Friday 25 September 2009

Lakes Off Road, another toughie!

The Lakes are a great place for mountain biking! As a team it's one of our favourite events of the year and the only one we stay around after for some personal riding time.

So what have we go in store for you this year? Well, after leaving Coniston the first thing you have to do is a big climb (well this is a level 4 ride in the Lakes). The Medium splits at the top of this and goes on to ridge overlooking Coniston. If you have a camera, now is the time to get some moody pictures of the awesome scenery and the Old Man of Coniston (It's a hill, not Mike). From here there is a fast exhilarating descent through Low Parkamoor and down to the road at High Nibthwaite. A road climb brings you to Bethecar Moor and another down to the drink station. (manned by Paul, our Kendal shop manager with some homemade cake) Now's your choice, medium or tackle the long? The long route consists of 4 climbs and descents, steep and techincal both ways. If you enjoy a bit of punishment, give it a go (please do not attempt to ride anything that is out of your skill range!! Walk around). Back to the Drink station and rejoin the Medium loop. Up again for a fast, fun decent into Hawkshead, a loop around Holm fell and a blatt along the new cycle trail will bring you back for some well deserved food and drink.

See you there
Dean

Lakes GPX Routes

Are all ok!
There's a small change in the last mile of the Off Road routes, but just follow the arrows along the new cycle trail and it'll bring you home.

Dean

Thursday 24 September 2009

Lake District GPX Route Files

The GPX files for the Lake District routes are now available to download.

Road routes are finalised and won't be changing but the offroad routes are provisional and may change after we mark the route on Friday so check back tomorrow evening for any alterations.

Lakes Road Ride, it's a toughie

We've been out on the bikes finalising the road route for Sunday's sportive ride, for those that aren't local to these parts be warned it's a little bit hilly, they don't seem to do flat roads in the Lakes.

We've made a couple of changes to the route and route options, we're unofficially renaming the long route the hard route as it's not actually much longer than the medium but it adds in over a thousand feet of extra climbing.

All the routes start from Coniston then head through Torver where the fun route riders leave the main route and head round Coniston Water but for everyone else it's the first main challenge of the day, a long steep climb heading off the main road over to Broughton Mills and on towards Dunnerdale.

From Dunnerdale you need to make the decision if you're going to tackle the hard route, if you are it's up and over Hardknott Pass (ascends 1000 ft in 1 mile!) to rejoin the other riders at the bottom of Wrynose Pass, if you're not it's an easier ride along the valley to Wrynose Pass and some more steep climbing. The Short, Medium and Hard routes all go over Wrynose Pass before heading back to the main road towards Coniston. From here the Short route heads straight back to the finish but the Medium and Hard route heads out for a second loop past Coniston Water and through Grizedale Forest Park.

Slight Change to the above route description. Everyone does the loop around Grizedale and Coniston as this is the Short ride. After coming back to the event centre the Medium and Long rides head out to Hall Dunnerdale where the next drink station denotes the split. Medium goes on to do Wrynose with the Long going onto Birker Fell and HardKnott Pass. Gpx routes show this route.
Ta
Dean

Route Distances & Start Times -

Fun - 14 miles - Start Time - Between 08:30-10:30
Short - 28 miles - Start Time - Between 08:30-10:30
Medium - 53 miles (6390 ft of climbing)- Start Time - Between 08:30-10:30
Hard - 62 miles (7690 ft of climbing)- Start Time - Between 08:30-09:45

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Liphook photo shoot

Check out how good you look on a bike here :-

Sportive Photo

Ta
Dean

Monday 21 September 2009

Liphook Rider Times

Off Road Rider Times

Road Sportive Rider Times

Friday 18 September 2009

Liphook Off Road

Just back from putting out some of the route. It's dry and hard out there! There's loads of singletrack throught the woods, so if that's your thing, you're going to have a fun day.

IMPORTANT - The GPX routes have changed. Only download the Off road routes with v2 after them. (Mark will put them up after he's had a bath)

Thanks
Dean

17:30 - I've just uploaded the new GPX files - Mark.

Thursday 17 September 2009

Liphook GPX Route Files

These are now available to download, you'll find the links over on the right hand side of the page.

If your downloading the off road route files then please check back tomorrow evening for any last minute changes.

Does my bum look big in this?

As well as working on the Ride It! events Debs is also the new Evans catalogue girl. Bring your Evans Autumn Essentials Catalogue along as she's planning to do autograph signings at our events, just hope the fame doesn't go to her head :-)

Liphook Road ride

Liphooks Road ride is out! Tony and Keith had a day riding over the South Downs to the seaside and back. I got to circumnavigate Bordon. It was a great 30 odd miles of country roads, mainly quiet and great surfaces to keep you rolling along at a decent speed.

Gpx routes should be up soon.

Just off to attack £700s worth of printer with a screwdriver as there was a horible crunch and a quick look reveals bits of plastic poking out of places they shouldn't be!!

Dean

Tuesday 15 September 2009

Get your diary out...

Dates for Ride It! events have now been published up until the end of 2010, looks like a busy 2010 :-)

Ride It! Event Dates & Locations

There are also two night events coming up this winter where as well as the usual Ride It! stuff you can demo the new range of USE Exposure lights. The dates are -

South Chilterns Night MTB - 14th November
North Downs Night MTB - 5th December

Tuesday 8 September 2009

West Yorkshire Rider Times

Here are links to the rider times from last weekend's event -

Saturday Off Road Rider Times

Sunday Road Sportive Rider Times

Friday 4 September 2009

The boys are back.......

....from setting out the off road route and are suprisingly clean. I'd opted for a day of "admin" which means sitting in front of a computer in a Travelodge for the day, glamourous.

The good news is that the tracks are in realtively good condition, and as the sky is blue, I can't see them getting any worse before tomorrow.

Oh, and those on the long route go past Keiths old house and along the disused railway track where he used to throw water bombs at old ladies!!!

GPX routes are all correct.

Remember - if you're having problems with loading routes to your GPS, run them through Biketoaster.com.

Cheers
Dean

Thursday 3 September 2009

To drive or not to drive....

Sitting in the van at midday today and a big decision had to be made. The drive to the start of my section of route marking was a bit hairy, being blown about and rained on most of the way. Sitting in the warm cab in a T-shirt, the temptation to drive the 25mile loop was great. However, I was pretty high up and the sun had come out, so I thought I'd best get on with it. Within minutes I'd gone through putting on a windstopper to full Gore-tex, before climbing out of the Van and on to the bike!

For those who weren't aware, the North East had a Severe Weather Warning today. My route was basically a square, so I spent the first section riding downhill into the wind, which was a bit scary. Then into a valley, past Bolton Abbey, and out of the worst of it. Next was the best bit, the big climb of the day, with a following wind! There's nothing like the feeling of cycling uphill in top gear across the Yorkshire Moors. Then back to the van, downhill with a side wind, top gear still with the front wheel twitching in the gusts.

This weekend is forecast to be pretty good so you'll get to ride the route in some decent weather, which should make it an enjoyable day out. The roads are in good condition and the the scenery is stunning. It's pretty hilly and with the unpredictability of the British weather, we've cut back the mileage ( the Long route is 73miles but comes in at 7100ft of climbing )

Some places you'll pass on your way:-
Dangerous Corner (actually a cross roads)
Blubberhouses
Mucky Park
Duck Street
Catherine or Katie White's Allotments


We'll let you know about the Off road ride tomorrow.

Cheers.
Dean

Leeds Route - GPX Files

GPX files of this weekend's rides are now available to download over on the right hand side of the page.

The off road routes are provisional until we mark the course out tomorrow, if you download them today please come back and check on Friday evening for any last minute changes.