbZO8YWnki4kbuaVbi2YzLU3WMsk5a6tDqDCoYOw1FnJOIi1t17dAcZbfkRoSuzVdhcIYttKpK8mbz23xmfWl0sif4d7S3gw7BAsfj34c8dP-prHM-Foj09XxV/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-7Zose-QQLc8jk4b8cYbZO8YWnki4kbuaVbi2YzLU3WMsk5a6tDqDCoYOw1FnJOIi1t17dAcZbfkRoSuzVdhcIYttKpK8mbz23xmfWl0sif4d7S3gw7BAsfj34c8dP-prHM-Foj09XxV/s320/rovaniemi-2019-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how low my tyre was when I pumped it up!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Down on to the river, turn left and the last checkpoint is a kilometre away. In and out with no stopping, just the 11km back to the finish. This is interminable - I ride 500m then walk 500m. I look back, the white of the iced river fades away with distance until it merges in to the dark of the forest. Nothing. I'm on my own. Those 11km take 1hr40mins.<br />
<br />
I lean the bike against the wall, stop the Garmin and open the door. A small round of applause from the volunteers manning the desks, a handshake from Alex. I'm done.<br />
<br />
<b>19hrs54mins</b><br />
<br />
I finished in seventh place. I'd lost an hour to Mike in the last 20km. The next finishers, the first on foot, arrive nearly three and a half hours after me. It's five hours until the next fat biker arrives. It seems that the seven of us were well out in front of everyone else for the entire race (Mike's puncture at the start excepted). We all had roughly an hour between our finishing times. Phil gained an impressive third place in 16:04<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS48tqon4B2ZY6OWbUrqnp5YMN9lLHnbNCdWrg5CagzD5fLLONlxtnD4FzOEvh3aCj-q3Dm8vKavoy1UqObOFpclVXOJFS9-oUk5H-f3oyq7hGdRVYR-tAcB6WPRg-tZqvg85rtpAtgqkQ/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS48tqon4B2ZY6OWbUrqnp5YMN9lLHnbNCdWrg5CagzD5fLLONlxtnD4FzOEvh3aCj-q3Dm8vKavoy1UqObOFpclVXOJFS9-oUk5H-f3oyq7hGdRVYR-tAcB6WPRg-tZqvg85rtpAtgqkQ/s320/rovaniemi-2019-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finishing times</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I grab a couple of naps - trying to sleep in a sleeping bag rated to -30C in a heated storeroom isn't easy. Cath left the halfway hut at 23:03 so I reckoned she'd be finishing sometime between 1pm and 2pm. She eventually finished at 9 minutes past two as second lady on bike and in 18th place overall.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG0fsgbpm5azuwIrV-s1rdnqlognIf-og7w7FhQZBBMTwNdHEjwucDcGYC4MZ-kVdgLjEqkCkkWIfWPzkkuX8FLPUC8RWYTcG6V_8F_Nf2-6loBufGiKI8Ee7Qy0hlDKoDPsQHFgItEY1_/s1600/rovaniemi-2019-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG0fsgbpm5azuwIrV-s1rdnqlognIf-og7w7FhQZBBMTwNdHEjwucDcGYC4MZ-kVdgLjEqkCkkWIfWPzkkuX8FLPUC8RWYTcG6V_8F_Nf2-6loBufGiKI8Ee7Qy0hlDKoDPsQHFgItEY1_/s320/rovaniemi-2019-12.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cath receiving her prize from the organiser Alex.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Conditions were much harder than two years ago, only ten competitors finished in under 24hrs compared to over twenty then. The first lady was Hungarian but on the roster she'd put "UK" so I'm not sure if she's dual nationality. If she is then five of the top seven were Brits. Apparently she'd recently completed the Seven Summits which might explain her amazing aerobic performance.<br />
<br />
<br />
Trail conditions required constant attention, you couldn't relax for a moment in case you caught the edge of a shallow rut or failed to spot a post hole. My shoulders were sore for a couple of days afterwards with the effort of keeping the bike upright and pointing forward.<br />
<br />
Full results here: <a href="https://www.rovaniemi150.com/results/rov150-2019/">https://www.rovaniemi150.com/results/rov150-2019/</a> <br />
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<br />
Here's the Strava activity link:<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/2177703594/embed/c3d735c126d3c99481bba1e9e96860f411b1724e" width="590"></iframe>
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Is this going to be like hangovers? "<i>Never again!</i>" Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-41249469055523026462019-01-01T18:49:00.001+00:002019-01-01T18:49:34.389+00:002018 Bivy a Month retrospectiveHaving missed out on getting a full twelve months' worth of bivvies for the last couple of years, in each case just a month was missed, we determined to give the Bivy-a-month challenge a proper shot.<br />
<h4>
<b>January</b> </h4>
Another BB "do", this time the winter event. We'd got to the cafe at Bwlch y Sarnau and were wondering where to kip. I thought I'd better put a jacket on and noticed some old farm buildings so ended up with a four star bivy! Plenty of room to get us and the bikes inside out of the wind and rain. Turns out that the whole farm was up for sale for redevelopment so maybe not an option in future.<br />
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<h4>
<b>February</b> </h4>
A last minute grab this one. Decided to keep it very local so headed up the hill behind us, me on the fat bike, Cath on her plus wheeled Stooge. Cath rejected my first choice - locally known as "murder wood" after the body of a lady of ill repute was found there in the 1970s - no idea why she didn't fancy stopping there. So we carried on and made our way to close to the top of the hill. For a hill in the Pennines it's actually quite prominent and separate from the rest of the chain so it's pretty exposed. However, there's some old, shallow, quarry pits here, I'd used them for a bivy a couple of years ago when Cath was away skiing. The same spot I'd used before was out of the wind so up with the tarp.<br />
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It was only when we'd got bedded down and turned out the torches that we realised how bright the moon was (full moon in a couple of days) and with all the lying snow the whole area everything was well lit up. The main problem was that the pitch was on a very slight slope so we'd slowly slide out of the tarp! According to my thermometer it got to -7C while Cath's reckoned it was -8C, whatever, it was pretty nippy.<br />
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We were up at 0620 and packed away just as the first snow flurry hit. A bit of cheeky riding along the Pennine Way and then back home for 0730. Sorry no pics for this one.<br />
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<h4>
<b>March & April</b> </h4>
We left it until even later than February but after work kiboshed getting away on Good Friday we headed up to do some riding based on the Wild About Argyll Trails. We set off from Arrochar on Saturday afternoon and ended up on a hillside above Loch Eck. We discovered during the night that silnylon bivy bags are very slippery and pitching up on even a slight slope has unintended consequences It was pretty cold, about -3C but that was March done. 3/3.<br />
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Sunday we continued and by the time we got to Tarbert on the Mull of Kintyre (cue McCartneys, Denny Lane and a band of pipers wandering along the beach) we decided to cut the route short and headed up the road to rejoin the return at Furnace. By this time it was a bit late so we bivvied on a flat spot overlooking the sea. 4/4.<br />
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Got back to the car just under 48hrs after leaving. Didn't have any rain or other precipitation so a good choice.<br />
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<h4>
<b>May</b> </h4>
We did our first Welsh Ride Thing and so got two bivvies for the price of one. The weather was brilliant all weekend. The first bivy was above Brithdir near Dolgellau whilst the second was on the shores of Llyn Vyrnwy<br />
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<h4>
<b>Jun</b>e </h4>
We went for a rather warm ride up to the north west part of the Dales. We followed the Pennine Bridleway but with a few short cuts. After a nice meal in The Moorcock Inn we ended up bivvying close to the Water Cut sculpture near the north end of the PBW with Wild Boar Fell across the other side of the valley as a backdrop.<br />
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The following morning we rode the very northern bit of the PBW over the shoulder of Wild Boar Fell before heading back home via Sedbergh, Ribblehead and Malham.<br />
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<b>July</b> </h4>
We went for a rather long ride this time, basically the Leeds-Liverpool canal to Wigan, the Bridgewater canal to join up with the Trans Pennine Trail then NCN 67 to Leeds before rejoining the LL canal to get back home.<br />
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We bivvied in Longdendale on the old railway line that once used the Woodhead tunnels.<br />
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We rose early, everything was bone dry - no condensation or ground damp. By the time we'd ridden the 6km to the tunnel entrances it was drizzling so good timing.<br />
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<h4>
<b>August</b>: The French Divide.</h4>
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<h4>
<b>September</b>: A midweek strike.</h4>
I rode over to Cath's work (having forgotten that she finished at 1700 not 1730 ) then we set off up through the woods and on to the moor<br />
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I had thought of bivvying up on the top of the moor but it was very busy with a group of twenty or so mountain bikers going the other way then a group of fell runners then it looked like a pair of trails bikers were heading along the track! It was also a bit early and actually blowing a bit of a gale so we carried on.<br />
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We headed up from Hetton and found an old quarry working that was sheltered and had some flat spots to put up the tent. This was our first BAM using a tent, it's new and Cath wanted another night out in it. Anyway, I found another use for the Schnozzle bag - as a diffuser over an Exposure Joystick. Cue stereotypical nighttime shot of a lit tent ...<br />
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It rained through the night which wasn't forecast and it was a bit dreich in the morning. A quick pack up then it was down towards Threshfield, Cath headed to work while I headed home.<br />
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<h4>
<b>October</b> </h4>
Another getting to the end of the month and what shall we do job. Cold northerlies meant somewhere sheltered. We e eventually settled on top of the local hill! This was the same spot as for the February bivy.<br />
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We headed out on our fat bikes which gave Cath a chance to try her new tyres. It was about -3C when we set out but warmed up a bit through the night to around or just above freezing this morning. We used the same site, some old quarry workings, that we'd used on our Feb bivy as they are reasonably sheltered. We used the new Pole-a-Bear poles we got earlier in the week from Stu along with a carbon pole he'd made for me last year. What we didn't realise was that they came out about 150mm shorter than our normal reused old tent poles so the setup wasn't quite right.<br />
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There were a few light showers through the night but it was definitely nippy in the morning with some frost on the tarp.<br />
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<h4>
<b>November</b> </h4>
Got it in early this time. I persuaded Cath that the new tyres on her fat bike needed a proper ride so that they'd bed in.<br />
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With the short daylight hours timing was everything, we needed to get to the pub at about the time they started to serve food, a couple of hours there then off to wherever we would bivy. We left Buckden after midday and headed up on to Stake Moss then down via a new to us bridleway to Thornton Rust and then by road to Aysgarth where we took afternoon tea. Steady riding along the north side of the valley in ever increasing gloom and darkness got us to the pub in Bainbridge about forty minutes before food time.<br />
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Suitably replenished we left the pub at about 2000 and headed up the old Roman Road keeping a look out for potential bivy spots. After about a kilometre there was an open gate in to a flat field. Up with the tent. A couple of swigs of whisky and some snacks and we crashed out.<br />
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The morning was fine but looking a bit ominous so a quick breakfast then it was on and up the rest of the Roman Road and over Fleet Moss to Cam Head to drop down towards Ribblehead before cutting back through Langstrothdale forest. All the descent was in cold driving rain so by the time we got back to the car we were both soaked and frozen.<br />
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<h4>
December</h4>
We chickened out of the BB Winter bivy, in the event it was probably just as well since black ice coated everything and it was difficult if not impossible to walk the short distance from the house door to the car! That meant our only real chance was our annual three day trip somewhere. We ended up in Kielder Forest visiting both Kershopehead and Flittingford bothies. <br />
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Most of the first day was really a night ride and in very thick fog it was a good job I'd put the route into the GPS to get us to Kershopehead. There were a couple of well oiled Carlisle lads in their already who'd already got the fire going. A steady day got us to Flittingford which fortunately was empty as it's very small.<br />
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The third day was a straightforward ride back to the car on tracks we'd used before.<br />
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So that's a full year's worth of bivvies.<br />
<br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-23286950111851960882018-10-15T16:45:00.000+01:002018-10-15T18:47:28.058+01:00BB200, the 2018 wet edition<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Great things are done when men and mountains meet.</i></div>
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<i>This is not done by jostling in the street.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
William Blake<i> </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The last time I'd been at this stream it was fast flowing but clear and I'd almost managed to ride across it. Today it was a dirty brown roaring maelstrom. It didn't look good.</span><br />
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<a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2016/10/bear-bones-200.html"><b>Two years ago</b></a> I did my first BB200 gaining one of the coveted black badges. There must have been something about that year as over a third of the entrants also got a black badge. Rumours spread that that course was "easy". With the course being different each year it's hard to compare them but the 2014 route has a mythical status: apparently the riders didn't speak to Stu on their return to Llanbrynmair and there's lots of dark mutterings in to cups of coffee when it's mentioned.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">"The bridge at 20km has gone. Use your own judgement on how to get round or across that stream." With that advice, I was away. The stream looked like one of those African rivers in the rainy season, a red-brown soup, surface features flitting past in the current. I knew that there were no tributaries joining it between here and the ford and also that I wasn't going to be crossing it. Farm and forestry tracks rejoined the route further upstream, they would do.</span><br />
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In truth none of the BB200 routes are "easy", they aren't meant to be, but the conditions on the day can make them much harder. The short daylight hours of October just add to this. There's no "winning" or "losing" but scratching is a hard choice. Making decisions in such conditions as we experienced on Saturday can have serious consequences.<br />
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In these days of 250km+ per day multi-day rides a mere 200km might not seem much to shout about but they are tough kilometres. Even the easy grassy bits you have to keep concentrating as a lot of the surface is a layer of wet soil and grass that has little resistance to pedalling and you can easily find yourself sideways to your original line of motion.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's taken nearly seven hours to do the first 60km to reach the filling station/shop in Ponterwyd. There's a group of riders there refuelling. A cup of coffee, a sandwich and replenish supplies and I'm on my way in ten minutes or so. No point in standing around getting cold, it's another 50km to the next potential stop in Llangurig so time to crack on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'd not done the next section around the two bothies before so I don't really know what to expect. In the event there was another stream crossing, quite a bit deeper this one, and what would turn out to be the biggest hike-a-bike of the route. A bit of cramp at the top of this just as I get hit by a gust of wind. Fortunately it's downhill for a while and I work it off. Some stream enabled bridleways to the second bothy then I'm on familiar territory but the Broken Road is tricky in the wind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's also hard on kit. Given the number of GPS and light failures I
think it's reasonable to say that manufacturers don't employ the 24hr
spin cycle on their nearest industrial washing machine when testing their products. There
was much discussion beforehand about the best way of keeping your feet
dry with lots of "systems" being bandied about. It's probably safe to
say that by the first thigh deep river crossing none of them were still working if indeed they ever had.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The road to the head of the Elan Valley is eased by what is now a tail gale. Darkness falls along here so lights on and finding the next bridleway is tricky. The "problem" is solved by blasting downhill through tussocks until I find the track. I'd thought when looking at the map that this was mainly downhill so I'm confused as to why there are three lights on the hillside above me. Then I work my way back on to the GPX line and it becomes clear: the downhill has a large bit of uphill in it. I've no idea of the time when I get to the road so it's just press on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's 2030 and I've made the pub in time for something to eat. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">"We've just turned the fryers off. We've had no-one in all night." "Soup?" "Can do that for you." </span>There won't be anywhere else open until I get to the finish. Twelve hours to here. They've felt like hard won miles. Another couple of riders arrive seeking shelter from the storm. I'm there for thirty minutes. Things are calming down when I head out, in fact for a while there's stars in the sky.</span><br />
<br />
A good mental attitude will get you a long way on the BB200. Enjoying your own company helps since in the latter parts of the route you will likely be on your own. Equally true is that you can spend a large part of the route with other riders. These tend to be chatty affairs given the likelihood of some rather large personal space in the not too distant future.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The track is doing the best approximation of a river that it can when my front wheel drops into a muddy pool and hits a hidden sloping rock and I'm eating rock. No damage done. Except for the flapper on the end of a finger. Blood drips down washed away by the rain. It takes an hour or so for the flow to stop. A second fall ten hours later bangs my knee which is still sore a day later. Oh, there's more blood.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. My front wheel is making an odd but regular noise. I stop and check the brake rotor for debris but there's nothing obvious. Another spin of the wheel. Tap. Tap. Tap. Hmm. Then I notice the stick across the top of the tyre. I pull at it. It's attached to a thorn. There's a quick hiss and the sealant does its job. (I find another thorn once I get home) There's been a lot of hedge cutting and I've been lucky to get this far.</span><br />
<br />
The BB200 is a curious beast, some call it an ITT, some a challenge.
It can be both but at times it's as much an exploration of your psyche
with the clinician's couch substituted by the mountains of Mid-Wales. A
game of open air chess with a myriad conflicting aims and decisions: can
you make it round? Have I enough food with me? Do I have time to get to
the next shop? Do I stop at the cafe and cool down or push on?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">2am and I'm sat under the market hall in Llanidloes. A couple walk past, they're the first people I've seen in three hours since I left the last couple of riders near Bwlch y Sarnau. I'm not sure that my light has enough juice to see me to the end so I've decided to sit a while and grab a bite whilst it's getting some charge. After fifteen minutes I'm starting to get cold so it's time to pack up and get moving again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'm trying hard to ignore the clunking noise from my left pedal (I think) hopefully that will fix it. I've ignored the creaking chain for a good seven hours now and that still works so the tactic seems a good one.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I do a bit of faffing about in Hafren Forest and one of the riders I pulled away from at Bwlch y Sarnau catches me up and we will ride to the finish together. One big climb through the forest then it's mostly downhill and a few small bumps to deal with. As we approach the last bridleway I can feel cramp coming on so we walk the last climb. With over twenty hours of riding done we are tired so the descent is steady then it's just 20 minutes of road and we pull in to the community centre car park. It's 0618, the first light of the new day is just visible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄ </span></div>
<br />
So how did it compare to two years previously? In 2016 for the 205km I had a total time of 19hrs1min with 16hrs35mins riding. This year for 202km I had a total time of 21hrs20mins with a riding time of 19hrs35mins.<br />
<br />
The Strava bit:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/1904965223/embed/fee8cff9b44f33b79cfcb77c9d3c1f0b9cece637" width="590"></iframe>
<br />
Two years ago 25+ riders, over a third of the field, went home with a black badge. This year there were just seven. Definitely harder, not a repeat of 2014, people even spoke to Stu afterwards, but hard.<br />
<br />
Cath arrived back at the centre 29hrs30mins after setting off having ridden through without a bivy. Tough lass! She didn't look anywhere near as tired as two years ago.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">"That" stream? My companion crosses it bike on shoulder so it's doable. My turn. The water comes to the top of my thighs and I'm struggling for purchase on the boulders then I'm over to the far bank. We wait for the rest of our loose group and help them across.</span><br />
<br />
Of course on the drive home it was nice and sunny and I needed the sunglasses that I'd left at home by the back door.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihC-WVuMGRerShIiWMVpdoLyYpZ_HlpQ6KLGo5rkFFT2Y_9HcU-lG7T3751shOak40GmrPEwASkdqxFO29rT-zeMgLs0fSC9mUxxqtXumJkEebfPdNO7oKcmRKg73_pg8RhV3hTDOj4hFL/s1600/photo-8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihC-WVuMGRerShIiWMVpdoLyYpZ_HlpQ6KLGo5rkFFT2Y_9HcU-lG7T3751shOak40GmrPEwASkdqxFO29rT-zeMgLs0fSC9mUxxqtXumJkEebfPdNO7oKcmRKg73_pg8RhV3hTDOj4hFL/s320/photo-8.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This black badge was hard won.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-15610441897642456432018-10-01T08:08:00.001+01:002018-10-31T09:12:40.254+00:00Revisiting a bike buildA couple of years ago I <b><a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2016/11/scratching-n1-itch.html">built up a Singular Puffin fat bike</a></b> for the <a href="https://www.rovaniemi150.com/"><b>Rovaniemi 150</b></a> bike race. My first fat bike, it would take a little getting used to and there was a good chance I'd have to modify one or two things.<br />
<br />
One of the things that I definitely didn't get right during the Rovaniemi was tyre pressures. I made the classic newbie mistake of running too high a pressure so struggled when the snow got softer. I'd fitted a 28T chainring but since I've rarely used the 11T cog I thought I'd drop down a couple of teeth so ordered a 26T oval chainring and fitted that. Bling gold so I can tell it apart from the 28T version!<br />
<br />
<b>Update</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">On a ride a few weeks later I noticed a crunching noise when in the 42T cog. Bike up on workstand to see what's going on. It turned out to be at the chainring end. There were two BB spacers on the drive side and one on the NDS so swapped a spacer from the drive side to the NDS thereby moving the chainline inward by 2.5mm and it was sorted. There's still plenty of clearance between chain and tyre.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
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A weekend in the Lakes doing some rather steep stuff led me to realise that the brakes (Avid BB7s) were a little underpowered so I moved the 180mm rotor from the front to the back and added a 200mm rotor to the front, except ... Hope rotors don't play well with Avid brakes - the tabs on the pads foul the "rivets" connecting the inner part of the rotor to the braking surface. The easiest solution was to cut the tabs down. It turned out to be the one practical solution I later found when searching online.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-FExWoSkYB2di_fGUCtmmLuqkUvf_7JYFyIs8OHBSA6E5U0WDPbA_f_PhIVEunDYR3figzpZcD-yckkaM9LzR2zrHg8fy9TW5CDgVMBai9_IYo-39RYd0A8J7QA0LZvhv2ndwBEA29oC/s1600/fat-bike-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-FExWoSkYB2di_fGUCtmmLuqkUvf_7JYFyIs8OHBSA6E5U0WDPbA_f_PhIVEunDYR3figzpZcD-yckkaM9LzR2zrHg8fy9TW5CDgVMBai9_IYo-39RYd0A8J7QA0LZvhv2ndwBEA29oC/s320/fat-bike-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's a big rotor!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0p5k6rAkM6eInsimOEdMmG883gKI9NO7Dx4gBWNz7o0GSk9Ws4ZLOCNZENM1w45FydWn1DFz-IeBwGMUUsRocxLK12JjLmaCddboNAXTjYA2Mte1sDc1ruktklgXg3sQHiB_C6_Bqmepr/s1600/fat-bike-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0p5k6rAkM6eInsimOEdMmG883gKI9NO7Dx4gBWNz7o0GSk9Ws4ZLOCNZENM1w45FydWn1DFz-IeBwGMUUsRocxLK12JjLmaCddboNAXTjYA2Mte1sDc1ruktklgXg3sQHiB_C6_Bqmepr/s320/fat-bike-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And so's that!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
At the time I noted that I'd take time to get used to the handlebars. Earlier this year I built up a Salsa Spearfish and rather than buy a new set of Jones Bars I moved the bars to the Spearfish and put some On-One Mary bars on the fat bike. The Loop Bars felt right on the Spearfish so it obviously wasn't the bars themselves that were the problem but I put things to one side and got on with riding and generally doing stuff. As it happened the Mary Bars didn't feel right either so time to have a ponder and mull things over.<br />
<br />
It dawned on me that Ian, the previous owner of the Puffin, was a little shorter than me so he'd have cut the fork steerer to suit him. Basically the bars were too low. As it happened Jones had recently released a new model of Loop Bar, one with an inbuilt rise of 2.5". A set were duly ordered.<br />
<br />
They didn't get put on the Puffin straight away, they went onto Cath's Stooge to give her a chance to see if they suited her. A month or so later and she's decided they aren't for her, so ...<br />
<br />
Put Cath's Stooge Moto bars back on her bike and remove the On-One Marys from mine.<br />
<br />
Jeff Jones recommends that the brake and gear levers are situated as close to the bar joint as possible but I wanted to use a set of <a href="https://backcountry.scot/product/revelate-designs-williwaw-pogies/"><b>Revelate Williwaw Pogies</b></a> with these bars (<a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2017/03/rovaniemi-kit-what-worked-and-what-didnt.html"><b>See this post about the pogies</b></a> I used during the Rovaniemi 150) so I needed to make sure that wherever I fitted them they weren't going to interfere with one another. It turned out that about 50mm further out towards the ends of the bars felt right. It's worth noting that Revelate state that the Williwaws aren't for use with Jones Loop Bars but they seem all right to me, angling the bars downwards appears to help in this regard.<br />
<br />
While last time I'd gone for a double colour taping scheme this time I've gone for a single colour, red, but the bars are double wrapped which will help with cold temps.<br />
<br />
I'd got a set of ESI Chunky Monkey foam grips so rather than use bar tape to cover the bars all the way to the levers I'd use a section of the grip on the inside of the levers and with luck this would also grip on to the bar tape at that point. The last time I'd fitted these grips I'd really struggled but this time a good dousing of Iso-Propyl Alcohol and they went on in seconds. The inner sections were really easy since they were so short. Then the levers, then the longer outer section.<br />
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<br />
The last job was to angle the bars and then tighten down the levers to suit.<br />
<br />
At the weekend I went for a test ride over on some new to me bridleways in the Forest of Bowland. Seems pretty sorted.<br />
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<br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-27639742323305811212018-08-28T19:27:00.000+01:002018-08-28T19:27:07.726+01:00YD200, the 2018 Edition2018 has been a somewhat frustrating year, I'd scratched on the <a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2018/05/went-day-well-no.html"><b>f<span id="goog_118807748"></span></b></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><b></b></a><b><a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2018/05/went-day-well-no.html">irst day on the HT550</a><span id="goog_118807749"></span></b> and on the fifth day of <b><a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-heat-of-darkness.html">The French Divide</a></b> so I was a bit down about things. We'd toured Brittany after scratching on the FD but if I'd completed the FD then I doubt I would have considered riding this year's YD200. As it was I thought I'd be OK so rang Stuart on the Friday to see if there were any spaces.<br /><br />"<i>There's only eight due to turn up! A few who registered have emailed to say they can't make it.</i>"<br /><br />"<i>See you tomorrow morning</i>"<br /><br />Which meant I had to get the bike ready. But I'm a dab hand at this now. The forecast was fine and cool (hurrah!) for Saturday with rain coming in on Sunday morning. Riding through was the obvious tactic but I'd pack a lightweight bivy system that I've used before: SOl Escape bivy and a PHD lightweight duvet. Along with a windshirt for possible trail use it came to a mighty 600g! An Alpkit Top Tube bag mounted in the frame behind the bottle cage held tools and spares, the pump was strapped to the bottle cage, and two Revelate Feed bags for trail snacks and odds 'n' sods. Pretty lightweight but some did have even less.<br /><br />Up early and ride into town. Yep, just eight of us. I knew, in varying degrees, four of the others, ITTs are a small and apparently shrinking world. One of those I know is Phil Clarke who I'd ridden with on last year's HT550 and who I'd last seen at Corrour this year when he gave me an inner tube for my busted rear wheel. Returning that we had a chat then Stuart gave his usual pep-talk and soon it was time to go.<br /><br />I led the small group out of the yard and towards town, that certainly wasn't going to last! Soon enough the front runners are off in front. Let them go. Most of Stuart's rides finish over Barden Moor but this started that way which isn't that usual for me to ride. It's a long drag to the summit especially with the head wind. Soon enough we are dropping down to Rylstone and heading up to Bordley.<br /><br />The front two (Tom Bruce and Phil) are well ahead but there's a group of four of us riding at roughly the same pace so Mike, George, Ian and myself spend most of the next few hours riding together or as various pairings as our strength ebbs and flows. There's quite a bit of surface water on Mastiles Lane, evidence of Friday's rain, nothing's particularly boggy or muddy though and we keep pressing on.<br /><br />The Saturday of the August BH weekend is Malham Show Day which has an associated Trailquest meaning that as we pushed westwards towards Settle we'd cross lots of bikers with map boards mounted on their bikes as they rode around picking up controls and points. There was one part of the route that I'd not done before, at the time I thought it was a footpath but checking the map afterwards it wasn't even that, definitely cheeky!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike, myself and George at the 3 Peaks cafe in Settle</td></tr>
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<br />An agreement was made to have a coffee in Settle then the first of the hard climbs, it's in the 100 road climbs book, where Mike gets a bit of lead on the rest of us before a rapid descent and some nice BW around Wharfe. Lights on for the descent through the tunnels at Clapham and we pop out of those to find Mike dealing with a blown rear tyre.<br /><br />The next bit to Wray is all road but it's lumpy. There's just George and myself at this point and by the time we get to Wray we could do with refreshments as there'll be nothing until we ride back over the Roman road across Salter's Fell to Slaidburn. The pub is convenient and a drink and ice cream do wonders. Steep road before an equally steep drop and climb back out lead to the end of the tarmac. The first part of the track is a good surface but it deteriorates after a gate, presumably an estate boundary, then again after another gate.<br />
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<br /><br />We almost gate crash a wedding on the way in to Slaidburn where we meet up again with Ian. We've just about finished our coffee when Mike arrives - George and I thought he'd passed us when we were in the pub but fixing his tyre had taken longer than anticipated. As we pass through Gisburn Forest he nips off to the cafe/shop to see if they have inner tubes for sale.<br /><br />There's short sections of one of the marked routes we need to follow and I'm reminded why I don't like trail centres. Ah well, at least it's over pretty soon. Unfortunately as we climb through the forest I get the early signs of cramp and George and Ian leave me behind. Nothing to do but ease off and pedal through it. At least there's a long bit of generally downhill road next. One climb up to above Settle then a bit of bridleway I'd not done before and then I'm in town.<br /><br />George and Ian are sat outside the Co-op, I nip in and grab what I need. I leave five minutes after them and won't see them until the finish. I normally manage the climb on the Settle Loop out of town but the cramps force me to walk some of it - at least I clean one of the rocky sections for the first time. <br /><br />Once on top it's easy going as now there's a tail wind. Most of the puddles on Mastiles Lane have gone, in fact one beck that we'd avoided on the way out because it was so deep was now almost dry. With lots of interlinked loops in the route at this point it was possible I'd see the front riders and so it proved as Phil and I met at a gate. A quick chat about timings and we head on. I'd enough food to not need to visit the Spar at Threshfield but I needed to walk the steep tarmac back onto the tops. Down to the foot of Mastiles then start heading up again.<br /><br />Mike catches me at this point - he'd stopped for something to eat at Tosside - as we get to the steeper top section we both get off and walk. The moon is just rising and we both stop to take a shot. Once on top it's nearly dark and the wind feels keen so on with the arm warmers and press on. I switch my lights on just before Lee Gate farm, no point in risking things.<br />
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<br /><br />There's just one short steep climb to Weets Top and as the cramps come back Mike pulls away. I'll be on my own to the finish. The descent to Calton is a blast in the dark. I text Cath to let her know my expected finish time and polish off the road section to Bell Busk. Just Markhouse Lane, the canal towpath and the old railway track to do.<br /><br />I've done bits of the old railway track where the Land-Rover experience use it but not the section heading back to town. The pools looked particularly black tonight, well worth avoiding. The "new" bit starts off as double track but slowly gets less and less well defined until soon you are on a path riding through bushes. There's no lights to indicate where I am but all of a sudden the angle goes downhill sharply and I debouch onto the road. Just TT mode back to the finish.<br /><br />I finish just before 11pm having taken just under 15hrs. Phil and my three companions are there and we chat for a while before it's time to head home and get some kip. The fastest time was 12hrs22mins.<br /><br />Overall not a bad effort. I could still feel this summer's efforts in my legs, in particular there's no real top end power and sustained tempo is a bit lacking - going up long draggy hills I'd invariably drop behind whoever I was with.Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-9489885268604183762018-08-27T13:55:00.001+01:002018-11-03T14:09:12.828+00:00ITTs, Touring and Powering ElectronicsWe all like our electronic gadgets but keeping them powered on a multi-day bike ride can be frustrating. There's no "one best" solution as both riders' preferences and the nature of any given ride change. For the French Divide I needed to keep the following (in priority order) going:<br />
<ul>
<li>GPS (Garmin Oregon 600)</li>
<li>Phone (iPhone 5)</li>
<li>Front light (Exposure Joystick) & Rear light (small USB light) </li>
<li>Camera (Sony Rx100)</li>
</ul>
The GPS was most important as I'd be following a predefined route on it.<br />
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The phone was on air-plane mode for most of the time unless I was checking/sending texts from/to Cath.<br />
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I didn't plan to or actually ride much at night so the front light was mainly used on low mode at camp-sites and bivvies and would probably have lasted the whole ride on one charge. The rear light similarly saw little usage, usually early morning when heading out of town. <br />
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The camera was a different matter. While the documentation states that the battery will last for up to 200 shots that tends to be: power on, take lots of shots, power off. I was using it like : power on, take shot, power off. Most of the power consumption is in physically getting the camera ready to take a shot and then physically going back to storage mode. The actual shot uses very little power unless you zoom in and out a lot. This meant that I got about 40 shots before the battery was flat. In retrospect I'd have been better using the camera on the phone.<br />
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While I've long been a convert for dynamo hubs on commuter bikes I'd not been convinced of their usefulness off-road where speeds are usually much slower. There'd be no guarantee that I'd have access to power sockets cheekily or otherwise so I settled on using a dynamo hub to generate the power. Having forks with 15mm through-axle somewhat limits you to only a couple of models so I went for the Shutter Precision PDX-8 and <a href="http://riderscyclecentre.com/"><b>Stuart Rider</b></a> built it up into a nice wheel for me. There have been a lot of reports about the bearings on the SP dynamo hubs failing, particularly the through-axle versions, so it was a bit of a risk going for that rather than the Schmidt version. So far I've done over 1600km on it and it's fine.<br />
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There's a slight problem with using a dynamo to directly power devices like GPSs, Garmins in particular, in that when your speed drops or you stop to check you are still on route or take a photo, whatever then the device thinks power has been removed and a screen pops up asking if you want to stay powered on. Annoying especially if the default is to then turn the thing off if no button is pressed! Consequently my strategy was to charge a battery during the day then use that battery to charge the devices at night. Hopefully I could maintain speed to keep everything going.<br />
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A test ride, on my commute, showed that I could generate 500mAh at a steady 20kmh. I wouldn't be maintaining that speed as an average, more like 10-12kmh so at a rough guess I'd generate 300mAh (I'll have to do a ride at that speed to confirm this) for about 12hrs each day giving 3600mAh in total. Keeping my power consumption below that would mean that I would be effectively energy neutral in that I wouldn't need to search out power sockets to top things up. The 3600mAh figure is quite useful as that's generally around the capacity of standard 18650 cells which are used in powerbanks - these all have stated capacities that are multiples of 3500/3600mAh.<br />
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My setup thus consisted of the dynamo hub which was connected to an <a href="https://www.igaro.com/d1/d105"><b>Igaro D1 converter</b></a> which itself connected directly to a 10,500mAh battery (i.e. one with three 18650 cells). During the day I'd charge the battery then at night change the battery from "sink" to "source" and top up the GPS then whatever device might need it. Occasionally I ran the GPS directly from the battery. For this scenario I also had a single cell battery that I could charge, converters like the Igaro don't like to be left "open circuit" with nothing connected and you can fry the electronics if you take a long descent at speed. A bit of "on the track" testing showed that the system would begin to charge once I got to about 8kmh but would then continue charging even if the speed dropped to 5kmh. Obviously you aren't getting huge amounts of charge through at those speeds but it does show that you can keep trickle charging things at little more than walking speed.<br />
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I started with everything fully charged and for the four days that I was riding the event it all worked as planned. It helped that much of the first day was fast riding. Once I'd scratched and then met up with Cath we went touring in Brittany which involved gentler speeds.<br />
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During the six days of touring we averaged around 90Km a day with around 6-8hrs of riding per day. With phone on air-plane mode and using the GPS screen sparingly (canals tend to have fewer options for going wrong than roads!) I was power neutral in that I could have continued indefinitely without requiring mains top-up. Except ...<br />
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I recharged the camera! This obviously has a fairly hefty battery inside as I basically drained a three-quarter full powerbank in recharging it. I spent the next two days slowly increasing the charge in the powerbank and generally ekeing things out. In retrospect I'd have been better using the camera on the phone. I should have probably recharged it when we were staying in hotels in either Reims or Paris.<br />
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One day I ran the Garmin directly from the powerbank. In typically Garmin fashion in this mode the unit ignores all the power saving options you've set up! I think it assumes that an external power source will be something with "infinite" reserve like a lighter socket in a motor vehicle or something similar on a boat. Consequently the screen stayed "on" all the time running the battery down! The Oregon actually works in opposite ways when using internal and external power - when using internal power the screen auto turns off and you have to press the power button to turn it <b>on</b> but when using external power you have to press the power button to turn it <b>off</b>. <br />
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In conclusion. For rides where you are able to maintain even a modest speed then a strategy of charging a battery through the day then using that to charge your devices is likely to work. For something like the Highland Trail and Cairngorms Loop where speeds are much slower I think you are better simply taking enough batteries to recharge your devices and not bothering with the dynamo, maybe a plug to use in a cafe if you can get away with it.Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-45285261073924751162018-08-27T13:27:00.000+01:002018-08-27T13:27:42.363+01:00French Divide Kit ListThe French Divide would be the longest (by far) ride that I'd attempt so working out what kit to take required a bit of thinking. Generally things would be warm, but they turned out to be a lot warmer than anticipated, but there could also be big storms.<br />
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Having done enough bikepacking and ITTs I've got most of my kit sorted so in the end there wasn't much difference to something like the HT550. I took a few extra spares as I wasn't sure of finding anything en-route.<br />
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I've linked to some of the items I took, the harnesses and bags should be searchable with how I've listed them. Clothing and the like is pretty generic but when looking at cycling shorts and shoes, what fits one person another will completely dislike.<br />
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I used my<a href="http://www.cotic.co.uk/product/solarisMAX"> <b>Cotic Solaris</b> </a>(Mk1) with <b><a href="https://www.traversbikes.com/store.html#!/Travers-XC-Prong-Boost-Carbon/p/73904492/category=15761046">Travers Prong carbon fibre forks</a></b>. I fitted a set of <b><a href="http://freshtripe.co.uk/velo-orange-caseys-crazy-bar/">Velo Orange Crazy Bars</a></b> to give me more hand positions. I had an SP dynamo built into a front wheel, Stans Blunt 35mm rim, and mounted a Vittoria Mexcal 2.6" tyre to it. The rear wheel is a Hope Pro 4 XC hoop with Bontrager XR2 2.2" tyre. I used my usual 1x10 drivetrain, 30T up front, 11-40T cassette.<br />
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So from front to back:<br />
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<b>Wildcat Lion harness</b><br />
Wildcat double ended wet/dry dry bag. I find this very useful to separate the wet and dry parts of my bivy system. It's all standard off-the-shelf stuff and apart from the mat being full rather than torso length is the same as I took on last year's HT550.<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://www.trekkertent.com/home/home/9-cuben-fibre-flat-tarp.html">Trekkertent cuben fibre tarp</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://borahgear.com/sidebivy.html">Borah Gear Ultralight bivy bag</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://sleepingbags-cumulus.eu/uk/categories/sleeping-systems/quilt-150-475150?gid=53&vid=7">Cumulus 150 quilt</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.klymit.com/inertia-x-frame-ultralight-sleeping-pad.html">Klymit X-frame sleeping mat</a></b> </li>
</ul>
A pair of flip-flops for walking around camp.<br />
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My SPOT tracker was fixed to the top of the Lion harness. <br />
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Mounted on the handlebars were a Garmin Oregon GPS unit and an Exposure Joystick light. The latter was mainly used around camp as I did very little night time riding.<br />
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Strapped underneath the stem was an <b><a href="https://www.igaro.com/d1/d105">Igaro D1 converter unit</a></b> to sit between the dynamo hub (AC) and the batteries (DC). I'll deal with how I went about powering stuff in another post.<br />
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<b>Revelate Mountain Feed Bag (x2)</b><br />
The Revelate bags are a bit bigger than most other stem cell type bags plus the external elasticated pockets are usable even when the bag is full. They also can be open and closed one handed so usable on the move.<br />
Trail food went into one bag. This also had midge repellent in one of the pockets.<br />
The other bag was generally a free-for-all but usually contained my glasses, camera, phone and wallet (plastic bag with money and card). The external pockets held a whistle (mandatory for the event) and a bag with all my electronic cables.<br />
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<b>Alpkit Top Tube Bag</b><br />
This is the medium size I think. Contained a lot of odds and sods.<br />
<ul>
<li>MSR Trailshot water filter (not used)</li>
<li>10,000mAh Powerbank battery</li>
<li>3,500mAh battery</li>
<li>Baby wipes</li>
<li>First Aid kit</li>
<li>Passport (well it had to go somewhere)</li>
</ul>
<b>Bearbabe downtube bag</b><br />
This held all my tools and spares. Even though there might be bike shops along the way they aren't going to be of use if one of your bike specific parts breaks so best to be as self-sufficient as possible.<br />
<ul>
<li>One spare inner tube (the right size this time!)</li>
<li>Multitool</li>
<li>Leatherman Squirt pliers</li>
<li>Tyre levers</li>
<li>Emergency spoke</li>
<li>Spare mech hanger</li>
<li>A tin of spare nuts and bolts</li>
<li>50ml tube of sealant</li>
<li>Tube of chain lube - wet as the dry variety doesn't last if you are going through puddles.</li>
<li>Black Diamond expedition sewing kit</li>
<li>Puncture repair kit</li>
<li>Repair kit for sleeping mat.</li>
<li>2 sets of spare batteries for the SPOT tracker.</li>
<li>Carbon fibre pole for the tarp (from Stuart at <a href="http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/shop/?product=custom-length-carbon-poles"><b>Bearbones</b></a>)</li>
<li>Pegs for tarp</li>
</ul>
<b>Wildcat Tiger Seat Harness</b><br />
Wildcat tapered dry bag<br />
<ul>
<li>Buff</li>
<li>Light thermal top</li>
<li>Light thermal shorts</li>
<li>Spare cycling bibs</li>
<li>Spare cycle top</li>
<li>1 pair spare cycling gloves (not used)</li>
<li>1 pair spare socks (not used)</li>
<li>T-shirt</li>
<li>Mountain bike baggies</li>
<li>1 pair underpants</li>
<li>A dry bag containing toiletries. </li>
<li>Endura lightweight waterproof tucked into the harness strap.</li>
</ul>
The baggies, t-shirt and underpants were for getting to and from the ride and for wearing at night if I needed to. The baggies were a bit on the heavy side but I'd nothing else suitable.<br />
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I wouldn't take a second pair of gloves as I only wore the main set for one day to avoid sunburn before my hands got a tan. I'm not sure about taking the spare bib shorts and top either, a bit of talcum powder on the pad at night and I'm usually OK. I use the dry bag as a pillow at night and the buff is a cover to that to give a bit of extra comfort.<br />
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Not sure of the overall weight, the only bit that felt "heavy" was the seat pack. I didn't bother with any cooking kit, relying totally on finding cafes and shops en-route. Even if I had it would only have been a meths stove, a mug and a small amount of fuel. As I noted at the top of this post, I've got things pretty well sorted and mostly it's just tweeks for the circumstances of each route/ride. Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-72763788800984157952018-08-27T09:13:00.004+01:002018-08-27T09:13:49.548+01:00The Heat of Darkness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Apologies to Joseph Konrad for the title ...<br /><br />Some time ago Cath announced that she wanted to do the French Divide. Hmm. I had a look and thought that I didn't fancy dot-watching for two weeks so I'd try it as well. 2200km of mainly off-road riding from the top right corner of France to the bottom left. (Easier than trying to describe where the start and finish towns are). Limited to 150 entries, Cath was starting on the Saturday and myself on the Sunday as I'm normally a bit quicker than she is. Note the word "normally". There's no real time limit but the organisers hold a party at the finish two weeks after the start.<br /><br />With getting to the start and the time to get back you actually need three weeks' holiday.<br /><br />Each start has a registration and briefing on the day before so you need to be in the starting town of Bray Dunes for that. A ferry to Dunkirk then a late night ride to find the camp site full and we had to find another campsite a bit further out of town. Registration was all quite convivial with each rider introducing themselves and explaining where they were from, etc. Then it was final packing and something to eat.<br /><br />I got myself some beer goggles<br />
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<br />These bikes didn't make it.<br />
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<br />The start was at sunrise, 0624! which I suppose is as good a time as any but you needed to be there 45mins earlier. So a very early alarm call. Cath headed off to get there in time while I sauntered along at my own pace.<br />
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<br /><br />The first few Km had a lead out car, a Citroen 2CV no less.<br />
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<br />And then they were gone. In another 24hrs it would be my turn.<br /><br />Sunday morning and another sunrise, the same procedure as yesterday. Shouts of "Allez! Allez!" and we are off. It's a hell of a pace, I'd be happy with it on an unladen road bike let alone an MTB with bivy gear and kit - I hit 50kmh at one point, on the flat on a mountain bike! The lead out car pulls away but the pace doesn't let up. There's no way I can keep this going so at the first dusty farm track I stop and take a shot.<br />
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<br /><br />It's the last I'll see of the fast riders. The rest of the day is spent flitting between the tail enders. The route weaves in and out of the French/Belgium border. Not a problem except that this is Sunday and as one lady at a "Surprise revito" (think trail angel with a van full of water and fruit) noted "La Dimanche? La Belge dorme!<br /><br />At one of the few places we found open<br />
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<br /><br /><br />It turned out that I'd ride nearly 150km before finding somewhere open that served anything more than a croissant. A McDonald's on the outskirts of Seclin. It's at this point it's worth noting that this was only the fourth time in my life that I've visited a McDonald's. Fast food? Quite how a pre-packed salad can take 20 minutes to prepare is beyond me. A good job I was the only person in the queue or being served. Also why does a salad need something deep fried in it?<br /><br />Around this point we hit the pave sections used on the Paris-Roubaix race though we were doing them in the opposite direction. We didn't do all the secteurs but quite how you ride in a bunch, at speed, on a road bike along them is beyond me. I recognised a few of the corners as well as the Arenburg section with its cutting and bridge. There was a guy here with a "Allez le French Divide" board on his bike who'd ride alongside you then take shots.<br /><br />Up to this point I'd been going quite well. Tucked up in my own little world following a track on the GPS screen. Then the heat turned up. While my speed in the morning was reasonable (though not the 35kmh+ of the start) as time went on I slowed and slowed. The last 20Km to the town of Le Quesnoy seemed to take forever. When I get there there's a fair on. I find the campsite and grab some food from one of the fair stalls and crash out only to be woken by a firework display. ah well.<br /><br />239km, 1200m climbing, 13hrs moving, 3hrs faffing<br /><br />
<h3>
Day 2</h3>
Up and away by about 0600, well before the campsite office is open so I shove my seven Euros under the door. If only I'd ridden another five kilometres I'd have had a nice quiet bivy in the woods. There's a lot of woods actually and for much of the day I don't see much or indeed anyone whether a rider on the event or not. A few deer cross the path in the early morning. Again as the day progresses the heat rises and my speed falls.<br />
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<br /><br />As evening approaches I get to a small town, Rocroi, the information sign shows 37C! No wonder I'm struggling. What follows next is an ace couple of km swooping through woods until a long drag up a fire road intervenes. I miss the next turning but pick it up and follow the quad bike track as it undulates along a slope. The GPS trace shows the next bit as turning sharp left. That's straight downhill! So it proved, over a kilometre of pretty steep track straight down the fall line of the slope. Great fun.<br /><br />Then it's more pushing and at the top of the next hill I decide to skip the last little bit and head into town to the first checkpoint. There's a long easy climb to begin with though, less than 5% gradient but I have to walk it. My "reward" is a long downhill blast into town, getting all the lights on green. I'm just in time for food at the bar. My brevet card signed I head for the campsite.<br /><br />166km, 2100m climbing, 13hrs moving, 2.5hrs faffing<br /><br />
<h3>
Day 3</h3>
Up early again and I'm away pedalling steadily up slopes that yesterday afternoon would have seen me walking. I'm going well as I pass a fancy gateway to a big house. Common style I think, there was one like that yesterday. I look to the other side of the road to see a water storage facility and it hits me. It's the same house I saw yesterday evening! I've followed the route I should have taken into town last night but in reverse. Back the way I came (easily riding the climb I'd walked the night before) and start again. What I didn't know was that was just to be the start of my problems for the day.<br /><br />Having lost two hours I pushed on. It was already getting hot. By 11am I was in need of food. Just off route lay a town, even better there was a big sign saying "Intermarche". Time for some resupplies. I sat in the shade of an old filling station forecourt roof eating my purchases and just getting hotter and hotter. Time to move on. The route lay along the flat bottom of a valley for a few km before turning off and heading up the valley side. Only a slope of 5% but I could only just walk it. That tree at the top's got my name on it. I lay there in the shade exhausted when I hear another rider approach. We sit there numb with the heat. Eventually we push on.<br /><br />After a couple more hills where the above was repeated I'd had enough even though it was only mid-afternoon. Signs for the nearby town stated that it was home to "The European beer museum". Get somewhere to kip and recharge. Even coasting downhill at 50kmh I was getting hotter. The info sign in the main square stated it was 44C :shock: Even allowing for a couple of degrees inaccuracy, it was hot.<br /><br />I found a B&B - first thing was to sit in a cool shower for 20mins to try and cool down. I went into town to get something to eat but everything was shut for various reasons. The family at the B&B took pity on me and fed me an evening meal while we chatted in broken Frenglish.<br /><br />116km, 1300m climbing, 8.5hrs moving, 3hrs faffing<br /><br />
<h3>
Day 4</h3>
Overnight there were thunderstorms, Cath got caught in these, by the morning the temperature had dropped but it was pretty humid in its place. A late start due to having breakfast at a reasonable hour. I meet another rider in the next town, he's scratching, I'm on my own again. I wasn't sure what I was going to make of today as it passed through the battlefields around Verdun. In the event I sobbed my way through the deserted villages, reflecting on how modern stupidity is taking us in the same direction. One village had ghostly life size images of the families who'd lived in each destroyed house another a simple stone marking the location of a home. The simple white crosses at the official memorial of men who died over an argument over a line on a map were similarly moving.<br />
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<br /><br />I arrived in Verdun too early for a proper evening meal so grabbed what I could and headed onward. I found a spot in a field overlooking a valley so settled down for the night. Or would have if half the local village hadn't used the nearby track for their evening walks and goodness knows what.<br /><br />
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<br /><br />104km, 1900m climbing, 8.5hrs moving, 2.5hrs faffing<br /><br />
<h3>
Day 5</h3>
Never quit at night, sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning. It was becoming increasingly apparent that the heat had got to me and I was managing less and less each day. With a fifteen day limit you need to be doing at least 150km a day and this first bit is the easy part. Mornings were fine, it was just the afternoon heat. Each day had been a battle. Decision made I headed back to Verdun.<br /><br />Unbeknownst to me, Cath had been hit by thunderstorms on successive nights soaking all of her kit including her phone which subsequently had given up the ghost. She couldn't remember my mobile number, who remembers any number these days when the phone does it for you? The only number she could remember was her sisters so the campsite let her ring her sister who texted me what had happened. Eventually I managed to ring the site and speak to her. She was going to scratch as well. She'd got just beyond the next major town of Vitry le Francoise. We sorted out where to meet and let the organisers know our plans.<br /><br />We'd still got nearly two weeks' holiday left so decided to do a bit of touring, after a bit of touristy stuff in Reims and Paris.<br /><br />
<h4>
Take aways</h4>
<ul>
<li>Don't start on the Sunday - everything's shut!</li>
<li>Be prepared to ride fast</li>
<li>The French have set hours for eating, get to towns for those times.</li>
</ul>
Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-90644719082666997072018-05-31T20:49:00.001+01:002018-06-01T08:20:27.684+01:00Went the Day Well? No!There's the saying "<i>Fail to plan, plan to fail!</i>" but sometimes even if you do come up with a plan and gone over it a hundred times, things don't turn out quite how you'd wished.<br />
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But quite how I ended up in an en-suite bedroom free of charge takes some explaining.<br />
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<b><a href="http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-highland-trail-550.html">Last year on the HT550</a></b> I finished in 5 days 2 hours and 38 minutes. Not bad, actually now I look at it it's a decent time, but I knew I'd made mistakes and that with very little extra effort I could get under five days. I made a plan.<br />
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Then I threw it away and made another. And another. And, yeah, you get the idea. It wasn't until a few days before I was due to head north that I had a lightbulb moment. There was one point where I'd messed up my timings, I just had to get to that point two hours earlier and I'd be fine. What's more I wouldn't actually need to ride any faster than I had last year. I made another plan and went over it in my head again and again. The plan seemed good. I went to sleep. The plan still seemed good the following day and the next. Good!<br />
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Leaving the rain of Northern England behind I headed up the M6 and into Scotland with a live version of Led Zeppelin's Trampled Underfoot blasting out of the car stereo. Sunshine, Led Zep, (thinking of) biking, doesn't get much better than that. The plan was still in place.<br />
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Familiar faces and new at Tyndrum. We rode over the hill again for a drink and chat by the burn. Back into the village for something to eat then bed.<br />
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5am and it's fully light and there's people moving on the campsite fettling their bikes. Eventually I join them then it's time for breakfast.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Craig Thomson, Matt Mcwhirr and Jenny Graham at the Real Food Cafe</td></tr>
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Alan (Goldsmith, the event organiser) is somewhat amused by my luxury item. Useful I insist, so it would prove. At 8:45 we wandered up to the start by the village hall.<br />
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A bit of milling around, some words were spoken and then Jenny sets us away. Usual plan, let the fast riders head off then ride at my own pace. The advantage of this is that the first technical bit isn't then a crush as you head down to the railway.<br />
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I get the correct right turn this time and it's a long drag up and over to Glen Lyon, not helped by a headwind. I'm riding around various riders I know and we chat away - basically if you can chat then you are going at the right pace.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The track along Loch Lyon</td></tr>
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But something isn't right. There's a number of fords along the track and at each rise out of the ford I feel a distinct lack of oomph. There's just no power in my legs. We drop off the track and head down the glen on tarmac but with the headwind it's hard work.<br />
<br />
Past the cafe, a bit early to stop plus I'm drinking and eating OK. I manage the climb out of Glen Lyon in one this time but I notice that I can't get into bottom gear. I'll fix that later. (of course I never did) Alan G passes me at the top of the climb and notes "<i>This heat will cause some riders problems</i>". Whether it was aimed at me or not it was about then that I felt the onset of cramp. After just three hours!<br />
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<br />
What followed next wasn't pleasant. All power in my legs began to go, even on the flat I was struggling. At the start of the next climb not only were my legs a worry but so was my stomach, I felt distinctly "queasy". A couple of riders pass me, "<i>Are you OK?</i>", "<i>I feel a bit ill and I might pu...</i>" with that I was retching but nothing really came back up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicD74SHv2mU5he4r46z_Y770XNjbSWb2otpz_Tgt-r1v43hNotb99HKxFeiVV8Fhg5gwl_93MRtBboobpcg0LXOad2PHV79cAQS-rAXOpeaht5AdXTku_9p0THLdpuRzglq_grC0i9uWpS/s1600/highland-trail-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicD74SHv2mU5he4r46z_Y770XNjbSWb2otpz_Tgt-r1v43hNotb99HKxFeiVV8Fhg5gwl_93MRtBboobpcg0LXOad2PHV79cAQS-rAXOpeaht5AdXTku_9p0THLdpuRzglq_grC0i9uWpS/s400/highland-trail-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading to Ben Alder</td></tr>
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<br />
So it continued. A bit of riding, a bit of retching, a bit of walking as the cramps were now taking hold. By the time I was crossing the first hike-a-bike (actually mostly ridable this year as it was so dry) to Benalder Cottage my retching was now vomiting. A couple of riders suggest I get into the bothy and out of the sun and have a rest for a while. I'm in a bad way.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXr0L3KGde98WZIJhUWGcAD8bTBSzqM2eQl9zwk9wh9iiHe54sBhHpllcHUr6aeiDLM2EexyaGDsNZ1yawVbX3NTH4Rus0zMiuMsUHliTDHf_dKjOS7vqLTnj1jfAnZ6XXdx1imVFPmuC/s1600/highland-trail-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXr0L3KGde98WZIJhUWGcAD8bTBSzqM2eQl9zwk9wh9iiHe54sBhHpllcHUr6aeiDLM2EexyaGDsNZ1yawVbX3NTH4Rus0zMiuMsUHliTDHf_dKjOS7vqLTnj1jfAnZ6XXdx1imVFPmuC/s320/highland-trail-9.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Benalder Cottage</td></tr>
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<br />
A while later I set off on the singletrack around Ben Alder. This is one of the highlights of the first day but I can't do it justice, I've no energy to hop the water bars and soon enough there's a "pssst" as my rear wheel hits a particularly sharp edge. I run tubeless but I've dinged the rim and the tyre isn't holding air. Out with the spare inner tube.<br />
<br />
I'm on 29" wheels and the inner tube is 27.5"! Still it will stretch. Except that the sealant makes everything ultra slippy and the exertion makes me want to vomit again. Another rider passes and provides a third hand and the tube and tyre are on. Inflating the tube is another matter, I just want to throw up. Eventually I'm on my way again but it's for all of five minutes as I hit another water bar and the tube goes. Instant thought:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
"<i>Ride over</i>"</div>
<br />
How to get back to Tyndrum? Just over the first bealach is a glen that heads down to Loch Ossian and Corrour station. There's a stalker's track by the burn in the glen. That's plan B, not had one of those before so might as well use it.<br />
<br />
I plod on, easing the back wheel of the bike over any rocks or water bars trying not to do any more damage. I rest by a burn and bring up the last of my breakfast. Whatever disagreed with me is now gone and I don't vomit again.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ben Alder singletrack</td></tr>
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<br />
There's no path down from the bealach it's just plough down through heather and bog and wade across the burn. The path is rough, almost unridable even if the bike had been in good order. Just keep plodding.<br />
<br />
After a couple of km there's two women camping by the burn, Munro bagging of course. They offer me a cup of tea and we chat a while. Maybe nine miles to the station they reckon, at the most. A couple more kilometres of the path then it's hydro or estate road.<br />
<br />
I plod on, the path ends and I'm on decent track. I get to Loch Ossian and there's a choice of track to either side of the loch. I go left.<br />
<br />
I'm out of the woods and a couple of kilometres from the youth hostel when I hear bike wheels rolling along the track behind me.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
"<i>Bob!</i>"</div>
<br />
I turn round, it's Phil Clarke who I'd ridden with on the Highland Trail last year, he's out for a weekend loop taking in part of the old and new HT start sections. He gives me an inner tube so at least I can ride the last bit to the station. We chat away until his route heads towards Rannoch and I try the youth hostel to see if they've any cans of pop (no).<br />
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It's only a couple of km now to the station. It's late and I know the cafe will be closed so I'll doss down in the waiting room and get a train in the morning back to Tyndrum. Sure enough the door is locked but the kitchen windows are open so I stick my head inside:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"I know you are shut but do you think I could buy a couple of cans of pop?"</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Sure"</i></div>
<br />
I sit on the bench outside slaking my thirst and I can hear mutterings from the kitchen. A moment later a head leans out:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Do you want a pie?"</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Err, yes! How much?"</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"No charge, it's on us."</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRk3eHSJtwHKptxhp7nETCImJZmoOJEs3wAzwwRd0WV9J_iuchH6HuP5KjCXCg_MPk3Hy5cSWBrctngV6tp3f9pMkW5sJcx6WnAtKCw9BgXhrv_KpVd4LMkCIR4riSo1J1x9owpdtnYtli/s1600/highland-trail-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRk3eHSJtwHKptxhp7nETCImJZmoOJEs3wAzwwRd0WV9J_iuchH6HuP5KjCXCg_MPk3Hy5cSWBrctngV6tp3f9pMkW5sJcx6WnAtKCw9BgXhrv_KpVd4LMkCIR4riSo1J1x9owpdtnYtli/s400/highland-trail-5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The old signal box</td></tr>
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<br />
Wow! Some proper food rather than snacks and sugary stuff. I ferry my bike and kit over to the waiting room on the platform and get my bivy kit out. I take my time and finish the last of the pop and am about to get stripped off and into dry clothing when a bloke appears at the door.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"We've been watching you go back and forth. You look knackered! We are stopping at the old signal box and there's a spare room with en-suite shower you can use"</i></div>
<br />
I did offer a little resistance, honest, but I roll my bike one last time for the day along the platform, get what I need and stagger inside. Bliss!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your bed for the night sir!</td></tr>
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<br />
One shower later and I'm clean enough to think about getting in to bed. Sleep doesn't come easily, the cramps see to that.<br />
<br />
In the morning time to use my luxury item - a shoe horn! Makes getting tight shoes on when you have cramp quite easy. To my suprise there's even breakfast included with the room. I buy a bottle of wine for the kindness of random strangers. The rest of the morning is lots of pots of tea.<br />
<br />
The train is at 1230 and I hope that I can get the bike on without a pre-booking, I do and the first thing I notice are three bikes with SPOT trackers. I'm not the only one having problems. Severe cramps, heat exhaustion and a mechanical are their scratch reasons.<br />
<br />
So what went wrong?<br />
<br />
I think the lack of power has its roots in a chronic fatigue I've felt since last October/November. I've struggled even on my commutes. This meant that my long distance power output was actually very close to my current maximum which then led to the early cramps. Rather than tapping away at 60-70% I was at 90% from the off which is why the cramps started so quickly.<br />
<br />
I'm pretty sure that something in my breakfast disagreed with me - as soon as I'd got rid of the last of it whilst I didn't feel "fine" I certainly didn't feel nauseous. Once you start being sick and losing fluids in heat like that there's only one outcome if you carry on.<br />
<br />
The plan is still there, I think one or two of this year's successful completions may have implemented it for me. Congratulations to all finishers and commiserations to my fellow scratchers.<br />
<br />
That plan is going to bug me now isn't it?<br />
<br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-29380384831930156662018-05-11T06:59:00.001+01:002018-05-11T06:59:11.238+01:00The Welsh Ride ThingA bikepacking institution. The first bank holiday weekend in May sees a gaggle(? what's the collective noun for bikepackers?) of assorted shapes and sizes descend on a small farm in mid-Wales not for a rave but to have a chat about bikes and maybe ride them around the Welsh countryside aided or hindered by a set of grid references that people may or may not chose to visit. This year there was a set for mountain bikes and a set for "gravel" bikes.<br /><br />This was its tenth year.<br /><br />We'd never been.<br />
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<h3>
Pubs</h3>
<br />The Star at Dylife is becoming another institution, it reopened a couple of years ago and a pre-event meet up has started to become a "thing". Again, we'd never been. Cath was insistent that we didn't go in until 7pm but I overruled her and we had a meal before most people arrived and the chatting and drinking began. We didn't have too much to drink and crashed out in the tent at a sadly sensible middle-aged hour.<br /><br />Despite having driven past it many times I'd never been in to The Cross Foxes above Dolgellau. Very posh. There were quite a few other BBers sat outside having a drink. Two drinks and two packets of crisps, that'll be ten pounds please sir. Hmm, come to think of it, it felt quite good to be standing there covered in sheep and cow muck adding to the general ambience for the benefit of the G&T swilling Jaguar driving crowd.<br /><br />Oh, yeah. That's The Hand, you know the one with the massive carved tree trunk outside just in case you can't read. We went to the other one. Two pints of lager shandy and a couple of packets of crisps please. that'll be ten pounds please sir. Still we'd ridden over the Berwyns via the Wayfarers then down to Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog. And it was hot. We decided on a second pint each but in an attempt to look after our waistlines and save money skipped the crisps.<br /><br /><h3>
Navigation</h3>
One thing you soon learn about Mid-Wales is that there's a disconnect between bridleways and tracks on the ground, it's as if they are from separate realities. Be especially aware of those lines on the map that look suspiciously straight. Wales doesn't do straight lines, not even the bits the Romans did for us, it's where they sent Slartibartfast's cousin to try and get the crinkly bits out of his system. Basically unless you've been on a particular stretch of bridleway/track you can't guarantee it will exist.<br />
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<br /><br />We spend/waste half an hour in Dyfi forest trying to find a non-existent bridleway. Actually the first two sections existed on the ground in roughly the right place, one bit being used by one of the Mach MTB trails, the last section was nowhere to be found. We ended up following a track out of the forest and going cross country to join up with where we should have been.<br /><br />You might also find "identical" features parallel to those you are expecting: BW gate at bend in woodland fence for example, then force the rest of what's around you to fit. The problem here is that it will shortly put you smack bang in the middle of an hour's hike a bike and a marital s<strike>creaming match</strike> discussion. In this instance not only did the parallel universe bridleway not exist but neither did the one in our own universe that we were meant to be on.<br /><br />
<h3>
Kit and its malfunctions</h3>
With 150 riders (and bikes) there's a lot of potential for things to go wrong though turning up and asking if anyone has a spare chainring ... One of the "interesting" parts of the pre-ride milling about is the "weigh-in": bike and all your kit, food, rucksack, etc. goes on the scales. The weights ranged from a mighty 50kg or thereabouts down to a very impressive 14kg (my bike was 18kg so nowhere near the weight weenie prize of a pork pie)<br />
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<br />On the way to Bala we come across a chap with his bike upside down and fixing a puncture. "Just went bang! and deflated."" A definite big hole in the inner tube that's lying on the deck. As he's inflating the replacement he notices a tear in the side wall of the tyre next to the rim - the cause apparent of the blowout. We offer various suggestions when I remember that I've an expedition sewing kit in my bag. I bought this in the mid 1980s and had never used it in all that time, I'd just thought I'd shove it in. Looking through the items there was some nylon thread so handed over a needle and some of that and he proceeded to stitch the tyre together. He managed to get to Bala where the bike shop eventually opened and he purchased a new tyre. Passing on the trail karma from the Dirty Reiver the other week.<br /><br />At the cafe in Bala another rider, Craig, arrived with a rough bottom bracket. I'm not sure how he sorted that out - if indeed he did.<br /><br />We'd just done an hour's hike-a-bike having lost the non-existent bridleway (see marital "discussion" above) when we rerouted from the next bit of non-existent bridleway and through a wind farm to get to the road. The rider ahead wasn't moving quickly, or at all as it happened. Broken saddle rail. I think he did a lot of standing up on the way back to the finish.<br /><br />
<h3>
Forests</h3>
There's loads of 'em. I fekking hate 'em!<br /><br /><br /><h3>
Bivvies</h3>
Being out for three days means two nights of sleeping under the stars. Route planning helps here as you want a variety of options depending on how fast you move and on weather conditions. You don't want to get to your chosen spot too early in case someone sees you and asks questions but equally you don't want to be too late which makes setting up the tarp harder. <br /><br />Saturday night we found a grand grassy balcony overlooking the Wnion valley with a temperature inversion filling the valley beneath us with mist. Our bivy bags have very slippery bases so finding somewhere flat is almost essential otherwise you end up somewhere you don't want to be! The mist did come in through the night but had gone by morning but there was huge amounts of condensation, the tarps were as wet as if it had been pouring down all night.<br />
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<br /><br />Sunday night was on the "shores" of Lake Vyrnwy, we'd been told of there being lots of bivy spots along the lake but they must be on the east shore whereas we went along the west shore so that we'd get the early morning sun. The main problem was that everything was at an angle of 45 degrees! By the time we found somewhere we'd ridden most of the way to the end of the lake. A bit of fussing and we ended up using the trunk of a fallen tree to stop us sliding down the slope! The second night couldn't have been more different to the first as everything was bone dry and just packed away.<br />
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<h3>
Cafes</h3>
Our route didn't really pass any on the first day but an executive decision, i.e. we were hungry, took us in to Bala on Sunday morning for breakfast. The cafe didn't really do cooked stuff, well apart from bacon pancakes???<br />
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<br /><br />Monday morning we rolled along the road by Lake Vyrnwy to find a gaggle (still no collective noun for bikepackers) by a cafe near the dam. It wasn't serving food but the woman was filling water bottles which given the heat was welcome. <br /><br />Over a couple or three hills and we rolled into Llangadfan. I spied a flag advertising ice cream but instead found a cafe. The owner must have wondered what had happened as about fifteen sweaty, grubby cyclists arrived in close order! Nice food though.<br />
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<br />Oh and Cath got a Strava QOM on one climb, I think she's been doing some secret training. That's her going for it!Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-82084054818196830952018-04-24T18:09:00.000+01:002018-04-24T18:09:43.336+01:00Dirty ReiverSometimes I have good ideas, sometimes I don't. Saturday was probably one of the latter. We'd signed up for the Dirty Reiver 200km "gravel" event around Kielder Forest. Now neither of us have a "gravel" bike, which is just a marketing term for a fatter tyred cyclocross so Cath chose to ride it on her Stooge (with MTB tyres) and me? Yep, the Pompetamine - drop barred, 39:28 single speed, commuter with 37c CX tyres!<br /><br />Confidence wasn't helped by chancing upon the only three people we knew doing the event when we arrived: "What you riding Bob?", "Single speed", "What ratio?", "Err, 39:18", "Good luck, I'll be thinking about you when I'm spinning up in 32:40!". To be honest I was more worried about the lack of cushioning in the tyres and frame than the gearing.<br /><br />After a rather chilly bivy, just under 2C according to one of the organisers, we grabbed breakfast then milled around as the throng of riders worked out how to get their bikes pointing towards the start rather than away from it. There was some sort of announcement, well it was a different muffled noise from the Euro-pop that had been playing over the PA, I don't think it was Mongolian throat singing or Gregorian chants.<br /><br />Shortly after the announcement/chants/throat warbling we could see riders heading down the starting ramp so we presumed that someone had said "go!". The first kilometre was neutralised as it was on the main road through Kielder village so it wasn't until we actually got into the forest that the racing started. Well perhaps for those in the front, mid-pack it was basically track-standing uphill, the flats and downhills spread riders out but each ramp would see us bunch up again. Rather bizarrely there were lots of riders at the side of the trail with mechanicals on the first climb.<br /><br />The route to the first food point was a mixture of old and new to me so I'd turn a corner and suddenly realise where I was. There's not much flat so mostly I'd be standing on the pedals for the downhills or waiting for the clunk of bad gear changes to signal getting out of the saddle to stomp up a climb. As a result I didn't have a sore bum at the end of the ride, there really hadn't been much bum to saddle contact!<br /><br />Heading into the first food stop Stu Rider was heading the other way, hmm, going quicker than I thought. The food stop was packed with riders milling around so I headed for the plain water to refill my bottles and grabbed a couple of slices of malt loaf and got going. The road section leading back into the forest was hard work then on the first drop I thought the back tyre felt a bit "funny".<br /><br />It was losing air quite rapidly. I tried pumping it up but within a few pedal strokes it was nearly flat again. Hmm, put the inner tube in (I was running tubeless). All well and good until putting the wheel back in, pssst! The tube had been patched and the patch had come away! My fault. So back to tubeless but now the pump refused to work. Honestly! Fortunately another rider stopped and gave me an inner tube and had some CO2 to inflate it. Half an hour wasted but I was on my way again.<br /><br />The tyre wasn't quite inflated enough but it was good enough for now. The Paddaburn ford wasn't too deep and I got my front wheel on the far bank before stalling, ah well. By now we were riding along the edge of the forest and with the fine day the views over to the North Pennines and The Lakes were fantastic. Lots of riders were stopping to take shots. The next bit was the roughest part of the route and with an under-inflated tyre it took a bit of line choice to get down without puncturing.<br /><br />Where the track debouched onto the road there was a marshall's van and I noticed a track pump, time to get some air in the back tyre. It just so happened that one of the marshalls was an ex-Lakes climber who knew me. After a bit of a chat I asked him to give Cath some encouragement when she came through and headed on to food stop number two.<br /><br />Again lots of people milling about but grab a bit of grub, refill water bottles and oil my chain and I was on my way. The climb over to Kershopeburn from here was one of the more awkward parts of the ride, damp and greasy. Some had complained before the event about the climb past Kershopeburn but I found it OK then a long rolling descent to the route split: left for the 200km, right for the 130km. Left it is.<br /><br />More climbing then a long descent to cross the Kielder road and begin the final third. There's a steep ramp to get round to the Forest Drive which is the hardest climb so far, or perhaps my legs are feeling it. The drive isn't as bad as I remembered from our crossing in the opposite direction at New Year and I plod slowly upwards with the occasional "Good effort mate doing this on a singlespeed". There's one ramp I have to walk (my first of the ride) then it's the long blast down to the final food stop.<br /><br />More people milling around including Mark Evans who I hadn't realised was riding. After a bit of a chat he heads off and I grab some of the savoury food on offer, a welcome change from the sweets at the previous stops. After ten minutes it's time to go.<br /><br />Of course, it's now a long climb to get back over the hills we'd just ridden. Some more walking then the angle eases and I can keep riding. We'd done most of this in reverse at New Year but once at The Combe it's on to new stuff to get over to Kielder Water. Another long drag but at an easier angle than the last one so I can keep riding, but ever so slowly. Finally the route drops and there's no more big climbs left to do.<br /><br />Unfortunately the Lakeside Way is nowhere near flat and there's a few short steep climbs I'm forced to walk. Just keep moving forward. Eventually I start seeing features I recognise and I realise I'm near the end. There's a final ramp to get to the finish complete with cowbell wielding crowd so I can't walk this bit.<br /><br />I cross the line in something like 11hr35, a bit slower than I'd have liked but hey ho. Beer, food, more beer.<br /><br />Cath gets back about 90mins later.<br /><br />That was by far the longest I've ever ridden on a single speed. For me it wasn't the best choice but it was definitely a challenge, which is what it's about really. I wouldn't do another similar event on SS or on such narrow tyres. I also possibly didn't eat enough - most of the food at the first two food stops was sweet and that's what most riders carry anyway, something savoury feels much better and seems to sit nicer in the gut.<br /><br />Hopefully the effort will have put some strength into my legs and the failure of the pump was providential as I'd rather it happened now than in a month's time on the HT550. There's a couple of long rides we've slated in before then so I'll use those to fine tune the setup of the bike and kit.Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-91875823970063554512018-03-18T17:23:00.003+00:002018-03-18T17:23:31.918+00:00Sunlight and StormWith the media predicting another national crisis - the mini beast from the east - for the weekend road riding was out of the equation. More fat bike action!<br />
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Cath had agreed to go on an all women's ride but there were a couple of blokes invited along so we headed up the Dale to Threshfield. It was all a bit nippy getting ready, even in the lee of some trees, but soon we were away.<br />
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I'd swiped Cath's pogies as they don't fit the bars on her Stooge. Unfortunately they don't quite fit the Mary bars either so although I used them today, I'll need some different bars in the future.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pete and Jo on the climb up from Threshfield</td></tr>
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There was quite a lot of ice on the track leading up on to the moor but it had a rough surface so was easy to ride on. I'd put too much air in the tyres and was bouncing around a bit so let a couple of PSI out and things were much better from then on.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading off Threshfield Moor</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then the sun came out!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading over towards Kilnsey and Mastiles Lane</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wintry upper Wharfedale ahead.</td></tr>
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We got to the foot of Mastiles Lane just as the first shower hit. There was a discussion as to whether to head down the lane to the pub in Kilnsey but by the time we'd come to a decision (pub) it had cleared out so we changed our minds and headed up the lane. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The start of the climb up Mastiles Lane</td></tr>
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Now I've only ever cleared the climb up the lane once, many years ago, but it was ideal conditions with all the usual loose material frozen in place so I just span away and crested the top without so much as a thought of dabbing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cath at the top of Mastiles Lane about to get clobbered by the next shower.</td></tr>
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Cath managed the steep part of the climb clean for the first time only to get blown off by the wind just before the very top.<br />
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A lunch break behind a convenient wall then it was round by Lee Gate Farm and back to Bordley. Of course as soon as we turned back in to the wind another shower hit. With no goggles it was painful riding, I could only look at the ground behind my front wheel and it was as much memory of where the track went that got me down to Bordley Farm. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qkjrDN-GBH1Me2-OijPTWW_m5w4-ftvfQmJ-4ljVWsHL8RxUfT5xi0nC5HudJlz-Y3ODHw3HzdX4mta-r1S6Sr8l1pB04-yY861YEPvArXz0LHHTxVY_9B-TgLw75DKApwc3n9vlDGN3/s1600/mastiles-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qkjrDN-GBH1Me2-OijPTWW_m5w4-ftvfQmJ-4ljVWsHL8RxUfT5xi0nC5HudJlz-Y3ODHw3HzdX4mta-r1S6Sr8l1pB04-yY861YEPvArXz0LHHTxVY_9B-TgLw75DKApwc3n9vlDGN3/s400/mastiles-8.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another shower arriving at Lee Gate farm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9X__f7ae1YN4ndYeLS9Mf2lOMUPw9TnYomM_b7QKhYb3fCD2Ks3A0Fc5jdg8AtrMbi0zkeJ1nwtySYAbmVf4qfMsMYFpFD9SPcEybGcE3JpcQqG8FANl-rwl8GsB-C-GoDyI8pWpykQ0B/s1600/mastiles-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9X__f7ae1YN4ndYeLS9Mf2lOMUPw9TnYomM_b7QKhYb3fCD2Ks3A0Fc5jdg8AtrMbi0zkeJ1nwtySYAbmVf4qfMsMYFpFD9SPcEybGcE3JpcQqG8FANl-rwl8GsB-C-GoDyI8pWpykQ0B/s400/mastiles-9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were now riding into the wind, hard work!</td></tr>
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No sooner than we had got out of the wind in the shelter of the buildings than the shower passed and the sun came out!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-k__keNify0ZTngXJAn2fnaWiRn5rgtBReb7jMcwdgRVhd87eT9LeQMNk0P2eZGMyhqmmrrq7MRnLb6-BcxesTPBOmCyH86unE7eB6lnG3Xbmi7NYtlM8B2ZLs_nvcJ30Df_F8dUcK07/s1600/mastiles-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-k__keNify0ZTngXJAn2fnaWiRn5rgtBReb7jMcwdgRVhd87eT9LeQMNk0P2eZGMyhqmmrrq7MRnLb6-BcxesTPBOmCyH86unE7eB6lnG3Xbmi7NYtlM8B2ZLs_nvcJ30Df_F8dUcK07/s400/mastiles-10.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gang heading away from Bordley Farm.</td></tr>
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Despite the wind, the temperature wasn't particularly cold and quite a bit of ground and puddles weren't frozen. This meant that there were a few brakes and rear mechs that got wet and then froze up. We spent a few minutes dealing with Jo's rear mech after it jammed.<br />
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Finally it was back down to Threshfield. Normally on this descent I have to hit the brakes quite hard at certain points. Today it was a block headwind and you had to pedal downhill! Only 21km but those kilometres were hard won.<br />
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Here's the Strava bit.<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/1457676525/embed/717ede868933d9ea344cdf0f6b99dd29b169c017" width="590"></iframe>Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-21743516763599225992018-03-05T18:40:00.000+00:002018-03-05T18:40:03.732+00:00And the East wind doth blow ...<div class="p1">
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<span class="s1"><i>And we shall have snow</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>And what will poor bikers do then poor things?</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Get the fat bikes out!</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">As our neighbour noted: "</span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">When you bought those (fat bikes) did you think you'd get to use them in this country</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">?" Well we have done on occasion but it's been dribs and drabs TBH, this week was different. We'd got almost to the end of February and realised that we needed to get a bivy done to keep in the Bivy a Month challenge so on Tuesday night after we'd had our tea we headed out, me on the fat bike, Cath on her Stooge. We were only going very local so just packed what kit we needed into small rucksacks.</span><span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">With the strong easterly we really needed somewhere sheltered but my first option, known locally as "murder wood" following the discovery there in the 1970s of the body of a lady of ill repute was rejected by Cath. Fussy! We continued on snow covered roads with my Van Helga tyres making a right racket on the hard surface. We ended up just shy of the summit of the local hill in some old, shallow, quarry workings. Just enough shelter to be usable. I'd used this spot a couple of years ago so knew it was OK. The only problem was that there was a slight slope to the site and with the wind in the direction it was it meant that if we slid around in the night then we'd slide out from under the tarp. Oh Well.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It was almost a full moon so with the lying snow it was very bright and you certainly didn't need a torch to find kit by. Things were enlivened during the night when one of us knocked one of the poles away and we took a few minutes to get a sense of normality back. I was using my bag and quilt combo whilst Cath was using her better rated quilt. I think it's safe to say that we both found that we were at the limit of what was comfortable for the kit. I recorded -7C whilst Cath recorded -8C, suitably nippy. Whatever, come the morning we weren't about to hang around so we were up and packing before our 0630 alarm went off. It was cold enough that we kept our duvets on as getting back home was nearly all downhill.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It was just as well we got the bivy that night as the following day The Beast from the East (as our press liked to call it) or Thursday as it's known to the Finns, arrived. I chickened out of biking into work, it turned out I'd have been the only person in the office anyway as no-one else got in. I had to dial in to a video call but that could be done from anywhere, most of the day was spent keeping the wood stove going. We were still blocked in on Friday so that was another "snow day" and another conference call. I'd noticed a knocking in my headset and couldn't fix it - the top bearing had collapsed so a quick phone call to Stuart Rider to check he'd got the appropriate bearing ("Is it the 41.2mm or the 42mm version?" - typical bike industry and their standards) so head into town to get it fixed.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It comes to something when you have to wear full on winter mountaineering kit to ride a bike but I was wearing a full set of Paramo salopettes and jacket just to keep the wind at bay. No drama except for two incidents: I came across a council grit spreader stuck in a snow drift (didn't take any shots as the guys weren't happy and they had big shovels!) and whilst negotiating said drift I sprained my already sore back. Bummer! Headset sorted there was no problem getting home.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Come Saturday and it was going to be something local again. We worked out a route that used a mixture of mostly roads to gain height and mostly bridleways to lose it that looped in and around the hills. If things started to get out of hands then we could just use the roads to get back home. So back up the mostly cleared road up to Murder Wood (not dropping any hints dear, honest!) then a short bit of bridleway that I'd never been on before. Cath said it was usually boggy but with the cold and snow it was fine, just the odd drift as you rode across a sloping step and the back wheel would give way or coming to a comedic halt as the drift ahead deepened.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1">A quick dog-leg on the next road and then it was more bridleway, this time through heather and a mixture of pushing and rideable. Soon the gradient headed down and we could ride for longer sections. The next bit was tracks and fields to get us down to the old Skipton to Colne railway track. There were some good snow banks here that were firm enough to ride down, great fun.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This bit of the track is used by a "Land Rover Experience" setup which in practice means puddles, not nice in winter so we'd wind on and off the old track bed trying to keep our feet dry. The next bit of track is now access road to a farm and easy going. What we came to next was the result of one person clearing the road from one end "as far as possible" and someone at the other end clearing the road "as far as possible". We were just left with "possible", except it wasn't. A couple of hundred metres of steeply drifted snow. Hmm.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Next the big climb of the route. First bit on road (part of my preferred road ride route home) then some cheeky riding through some woods to the top road. Cath managed to clean the first of the steep ramps of the route through the woods for the first time. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">We'd got into the woods and spinning steadily away when I got the feeling that the bike was handling differently. The back tyre was nearly flat. The thing was, in the snow it gave brilliant grip so I thought I'd leave it and see how I got on. Pretty well as it turned out so once at the road I pumped it back up hoping that the (fifteen month old) sealant would do its job.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Another bit of cheeky riding ensued, well it would have been riding if the track wasn't a metre deep in snow! We'd ridden this bit getting to the bivy the other day but now it was twenty minutes of hike-a-bike. Our bivy site looked quite drifted in, a change in wind direction had scoured some parts of the hill and deposited everything here. You could see our tracks from Wednesday pressed into the now bare ground. No time to hang around at the summit, the wind was biting, down the same descent as Wednesday but on lightly drifted ground not 30cm deep snow.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The white strips are our tracks from three days earlier.</td></tr>
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<br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Lower down the snow was again in a completely different configuration to earlier in the week and we got to the next road to find that my tyre was semi-flat again. Another re-inflation and we decided just to head back on the road, the next bridleway looked drifted in.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So, you are just going to park your bike there then?</td></tr>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">For a 20km ride it packed a lot in!</span></div>
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</style>Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-4916635837643803702017-12-30T18:42:00.002+00:002017-12-30T19:17:25.420+00:00The NorthumbrianThe Christmas to New Year period is an awkward time to take time off in the UK, the weather is rarely kind, but many including my wife have to take the non public holiday days as holiday so there's some pressure to make the most of it.<br />
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Last year we headed up to The Highlands and did a two day trip on our fat bikes around <a href="http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9015&p=106856"><b>Loch Rannoch and Ben Alder</b></a> which was rather damp with both rain and snow melt leading to very high burn levels. This year we wanted something a bit closer.<br />
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Philip Addyman had put together a route in and around Kielder Forest and <a href="https://padonbike.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/the-northumbrian-the-creation-of-a-bikepacking-route/"><b>along with Stuart Cowperthwaite had ridden it earlier this year</b></a>. It looked a prime candidate with most of the route being on forestry tracks and just one tricky section along the English-Scottish border to Windy Gyle before dropping to Alwinton and heading back through the Otterburn firing ranges.<br />
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For once the weather looked fine so we packed the car and headed up to the start point in the small forestry workers hamlet of Stonehaugh. It was a bit later than planned before we'd got everything set up on the bikes and we headed into the woods.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVznwwbwDI_qrhU3f-81tN5dWe0c8S3w5w0NSIT7_iT9NKmQo7YVQ9H_4AmXflVyLKcCecsXdyrEgR9laxsHQHBqx64y5p3NypU53mlUSLcfTf5pT44OCLQFcI3mBBuTQKoKOKPR1kyGA/s1600/northumbrian-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVznwwbwDI_qrhU3f-81tN5dWe0c8S3w5w0NSIT7_iT9NKmQo7YVQ9H_4AmXflVyLKcCecsXdyrEgR9laxsHQHBqx64y5p3NypU53mlUSLcfTf5pT44OCLQFcI3mBBuTQKoKOKPR1kyGA/s320/northumbrian-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easy going on wide tracks.</td></tr>
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A start time of 1430 meant that our target for the night, Spithope bothy, was always going to be reached in the dark. Slight problem: neither of us had been there before so hoped it was easy to find.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzW3hC9wC-YAJf07VwmVxizhue1969mjd3XiybK8My3lxgTu7dmvfO1vRI1yer-N_UbobtgtTAoboFQbojW3F8Ms__rM3VCnE7k_-jGEUCcP1ADMmixTDhIZ1NcUetV9ZgKKSAphMmLs6w/s1600/northumbrian-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzW3hC9wC-YAJf07VwmVxizhue1969mjd3XiybK8My3lxgTu7dmvfO1vRI1yer-N_UbobtgtTAoboFQbojW3F8Ms__rM3VCnE7k_-jGEUCcP1ADMmixTDhIZ1NcUetV9ZgKKSAphMmLs6w/s320/northumbrian-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sun was low in the sky from very early on in the ride</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhjD9qg26Fr2lgu8tMGJa5eThFhjmdEPDhQwpwZa5djqzS4MlbbEdy-TGx8tkNt-65ZZX8eFXhqCPY_6u_afT6j2P5ujiRBZlX-ByeyCbYmeSRlcIbcAKRRQYbx1WRVGrzXmSMp-SeJFf/s1600/northumbrian-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhjD9qg26Fr2lgu8tMGJa5eThFhjmdEPDhQwpwZa5djqzS4MlbbEdy-TGx8tkNt-65ZZX8eFXhqCPY_6u_afT6j2P5ujiRBZlX-ByeyCbYmeSRlcIbcAKRRQYbx1WRVGrzXmSMp-SeJFf/s320/northumbrian-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By the time we were looking down on Redesdale the light was fading.</td></tr>
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While the riding was technically easy you couldn't really relax as the puddles in the track were all frozen and there were longer streaks of ice so you had to be on your guard all the time. We put on lights as we descended into Byrness and into more heavily wooded areas and the light faded to night. After a short section along the main road we cut up into the Spithope valley. After a false turn along a track we figured out where the bothy should be and headed further up the valley. There were footprints in the snow and at about the point where we'd figured the bothy should be they disappeared. Lights on full and we spotted the building on the other side of the valley. Fortunately there were steps and a bridge to get there.<br />
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I opened the door to find six already inside. Things might be a squeeze! There's bunks for six so two would have to kip on the floor. After food and drink and much banter - "Do you want more turkey?" we put the table and chairs outside to make room and kipped down for the night.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZFwanZHOCAUv5d4VmwWKzU3oj-ZlnsqxlEWIoFwa0mqu4t_6WU5_t-6fka3Je-8VwOIdSCEjyQVsL6zRvqCIyzNs8JIIQ_MwVMU4cUy7EZdhmg4kLXU2PQ_KpyEj9L1IecSL60Wfp8OA/s1600/northumbrian-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZFwanZHOCAUv5d4VmwWKzU3oj-ZlnsqxlEWIoFwa0mqu4t_6WU5_t-6fka3Je-8VwOIdSCEjyQVsL6zRvqCIyzNs8JIIQ_MwVMU4cUy7EZdhmg4kLXU2PQ_KpyEj9L1IecSL60Wfp8OA/s320/northumbrian-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaving Spithope bothy in the morning</td></tr>
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With morning light everyone rose and after breakfast and packing it was time to reverse the path to the main track. This led ever upward to a sharp bend when the line on the GPS headed off into what might best be described as "rough". Snow covered thigh high vegetation hid the line of whatever path was on the ground. There were also hidden becks and drainage ditches, the bikes picked up water and snow and required regular cleaning to avoid the wheels becoming stuck.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY67RjWojwgGIYZWsmZAOhJIFb56_CwUn-4vi4pO2kDIcHVpH-0MLQ9bUoeKUQGHiqauOFwqreBFXbwZV-YRyNgIMV5lvz0KaOMQHP6G990H2LhxNjttXWg9NztBoHjF-r9XKqWDrHVTL1/s1600/northumbrian-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY67RjWojwgGIYZWsmZAOhJIFb56_CwUn-4vi4pO2kDIcHVpH-0MLQ9bUoeKUQGHiqauOFwqreBFXbwZV-YRyNgIMV5lvz0KaOMQHP6G990H2LhxNjttXWg9NztBoHjF-r9XKqWDrHVTL1/s320/northumbrian-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hike-a-bike out of The Hart's Toe</td></tr>
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Finally we emerged onto open ground and a (hopefully) final cleaning of the bikes and it was time to pick up some speed. Except conditions dictated otherwise. I'd hoped that the ground was frozen and wind had shifted any snow. It was just the opposite! There'd been little wind and the deep snow had insulated the ground so there was still bog underneath. Progress was slow.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUob50GOQXrC1DVcxVSFOEZvbaWlx4otDzDgubAeG9VEVsWUnw7swNcMGsAE_f5iHsK5YDHF-uehDRC8Kk-4F-Tsa7qhzdhkReky-uHe8rrNUp30BoQ8tFz6q9tTv8QnBZtwg6ZCMPzKD/s1600/northumbrian-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUob50GOQXrC1DVcxVSFOEZvbaWlx4otDzDgubAeG9VEVsWUnw7swNcMGsAE_f5iHsK5YDHF-uehDRC8Kk-4F-Tsa7qhzdhkReky-uHe8rrNUp30BoQ8tFz6q9tTv8QnBZtwg6ZCMPzKD/s320/northumbrian-9.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cleaning mud, ice and snow off the bikes.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6ucaxcdBqPahnG1i05avFrvfFN8h139g6bOmkY7ThDqPdiFgmQwjyUZdan4ci_u_9E-goW0hRRVdC7K8Y2SC92V3FWfeLHuDpAf6VBQgyIMWQvGlFIvQivVGYPlnL_WQvZF5LpOq7jEy/s1600/northumbrian-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6ucaxcdBqPahnG1i05avFrvfFN8h139g6bOmkY7ThDqPdiFgmQwjyUZdan4ci_u_9E-goW0hRRVdC7K8Y2SC92V3FWfeLHuDpAf6VBQgyIMWQvGlFIvQivVGYPlnL_WQvZF5LpOq7jEy/s320/northumbrian-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hard going along the border between England and Scotland</td></tr>
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<br />
Eventually we reached a signpost: Pennine way along the ridge and alternative Pennine Way down the valley. We'd taken two hours for the last two kilometres, we'd no time to do the next ten Kilometres to Windy Gyle. We headed down the valley. Some bits we could ride but even heading downhill was hard work and needed pedalling. Once past the Roman fortification works at Chew Green we hit the road. This wasn't much easier, irregular patches of sheet ice meant things took much longer than we'd have liked.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhilj4yUKZ1gf9c0NtyKgmnnFnn6gk24pj3qde0-XMx7yRDoAMsNFyRX8Fxtkdq47gsdCEostkeMxRtuZOXkc40UOF7VAtI1tMSJ2lzQ-cJUBUyAoqjpYb1ywr3mTQHzJgK00uDvQrHgQ/s1600/northumbrian-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhilj4yUKZ1gf9c0NtyKgmnnFnn6gk24pj3qde0-XMx7yRDoAMsNFyRX8Fxtkdq47gsdCEostkeMxRtuZOXkc40UOF7VAtI1tMSJ2lzQ-cJUBUyAoqjpYb1ywr3mTQHzJgK00uDvQrHgQ/s320/northumbrian-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sheep had paddled down the snow so we could ride sections.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PRFVaJ-F-hK2h2CvXcsWrWoxg8iTDDxrDMOQuer0Eo67FhkfXvaRDDvqwPzWiFLGX6H78pdlyZElH0zcItqfs84APfTHG6i4vBmWzwIFZhCjgyGAMrz6LtjDZU3thprRqWc17J9SBG5g/s1600/northumbrian-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0PRFVaJ-F-hK2h2CvXcsWrWoxg8iTDDxrDMOQuer0Eo67FhkfXvaRDDvqwPzWiFLGX6H78pdlyZElH0zcItqfs84APfTHG6i4vBmWzwIFZhCjgyGAMrz6LtjDZU3thprRqWc17J9SBG5g/s320/northumbrian-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An artistic farmer at work!</td></tr>
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<br />
Eventually we got to Alwinton. Philip and Stu had lucked out here as both the pub here and in the next village of Harbottle weren't doing food. Today they were and we were hungry! Sometimes an hour not moving forward can be an hour well spent and we tucked in.<br />
<br />
The sun was still shining when we left. A bit more road then a turn right and we headed upwards once again through Harbottle Woods. Forestry work meant a diversion but it only meant that we debouched onto the road on the firing ranges a little higher than would have been the case.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp83ZPI-MVGGUcr4yCA5TN9_DJiewoOeha5hRQrxS2vEJtQIZ2xS5wy5bmazEjWM__l5A-DNuOlgf7E26pQKnFyfKWDc-PhuE4DxfMp-EkR0mL2kisFZSgov9dwrdH9rOtxizBGXIZjDmf/s1600/northumbrian-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp83ZPI-MVGGUcr4yCA5TN9_DJiewoOeha5hRQrxS2vEJtQIZ2xS5wy5bmazEjWM__l5A-DNuOlgf7E26pQKnFyfKWDc-PhuE4DxfMp-EkR0mL2kisFZSgov9dwrdH9rOtxizBGXIZjDmf/s320/northumbrian-14.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the shadows of giants</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheRRiIutLPTbNV0HXcXEr-AH9ODvBRhkGf3LdgHLb6GXDDoCG_mCxdu19nihgKpJ4Cb5wk9lv_lR_QI8A0HnnG5fYZT8apB7pI7-scI8G8xsmmOZyRzvbMqdBI5zi75WG5BptHvDB3CyZz/s1600/northumbrian-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheRRiIutLPTbNV0HXcXEr-AH9ODvBRhkGf3LdgHLb6GXDDoCG_mCxdu19nihgKpJ4Cb5wk9lv_lR_QI8A0HnnG5fYZT8apB7pI7-scI8G8xsmmOZyRzvbMqdBI5zi75WG5BptHvDB3CyZz/s320/northumbrian-15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaving Harbottle forest and entering the firing ranges.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFq1xHX_Fav0JZWrwNQi9ENS7MexseSWAWgXGEr737Dko7uJGOfdzhrrVUKoFUpt8ZRlcGda5Prng7sxA4KDTOqpyQ0YoeiIHImQC_H-0xctzyPZzhp6y0yZjxFkMq7u7aweshvw5IIuXR/s1600/northumbrian-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFq1xHX_Fav0JZWrwNQi9ENS7MexseSWAWgXGEr737Dko7uJGOfdzhrrVUKoFUpt8ZRlcGda5Prng7sxA4KDTOqpyQ0YoeiIHImQC_H-0xctzyPZzhp6y0yZjxFkMq7u7aweshvw5IIuXR/s320/northumbrian-16.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ranges are wide open spaces.</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The roads were frustrating. Vehicles had compacted snow and there were yet more random sheets of ice. This meant slow progress, downhill was often slower than the uphills. We reached the final junction and could head back down into Redesdale just as the light began to fade. At this point we were just 2Km from the bothy we'd stopped at the night before.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfPfqA0wVIoV0yGtKMlWIFlUefJlCcmtrf0gAUQhzvM4MqIy4U_Fbbq1YbE9MsuB_TPEdPkKE-j39DOfbEC6tRVGSa25wWMnbAH91QXWPjLfEh8UGE8WkYamXMHQdnA9tK0EBorMDCNLs/s1600/northumbrian-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfPfqA0wVIoV0yGtKMlWIFlUefJlCcmtrf0gAUQhzvM4MqIy4U_Fbbq1YbE9MsuB_TPEdPkKE-j39DOfbEC6tRVGSa25wWMnbAH91QXWPjLfEh8UGE8WkYamXMHQdnA9tK0EBorMDCNLs/s320/northumbrian-17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wide open spaces on the Otterburn firing ranges.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSxp6Ao0ALnvpW15tXgkquwwfsAXp4o7LFJsE9Zi_Lw0PN0Fyho_aCRzIckRRJyeGiEgynPbgbWbshWk5_L8vbVgrUTf8PtGFNAGeoL81w8Hf54uonzj6B2SF07eMNuEfLweaYaXGoBXOC/s1600/northumbrian-20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSxp6Ao0ALnvpW15tXgkquwwfsAXp4o7LFJsE9Zi_Lw0PN0Fyho_aCRzIckRRJyeGiEgynPbgbWbshWk5_L8vbVgrUTf8PtGFNAGeoL81w8Hf54uonzj6B2SF07eMNuEfLweaYaXGoBXOC/s320/northumbrian-20.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Icy roads slowed progress</td></tr>
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All day the temperatures had been below freezing but now it was getting seriously cold. At least we had the forest drive to look forward to, a long climb to Blakehope Nick warmed us up though I'd been in my lowest gear for much of the climb. The descent to Kielder cooled us down again. By the time we got to The Anglers Arms in Kielder it was -7C and with us feeling tired it cut to the quick.<br />
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Our target was KershopeHead bothy a further 25Km ahead but I didn't think we'd get there so asked at the pub if they'd any accommodation. Unfortunately they were full but the owner did offer an unheated caravan. A search showed one B&B in the village and they had a room! It would have to do. We headed over after having had something to eat. Warmth and a bed. bliss!<br />
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The morning brought a change in the weather. No longer clear skies but leaden clouds heavy with snow which had already deposited 5cm and was adding to it with every passing hour. A second decision - we'd follow the Lakeside Trail back to the dam and then return via our outward route. At least we knew it rather than the circuitous line we would have taken on the actual route.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaR9HxeE9jvrQg3fCmusdgbYO5sbj4RXqofsvMKeu6FQx7EwuDiCrrN9j-glICXtn7Pfd6fTTTmkcCYnNKfWaKmF2W92qoxVrsCgu7We-s4Vr-pkGgzoRyQnWSVqGT2K7Zd-oVF2uq4EV/s1600/northumbrian-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwaR9HxeE9jvrQg3fCmusdgbYO5sbj4RXqofsvMKeu6FQx7EwuDiCrrN9j-glICXtn7Pfd6fTTTmkcCYnNKfWaKmF2W92qoxVrsCgu7We-s4Vr-pkGgzoRyQnWSVqGT2K7Zd-oVF2uq4EV/s320/northumbrian-22.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heavy snowfall on the Lakeside Trail around Kielder</td></tr>
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The Lakeside Trail was hard work in the deep snow. The 20Km to the dam took over two hours for a nearly flat trail. The one oddity was a car on the trail, quite how it had got there was a bit of a mystery but there were several blokes in the process of trying to get it out. We'd now just the simple matter of climbing back over the hills to Stonehaugh.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmhwvcamFHunCNKBlcv-BXK1MdwfJgysTDfmLOPNkdjb1pdxkR9SPRudjISXC77DoPzRA8BzfEndtdIzQqcP9ia31rSKtojtnvBCQfjgSadzBA7KHOtTuXnD7MxqFeF80RpLK0RyOTXk5q/s1600/northumbrian-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmhwvcamFHunCNKBlcv-BXK1MdwfJgysTDfmLOPNkdjb1pdxkR9SPRudjISXC77DoPzRA8BzfEndtdIzQqcP9ia31rSKtojtnvBCQfjgSadzBA7KHOtTuXnD7MxqFeF80RpLK0RyOTXk5q/s320/northumbrian-23.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As the snow fall stopped it led to pretty views.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKH8VFuoVu8wSForXEtYInfFpJfFXbMBZnDS2DsXpjdcyV7v9BTZUgiQwXQae3qU2V-pMTlgpvrnGi7R_vikWT11MO7PFsR3px0F74Iwix0-KZk-W7GM4HKbr4Zf0c8N8awi6YsQtjed2R/s1600/northumbrian-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKH8VFuoVu8wSForXEtYInfFpJfFXbMBZnDS2DsXpjdcyV7v9BTZUgiQwXQae3qU2V-pMTlgpvrnGi7R_vikWT11MO7PFsR3px0F74Iwix0-KZk-W7GM4HKbr4Zf0c8N8awi6YsQtjed2R/s320/northumbrian-25.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bit different from two days earlier.</td></tr>
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Progress was slow, we tried to find the thinnest snow cover under the trees but even so we were working hard. The selfie below was taken at the top of the biggest climb. Temperatures were rising and the snow was getting a little thinner. Occasionally there'd be vehicle tracks so the best line was in these as the snow was nice and compact.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4PhChf6ZDS-SgDSToM65xA_tkvhXZY0frkuIn5qjO8Zo169g7UkfSYNZaI8VBl5I-uFfI6tv1zNh_NaioPeOWBAZgj8kW-PypsvQE1gi5huQ3K3PnDzqxmoO8bz8GHhhFfhZSXPHF09P/s1600/northumbrian-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4PhChf6ZDS-SgDSToM65xA_tkvhXZY0frkuIn5qjO8Zo169g7UkfSYNZaI8VBl5I-uFfI6tv1zNh_NaioPeOWBAZgj8kW-PypsvQE1gi5huQ3K3PnDzqxmoO8bz8GHhhFfhZSXPHF09P/s320/northumbrian-26.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More snow build up on the bikes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcoXjC6WeY2Al8wSsHOyr3ju9I4f6HIaV9I3syLQfxYTJEL0VscJ3MFtDWM_nSfkOnbXTjTWcfk3MDBGyd8kFPrP0lbTvXwxj45XV_9mNDJq_42XbkfKyxRQHLxrOw52fj1RF4sAF1xoT/s1600/northumbrian-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcoXjC6WeY2Al8wSsHOyr3ju9I4f6HIaV9I3syLQfxYTJEL0VscJ3MFtDWM_nSfkOnbXTjTWcfk3MDBGyd8kFPrP0lbTvXwxj45XV_9mNDJq_42XbkfKyxRQHLxrOw52fj1RF4sAF1xoT/s320/northumbrian-27.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selfie at the top of the big climb up from Kielder Dam.</td></tr>
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<br />
Eventually, just over 48hrs after leaving we rolled back in to the car park.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW9AInt78HKEC5Im6tbA-0baE_X5ZBsxPxe33gig9AKUIsQZfnBRuwsp-pZFQPU3oeoCk2njWnjWAjT1Pb0O78jhn7DQ1w_nY5QyPfhSWXb_8DK8j4XcYSMLgJhRTgayTiI-AF-kkKQ4xH/s1600/northumbrian-29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW9AInt78HKEC5Im6tbA-0baE_X5ZBsxPxe33gig9AKUIsQZfnBRuwsp-pZFQPU3oeoCk2njWnjWAjT1Pb0O78jhn7DQ1w_nY5QyPfhSWXb_8DK8j4XcYSMLgJhRTgayTiI-AF-kkKQ4xH/s320/northumbrian-29.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back at the car.</td></tr>
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So we didn't manage to complete the route but we had a good if hard time out. The route's quite varied and despite much of it being in forest it's actually quite open as the areas to at least one side of the tracks have been felled. I can't comment on the border ridge section (we've done Clennel Street down to Alwinton many years ago and that's straightforward). You also need to ensure that the firing ranges are shut before attempting the route.<br />
<br />
It's definitely worth having a go at the route though mid-winter might not be the best time of year! That said, a good frost without much snow and I think it would be a goer. Looking on a map it appears that you aren't too far from "civilisation" but when you are on it it does feel pretty remote especially on the firing ranges.<br />
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A good use of a good weather window.<br />
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Here's the Strava bit ...<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/1332041204/embed/4b677856f57880c64c15a81debac44fb6bddf8e6" width="590"></iframe>
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Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-91158987306873675572017-12-21T13:20:00.000+00:002017-12-21T13:20:13.110+00:00Winter bivyEvery year various groups of riders from the Bearbones forums head out the weekend before Christmas for a bivy. It consists of cafe, a bit of a ride, pub, a bit more of a ride, bivy, some riding, a cafe stop finishing with more riding back to a cafe. Generally the groups are organised according to location so Wales, Scotland, North of England, etc. though occasionally there's some cross border raiding.<br />
<br />
After a bit of humming and harring with no-one wanting to stick their head above the (icy) parapet, Chew took control and set about organising a ride in the Dales. A slight problem in that it had to be the weekend before all the others. Oh, well. After a bit of checking with the proposed route along with some changes to account for certain sections not being a bridleway and actually going through farm yards so therefore not being a good idea, the plan was formalised.<br />
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There was the usual: "I'll be there", "Err, no I won't" shenanigans which resulted in a grand total of seven of us turning up at the cafe in Kettlewell. There were two - Dave and Rob - whom I'd not met before. After some grub we managed to tear ourselves away from the warmth of the cafe fire and head up the Dale.<br />
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We'd not gone far when there's a mechanical. It turned out to be Chris' (Zippy) freehub that occasionally wouldn't work as intended. He thought it was due to the oil in the hub being stiffer due to the cold as the bike had been stored in sub-zero temps for a while and that with some use it might warm up. Then again it was significantly below zero so he'd have to be putting some serious work into it to heat it up.<br />
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Without further ado we headed further up the Dale with the road becoming increasingly white and icy as we gained height. Halfway up Langstrothdale we chose to take the path on the opposite side of the river, well, because. I'd never been along this before so it was interesting. Especially interesting was negotiating the sheets of ice where streams crossed the path and had spilled out and the thankfully short sections of limestone pavement. A couple of Km later and we are back on the road but by now it's even dicier than the path with a dusting of snow covering any ice. Fortunately all stayed upright.<br />
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<br />
Then it was through the woods. It's a long, long time since I'd been through these. By the time we got to the other side the clag was down thus kiboshing Chew's idea of a big reveal of Ribblehead viaduct. As a result we decided to cut the corner and head along the Pennine Bridleway up on to Cam Fell. What presumably was a shooting party similarly stymied by the mirk were heading the other way in their 4x4s: "You're off your tits you lot!" seemed to be their consensus. They might have been right.<br />
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The Track round Dodd Fell is wet at the best of times so today it was going to be an ice-fest. Fortunately it wasn't too bad with just one section that needed dismounting to get round a rather ominous frozen puddle. At Ten End we cut east on the bridleway. Again frozen in places necessitating walking there were usually boggy sections where the temperature actually helped, in fact it was the first time I've been able to ride the final field without dabbing. By the time we got to the road it was nearly dark.<br />
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The first section of road was really slippery and it was a bit of a relief to get onto salted roads. After a restocking at the Spar in Hawes it was decided that we'd just head along the road to the pub. At least this was fairly flat and clear so you could keep a good pace.<br />
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The pub was lovely and warm - it took a bit of effort from Chew not to fall asleep by the fire! The food was very good as well. Having imbibed and eaten it was time to head out and get to the bothy. This was uphill! A lot of uphill. Again the freezing temperatures had frozen whatever surface water was on the track so one or two short bits needed to be walked. Upward, ever upward until the track levelled off only to reveal more uphill. This eventually relented and before long we arrived at the bothy.<br />
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It's really quite well appointed. We get a fire going and the temperature inside becomes bearable. After a lot of banter, whisky and more banter we decide to turn in for the night.<br />
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Morning replaces last night's clear skies with more mirk. There's no point rushing as the cafe in Leyburn doesn't open 'til ten. A fast descent is no way to start a ride on a cold morning but at least it was followed by a stiff climb to warm things up. Not so good were the regular sheets of ice across the track. Cath came a cropper on one of these, you go down hard and fast on ice and she was a little more circumspect after this. After sussing out another potential bivvy spot for next year and more ice we transitioned to limestone country. There was the small matter of an icy road in-between mind.<br />
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After a few Km of limestone gravel tracks and tarmac we dropped into Leyburn to find the intended cafe was shut. Fortunately there was one open across the square. Phew! The cafe was rather good and had decent sized portions, certainly I struggled to finish my breakfast.<br />
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An hour later several plumper cyclists headed out into the cold again. At least we were now heading in the same direction as the wind. Some fast road work got us to the valley floor then some slower riding got us to the same height on the other side of the valley. A steady section of riding ensued around the edge of the dale before a nice fast descent to West Burton. All that was between us and Wharfedale was the small matter of the climb onto Stake Moss from Thoralby.<br />
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The only other time I've been up this way was on the YD200 when with a very lightly loaded bike with light wheels I'd resorted to pushing the concreted lower section. Today I'd got the plus wheels and was fully laden with winter bivy kit and clothing. So I rode it all! No idea how I did it really. At least higher up what in summer was soft pasture that dragged at your tyres was now crisp and pleasant to ride.<br />
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The top of Stake Moss was wide and wild - Dave said it reminded him of shots of the Tour Divide: empty spaces and big threatening skies. Steady going across the top until the descent to Kidstones. This was surprisingly icy and I walked the steeper bits though Chris rode them all. Once at the road it was a choice between the bridleway down to Buckden or the road. We all elected for the road. Then again 3Km of fast downhill is pretty chilling so I was glad of having to pedal hard along the road back to Kettlewell.<br />
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Most wanted to head off ASAP but Chris (who'd actually come up from Essex) Cath and I headed to the cafe for cake and a cup of coffee.<br />
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A good weekend.Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-50145157501697703232017-09-23T17:36:00.002+01:002017-09-23T17:36:39.797+01:00A River Runs Through ItQuestions, oh so many questions.<br />
<br />
A few years ago when I was just thinking about bikepacking (or whatever it was called then) a couple of friends rode one of the early editions of <span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.cairngormsloop.net/">The Cairngorms Loop</a>. </span>My interest was piqued and I'd many questions for them: what did you carry? How? Did you take cooking equipment? And so on and so forth.<br />
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I didn't get round to actually asking the questions, instead I went on a learning curve.<br />
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I put my name down for the group start for May 2016 but that was cancelled due to heavy snowfall in the week preceding the event. This year's May start was a bit hampered by being close to the JennRide and not too far ahead from the HT550, we ended up reccying the Northern Loop of the HT550. Steve Wilkinson the organiser had obviously got a little fed up with the weather gods messing him about in May so had announced a September group start as well.<br />
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For a while the start list looked very meagre but on the day around twenty appeared at the car park at Old Bridge of Tilt.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNSK485GMNyekdq7BV-ZCoRqI9T6w3HzuGDG9Du8q1gRaUsebkyj6uB1FMsjTg3fGQeZzGNbxG0NuXtt9XaKzO7bhI-WeW-KcSxG_iFBMJLtTviB-2nwM1Kz3PCckB2JG_0fcGHTGubm-/s1600/cairngorm-loop-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNSK485GMNyekdq7BV-ZCoRqI9T6w3HzuGDG9Du8q1gRaUsebkyj6uB1FMsjTg3fGQeZzGNbxG0NuXtt9XaKzO7bhI-WeW-KcSxG_iFBMJLtTviB-2nwM1Kz3PCckB2JG_0fcGHTGubm-/s320/cairngorm-loop-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the start in Blair Atholl. Steve Wilkinson, the organiser, is in the blue top.</td></tr>
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At ten o'clock Steve announces "Go!" but it seems as if we are as reticent at actually riding as at signing up for the event and it's a minute or so before the first of us puts foot to pedal and sets off.<br />
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As usual a group blasts off at the front. Let them go, I'll ride my own pace. I catch a couple up at Bruar as they strip off outer layers. It's all tarmac until the crossing of the A9 (easy peasy, there was nothing on either carriage way) and then fine estate track leading to the first of the river crossings just before Sronphadruig Lodge. No way were you going to complete this ride with dry feet!<br />
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Some moorland bog led to the first bit of singletrack along the edge of Loch an Dùin. I really liked this section, not too technical but still required thought. I caught one of the tail end of the lead group but Ian Fitz passed me about halfway along it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDbBIlGwHwLhx8JTN1E4L0M5B54yCiZ8t2jEX-0e1OnsIGrn6P_OYmCrxIYISbDcF0AZmOE6RwAA5Ud3wUtp1kXCdqDnoXqSHFyitd9pAWnjwOczIql7f3i0fsUDyepfHBmnwIcl3_ZAKv/s1600/cairngorm-loop-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDbBIlGwHwLhx8JTN1E4L0M5B54yCiZ8t2jEX-0e1OnsIGrn6P_OYmCrxIYISbDcF0AZmOE6RwAA5Ud3wUtp1kXCdqDnoXqSHFyitd9pAWnjwOczIql7f3i0fsUDyepfHBmnwIcl3_ZAKv/s320/cairngorm-loop-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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More easy track (with one very deep burn to cross) then road and some nice singletrack to Feshie Bridge before diving into Rothiemurchus Forest. Easy to get lost in such places so just follow the line on the GPS. After Loch an Eilein I got in among riders on an "adventure triathalon", quite what they thought of me blasting past them on a laden bike I've no idea.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNKJWTH4IEjsOCHOLbA63YF7kw-b-otGCz_gXwh69Ck17ZQuB8-QFw26BmuJELE13Mdv_dw_D2MWxTUkygZeWiB-H1eR-W8cYSZhtheMNipawkiW-1fHOZHYoTdJoKieIUg6lY3isllusK/s1600/cairngorm-loop-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNKJWTH4IEjsOCHOLbA63YF7kw-b-otGCz_gXwh69Ck17ZQuB8-QFw26BmuJELE13Mdv_dw_D2MWxTUkygZeWiB-H1eR-W8cYSZhtheMNipawkiW-1fHOZHYoTdJoKieIUg6lY3isllusK/s320/cairngorm-loop-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early evening light in Ryvoan Pass</td></tr>
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Cafe stop at GlenMore where I temporarily caught up with another of the front group then through the rather nice Ryvoan Pass and a question: straight on to join up with the outer loop or right for the inner loop?<br />
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Right it is!<br />
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The Nethy was looking angry at the footbridge which might not augur too well for what was to come but first there was Bynack Mor to deal with. This is the biggest climb on the route, chatting to Philip Addyman in the pub on Friday night he'd commented on the water bars and cuts - some just too wide to contemplate riding. Unweight, hop, push, ride. I was doing fine until "Bang!" My rear wheel clattered against a particularly sharp looking rock on the upper edge of one water cut. The tyre held but later inspection showed a very new and prominent mark on the wheel rim. I was walking and pushing from about here anyway.<br />
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A sharp shower causes the rider I'd temporarily caught earlier to stop and put on a waterproof. More plodding and pushing. Once on the top the route is more rideable though still with a few water cuts that require dismounting. A pair of walkers comment on a rider ahead:<br />
<br />
"<i>She just waded straight into the burn and waded across. It was up to her waist!</i>"<br />
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That'd be Jenny Graham then. We reckon there are three riders ahead of us: Philip, Jenny and one other who we are unable to name.<br />
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Soon enough we get to the burn, Craig notes that he's never seen this burn so high before. Doesn't bode well for the crux of the route, The Fords of Avon, a couple of Km ahead. The route ahead might as well be a burn, it's that wet that we are rarely riding out of water. The burn before we reach the refuge at the Fords is also high. This is one of the remotest places you can be on the British mainland.<br />
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Questions<br />
<br />
I've never been too comfortable around water, too much capricious power for my liking, so when we finally arrived at the Fords of Avon I was none too happy at what lay before us. The A'an was at least 30cm higher than in shots I'd seen of people crossing and the prominent island in the middle was partly submerged and looked like being lost for good in the maelstrom with most of the "stepping stones" merely hinted at by their addition to the foam and eddie.<br />
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We pace up and down the bank looking for chinks in the armour, I'm for heading down to Faindouran bothy but that means recrossing the burn we've just struggled across and perhaps unknown ones to deal with. Craig decides to go for it, I'll wait on the bank as "safety" though quite how I could be of much use without a line I'm not sure, maybe recording his last words for posterity: "Whoops! Aaagh! phht! Glug!"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6f0_DPdkzGGBHp1ihU0JU97fM6m3hLMttLG6CLJXlMo65aXWgVqBiT-yx9y3nfdgWQDeEyOswbh6XUjZRdob8N9-3y91P4JwPStrVqb_Lm345LbHxu22JayA-zNC66_OyJ-MUW-n31KZv/s1600/cairngorm-loop-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6f0_DPdkzGGBHp1ihU0JU97fM6m3hLMttLG6CLJXlMo65aXWgVqBiT-yx9y3nfdgWQDeEyOswbh6XUjZRdob8N9-3y91P4JwPStrVqb_Lm345LbHxu22JayA-zNC66_OyJ-MUW-n31KZv/s320/cairngorm-loop-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Craig on the first section of the crossing. I crossed from mid right to the head of the island then took a line above Craig's head to the far bank.</td></tr>
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He reaches the island fairly easily but the next section takes some five minutes of battling the current and controlling his bike in the flow. I don't fancy the line he's taken so head upstream to where I think there's a shallower line to the island and beyond. So it proves, but it's at the limit of what I can cope with in terms of resisting the power of the water.<br />
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As I reach the far bank Ian Fitz turns up and we guide him via the route I've taken.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sekn-PDSOO9oyBWMfGjmX_5PzpqBgooW9OyqlauwWncbUFwB4AH_gWRJrEKyxNUwmMddxw1N8agZnkjVCJmlYJR_jZ3hRi2hx6EqYS0RpfkRxEK2aRT_OYO9zkFWVTQSu0zKo9Ry6_Ob/s1600/cairngorm-loop-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sekn-PDSOO9oyBWMfGjmX_5PzpqBgooW9OyqlauwWncbUFwB4AH_gWRJrEKyxNUwmMddxw1N8agZnkjVCJmlYJR_jZ3hRi2hx6EqYS0RpfkRxEK2aRT_OYO9zkFWVTQSu0zKo9Ry6_Ob/s320/cairngorm-loop-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ian Fitz crossing the A'an.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHKYqiuz9578lJwIa3BP-8crDw6im20eRCB81uIwZt1lbMtF7oOfhx3IfshYF9TQvswJBirVrupiCJlKS8mCY5Yi8sCQVJRYGbhiJYAOLfQvsXHBXT-pivpwWlyoMtB2oBKhQZ0tCJHZG/s1600/cairngorm-loop-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHKYqiuz9578lJwIa3BP-8crDw6im20eRCB81uIwZt1lbMtF7oOfhx3IfshYF9TQvswJBirVrupiCJlKS8mCY5Yi8sCQVJRYGbhiJYAOLfQvsXHBXT-pivpwWlyoMtB2oBKhQZ0tCJHZG/s320/cairngorm-loop-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He seems happy enough!</td></tr>
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Once across the doubts begin, not of myself but of Cath who'd been very nervous about the river crossings and the reports of the water levels in the week leading up to the start. I'm hoping that she's chosen to do the outer loop. This part of the 'Gorms is known for having no radio contact let alone mobile phone coverage.<br />
<br />
The first half of the climb up to the Lairig na Laoigh is mostly rideable if somewhat tricky at times but the last Km is more pushing. The descent into Glen Derry is again enlivened by water cuts and the crossing of the Allt Glas Mor. Ian pulls away then eventually I pull away from Craig. By the time I get to the path to the car park at the Linn of Dee it's dark and time for lights.<br />
<br />
This part of the route is used by both inner and outer loops, the track up to the point where they part is easy angled and fast. Ian's rear light flashes in the distance, I nearly catch him before the junction. Then it's over to Glen Feshie, once the vehicle track ends and the path begins it's mostly walking, in the light I could have ridden most of it but black peaty holes when on your own in the middle of the night isn't wise.<br />
<br />
I spot wet tyre prints across stones, someone isn't too far ahead, no lights to be seen though. I'm unsure if there's one, two or three sets of tyres. No point, press on. Somewhere on here is a big burn, the Eidart, with a rickety bridge to cross it, after hearing several small burns it finally comes into earshot. The bridge isn't too bad but you really wouldn't want to fall off.<br />
<br />
Eventually a vehicle track is joined so some riding but still with some pushing where things are too soft and I spot the path leading away from the vehicle track. This leads to the landslip and through bushes to the bothy at the head of the main glen. Time to push on.<br />
<br />
This is another glen that just goes on and on. I take a fall trying to avoid one of the pines that is part of the estate's regeneration scheme as I remove a hand and the tree grabs my handlebars. Tarmac is joined but it's still twenty minutes of riding to Feshie Bridge and another half hour to Aviemore.<br />
<br />
Checking my phone whilst scoffing grub at the twenty four hour garage. No text from Cath but an email from Steve stating that the Burn of Brown is impassable. Hmm. Can't do anything now, time to find a bivy spot. A field with an open gate will do.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aAO8YwtA225VpLiWJyUR4hv-tAXApf5ryqzvGrHmuErAgY9sUurFuM6AQjydwZR2zv3FwXnVa-Fn3Z2XhiTxRQh4eCmRgcpsYScdBU8rELr5dc51E7J_EApsWzqwLsYBa26QxGUBClfj/s1600/cairngorm-loop-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aAO8YwtA225VpLiWJyUR4hv-tAXApf5ryqzvGrHmuErAgY9sUurFuM6AQjydwZR2zv3FwXnVa-Fn3Z2XhiTxRQh4eCmRgcpsYScdBU8rELr5dc51E7J_EApsWzqwLsYBa26QxGUBClfj/s320/cairngorm-loop-9.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuzzy shot of my bivy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Questions<br />
<br />
Where's Cath? There's no contact by morning.<br />
<br />
Which route to take? I don't know Abernethy Forest so finding a bypass should I come across a swollen burn won't be easy. I decide to head round to Tomintoul by road. On a bike with 3" tyres this wasn't as easy an option as it might sound especially with some climbs of 20% thrown in the mix.<br />
<br />
I get to Tomintoul just as the village shop is opening. A quick grab of chocolate and something to drink then I notice that the cafe is open so a chance to get out of the dreich. There's no rush now that I've deviated from the route.<br />
<br />
The ride up Glen Avon is steady especially with a tail wind. A few short steep ramps lead to Loch Builg and some techy singletrack then some bog before more estate trails. At the top of the climb up Culardoc I replace the batteries on the GPS but forget to restart the unit until I get to Braemar.<br />
<br />
The descent into Deeside is, hmm, interesting as my front brake is almost down to the metal. Once in Braemar I find a cafe and check my phone. There's a text from Cath - "At head of Glen Feshie". Relief. I need a pair of pliers to reset the brake pistons but the bike hire place is of little use. Oh well.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjNffwxvsyKZRSR-jdSc47dcQmddciUXjtQOLaOQrIfx9jKYhgvsEmKr0QEz8IRmel9LiGRaDB9XXRaC26bia9B3U4gx55vcM0eJqFsBb0G8k_c83o0AYgUjHbDRfIFigxeLRS6J1b-LC/s1600/cairngorm-loop-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjNffwxvsyKZRSR-jdSc47dcQmddciUXjtQOLaOQrIfx9jKYhgvsEmKr0QEz8IRmel9LiGRaDB9XXRaC26bia9B3U4gx55vcM0eJqFsBb0G8k_c83o0AYgUjHbDRfIFigxeLRS6J1b-LC/s320/cairngorm-loop-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Back up to the Linn of Dee and the track to the Red House. The Geldie Burn is only ankle deep and not a problem to ford. I elect to walk the singletrack at the top of Glen Tilt. Having not done the correct route to this point and with basically no front brake I decide not to head to Fealar Lodge and just freewheel down Glen Tilt back to Blair Atholl.<br />
<br />
I'd just grabbed some grub from the village shop when I get a call from Cath: she's in Aviemore and is going to scratch. She'd got to the Fords of Avon at 2100 with a couple of other riders and decided not to cross in the dark. They crossed in the morning, the other two headed down the Tilt and she carried on to the Feshie alone. Her text was from the Geldie-Feshie watershed, basically in the middle of nowhere!<br />
<br />
So not an outright success. Physically I was there but mentally I was at a bit of a loss. Worrying about high water levels and how Cath was doing took its toll. Still the route's there for next year.<br />
<br />
Success doesn't force you to ask questions in the way that any sort of failure does, it's just I don't know what those questions should be.<br />
<br />
The Strava or it didn't happen bit. The straight lines between Aviemore and Tomintoul and just north of Braemar are due to me not restarting the unit.<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="https://www.strava.com/activities/1196531967/embed/833da3b73cce1fb282fffd3b5a42e4e1dc69b315" width="590"></iframe>
<br />Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4154970700323230298.post-9433335136925032382017-09-11T19:31:00.000+01:002017-09-11T19:31:40.690+01:00Dipping a toe in the Single Speed Kool-AidA couple of years ago my commuting bike, an On-One Pompetamine, died. It had an 11spd Shimano Alfine internally geared hub which had never been entirely sound (I believe that the 8spd is much more reliable) and one day on the way home from work I ended up with just two gears. Or three. Or two. I ended up buying a new bike and I put the Pompy into storage with the idea of converting it to singlespeed to get more use out of it.<br />
<br />
Well, it sat there untouched for two years apart from a raid to get the front wheel with its dynamo hub and associated front light to put on to the new commuter.<br />
<br />
Finally I decided to sort it out. A bit of interweb shopping for a suitable rear wheel turned up nothing. The bike has disk brakes and getting a disk compatible road rear wheel on its own isn't easy, at least one that's cheap. A final look around and I came across a wheel set on On-One's site at a reduced price of £70. In fact the pair of wheels were considerably cheaper than any single rear wheel I could find. Welcome to the crazy world of modern product pricing. At 2.3Kg for the pair they aren't exactly light but at the price I'm not really complaining. There was also a singlespeed conversion kit available for a tenner so that got added to the order.<br />
<br />
With wheels sorted I just needed some tyres for them. The local bike shop had some 28c tyres which should be comfy enough. £23 each. I've plenty of inner tubes lying around the place as well as a pair of 160mm rotors.<br />
<br />
So what was I starting with? This:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpruB7iwIUk1KmKYgAgEeHqaeqTJGhyphenhyphenIpFif-L7FupjvrW3q9VDkq3MKpgwmq1AGplDFpi6B6VCu5R8svrFR057NI3u9d-BcZT8H2ygKUdiMTLl_w8jtKBwbWvEA_ZjnF1caWOeqdtPHgR/s1600/pompetamine-conversion-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpruB7iwIUk1KmKYgAgEeHqaeqTJGhyphenhyphenIpFif-L7FupjvrW3q9VDkq3MKpgwmq1AGplDFpi6B6VCu5R8svrFR057NI3u9d-BcZT8H2ygKUdiMTLl_w8jtKBwbWvEA_ZjnF1caWOeqdtPHgR/s320/pompetamine-conversion-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Different wheels because I swapped the original front with a dynamo hub for that off the Croix de Fer</td></tr>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-PmE60eVbIA4kt9pxWlh88960xgR1caIOmf8Ej4z7GqWSW1XmNYCiWBvI8SAoprc_XXkCz9pMDqqBDlUjtMn1nceA1NvVuoNL_0kede_3d-3IuJJ8tWZSZ8k5hvy1FTYo3ShvP2YrA-6/s1600/pompetamine-conversion-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-PmE60eVbIA4kt9pxWlh88960xgR1caIOmf8Ej4z7GqWSW1XmNYCiWBvI8SAoprc_XXkCz9pMDqqBDlUjtMn1nceA1NvVuoNL_0kede_3d-3IuJJ8tWZSZ8k5hvy1FTYo3ShvP2YrA-6/s320/pompetamine-conversion-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closeup of the Alfine hub.</td></tr>
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<br />
<br />
Current weight is 12.3Kg without pedals (weighing method du jour apparently), the Pompino/Pompetamine frame is, shall we say, sturdy and it's quite likely that a modern steel frame like a Cotic Roadrat would be quite a bit lighter - actually more than likely as my Cotic Solaris 29er mountain bike weighs 11.5Kg.<br />
<br />
First job was to strip the kit off that I wasn't going to need: old wheels, cabling for the Alfine. I could have replaced the Alfine Crankset but it still works OK so I'll keep it for now even though the associated chain guard isn't particularly "on message". Similarly for the brake/gear levers.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Build the wheels up: fit inner tubes and tyres; fit brake rotors. </li>
<li>Loosely fit the singlespeed cog on the rear freehub and play about to get the right chainline. Tighten everything up.</li>
<li>Fit chain.</li>
<li>Fit front wheel. Align brake calipers.</li>
</ul>
<br />
That's it! Took about an hour, most of which was building up the wheels as tightening rotor bolts is just fiddly and getting new road tyres on to rims can be frustrating. The wheels didn't come with rim tape and the only rim tape in the LBS was for tubeless and expensive so I ended up using Gorilla Tape. The next longest job was getting the chainline right though it turned out I'd actually fitted it correctly to avoid losing the parts, reset it at a "guess" then had to change it back. The new weight (with pedals) is 10.8Kg. Total cost of parts was £133 but if I'd already had compatible wheels, i.e. the rear wheel was a standard freehub design, then nearly all that could have been avoided and the cost would have been the mighty sum of £10 for the singlespeed kit and £7 for a new chain.<br />
<br />
Actually there was another job: the bike had stood for so long that the rear brake cable had seized so a quick trip down to the nearest bike shop procured some cable and outer for £9 and a bit of fiddling and fettling and that was all good. All that was another hour! Here's the result.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLrx9w8Yt3_V8fsZZiYTU84Lu0s7_Y151pNw0tlZEPMSX31v4uTLPGo-axRJFGFt2fRzSl7U5Yg_fqfuV3fvPBWnHcnLtGq7EVBfVVwpf-fp2CbzmsbAXnuGauUwvaDHxEDsBZHshBbEO_/s1600/pompetamine-conversion-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLrx9w8Yt3_V8fsZZiYTU84Lu0s7_Y151pNw0tlZEPMSX31v4uTLPGo-axRJFGFt2fRzSl7U5Yg_fqfuV3fvPBWnHcnLtGq7EVBfVVwpf-fp2CbzmsbAXnuGauUwvaDHxEDsBZHshBbEO_/s320/pompetamine-conversion-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I just hope that my chosen gearing of 39:16 is about right, it's roughly 65 gear inches. I ended up with this due to keeping the crankset, I'm aware that many recommendations for singlespeed are along the lines of 44:16 or even 48:16 but there's some steep hills around here and the idea is to be able to ride things!<br />
<br />
First ride out was up the dale which is fairly flat (for round here) having just 850m of ascent in 55Km. The climbs, such as they are, cover just about all gradients so a reasonable test. My max speed when pedalling was 44kmh which with a bit of reverse maths apparently comes out at a cadence of around 140rpm! I hadn't tightened up the rear QR enough so on the way back the wheel slipped in the drop outs and the chain dropped. I tightened it up and it held for the rest of the ride but I should get either a steel QR or bolt through to prevent this happening though another possibility is something like a <a href="http://surlybikes.com/parts/drivetrain/tuggnut"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Surly Tuggnut</b></span></a>. The spacers on the conversion kit weren't quite enough to keep everything tight so that needed looking at, I'd a 2mm BB spacer that did the job by replacing one of the 1mm spacers.<br />
<br />
The second ride was a bit hillier. OK, not entirely accurate as there was the same elevation gain but the profile was completely different with a big hill at the end of it with sustained sections of 12-14%. That was hard work and I only just made it past the steep bit at the end of the longest ramp.<br />
<br />
In total I've spent £142 and about 2 1/2 hours on the conversion. It's not a bike that will do everything road related, it's just too hilly round here for that, but as a winter hack/training bike it'll be fine. If my experience with 1x systems on my hardtail is a guide then in about a year I'll probably get a higher gear fitted.Bob Wightmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15811197850668307283noreply@blogger.com0