It’s all glamour here. Just spotted that we’re in both the February and March issues of MBUK. In February the ‘Edventure’ video made by Whitenosugar Productions was listed as the number 1 best way to waste some time with on the internet. Funny to see it beats Danny Hart who only makes it to number 5!

Great Rock is also recommended as the best choice for guiding around Calderdale in the March issue of MBUK, in a feature on the best riding in the Pennines. There I am riding the original Ragley Ti on the rocky trails of Whirlaw Common!

Hotlines, the Ragley distributor, will be at the Cycle Show http://www.cycleshow.co.uk/ from the 8th to 11th October.

You can win a Ragley Blue Pig frame, plus a day’s guiding / mountain bike skills with Great Rock and 2 nights accommodation (and your tea!) in Hebden Bridge – the home of the trail that gives this new hardtail it’s name and the home of Great Rock. All you have to do is answer a pig easy question and drop your email address and the answer in at the Hotlines stand at the show.

Details are here on the Hotlines site http://www.hotlines-uk.com/News.aspx?NewsID=340

Here’s a link to the Ragley site with details about the Blue Pig

http://www.ragleybikes.com/our-products/blue-pig-frame/

Not a bad office….Jenn living the freelance dream

Had a couple of long cyclocross rides in the last week. I’d never ridden one before and expected them to be rubbish on anything but smooth tracks. How wrong I was, they are a hoot to ride. Get in the drops, get your weight over the front, let the brakes off and you can ride all sorts of stuff. Even steps! I was also surprised that I only got the one pinch flat.

‘Slopestyle Nial’ in lycra

I don’t know that I’d want to race on one, but I loved the way these bikes cover a long distance mixing up the road, pack horse track, singletrack and exciting rock sections. They were the kind of bikes that had me dreaming up long distance adventures and they make even the most familiar trails exciting again.

Ready for Race – The Food of Champions

I took Nial out on a 5 1/2 hour Calderdale epic ride. His verdict was that they were, “the best unnatural bikes I’ve ridden”. I think this means that, even though they don’t have a slack head angle and super tacky tyres, these bikes are still a lot of fun.

Up above…well everywhere really

The trails are bone dry and very fast at the moment, but I think it would have also been good in the mud, with the skinny tyres and light weight of these bikes.

Descending into Luddenden Dean

We were both pretty tired by the time we got back to Mooch for some cake. In fact Nial was quite broken and we had to call for mum to uplift him out of the valley and back home. I went in the van too to keep him company.

DO NOT put me back on my bike

photo by Benji Haworth of Rodwell singletrack looking to Stoodley Pike on the horizon

Great Rock is offering a days guided riding and/or skills coaching as part of a two night accommodation package with Croft Mill apartments. The four star self catering apartments are part of a high quality modern mill development located in the centre of Hebden Bridge, with all the cafes, restaurants and shops nearby.

The day’s riding will be led by Ed Oxley, Hebden Bridge’s local mountain bike guide, and can include skills coaching, as well as guiding, on the renowned and all weather trails of the upper Calder Valley. This will be a day tailored to suit the group and can be made suitable for experienced riders wanting a taste of the technical riding of the area or beginners for whom the more melow trails are more suitable. The choice is yours.

All rides start, break for lunch and end in Hebden Bridge so there will be ample time for visiting cafes for well earned refreshment.

Click this link for more details

The trails are wet and I’m loving it. It’s a chance to develop and use a whole range of different skills to those we use for drier summer riding. Get some decent tyres on your bike, stay loose, easy on the brakes (especially the front) and let the bike move around – it’s what it was designed to do! Wrap yourself up in good quality clothing and get out there. There’s nothing like the feeling as you come in after a great filth ride with a big grin on your face.

I’m running skills days through the autumn and winter in Hebden Bridge, Gisburn Forest and Lee Quarry. Keep checking on the site or on my Twitter for details.

Here’s a photo that ‘Evil’ Gordon took a couple of months ago while we were having lunch in Mooch in Hebden Bridge. Gordon was up for a skills day and as well as riding some of Calderdale’s finest trails we had time for this lovely lunch and a post ride beer down at the Blue Pig Working Men’s Club. It’s not all hard work on a skills day you know.