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Saturday 18th August

10 miles plus a few extra technical loops added

Six of us Mick, Simon myself (Des) Ben and two of his mates Chris & Matt had an entertaining ride, Ben showed us a few extra loops which had us pushing in one or two places due to the steepness off the drops, he also lived up to him being mental when he came down what can only be described as a cliff edge on his x/c bike with no protective gear apart from his helmet (see photo) Ben also gave us a laugh when he tried pushing his bike across a ditch and ending upside down with his bike on top of him in a puddle. (couldn't get the camera out quick enough to show you) Later in the ride I nearly ran over over him when he attempted to take a short-cut and went flying over his handlebars (laugh a minute) In the past three years that I have been riding with Mick I witnessed that he is human afterall (too many glasses of red wine Friday night) we actually had to wait for him as he was running on empty (remember this was an easy ish ride could our leader and master be a spent force?)  Simon turned up on his newly built bike the lightest bike i've ever picked up with plenty of expensive gear on it (I cant remember all the technical jargon but a very nice bike)

We had a change of venue for our lunch, we went to the Dog & Partridge at Tosside which I can recommend especially the rump steak burger & chips washed down with a pint of ewe tosser (local ale) 

Saturday 14^th July            Gisburn Forest      10 Miles                                                  

There were five of us this weekend of us all raring to go on the 10 mile trek around the forest, all following Mick around the trees!! We were joined by a team of four from Blackburn, one of them was only 10 and loved the route’s through the trees and thought Mick was cool!!! But he still doesn’t hold the yellow jersey….haha, sorry Des but had to slip that in.

Dalby Forest                          23 Miles                                      11th August 2007

Four of us, Mick the Grand master, Des the holder of the yellow jersey and webmaster, Darren the little helper and Dave who had seen the website and thought Dalby Forest was for him. We all set off for the two & half hour journey in mick's bike truck, we had visited Dalby Forest a few weeks before and the weather wasnt kind to us, today however the weather was cracking the flags!

Was it worth the two & half hour drive? In our opinion it is the best forest track we have done so far. It was Dave and Dazza's first trip and they thought it was the ulimate ride. We decided to stick to the red route which is 23 miles long, we had intended to do the black route but a local rider advised us to stick to the red route because it is better & more fun, he wasn't wrong) plus it is hard to find the red route again after. The ride itself consists of climbs that zigzag up between the tree's or cut out into the hillside, (not long laborious climbs up fire-road) downhill's with drop-offs, berms & bombholes that appear from nowhere, but due to the weather everything was very dry and if you wanted and your bike was running smooth could move at a fast flowing pace. Unlike Darren's bike that was playing up and driving him insane. The long section of northshore takes you up to Dixon's Hollow Pace Bike Park where you find table-tops & a mini cresta run, where you can test your skills.

You can buy a route map from the shop for 50p, If you need to hire a bike, a good selection of bikes are available at roughly £20 to £25 for 3hours or £35 all day for a full susser, bear in mind the red route took us 3hour 20mins. A good selection of food is available in the cafe afterwards, & their is a jet spray to wash the bikes off. I have put on the website a section about general site information and there you can find some more information about the Dalby Forest.

All in all it was a fantastic ride, we were all tired but buzzing about various parts of the ride. This has to be the best in the North of England.

For more information :- www.forestry.gov.uk

Saturday 30th June                    Worsthorne & Moor Bottom           21 Miles                                                          
There was a good turn out this week with nine of us all raring to go on the 21 mile trek around the moors, but if you asked Mick how far it was it ended up being 23 miles and a little undulating!!  We would like to welcome Simon who joined us from Burnley who had seen us on the website & decided to tag along, & Nick who is the 15 year old son of Nigel & is currently our youngest member, & also Stuart who we havn't seen for a while.
The ride very good and takes in some fantastic scenery, the ride from Worsthorne up to Gorple is a long drag but well worth the pull up the hill and Des well deserved the yellow jersey!! (stop winding Mick up Darren, the ed!) The weather turned against us as we hit Boulsworth moor bottom, but we were nearly home, I should say nearly in the pub to have a much well deserved Pint or 2 and some excellent food. 

Footnote:- Rory didn't join us again this week due to having to spend quality time with Clare, after leaving her at home while he had a whale of a time driving around the Nuremberg Ring the week before, this doesn't sound so bad until we found out they had both booked time off to spend together. Shame on you Rory I hope it ended up being an expensive lesson, Hairdressers, nails etc don't come cheap.

The Settle Loop                         10 Miles approx              5th May 2007

Due to other commitments, Junior football (parent duties), being on call (Fire Brigade) & shopping (shopping???? whats all this about Rory?) there was only four of us this week. Mick was panicking because Paul and I were 10 minutes late, but at least it gave Ben time to eat his meat pie ( athletes food)The Settle Loop is the first section of the Pennine Bridalway to be opened in the Yorkshire Dales National Park which takes in stunning limestone scenery.  Leaving Settle towards Langcliffe we go straight into a two mile lungbursting climb rising from 500ft up to 1350ft on the side of the limesone impregnated fell for the first mile then onto a bridalway for the second mile, past Clay Pits plantation and onto Jubilee cave. A small drop now on gravel trackbefore more climbing, in fact the first six miles is nearly all climbing, up to 1700ft across Langcliffe Scar, Turning right at the signpost up to Grizedales caves. Now for the fun (care! beware of walkers) a steep descent of very rocky track down to Stockdale Lane, carrying on down the lane until we turned onto ? Lane near Scaleber Force heading towards Blacks plantation, this lane is also a very rocky track, from here back onto the road with a steep descent back into Settle. A quick change and onto the Maypole Inn at Long Preston to sample the Hellifield sausage and a much deserved pint.

Our view of this ride is although only 10 miles long it is quite a stiff 10 miles over some very spectacular countryside, the views are fantastic and it is a very worthwhile ride.

For more information about the Settle Loop, accommodation & how to get there contact www.nationaltrail.co.uk/penninebridleway

Llandegla is based in North Wales west of Wrexham, in our oppinion it is well worth the 2 hours drive from our North West base. We did the combined red & black run route which is 21km/13miles. It is full of drop offs, burms, table tops & other obstacles, but it is all rideable. The ride is all in the forest so even when the weather is not too clever it is still sheltered. At the end of the ride the brekfast roll in the cafe is a must. For more details on Liandegla go to www.coedllandegla.com