Forum menu
Dad and son combo - me (dad), 43, riding a Decathlon 29er with Suntour forks and a reasonably heavy mount. Son, 15, riding a Canyon Nerve with 120mm Reba up front and Fox CTD Evo at the rear.
Son - good, fast, no problems with either the climb nor the blacks at Llandegla.
Dad - reasonably fit (can run half marathon in 89mins) though cycling fitness is not so strong. No problems with climbing at Llandegla, but would only tackle the red there, with a more cautious approach than son would take.
We're staying at the Patterdale YHA next weekend - is riding Helvellyn via Keppel Cove and descending Sticks Pass likely to test our relationships with both each other and bikes a bit too much?
Up - it is just a gert long way, only a few corners up Keppel you may push, and steep at the last bit to top(s).
You can always 'bail out' but turning North from the top of Keppel and headind out to Sticks without Helvellyn summit.
And bikes* are not the issue - your attitude is. A great adventure.
*that was my second ever 'proper' moutainbike trip, on rigid Dawes with canti's on (natch).
you like pushing your bike for an hour yeah?
make sure you take the correct path, if you cross the stream on a bridge soon after setting off from the yha you're on the wrong path.
No bother. I did similar riding with a rigid Saracen in my very early teens. I wasnt particularly enjoyable and would have been better without the bike, but thats not what you asked! Prepare for a lot of pushing and carrying both up and down.
managed to get a couple of hundred yards of the summit a month or so ago.
pushed up kepple. was hard work, but I will do it again to the summit.
oh, and fat, 50 ..........do it, you and your lad will be making memories. 8)
Cheers - I have no problem with pushing, I had to do that with an old Toys R Us BSO at Llandegla a few years ago when the chain snapped about 0.5 after starting the red descent!
Obviously how enjoyable this father / son experience would be would be dependent on the weather etc too. It is meant to be a holiday after all!
Do it, you'll earn a pint or two & have a good story.
forget what i said about setting off from the YHA, I thought it was the helvellyn one you were staying at. My tip still applys though when you get to that point. ignore me at your peril!! pretty much everyone takes the wrong path first time you go coz the right path is up a bit and you can't see the start until round the corner.
Yup, seen posts about ending up on Striding Edge or Swirral Edge in error. I knew you were talking about the YHA at Glenridding though!
Wouldn't bother, too much pushing and too many walkers.
Take the Hartsop BW towards High Street then follow the ridge northwards towards Pooley Bridge and then double-back thru Howtown, up Boredale and over Boredale Hause.
Far nice loop, and plenty to keep both happy.
Its all rideable to where you fork up to Kepple Cove, then its a push/carry (for me anyway) till it levels out. Couple of hike a bike bits to get onto Helvellyn summit, but also some rideable stuff.
Coming back down its all good till you get to the mines as it gets a lot rocky/boulders down the zig zag. Sounds like your son will fair better on this
Worth it for the views, the pints in the pub later and the father/son day out
Hope the weathers kind to you.
Enjoy
I rode it at 13yrs old going down Dollywaggon on a Diamond Back Sorrento. Dad followed on a Raleigh Mustang.
Was mostly hike a bike so think you'll be fine.
Did this with my lad (14) last week, has very good skills and fitness though, he really enjoyed it, even the hike a bike, i just reminded him to hold back a little on the descents, so not to get caught out by the unexpected, he has a habit of trying to drop everything.
Keppel Cove is mentally steep. Riding up to there isn't bad if you're fit. But once you get to the zig-zags, it's not so much a question of fitness, I couldn't get any traction. That's followed by a quick ride towards the summit, then a bit more hiking over the rocky sections to get on to the summit itself.
It's technical in some places on the way back down, but walking a few sections won't spoil your ride.
OK, so the weather looks good for tomorrow, and you lot reckon this middle aged bloke on a heavy 29er can do it, so we're up to Glenridding first thing tomorrow.
I made the mistake of checking out some of the descent videos so know what I'm in for!!
Any hints for a likely timescale for the up and the down? Packing plenty of tubes, can see punctures a-plenty on the way down too!
3 up 30 mins to an hour down, depending on how many stops you take.
Took me just over 3 hours I think. Pretty fit but no demon descender. And that included a break on the summit. Could take 4 hours+ if you're going easy I suppose, but unless you do a lot of stopping I don't imagine it will be much longer than that.
Go for it, much more rewarding than a trail centre.
You have to do it. It's one of those rides that every self confessed MTBer HAS to do, It's a must, a benchmark of MTBing prowess, (& all that bollox)
Even I've done it, but I won't be doing it again. 😛
Oww I like this tread , First timer this Sunday, just finished getting my kit together as Nan Beild in the morning
the thing that might take the edge off the ride, at this time of year, is the number of walkers.
I never thought of Helvellyn as somewhere I'd want to take a bike. I have done a walk up and down it once and don't remember thinking a bike would be advantageous in that many places.
It begs the question:
Does taking a bike on a trip up Helvellyn make the trip easier or harder than doing it on foot?
If the weathers good (as they're forecasting tommorow) it's a cracking day out
[URL= http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu117/bjjandyw/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/5D609A80-6209-4FC9-9363-A226140DB9FA.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu117/bjjandyw/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/5D609A80-6209-4FC9-9363-A226140DB9FA.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
[URL= http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu117/bjjandyw/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/9B84FB8B-17DE-41D4-8865-1739A477706C.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu117/bjjandyw/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/9B84FB8B-17DE-41D4-8865-1739A477706C.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
[URL= http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu117/bjjandyw/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/F62F0CAD-1E9C-43E6-A34C-095CEAEED80B.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu117/bjjandyw/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-09/F62F0CAD-1E9C-43E6-A34C-095CEAEED80B.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
Does taking a bike on a trip up Helvellyn make the trip easier or harder than doing it on foot?
Much easier I'd say. For me, the thing that takes the shine off walking up mountains, is the walk back down. Always feels like such a chore. Even if you were to walk all the way up with your bike, at least you can sit down all the way back down.
How'd you get on larkim?
Ride Report with pictures please!
If Larkim is the same chap who stayed at Patterdales YHA Saturday who chained is bike to mine in the lock up he did it well, I was chatting to both him and his lad that evening and he sent us on our way This morning, That however is another story !
Like a complete prat we ended up at Swirrel edge via Red tarm,took just over 70 minutes from Patterdale to get there, I must admit the thought of going back down to do Kepple didn't appeal so we tried to hike a bike up, that lasted for all of 15 minutes with the grim realisation of either a dead bike or a dead me. So we blitzed it back down to the bottom of Kepple and tried again , we got as far as the Raise but my friend was spent ( I had just dragged I'm around Kentmere and Nan beild the evening before and followed that off with a few pints) so I cant blame him , I am gutted I spooned the route up but me and that hill have unfinished business !!!
Was a blast flying down Kepple though just a little loose under the front wheel but if we had carried on the decent wouldn't have been that much fun ,no point in trying to decent when your that knackered, that leads to A+E
Wouldn't fancy trying to get to the summit from Swirral edge with a bike! I'm not a big lover of heights though...
Stevedoc - yup, that was me and Chris - good to meet you!
One of the bits I read on the way up was "make sure you don't end up on Swirral", so I had a tidy GPX file loaded into the phone to make sure we were definitely on the right route!!
We had a blast - set off about 9:45 from the Aira Force car park (after our first puncture repair!), as SWMBO was taking our 3 smaller boys on a walk around there. Gentle ride down to Glenridding, and then began the climb.
Weather didn't look too hot, considering we'd promised ourselves a dry day, and had a little drizzle after we passed the YHA in Glenridding.
After making sure we did take the right route up (!) we more or less pedalled our way up to the steeper sections of the Keppel climb, where we both decided walking was definitely the best option.
After overtaking some walkers who looked bemused that we would even bother taking bikes up, we got to the flatter section just below Raise / Whiteside and mounted back up for most of the way up Whiteside.
Our first descent from Whiteside down to Long Man was fun, though I was a way behind Chris. He was practically salivating as we climbed up Long Man though as he plotted his route down what to me looked like unrideable terrain. This was definitely the hardest park of the bike a bike, but nothing unmanageable.
A quick whizz down and then up to the Helvellyn peak proper and we took the obligatory photos and discovered all of the walkers who were coming up Striding Edge. I guess we sat down for lunch about 12:30 ish?
Time to descend, and the wind was really picking up, though no more rain showers. Chris took the more northerly route down the Helvellyn summit, and when I caught up with him at the bottom his bike was upside down with a rear puncture, pinched on the stones. With bitter fingers, we got stuck in and were back in the saddle as we crested Long Man.
He then positively flew down the boulders and craggy terrain of Long Man, whilst I perched myself on the bike at the top, pointed it downhill and promptly got off again! I know my limits.
With Whitepeak and Raise still to be pushed up, it felt like the descent never wanted to start, but we were soon at the crossroads at the top of Sticks Pass, and off we went. First section is almost like a trail centre, but it soon turned into trickier single track. Again, Chris was in the saddle all the way, but both my long 29er and my own talents meant this wasn't truly for me for large chunks.
He thoroughly enjoyed outclassing me the whole day long, and we even had time for him to session some of the drop offs at from the old mining buildings near the YHA.
A quick whizz down the track, and we managed to time our ride into Glenridding perfectly to meet SWMBO and the 3 boys outside an ice-cream shop - fortunate timing, as O2 seemed to have zero coverage throughout the whole of the valley!!
We were staying in the Patterdale YHA (recommended, good breakfasts, great location) and as Stevedoc says had a little chat about our successful trip up.
Nice to know we've been as high as we can legally go in England on a bike, even with poor kit and talent!!
Chris then had the time and the energy the next day to do half of the Ullswater single track from Patterdale to Howton, and also ride up and down the track to Boredale Hause a couple of times - his report on the descent from Boredale was that it was awesome!
Strava ascent here - https://www.strava.com/activities/369524670
My descent - https://www.strava.com/activities/369524611
Chris' descent (plenty of waiting for dad!) - https://www.strava.com/activities/375041122
Photo album - https://goo.gl/photos/sJiG6etiGTTTkwW29
btw, I must point out that Chris is wearing his mum's waterproof in the photo as we managed to forget to pack that for him! He's not usually so effeminately dressed!
Looks like a good day for it, glad you had a good time. Helvellyn was the first mountain I did, and the one that when I did it again 5 years later led to me sniffing out as many big rideable mountains as I can.
Great stuff!
I need to get my lads up there again, and re live my teen years on rigid, canti braked Dawes and Saracen (natch).
once you hit the quarry on sticks it is worth finding seldom seen, its on the os map and for me is better than sticks pass itself, and definitely more fun than the remainder of sticks, giving a much better singletrack descent all they way to lake level pretty much
Yep seldom seen is good, exposed at the top and make sure you head through the wood nr bottom, we followed the other path which goes through a farm, farmer not happy, pointing out we shouldn't be there, i smiled saying i had made a school boy error, taking a wrong turn by mistake, much happier and advised i should purchase a map 🙂
Also told off on seldom seen
Rest of sticks must be poor [ not done it to be clear] if that is better as i have no desire to repeat it
the descent down dollywaggon is alright:
Junkyard- Sticks is by no means the best way down Helvellyn, it's pretty tame, but for a first crack at a mountain like the OP was doing it's perfect. It's fun, but not massively technical.
Birk Side is worth a crack though if you like nadge (after some fast open stuff) and have done Dollywagon.
How will I know when I like nadge? And is it something I should do with my wife?