Just bike

It was a glorious day. Winter was still refusing to die and there were frost pockets and stubborn scoops of snow in the shady hollows yet spring was in the air. The sun was hot on black lycra, extra layers were soon stashed in the backpack, and the sky was an endless vista of blue who wouldn't want to bike on such a day.

We were three at the start and I took the opportunity to ride ahead and try to capture the feel of the ride on camera. We were following familiar routes and enjoying the anticipation of favourite speedy descents and tricky crossings but the going was definitely soggy. We took the high track through Park Wood which was a mud bath but it was one of those days when it was just great to be biking anywhere, anyhow.

Later after a very tired boy was escorted home by his Dad I got to carry on alone ... I just didn't want to stop as the route unwound by Clitherbecks, Oakley Side, Danby Castle and then along Little Fryup Dale before going vertical up Danby Rigg. The descent was tricky, it's always a challenge to see if you can do a clear run with no dabs but this winter has wreaked havoc on the terrain and good lines just disappear into yawning chasms with zero notice. My riding might not have been perfect but it was a perfect ride.

That was two weeks ago now and since then there have been yet more great rides in all shapes and sizes - both road rides and XC rides with a variety of family and friends. Rides that were planned and others that were unexpected extras. Next week the clocks change and six months of longer days and better weather beckon, what a feeling to anticipate all those bike rides to come.

Doing it With Kids in Canada (Ross Lake, Lake Louise)

I live in such a beautiful part of the UK that nowhere else can really compare; however once in a while I need to  satisfy my sense of discovery and adventure and just confirm that there really is no place quite like home. Last summer I set my heart on going somewhere I'd never been before, somewhere far, far away ... but safe enough to take my kids, although as it happened it really needed to be safe enough to take my husband. And so it was that a plan to go to the Canadian Rockies was hatched.

First and foremost I needed to sort out the practicalities but in this modern world it just took at bit of internet research and bingo tent hire and bike hire was organised. Of course we needed a seriously large pickup to transport it all and then there was campground reservations, backcountry reservations and shelters to think about - Banff National Park was the website to sort all that out on. Planning the details is a bit of a pain but it's worth it for that sense of amazement when things all go to plan later on ... how weird is it when you arrive in a country, thousands of miles away from where you live to find someone has put a tent up for to spend your very first very jet lagged night in?

To cut to the chase the biking was also worth the effort. The kids loved the idea of bike hire particularly as they got upgraded from their usual mounts while we got downgraded. We took our own helmets, cycling shorts etc some of us even took our own pedals. In fact the only thing we really forgot was winter bike gloves .... well it was August and I didn't think we would need them. Never under estimate the ability for snow to fall in Canada, even our mosquito repellent froze! It all added to the sense of adventure, if we had been camping in the UK in such low temperatures it would have been a pain but in Canada it was part of the adventure, the unexpected, a test of our versatility. That's what we told the kids anyway.

To be continued ....

Banff National Park has closed many of its trails to cyclists but there are still some great routes to do if you look hard enough. The photos on this blog were taken on a singletrack route from Lake Louise to Ross Lake. As you can see the trail crosses a creek, two in fact, as it wends its way through subalpine forest and leads you a merry dance over rocks and roots galore. Every once in a while you can look out over the peaks of Bow Valley and Kicking Horse Pass and indulge that sense of isolated wilderness before picking up the pace again and swooping through another series of climbs and descents. Our youngest son had an off as he got somewhat over confident with his bunnyhops down a particularly steep and rocky section but if you don't fall off once in a while your're not really trying. Lake Ross itself is an example of Canada's natural beauty at its best, unspoilt by anyone or anything else ... even a teenager could not help but be impressed by nature's paint pallet of glacial blues and verdant greens with an unforgiving mountainous backdrop ...

We chose to return via the Great Divide bike path which is reached by a 1.3 km trail (riders are required to dismount and walk this section) down along Ross Creek to the Great Divide Road. The former 1A Highway is permanently closed to vehicles now and provided a wide gravel expanse of easy cycling for the return route. But there was plenty of fun to be had in the form of more jump practice on the frost heaves covering the many culverts which run under the road. The large quantities of bear pooh were also quite disturbing; still no need to tell the kids to make lots of noise cos they do anyhow.

Doing it with kids

Last week was February half term, as those of you with children will know; and so the mid week ride was modified accordingly. Now, before you nod knowingly and start thinking shorter, less technical routes etc 'modified' was more about making sure there was plenty of inducement on board (sweets, chocolate anything will do) and being prepared for a running commentary from two sons, than anything else. Obviously I needed to be told the 'how, when and why' of every manoeuvre, route decision and technical problem encountered! This is my younger son - a mere 10 year old - making a better job of a stream crossing than I did shortly beforehand.

My kids have been on bikes since they hit 6months and became eligible for bike seats; they progressed to tag a longs and their own bikes in due course and so now I can hardly complain if they are challenging the pecking order in the family lewis bike scene. We have just booked our summer holidays which usually involves mountain biking in some shape or form. This year we're off to Kielder Water and then Dumfries and Galloway and the 7Stanes. We have mountain biked with kids in both these locations before and had massive fun so look out for posts on these areas at some point. Last summer we pushed the boat out and went to Canada and did some fantastic routes with the kids in places like Canmore, Alberta and Lake Louise but again that's a whole different post.

Anyway back to the local bike ride in February in North Yorkshire - all was going well and we were winding up for the ascent onto Ainthorpe Rigg when disaster struck in the form of a flat. No problem I thought as I whipped out a spare inner and remembered how to use my pump ... unfortunately I hadn't bargained on breaking the valve on my spare and shame on us we hadn't a puncture repair kit between us. Oh well lesson learnt for the half term holidays - take plenty of back up boys.

Training 4 the C2C

Although my true love is mountain biking I have been persuaded to get involved in a little 'on road' project by my sister, who along with a bunch of mates is planning to do the Coast 2 Coast in May this year. My role consists of providing moral support and training opportunities for the event or as she would interpret, taking the piss and ensuring she is on her bike when the worst weather of the week hits town. This Tuesday morning was a fine example as we pedalled through rain, sleet, hail and then bizarrely rainbows and brilliant blue skies before yet more rain, sleet and hail. One minute the sheer pain of hail being driven into frozen faces made it difficult to see; the next it was the brilliance of the sun bouncing off the Cleveland hills, still bedecked in a white frosting, that was the problem. The weather may not be quite what we're hoping for in May but it sure beats gym time or a spin class any day of the week!

Somehow my supporting role seems to have been extended to require me to actually partake in the ride itself ... I'm hoping this will simply require me to to exchange my nice wide knobbly tyres for some slicks? The question is when - will leaving them on now make me fitter for the event itself or will it simply mean I can't cope with slicks and find myself sliding over tarmac far too frequently. Ahh well I'm sure the latter will only be considered pay back for the treacherous conditions we have had to cycle in recently when I have been perfectly protected by my sticky wheels.

I am only along for the ride on this one but I'm hoping there will be plenty of great material to report both before, during and after the event so keep on signing in. I think the route we will be taking is from Workington to Sunderland with two overnight stops but I'm hoping those that know will keep me informed. My husband is not totally thrilled with the timing of the event as we hope to do the Lakeland loop just over a week later but a girls got to support her sis and I'm sure it will provide the perfect preparation ....

Thursday Tootle

Thursday is the day when there is a small possibility that one or more of my biking mates might find a couple of hours to escape from their busy schedules of work, kids and stuff and hit the local tracks. A couple of weeks ago such a Thursday dawned .... mainly because the mate in question just wanted to check that she wasn't losing her touch. In other words, that she could still whoop the pants off me!! When I ride with this particular friend (?) I always return battered and bruised ... you know what I'm talking about, the next day parts of your body hurt that seem to have nothing to do with cycling. And slowly bruises appear in places that make you a talking point if you dare to venture into the local swimming baths. But its always worth it. In the first picture you can just glimpse Hardale Beck in the middle, a sneaky slap of cold water just that bit deeper than the crank shaft, followed by a rise back to the moor tops that seems much steeper than the descent - how does that work? By this point in the route we had already traversed across Brown Rigg and Roxby High Moor on a fast and furious bit of single track from Danby Beacon. We did have a brief encounter with one of the local game keepers as we approached High Tranmire Farm but only pleasantries were exchanged. I think a certain level of notoriety must have been achieved over the last year because we appeared to be recognised as the 'local lasses on their bikes' as opposed to being accused of a spot of 'lamping'?!

Although not at all apparent from the photos there was still a goodish amount of compacted ice and drifted snow around in parts of this ride. Steering on ice is an interesting concept that I'm sure anyone whose been on a bike this January will have been introduced to - suffice to say practice does not seem to be making me perfect! In the second picture we have almost completed our circular route back to Dimmingdale Farm although anyone wanting to do a similar route could simply park above Commondale at White Cross and follow the track across until it hits the road out of Danby - a track known locally as 'the un-suitables' which is always a blast.

Beadle's Bash (or How to Keep your Man Happy) Final Day

... mountain biking is all about getting on the bike regardless of the weather, in fact some say the worse the weather the greater the challenge. A certain perversity of nature is an asset when it comes to biking in the UK and this theory holds even more weight when it comes to multi-day rides because you can't look at the weather over breakfast on day three and say 'nah, not biking today cos I can't see a bleeding thing' which is what we wanted to say on the final day of our Beadle's Bash route. The day had loads of potential we were going over Glaisdale Moor, Danby & Ainthorpe Rigg, Hograh Moor, Baysdale Moor ... so the route included lots of that 'I'm on top of the world' kind of scenery with nobody else in it; perfect for my selfish soul. Unfortunately, most of it was hidden behind layers of freezing fog which persisted despite a chill wind. Still  this was home ground and contained some of my favourite technical sections such as the descent down Ainthorpe Rigg and the route over Hograh Moor ... sections which required my full concentration given my, shall we say, still developing skills! Being positive, it was really a blessing not to be distracted by the natural beauty of the location? 

We arrived in Castleton, the last feed station of the days route, to discover all pubs and tearooms still closed so we made do with a selection of the Co-ops finest which was probably not improved by being squeezed into the none existent space remaining in our packs. Then at Bloworth Crossing we couldn't find the left turn 'along a narrow track through the heather' no matter how hard we looked. Of course by now we could barely find our front wheels the visibility was so bad and we were wearing every item of dry clothing we possessed and still slowly freezing. I'm ashamed to admit it but at this point we ditched the route and took the fastest descent we could find down into Bransdale. Still it would have been far more embarrassing to have required the services of the air ambulance and old age has not dulled my instinct for survival to ride another day. Our detour brought us out in the valley bottom and we had to climb back up to Bransdale ridge to join the final stretch of the route to the finishing line at Helmsley. One more thigh burning ascent seemed like just punishment for our sensible if less than heroic detour from the route. We didn't stop much for scenic photos on Day three but this is one of me once we'd hit the final descent by road  into Helmsley ...

Why we need to Bike

Biking in January has been a desperate affair and all because of the white stuff.When you just can't take any more you convince yourself that those low lying track will be O.K. and venture out ... thanks Lou for the company on one such day in January! Of course the snow's drifted in and you have to push once or twice but the weather is so much more fun when you're in it rather than moaning about it.

All you 'would be bikers' out there complaining of BPD (Bike Polar Disorder - see Singletrack Magazine) need to saddle up and find a route now! When the weather finally breaks you are going to be just soooo glad you did. Put yourself first for once ... a woman's work is never done so you might as well schedule in some bike time. I'm amazed at just how many people I know who want to bike ... it's whatever you want it to be from a mobile coffee morning, to a stress busting workout to a training session for your latest project be that a competition, a go at the coast to coast or just the next bike ride. You all know who I'm talking about; so no more excuses make FEBRUARY count!