Cyclehouse Blog

The Golden Path

2012-02-29T16:50:00.000Z

"In a big country dreams stay with you

Like a lovers voice fires the mountainside"

Destination - Peak District

Objective - Scale and conquer Jacobs Ladder

Formation - 9 man assault

Just as with all things planned to within an inch of perfection and military precision, this ride was always doomed to fail. For some inexplicable reason whenever there is more than five riders in a group, essential parts of your mountain machine seem to fail, disintegrate, dissolve.
It almost feels like it happens in a billigerent way, like your bike has developed A.I.

Well this was certainly the case with Sunday's ride.
Setting off under a mundane sky in search of the best descent the Peak District has to offer, the infamous Jacobs Ladder. We departed from our obscure (under the bypass) parking spot, due to the dedicated Hayfield Car Park being over subscribed and scuttled off through the winding roads towards the Pennine Bridleway.

Burning Calf's. Wrought chest....... a sign of things to come?

Not so fast!
One seized pedal and a quick detour to the Village Store almost saw an early casualty, but three quick swigs of WD40 saw it right (I know, it's bike killer) and five became nine again.
Climbing out towards the shooting huts along the ancient byway we have time to regroup and enjoy the Singletrack to the top as we aim high over Middle Moor, now the tempo has eased and breath regained new faces are accepted and chat ensues of what's to come.

Navigating right towards Farlands Booth and Marepiece Wood we see various states of disengaged gears, bent hangers and unusual grimaces as we partake in some fast, uber fun sketchy descent work. Dropping effortlessly past Kinder Reservoir we take in the wet cobbled run at an unusually high pace, following lines set down from the man in front, no time for brakes it's a dedicated run of trust!
Wham! Were spat out onto a tarmac road, faces alight with the first real taste of what's to come. No respite though, straight into an upward heave on a trajectory titled "Jacobs" up onto Broad Clough, this is grassy steep track intermittently cut with the remnants of double track, stone laid down years before which serves no purpose other than to guide the weary in the direction they need to be. As we top out we can scan the entire breadth of the opposing valley and its enormity is staggering. We regroup and exchange views on how many dabs were taken, if any, on the sublime climb.
A few smart gels and boiled sweets later, we forge ahead with visions of the "golden path" and embrace a fantastic singletrack odyssey which winds around Kinderlow End over and out to Edale Cross, super dry and techy, a marvel to ride spitting our platoon to the foot of the ascent to the top of the ladder.
From here it is all guts and garters as we hoof and power up the muddy, wet, slippy, loose rock and track. Over babies heads and toiling with the effort the group splits.

Regroup and start over.

We rear up toward all that is holy, the start of the ladder

"And as I Walked along the supposed Golden Path

I was trembling with fear all the lions and wizards yet to come"

Excitement. Tension. Adrenaline.

All too much for half of the nine, well almost half.
Gopro camera at the ready four of us bring up the rear which starts with a full on assault of the senses, a little too full on for one of the Collective as he takes an early dive O'er Angies!
The rest are in full flight, dropping, cutting, drifting.Taking air and cutting a path through impossible off camber slabs and gaps. This really is one of the best sections of trail in the UK, get it right and it's Alpine in feel, get it wrong and..... well it wouldn't be good.
A section passes through a wooden gate we regroup and take on the next full on section of loose rock and cut fast hillside trail.

Trail 1
Rider Nil

Sram X9 rear mechs prove no match for 7000 year old rock strewn down this hillside as one of our number see's his entire mech ripped from his frame, sulky faces and an end to the "fun" follow as we discuss singlespeed options and Ray Mears style survival techniques.
Mech removal and chain stuffed in Camelbak prove most favourable with a trip to Edale marking the end of Mike's ride.
From here Dickie and I discuss and examine the GoPro camera which has gotten itself all perplexed at taking over a 1000 pictures and some video...... this too gets stuffed in the Camelbak.

On the continued Bridleway down to Edale we come across more of our number in dire straits, this time a puncture. Always a comedy of errors when two or more people get involved with a simple task....... ten minutes later and three frustrated riders see the tyre inflated to 40psi, within seconds the incorrectly seated Continental Rubber Queen pings off the rim birthing a huge inner tube which quickly expands, almost engulfing the bike in the process.
Shouts of "Quick let it down!" aren't heeded. Explosion. Matt is almost thrown to the dry stone wall on the other side of the trail, the bemused look on his face say's it all. Laughs and screams of "Medic!" in a Vietnam war film kinda way go down well and we finish up and get on our way.
No-Speed Mike is towed to town and our platoon head from Edale/Barber Booth leaving him drowning his sorrows at the local pub for a lonely taxi ride bike to Hayfield.

Our ascent starts well, Mam Nick is an awful road climb at best, our grippy tyres really aren't the first choice and we meander to our next climb. Taking a right onto Chapel Gate path we splinter again, firstly to accommodate the series of farm gates and secondly as each of our troops abilities start to wane, urgency takes hold as "Ready" needs to start his night shift as Crew Commander for Bolton Fire Service, it's apparent he is on a fine schedule. So with our nine being spread in a thin line across the traverse it as it this point where Dickie's seatpost decides to explode!

Nuts. Bolts. Cursing. Cold.

We fall behind to remedy, the pack moves on, one of the new faces passes by and continues. Eight weeks off the bike and on a big ride like this isn't enviable. Hurt. Loss of concentration. Hunger.
We top out and regroup, the Bridleway takes us to Roych Clough which raises the smile level all the way to eleven!
Uber techy track catapulting each of us off our line competing for dominance in the Trail vs Bike category. We sustain our delivery and pulsate down the line.

Slabs. Drops. Dirt. Water. Fast. Ebb. Flow.

We contour around the Roych making our way to Mount Famine, people are tired and making bad decisions. Cramp takes a hold of some and sheer calorie consumption on others. What should have been a tough fifteen mile loop in the Peaks on a good day has turned into a war of attrition.

"Good things, when short, are twice as good"

Baltasar Gracian

Doggedly we carry on, still with a "no dab" mentality.
Almost the last section, it's been a slog but it's also been incredible, exhilarating, a rush.

We all make the return leg down a superb fast track back into Hayfield, at almost 40 mph even the most drained of us are smiling.
Dirty.
Exhausted.
All together

wait a minute.....

Mike??

Riders on the day
Dickie
Mike
Ready
Andy
Scott
Matt
Darren
Dean
Rick (Me)

Route - Hayfield - Jacobs Ladder - Roych Clough - Hayfield
Distance - 15 miles

CYCLEHOUSE
Unit 1 Portland Trade Park
Buckley Street
Warrington
WA2 7NS

t: 01925 575 999 (Sales) | 01925 576 555 (Workshop)
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Pack Horse Trail - Cyclehouse Trail Sunday

2012-02-20T23:57:00.002Z

"Everyday is like Sunday

Everyday is silent and grey "

Or at least it would be, you know, if it was still 1988 and Mountain Bikes hadn't really been invented yet, We would all be recovering from the bust and boom of the week under the death throes of Maggie's Britain......

As it is....... it's 2012 and Mountain bikes do exist (they kind of did back then, they were like road bikes but a bit harder looking), in fact the Smiths aren't the Smiths any more (it's a Morrissey and Marr thing) but as with all things legendary they make a comeback...... who would ever have thought the Stone Roses would reunite.........

"Stop the world, stop the world I wanna get off"

So just like James Brown we took it to the Bridge - Hebden Bridge.
7 rolled out, basking in the floods of spring sunshine, it was crisp underfoot and we were all aware there was a high chance of Ice up on the top of them there moors!

We set about the first climb of the day, literally a stones throw from the pub car park we had started from, no warm up here.
Draw deep breath. Lactic acid. Heart pounding. Anxious looks.

A little over 1000ft of Climbing in a little over 3 miles

Hitting up Church Road leading to Colden Road

With pulse's high and the front runners vying for top spot I took a back seat and looked at the bigger picture, you see this is the thing, riding in Hebden there is simply no flat bits.

Eventually we top out at the lesser known Jack Bridge, nestling high above Calderdale and make our way over to Gorple Low Reservoir via the tough Fold lane, which grabs you by the Granny ring and throws you up over Egypt on the infamous Mary Townley loop. Once up on the tops you can survey all you can see before hurtling down some great rocky bridleway

Fold Lane

Egypt descent

"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

We follow the Bridleway over the Damn wall and down the concrete strips, always wet here so plenty of ice to catch us out - we take it cautiously and dodge a few sheep on the way down. From here it's a bit of a schlep to Widdop Reservoir where we climb the Bridleway to our highest point at 1388ft, this is a steep technical section marred by ice and frozen tyre tracks from previous attempts at the ungainly gradient. It's tough and not made easier by the fact the wintry sun has started to thaw parts of the line, ice, slush, slip, traction seem to be the order up here - 2 of us are on the new Bontrager XR4 team issue tyres, 2.35 and we don't miss a beat, no dabs!

Steep!!!

Top Of Widdop
Northern Collective - Cyclehouse

"I've glimpsed, I have tasted, fantastical places

My soul's an oasis, higher than the sun

I'm higher than the sun"

With a clear view of Pendle Hill and in the distance Whernside we all take the opportunity to savour our endeavour, group photo and much banter ensue as we leave our high point for a fast descent down to Hurstwood Reservoir, a popular place for outdoorsy people, great to know were not the only people using the land to it's potential. Blustering on we make heavy work of the short dig out to follow the churned up track to the Long Causeway. With each rev of the crank we feel our life force ebbing away......
Long faces are replaced with high jinx as we approach a fast flowing creek, a little higher than usual due to melt water and rain, 2 of us are upfront and boulder headlong into the fast flow, out the other side and awash with laughter we quickly stop, turn around and await the rest....
Opportune moment passes and no-one falls in - gutted.com (in a nice way).

We are joined by another group of riders - well I say joined they rode behind and didn't utter a word to us - Strange but not unique. We part ways and head off for the Pack Horse Trail.
A tertiary trail of undulation, mapped out in the first section by ancient cart track stones laid by men from Hebden all called "Jeb".

Boom, were on it, ice, mud, sketchy handling. It's all there, it's what we came for. Hidden dangers and mud to wash you out, 15 miles in and now the adrenalin really pumps. A chime of gears and increase in tempo as each of us finds the flow, railing frozen craggy cutties, drifting on the loose stuff and following the line carefully thrown down by the man in front.

Trust. Synchronicity. Ebb. Flow.

Friends from the pub and girlfriends past ask

"I just don't get it, why do you get up mad early on a Sunday to go somewhere in the middle of nowhere to ride bikes that cost more than my first car?"

The answer - Those four words.
To the people that ask...... "Everyday is like Sunday"

Riders on the day -
Dickie
Colin
Jay
Brian
Billy
Mike
Rick (me)

Distance 20.22 miles
Max elevation 1388ft Min elevation 70ft
Pics brought to you by the GoPro Hero cam fitted via chest harness
Ride info brought to you by the Garmin Edge 500 Gps

For more info on the route or product featured and used pop in store or drop me a line

Rick@Cyclehouse

CYCLEHOUSE

Unit 1 Portland Trade Park

Buckley Street

Warrington

WA2 7NS

t: 01925 575 999 (Sales) | 01925 576 555 (Workshop)
w: www.cyclehouse.co.uk
e: info@cyclehouse.co.uk

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New Year New Blog!

2012-02-18T16:44:00.002Z

NEW YEAR - NEW BLOG

Boom!
All systems go!
Let me introduce myself, my name is Rick and I'm new to the Cyclehouse Team. My job will be to introduce new product, ride reviews, a little bit of product testing and a good old helping of comedy along the way. All accompanied with a serious side order of fantastic prices and old fashioned help and advice for those that need it!

We Want to Hear From You
If you're doing any charity bike rides or helping any good causes in the Warrington area were here to support you, either by spreading the word or helping you with your bike, whether it needs servicing or just the tyres pumping up, were here to help - so get involved!
In a local cycling club or ride to work? Call in let's see if we have anything you need.
We stock great product from some of the best names in the game, Scott Bikes, Trek, Cannondale, Endura, 661, Giro and Shimano to name but a few.

Weekly Rides
Myself and some of the other guys here at the shop ride week in and week out, whatever the conditions! Every Sunday somewhere intersting such as the Peak district, The Lakes or a blast around a trail centre such as LLandegla or Gisburn, we also have a a weekly MTB ride locally on a Wednesday evening, well I say locally we ride mostly at Rivington and Winter Hill, we'll keep you posted on this and if anyone is interested in hooking up, get in touch!

CYCLEHOUSE
Unit 1 Portland Trade Park
Buckley Street
Warrington
WA2 7NS

t: 01925 575 999 (Sales) | 01925 576 555 (Workshop)
w: http://www.cyclehouse.co.uk/
e: info@cyclehouse.co.uk

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