Sunday 27 December 2009

Snowy Day At The Mines

We'd been dying to do a good snowy ride up Reeth way, but it was looking like conditions would be too snowy to make a ride possible. Info from our friends at The Dales Bike Centre and a reccy by intrepid squad member Matt suggested the icy backroads and 3-4 foots snowdrifts would make reaching Old Gang mines nigh on impossible, unless we stuck to main (boring) roads.

What the hell. We decided to just go and see what we could manage.

6 of us set off from Reeth village green and headed up the Arkengarthdale road. Nothing too challenging in its constant, gentle climb and we were soon at Langthwaite at which point we turned left onto the minor road to Low Row. This was more interesting - the snowy top-covering had been ploughed off to leave only the icy base layer. Thankfully this wasn't totally glass-like ice and had enough grip in it that we could ride it, albeit slowly and carefully.

On up the hillside we went, gaining 500 icy feet and taking almost 1/2 an hour to do the mile to the summit (though a chunk of this time was spent taking photos, it was quite spectacular scenery).

At the top the ploughing had come to an abrupt halt, and so therefore had the road. All we could see ahead was fields of snow and we had no idea where the road ought to be. A best guess was to stay close to the wall as we tried our best to make headway in the feet-deep crystallised snow.

This had hardened to a degree where it could almost support our bike weights, the tyres only digging in a few inches. With careful weight distribution (keeping the front wheel light so it doesn't plough and dig in) slow progress was possible. The fact it was downhill helped too. In places the snow would become a bit too soft and we'd grind to a halt, this on occasion causing gentle, slow-speed endos with a cold but soft landing in the snow beyond. We all stopped to take pictures of our bikes, standing up on their own, supported by the wheel deep snow, or of the road signs warning of zig-zag bends ahead (road, what road?).

Eventually we reached the ford at Fore Gill Gate. All but one of us rode this without problem, but one (there's always one) managed to fall off right in the middle of it. Fortunately he didn't get icy cold water inside his waterproofs, only in one of his gloves.

A right turn shortly after this took us onto the track up to Old Gang Mines. Thankfully for us a 4x4 or quad bike or something had been up that way and had compressed 2 tyre tracks into the snow. We rode these as best we could, once again getting just enough grip to keep going while trying to keep our trajectories straight enough to stay inside the tyre marks.

We were rewarded with some spectacular views of the old buildings as mist started to descend on the valley and the weather looked like it was going to make a turn for the worse. This wiped out any thoughts (if we ever had any) that we'd press on to the top and after a 15 minute photo stop we turned tail and headed back down the valley. This was fun and required maximum concentration and a bit of speedway technique to keep the bikes upright and on-track at the relatively high speeds of our gravity-induced descent. I lost it at one point and almost hurtled headlong down the bank into the beck, but managed to get back under control in the nick of time.

Once back at the road we took another side road back to Healaugh. This was another road that had been scraped by the plough to leave an icy covering, only this one was downhill rather than up. How fast dare we go? How much grip was there? Not very, was the answer to both questions. Some of us managed better than others, and the odd off-bike excursion took place as various patches of ice took on friction-free glass-like properties. Spot them soon, keep a straight line, a sensible speed, a relaxed gait and STAY OFF THE BRAKES and you'd skate over them. Get it wrong and the hedge or the ditch was waiting for you!

Once back to Healaugh all that remained was my least favourite road-slog back to Reeth, though today this didn't seem as long or as arduous as it usually does, probably because we'd only done 10 miles by now.

A quick change and short drive to The Dales Bike Centre for speciality coffees, home made cakes, beans on toast and friendly craic. It had only been a short ride, but it was good given the conditions and it was great to be out seeing the countryside with its blanket of snow.

Reeth - Langthwaite - Old Gang:
11.5miles, 1750ft up/down, 2hrs45

Sunday 6 December 2009

Chop Gate: Canyoning

Canyoning. Apparently that's the technical term for the sport of running up and down waterfalls. We did better that on Sunday, we turned it into a triathalon; a bit of running, a bit of cycling and (almost) a bit of swimming, all of it in the waterfalls that the trails on the moors had become.

The BBC had promised us a sunny, cloudless day after heavy overnight rain, so we optimistically bore that in mind as we set off in the drizzle that still persisted. Leaving Chop Gate we headed straight up the bridleway to Medd Crag, the first of many hike-a-bikes that we'd be doing today. It's a hard enough climb when it's dry, it was impossible in the wet.

At the top we turn south along the ancient earthworks before dropping down the fast and furious descent into Tripsdale. I'd already wondered what the crossing would be like and I soon got my answer. The usual trickle of a beck had become a fully fledged river and it was almost impossible to spot the shallow way across. The first five of us walked it, treading carefully, hoping not to get washed down stream by the torrent. Neil, Eston-bred mountain man that he is, decided to ride it and came across totally unscathed and with dry feet, and made us all think "wish I'd done that".


So back up the other side of Tripsdale, up the never-ending zig-zags, another tough but easily achievable climb made impossible by the slippery conditions. Hike-a-bike number 2, we'd come about 4 miles in 80 minutes. At least the sun is out at last.

The speed picked up a bit after that as we crossed the open moor, and thankfully Hodge Beck was still just a beck and in no time we were at at the descent of Jackson's Bank, the second 4 miles had taken "only" 40 minutes. The drop down Jackson's Bank is a delight, the fact that it was now a river of mud didn't really take anything away from that. The fact that my rear brake stopped working did though! A quick examination revealed that after less than 130 miles of riding my pads had completely worn out. Thankfully I'd ordered spares on Thursday. Unthankfully they hadn't arrived yet. The second half of Jackson's Bank (and the rest of the ride) was done with careful modulation of the front brake only - in this slippery stuff the last thing you want is to have to jam on the front brake to try to stop.


Left through Greenhow Plantation we eventually emerged at Clay Bank car park, something that usually signals the end of the ride, but this time it was just the half way mark. Across the road into Broughton Plantation and we're into hike-a-bike number 3. This one is a real bastard, and once again I'm taking issue with horse riders who insist on going out in stupid conditions and churning up trails. We plodged our way uphill through a mire of mud pockmarked with horseshoe sized holes full of water.


100 vertical meters later and we're back onto rideable stuff, eventually bringing us out at the two stone pillars on the Cleveland Way.

Good to see that these have been repaired after one of them was somehow demolished a few months back. The steep little down and up across Trows Beck is always fun, and something we all always do, but today the mud was making some think twice. Neil was thinking the combination of mud, loose stones and £10 tyres was a sure fire way to A&E, but he gritted his teeth and went for it and once again came up smiling. Sam just made it look plain easy.


At this point Howard's brakes also decided they'd had enough. Luckily for him though he did have spares! "Avid Juicy, the brake pads you can change with just the tools that God gave you - your fingers". So Howard begins by removing the brake calipers, cos that's the only way you can actually get the pads out, which rather makes a monkey of that slogan of theirs. And you try pushing the pistons back in with "just the tools God gave you". Still, he has the whole job done in under five minutes and I'm rather impressed.

So on we go, on to the aptly named Cold Moor (though today they're all bloody cold!) via the tough switchback climb from the farm at Beak Hills. Usually we can clean this as far as the final 100m or so, today loose ground, running water and chain-suck mean it's hike-a-bike number 4, really one hike-a-bike too many. To top it all it's hailing and blowing a gale now too. Thanks BBC.

We're all just looking forward to the end of the ride now, and what a good end it is. The drop off Cold Moor to Chop Gate is one of the best there is, and just like at Jackson's Bank the river that it has become does nothing to spoil the fun. Some lines are harder to spot because they're under water, some are easier because you just "go with the flow", literally. We all end the ride soaked, tired, as muddy as hell and beaming from ear to ear.


All the pushing has given us our slowest ride time "since records began" (the end of September), a stupendous 3.78mph. Really, we could have walked it quicker. Oh hold on, we did walk half of it!

Chop Gate, Urra Moor, Cold Moor: 15.1 miles, 2800ft, 4 hours dead.