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I've fallen in love with gravel again. Not that I'd really fallen out of love with it, but it's been a bit of a grim & necessary evil to keep riding and getting out over the winter. But, Saturdays "A taste of The Land Between" was thoroughly enjoyable, so when I was trying to decide which bike to take when skiving off work early today, it was the gravel bike.
35km out through the NW Leeds suburbs, across the top of Otley Chevin, and back again. Glorious, although a touch chilly. Trails running very well in lots of places!
Short local play around at lunchtime. Attempted the steep loose descent locally that my mates rode last week. On HTs. At night. Slithered down about a third of it with a foot down all the way before bailing for the rest; elegant, it wasn't! No pics fortunately!
Then onto the local jump spot. Progress on a (very modest) tabletop and a fast/shallow (and also very modest) gap jump, but another gap-jump that has been a mind-f*** for me for the last 2 years still eludes me, despite knowing that in theory, I can get the speed/height/technique to clear it! I'll get there one day.
Picture of my bike leaning against a wall (not doing anything rad!). And a poor quality screen grab from a short video a mate took of me 'jumping'!
Beautiful & sunny out, trails very close to prime!
Dusty wind farm ride yesterday
Clear and cold night ride last night. Ground conditions are still crap but not a hint of wind and an extremely bright moon made Dumyat summit the only destination (after a cheeky pre-ride for me).
First ride of year! It was so dry, I thought about taking the mudguards off.....
Not going to yet though!
Solo night ride this evening. The trails have dried out really well. 1st time in a while on a geared bike, definitely less effort than on the ss!
Full rinse on the commutes this week to make the most of the returning light and the sunshine. Too nice not too!
Finally rode the Bronson I bought about six weeks ago! Trails were mostly dry. It was worth the wait.
BPW on Friday... so at least it's had a shakedown. Feels so odd getting back on a FS after three months of the BfE. My knees are very happy tho 🙂
Super fine day at Rogate today, hopefully the weather will be more like this until autumn. And hopefully Rogate will be back as good as ever after the soon to commence forestry work
Back home after a few days away walking, waking to thick fog this morning. First thought: I bet I can get above that. And, out of the house early doors, I did....first curlews and lapwings heard, and the skylarks going nuts. It's official - spring has arrived!
Looks like a bike but it’s actually a Time Machine. I took daughter’s partner out for a spin on the Moor last night and I was back 20 years. 
^Is that the Darwen Victorian sandstone rocket?
Proper sunny on the South coast, so took the pebble bike out and grabbed a coffee w EpicJnrSnr. So good to be topping up my vit D naturally. 
Some times you have bad days… and sometimes, you nip out for an evening ride expecting it to be muddy and a bit rubbish.. turns out QE Park is pretty much dry, puddles easily avoided and running superbly. And theyve finished the new bit!
Took a pic to show my son… (just as the only other rider in the park was coming, sorry mate!) cos the jumps are quite big, pic doesn’t do it justice
.. expecting a grotty bike, but just a tiny bit of splattage
… then you get home and just as you’ve got the bike out of the car, the ice cream van arrives!
So you send your son the photo and he says he’ll come down for a ride on Saturday! Good. day. 😊
Well, after a couple of short rides in the middle of the day earlier in the week, I thought I'd make the effort to go into the office yesterday and get an extended commute in the glorious sunshine ...
🙄
The sun came through during the day, as I was busy beavering away on very important work things. And then the cloud came over just as it was time to pack up and head home!
🙄
Trails were running great however. Nice and warm too, shorts & t-shirt! So, can't complain, especially as I'm sat here now, inside, on my day off, with the rain lashing down, waiting for it to stop so I can head out for an 80km gravel ride! I'll report back!
Managed to get out on the bike last night, didn’t plan to go very far, but conditions have improved greatly, so ended up not getting back home until almost 1am.
Not many photos as I was having too much fun!
Light beams in Wednesday's mist
An old paved packhorse route on a north facing slope that takes a lot of drainage in wet weather, steeper than it looks. The Schwalbe Land Cruiser tyres are surprisingly competent off-tarmac given their semi-slick tread but I wasn't getting up this on them today....
Penultimate climb of the day up the cobbles to Stirling Castle on a VERY dry drivetrain after 118km of mud and rain.
...and the final climb up to the Wallace Monument 🤮
...and the final climb up to the Wallace Monument
Nasty! Have done it as a hillclimb 'race' (making up the numbers TBH). Some interesting trails for the descent though.
Early morning rides are so much nicer when the sun actually rises while you're out 😎
Falkirk trails early today before work:
If the sun gets a chance, it definitely feels like spring. 
^Top of Stocks Lane near Mt Tabor? I was up that road myself this morning on a pleasant Sowerby-Oxenhope-Cullingworth-Queensbury-Halifax loop.
Top of Stocks Lane near Mt Tabor?
Yeah, one of my go to road-ish loops, pecket well midgeley, luddenden dean, mount tabor and back to hebden by sowerby and scout road.
@montgomery - are you massively tall riding 29ers or moderately tall riding small bikes? Your bike set up always catches my eye (and the great views behind them!) and just wondered!
Nasty! Have done it as a hillclimb 'race' (making up the numbers TBH). Some interesting trails for the descent though
They've tarmacced the pedestrian path up now, looks even nastier, steep tarmac hairpins 🤩
are you massively tall riding 29ers or moderately tall riding small bikes?
Well, ^that is a repurposed XL 26" frame, while the one below is the XL 29" Frontier this morning. Rather than derail the picture thread I've put this here.
Extended commute this morning. Nice enough, but the weather is still indecisive about whether it's Spring, or still hanging onto winter ...
Splendid day to be retired and out on a bike
A few snaps from a lunchtime ride on the gravel bike yesterday, then a couple of commutes on the MTB today. Nowt special, just quick local blasts but great to be out!
Good local trail news #1
Someone's refreshed / refined an old jump spot that was looking very disused last time I looked. Looks really decent what they've done so looking forward to taking the MTB down at some point.
Good local trail news #2
Local woodland MTB stuff round here is properly ace but it does suffer in the wet....but a few days dry weather has done wonders and it was almost all riding really well today - close to prime, really! All but the worst spots no slop, lots of tacky grip and fun to ride again 😎
Bad local trail news #1
Raining tomorrow afternoon so that's going to set it back again 🙄
Ilkley Moor tonight, very dry in places but still a bit of mud here and there.
are you massively tall riding 29ers or moderately tall riding small bikes?
Well, ^that is a repurposed XL 26" frame, while the one below is the XL 29" Frontier this morning. Rather than derail the picture thread I've put this here.
thanks - interesting. I’ve started to go higher lately with my bars too although not as much as you.
A mate & I took our SS HTs up to Stainburn last night.
For those who know, you'll probably think this was a very silly idea.
For those who don't, Stainburn is a small, steep area of woodland between Leeds/Otley and Harrogate. There is a very short, and a short red trail, and a black trail, on one side of the road, and then a load of short, mostly steep, informal runs on the other side of the road.
The red is quite hard going - just quite rocky & chunky, beats you up even though it's quite short. The descent is followed by a quite steep, tech climb back up to the top.
The off-piste is steep-ish/steep, loamy/muddy, some chutes, drops, roots, ruts, rocks. Half the lines are accessed by a natural tech climb, lots of roots and a section of rocks bordered by a bog.
It's not natural HT territory. It's certainly not the place where your think "I know, the SS will be the ideal tool for the job"!
Anyway, we geared down, I was riding 32/22 on 29er wheels, mate was 32/20 on a mullet.
And we had a right good laugh! Challenging and tough. Rode the red ascent with just two small dabs (rear wheel got snagged on rocks on a couple of tight corners). Rode the full tech ascent up to the off piste lines twice with just one dab on each run (It's a 50% success rate for me on a geared FS bike, so pleased with that!)
Descents were a bit of a giggle, slightly out of control in places. Needed more careful line choices and a slower speed, but we got down everything we attempted.
Appreciate this was a bit of a niche activity, and the legs are feeling it today. But, was great stuff!
A quick ride at Rivington very early this morning before work. Was too windy to use the drone further up at the pike.
Golden, but very chilly extended commute this morning ...
Eccup res? water looks a bit choppy
Eccup res? water looks a bit choppy
Well spotted - yep, proper white horses on the reservoir this morning.
Hamsterley. Basically had it to myself!
Sun's here, off we go!
