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.