Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
Cubester and I set off to ride at Gisburn yesterday. Only 56 miles, but about an hour and a half from us, set in some superb scenery and surroundings.
We'd seen bits of footage from folk riding the (in)famous Hully Gully, and the downhill Hope Line, and felt it was time we went and put the new bikes through their paces. Cubester was riding my old Canyon Nerve AM frame which we've built up with his wheels bars and brakes,and I was on the Mojo.
We didn't otherwise know what to expect, so it was all a bit new to us, but from what I'd read we were in for a decent outing.
The trails are great. Starting from the Hub the red takes a tight twisty line through the trees, descending more or less straight away, with loads of bumps and opportunities to get the line wrong, reminiscent of Clayton in a way, you couldn't absolutely arse it! Narrow gaps in the trees (with handlebar scars on the trunks!!!!) and some nice rocky bits here and there. Then out onto a bit of a climb up to the top of the Hope Line. Flows brilliantly, with good berms, some drops and steps, plus a line of tabletops at the bottom. Had to go back and ride that twice, then sessioned the jumps for a bit. Steep in places, it challenged me and my bottle , but great fun.
Then we headed back to the top of the figure 8 course, across the stupendous Swamp with its raised rock slab paving, followed by a series of tech climbs up to Whelpstone Crag, where the fearsome slab awaited. Some tricky descents and black bits (we bypassed Dragons teeth and Bigfoot as we were losing light, and were determined not to miss Hully Gully) led us down to the start of the Gully itself.
By this time it was more or less twilight. The Gully was gloomy, but an adrenaline rush of enormous berms and rollers with muddy banks demanding care but giving more grip than we expected, and ending all too soon back on the red route.
We rode the last half hour in the pitch black without lights. That'll teach us to dally on the fun bits! A new experience, and one I'm not all that keen to repeat, but looking back quite amusing to think we'd dip into deep woodland, barely able to make out the trail, and lose absolutely every sense of what was where. By the time we'd both fallen off by not spotting roots and rocks we pushed until we could get back out into the moonlight and see the glow in the dark kitty litter surface.
It was a relief to see the lights of the Hub building and after a few more minutes of trying to see where the car park was, let alone the car, we were eventually changed into dry kit and heading into Clit Heroe in search of a chip butty. (or is it barm?)
Can't wait to go back. Next time we've promised to take the lights and ride a couple of sections in the dark
We'd seen bits of footage from folk riding the (in)famous Hully Gully, and the downhill Hope Line, and felt it was time we went and put the new bikes through their paces. Cubester was riding my old Canyon Nerve AM frame which we've built up with his wheels bars and brakes,and I was on the Mojo.
We didn't otherwise know what to expect, so it was all a bit new to us, but from what I'd read we were in for a decent outing.
The trails are great. Starting from the Hub the red takes a tight twisty line through the trees, descending more or less straight away, with loads of bumps and opportunities to get the line wrong, reminiscent of Clayton in a way, you couldn't absolutely arse it! Narrow gaps in the trees (with handlebar scars on the trunks!!!!) and some nice rocky bits here and there. Then out onto a bit of a climb up to the top of the Hope Line. Flows brilliantly, with good berms, some drops and steps, plus a line of tabletops at the bottom. Had to go back and ride that twice, then sessioned the jumps for a bit. Steep in places, it challenged me and my bottle , but great fun.
Then we headed back to the top of the figure 8 course, across the stupendous Swamp with its raised rock slab paving, followed by a series of tech climbs up to Whelpstone Crag, where the fearsome slab awaited. Some tricky descents and black bits (we bypassed Dragons teeth and Bigfoot as we were losing light, and were determined not to miss Hully Gully) led us down to the start of the Gully itself.
By this time it was more or less twilight. The Gully was gloomy, but an adrenaline rush of enormous berms and rollers with muddy banks demanding care but giving more grip than we expected, and ending all too soon back on the red route.
We rode the last half hour in the pitch black without lights. That'll teach us to dally on the fun bits! A new experience, and one I'm not all that keen to repeat, but looking back quite amusing to think we'd dip into deep woodland, barely able to make out the trail, and lose absolutely every sense of what was where. By the time we'd both fallen off by not spotting roots and rocks we pushed until we could get back out into the moonlight and see the glow in the dark kitty litter surface.
It was a relief to see the lights of the Hub building and after a few more minutes of trying to see where the car park was, let alone the car, we were eventually changed into dry kit and heading into Clit Heroe in search of a chip butty. (or is it barm?)
Can't wait to go back. Next time we've promised to take the lights and ride a couple of sections in the dark
