More new trail at Kirroughtree!

Dudes Kirroughtree just got better.

News from the 7 Stanes website:

Regular riders of the Black route will have noticed work going on next to the forest road after Talnotry Hill. This new 1.4km section is now open and takes out the "draggy" climb and road descent before Hissing Sid. Nothing very technical, (ok - there are one or two short rocky bits) just narrow, tight and twisting singletrack Kirroughtree style. Enjoy!

Read the Singletrack magazine review of the Kirroughtree trails (it's from 2004, so there's been loads more track built since then)

Lake District - Grizedale North Face

Hello Dudes

On the Monday we managed to get out in the afternoon; we headed over to Grizedale to ride the North Face trail.

I really like the North Face Trail, it could be a bit longer, but its fun and those boards in the wet; they make it very interesting indeed!! Mark slipped twice, but thankfully no injuries, every time I've been somebody has slipped off.

We set off about 14:15 and the sun was setting at 15:53 (according to local news) so it was a bit of a race to get round, we managed the 10 miles in about 1hr 45mins, the last section through the woods was pretty dark!!

For a man made trail, it’s was pretty muddy and very very wet! It needs some maintenance to drain away the water; defo not as well manicured as the 7 Stanes.

When we got back, we had a picnic in the dark! But those ham sandwiches were lovely, hmmmm. It was a cracking ride and I bloody loved it; unfortunately we’re away from 15th Dec to 10th of Jan, so that’s gonna be it until 2007!!

Hope you have a good Christmas with loads of turkey and booze and Happy New Year Dudes.

Jamie

Lakes District - Jenkin's Crag\Loughrigg Fell

Hello Dudes

We were over in the Lakes for 5 days for Beth’s birthday (sister); myself and bro-in-law mark managed a couple of rides.

The first was on Sat Nov 25th from Ambleside to Jekin's crag and then around Loughrigg fell.

I found it really hard at first; it's amazing how your fitness seems to disappear in an instance. We started in Ambleside and headed up to Jenkin’s crag; the last section up to Jenkin’s crag is very rocky and with the rain, extremely slippy! We got to the end of Skelghyll woods and headed back down for the fun bit; going down was bit scary at times, especially with the wet rocks!

We got back down to Ambleside and headed over to Loughrigg fell, halfway up the first climb, mark noticed his pedal was coming off! So we headed back to the house, which was less than 10 mins away.

After a spot of lunch and a quick repair; we were back on the road. It’s a steady climb to the back of Loughrigg fell and it’s mostly up hill to you reach the terrace over looking Grasmere. The afternoon started brightly but then descended into black skies and then rain\hail started; we got soaked through and the hail in your face wasn’t that pleasant!

The view when you come out of the woods and on to the LoughriggTerrace is quality; it was worth getting soaked and battered by hail (unfortunately didn’t stop for a photo, sorry). We headed back down to the caves over looking Rydal; there was an interesting bit of scree after the caves!!

We got back just as the light was fading, I could’ve done with some L&M lights ;-)