the-bikefax-diaries

Falling off on the slab at Dalbeattie really hurts....

2007-06-09T17:41:00.000+01:00

I must admit to having been a little bit cocky at Dalbeattie. Having survived 'The Qualifier', I looked down the slab and thought it actually looked OK. Apart that is, from some nasty diagonal ruts across its face, it seemed smooth and straightforward.

Half way down, i felt like i was doing about 50 miles an hour and willed myself not to touch the brakes. Even as I was touching the bottom I was looking at the runout thinking I had got away with it. That, sadly, is when disaster struck, the back wheel slid out sideways, i did an abrubt left turn and poleaxed myself onto the base of the slab, smearing myself

After the screaming had stopped and i'd worked i was still alive and could still breath, i pretty much knew by the pain that my ribs were broken. As well as this i had a completely dead leg from using my left leg as a rudder!

The guys milling aroung the bottom of the slab were brilliant, sorting out the ambulance and helping me limp out to the fire road. Ironically when the ambulance arrived, they had known exactly where to come, cos they had been there at just about the same time the day before!!

Made me think though about our vulnerability when we are out riding. I didnt have a phone or map with me, no-one else of the half dozen or so people around had a map either, and the day before even the ambulance had taken a couple of hours to find the spot as they hadnt ever been there before. None of us really knew where we were in the forest or how far away from the carpark we were, and i really couldnt have walked anywhere.

ANYWAYS i think i've learnt my lesson now (seeing as this is the second time i've broken ribs this year). Phones and maps are good... Only break something when there are lots of people around...

Snowdon Epic

2007-05-08T16:20:00.000+01:00

Sometimes things don’t quite work out as you’d planned. You will have all had something not happen quite as you had envisaged, planned a trip only to find the car won’t start or gone to pay in a cheque only to find you’ve left it at home. Whilst these things are annoying they can be sorted without much hassle, when it comes to mountain biking these little issues can escalate into serious problems. A simple little puncture can mean the difference between cruising on home and being helicoptered out with hypothermia. What I’m getting at is that even the most prepared bikers can encounter problems they couldn’t have foreseen and these apparently small problems can have varying consequences depending on the conditions, cheating these can give you a sense of satisfaction but also make you realise that your probably not as invincible as you think.

Living in Wales the winters get pretty harsh, and the days very short, so as soon as the sun decides to appear and stay out past its usual bedtime of 5pm it gives us the opportunity of after work rides. Whilst post work rides are a good thing, attempting Snowdon turned out to not have been a particularly good idea. The ride shouldn’t have taken more that 3 hours and with the sun disappearing just after 9pm we should have had plenty of time to get back before dark. The estimated 3 hour ride time was reliant on us having no problems and setting off on time. As if written in small print in the back of our minds there was no real worry that we wouldn’t make it down before 9pm.

Things started badly with us setting off 30 minutes behind time. The sun was beaming down and the trail bone dry, we didn’t have a care in the world as we pedalled upwards, soaking in the magnificent views. Around about ¾ of the way up the sun began to redden and lower in the sky. Suddenly a sense of pressure descended on us. It was now a race against time, not wanting to get caught out in the dark. Looking below the track was slowly being cast in shadow as the sun kreeped its way behind the mountain opposite. Nearing the top it would have been a shame to have come this far to turn around and go back, so we decided to make the final push.

The views were absolutely epic, the mountains covered in a warm red glow and the sun itself fighting to stay above the ridge line. Although beautiful and tranquil there was a sense of urgency to get down off the mountain before dark, ‘the descent shouldn’t take any longer than 20 minutes so there should be just enough time to get down before darkness’, the small print in the back of the mind still really failing to cause too much concern as we set off down the mountain in the warm glow. After a couple of near misses I decided that now would not be the time to break myself and slowed the pace down. The first half of the descent went smoothly, well, as smoothly as the loose rock would allow, but at one of the more gnarly rock sections Ali was punished with a pinch flat. This would have to be a record breaking puncture repair, Formula One pit stop style to leave us with any chance of getting down in daylight.

One tube and two duff pumps later we weren’t getting much air into the tube. Light fading quickly now we decided to cut our loses and head down slowly, Ali taking it especially easy to avoid dinging his rim and pinch flatting again. As pitch blackness got closer things got harder, the riding got slower and things got a tad more bumpy as any decision concerning line choice was thrown out of the window. Toward the bottom things got rockier, we were crouched over the bikes not knowing when or where the hits were going to come from, just trying to stay upright was the name of the game now. Thankfully the gate was in sight, more of a black silhouette now and we were all still alive. Nervous giggles exchanged I think we all breathed a sigh of relief and freewheeled back down to the tarmac and to the pub for a pint.

Dyfi Enduro 2007

2007-05-08T13:40:00.000+01:00

The Dyfi Enduro is one of those events that will have you coming back year after year. In much the same way that Glastonbury tickets disappear as soon as they go on sale, the Dyfi has become so popular that bikers flock online to register themselves early to confirm their places. The hype grows each time as new people discover the charm of the event and come back again each year. With its laid back approach the Dyfi Enduro puts no emphasis on doing well, with the important thing being that you have a good time.

I first experienced the Dyfi last year, me and a few of the guys from the Cardiff Uni MTB Club ventured up to Mid-Wales for a long weekend. For non racers like myself that have no interest in the competition side of mountain biking, this event is perfect, it serves as a personal challenge and brings together like minded bikers from all over the country. The campsite itself is a hive of activity with people catching up with old friends, fixing bikes or having a few bevies, it has an almost festival type atmosphere.

The enduro is well organised and thought out, everything from the free mug and stickers, half way feed station to the finish line commentary makes it a great event to be part of. All these things add up to make a brilliant all round event, but what really makes the Dyfi Enduro is the fantastic course. At only 65km you may be fooled into thinking this was an easy enduro, but within this relatively short distance it packs a punch. With around about 1400m of climbing the ride is sure to leave you with stiff legs, if not a hint of cramp. The descents are what make it so great for me, even though most of them are on old double tracks; they prove to be a challenge in themselves. Ruts, berms and jumps have been carved by motor crossers to provide tricky and in some places technical descents that are still plenty wide enough to provide a choice of lines so that you can sneakily pick off any stragglers.

As you can imagine I was looking forward to this years Dyfi, so was really frustrated when a broken seat post bolt, about 2/3rds of the way around, forced me to call it a day. Feedback from friends was all good though and it seems that everyone had a good time. People were friendly and the banter was good, there’s nothing like self inflicted, shared suffering to get people chatting. Respect is given to the three guys on Uni-cycles that were not only riding the course well but overtaking most bikers on the up hills. They really define the spirit of the Dyfi, to just test yourself and have fun, which is how it should stay. Thanks to all the organisers who made it happen and roll on Dyfi Enduro 2008.

Ali Chant (Single-speed/ Ludite) 3hr 40m
Jim Savege 4hr 3m
Sue Savege 4hr 20m
Matt Barnicott DNF

World Cup XC & Los Parapetes

2007-04-20T17:02:00.000+01:00

This was our last day so we were willing to make the most of it. The weather was with us for the first time in a while and it was almost warm in the sun. We only had one more thing on our list that needed to be ticked off and this was the ‘World Cup XC Course’. It’s quite a grand title for what it was. The trail was no more than a smooth family walk type path, undulating through the trees. Being near the ski resort meant that there were big patches of snow on the trail, and although fun was not the easiest of stuff to ride through. We didn’t get very far if I’m honest. I was shocked at the fact that there is all this world class riding around us and they consider that a World Cup worthy XC course. After a while playing in the snow we decided to pack it in. To make the most of the day we decided to check out a piece of trail we had been eyeing up above G.Sierra from our venta on the opposite mountain the day before, as well as get some nice photos and video footage while the weather was good. Sue had ridden the first section a few days previously, and enjoyed it. The trail started at the top of a col above G.Sierra so I volunteered to fetch the van later on in the day.

The first section of trail was absolutely superb, starting off steep and loose and then turning into the fastest, flowing piece of trail ever. After this was a short push up to get onto the ridge above G.Sierra. Once on top it was a pleasant pedal across the top. Whilst looking about the edge of the ridge for the trail a herd of goat swarmed our bikes, nibbling at handle bars. We decided that the trail must begin at the top of the next rise. Between us and the next hill was a fantastic straight line descent, littered with rock and ruts. At the next rise was a set of concrete bunkers obviously used in the civil war. Below these we found out trail, clearly disappearing over the crest of the hill. Things started of super fast, swinging around a few flowing corners before dropping over the crest into a series of loose switchbacks. The trail was much of the same all the way down but it went on for ever. Toward the bottom we were both showing signs of tiredness and were making too many mistakes. The gradient and surface of the trail was very unforgiving and it would have been easy to come off badly. We decided it’d be best to get down alive and took it extra easy.

At the bottom we stopped at a venta for our caffeine hit, and the realisation of this climb began to hit me. Little did I know at the time but the climb was 8km in length and over 800m of ascent. I’ve never gritted my teeth quite as much as I did on this climb, but the thought of stopping and having to start again kept me going right to the top.

El Torro

2007-04-19T18:24:00.000+01:00

Setting off from G.Sierra we headed up the hill on the opposite side of the reservoir, aiming to reach the road I climbed yesterday evening, this time taking a dirt track that zig-zagged straight up from Geujar itself. This was a much better route up, seeming to be over in half the time of the previous road climb. The aim was to try out another section of single track dropping down towards the reservoir, one I contemplated yesterday but decided the other looked more tempting.

After a venta stop we headed along the road to find the trail head. The trail itself started near a huge cut-out of a black bull. As well as the bull there was a series of masts and satellites all perched on a pinnacle. If the trail was where the map suggested then we would be needing a rope. Luckily after half an hours digging about we spotted the trail whilst on top of the pinnacle itself.

The trail was awesome and completely different to the trail I rode last night. It dropped steeply through trees and over some awkward rock features, with the only time it levelled out for a second was when we hit a series of switchbacks. Before long this dropped us out at the top of the col I had to push up to yesterday. The final blast down to Geujar was much better than I gave it credit for the previous day. I must have been completely worn out because it rode so much better this time round.

G.Sierra Gorge

2007-04-18T23:12:00.000+01:00

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.

Padul

2007-04-16T21:54:00.000+01:00

We have been given the loan of a basement flat in Padul, a town just outside of Granada. At first glance the town seemed modern and as far from the mountain villages of Bubion and Capileira than you could imagine. For this reason I wasn’t expecting there to be much riding in the immediate area. We set out riding from the door and towards the hills behind the house. Immediately I was amazed by the number of visible trails, and I climbed the perfect single track ascent that looked steep as hell but was in fact all ridable. Once at the top it was a maze of forest tracks and trails. The view was spectacular out over the flat-lands on hampered by the mist that descended for an hour. I must have criss-crossed myself a dozen times, discovering new bits to ride and climbing back up again for more. By the end of the day I had clocked up well over 1600m and almost 30km and all within 5km of base. It ceases to amaze me the amount of quality riding all over the place here.

The best bits found have to be the strenuous steep single track climb and the GR descent. The climb up, even though strenuous, came with a massive sense of satisfaction and achievement at the top, as well as burning legs and lungs. Partly due to the fact you could look down and see exactly where you’d started from and partly due to the switchback that I took pride in riding clean.

All in all a good ride and a successful days exploration uncovering yet more fine single track. Highlight of the day has to be the awkward yet comical attempt at having a conversation with a Spanish biker which ended with a thumbs up and a smile.

GR7 - Trevelez to Bubion

2007-04-04T12:30:00.000+01:00

Sue and Jim decided to go off and ride the previous day’s route in the opposite direction to see if it was any better. I was given the task of following the GR7 from Trevelez to Bubion and taking notes for the route description. Sue had ridden this route a few days previously while I had a day off. Although she got snowed on Sue spoke highly of the riding but also of getting lost a couple of times and doing 10km too many. The day’s weather looked promising with only a handful of dodgy clouds breaking up the blue sky. I was dropped off at the top of the dirt track, to save me the initial climb, and got ready. The trail start was vague and is apparently where Sue got lost previous. As I rounded the side of this cow shed the trail became obvious as it started dropping in a straight line down a wide ridge. It bounced its way through a couple of fields before ducking of rightward into the trees. Here it got even better as it dropped steeply and began switch backing. Once at the bottom I was in the heart of a gully, from which I had to push back out to the top. It was a beast of a push and I couldn’t help thinking it would have been awesome to be riding down it.

After a short traverse on dirt track it was back onto single track, and a brilliant piece of single track it was too. It was reminiscent of a man-made XC trail, undulating across the hillside, with a feel of the Alps, green grass, cows and pine trees. It continued on for what must have been almost 10km traversing the hill, slowly dropping giving the momentum needed to blast up the short sharp climbs. The descent into Busquistar was brilliant, even the dirt track downhill stretch was bouncy and so much fun. This route definitely felt like you were on a journey. I guess it’s the fact that you’re heading from A to B made it feel like a mission in a way. Even at a relatively short 25km it didn’t half tire me out with well over a 1000m of climbing. This definitely had a true cross-country ride feel with endless single track sections, it’s just a shame that a lift is needed to be able to ride it.

Berchules Wanderlust

2007-04-03T20:32:00.000+01:00

Today the weather was slightly better. We headed over to a place called Berchules, slightly lower down in the mountains so the snow held off. Today had it’s up and down sides, with over grown trails, getting lost, and us pushing up stuff that looked awesome if only ridden in the opposite direction. Bits of the ride were great, but none of it linked up or rode as smoothly as we would have liked. It was quite a long day all in all with a lot of climbing and more of its fair share of pushing/ hiking. The final descent though more than made up for it. It suddenly, at a flick of a switch felt exposed. With loose gravel switchbacks and traverses across the epic landscape definitely made up for the lacklustre riding earlier on.

Bubion Again

2007-04-02T21:17:00.000+01:00

Last night we picked Jim up from Malaga airport. Today the weather has been absolutely grim, with heavy snow coming down on and off all day. Apparently its forecast to snow for the next 4 days too, not quite the Spain that I was expecting. This wasn’t good news for Jim; he is only out here for 4 days. So as not to miss out on a days riding we decided to show him some of the local single-track. Sue took the day off to catch up with work so she offered to give us a couple of uplifts to the top of the hill. We started off at the top of the GR route and criss-crossed our way over the road before climbing up slightly and linking it with the angel’s descent. This was completely different in the wet. Apart from the fact that we were struggling to see anything with snow in our eyes, the rocks had become slippery. With this being as technical as it was it was just a challenge to get down in one piece. Jim soon discovered that flat pedals were definitely a good idea.

Back down in Bubion it was time to grab another lift to the top. We stuck to the GR trail this time heading straight down. I’m getting to know this trail now and it just keeps getting better and better. This was a tad greasier in the wet but this didn’t detract from the fun.

Trevelez Gorge

2007-04-01T19:30:00.000+01:00

Today we headed over to a village called Busquistar, below it is Trevelez Gorge. We’d seen a couple of tempting looking trails on the opposite hill whilst out riding above Bubion a few times. The two trails formed perfect zig-zags down an unbelievably steep hill, almost a cliff, down to the bottom of Trevelez Gorge. Sue had ridden these in the past; she had pushed up the right hand path and ridden down the left. We decided to incorporate these into a loop. We rode from just outside Busquistar down to the right hand zig-zags. The trail down to them was awesome in itself, with a mix of big rock slabs, cobbled sections and gravely single-track. It was excellent fun, but before we knew it we had reached the bottom of the gorge, and the only way now was up.

From below we were unable to see the trail beyond the first couple of zig-zags, and it looked near impossible that anything went up the hill-side at all. Once pushing though surprisingly easy going, and because of all the zig-zags the gradient never became unbearable. After no time at all we had gained a fair bit of height, it was strange seeing the trail unfold below in layers. Before long we were at the top and had a quick slog up the road before joining a piece of single track that dropped us down into Notaez. Again the trail head gave nothing away, and if anything looked although the trail would peter out into olive groves. As they say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. The trail started off smooth and then disappeared behind an overhanging bush before getting ultra-technical with washed out rocky steps, cobbled switchbacks and later opening up into fast and flowy stuff before spitting you out in the picturesque, sleepy little village of Notaez.

After a quick search for a venta (café) to no avail we continued out of Noteaz and headed straight down on a trail sunken between meadows. I could feel my back tyre getting soft so I couldn’t appreciate this section to the full. It finished with a steep gravel slope and the trail winding its way between cacti and dropping us down into a dry river bed. After a quick munch and puncture repair stop we headed up the road back towards Notaez again but turning off for a place called Almeijar. Searching for a venta in Almejiar we had no luck again and carried on with the ride. On the map there looked to be a nice dirt track leading back to the top of the hill, saving us from having to ride on the road to the top. We must have ridden for a good 5km up this dirt track, steeply in places, only to reach a farm and the owners telling us there’s no access. So back down to the tarmac road we went with the best part of an hour lost and much of out energy gone too.

There was only one way for it, up the road we went. It was a fair old grind to the top, and I was only too happy to round a corner and discover our turn off was closer than I had pictured in my head. Turning left off the road lead us back to the top of the zig-zags we had pushed up earlier in the day. Armoured up and getting ready, I looked across the gorge only to spot the van was actually higher than we were. My heart sank as I had completely forgotten about the steep ride/ push out. Ah well, forget that for now, there was hundreds of switchback lying ahead. The trail was cobbled for most of the way, switch backing every few metres. The switchbacks were so tight in places so that riding these with a big drop in front definitely sent the pulses racing. I’d been using the technique of endoing the back end up and round on the tighter switchbacks but here it was a different story, not a place you’d want to take a trip over the bars that’s for certain. This trail was epic, not by being overly technical but just down to the exposure on what felt like a cliff side.

Lanjaron Blast

2007-03-31T20:58:00.000+01:00

The weather was appalling yesterday, which was a shame since it was Sue P.’s last day. We had a late night last night because of having to drop Sue off at the airport, so it was a pretty lazy day today, time to organise notes and equipment, and to clean and oil bikes.

We left the cottage early evening and drove up to Lanjaron. It was a short sharp climb out of Lanjaron before pedalling over the top until we reached a signpost for a GR trail. The trail started off gently which fooled you into going too fast, with obstacles appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Suddenly the trail dropped steeply away over some awkward rocky slabs with ruts in-between. After this the trail becomes a hard packed gravel surface. It seems that bikes skidding have caused awful erosion here due to the skid marks acting as stream ways when it rains heavily. Although still a good trail, I’ve got to admit to getting a bit frustrated at times with purely trying to stay out of these deep grooves. The sections without ruts were outstanding and really demanding. The trail eventually drops out onto the main road in Orgiva, a few hundred metres down the road from the cottage.

Bubion Blast

2007-03-30T17:29:00.000+01:00

Chris, a fellow Bikefax employee, came to pay us a visit today; he moved over to Granada about 2 years ago now and sounds like he’s enjoying life out there. Even though he’s not actually a mountain biker he has been known to have been dragged out on a bike in the past, so we managed to persuade him to come out with us for the day. Since we had two vans for the day we decided it would be rude not to take advantage and have an uplift day. We chose to explore a new piece of singletrack we’d been told about and see if we could link it up with anything. With one van in Bubion we drove up the same track that we climbed on the ‘Bubion Big Descent’ and parked a little further down. We followed a track bearing of at a hairpin of a couple of Km before finding the piece of singletrack.

This trail was great, some nice technical single-track climbing as it undulates across the hillside. After a while it reached a T junction in trails. We headed left and downhill. The trail, in my opinion, was very much like something I’d find back home in North Wales, which is in no way a bad thing, it just being in Spain it went on forever. It was technical and rocky, but opened out and got faster and flowing in places.

To end the ride we checked out a bit of GR we had noticed previously from the road on the way up. The trail criss-crossed the road and dropped straight into the back of Bubion. This is possibly one of my favourite pieces of trail yet. It has a series of steep long straights into fast and flowing corners. Even thought it was technical in places it still rode incredibly fast, even in the wet.

This evening we went over to Granada with Chris and had a lovely meal, as well as a little walk around the city centre itself. Granada is home to an amazingly talented graffiti artist, ‘Son of the Painters’, who decorated the streets with awesome paintings.

Bubion Big Descent

2007-03-29T16:30:00.000+01:00

Bubion sits even higher in the mountains and is a quaint village, seemingly clinging to the hillside. This was to be the start point for today’s ride. The plan was to climb up into the national park and drop straight down, on single-track, to a place called Capilerilla. This was to be another largish climb at around 10km at a gentle gradient. We climbed, riding through patches of snow, until we could all feel the altitude on the lungs.

The first section of downhill was fantastic, the wooded single-track had fast, long corners with slight natural berms which were great fun. As we dropped things got slightly rockier and more technical. The section down into Capilerilla dropped through an olive grove on a loose, slatey surface around countless numbers of switchbacks, some with huge natural berms and little drops. Halfway down we came across a biker, turn out he was a guide maintaining the trail. Apparently this trail was one of the most popular in the area and used frequently by the guides, I can see why too. After a short climb back up out of Capilerilla we were looking down on Bubion and trying to figure out just where exactly the trail manages to work its way down the super steep hill side. The views were epic and made more impressive watching on another creep round these zig-zags where it looked impossible.

Lanjaron Big Climb

2007-03-28T15:43:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we moved from El Chorro to a town called Orgiva in the Alpujarras mountains. We moved into a lovely self-catered cottage, Buena Vista, on the outskirts of Orgiva. It was a fantastic base and it was hard to leave our own private little veranda this morning. Just up the road from Orgiva is a town called Lanjaron, this is where we started today’s ride. Sue wasn’t really doing a good job of selling this route to us; explaining that it had a 16km climb and an elevation gain of 800m in one go. What goes up must come down though right? If the climb was that long, the descent has got to be worth a crack surely? Damn right!

The day started off bright and warm, enough so to almost make us leave the waterproofs back at base. The climb started off steep but soon became gentle, once you were in a suitable gear the climb, wasn’t too unpleasant. It was nice winding your way up and being able to watch your progress and seeing the track and town get smaller beneath you. About ¾ of the way up the wind picked up and the sky clouded over. It was time to don that waterproof I almost left behind earlier. The final grind was just that, it needed happy thoughts to drag us those last few K’s to the top. Whilst waiting at the top the clouds got blacker and the wind stronger, a couple of minutes later there was heavy snow coming down. I had to armour up to stop myself freezing, but my fingers started to go. I’ve had the hot-aches a million times before, but this time they were worse than ever, I could have sworn my fingers were read to drop off.

We found shelter under an overhang of rock and warmed ourselves up, jumping on the bikes as soon as we had done to drop down and escape the snow. Even though it hurt like hell to brake, I couldn’t help but smile as the swooped along the hill. Before long we dropped into the open and out of the worst of the snow. We joined with the path over the river and hit the first section of cobbled trail. It was the most perfectly made cobbled trail, zig-zagging round tight switchbacks that stretched out for 8km. The tight zig-zags were incredibly hard at first but by the bottom we were all definitely masters of the switchback.

Benalmendena

2007-03-27T22:00:00.000+01:00

Has it happened, have we turned into fully fledged down-hillers? Today we gave the legs a rest again and went to the coast to use the cable-car at Benalmedena. Benalmedena is on the Costa Del Sol just west of Malaga. The hill behind has a selection of downhill tracks on it. Sue had ridden here once before, but in the mist, and wasn’t sure what to expect. I half expected to turn up, pay for a days lift pass and have a few runs down the hill. The pass was 7 euro for the one trip, so multi runs were out of the question really, little did I know that one run would take us nearly 3 hours.

From the top we descended on a natural trail. It was steep with large loose rocks on a sandy base. It made for interesting riding, the bike skipped about on the rocks and drifted in the sandy corners. The terrain was a complete contrast yet again. The trail levelled off and traversed to the other side of the hill, where we met the top of one of the DH tracks.

The start of the track was great, dropping down a steep rock slab and round some tight steep switchbacks, but went downhill from there (excuse the pun). There were a series of huge gap jumps with rocky take offs and landings. Unless Berrecloth is your last name these jumps are probably undoable, with none of them being under 25ft gaps. To top it off there were no real chicken runs to speak of so you couldn’t even ride the trail in one without having to clamber over the lip of a jump or walking through a bush. The ride finished off with a bit of off-roading through a building site and a flat out blast on the road. All in all a great days ride again, only hindered by a small section of DH track (there are other, more rideable DH trails on the hill somewhere).

El Colorado

2007-03-26T19:45:00.000+01:00

Today started off misty and then rained. We made a group decision to take it easy, get things organised and maybe go for a quick lift assisted blast of something local later on in the day. After a chat with John, the hostel owner, we discovered the where abouts of some single-track created by local mountain bikers. It sounded good from his description, so we decided to try and find it and maybe give it a go if it looked any good.

Turns out that the trail was absolutely amazing, and was completely different to anything I have ever ridden. The trail head gave nothing away; it was tucked off the side of the main road, easily missed if you didn’t know about it. Once over the brow of the hill the trail swooped through wooded single track before sending you out into the open and onto a series of strange shaped rock slabs. Each slab was different, but the all flowed really well and could be ridden much faster than expected. It was a real rush and kept surprising us with more fun features, including some mad off-camber rock traverses. The most fun feature without a doubt was the double humped rock that rode like you were on a ‘big-dipper’.

This trail dropped us conveniently onto the road to the top of La Mesa ready for our next uplift. You’d think being a wet day all this rock would get treacherous, but it’s the complete opposite, the rock remains as grippy as ever. La Mesa descent was even superb the second time around, knowing when the dodgier bits were coming was great and meant the whole thing flowed much better. Maybe the fact it was my first day out on the Kona had a part to play. The Kona was absolutely superb and took no time at all to get used to. Within an hour I felt completely at home on it and could already see an improvement in my riding. I’ll let you know how I get on with it as time goes on.

Mijas Singletrack

2007-03-25T13:33:00.000+01:00

We set out to ride and track log a route above a place called Mijas. It was yet another sunny, warm day and we were looking forward to getting some riding done. We arrived at Mijas and stopped for a Coffee before getting ready. The ride began by climbing on dirt track for a while before climbing/ pushing steeply on single track. Before long the single track levelled out and then began dropping. This is quite possibly the longest, uninterrupted piece of single track I’ve ever ridden. It flowed really well and undulated across the side of the hill for kilometre after kilometre. It traversed the hill taking you in to, and spitting you out of gullies, sometimes with steep awkward climbs out. One of which claimed Sue P., there were, thankfully, no serious injuries though. It was an amazing contrast too from La Mesa descent yesterday, not nearly so technical, but just as much fun.

The ride continued along dirt track to meet up with a ready made MTB loop. This couldn’t have been any different from the man-made trails you will find in the UK, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we were the first people to have ridden it this year. The trail itself was really good fun but a bit vague in places. To finish the ride was a piece of trail, appropriately named ‘Babies Head Revenge’, with huge rocks littered all the way down, it looked like a section of trail from Coed-y-Brenin, but was all completely natural.

After each section of trail I’m always convinced it’s the best riding I’ve ever done, that is until I ride the next piece. The riding is so varied; it keeps bringing up new challenges and new interesting features so it keeps you on your toes and makes it even more exciting.

La Mesa

2007-03-24T18:00:00.000+01:00

The following morning we were woken up by a tractor spraying something on the olive tree opposite... ‘oops!’, the spot we’d come across was in-fact a farmers field and not the sneaky car-park we thought we were lucky in finding the night before. A sense of relief kicked in as it hit us that the driving was over for now, and we could kick back and enjoy the riding. The plan was to go and check into the hostel, La Finca in El Chorro and get things unloaded and organised before heading out for a short blast in the afternoon.

The hostel was brilliant; it was a beautiful place with a really good atmosphere. We were soon unpacked and sussing out the showers and kitchen. Bikes assembled and kit organised, we set out for a short blast from the hostel. The plan was to do La Mesa descent, one that Sue had done before and rated highly. She pointed out where the descent was on what looked a cliff, I looked up in disbelief. The trail drops down from La Mesa reservoir above and meets with the reservoir in El Chorro below. It drops from the big chimney at the top and clings to the cliff side, carved out of the rock itself.

To get to the top it was a good old slog up the road, from the bottom it looked absolutely horrific, but in the end wasn’t half as bad as it looked. The road eventually took us to La Mesa reservoir where we had to follow it around and ride across the dam wall itself before dropping down. The descent itself started off on mellow, smooth, wooded single-track before getting steeper and turning into solid rock with loose gravel and ruts waiting to claim a victim. I was in shock, the riding was perfect, even better than I had imagined, and it went on forever. Just when I thought the trail had peaked, it threw up another few surprises. Undoubtedly a brilliant first taster of the riding to come.

We picked Sue P. up from Malaga airport in the evening, back in the van again.

The Journey

2007-03-24T10:00:00.000+01:00

With the van bulging with enough stuff between us to last a year let alone four weeks we were surely ready to hit the road. By 12 o’clock we were all set and headed off on the first leg of the journey; destination Dover and the ferry. It was a brilliant day, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. The trip was pretty painless and we cruised in to the ferry port with plenty of time to spare before our boat left. Feeling happy with ourselves to have made a start on the journey, little did we know that we had barley scraped the surface and that by the end we would be seeing motorway in our sleep.

After the crossing to France, we drove another hour and then parked up for the night. The trip through France was pretty straight-forward, except for Paris. It could have quite easily been like driving dodgems through a maze, whilst trying to catch what is written on every road sign. It was pretty hectic to say the least. We made as far as the Pyrenees and my Dad’s place where we held up for the night. There was plenty of snow at my ol’ man’s which was a huge contrast from the weather we’d had on the journey so far.

This morning we set off deciding to cross into Spain at the nearest crossing to my Dad’s. This was probably not the best idea ever as it really slowed the whole journey down. Instead of cruising along the motorway, we were reduced to crawling pace as we creeped our way over snowy, mountain passes. Slowly the scenery changed from huge white, mountains to dry and dusty orange and lemon orchards, as we made our way deeper into Spain. We drove through the day, getting pretty lost around Madrid, but finally arriving near El Chorro at about 2am, knackered and happy never to see another motorway again. After finding a nice quiet spot we got our heads down for the night.

New 'Revolution' Bike shop saves Sue's bacon

2007-03-20T11:14:00.000+01:00

Just as we thought we were all packed up and ready to head off to Spain and the sunshine, Kona emailed to say they couldnt get hold of a bike for me. Being a bit of an XS sized mountain biker always causes a bit of a problem when you are after top or the range kit.

So the box arrived with one normal sized medium frame for Matt and lots of fresh air for me. So back to the drawing board quick as unfortunately given that i thought i was going to be riding a shiny new thing, my normal ride - a Titus Motolite, was not in good order. But with just 2 days to spare and in the midst of opening up their new shop in Bangor, Matt and Gareth, managed put furnish my Titius with new Juicy 7's and some very sexy 6" Mazorchi All Mountain forks, as well as give the whole thing a good one over.

Hats off to them for such a great job at such short notice. If you are after a great bike shop (road and mountain) in North Wales, their new shop Revolution, is worth a visit.

Thankyou Revolution Bikes

Open Mon-Sat
Tel: 01248 355770
info@revolution-bikes.co.uk
61 Kyffin Square, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 1LA

Kona sponsors Bikefax

2007-03-10T10:46:00.000+01:00

Being on a good bike is i'm sure you'll all agree, almost as important as the trail itsef. So we're really pleased to have Kona helping us out by providing us with some quality bikes to ride in Spain.
The Bikefax office is just packing up for a month of hot sunshine and trail riding in Spain to put together a collection of fine rides to be known as 'MTB Southern Spain'. So what could be better than a couple of Kona Dawgs for all those rocky spanish trails. Very kind of www.konaworld.com to lend us their bikes. Look out for a review when we get back.

Sue
(Editor)

Its good to be back

2007-02-16T13:05:00.000+01:00

Riding bikes is 100% ace. Not riding bikes is absolute rubbish. I've been off the bike for what seems like ages (actually about 7 weeks, but it felt like a lot longer) with a dodgy wrist. After a few rides on the road to ease myself back in this morning I did my first off-road commute of the year. It was wet, I was a bit rusty but it felt good.

Quote of the day

2006-11-29T14:35:00.000+01:00

'When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the human race' - HG Wells.

We just couldnt resist sharing that one with you.

bikefax creates the i-guide

2006-11-24T16:12:00.000+01:00

'We do a lot of staring at the computer screen here in the bikefax office. This time though ali is staring at his genius creation the i-guide'

'What do we do when we're not riding?' That's what most people ask us. and its true that in an ideal world we would just get out there and ride all the time. But just as good as riding is writing the routes down and passing on the info to the world.

What we're upto at this moment in time is creating our very latest and very exciting production - the bikefax i-guides.

'Yes we did get the idea from itunes, and what a brilliant idea it is too, put together an ever growing database of great tunes, in our case rides, and pass them on to the public in an easy, cheap and portable format.

Just at the moment we've put some of the downloadable i-trails up in the shop as a taster, and in the next few weeks should have a more browsable library of routes up and running.

In the meantime we're all excited about having a library that riders can post comments to, links to pics and route video and we can even send to your phone.

Coed y Brenin

2006-11-19T15:28:00.000+01:00

With rain forecast in afternoon, we dragged ourselves out of bed early to get down to Coed y Brenin for an early (ish) ride on sunday morning. Having seen work in progress at the new visitor centre and on the trails earlier in the year when Tony was kind enought to show us round what was then a mass of builders and jcb's, we were keen to see how it had all panned out.
It was pretty quite in the carpark when we turned up, but then not everyone wants to get up early on a sunday, and we parked pretty much right next to the door to the cafe, in the very attractive but slightly odd toadstool shaped visitor centre. The views from the balcony in the centre, looking down the valley to the mountain of Cadair Idris, are phenomenal.
In the cafe, getting our caffeine hit (at very modest prices) we bumped into Sian and Dafydd, who of course used to run the old cafe at Coed y Brenin. Having taken a 'bit of time out' from the mtb business, seems they are looking to start something new again - with talk of maybe a cafe/mtb base up in Betws y Coed right on the doorstep of the Penmachno and the Marin Trail - now I'm sure there are a lot of us would love that. Betws has been crying out for a good mtb base for a long time.

After caffeine it was definately time to hit the trail. We decided to go for 'The Dragon's Back' which at 31km long and graded red, seemed to be more or less the old Karrimor trail. Starting just behind the new visitor centre, with no warm up apart from a large latte, you are sraight into a series of rocky steps and boulders, which seem to last for a lot longer than you are quite prepared for at this stage. This then takes you into a very fast flowing section of earthy singletrack reminiscent of some of the 7stanes stuff. From here you drop down onto the fire road and then are back onto familiar ground following signs up through 'big doug' and the now very tight and rutted 'Hermon' singletrack. This dropped us off nicely at the Forest Cafe for our second cuppa of day. From here we decided to give the trip up to Moel Hafodwen a miss and skip up road and straight onto the always excellent singletrack of 'Gomez, Uncle Fester and all'. Not dissapointed, this is old school coed y brenin riding at its best.

Following this it was back on to fire roads for a big climb before the final descent and some more new track leading back to the Visitor Centre. Like the early sections of new trail, lots of big boulders and rock steps keep you on your toes and an endlessly switchbacking track milks the distance for all its worth. Finally a series of jumps, allthough inviting airtime, is edge with some nasty looking boulders, (i decided to stay firmly on the ground), finished off with a strange rocky drop onto a road of all things.

I enjoyed the riding of course, Coed y Brenin never disappoints, even as other trails move on. I couldnt help but feel though that it would have been better to spread out all the new sections around the trail rather than have them all right next to the Visitor Centre. But then maybe that was the plan - you could probably do quite a lot of posing on the new stuff if you wanted to.

Other 'new' trails at Coed y Brenin include:
The Tarw Trail - on the old visitor centre side. 20km, red. Another of Dafydds early combos incorporating old Flight Path into the Red Bull
The Beast - 38km, black. Very similar to the CyB combo in the Snowdonia guidebook
Yr Afon Trail - A new family 10km friendly ride along the lovely Mawddach and Eden rivers

Mountain bike tourism in Glentress

2006-11-17T16:34:00.000+01:00

Racing up the M6 and M74 in the early hours has become pretty familiar this year, so I didnt mind the early start in order to attend the 'mountain biking tourism' conference organised by Scottish Enterprise and held at Peebles.

For me it was an opportunity not just to hear what the pretty interesting guest speakers had to say but also to say hi to a lot of folk who've been helping us out with the guide southern scotland and 7stanes guidebook throughout this year.

Main speaker was Rob McSkimming from Whistler Bike Park. Rob started off by saying that he definately had scottish connections given the 'mc' in his name, and that his ancestors must be out there somewhere. He'd been out riding in Glentress and Innerliethen the past few days and was mighty impressed with it all. We caught up with him at lunchtime and thought we'd better give him a guidebook to help him get the most out of his visit. Surely there's someone out there wants to sponsor us to go out to Whistler for a couple of months to write a guide...... Dont be shy about getting in touch..

Next up came a visit to Glentress and despite the fact that I was only there just recenly I was amazed by the amount of work that is going on in place, with a new section and link on the Blue route and yet more beautifully sculpted track in hte Freeride Park. As well as this they've found time to get the plans in to the council for the new visitor centre and start the bike patrol. Do those at The Hub never sleep?

Follow the dog, Cannock Chase

2006-10-24T12:30:00.001+01:00

'Follow the dog', Cannock Chase

With a couple of hours to spare on friday afternooon after visiting a couple of shops near the chase, I thought I'd nip around the trail and see what Welly the dog made of it all.

One of the great things about this trail is that there is very little fire road, pretty much as soon as you leave the Forest Centre buildings you are straight into real riding. There are plenty of challenging moments early on as you struggle to keep your handlebars out of the trees as you slalom through overlocking small trees.

Out of the baby trees and you're into more mature forest where I start to get a sense of deja vu. This could be Glentress with a whole series of easy jumps and berms now so much the hallmark of forest riding.

There's only one stiff bit of ascent on the trail and get to know its twists and turns and you could probably ride it in under an hour. I bet the locals know loads of canny tracks off to the side though (the whole of the Chase looks to be awash with good riding if you know where to look).

The Bikefax verdict - Loadsa fun on the trail, very muddy on a rainy day, enlist the help of a local to get the best out of riding in the area.

Trail beta
Start Birches Valley Forest Centre
Distance 10km
Time 1 - 2 hours
Grade Classic
Difficulty 3
Features Singletrack, narrow in trees, boardwalks
More info www.chasetrails.co.uk

Grizdale North Face

2006-10-24T10:27:00.001+01:00

Sunshine and showers. It was the usual weather forecast for an autumn day, so we thought we'd mosey along to Grizedale forest and check out the new North Face Trail.

It took a while to get used to those cambered wiggly boardwalks on a damp day. I swear I thought that at any minute the wheels were going to slide out from under me, but half a dozen boards or so, I got used to it, only the dog seemed to be having a bit of trouble with them.

The trail starts with an interesting not too steep climb up through beech woods, winding sinuously through the trees, with plently of tight and not so tight switchbacks to keep you interested. After this singletrack is interspersed with fireroad, making for pleasant easy climbing. You sense that at the end of all this climbing there has got to be something good and after a particularly long section of fireroad in the middle, sure enough it is practically all descending singletrack from here.

The trail is none too long at just 16km, and has very little height gain, and hence no descents to steep or too hairy. Nethertheless there is plenty of tight technical trail to wow you.

The beta on the route.

Start Grizedale Visitor Centre

Length 17km

Ascent Not very much after the first section

Description: 9 sections of sinuous singletrack, boardwalks, berms, singletrack, switchbacks, rocks

Time 1 - 3 hours

Grade Red
Technical 3

To Demul and back

2006-09-14T14:46:00.000+01:00

The next morning when I woke up and stepped out of my tent in the high mountain pastures of Demul village at 4200m, the view that greeted me was simply stunning. In front of me a small collection of square Spitian houses perched on top of a series of rich agricultural terraces hung precariously at the head of a steep gorge. Our planned ride for the day, a thrilling switchbacking 800m descent headed straight down that gorge. The local were a little surprised to say the least, shouting at us as we passed that there was no road that way and the road was broken (meaning that the road was blocked by landslides). We smiled and carried on anyway.

The next couple of hours were filled with switchback after switchback followed by steep stony runs and impossibly tight singletrack. ‘What a way to finish the trip’, I was thinking. The trail was changing its character from moment to moment. One minute the corners would be straightforward, then just on a bit they would suddenly become tight and technical with tricky little drop offs right on the apex of the bend.

On one of the more daring switchbacks, trying to ignore the hundred metre drop to my left, I realised mid-move that it was all going horribly wrong. I was picking up more speed than my brakes could cope with in such a short distance and I decided that the only way to stop this becoming messy and spilling blood all down the mountainside was to throw myself and the bike onto the ground whilst there was still ground around me. I came to a painful sliding stop with my bike hanging over the void, still held on to me by my feet in the clips. Looking around, nobody had seen me, thank god, pride, bike and body still intact, I gave the trail a little more respect after that.

At the bottom of the gorge, we crossed the river on a narrow bridge and continued along on wheel wide singletrack to a short hike up and then more narrow trails to arrive on a wide truck road heading up to Lalung Monastery. I was keen to see at least one monastery during my visit. We were now just kilometres away from the Tibetan border and Buddhism was all around us. At the monastery we took off our shoes and covered our legs and shoulders as a sign of respect and entered the inner temple. Lalung monastery is almost a thousand years old and the walls were covered in paintings and carvings designed to both inspire and put fear into the devout.

Leaving the temple we were asked if we would like to visit the Lama and take tea. I felt privileged to be part of this ancient ritual of giving tea to strangers and sitting on the low benches of the lama’s room took a moment to reflect on the uniqueness of this region. I hoped that I wasn’t the first of an influx of tourists that would change all that. For the riding, the scenery, the unique culture, and the people it would be hard to beat a trip like this. For the ascents, the altitude and the Delhi belly, it would be hard to ignore the pain, but for anyone wanting an ‘out there’ experience it was worth it all.

Even after two weeks on the trail with two people who knew the area pretty well, I came away thinking that we had only just scratched the surface of what was possible in terms of riding. Everywhere we rode, we saw yet more interesting looking singletrack snaking off to who knows where in the distance. For anyone wanting an adventurous trip be that heading out to explore on your own or as part of an organised trip the area has much to so much to recommend it.

Back with the team and on to the monastry at Komik

2006-09-12T14:38:00.000+01:00

With Jim safely in recovery, Cara, myself and Funjuc headed back to meet the others. Whilst we were away they had ridden up to a small mountain village and without the jeep to support them had stayed in a local house and eaten with the family. For Andy this truly local experience was the highlight of the trip. We caught up with the team again in Kaja, the main village in the Spiti Valley, at a comfortable Tibetan style guest house and made plans for the last couple of days of the trip.

The following morning we took off early, and as usual it was straight up and out o the village, at first with the luxury of a tarmac road and later once into the high hills again, back onto rough dirt tracks. We were aiming for lunch at the small village and monastery of Komik and then on over the mountains on a broken jeep free road to spend the night at what must be one of the prettiest villages on the planet – Demul. At 4500 metres, Komik claims to be the highest village in India. We spent a long lunch there, and having missed a couple of days of the trip and a couple of days of acclimatisation I have to admit that the altitude was catching up with me. On from Komik the road continued to climb to another high pass.

At the top the others were waiting for me, as I staggered to the top feeling like death. Cass had talked about mouth-watering singletrack on the way down from here, but with my head pounding like a jack hammer, I couldn’t think of anything except down and quick. Whilst the others set off down fabulous singletrack, I just continued on the rough doubletrack with my head banging every time I hit a bump. By the time we reached the main road again, what seemed like a life time later, someone had finally switched off the jack hammer and I was once again able to think rationally. Unfortunately we had to go back up the hill to get to a camp, and not wanting the jack hammer back I opted for a lift in the jeep.

Chandra Tal and Jim's lungs

2006-09-11T14:26:00.000+01:00

"Chandra Tal Lake on route to Spiti"

"Jim's lungs are not looking too good at 4000m and we have to head back to the hospital in Manali"

Cass offered a semi rest day with a short optional ride up to the lake for a walk and a swim if anyone wanted it. Good job too, as Jim was looking a bit crook and had woken up with ‘funny gurgling noises in my chest’. Now I used to work as high altitude mountain guide, and when someone says that to you, it generally only means one thing – Pulmonary Oedema, a very serious form of altitude sickness. Jim wasn’t showing any other of the usual symptoms though, so we decided to see how he was with the opportunity to rest and acclimatise some more.

Whilst Jim rested, the rest of the team of Cass and Cara, Dan the Aussie traveller and Andy, part time Iron Man and full time chicken farmer, headed off to the Lake. Half an hour later, happy that Jim was OK for the time being; I decided to catch up with the others for some of the sublime singletrack on offer at the lake. Cutting the corners on the road, I rode steeply up dusty singletrack to arrive at one of the bluest lakes ever seen. By the time I got there everyone was chilled out in the sun soaking up the ambience. The ride back was as promised, sublime. Kicking up dust from our wheels, you either had to ride just about blind or drop back far enough to be able to see the ground through the dust again. Under the dust, hard packed earth offered fast playful riding with any number of line choices.

We rolled the last steep section into camp and arrived laughing like children after such an effortlessly fun descent. By the early hours of the morning it was obvious Jim wasn’t getting any better. I could hear the ‘funny gurgling noises’ without even putting my ear to his chest, his pulse was over 100, a sure sign of respiratory distress and he was feeling just ‘crap’. I woke Cass and Cara up at 5am and suggested that we go back with the jeep to the hospital in Manali whilst the others go on. The next six hours were almost the most worrying of my life, checking Jim every few minutes to make sure he was still conscious, with him improving as we dropped down from Chandra Tal back into the valley and then deteriorating again as we had to re-ascend to 4000 m to cross the Rothang Pass.

By the time we got to Manali and the oxygen rich environs of Manali, Jim was up and walking about again. At the hospital they took x-rays of his lungs, checked his blood oxygen levels and gave him a variety of tests. The outcome of all this just confirmed what we already knew, he was very sick, his blood oxygen levels were at 60%, dangerously far below the normal 95% for that altitude, and his right lung was full of fluid. It was obvious that Jim was not going to be getting out on his bike again on this trip. Pumped full of drugs and hooked up to oxygen, we booked into a private room for the night so that I could stay with him. In the morning all the doctors at the mission hospital including three British medical students came to see him, so fascinated were they all to see real pulmonary oedema in the flesh.

alfresco...

2006-09-10T14:20:00.000+01:00

"Alfresco breakfasts and fur coats on route to Spiti Valley"

The next day we were up at 6am for an alfresco breakfast and an early start on the ride up and over the Rothang Pass. As we continued to climb the 16 km of tarmac to the pass, the road gradually disintegrated into potholes and dirt, with the occasional sliding tata truck to keep you on your toes. Lucky with the weather, it was cold but clear at the top, and unlike the Indian tourists from Delhi, we didn’t need to hire one of the gaily coloured coats or pairs of welly boots to keep warm, though Jim just couldn’t resist the temptation to try on one of the leopard skin prints – what can I say?

Dropping down the other side of the pass we headed straight off-road. Why take the road when you can cut off the corners on fantastic alpine style singletrack. We started with an eyeball jarring race down a rocky path followed by a sudden plunge through a small stream. At the back I watched as Cass’s bike disappeared up to the hubs in water. Miraculously he survived without a dunking, but I chose discretion and scouted out along the banks for a slightly tamer crossing.

As the road dropped dramatically down into the next valley, the shortcuts too got steeper and steeper and there were a few comedy moments as Dan and Andy both had their over the handlebars moments. Judicious choice of line was the order of the day. Following goat tracks and local’s short cuts, the trail wasn’t at all safety conscious and this definitely wasn’t Glentress. At one particularly steep section with a yawning drop to my right I unclipped my upper foot from the pedal. Situations like this I have no pride and would rather dab than fall. I admit it I’m a ‘big wuss’.

On from here and we danced down the last narrow section of short drops and small boulder chokes to turn up back at the road and a small dabha. Back down to 3000 metres at Gramphoo and we had just descended a 1000 metres and almost all of it on singletrack – beat that! It was obviously time for tea again. Replenished we were ready for the long trek along the valley to another idyllic campsite at Chatru. The following day was another gruelling climb along a long unpaved road following the impressive Chandra River. By now, we were riding at 4000 metres and with everyone feeling the effects of altitude, a general weariness was creeping into the group as we arrived at the high meadow campsite near Chandra Tal.

Onwards and upwards from Manali

2006-09-09T14:10:00.000+01:00

"Evening meal at Camp 1 at 3400m outside Mahri"

More used to organising our own expeditions from scratch in the past, the criteria for this one was simple. We wanted a trip that wasn’t too commercial, had some challenging mountain biking and took us somewhere remote and interesting in good company. Surfing the net for inspiration Jim came across Cara and Cass’s website, and was inspired by their beautiful photographs and the idea of a small semi supported trip into a isolated area only recently opened up by the Indian Government to outsiders.

The plan was to ride out of Manali up the road towards Leh and over the Rothang Pass. On the other side we would turn off the main road and follow the road to the Kunzum La Pass to drop down into the start of the Spiti Valley, then follow the valley via several high mountain villages and Tibetan style monasteries to finish at Kaja. We would be totally self sufficient during the day and then met at our camping spots by our jeep and driver in the evenings. And believe me you really didn’t want to be pulling a trailer with all your kit for two weeks over those high passes. After a traditional breakfast of porridge and omelette at Johnson’s Café, we rode through the narrow streets of Manali, dodging tourists and rickshaws, passing teahouses galore, and settling into a steady pace up the tarmac road towards the Rothang Pass. There was no hurry; the road took us from 2000m at Manali up to 4000m at the Pass, and after a stern warning the night before from Cara about the dangers of altitude sickness, the slower the better.

It started easily enough, a steady grind to warm up the legs and nowhere near the granny gear until we reached about 3000m. By then the altitude was definitely kicking in and any excuse for a photo or a tea break was widely welcomed. Four o clock in the afternoon and 1,400 metres of ascent we arrived just below the pass at the small settlement of Marhi. Consisting of little more than around twenty cafes and teahouses and a tiny Buddhist temple, the ‘Dabha’ as these settlements are called, was full of activity, as a truck stop and tourist rest.

At Marhi we met up with Funshuck our driver and Norbu our cook for the trip. The tents were already up and the boys were making a start on dinner. Finally it really felt like we were on our expedition, and for the first time we had a real chance to look around us and relax.

Delhi to Manali

2006-09-07T14:04:00.000+01:00

"Prayer flags at Kunzum La, en route from Manali to Spiti"

Even as we drove through the city at 4.30am, Delhi was still busy, but it wasn’t really until the next day after a few hours sleep in a simple hotel in the middle of town, that we wandered out into the streets and got the fully Delhi hit. Yes, there really are cows in the middle of the street, surviving on eating the rubbish of the hundreds of little markets that thrive on every street intersection. As well as the cows, to walk up the narrow streets by the railway station where we were staying, you had to negotiate bicycle rickshaws, motor rickshaws, taxis, mopeds and oxen with fully laden carts.

This is the Indian equivalent of wandering around the streets surrounding Victoria Station in the middle of London. In the market stalls we bought all the little things we needed for our trip, checked out the bicycle repair shops (just in case the bikes hadn’t survived the trip from the UK) and then went to meet our next challenge; finding the bus station and the bus that we were booked onto to take us the 16 hour drive up to Manali in Himachal Pradesh in Northern India and the start of our journey by bike to the remote and little visited Spiti Valley.

This was when we discovered that our bikes really were people (we knew that all the time), when we were told that for them to travel on the bus we would need to buy them a seat each. I trudged back in to the ticket office ready to argue that two bike bags didn’t really take up that much space, not really. I must have been convincing as the ticket man and let me off with buying just one half price child ticket for both of them. So now I know that my bike is not only a real person, but is just a little child too! The sixteen hour bus journey really did pass quite quickly, watching the city go by, eating Aloo Jeera and Dahl for supper and breakfast in local service stations, and finally gazing at the awesome river and mountain scenery of the Kulu Valley as we entered the cool and green town of Manali.

By now we were 2000 metres up in the foothills of the Himalayan chain. We stepped of the bus to be greeted by Cara. This was the first time we had met in the flesh and with all of our early delays and the problems of communication, it was good to finally arrive and Cara’s relief at our finally arriving was obvious. We unloaded the bags and jumped straight into a taxi for the short ride up to ‘Old Manali’ and the Sunshine Guesthouse were we hooked up with the rest of the team and spent a pleasant couple of hours on the terrace reassembling our bikes and talking shiny bits.

Manali Road Trip

2006-09-05T13:48:00.000+01:00

I've done more than my fair share of world travelling by now,both with work and for play, but never before had I had quite such a unremitting collection of delays before. Finally today after 4 days of travelling we have arrived in Manali in Northern India. For it while it did seem like someone was trying really hard to keep us away from the place. Plan was to get the Scotland book out, have a couple of weeks getting it to the shops and then jet off for a much needed holiday ( busman's holiday) in Ladakh. Things dont always go according to plan though.

The Book was having a very painful birth with delay after delay in the printing, and then just as I was about to leave the office on friday morning to fly to India, our agent at the printers phoned up to say that they had made a mistake in printing the cover - he didnt go into details, but I had this image of it being upside down or something - and that we would have to reprint it, meaning another few days delay. So here I am arriving in India at around the same time as the book arrives in the office, and poor Ali having to sort our 5000 books all on his own. Then when i finally did leave the office to drive to Heathrow, I distractedly filled up the tank of my diesel car with PETROL., and standing on the forecourt with a petrol nozzle in my hand, a plane to catch and a queue of cars behind me, I knew this was not good. I almost wept. 7 hours later and tank drained and cleaned, I was on the M6. Surely everything would go smoothly now, but there was a niggling doubt in the back of my mind, after all 'bad things come in threes'. We were flying from Heathrow on the 5.10pm to Delhi on Saturday with British Airways. 'Great' i thought when Jim booked us onto a BA flight, 'its nice to fly on one of the more mature, professional carriers now and again'.

When we arrived at the airport there were queues OUTSIDE the airport and all along the pavements. I assumed this was all due to the security threats they had had recently and didnt worry about it too much, until the anouncement came on the tanoy that all BA flights had been suspended due a luggage belt failure. 5 hours of queueing later and they finally announced that ALL FLIGHTS THAT DAY WERE CANCELLED. Thousands of people were totally stuck at airport. Being good Brits and all that we patiently transferred to the queue to rebook our flight for the morning. 2 hours later and about 20 people from the front, along came a man who said, sorry the bookings desk is closing. 2 mins later he came back and said,'no its OK its going to stay open'. Then 2 minutes later, back again, and you've guessed it, the desk was closing. Now 10pm at night we realised we were going to have to admit defeat and go away. Luckily we managed to get a doss for the night at Jim's folks who live just outside London. A bit suprised to see us at 11pm, they nether the less fed and watered us and gave us a bed for a few hours. Next morning, dragging ourselves out of bed at 4am ready to do battle with BA and get ourselves on a flight to India, we headed back to the airport. We were stunned when we managed to book straight on to the next flight at 10am that morning. Elated, we thought that all our delays were finally over. At 8am we dutifully went through checkout and headed for a bit of retail therapy in the departure lounge. 10 minutes later and there was suddenly a loud continuous ringing sound, not unlike a fire alarm. Yup, now that we had finally got into the building, there was a fire and people were being moved out. There must have been a God out there somewhere, one who thought we might have had enough by now, and we were allowed back in just in time to board our flight.

FANTASTIC. We were just sitting comfortably when the captain announced that there would be a slight delay, whilst they moved some luggage around in the hold to realign the trim of the aircraft. 'Never heard that one before'. An hour later, still sat on the runway at Heathrow, and the announcement came, they had aligned the trim, and whilst doing this had found ' a small fuel leak in the aircraft'. 'Nothing to be alarmed about'. As a series of fire-engines drew up and lined them selves up outside the plane, i was alarmed. Maybe there was a reason why I had put petrol in my deisel car, maybe there was a reason why the plane didnt take off yesterday, it was all a terrible warning, my paranoia was shouting. 4 hours later, and the captain calmly announced that the leak had been fixed, the fire engines drove away, it was safe to use a mobile phone away and we would be leaving shortly. There was a loud sign of relief from a lot of very anxious people on the plane as we finally left the ground and headed for Delhi. Once in the air the flight was straightforward. Arriving at Delhi, we collected our baggage and bikes and started looking for Cara from OUT THERE BIKING who were arranging our trip for us. Now it hadnt been easy to keep in touch with them, whilst all of the last 2 days carnage had been going on, and we had had to keep making arrangements and then keep changing them as things had gone on. By now it was 4am Indian time and we had been travelling for 2 days and were much in need of bed and a shower. 'Where were they'.

You've guessed it, where they were was not in the airport. We learnt later that Cara had had to go on with another client to Manali, where our trip started from, and she had arranged for a local taxi driver to meet us at the airport and take us the hotel. At the time we didnt know all this. We also didnt know the address of the hotel, or any hotel come to that, or Cara's contact number in Manali. We were kinda stuck. The only thing to do was go to sleep and worry about it in the morning. I'd been dozing for about half an hour when a woman near us pointed out that a man outside had been knocking on the window and pointing excitely at our bikes. Eventually she thought she had better come and tell us about it. Hoorah! our taxi had arrived. We drove throught noisy dusty streets, still busy at 5am, to our hotel and threw ourselves straight in to bed. Everything was OK now wasnt it. A postponed book, petrol in the diesel tank, a cancelled flight, a fuel leak on the plane, and abandoned in Delhi at 4am. I'm hoping that that's our full quota of delays now for the trip...... Sue & Jim Savege from the Sunshine Guest House and the Manali Cybercafe

The new 'blue'

2006-08-25T13:40:00.000+01:00

'Getting the Bikefax blue's'

Would you believe it? Apparantly 'blue' is a very difficult colour to print. According to our printer, its a nightmare to get the right blue.... so just when we thought it was all over, we spent the best part of this week finding the 'right' blue, one that will print, that is, for the Scotland guide. The scots dont seem to have that much trouble printing 'the right blue', its everywhere even in the scottish flag..

Anyway that little hiccup resolved, the date is set for the return of the book from the printers. If you're one of those people putting in a pre-order right now for the guide, you can expect it on your bookshelf by the end of August. Now that's all set, it's good at last to be able peel my eyeballs from the computer screen and my ass off the office chair and get back out for some real riding. Waited for it to stop raining today and then headed off to one of our favourite local trails - the Marin trail over at Betws y Coed.

The trail was a bit wet and muddy at the start and there were a few early comedy moments on the muddy rocks but as the ride went on and the sky got bluer, the trail got firmer and firmer. Interesting to say that the Marin is one of those trails that seems to get better and better for a bit of wear and tear. Got to say that having been riding in that forest since the year dot, the Marin did seem a bit tame when it was first built, but now that its got a bit more worn and gone back down to some of the bedrock and original ground conditions, it's got a lot more technical and entertaining.

And whoooooooo's been out there with a shovel, making the jumps on the second to last section even bigger? Good effort, it's even more fun ever. Back to the orifice tomorrow to do some work on the Beicio Llanberis proposal. Gwynedd Council is having its second look at the proposal for a mtb centre in Llanberis and we're putting together the funding plan for it. Its looking very promising indeed and they have promised to give us a decision by October.

Posted by Sue

Finally finished the Scotland guide

2006-08-24T13:37:00.000+01:00

Finally finished the south Scotland and 7 stanes guidebook. Sent it to the printers on friday, signed off the proofs today and it should start rolling out on the posts on monday. Celebrated by shutting up shop early, dusting down the bikes and heading up to Bwlch Cwm Llan on Snowdon for a very fine ascent and a ripping descent. Played host to some of the folk from the 7stanes and the Borders FC on tuesday. Ali took em all on a guided ride up Snowdon, via the Llanberis railway path and the Rhyd Ddu descent. They were all looking a bit faded when I met them for lunch at Pete's eats. No wonder after a 5am start and they were still planning to head over to Coed Llandegla for a look see.