Searching for the Sacred Trail

This Wednesday, Ewart and I went in search of pastures new.

His wheels still aren't built so I lent him my skinny Mega wheels. Only he didn't have any discs, Out came a random selection of bits including Phil's bent 8" Formula disc and a 160mm XC rotor. Turned out that only 2mm of his pad actually touched the disc and the 160 went on the front. Smoking hot was an understatement.

We loaded up the White Water Assault Vehicle MkIV and headed onto the moors. What we found were some gems.

First off we pushed up Cox Tor(mainly cos it looked steep and rocky from the road. It was great fun and fast to blast down, but not very challenging.

Next we headed to or regular training loop by Princetown and pushed up the final 5 mins of downhill.

If you like fast rocky and open it's sweet. It also drains fast and has been ridden on some of the wettest conditions I've ever ridden in.

Two back to back runs here testing different suspension settings in preparation for the Megavalanche.

Finally we headed to a place that shall remain secret for the time being. It's a 20 minute push for 2.5 mins flat out gravity assisted fun, but boy was it worth it.

Starts out with a straight run to accelerate you to warp speed(out pedaling my gears in seconds), firing you into a series of closed in rocky corners(both of us over cooked the entry flat out!) jinking left, right, harder, tighter, in the gully, out the gully. The crux move is a series of 4 snaking corners that with practice could be almost straightlined.

The valley floor's a long way down and an off would certainly smart in the morning.

Next on the list was a tight(6 - 18 inches wide) trail that you just hammer down flat out! The drop off the side doesn't bear thinking about, 200 feet of vertical bank. This trail is straight an fast, it's got it all, including a rock slad section(that I hit way to fast!). Ewart managed to get his rotors smoking. From the top, you start with a gentle rolling start before you scream down the hill(remember it's 2' at it's widest) dodging trees, and plummetting river level, not much line choice, just hold on, tuck in and go. The off camber slabs are upon you before you know it pump them and keep the front wheel where you want it. Suddenly you're spat out into the car park,
laughing at the smoke off Ewart's roters.

Then it's time to head back for tea and medals.