A few pictures from a very windy and at times very cold ride, despite my 8 layers.
Great route though and nice to see some familiar and some new faces and bikes.
The eager riders line up in front of a visual representation of how much rain we've had over the past few weeks.
The climb up to the tower was great. The wind up there was pretty epic though.
Videojetman's Pace RC100 shelters from the wind.
MrLee and Videojetman ponder upon a Pace and Bolton far below.
HarryCrumb points out the route. The descent off the Pike was all but impossible to ride in the strong wind.
Bhill22 fixes a puncture on his LTS.
A quick stop for a mug of Bovril.
That's all the photo's I took. I'm sure there are a few others about though.
My word them tights are offensive arnt they
Great day yesterday if a tad windy and cold, I love the new improved route much better than last year,
highlight was being passed by harry crumb at about 20mph up a 45degree incline wheelspinning, I was in 2nd gear doing about 2mph :shock:
lows were some of the elastomers giving up in my forks and the 60 mph gusts all day, anyway cheers to the new chaps that come along and thanks for the leadership martin see you all soon,
Lee.
the pace line up
the line up
a quick repair
a tad wet
the eight layer trail slayer
after a bit of judging we decided on the pace as bike of the ride, very deserving too.
posting, as an attempt to create a mass desertion, we were six Retro Bikers assembled on Knowsley Lane.at the meeting point.
The wind was strong and the cloud cover didn’t look that positive and just as we were about to set off an Icy rain shower was thrown in as an extra moral squasher. This was over as quickly as it’s arrival and after a quick game of chase the sterling pound notes in the wind we set off.
A quick climb into Street Wood where we took the opportunity to get a group photo of the bikes, and riders with the joining channel and weir, in full flow after three days of rain, as a back drop.
We followed the trail along side Yarrow reservoir heading in the direction of Rivington. After a short road ride on Horrobin Lane, and Rivington Lane, we turned onto the bridleway leading up to Rivington Barn and then up to the carpark at Belmont Road, through the right hand gate and onto the steady climb winding its way up to Belmont Road at the base of Rivington pike after a brief stop we moved on to the loose rocky climb up to Rivington Tower. I think we did have some help from the wind on the way up which was nice, but even trying to shelter behind the tower at the top offered no respite from the wind. Paul and Lee took the lead on the descent from the tower and it was soon apparent that the cross wind wasn’t taking any prisoners Bhill22 was 3rd and took a dive as he became a casualty of the wind. I followed and was on and off all the was down as the wind decided on which lines I was going to ride, and it got it wrong every time. Cornholio’s RC200, and videojetman following tentatively after they had witnessed our difficulties.
At the bottom Just around the corner Bhill22 had a rear puncture luckily in an area which offered some shelter from the wind. It wasn’t long before Paul and Colin’s combined efforts had the repair boxed off……
………..and a quick photo shoot with mrlee
We carried on along Belmont Road and then Georges Road until the gate and bridleway sign appeared on the left. I was just explaining to Paul that there was a fallen tree laid out across the trail and we should warn the riders, when Bhill22 took the lead onto the trail, I was following calling “look out for the tree”, only to find him around the corner laid in the tree. No harm done and we were on our way. After two nice bits of short down hill track split by a farm track in the middle we were back on Rivington Lane, where we crossed over the road and followed a trail into Crosse’s Wood and to the castle by Lower Rivington Reservoir
With Paul’s nose already picking up the scent of the lunch stop, like one of the Bisto kids, we set off on the track leading to the Lower Barn Café for a re fuel.
After Lunch we headed back towards Yarrow Reservoir and on to the t junction at Parson’s Bullough Road. We followed the track up and then up on the final climb of the day, to the top where we joined Moor Road, a fast road down hill taking us to Heapy Fold Lane leading to the Man made 2.5KM trails of Healey Nab. Myself, Bhill22, and cornholio’s RC200, took on a lap of the Nab, whilst the others had a break. For the 1st part of the trail all 3 of us took a different route with me and Bhill22 taking in some of the black route in error. Once cornholio’s RC200 caught up we managed to follow the rest of the red route without getting lost again, and after a spot of deer watching we re-joined the rest and headed back out of the Nab and onto Heapy Fold Lane leading us back towards the cars with a nice steady down hill as a warm down.
thanks for the vote on the pace, although i'm on the lookout for another retro bike, something with a bit of bounce.
it was a harsh ride to say the least, but a really great experience.
:shock: 
