Holiday riding

As you'll have noticed, I'm back from my holidays; a week in a caravan at Limefitt Park near Troutbeck in the Lake District. One of the best things about Limefitt, is the bridleway that runs through the site and over towards Kentmere, so I took my bike with us. I was limited in how much/often I could ride, but was on track for one ride every day, until I was ill part-way through the week.

1. Saturday: Up Garburn Road for half an hour, then back down to the site


2. Sunday: Up to the top of Garburn Pass (until I could see Kentmere village), then back down again


3. Monday: Around Robin Lane to Waterhead, then back again


4. Tuesday: Dubbs Lane/Latrigg Road loop

The riding was all superb, though a bit too rocky to ride in places on Garburn Road, which is actually open to 4x4 use and so very eroded in places. After the first ride, I was thinking the track should be resurfaced, but by the third time I was riding up it I'd got better at making line choices and rode much more of it. My bike was a revelation; for local riding the front end has always seems a bit too high and wide for me, but it was fantastic for the rocky riding in the Lakes, which is probably quite similar to the riding in Todmorden, where the designer of the bike lives. I still feel like I need to lower the front end for my usual riding though. The 2.25" tyres were excellent, providing loads of grip.

more photos

Unbelievably, people used to ride over Garburn Pass in the 40s, on fixed gear bikes according to Cycling Before Lycra. And I thought I was 'core for riding it with rigid forks!