I've been thinking of riding this for a while.
What's it like ?
Is it a good piece of singletrack or is it plagued with unrideable bits, bogs, fences, etc?
If it is worth doing, which direction does it ride best ?
I've had a lot of bad rides recently so don't want to add another one!
a couple of mates go over that way quite often. but they have no sense of direction at all.
but they always make it back to the riverhead for a few pints, so it must be half ok.
The path from the top of Chew res towards the pike is cheeky, but mainly rideable. I'd highly recommend searching for Sausage singletrack on strava, it's a pain to find it, but magnificent when you do.
You can then link a route around and back up to Alphin and down either the main descent, or if you are feeling brave and technically adept can follow the special dh built by Jack Reading. Be prepared for jumping the barbed wire fence at the bottom though...!
How's it hold up over there after rain? We were thinking of coming back sometime soon.
the special dh built by Jack Reading
Enjoyed this in the heatwave last summer, looked like it might be a handful in current conditions? Didn't jump fence, for the record.
The moorland where sausage singletrack is would be a bit crap in boggy wet conditions. The normal Alphin descent would be great, the dh would be okay at the top but sketchy lower down. There's probably better riding on the opposite side of the valley if the weather is poor. Although the descent "insanity" is hard when it's dry, let alone wet.
Chew to Alphin is tough. Rideable but tough - lots of bedrock and undulation so very tiring on legs and arms. The edge northbound from Chew res is more enjoyable to ride and there's two or three descents off there as you progress round. The whole lot's worth exploring though when the weather's a bit better (inc. Sausage singletrack).
Top of sausage is a proper bog in winter conditions - ie not a bit boggy, or watch out for this soft section, more like there is no path, it's raining and I am sinking. Not something for the OP.
Yes, I probably should have clarified, SS is definitely a dry weather route.
After the weather of late, its boggy as hell, Sausage is running sketchy, If you drop over the other side of the moor to Stalybridge there are few worth while trails that link in with a day out round the area. Cockwood and steep trig. There is a good run off Alphin down to Greenfield and X factor.
Just bring a change of clothes as it took two washes last week to get clean 😉
never realised how popular the word 'sausage' was as a segment name.
Has anyone headed over to the PW from Chew & down to Torside?
Over Laddow rocks ? simply put NO......But I alsmost headed that way last week and time was a ticking on, The lad sat at the side of my now has walked it and the claim its steep as Funk, still I want to try it
When we named it "Secret sausage" we only used to ride it during dry spells.
Like everything else these routes are getting hammered now in all conditions.
Have to admit, reading through all this has reminded me how good the riding is around here.
Haven't ridden secret sausage in a years now.
Always interesting riding SS in the heather!
Would second/third/fourth the dry weather requirement for up there.
Has anyone headed over to the PW from Chew & down to Torside?
I've done that once - the traverse is wet but Ok, but Laddow descent wasn't that rewarding - too hard and I walked the difficult sections. Was on my XC hardtail so it was a bit of a non-starter - I think a decent rider on a bigger bike would be able to ride a lot of it, although I recall some no-way sections.
Laddow rocks run
And a local head the case Tommy C up around the top of Chew
(slightly sweary bro!)
Fatal fall off Laddow Rocks back in 2013. I didn't know him but by all accounts he was pretty handy on a mountain bike.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ladlow-rock-death/
I can see how someone could fall there.
I did it yesterday and was nowhere near skilled enough to ride a lot of that. The beginning bit was also full of wet peat and bog so completely unredeable at first. This then changed to techy rock with often a big drop on the right-hand side which the majority of the trail was like.
Constantly on and off the bike really. Couldn't ever stay on it long.
Never mind at least it was a great piece of country side.
I might try the north ridge then next time I ride up to Chew Res. Is that not boggy as well though ?
BTW I'm surprised people are saying Chew Res to Alphin is rideable.
I'm not rubbish on ridges: I can clear a lot of Ridgelines in the north west; Stannage edge, frogatt edge, Blackstone edge, Stoodley ridge, Standedge.
This however was on another level - maybe even harder than trying to ride across Kinder Scout!
I was riding with someone who rides Trials! He did a bit better than me but we both constantly on and off the bike, unable to make any pace at all.
Half of it was probably due to the bog but even then there were enough rocky sections which were like "no chance" - particularly bike-unfriendly undulating rocks and at least two ridiculous uphill sections, one in particularly was memorable as I couldn't even push up it, I had to walk up with the bike on my back!
Then there were a few other sections where I thought I might have been able to ride it if the penalty wasn't death!! Big cliff drop to the right hand side.
If you went to Alphin you would have got a good descent though? Both ways (I only know two, anyhow) are good.
Alphin was a good descent I've done it a few times recently but always ride up to it a different way.