My biggest mountain bike target for this year has been to ride the 47 mile Mary Towneley Loop. It’s almost all off road so the distance alone is a challenge but the difficulty is vastly compounded by 6,500 feet of ascent and descent in the circuit. I was unable to ride it in April dueContinue reading “The Mary Towneley Loop, ridden and reviewed.”
Last ride before the big one.
I’ve been planning to ride the 47 mile Mary Towneley Loop since the beginning of the year. My hope was to do it in April, when the weather was amazingly dry, but the Coronavirus lockdown prevented me. The weather was too wet at the end of August, when I last had a chance but thisContinue reading “Last ride before the big one.”
Riding Rivington.
If you were to ask a mountain biker from our area about places to ride I’m sure that “Rivington” would be mentioned very soon or possibly first. When I rode regularly with friends we used the area around the tiny village of Rivington very regularly, all year round. Recently, and especially this year, I haven’tContinue reading “Riding Rivington.”
Finding inspiration where I didn’t expect it.
There’s a small chance that I may be able to ride the 47 mile Mary Towneley Loop on Sunday so I didn’t want to do a big ride today. I decided to ride to my local hill, Healey Nab, to ride 3 laps of the man made mountain bike trails. I’ve done this ride manyContinue reading “Finding inspiration where I didn’t expect it.”
26 inch wheels.
On my last 2 rides I used bikes with 29” then 27.5” wheels. For comparison, today, I chose to ride one of my classic mountain bikes which has old school 26” wheels. This is the wheel size used in the embryonic Californian scene which developed into mountain biking as we now know it. I rodeContinue reading “26 inch wheels.”
27.5 inch wheels
After my last ride on a Trek Fuel EX8 full suspension mountain bike with 29” wheels it would have been good to gain some more familiarity with the larger wheel size. Unfortunately the bike in question has badly worn rear wheel bearings which are preventing the gears from engaging easily. So today I chose toContinue reading “27.5 inch wheels”
29 inch wheels.
My own 4 bikes consist of 3 classic mountain bikes with old school 26″ wheels and one more modern bike with 27.5″ wheels. In the last century you had no choice. If you wanted an MTB you were getting 26″ wheels but in 1999 the first 29″ tires for off road use became available. ItContinue reading “29 inch wheels.”
Disappointed hopes.
The weather forecast for this Friday has deteriorated in the last week. From expecting a decent day a week ago it now seems certain that we’ll get a day of heavy rain. Everything else was in place for me to take on one of the 2 challenges I’d set myself for this year, to rideContinue reading “Disappointed hopes.”
Preparing for the big one.
I’m hoping to ride the Mary Towneley Loop a week on Friday. It’s a 47 mile circuit with 6,500 feet of climbing and is almost all off road. Before then my wife and I are visiting our son 270 miles away in Sussex where I might get a ride in. I’ll return next Monday, sixContinue reading “Preparing for the big one.”
A great downhill treat.
Today my ride had only one purpose. To enjoy the long downhill sections of the second half. First I had to reach the high point above Brinscall Woods, where my current favourite downhill begins. It’s a mainly off road route but there’s little excitement to the ride. It was, however, nice to be out inContinue reading “A great downhill treat.”
Mountainbiker 