Coast to Coast Trip 21 st – 22 nd - Report by Kieron Sykes

Piss up / brewery are words normally associated with bad organisers/organisation. They are in this report thankfully never to be used. It was obvious from the outset that there had been a lot of planning involved and the organisation was top notch.

Everyone had turned up on time - if not before, and we were loaded up and away almost on schedule. The journey up to the hostel at Robin Hoods bay passed without incident, although seeing 12-15 lads faces all peering over the top of a hedge proved a laugh as the amount of beer swilled was taking its toll on several bladders! Note: don't buy potatoes from York!!

An early start on Saturday morning - with some very keen people having unloaded all the bikes from the trucks. A photo opportunity at the bay gave all a chance to warm up when trying to get back up a slippy little rock step from the sand.

The twenty-four riders were split in to three groups to keep group numbers to a minimum. The trail riding all weekend was simply excellent with a very varied mix of going from ultra fast hard pack through to very boggy forest going. One of the first lanes on Saturday was through the forest at Scarborough. This was the baptism of fire and I'm sure I speak for a few hoping that it wasn't going to be like this all day! Just to remind the reader that this wasn't a race, although you could tell that there was an underlying competitive streak with a few. Group 3 who were last away set a constant hot pace throughout the day. This did seem to take its toll as a few of the riders did take the odd tumble towards the end of the day as fatigue was setting in. One lesson learnt was to always check the spares you take with you actually fit and work on your bike!

The food and drink at the pub in Kettlewell went down a treat. I'm sure there were lots of clean plates that evening and the landlady seemed very grateful for the business. It just goes to show that if the powers that be get their way and keep on closing lanes, a lot of business will be lost in small villages. I'm sure the landlords/ladies don't really care if its muddy bikers who bring the money in, as long as they stay in business.

Day two started a little later than day one, but again everyone enjoyed the full English breakfast laid on at the hostel. Personally I was physically knackered on that morning and found the going quite hard even though I have ridden the same lanes before with relative ease. A fuel stop for both the bike and body helped matters and we made our way West towards the lakes via the dales. The going was changing from loose rocky going to what I describe as more traditional narrow green lanes the further west we got. Certainly water crossing made a more frequent appearance on day two catching out the odd unaware rider. Reaching Windermere at around half three on the Sunday afternoon to be greeted by the rest of the riders who set off that morning gave an indication that the end of the weekends riding was near. Around 20 riders were left and we all boarded the ferry at Windermere. From there, we all rode a loop of Grisdale Forest and then on down to the end which was at Grange over Sands.

A very enjoyable weekend and definitely worth every penny. A big thanks for all the effort and organisation put in by Anton, Chris, Evan and Mark, and also not to forget the two guys who gave up their weekends to drive the support vehicles round and give moral support.

So begs the next question – Anton, when's the next run out dude !!

Kieron Sykes