Mountain Biking West Pennine Moors

 Above: West Pennine Moor. Below: Apres biking my log-burner.
 In the past 10 years my feet have peddled over 11,000 miles approx. cross country.

The Gorge Descent at White Coppice, Rivington.

Saturday 11 January, Descent at the Gorge, Rivington.

Descent into White Coppice, Nr. Rivington.

 Sunday 10 Nov 13 Descent into White Coppice, Nr. Rivington. Fantastic riding.

Dalbeattie Forest Dumfries August Bank Holiday 2013

 Great Bank Holiday Weekend. Weather was warm and dry.  I love the trails here and the red squirrels. We rode Mabie Forest on Sunday.

We stayed in a camping pod, at Barnsoul Camping Park, Dumfries.

West Pennine Moors Yesterday Saturday 14 September

Stunning weather yesterday,  fantastic riding West Pennine Moors

View of West Pennine Moors, top of Brinscall Pine Woods.

My Merlin Mountain Bike, Made in Lancashire, UK. By Merlin Cycles.

Picture Below: My son Joe has claimed my Merlin.

I've got a selection of top of the range mountain bikes in my garage ( alarmed and chained up of course) and my son Joe (16) prefers the Merlin. Why? because it's just so nimble and quick and so much fun to ride. Forget expensive carbon hard tails and buy a Merlin with a strong and light weight aluminium frame. My Merlin is years old and has stood the test of time and great that it can be passed on to the next generation, only thing is, I'm not done riding it yet.  http://www.merlincycles.com/

Merlin Mountain Bike, Made in Lancashire, UK. By Merlin Cycles.

Groovy Chick's Rivington Ride, Saturday 3 August 2013

Left to right, Carolyn, Andrea and Marie. Carolyn showing off her new Orange Diva. Picture by Mark Foster.

Sunshine at Rivington Pike. Really great day and it stayed warm and dry. We finished the ride with a well earned rest and snack and the Chapel Cafe. 

Picture by Mark Foster (Rivington ride)

Summer Is Here At Last.

Glentress, Peebles, May Bank Holiday Weekend

Will on take off

         Fantastic Bank Holiday Weekend, a bit overcast but it stayed warm and dry over the 3 days.

Andrea 

Deliverance Glentress Forest

Summertime and the living is easy..............Boulder, Colorado

Cuerden Valley Park, Lancashire.

Great sunny weather on Saturday, however injury has forced me to ride on the flat locally. Looking forward to Glentress, Peebles, May Bank Holiday, Peebles Hydro, all Groovy Chicks welcome, limited rooms available. Ask for the Mountain Bikers rate for massive saving on standard room rate £194 per night, MTB rate is still a gift at £49pp per night. Includes breakfast, bike wash, and storage available. 

Come Out To Play At Haigh

I've got some great memories of Haigh, I use to visit the zoo with my family 20 odd years ago, (zoo long since gone) The woods are great for a play out on the bikes.  You have to go early though to avoid walkers and dogs. Pic: Above. Will at the Hall.

Pic: Flying Chick "leaves" no trail

Will finds a log as a great work bench to fix his bike

Saturday 17 Feb. Leadmines Clough

Picture is Flying Chick on the descent at Leadmines Clough Rivington.  Most of this trail has now been washed away leaving large rocks and boulders exposed.  Great ride, beautiful sunny weather.

Picture by Mark Foster.

Healey Nab Rivington January 2013

Pic. is Will riding the descent at the bottom of Healey Nab, it was so muddy on Saturday our bikes were absolutely caked in mud. Great sunny day though.

Below : Our bikes  parked in the forest at Healy Nab, this is a great sheltered sun spot to get out the flasks and homemade (healthy) flapjack and Earl Grey black tea.

 

 

Flying Chick's winter riding at it's best

Descent over Winter Hill left to right, Sandra, Marie and Andrea
Photo by Mark Foster

 

Cold and Frosty Rivinton Pike, Photo by Mark Foster

Flying Chick's Ride Sat 27 October

Great ride on Saturday 27 October, mighty cold but sunny and dry, pictured is Sandra and Marie near Healey Nab.

Flying Chick at Rivington Pike Autumn 2012

Cold, crisp, clear autumn weather makes for the perfect bike ride.

Flying Chick, Rivington Pike, Photos by Mark Foster

Great Weather for Saturday's Rivington Ride



Excellent riding on Saturday, weather stayed sunny and dry for most of the 4 hour ride, Picture of Sandra
and Andrea  at Rivington Pike. (pictured right)



 Picture top left, Sandra (Panther) and Mark F at Rivington. Mark has been training hard recently and is currently training for a 100k road ride.  When he's out with us girls, he rides the hills twice, compared to our once.  Just too fit.

Sandra climbing Lead Mines Clough Saturday 4 Aug 2012

Flying Chick Great Hill, West Pennine Moors

Flying Chick Top of Great Hill 2 June 12

Really enjoyable ride yesterday over Great Hill, via Brinscall,and Abbey Village finishing on the downhill trails at Healey Nab. Approx. 4.5 hours. I had a silly mishap on the red downhill at Healey Nab, my shoulder caught a tree on the winding descent and knocked me off balance, the crash wasn't too bad, I just have a bruised shoulder and chain ring injury on my ankle, you can count the scar of all 5 chain rings on my ankle. Weather remained overcast on the hills but stayed warm and dry. Pictures above, views at the top of Great Hill, West Pennine Moors, North West England.

Flying Chick's son invents a new bike ride in his garden

When my son explained to me this weekend what he planned to do with his old bike, front wheel, forks and handle bars, I was concerned like any mum, he will never stop, but he attatched a rope harness to the handle bars and a second rope shorter than the main rope that acts as a brake and is also used to pull the wheel frame back up to the treehouse. (He built a massive 4 storey tree house) On the top picture here you can see how the ride stops completely.  My son is an inventer, and at age 14 he completely striped his BMX and rebuilt it to his own specification.  I asked him if he would like to become a mechanical engineer when he's grown up but he said he wanted to be an entrepreneur.  20p per ride to his school friends.

This blog post is publish 27 May 2012 making this invention copyright  from commercial gain