G.Sierra Gorge

Today we went our separate ways just exploring the local area. On the map I planned to ride along a path up the gorge and away from G.Sierra. Once in the gorge I found a couple of rope style bridges, which were very strange to ride. I was obviously paying too much attention to contours on the map rather than the scale grid because the trail along the gorge went on an on forever. None of it was particularly strenuous or anywhere near technical, but it kept of dragging gradually uphill. The trail was extremely popular with walkers which didn’t help, at one point I had to take a break and wait for a group of well over a hundred walkers to pass, I even got told it was too dangerous for me on my bike.

I was aiming for a little trail marked on the map about 10km along the gorge, which never seemed to come. I reached a big gully and a bridge which told me I had gone slightly too far. Back tracking I began to think the trail didn’t exists at all, but eventually I spotted it. It wasn’t much more than a sheep track to begin with and then it widened slightly. From the contours on the map I was expecting a push straight up the hillside, but had I known it was going to be near enough vertical I would have thought twice. About halfway up the path reached an open area where it just disappeared. Five minutes later finding what looked like a small cairn of rocks I followed a vague trail again until it disappeared for a second time. Not wanting to give up I decided to push on straight up hoping to find the trail again at the top. After 30 minutes of not really seeing any signs of a trail or any cairns I began to get a bit worried that I may have to cut my loses and head back down, just as this was going through my mind I quite literally stumbled across a well cut trail running across the hill… BINGO! I was back on the right track. After another scramble to the top I reached the refuge at the top that was marked on the map.

From here the going got a little better. The trail began to swoop down and into the open. It was the most perfect piece of Alpine-esque floaty single track, made even the more satisfying with the thought of perhaps being the first ever bike to have ridden it. I passed a handful of walkers heading up, as they looked on with open mouths in amazement I started to wonder just really what was ahead of me. After a bit of an awkward traverse and having to jump on and off the bike every couple of minutes the trail hit the ridge before dropping steeply back towards the gorge. The riding was great and felt all the more epic with the feeling of altitude and the knowledge that if anything went wrong it may be a few day before I’d be discovered. Pushing this to the back of my mind I made the most of the long descent. The trail was a mix of smooth wallowing single track into jagged rock gardens and natural steps. Towards the bottom the trail had be churned to pieces by cattle and there were lines everywhere, but rather than being awful this section was great fun. It was great bouncing from on line to another and being able to hit corner flat out because of the grippy, dry loose soil.

At the bottom it was definitely time for a venta stop. Even though it was getting on and I was pretty knackered I didn’t want to end there, so after a quick map consultation I decided on what I thought should be a shortish loop. I think I must have missed a few contours when looking at the map because the next road climb was an absolute beast. It seemed to go on an on, not letting up for a minute. A quick check of the map showed me that I was nearly there, just as I turn around a lycra clad Spanish XCer came flying past, barley out of breath. Exchanging a friendly ‘hola’ I set off behind him, watching him sprint off into the distance. At the top it was a 3 km blast down the main road. Big ring engaged I caught the cars up in front, using the whole lane to swing round the corners; this was possibly the biggest rush of the day. Almost flying past my turn off, I stopped to get armoured up. The trail I was aiming for headed straight down to the G.Sierra reservoir. This trail was a bit of a disappointment, it was very overgrown with spiky bushes that whipped and stung if you rode through them too quickly. Yet again I think I must have not been paying enough attention to the contours because at the bottom the trail started heading back up, steeply. After a 20 minute push I reached the top of a col where I finished the descent into G.Sierra.