[Closed] Cave Dale which way to descent?

You can only ride Cave Dale downhill towards castleton or am I misunderstanding the question?

And if it's wet or icy you will be very good to ride it all the way down.

Don't remember which way I did it ages ago, hence the question 🙂

Towards Castleton then.

Thanks!
I.

Access the top of Cave Dale from dirtlow rake either from pindale or top of winnats pass

Contours man. Contours.

Down. Towards. 🙂

Totally girled it last time. Don't know why. I clean the beast and potato alley on my hardtail but for some reason cave dale worries me when it's not that hard.

Was chucking it down I guess. But still...

Totally girled it last time. Don’t know why. I clean the beast and potato alley on my hardtail but for some reason cave dale worries me when it’s not that hard.

It's nearly always wet with a stream down it plus it's limestone, so is quite slippy. If it was dry gritstone most people could prob mince down it OK as you'd have the grip to take it way more controlled.

Totally girled it last time. Don’t know why.

Trick is to get a friend to hold the gate open and get though the steep bit before your brain has chance to catch up!

It was a bit wet a couple of weeks ago

[img] [/img]

First half of this should remind you. Our daughter girlin it😉

Totally girled it last time. Don’t know why.

First half of this should remind you. Our daughter girlin it

Daughter smashing down Cave Dale - All-in-one helpful instructions plus industrial strength put-down. Like!

. I clean the beast and potato alley on my hardtail but for some reason cave dale worries me when it’s not that hard.

I think cavedale is a fair bit harder than potato or the beast. Cleaned the beast at the weekend fairly easily but was a useless mess on cavedale. Likewise potato isn't really tech hard is it? Don't really know as I went up the damn thing (pushing big chunks)

I find CD well tricky. In fact I've never cleaned it. Hoping to go back this weekend on a proper bike and try again.

@mikenewsmith - I don't get paid when out of work and have a medical team on standby when coming down. If I did I'd girl it like Rachel 😉

Cave Dale's the hardest of all the legal descents around the Hope valley in my opinion. It's the slickness of it, plus the chances of getting a run down with no walkers seems to be slim at a weekend.

plus the chances of getting a run down with no walkers seems to be slim at a weekend.

You normally get a round of applause from them if you ride it with a bit of panache.

Best bet is to ride it at night for a clear run. Top tip thouhg, don't try it in 60+mph winds

Last time i went down cave dale was about 15 years ago and i seem to remember a bit where the trail narrowed and you had to put your foot down ( i was on a GT Zaskar with 63mm SID forks ha ha). Has it changed much since then?

Anyone up for a Cavedale Clean session at the weekend?

Might be a bit icy.....

P'raps not

Probably not changed much Blackflag - There's a longish run into it which is nice fast and easy, difficult bit is midway through two old gateposts (no gate), steep wet rocks, out come the feet.

Probably one of those trails that gets markedly easier the better you are. I guess that's a truism but it applies to some some trails more than others, reckon anyone with downhill experience would find Cavedale pretty trivial as you'd have the courage to straightline it at pace and the skill not to fall off.

Cavedale needs to be bone dry, or left to BMX specialists

Cavedale needs to be bone dry, or left to BMX specialists

If you wait for Cavedale to be bone dry you'll be there for a few years!
I cleared it once in the snow - it was so deep that it hid all the rocks nicely and fresh snow is really grippy (plus your speed can never run away with you) so actually that was the easiest it's ever been, didn't touch any rocks!

I've only ever managed it clean on about 3 occasions though. A big enough bike and it's just point-and-shoot, you really only need to worry about the walkers. Hardtail or short travel (XC) full sus and it's a lot trickier.

Two routes in, the easiest is down the tarmac farm track off the top of Winnats Pass just [url= http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=412917&y=382211&z=120&sv=412917,382211&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=846&ax=412917&ay=382211&lm=0 ]HERE[/url], follow it round to the left and then it's through the gate on your left across a grassy field, you can see the ruined castle. Second main option is to climb Dirtlow Rake and loop round.

But the trail itself is very definitely a ride INTO Castleton (ie riding NE)

Cool, thanks a lot Chaps!

Cheers!
I.

Ice tyres this weekend - it will be smooth as a baby's bum, with ice.