A Slushy Day In The Woods

Me and Neil decided to have a look out today to see what state the trails round Guisborough were in. Being as there's no snow whatsoever where either of us live, we were quite optimistic and planned a ride out from Hutton, across to Captain Cooks and back and a with lot of woodland fun thrown in for good measure. It's the first time I'd seen Neil in 5 weeks since he got sick of the £10 cheapy tyres on his bike and decided to head off to Los Angeles to get some real tyres. The 2.4" Vredesteins that he came back with wouldn't look out of place on a tractor so we were itching to see how they performed in the Guisborough mud. We headed uphill from Hutton village, and it looked promising until we reached the barrier, at which point tarmac gave way to snow. Not too bad though, it was hard and gave enough grip to ride. For about 200m. Then it was off and walking, something that would be repeated throughout the day. All of the fire roads in the forest were the same, sometimes hard packed and rideable with care, sometimes soft and slushy and necessitating a hike. The track up to the nab looked promising - it was melting at the edges and grass was showing through. We made it about half way up before we were walking again.

We ducked into the woods at the top of the climb and oh joy, to be on proper mud again and riding with ease. We went to the edge of the forest and out onto the moor, hoping that we'd be able to get down the track to Sleddale, but no chance. The snow was always up to our knees and in some places we sunk almost up to our hips. We gave up a bad job and turned back to the forest.

We headed back down the track from the nab, wishing we'd brought a sledge or a snowboard rather than a bike, and then turned left into the woods towards the bottom. This was more like it, nicely thawed (but wet and muddy) forest trail, we lapped it up and were back down at the main fireroad in no time. Secret Path next then. Off we went, riding and pushing till we were at the top of Unsuitables. We had another look out onto the moor here, in case it was any better here, but it wasn't.

Secret Path was great. No snow, but plenty of water, both standing and running, and lots more exposed roots and bigger drop-offs. Erosion is taking its toll here, but hey, I was getting to know it too well the way it was! No major incidents on Secret Path, so off we headed to The Chute via the now usual mix of riding and pushing. I fouled up straight away going into The Chute. My front wheel slipped away as I turned left into the dive-down from the field. I just about held it together though but cut an unusual line into the woods at the bottom, thankful there were no trees, rocks or ravines in my way. Lots more water running around down here today too, and still some slushy bits. Some of the steeper sections and some of the drops looked quite challenging when you couldn't really tell what was underneath the slush and picking a line was just a case of "where can I actually see solid ground". I should have paid more attention to my Xmas present the Dirtschool Mountain Bike Technique DVD but I think "Snow Riding" must be in part 2. Consequently I had a number of spillages, mostly minor, all comical. The worst was when I tried to avoid a slushy looking drop-off by swooping up and down the bank to the right of it, but "swoop" somehow became "endo" and man and bike went sprawling down the hillside. My ribs still ache :-/ The chute completed there was nothing left but the short hop back to Hutton village. No idea how far we'd gone in the 3 hours we were out, probably no more than 6 or 7 miles. It was shit, basically, but still bloody good fun, and at least we got some exercise! Hopefully it'll all be gone next week!