There’s that roadie book with the top 100 climbs in the UK, but has anyone though of doing the all-mountain/enduro MTB equivalent? Any suggestions for candidates?
Not planning on writing a book, just thinking of rides to take the Pitch on and stretch it’s legs a bit.
Criteria:
Must be at least moderately technical and off road all the way.
500m+ of decending
<10% climbing on the way down.
Long enough that people don’t ask “and where did you ride after that” when you describe the route.
Bridle Path or other legal trail. So no footpaths.
[u]Obvious ones…………[/i][/u]
Fort William DH runs
Rangers Path off Snowdon
Anything used in the NPS/BDS/SDS/Draggon etc races, although some might be a bit short in relation to the original definition.
[u]Starters for 10…………[/i][/u]
Did Skiddaw on Saturday which arround 950m of climb/decent on the bridleway, but is fairly motorway like, abeit with lots of sharp pointy rocks which eat tyres.
Still well worth doing through if you’re in Keswick and have a couple of hours free, it’s rideable untill you get over Little Man, and Skiddaw properly starts, at which point the gradient got me, it’s probably easier on an XC bike but that’d make it less fun on the way down.
On the way down it’s continuous appart from a short sharp rise just as you leave the summit, 4 or 5 gates and spinning up Little Man about 2/3 of the way down. Best attempted with lots of air in your rear tyre (pinch flatted tubeless and the replacement tube!).
Skills required:
Cornering (there’s a lot of it, and its mostly loose and fast)
Jumps (optional, but some of the water bars are ditches so it’s good to be able to pump them at 30mph otherwise you’ll be OTB and into a whole world of point rock related pain).
Not much else, it’s just flat out top to bottom.
Video to follow at some point, but the camera stoped working on the last section 🙁