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With Terry 2 not taking too many prisoners, we got down to our destination fairly quickly at Cow Green Reservoir, in deepest west Durham, to start the ride at about 10:40am. We'd managed to gain 5 degrees on the way, but every one of us got as wrapped up as we could before setting off. Famously, the last time Derek, John and Terry did this ride they were in the company of others who went on to destroy the ride completely, by going miles out of the way and making the return journey not only extremely difficult, but also quite hazardous. So today it would be done properly, with no nasty surprises. Amen to that.
We dropped serenely to the waterside crossing over to Cumbria onto Dufton Fell, allowing time for Paul to get a few snaps of the back of the dam before the start of the fairly steady upward haul on the Pennine Way over Rasp Hill through Birkdale farmstead. There was plenty of action over here with boggy holes catching all of us out at least once. Derek made the best effort to injure himself with a dead stop as his front wheel was swallowed by the black liquid gap between two of the rough hewn paving blocks that stop and start along the route. They're really designed to assist walkers, who can of course step easily over the spaces. Great laugh at Derek's expense once we knew he hadn't hurt himself. And Paul had a good go at copying Derek's mistake twice on the way to our destination, spreading a coat of black mushy peat bog over his jacket. But he kept smiling aswell, as did the other three who took their turn at the same error. Plenty of walkers out on this fine morning, and uniquely they were all very pleasant and chatty. What a nice change!
The two bridges we had to navigate over Maize Beck were the only opportunity for Gollum to try self-vivisection as the others looked on in disbelief, but somehow he escaped unscathed. The second drop, done earlier in the year on the six inch travel CoilAir very comfortably was just as easy on the Decathlon with it's 90mm travel back and 100mm front, but there was a light "smack" from the RockShox Tora forks as he hit the ground this time. Put it down to poor technique. For once he was caught on camera, courtesy of Paul - see here Staircase 1 Staircase 2
Only a short grassy hop now to the edge of the oh-so-dramatic High Cup Nick, but whoa there - this was way too easy. Maybe not. John jumped off the Kikapu and started pulling on his back wheel, just as he had on his last few outings. Surely the same thing couldn't have happened again - the rear spindle unwinding and loosening everything again. Well, at least this time, after Gollum's repair job, the cassette was still properly attached to the hub. So the old dimwit set to, re-tightening the rear cones. Very strange behaviour this, for the normally placid and very long-lasting Deore hubs. Putting the wheel back into the frame, it became immediately apparent that the disc was hitting the calliper! It looked as though there was a spacer missing from the drive side of the spindle, between the cassette and the rear dropout. But how could there be? So, off came the rear brake calliper for the second ride in a row. But still the wheel wouldn't spin freely. Coz now the disc was hitting the rear chainstay suspension bearing bolt! By this time, Terry H, Paul and Derek had disappeared over the horizon and it was time to do even more drastic stuff -after all, no calliper, no brake, so off came the disc aswell. Again. Derek had pedalled back to see what was going on but even between the three of us we had nothing to fix the situation - a 6 mm washer was required for that. So off we plodded, John once more free of the worry of using his rear brake. Golly pleaded with him to get a new mechanic.
We got to the edge of the Nick at about 12.30 and took to the cover of the rocks on the western edge of the crevasse to get out of the stiff, cold breeze, but the view, as usual, was fantastic. Paul set about getting some decent photos for his collection while the rest of us attacked every banana we could find that wasn't strapped down. The usual smutty dialect took place, and stories of the last disastrous visit to this place were revived for those who hadn't heard them.
After 20 minutes it was time to move along,. and we'd decided to just skirt the edge of the valley top before looping around the extra bit of high bridleway. We were on our way to the start of it when John stopped again, and upside-downed the Kikapu once more. The back wheel could now be moved all the way between the top of the seatstays. Not good. According to the Wise Old Gollum, the only way this bike would get back to the car without being carried was for John to lose about four stones, double-quick. Or, for a (semi) human fly to ride it. That meant Gollum, as if you hadn't guessed.
I have to say, it was an "interesting" ride back. The bike wouldn't pull hard uphill at all, due to the chain skipping with the cassette wobbling madly from side to side. But on the downhills, including that fantastic rockery down the side of the Army Ranges, it somehow stayed in one piece as Gollum fought to choose the smoothest lines between the festering footpath. Our Paul, although being a self-confessed "uphiller", really blasted his way down here - I've never seen him go so fast. In fact I've hardly seen him ride anything this rough at all, and he just waltzed it. His grin at the bridge below was as wide as a barn door.
That was the slog over, and John stayed with Gollum all the way back to the car, including walking when the Kikapu refused to go uphill.
Another nice little ride, the shortest since Kielder at around 24K. I think we were all tired, with maybe Terry H the stronger at the finish. The breeze and the gluey bogs made it slightly less than dead easy for a chunk of the ride. here's the proof that our "Little Paul" was knackered!
And here's the video I took later at home of John's back wheel Photo Album here
Keep watching and if you fancy a ride out with us, drop us a line here: bailout@midaircrisis.org.uk
