New trails

New trails, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

another frozen day, so the trails were great and running well so we decided to explore parts of the NWAlps that we haven't really visited before. Some false starts and dead ends and a bacon sandwich later Ben spotted a trail snaking off into the trees so off we went with our best David Livingstone hats on for an explore, well it turns out we had found what could be one of the best trails in the woods, to cut a long story short it starts at the very top of a big hill, has a couple of sharp and drifty corners that enable you to carry a heck of a lot of speed, in fact maybe too much as the leaf litter near the final turn before the big drop made things very sketchy, having watering eyes from the cold and the speed didn't help in spotting the correct place to turn either, then it was over the jump and plunge down into the valley picking up more and more speed, dabbing the brakes at this point would be a huge mistake as Ben found on one of his runs when his front wheel just locked up and he was off, sliding - sans bike down the hill. If you stay upright you'll then speed down the hill and hit the lowest point with a big "G-out" compression and at the same instant you are recovering from that you've got to spot the next turn on the right whilst being catapulted up the opposite side of the valley, a quick pull on the brake, see the turn and find yourself flying down some drops before the finish back at the bottom of the hill, obligatory high fives all round.
ride 16
10 miles
total 320