Mountain bike skills & trips – Hebden Bridge, Gisburn , Basque, Pyrenees
17 Apr
I’m up at the quarry with the family. Sue and Nial are sessioning the berms while me and Greta are putting up posters and chatting to riders. It’s pretty busy up here and I’ve already had a bloke wanting to buy my Ragley after a quick test ride!
16 Apr
Riding lovely dry xc trails on the way to the jumps. “Sheep Tracks” next.
I always wear a helmet, but today I just went in a beanie hat and no gloves. It’s a lovely little descent back home from May’s, with some fast turns and lots of small rocks to hop over and little down slopes to pump.
I felt just like Steve McQueen, me.
1 of 3
Voodoo Shango with Magura Thor fork. It’s going to be a fun jump bike for checking out some local spots / summer singlespeed / bike for riding in the park with Greta. I’ll probably change the seat angle for longer rides! Needs wider bars and a 50mm stem as well.
Originating in a ride a year or so ago, these two bikes; Nial’s on-one Summer Season and my Ragley Ti are evolved from the Calderdale riding scene. Brant turned up one day in a pair of
long waterproof over trousers, riding a rigid 29er. The rest of us were in normal riding clothes and on burly hardtails with long travel forks. We were favoring short stems, long top tubes, slack head angles and big tyres for the technical riding we have in our valley. The next time I saw Brant he had a new bike that he’d designed and had built, based on the ride and our chatting in the pub after. It had front suspension, 26 inch wheels and geometry that worked on the descents and the climbs. It’s good to be part of a thriving scene where as well as getting to ride great trails with good friends, you get some input into the bikes you ride.
I’m up at the quarry with the family. Sue and Nial are sessioning the berms while me and Greta are putting up posters and chatting to riders. It’s pretty busy up here and I’ve already had a bloke wanting to buy my Ragley after a quick test ride!
Nial built up his new Summer Season today, pretty much on his own. Shakedown ride in the playground and a quick up & down to May’s shop. Lee Quarry tomorrow to test the power of the slack head angle. Things got a bit stressful at times, the crown race wouldn’t go on and bits got “lost” (he is 11 after all) but with the help of Brant and a bit of perseverance, we just kept calm and carried on.
Nial built up his new Summer Season today, pretty much on his own. Shakedown ride in the playground and a quick up & down to May’s shop. Lee Quarry tomorrow to test the power of the slack head angle. Things got a bit stressful at times, the crown race wouldn’t go on and bits got “lost” (he is 11 after all) but with the help of Brant and a bit of perseverance, we just kept calm and carried on.
09 Apr
photo Chipps Chippendale, Aerial Artist Emily
I’ve put a page up, over there on the right, with details of the Skill Sessions that I’m running at Lee Quarry.
08 Apr
I’ve been riding the Ragley ti for a couple of weeks now, but I’ve only just got a quick release seat clamp today. Stopping to grab an allen key every time I wanted to drop the saddle had become a real ball ache, so I popped into Hebden’s local bike shop Blazzing Saddles and for the princely sum of £6.99 I bought this Identiti clamp.
I just don’t get why people want to ride with the seat up all the time. Then again some people like skimmed milk! It’s full fat Green Top for me and “yes please I like to drop my saddle.”
Get that saddle down for the descents, especially when it’s technical. You can get your centre of gravity lower and use your legs to get better traction through the turns by “pumping” the trail, and get your weight back when the trail goes steeply down. Unless you don’t want to have any fun of course.
08 Apr
Lee Quarry is a hot bed of race action. Not only is there the Singletrack Classic Weekender with it’s assortment of xc, downhill and trials “races” but there’s also a red hot race series organised by Brownbacks. They’ve got a weird name but they are very well organised and super motivated folk. It’s fantastic that there is so much stuff buzzing at the best new trail centre.
There are 2 race series which run through the year, starting later this month. Check out their site and get your race head on.
If you are struggling with some of the riding at Lee Quarry, check out the skills days that I am running up there.
06 Apr
Just found these photos of me from the race. Photos by dickyelsdon from Flickr.
It was also bloody tight through the trees!
