R O T H A R . C O M

It’s been a long time since any of my bikes have been shod with Wilderness Trail Bikes rubber (probably when Velociraptors were considered the ‘in’ tyres), but since the Nevegal death, I’ve decided to try a different combo on the Singlespeed for a while…

Weirwolf upfront and a Motoraptor for the back. Lets see how they cope with what’s left of winter and the approaching spring…

Saturday afternoon in Zermatt is a quiet time to be at the top of the highest ski run in Europe…

Friday 13th was fairly uneventful, but the following day was something different. The plan was to head up to Grizedale to introduce a friend to some trail centre riding. On loading the car up its noticed that the rear tyre on their bike was all split and cracked – Hmm didn’t notice that when cleaning it. So we stopped off at Wilf’s in Staveley on the way up for a late lunch and picked up a new tyre in Wheelbase.

By the time we arrived at Grizedale it was gone 2.30pm. The pay and display rates are currently £2 for 2 hours or £4 for all day. We had just over £2 in lose change, so decided to buy the ‘2hrs will be just enough’ ticket just before leaving the carpark. By the time the normal preride getting changed and ready faffage had been complimented with a tyre change and then a inner tube change in the same wheel due to a sticky valve leaking air, it’s nearer 3pm when we start riding.

Anyway off we go. The trails are easy going in comparison to some centres so I think it’s a good introduction to singletrack with some technical bits and boardwalk sections. Still I come around one corner to find my fellow rider tangled up in their bike to the side of the trail. Not enough momentum to get over a step up and they’d crashed out. No damage other than some dented confidence and we’re soon back on the route.

Progress was fairly slow, but steady riding around in the snow covered fireroads. Coming out of a singletrack section near the most northerly part of the loop a graunching noise from my rear wheel makes me think that the rear disc pads have picked up some grit. Feather the brake lever a bit and try and get it to clear as I climb up the hill and about 5 seconds later there is a rifle shot as the rear tyre explodes.

Another Kenda Nevegal that’s ripped through the sidewall just above the bead. Oh well no problems, I’ve been in this situation and done the repair before. Camelbak opened up to get the tools and food out. A wrapper from a bar will form an adequate tyre boot. So with the tyre off I set about putting some air into a new tube to give it some shape for fitting. About four strokes into pumping the tyre up, the shaft of the pump snaps off the piston. Bugger. My Mountain Morph’s been all over the world with me, but it’s just died in the Lakes.

So it’s 4.30pm. Light is fading fast. We’re in the middle of a forest in the Lakes. We’ve just realised that neither of us remembered to buy a car parking ticket from the Pay and Display, we’ve one bike between us, the other has a tyre with a hole in it and no means of pumping it up.

Just as I’m calculating the best way off the mountain, a horse rider turn up with a mountain biker riding along side. I do a Tinker Juarez and ask if he has a pump I can borrow and it’s with some relief that he says “yes”. We have some banter with our Irish rescuer who also donates a Park tyre boot and with the aid of some duct tape wrapped around the tyre and rim in the damaged section the bike is back in action. We part ways and trying to keep as little weight on the rear wheel as possible we make it into Moor Top carpark and begin the final and best sections of the North Face Trail back down to the Grizedale Visitors centre.

The fields are becoming misty, the light is disappearing and it’s with a woop woop that we make it back to the car to find that we’re escaped getting a parking ticket. Great day out…

Finally organised things enough to fit the new headset that had arrived at the end of last month. As planned it had the desired effect of releasing around an extra 10mm of stack height.

Wednesday off was a luxury this week and an opportunity to squeeze some extra riding in. I was hoping to get to Llandegla but the place is shut due to too much snow, so a local route was opted for. The Compstall Loop I’ve ridden before was chosen.

It was relatively mild in the City, but as the Peak District was neared and height gained the temperature plummeted and there was still plenty of snow on the ground up on the tops. Brake pad destroying conditions and some tripoding necessary to get safely down some of the descents that had been buried in drifting snow. It was great to be out though!

I met James Hilton one of the team behind Wide Open Mountain Bike magazine last night. Sound bloke – check out the digital magazine that they’re producing every couple of months…

Given that today I’ve woken up to discover several inches of snow have fallen over night in Manchester, the fact that over the weekend a small group of us managed a self-supported overnighter from the city into the heart of the White Peak seems pretty impressive. With over 100 miles from leaving the front door to home again and over 2,750m climbing it feels like quite an achievement too.

This little beauty turned up in the post during the week. It gives Chris King a good run for its money in terms of quality. It features very nice machining and is very lightweight. I like the design as it seems very well thought out, even coming with a special fitting tool to protect the bearings from a press.

With a super low stack height it will give just over an extra 10mm of steerer height on the bike this is going to be fitted on to – saving the need to buy a new steerer assembly. I think that it’ll also slacken increase the head tube by just enough too.

Rode out on Sunday and decided to practice some mud skills on the greasy clay based mud around the reservoirs in Debdale Park. It was incredibly wet and muddy as expected and of course the inevitable puncture occurred at the worst possible moment when the bike was at its most filthy. Up near the Golf and Sailing Club House, the piece of land that used to have a makeshift motocross course on it with some little jumps bits of singletrack and enough stuff to keep you interested for about 20 minutes has been It’s been torn up and it looks like the golf club are building an extra hole on the land. Bit of a bummer really.

Rode both days this weekend. A reverse loop of the river run on Saturday and a trip up and down the Longdendale Trail on Sunday, clocking up about 35 miles between the two. Nice easy riding, great weather and better than expected trail conditions. Ended up reading about the Lights in follow up to the ride – I’d never heard of them before.

Wee Ben has been in touch – he’s living it up in New Zealand and getting some great riding in during the summer weather conditions in the Southern Hemisphere. Check out his photos in his blog.