This is the “Jack Bridge” track, one of the classic climbs out of Hebden Bridge.

Ragley Woods are in Colden, just down the lane from my house, in the valley that goes from Jack Bridge down to Hebden Bridge. I went for a walk there with the kids and my mate Don and his kids yesterday. I took the Ragley Ti along and Don took some photos.

There is an ancient packhorse bridge across the stream and a pool that’s good for taking a dip in on sunny days.

The decals are on the bike along with the trick bolt on cable guides, and just look at the neat welding.

Don even made me pose with the bike and get all lifestyle. Beards and ti bikes – yeah man.

photos by Don Gladstone and more of them are here on my Flickr site.

Yummy! Here’s a lovely piece of lemon cake that Dale baked and brought along for us to eat on our skills coaching session yesterday.

Dale has been riding for about a year and he’s getting on pretty well. He wanted to look at techniques for improving his riding on steeper trails, so we headed to the “Blue Pig” which is a classic, fast Calderdale descent. In the three hour session I soon had him braking in the right places and getting air off the drop offs and “rain bars” that can often intimidate riders. With some little changes to his body position on the bike he started to carry more speed, with more control. Most importantly he was having more fun and beating the fear. Piece of cake really.
Read more: http://greatrock.posterous.com/its-a-piece-of-cake#ixzz0DOEpvoDG&B

Ian came for a one to one skills day with me yesterday. He’s been riding on the road for 6 years and has just bought a mountain bike with the aim of doing some xc racing. He’s got the fitness already and now wants to develop the skills he needs to ride off road. We went up to Lee Quarry for the day and started by going up, over, down and around on some of the features in the Skills Area.

Ian is used to tarmac so it was quite an adjustment for him to trust the bike and build the confidence to ride up rock steps and down steep rock slopes. Concentrating on body position and where to brake, he was soon getting the hang of it all.

We went on to ride sections of the red route, which are really good for learning about line choice. We looked at how to flow with the bike rather than fight it and how to pump the trail for speed.

He was looking pretty pleased with himself by the end of the day. It was satisfying to see him riding the technical descents with confidence, which at the start of the day he would have been pushing down.

A lovely day spent riding out to Widdop Reservoir with the family. Me and Greta were on the Ute, with her bike on the back, giving her the chance to ride whenever the road or tracks were flat enough.  Picnic in the panniers and room spare for us to stop up at May’s, our village shop on the way home and fill up with supplies for tea.

Sunshine, hide and seek and back in time for ice cream. Chipper!