examining the spoolsh

WORDS AND PICTURES BY CHIPPS

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN ALL YOUR TRAILS HAVE BEEN RAINED ON FOR THREE MONTHS, SEEMINGLY CONTINUOUSLY? IF YOU’RE CHIPPS, YOU GO OUT RIDING AND SEE IF THEY’VE GOT ANY BETTER.

This is not the global warming that we signed up for. We were promised palm trees in Swindon and baking hot, dusty trails in Keswick. Instead we’ve had the mildest winter anyone can remember, while Yorkshire has had the warmest and wettest December since records began. By the end of 2015, daily rainfall had become the norm, causing even the hardiest of trail gods to give up trail riding and take to the turbo, or road riding, swimming… or sherry.

Muddy and slippy at the bottom.

With the new year came the disastrous floods that affected many parts of Yorkshire, with our own valley being the epicentre for the Boxing Day deluge. Thoughts of the trails were shelved for a while and replaced with a need to help those who were flooded; clearing out wrecked shops, flooded cellars, filling sandbags and playing binmen. Eventually, after a couple of weeks, the urgency faded and thoughts turned to the hillsides again. What state would the trails be in? Not many riders were coming back from rides with reports of the trails – and if they had, very few of our usual bike shop and cafe hangouts had reopened yet. So, partly in the name of helping get the valley back on its feet and partly as an excuse to ride bikes in work time, we thought we’d carry out a trail survey.