Cycling with the clown prince of the comedy fall

Posted Wed, 05/16/2012 - 23:05 by philcotton

According to the American humorist, Erma Bombeck, “There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humour and hurt”. If you are mountain biking regularly in all weathers over all terrains then crossing that thin line is inevitable, or in other words if you are going to take that unscheduled tumble its best to err on the side of humour. Which begs the question, why are the guys in the photo laughing so hard? The simple answer is; “the comedy fall”. The beauty of the comedy fall is there are rarely two identical but what makes this fall more eventful was this one happened on Friday 13th April.

Laughter on the trial to GunnersideLaughter on the trail to Gunnerside

Big Bang Theory Sheldon Cooper v Mike Vandeman on Mountain Bikers

Posted Mon, 04/30/2012 - 08:51 by philcotton
Dr Sheldon CooperDr Sheldon Cooper
 If anyone watches the TV comedy series the Big Bang Theory, they will know the character Dr Sheldon Cooper, B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D. He’s a young Theoretical Physicist, self proclaimed genius and socially awkward uber-geek, with idiosyncrasies similar to Asperger syndrome or OCD (Obsessive-compulsive disorder). He has issues with just about everything, which is funny because he isn’t real; thank goodness that people like that don’t really exist. Or do they?

I recently stumbled on a local newspaper story “Rope trap horror on mountain bike trail” it’s about a mountain biker in Hamsterley forest, County Durham who was brought down because a length of clothes line was tied between two trees across the cycle trail. The story itself is fairly eventless as the extent of his damage was friction burns on his cycling top and probably an unscheduled turd in his cycling shorts.

Last years video of Mountain Biking in Upper Swaledale

Posted Sat, 04/28/2012 - 23:35 by philcotton

Summer is around the corner so hold that thought because I found some footage on a camera SD card of a ride that Trevor, Ryan and myself tackled back in June 2011, it was possibly one of the hottest weekends of the year so it was nice to wear just a short sleeved cycling jersey. As I recall it was also the first time out for Trevor with his new Cotic Soul frame; he thought a steel hardtail with a set of big travel front forks would be better for riding on the Dales style terrain. The ride was going to take us from just outside of Keld along the bridleway and road towards Gunnerside then along the grouse path adjacent to Gunnerside Gill then to Rogan’s Seat.

The Roman Road at Bainbridge, Is it a bike ride or a quest?

Posted Sat, 04/28/2012 - 13:15 by philcotton
Cam High Road, the Roman Road at BainbridgeThe Roman Road in Wensleydale is a 300mtr decent or accent over 5km of rock, pebbles and shale

I have cycled the Wensleydale bridle path from Castle Bolton towards Askrigg on a few occasions and without fail my eyes are drawn towards the Roman Road on the southern side of the Dale. It’s approximately 5km of unusually straight road that travels methodically uphill into an otherwise curvaceous landscape. Cam High Road as it is known in reality is about as straight as the seams on my cycling tights but from a distance it looks like a perfectly straight line has been gouged into the hillside. I always imagined it to be a tarmac road so when I discovered it was a dirt track the temptation to gather a mountain biking posse and tackle a route that included Cam High Road became a little overwhelming.

Sometimes even the best laid plans go horribly wrong, my first attempt to tackle the road was 17th March 2012 when Trevor the wives and myself spent a couple of nights at Richmond. Trevor and I planned a day mountain biking while the girls went shopping.

Loved, lost and forsaken: It’s just a mountain bike by any other name

Posted Wed, 04/25/2012 - 22:50 by philcotton
The Nerve and the Boardman at Gunnerside GillThe Nerve and the Boardman at Gunnerside Gill
Cycling is like any other activity, once you start down the road of buying and bikes and equipment you can get pretty much carried away. In April 2009 at the ripe age of fifty three years I took the advice of a friend and invested £380 on a GT Aggressor hardtail and a cycling helmet. As far as bikes go it did the job of getting me hooked on cross country and trail riding while helping me to shed a few pounds in the process. After spending more on cycling shorts and other accessories then visiting Trail Centres at Kielder Forest, Whinlatter Forest, Ae Forest and Kirroughtree I was starting to accumulate some practical experience and became a convert to mountain biking. My riding skills improved but the constant arse pounding from the hardtail was starting to convince me the bike had some obvious limitations.

In February 2010 prior to a trip to Whinlatter Forest I decided to upgrade to a full suspension bike. After some research I spent £800 on a Boardman Comp FS and gave the old GT to my son in law.

The Decisions of Winter Rides

Posted Sun, 01/15/2012 - 00:00 by philcotton
I hobbled into the ground floor bathroom contemplating the big decision, shower or bath? While a shower would be quicker I still had to unpack the bike and mucky cycling clothes from the car. The temperature outside hadn’t risen above two degrees centigrade all day, apart from the chill in my bones I could feel that aching burning sensation in my lower back and legs so dismissing the shower I turned on the hot water tap of the bath. As the bath slowly filled I walked to the kitchen, switched on the kettle and then ventured back outside to unload the car. Unloading the bike and the bike rack there was another decision, wash the bike now or leave it until tomorrow? That’s and easy one, the bike wasn’t that muddy as the ground was mostly hard and frozen. Anyway it’s far too cold and the light had already faded so I’ll just leave it until tomorrow. By the time the bike was locked in the garage the kettle had boiled and the bath was nearly full, oops nearly forgot to add the Radox. You just got to have bubbles in the bath or it just doesn’t feel like a proper soaking.

Returning to the kitchen I took a large mug from the cupboard, a spoon from the drawer and opened the coffee jar, then deposited two heaped spoonfuls of instant Carte Noire coffee into the cup before adding the hot water from the kettle.

Mountain Biking in Axarquia, Spain

Posted Mon, 10/31/2011 - 23:59 by philcotton
The last time I hired a bike in Spain must have been back in 1977 when my girlfriend (now my wife) and I hired a tandem while holidaying in the Costa Blanca. I have been back to Spain many times since and never thought of hiring a bike to do some serious cycling until 2011 when my wife, her sister, brother in law and I booked a week in Nerja on the Costa del Sol. I love the sun but unlike the women I can’t abide lying under it all day and there is only so much shopping a guy like me can handle, fortunately, Brian, my brother in law is of exactly the same attitude. We thought it would make a pleasant change to stick on a short sleeve cycling jersey and baggy MTB shorts and find some altitude.

Although the Costa’s are the obvious location choice when visiting Spain, I am always drawn towards the Sierra’s particularly since I was told that “Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe”.

Mountain Bike Trails around Reeth and Swaledale

Posted Sat, 07/09/2011 - 22:25 by philcotton

What have the Romans ever done for us mountain bikers? It goes without saying they built the roads, but the roads are for roadies. So, what did they do for mountain bikers? Well, they organised and expanded the lead mining activities in the Yorkshire Dales and introduced brewing of wine, mead and beer. But what has that got to do with mountain biking? Well, when you take your bike off road around Swaledale and Arkengarthdale you will find the many bridle paths and grouse roads are closely associated with the old lead mining industry that has dominated the area for centuries. So I suppose we can thank the Romans for miles of off road paths that take us high into the hills around Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, not forgetting the wine and beer, because without it there would be no pubs on route.

It was probably during the Industrial Revolution that the mines and the network of service roads and paths as we see them today really came to fruition. Now the industry is redundant we are left with a legacy of broken paths and random clusters of disused, derelict buildings encircled by a mine spoiled rakes of moorland that resembles a post apocalyptic scene from a sci-fi movie. In a strange way the mishmash of mine spoils with green and heather moorland spotted with stone arched buildings gives the area a unique beauty of its own, along with a variety of biking routes.

Because the mine paths, now grouse roads are easier to traverse, many of the old bridleways that were probably used by horses to carry lead from the mines have virtually faded into oblivion. Numerous bridleways clearly marked on Ordinance Survey maps are now virtually impossible to find or follow, making planning route a lot more complicated than you’d anticipate. So don't get your mtb shorts in a twist, let’s look at a few routes that can be done, they are mainly off road circular routes taking you back to where you parked and can be easily adapted or used as a template to plan your own route around.

Mountain biking: Looking for decent descents around Swaledale?

Posted Sat, 07/02/2011 - 12:10 by philcotton
One of the key factors to a good days mountain biking is to finish with mud on your cycling jacket and a big grin on your face, or in other words, a good bit of downhill. And where better to find flowing steep downhill sections than Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales? When I say Swaledale I am really referring to the hills to the north and south of the River Swale that give access to Arkengarthdale, Apedale and Wensleydale and to the west Tan Hill and West Stones Dale.

Of course a trip to the Dales will often raise the discussions of trail centres or cross country and where will you get the best ride? The argument usually goes; at a trail centre you generally have steady climbs and the downhill section is usually longer and more sinuous as you traverse into berms and over table tops at a deliberate steady rate, whereas cross country riding your descent is often the most direct way. In other words with cross country cycling you can have a ball ache of a climb for a relatively quick and unpredictable descent.

Another typical mountain biking weekend

Posted Fri, 06/17/2011 - 23:00 by philcotton

Arranging a mountain biking weekend with the lads for mid July you’d expecting it to be all short sleeve cycling jerseys and sun block. It feels like there hasn’t been a day without rain in the entire month of July 2011 and a quick review at the Met Office web site revealed Saturday the 16th was forecast to be even more of the same. Our plan was to get in a ride on the Saturday, have a bite and a beer in Richmond on the evening then visit stage 2 of the British XC MTB Championships at Aske near Richmond on the Sunday. Trevor and I were to travel from Sunderland on the Friday night to my family’s caravan just outside of Richmond to meet up with Owen who was taking the longer journey from Stirling in Scotland. Ryan and Brian were due to arrive on Saturday morning as they had used up all of their pass-outs.

The Mysteries of Mountain Biking in Thrunton Woods

Posted Wed, 12/29/2010 - 00:54 by Site Member
On the A697 between Longframlington and Powburn is a little haven of single track mountain bike ecstasy in the guise of Thrunton Woods. It’s a little mysterious because you can go there any weekend or summer evening and clearly see that the car park is well patronised by mountain bikers, but where do they ride? If you were to start at the main car park and take the fire road up into the forest you won’t find any trails way-marked so unless you are looking very carefully or following someone with actual trail knowledge all you are likely to follow is fire roads and bridle paths.

Thrunton Woods is relatively small, there is a small car park and picnic area with no toilets or faculties for changing into your mountain bike clothes. The actual woods are about 5 kilometres x 3 kilometres with a maximum elevation of 250 metres in the main woods and just to the south the adjoining Coe and Long Crags rise to an elevation of 319 metres. With the main car park at an elevation of around 150 metres this means there are no real gut busting climbs.

Biking to the Tan Hill Inn, the hard way

Posted Wed, 12/01/2010 - 00:31 by Site Member

The Tan Hill InnBy the time we’d stopped for a quick cup of Costa coffee at Scotch Corner services the drive to the Yorkshire Dales took us just over an hour. It was a fairly crisp October Saturday morning, all in all a pretty good day to tackle an off road nineteen mile circular route that was to take a party of five on mountain bikes from Gunnerside weaving around to Arkengarthdale Moor and onto Britain’s highest pub, The Tan Hill Inn, then cycle down the Pennine Bridleway towards Muker and back to Gunnerside.

We parked the cars at the start of the bridleway at Dykes Head just to west of Gunnerside, set up the bikes and put on extra layers of clothing including wind stopper cycling jackets and full finger cycling gloves. We set off on the steady climb up the bridal / grouse path which took us up the west side of Gunnerside Beck then bared left at Botchers Gill which took us down Gunnerside Gill to some disused peat storage buildings at a fork in the beck.

Blood, Sweat and Bicycle Helmets

Posted Wed, 04/21/2010 - 16:10 by philcotton

Because they look a bit nerdy I would often cycle short and local journeys without the protection of a bicycle helmet, but events on Sunday 28th March 2010 changed that perception for me. It was a bit of a windy day but nevertheless John, Ryan and I decided to take a mountain bike ride across Herriot County in the Yorkshire Dales. The planned route of eleven or so miles was to take us from Langthwaite onto Booze Moor to Washfold through the disused quarry where we pick up some downhill single track back to Langthwaite just in time for swift half of bitter at the Red lion, the pub used in the TV version of All Creatures Great and Small.

Leaving Langthwaite Car Park the initial climb should have been really hard but uncharacteristically the wind was on our backs pushing us up the steep tarmac road and onto the grouse path which wound its way to Booze Moor. The path across Booze Moor wove erratically up and down and left to right to Hurst Moor where we encountered a long sweeping downhill section that took us to the bridge over Skegdale Beck.

Fancy a weekend pub-crawl in the wilderness?

Posted Mon, 11/23/2009 - 00:18 by Site Member

The Old Forge Britains remotest PubInverie in the Knoydart Peninsula is home to the Old Forge, which according to the Guinness book of Records is Mainland Britain’s remotest pub. Inverie is the only village on the peninsula having an adult population of around one hundred. Until recently there was no TV reception and mobile phone reception is doubtful. The village consists smattering of houses, a post office, a school, and a variety of accommodation for visitors, including B&B’s, Bunkhouses and other self-catering accommodation. The Old Forge Inn is Knoydart's only pub so a pub-crawl really isn’t going to take very long. However, getting there will!

Sandwiched between Loch Hourn and Loch Nevis Knoydart is harsh and isolated, it is also known to as Britain’s Last Wilderness. It is home to two Munros, Ladhar Bheinn (1020 m) and Sgurr na Cìche (1040 m). There are no roads in or out, the only practical way to access Inverie is by a passenger ferry from Mallaig or a sixteen-mile walk through fairly rough terrain. The most popular route for visitors is the Mallaig to Inverie ferry that does two sailings a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in high season it also sails Tuesday and Thursday.

Cycle Glen Ogle

Posted Mon, 11/23/2009 - 00:15 by Site Member

The road to KillinA Winter ride that is a little too cold for cycling shorts will take us on an 18 mile round trip using a dedicated cycle route through some of the most beautiful scenery in Scotland. The journey will start at the Log cabins opposite Balqhuidder Station (see map) and take us north towards Loch Earn and Lochearnhead where we will take the Zig Zag path up to meet the Caledonian Railway Company dismantled line at Craggan. The route will take us gently uphill to Glen Ogle and the Viaduct. We will continue the journey downhill to Lochan Lairig Cheile across the A84, through the Acharn Forest towards the Falls of Dochart then across the bridge into Killin. Then return using variations of the same route.