Friday 1 August 2014

Sheffield Steel

Suddenly there’s lots to end the week with.

Some places have made a very reasonable point about this video, and in many ways I’m inclined to agree. Not least because there’s nothing much new in the riding going on.

However I have fewer scruples, I guess…


This weekend sees the return of the Downhill World Cup in Mont St Anne and you can watch it live on Saturday evening here. This is a home race for Steve Smith so look out for him. The dates for next year were also announced.

Talking of World Cups. There was a well-timed release of more from Steve Peat:

As you’ll have seen it looks like Santa Cruz will have a 650b bike in Canada and they must be amongst the last manufacturers to move over. Let’s see what that can produce under Peaty and Minnaar and the winner of the last round, Josh Bryceland.

Now you’ve brought up 27.5” bikes I’d better tell you about the last ride I had last weekend on my bike with that wheel size. It’s hard to resist the brand new and I was tempted by it on Sunday afternoon after reading about a route from Vertebrate Publishing, that you can download as a teaser to their new White Peak route guide, I wanted to go and ride bridleways that have been only recently opened up through work between Ride Sheffield, The National Trust and the RSPB (neatly linking back to Peaty as well).

After a restorative lunch in a pub I rolled onto this fairly non-technical ride at an easy pace, determined to cruise and enjoy it. It started tamely on wide grass tracks and then a fast loose descent, followed by a grass trail climb and continued to cruise across moorland where the boggier sections have been surfaced and you get to follow brand new bridleway signs. It was a big gear spin on what seem to be trails as old as civilisation. As I bundled along, perhaps inevitably, my concentration wandered to look at the wide views and a decidedly non-dramatic rut caught my front wheel and deposited me painfully sliding over the grass and gravel. This was a shame as it hurt and the best of the ride was to come.

Picking myself up and getting back on after straightening the handlebars I decided to concentrate from here and continued the route on wide trails. A bit of road and negotiation around highland cattle and it got more interesting with a singletrack, mildly technical bracken edged path rising sharply to a road, and then a short sharp road climb to pick up what I imagine the point of the ride was.

The Curbar path is dramatic for views and fun under-wheel and lets you blast through the crowds over jumpable rocks and fast gritstone as you glance to your left out over the cliffs. It’s a fun fast grin-fest and makes the brutal climb back to the carpark at the end worthwhile.

A

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