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@Nef
Great ride today. 40 miles on the North York Moors, me on my
1989 Muddy Fox Roadrunner, and my
pal on his 1989 Rockhopper (clearly a good year for steel MTBs). Really varied terrain, some non existent paths, some borderline rough stuff that probably wasn’t that sensible, 20 miles into a headwind, some absolutely fantastic cinder paths.
Oh, and we accidentally went up Rosedale Chimney Bank, 30% in places (image nicked off google).
We knew we’d be into a headwind for the outward leg, but hadn’t quite anticipated what exactly the terrain would be like. The first third or so also has the meat of the climbing to get established on top of the moors from the valley. Unfortunately the tops are where all the wind is. We had a couple of stretches of pushing due to the marked paths disappearing back into the heather. The sandy and rockier paths were just rough enough to make life hard going, and a 13mph headwind made sure of it.
Fortunately at the turnaround point we joined the old railway path, which is this incredible cinder surface that’s really smooth and level (I guess that’s pretty necessary if you want to lay train tracks). And we also gained a tailwind. So after slogging away on rough undulating stuff, we finally got rolling at a decent pace for a good few miles. We had a slight change of mood when we came upon a fairly necky descent that was decidedly more like MTB territory. A bunch of MTBers at the top even advised us “it’s pretty gnarly down there you know?”, and they weren’t really kidding. I decided to try and descend in the drops as clinging to the hoods means you’re only really hanging on if you’re squeezing the brakes. It was definitely better in the drops with a decent grip on the bars, but hammering down a technical rocky section on a rigid bike in a very aggressive position tested my nerve somewhat. Fun and stupid in fairly equal measure tbh. Some more railway and tarmac followed along to Rosedale Abbey where we had a much needed caffeine stop
Unbeknownst to us, the next climb was actually the famous Rosedale Chimney Bank. It’s not very long - less than a mile - but has an average grade of 18%, and hits 30% at its steepest. Super chuffed to have battled up it (and thank god for granny gears). An amazing fast and long descent on tarmac followed, and then it’s just back another 10 or 12 miles to the start.
No real mechanicals other than a couple of punctures for my mate due to thorns, and my jockey wheel nut came loose, which appeared a lot more serious that it was at first glance.
Super buzzing really, although it was a genuinely hard day in the saddle. Pooped!
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