Well, it’s been and gone – the weekend stint in the Lake District to test both the progression of our fitness and the strength of our nerve.
Starting off with a pick up at the crack of dawn we set off up the M6, not quite sure what we were going to find when we got to our first scheduled ride – a 21 mile circuit up and around the eastside hills of Ullswater.
Setting off from Cow Bridge car park, just by Patterdale, we headed up the road towards Kirkstone, before going left up through Boredale Hause. It’s fair to say this was much more of a climb than we all anticipated, and as such we all resigned ourselves to pushing our bikes up the final sections to the first plateau. Believe me, just pushing the bike up was an effort, even more so whilst wearing a pair of cycling shoes.
Anyway, once at the plateau, the route was such that we avoided the climb to the top, and instead followed the contours around the hillside, to where we came across the first downhill section at the ridge at Beda Fell. As always, as soon as you come across a downhill section the mood lifts and the gauntlets are thrown down. It was whilst discussing this first downhill, of which the first section did seem near impossible, that Carl ‘the mountain goat’ Platt had a rush of blood and had 2 falls in quick succession- both of which just further raised our moods.
We cracked on down the track through the valley past Dale Head and onto Howtown, where we picked up the lakeside road for 5 miles of respite to Pooley Bridge. Once at Pooley Bride we took 5 minutes to trade some insults before heading South East for a climb up to a section of the ‘High Street’ before taking a left turn to enjoy a 3 mile downhill blast towards Mellguard then onto Sandwick for the last section of the ride along the shores of Ullswater – now the real fun began.
It was pretty much 5 miles of steep ascents, huge rocks, tricky downhills and every rambler and his dog. It was much more difficult than anything we’ve tackled before.
The quote below from Mountain Bike Rider magazine says it all.
…the final run-in, above the shores of Ullswater, is almost legendary, with some of the best technical riding the Lakes has to offer, as well as some sumptuous views to soak up if you dare take your eyes off the road ahead. Cool thinking and careful line choice will get you over the worst of the obstacles, but one or two sections require elite-level downhilling skills too, and discretion might be the better part of valour here, especially if you've an audience, which is so often the case on a trail this busy.
No shit!
And to top it all off, I managed to bollocks up my knee, rip my shorts from front to back and lose a cleat of my shoe – it was a right old laugh – not!
However, out of every situation, comes something good – a new technical manoeuvre was created and demonstrated by Ste. It’s now known as ‘The Ullswater Wedge’. When in doubt and unsure of your next move I advise you all to apply the wedge! It’s not too pretty, but it is effective. Remember, you heard it here first
By the time we arrived back at Patterdale, we almost collapsed into the beer garden at The Patterdale Hotel, were I think we sat for about an hour enjoying a few extremely well deserved beers.
Following the alcoholic recharge, it was back to the car, a quick pack up and off to the Pooley Bridge Inn for a shower, a meal and a trawl of the local hotspots.
Needless to say, when we realised the 3 pubs in Pooley Bridge shut at 10.30PM it was a bit of a disappointment. We did however, spend a little time in the Crown Inn, where we held the Push Iron Power Pool Challenge. Best of 3 games, with Ste and Carl up against Kevin and myself.
Starting off with a pick up at the crack of dawn we set off up the M6, not quite sure what we were going to find when we got to our first scheduled ride – a 21 mile circuit up and around the eastside hills of Ullswater.
Setting off from Cow Bridge car park, just by Patterdale, we headed up the road towards Kirkstone, before going left up through Boredale Hause. It’s fair to say this was much more of a climb than we all anticipated, and as such we all resigned ourselves to pushing our bikes up the final sections to the first plateau. Believe me, just pushing the bike up was an effort, even more so whilst wearing a pair of cycling shoes.
Anyway, once at the plateau, the route was such that we avoided the climb to the top, and instead followed the contours around the hillside, to where we came across the first downhill section at the ridge at Beda Fell. As always, as soon as you come across a downhill section the mood lifts and the gauntlets are thrown down. It was whilst discussing this first downhill, of which the first section did seem near impossible, that Carl ‘the mountain goat’ Platt had a rush of blood and had 2 falls in quick succession- both of which just further raised our moods.
We cracked on down the track through the valley past Dale Head and onto Howtown, where we picked up the lakeside road for 5 miles of respite to Pooley Bridge. Once at Pooley Bride we took 5 minutes to trade some insults before heading South East for a climb up to a section of the ‘High Street’ before taking a left turn to enjoy a 3 mile downhill blast towards Mellguard then onto Sandwick for the last section of the ride along the shores of Ullswater – now the real fun began.
It was pretty much 5 miles of steep ascents, huge rocks, tricky downhills and every rambler and his dog. It was much more difficult than anything we’ve tackled before.
The quote below from Mountain Bike Rider magazine says it all.
…the final run-in, above the shores of Ullswater, is almost legendary, with some of the best technical riding the Lakes has to offer, as well as some sumptuous views to soak up if you dare take your eyes off the road ahead. Cool thinking and careful line choice will get you over the worst of the obstacles, but one or two sections require elite-level downhilling skills too, and discretion might be the better part of valour here, especially if you've an audience, which is so often the case on a trail this busy.
No shit!
And to top it all off, I managed to bollocks up my knee, rip my shorts from front to back and lose a cleat of my shoe – it was a right old laugh – not!
However, out of every situation, comes something good – a new technical manoeuvre was created and demonstrated by Ste. It’s now known as ‘The Ullswater Wedge’. When in doubt and unsure of your next move I advise you all to apply the wedge! It’s not too pretty, but it is effective. Remember, you heard it here first
By the time we arrived back at Patterdale, we almost collapsed into the beer garden at The Patterdale Hotel, were I think we sat for about an hour enjoying a few extremely well deserved beers.
Following the alcoholic recharge, it was back to the car, a quick pack up and off to the Pooley Bridge Inn for a shower, a meal and a trawl of the local hotspots.
Needless to say, when we realised the 3 pubs in Pooley Bridge shut at 10.30PM it was a bit of a disappointment. We did however, spend a little time in the Crown Inn, where we held the Push Iron Power Pool Challenge. Best of 3 games, with Ste and Carl up against Kevin and myself.
I won’t go into too much detail, but Ste potted 3 black balls, and Kevin and I won the challenge 2 games to 1. I’ll let you all work that one out. I should mention that there wasn’t really a lot of talent on show, a point I’m sure the group of Geordies, who were waiting some time for the pool table would agree with.
Following the pool saga, it was back to the Pooley Bridge for a nightcap and then to bed, ready for an early start and a full English.
Monday morning – time for a trip to Keswick to find a bike shop for a replacement cleat and then onto the hamlet of Mosedale to tackle the ‘Back o’ Skiddaw’ route, though breakfast first, and a chance to tackle the world’s largest sausages. You always know where you are with an extraordinarily large fried sausage.
It’s fair to say there were varying levels of enthusiasm on Monday morning, though once we’d found a replacement cleat, and had a trip to Morrisons for some supplies we all felt a bit better.
We arrived at Mosedale, after a bit of unscheduled sightseeing – this tends to happen when no one has a map, and parked up just by the Mosedale Bridge.
A quick change and we were off, heading north to Calebreck before turning left into the Caldbeck Fells. There was a quick climb to the top and then time for some down hill action, with Carl as always firing off into the lead, followed by his long blonde mullet, with both hotly pursued by Ste. Luckily I was at the back and had chance to observe Kevin Kneivel do some unexpected off road action following a rear blow out at 30mph – it was very much a Wiley Coyote ACME rocket moment. You just can’t buy that kind of amusement.
Anyway, following a quick gathering of his thoughts we were off again, for more downhill thrills, were this time it was my turn to feel the pain, serves me right for riding tyre to tyre at 30mph and trying to take a tight left hander at the last minute – never mind, I’m sure the skin will grow back one day.
Pain soon turned to joy though, when as I reached the bottom of the hill, I saw Ste picking himself and his bike out of the largest nettle patch in the north of England, again, no sympathy, just a tirade of insults and back in the saddle.
We then followed the roads through the collection of hamlets, till we picked up the bridleway to Dash Falls, with Carl once again leading by example and making it to the gate at the top first, slowly followed by the rest of us. Time for a quick photo before setting off down the rocky track to the ford (which, just for the record, is a lot deeper than it looks) and then up to Skiddaw House Youth Hostel for a quick catch up and drink.
Then into the final stretch - a nice long technical stint along the Cumbria Way until we picked up a stone track adjacent to the River Caldew, then onto the narrow road back to Mosedale.
A weekend of cuts, crashes, scratches and laughs over with in the blink of an eye.
Needless to say, there wasn’t much dialogue on the way home, it was just a car full of contentment.
All in all, it’s nice to be out!
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