Sunday dawned at about 8.30 in my house, and all outside was bright and sunny, with a fresh breeze thrown in. Still feeling fit for a ride I had in mind a little potter into Idless Woods once again, and this time I made sure I took Fatso after my hairy, near crashing, incident with the Voodoo a few days ago.
Beautiful display of colour on the lane to Idless Woods.
Going off piste in the woods.
These woods are divided by three distinct paths, and loads of minor ones, but the three main ones all go from one end of the wood to the other - one at the top of the hill the woods reside on, one in the middle and one on the bottom of the hill beside the stream. The middle one is used by the Forestry Commission lot and is hard packed and well maintained. The lower path used to be the soggy boggy number, but a couple of years ago, that received some attention, looking like it had been planed and then packed down, and as a result, it's not half as muddy as it once was. That just leaves the top most path, the one I'd be doing a bit of riding on, and that hasn't received any such attentions along the section I'd be using.
I've ridden this path many times before when it's been a little on the soggy side, on the Voodoo and the old clanger Carrera, and both would come to a wheel spinning half at the worst possible moment, requiring a big dab into the mud to prevent a fall. Both run 26" wheels and are shod with narrowish tyres, compromised towards road riding pressure wise, so traction in such slime goes awol pretty quickly, given my slow riding speeds anyway. With the Fatty, hitting mud at speed will see the tyres float rather than dig in, and it all gets out of shape rather quickly, giving the sensation of riding on castors perhaps, as everything goes light and the steering flaps about. So the best approach which for me at least, works well, is to approach a gloopy section slowly, stay in the seat and just keep pedaling. The back wheel doesn't always follow the front, and it does slip a little too, but in the main, it just keeps driving forwards.
All of which was just as well, as it was sketchier than Van Gogh's doodle pad along that top path yesterday. I wasn't the only biking type navigating my way through the clag though, as there were a number of narrower mountain bike tracks ahead of me the whole way, so they appeared to have no trouble with the mud, must just be me then, which I suspected is the case anyway.
See that puddle on the right? I once thought to myself 'what's the worst that can happen' and rode into that particular pool on the Voodoo. Well it's deeper than it looks, as I quickly found out as the bike came to an abrupt halt and I dabbed into the mire and sank well above my ankle. If I hadn't dismounted quick and pulled myself out backwards I'd have sunk up to my hips I think. Best avoided then that one, even on Fatso.
I am a bit wary of riding this path when its so wet and muddy, as I don't like churning it up too much, but it appeared that several other bikers had been through here ahead of me, as well as the usual walkers and horses and so on. Given the amount of gloop I would hardly be making it any worse, particularly as like the other riders, I stuck to riding through the boggy bits, and not going round them and thus making the scar wider.
Whatever, negotiating the slop was huge fun, it's impossible not to grin like a tuppeny fool when riding through this kind of stuff, with the wheels slipping and sliding about but never threatening disaster. Before getting Fatso I read on a forum somewhere someone's advice on just letting a Fatbike do its own thing - trust it and let it find its own way, and that applies as much to slogging through bogs as it does hurtling down hill. That advice, I've found, rings very true. Of course the downside to all this mud plugging is bike and rider get blathered, but it's all part of the fun.
Even the plant life is blathered in mud it seems.
Now here is a puddle I do know well - a bit of a bomb hole but not too deep. Some bikers have gone around the side judging by the tracks, the wimps!
Wey Hey! You can have fun at 3 mph on a bike! Well, I can anyway, but then I'm easily pleased.
Anyway, it wasn't actually the top path that was the target for yesterday's little jaunt, that was just the way to reach it. What I had planned was to ride what is most likely an old Drover's path from the top of the wood, right down to the bottom. I've only ever ridden it from the top down to where it meets the middle track, never beyond. Why? Well it looked a bit more overgrown and rough to ride on, and I
Mercifully free of mud, and notice how on this upper section, the path bed is clearly defined and free of leaves.
Invisible on Google maps thanks to the trees, but the positioning of this path at the top of the hill, adjacent to a wide and very old footpath that comes from the St Allen direction, suggests this is likely an old Drover's path rather than an old river bed.
I refer to this path as the tube, as it is like riding down a gert big toilet roll at times, and must be huge fun for the fearless biker who can rocket down it, swooping up and down the sides of the earth banks along the way, but it's still fun even at my rather more pedestrian velocities.
Old boy gingerly descending the tube. It is quite steep in places, but even at this time of year no problem to navigate by bike or on foot.
As it was, the new to me second part of the path was a bit of an anti climax. After the steep entry onto it from the middle track, it all gets pretty tame again, with just a fallen tree to get past by way of obstacles. The ground, on this section covered in leaves, held no large stones or old stumps to trap the unwary into crashing, so I arrived at the bottom safe and sound, and really enjoying my riding.
Ok, enough looking at it and pondering, time to take a bravery pill and get down the second half of the path. It doesn't look much in a photo, but the entry to this bit is a little steep and the floor covered in leaves and fallen branches, so care is needed if you're a bit chicken like me.
This bit looks much the same as the first half, but is covered in leaves that could be hiding all sorts of hazards, but as it turned out, thankfully wasn't.
There is a downed tree to get past though, and I doubt anyone could ride past it given those branches waiting to lodge in the front spokes and launch the pilot over the bars.
So it's get off and push time.
The lower half of the path doesn't quite reach the very bottom of the hill, as it is blocked by more very large, and very dead, trees. Instead there is a gap in the bank allowing access into an adjoining path. This gap shows the banks to be just earth rather than the often found 'Cornish Hedges' which are ancient earth banks faced with stones. Trees grow out of the top of Cornish Hedges, and other flora out of the sides between the stones, so what at first glance appears to be just a hedge, contains a rather solid surprise, that has severely mauled the front end of many a vehicle that has gone into the hedge on the narrow lanes in Cornwall.
Bozzing along the lower path which not so long ago was also a quagmire, but is a lot better after some attention a year or two ago.
Still some sloppiness to be found though, but not half as bad as it was.
Stopping for a p on the roadside on the way home. My apologies to any fellow Flickrneers for posting the same joke on here...
Only a few miles done as the woods are but a shotgun's blast from home, but a jolly good ride was had. Fatso needed blasting off with the pressure washer mind you, as he was a trifle blathered, and given the woods are popular with dog walkers, it's not always just mud you bring home on your tyres, so it pays to give a bike a good scrubbing afterwards, especially if it's a house bike like Fatso.
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