Been up today, great ride and perfect weather.

Its my 4th trip to the lakes. Done a couple out of Grizedale/Coniston, Kentmere without Nan Bield and todays ride. Defo the best place i’ve ridden in the UK.

Where should i go next? Tour o Skiddaw? I love the techy/rocky stuff up there.

We had such a good ride we went for a blast round the South loop of Whinlatter to finish before the slog back to Bradford. Can’t wait for my return.

I don’t think we can lay claim to that ride – though I’m glad you enjoyed it :o)

The tour of Skiddaw is also excellent – it’s one of my favourites – thogh I often run it as a beginner ride – it’s not all that demanding, just fun!

SimonFB
On the Bogtrotters website you have the Borrowdale Bash as easy(ish), which kind of threw us a bit (we very nearly didn’t bother). Thankfully we did it and found it quite demanding/technical, but well within our scope (me and Mugboo). We had enough steam to wizz over and do the Whinlatter South Loop afterwards, but the Borrowdale Bash route was technically tough going. Either, hats off to your crowd, or you understate it on the website.

I presume, as a ‘Lakes’ ride, it must be low on the tough/silly/macho scope?.

They have a pretty warped idea of easy it seems. They suggest Garburn Pass as a beginner’s ride!

The first descent on Borrowdale Bash has a pretty technical section – don’t remember anything else too severe. I still wouldn’t call it easy though.

They have a pretty warped idea of easy it seems. They suggest Garburn Pass as a beginner’s ride!

I took beginners over there last weekend but one :o) They may have to get off and push in some places but it doesn’t stop them (or everyone else on the ride) from enjoying it.

The Borrowdale Bash does have some very technical sections, but overall I don’t think it’s hard enough to rate ‘moderate’ so I put easy(ish) – the “ish” an indication it’s not dead easy! It’s a great ride!

Most of the route we did (from the Bogtrotters website) which included naughty/cheeky bits, required technical skills even on the flat bits (before the first descent). An easy(ish) ride it wasn’t.

Fantastic ride tho, all our sort of techy stuff.

Anybody just getting into MTB (doing easy(ish) rides) must really struggle trying to ride smoothly and punch the bike over all those rocks?. I would imagine it would be very disheartening for newer riders with limited ability/skills.

OK, opinions differ – I hope no one was put off doing it because they thought it would be too easy or found themselves out of their depth – but the photos I’ve posted should give you a good idea of what to expect:-)

I would imagine it would be very disheartening for newer riders with limited ability/skills.

…and yet everyone seems to enjoy it – with lots of encouragement and an emphasis that they don’t have to ride anything they don’t fancy :o) To date I’ve led over 300 beginner-specific rides and had very few complaints. If people choose to follow a route on the site without consulting me then they have to assess the suitability of the terrain for themselves. The terrain notes say “very rocky”.

Opinions differ of course! and when grading it in terms of physical effort against a round of Helvellyn, then it might be concided easy(ish) I suppose.

Forgot to add, i’m glad i have Mondays off, because i’m sure its a lot busier on a Sunday!