Make sure you check the route direction before you start. Rode it yesterday, having downloaded the route from the Issue 85 archive. It had my first climb up a very steep and very rough bridlepath with a stream coming down the centre, rock steps, etc. Eventually came out onto a fire road and thought, I wish I’d gone down that rather than having to climb it. The next section of singletrack, after a long fire road descent, was another rough climb that had me off and walking again. By this time I’m convinced the route was reversed.
Sure enough, checked the mag, and I was riding it backwards according to the detail printed. Deleted and downloaded the file again to make sure it wan’t my error. It wasn’t.
On the plus side, it was a nice day out in a part of the world I don’t normally ride, and I will go back and ride it in the reverse direction next year. On the way back, I went down that first climb rather than descending the fire road I should have come up on in the first place.
