Gisburn Forest - Ride 6

Gisburn is a popular trail centre, when we arrived this morning both car parks were full and there were loads of bikers out in force, from young kids with parents, new comers on simple builds, downhill warriors pushing up the hills ready to tear back down again and more like us with reasonably expensive bikes that can do it all if you have enough fitness and skill.

It's quite a rough trail with plenty of technical challenges and more than a few ups and downs. Most of the trail is hard pack build as without this the sheer number of people visiting would make a muddy mess of some of the forested sections. It's not an overly long trail but it is quite tiring, the rough nature of the trail and technical aspects certainly drain the batteries. The highlights are probably the Hope line which is a smooth section through the woods with jumps and drops and the infamous Hully Gully, huge rollercoaster like berms which will having you grinning or shaking once ridden.

Once you've finished it's definately worth visiting the cafe they do the biggest slice of flapjack for a winning price :)

Everyone wore red today, not sure why...

Ride 5 - Whinlatter

Headed out on my own for this one and went to another local well known trail at Whinlatter forest. Decided to ride the south side first as it's not often I ride that side, the climbs weren't great thanks to the beers the night before but it was a pleasant clear day with good views and good trail conditions. The view from the top of the south is one of personal favourites.

Once that loop was finished I decided to keep moving and do a full loop of the north, the trail was pretty quiet considering the amount of people I had seen on bikes milling around the car park. There was a diversion in place for trail maintenance on the top section of the down that couldn't really be ridden but the last set of switchbacks was open and is always fun and fast.

Good clear view of Skiddaw for once

Ride 4 - Mabie night ride

An old favourite and one used quite often as a night ride destination. We know the trail quite well and there are other optional sections to ride also. Rode most of the red loop but finished on the fast footpath and a quick lap of the 4X, followed by a post ride snack at Dante's in Dumfries.

Ride 3: Caldbeck

Went out for an explore around Caldbeck Fells to see if a route could be found for future use. Took in the summit of High Pike but due to low cloud couldn't see very much, most tracks in this area are fairly grassy and quite draggy if pedalling up but they don't seem to get too boggy. Quite an open area with no cover so if the wind is up you are a little exposed but I think a route could be put together.

A cloudy view on High Pike

100 Rides of 2013

This year I am going to attempt to document (write up or just a simple photo) all my rides this year, with the hope that I complete a minimum of 100 rides.

The first two are already completed.

New years day ride: The regular new years day ride was attended by an impressive 20 people this year and we also broke from tradition (Mabie forest) and did a loop near Askham. It wasn't great weather, a little rain, a little wind, but everyone completed a 10 mile loop (13 mile for some of us) and all came back smiling. It's a nice short loop that does punish with a long climb to start with but then rewards with a pretty fun (and this time very very wet) descent. It also finishes back at the pub which does good beer, food and has an open fire, perfect for warming up cold hands and feet.

Thursday night ride: This was a very foggy affair at Newcastleton. The lights helped us see in near pitch blackness but they did little to help pierce the thick fog which brought visibility down to about 3 feet in some places, still a good ride for a warmer than usual January evening.

Nukeproof Mega Update

So I've had the mega for around 6 months now so I thought a little update about how it's been and what I've done to it was in order. Since being bought back in early July it's been ridden in Wales, The Peaks the local Lake District hills and around a few of the closer trail centres, so it's certainly seem some mileage.

The Build

Since buying it the build has had a few changes. The forks (Rockshox Lyriks) were converted from air to coil, and while this adds more weight to the build they feel much nicer. The rear shock (Rockshox Monarch) has also had a small tune to speed up the rebound and decrease the air volume of the can, to try help it feel a little nicer through it's midstroke.

The old dmr v12 pedals were switched out for the newer vaults which I must say feel amazing, the large platform really helps keeps your foot in place, just beware that if they do slip and catch your leg they will eat it up.

Somewhere in Wales

I've been running the Maxxis Ardent tyre out back and a Schwalbe Hans Dampf at the front. The Ardent is certainly looking worn now but has performed incredibly well, the Hans Dampf still looks in great condition and really is a great all round tyre. It's massive size (the 2.35 looks more like a 2.5) and softer compound certainly helps with grip and the only time it's struggled has been in very muddy conditions.

The Ride

It's taken me some time to get used to how this bike rides, but it's starting to feel more like my own now. With the shock in lockout mode it provides a very stable platform when climbing smoother trails or roads, it can feel a little wandery with a longer fork up front but this is easily remedied with a travel adjust fork. On the rougher stuff the middle setting of the shock feels nice, taking hits and soaking up the worse bumps while not stealing all your energy through excess bobbing. It must be mentioned that if you are using a travel adjust fork in shorter mode the bottom bracket is quite low so pedal strikes can be an issue, I'm considering switching the cranks to 170mm length to reduce this.

Once the bike is pointing downhill you really can have a lot of fun. The relaxed head angle and downhill orientated geometry help you feel safe and planted, and if you are willing to let go and attack the trail the bike comes alive underneath you. It does struggle in the tighter technical stuff as the chainstays are pretty long but that could be down to not enough rider skill on my part.

Overall

I'm pretty happy with the build and how it rides overall, i'm still learning how it behaves in certain terrain and I hope as I get more time on it my enjoyment will increase. I'm sure there are more upgrades to come too. As previously mentioned I would like some shorter (and lighter) cranks to reduce the pedal strike issue and also try one of the dropper posts which I think would really help with it's versatility on the trails. Last thing to mention is I think it looks great in the raw finish.

At home in the Lakeland Fells

Great hardtail edit

Stumbled across this earlier in the week and i think it's a superb little edit:
Hometown from ShapeRideShoot on Vimeo.