Fanylion Mountain Bike Team
Official site of the Fanylion Mountain Bike Team. Includes mountain bike ride guides, gear reviews, bike maintenance, team reports and rider profiles of the Fanylion Racing Team.
Swaledale, Yorkshire Dales
May 21, 2005, England
As ever expectations were high of an excellent biking weekend in the late spring/early summer warmth in the Dales; well at least the Dales part was true! After a demoralising hour trying to put tents up in the lashing rain and arctic winds around the campsite, White Sox and Shortbread were primed and ready for the biking ahead, keen to meet with the other members of the pack the following morning. A few pints of Black Sheep ale made sleeping easy with no pillows or sleeping mat: note to self – when camping, bring more then just the tent!
Early next morning the Team assembled in Muker for the start of three MBR killer loops in a day (cheers Hodgson). A monster climb greeted the lions and so as not to make him feel bad the team let Shotrtbread push ahead along with Shorts in Winter whose gain in fitness impressed the rest of the pride. His navigation however was sometimes a little questionable but after a quick U-turn we were back on track watching the evil rumbling black mass in the hills preparing to drench the manes of the brave lions. Once on top of the hill the team were greeted by what would have been a nice flowing decent into the next dale if it were not for the 1,849 gates in the space of a mile! Sure enough the heavens opened and judging by the bikers coming the other way it wasn’t going to let up for while. Bugger. A long rainy road climb (I can’t think of anything more character building) warmed the pack up again and we were soon gaining earning some altitude tokens. After another map faff there was tension brewing and suddenly there was a break away pack slithering down the grassy hill to what was meant to be a ford while the queer boy losers took the long route by the track to cross at the bridge, where’s the fun in that? I mean you’re already wet so why not get colder and wetter by stumbling like a rhino on ice skates through the not so shallow stream?! A quick push back onto the Pennine Way and the pride was together and back to full strength, traversing along the hillside until a steep decent with gates, then some more gates and then some more bloody gates!
A great decent followed back into Muker with the weather improving all the time. The plan was shortened slightly for the next Killer Loop as time was short and quite frankly we are all weak and pathetic without the guidance of head lion Hodgson! A short road section saw the Team tackle a long steady climb which spread the lions along the trail before a nice fast decent, with no fecking gates, taking us deep into the valley. From here there was a nice bit of singletrack climbing following the river with quite a drop on the left hand side to catch any lack of concentration. Climbing over the top of the hill bought us out onto some nice open track where the normal duels were taking place among the team. A long road slog brought the lions back out to the cars and a few tears were shed when Shack and Ra said their goodbyes and headed home. The team was down to Shorts in Winter, Mastiles, Shortbread and White Sox. A quick shower and it was off into town which involved more Black Sheep, meat, etc.
Next day saw the mighty Team Hodgson arrive and Mastiles bug out home. Shortbread, Whitesox, Shorts in Winter and Hodgson set off to carry out a fairly hard 20 miler which began with one of the longest climbs the team had done since Spain. Hail and rain greeted us at the top and the morale was fading quickly! After a wet rocky rutted descent (seeing White Sox taking a good tumble in a rut) the trail followed a nice gentle flowing track through farmland and open fields and with awesome views of Ribble Head Viaduct to the left our spirits rose.
Now if the truth must be told I’m not the biggest fan of wet grassy climbs and there was a little mumble under the breath when the team came across the 3½ mile sign and it was ALL grass. All the climbing did pay off however and we were treated to views of the mighty Ingleborough, then a fast rocky descent from Ewes Top down to the road.
"Its all downhill from here!" Hodgson shouts as he sets a pace along the road faster than Abi Titmus’ pants hitting the floor. All downhill my arse! After miles of slogging up little 200 metre climbs thinking the end was in sight the idea was put forward to add a further loop into the ride. Half an hour of pushing ankle deep in crap we were all looking forward to the decent back to the road. Well, it was worse than the climb! Up to our thighs in mud for most of the way being sprayed by motocross riders coming the other way! Finally reaching the drier section the team could rip down a riverbed of loose boulders to the road and back to the cars for some cake and tea in a wicked café.
Despite the rain, mud, hail and gut churning Black Sheep ale the weekend was spot on and proved good training for the SSMM 24 hour race fast approaching. Rspkt to all Fanys who rode the weekend and for those of you who didn’t, you missed another Fanytastic outing.
rspKt,
Team White Sox
Riders present
Saturday:
Shortbread
White Sox
Shorts in Winter
Mastiles
Ra
Shack
Big John Henry
Dude 1
Dude 2
Sunday:
Shortbread
White Sox
Shorts in Winter
Hodgson
Enjoyment level
Rocky with occasional mud baths