So, just to start with a little bit of history. Way back in late 2008, Roger (LB4UL), JC and Joe Gatley hatched an idea to encourage more people to come out freeriding: the plan - meet up in the middle of an isolated forest at the coldest time of the year. From the subsequent photos and the writeup, it appeared to be a success and the following year, with yet again frost all around, more riders turned up to do it all again. I wrote about it here, it was a good'un.
Same thing happened again last December. Not so many riders this time, but still plenty of action taking place and enough of a buzz to keep the spirit alive. Fast forward to late November 2011 and murmurings were taking place here and there, especially over twitter, suddenly the cool place to hang out. 'Surely there's going to be another Macc event?', these 140 character limited messages requested. But bar a few reassuring responses, not much was happening - the lead up to Christmas suddenly becoming very busy busy for everyone. And that might have been the end of the story.....
But just when it looked too little too late, a brief message turns up on Surfing Dirt:
30th December 2011: Goofy Mark "Just putting out the feelers, anyone up for a bit of freeride fun? - dunno where - open to suggestions???"
....and before you know it, Macclesfield Forest is back on! With facebook ready and willing to promote event details we could sit back and watch the 'Going' list of people rise with each day with people from further and further distances starting to sit up and consider making an appearance. I know you have to be optimistic about these things, but I don't think it's unrealistic to take the 'Going' list of people, divide it by two and add a bit. Even so, we had 14 people keen to come along and ride and by the Friday of the evening before, mobile contact numbers are flying back and forth - it's looking like a good'un!
So, Saturday 14th January 2012 comes along; the weathers predicted very cold and foggy. Well, the car thermometer says -3 degrees and it's as clear a day as it's ever going to get. 10am official start time, but no-one gets ever there on time. As it goes, there are 5 riders at the proposed parking spot already, plus a couple of film monkeys and by 10:20 we are geared up and riding already! All credit to Mark, Rhys, Chris, Rob, Ben and Phill for their keen-ness who are off riding 'The Long One' in full as a warm up. I wasn't sure I had the stamina to do the lot, so did the bottom section a couple of times. The ground was hard, the track was fast and the horse phlegm (or pavement pizza) deliciously half way up was frozen solid.
[Unofficial track names used to coordinate proceedings]
From the bottom of 'The Long One'*, we could see that a couple more cars had arrived - LB4UL and *Wil* in the Remolition fun bus and JC, Skully and Paddy in the other. All of us ready to set off just as Phill PD2H in his fantastically painted van arrives with Tyler and Marvin squeezed into the adjacent seats. Next we had a call from Rich Sykes - he's in the area, just can't see him from our current location. Turns out Rich was on schedule to arrive around 9.30-10am but after setting off from Leeds had snapped his key in the fuel cap whilst filling up. Bugger. After costing £90 to fix, was this close to turning round and going home but headed on regardless. Good job he didn't as I've a gut feeling he would have regretted missing out on this one.
[JC - no hands powerslide at the bottom of 'The Long One']
So with power in numbers and following a good amount of catching up, introductions and board comparisons/board envy we all troop up to the top of 'The Long One'. Bloody hell, the view from the top was gorgeous with clear views of the surrounding hills and lakes below. To think that I had missed out on this 12 months earlier because I was a bit tired and couldn't see the point of going up round just one more corner....... Thinking it'd be a bit mean to head down a different track since we'd left Rob and Ben filming at the bottom, we proceeded to head back down the route we'd trundled up. Despite a dodgy moment on a right hander near the top, I had such a rewarding run with fast bottom section that theoretically, had I for whatever reason meant that I'd have to leave there and then, I'd still have been happy with the day out. Fortunately, I didn't have to leave so onwards and upwards towards 'Wedgie'.
[WiL riding Switch]
With heavy legs (as a result of carrying a heavy noSno) I get to the top of Wedgie to see folks dropping in, stopping occasionally as a bike or two gets pushed up the path. Don't think anyones actually ridden this for a long, long time, so effectively a blind run with the instructions 'Right, Right, Left, Left, Avoid the Fence'. The narrow track soon becomes a bouldery narrow track, shortly afterwards becoming a soggy, bouldery narrow track with JC and a mountain biker stood in the middle. 'Don't mind me, I'm just spotting', says JC as I crash out, shortly followed by Rich crashing into us with a couple more crashing into him. 'So, how do you stop?', asks the biker. Cheeky git - he clearly wasn't watching us all gracefully slide to a stop in an undignified heap right in front of him. With a flat section ahead and a steep forest section to the side I regain my composure and majestically take to the forest, only to find the whole lot ankle deep in leaves and is a huge effort to even roll. As I look back, I see everyone else taking the path - very wise. Not everyone came a cropper though so a bit of a Marmite track this one with very differing views. 'Horrible' was heard at least twice though....
So, feet up at the bottom of the Wedgie, (so named due to an unfortunate incident 12 months previously) and time for a quick drink and chocky. The obvious next stage is to head towards the 'S-Bend', so called due to its rocky, tight left,right handed track. Few of us hold back as Marvin's disappeared, but cutting a quite a long story short, he reappears along with local lads Travis and Dave and suddenly all is good once again.
To get to the 'S-Bend' you need to trek up a reasonably long path; reasonably wide and nice gradient, punctuated with several water gullys at the top and bottom. Scared the life out of me a couple of years back hopping over the first couple and not seeing the third till the last moment..... Normally a track worth hitting but not today - walkers everywhere! National dog walking day? It may have well have been. Not wishing to wait around for a gap in the traffic of rambers we headed up to the right to the aforementioned S-Bend.
[Photo by LB4UL]
I do like it here. With the trees felled in the local area, not only do you get a fantastic view of the local area, but also a relatively short track that you can look down and see in almost its entirety leading to some great commentary and 'oohhs' and 'ahhhs' as people either make both corners or crash out in the process. With the walk back up no more than 50 metres or so, (further if you're successful) it's also a very good opportunity to rest those tired legs with the usual choice of energy drinks and even more chocolate.
Even so, it's a small shame that this point is so remote. With the off cambered second corner and gravelly surface, it's almost a perfect freeride training spot. Catching out almost everyone at some point or other, it's a great to see people tackling it in their own way until JC rides the whole lot smoothly in switch. Time to move on it is decided.
From this point here it's an easy wander that finds you very conveniently at the top of 'The Long One'. Several folk have homes to go to and since it's been a long day already, it's a nice way to end the day. Admittedly, there were still maybe one-too many walkers on route and there was a slight small-dog incident. I'll name no names but his name begins with 'T' and half-rhymes with Hovis.... Still, I'm lead to believe that no boards were hurt in the process.
[Skully]
Still, we all make it down one way or another. We all discover what really made Skullys arse hurt, roll-ups are rolled up, various goodbyes are done and that would have been the end of it, had not a few of us decided to get in a couple more runs.......
There's a small track that runs alongside 'The Training Grounds' that's normally populated with walkers and rangers who object to our wheelie-boarding antics. Later on in the day when things are quieter is perfect for a last-run of the day wind down. Nice little left/right hander through the trees running out to an easy run back down to the main track. With the light starting to fade, we are done for the day and we all go home very happy chappies.
"I hope you have very good insurance" asks one of the dog walkers. Errrr.......
I'm not sure if it was his or our safety he was worried about but I bet he doesn't ask every bike rider the same thing. Grumble moan grumble grumble.
So, same again next year? I presume so as the vibes seemed good and somehow, I suspect that there's plenty more up there just ready to be ridden. Maybe people want to ride somewhere else in the frost? Maybe people want to ride Macclesfield in the summer? Either way, having a traditional event five years running would be something, wouldn't it? I don't think the current count of four is bad at all.
So, just to look back to Rogers original article he states 'Maybe I should start looking for more freeriders.'...I definitely think he's found some! - 17 riders this time round, which is fantastic, all things considered. Are more people freeriding? Is it just easier to coordinate existing freeriders using modern social media? Not sure but we're having a lot of fun in the process.
So, to all of you that day - you are awesome! Lets do it again soon!
Want more? Remolition give you extra here! Roger gives you more here!
Chris 6thDegree has added his thoughts to the proceedings here!
Videos have been produced:
Might do a mini vid myself if I can sort through the reels of headcam stuff. Watch this space (but don't hold your breath!)
-----------------------
Edit: almost forgot another highlight of the day: JC making Paddy some ghetto gaffa tape heelstraps, Paddy losing the screw holding the ratchet in place, someone attaching the ratchet in place using string from padded shorts, Paddy riding 'The Long One' with this setup before *Wil* sorts out a spare bolt replacement. Nice one bodging folks with your ingenious ways!
* - (these names aren't official, I just needed to reference some of the tracks to make it easier for latecomers to find us)
No comments:
Post a Comment