CROSS FELL & HIGH CUP NICK
Tom takes on this iconic North Pennine ride. Be warned though, it’s a rucksack and two-sandwiches kind of day out.
WORDS TOM FENTON PHOTOGRAPHY ANDY HEADING
TRAIL HUNTER EXPLORES THOSE MUST-DO RIDES THAT SHOULD BE ON EVERY BRITISH MOUNTAIN BIKER’S BUCKET LIST.
Do you have a friend who carries a massive bag on every ride? A turgid behemoth that accompanies every ride, regardless of the weather, the length or destination. So full it’s a struggle to shut, and the contents are a mystery. Does it contain more spares than the local shop? Enough clothes for a weeklong holiday? Sufficient food to survive the apocalypse? It looms behind them, lurching from side to side, a grotesque protuberance. How can riding with such an ugly, bulging lump possibly be any fun?
I’m firmly in the opposite camp. I don’t understand why you’d ride with any more than the bare minimum. Take a tube on a local ride? Pah, I’ll walk home. Jacket? Skin’s waterproof. I’ve even buried my door key in the garden so I didn’t have to carry it. But I will concede that there are places where it is wise to carry a few bits and bobs and where a (sensibly sized) bag can be handy.
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About Singletrack
Don’t Look Down! – Pete Scullion takes a precarious trip across the lesser-ridden ridges of the Alps.
Trail Hunter: Tom Fenton tells you why Cross Fell and High Cup Nick need to be on your must-ride list. Just bring sandwiches. Lots of them.
Bike Test: Full suspension XC bikes. – Three long-legged ride/race bikes from Giant, Specialized and Scott
Group Test – David Hayward tests sub-£1500 carbon wheelsets. At this price, they’re still a major investment, so we’ve done our best to thrash them all.
Editor’s Choice – We pick the products, places and events that have left an impression on us this year. From bike races to gears and gadgets. This is the stuff we really rate!
Room 101 – Charlie takes a look at your complaints and throws them into Room 101 if there’s due cause. And if there isn’t, he throws you in instead.
Column – Our award winning columnist Jason Miles brings us more pearls of wisdom and wit.
Porage People – Bike race meets survival challenge meets Scrabble and It’s a Knockout! Welcome to the weird world of the invitational (Wo)Man of Porage bike race.
Classic Ride: The Purbeck Hills – Tom Hutton shows us that south coast riding is far from flat. It’s not always sunny there either.
Trickstuff: Singletrack travelled to Germany to see the surprisingly low-key, family-like atmosphere at Trickstuff, producers of some of the world’s most precisely engineered brakes and components.
Column – Lifecycle of a Riding Spot: a tragedy told in 11 chapters. Antony de Heveningham charts the rise and fall, rise and fall of your local woods.