It was a hardcore day for Paul and myself yesterday as we guided 2 of Big Phil's Austrian friends round the Mary Townley Loop. Phil, who had been unable to get the day off work had asked me take his mates, who were in the UK for a few days on business, out for a ride on their mountain bikes. I told Paul that I was going to take them on the MTL having it in mind that if they weren't up to it there are plenty of opportunities to cut short and return on the road and he agreed to share this onerous responsibility. As we waited to meet them at Calllis Bottom I jokingly suggested to Paul that Phil may have set us up for a hammering but he dismissed such a suggestion doubting that foreign businessmen would be up to such a challenging route.
A moment later they arrived, when I saw their shiny shaven legs exiting from their hire van I wondered if perhaps they weren't novices, then they got their state of the art bikes out of the van I hoped that it was a case of 'All the gear but no idea', but in reality could see from looking at them that this was unlikely to be the case.
We set off in the clockwise direction up through Callis Wood towards the Pike with Paul intent on testing them early, they passed the test, I didn't. In short we had a bloody great days riding with the highlight being our lunch break at Waterfoot at a cafe like no other, a cafe who's fame will soon be known throughout the Tirol.
Klaus and Peter were great company, full of life and enthusiasm and delighted with the MTL. Their enthusiasm lasted late into the evening as they forced us to drink beer at Hipperholme's Cock o' the North Shed - a memorable day!
SUNDAY 15th Sept
A lousy weather forecast so unless someone comes up with a better idea I suggest a steady potter up the Dales, 8.30am Denholmgate / 9 Keighley.
Having returned to Austria I would like to pass a BIG THANK YOU to Peter & Paul for such a super day with beautiful riding & great company ... although I might have to rephrase this into great riding & beautiful company, if I go by the lovely fairy wings on Peter's team outfit!
ReplyDeleteThe same thanks of cause also apply to Phil, who kindly arranged all this at a time, where his work kept him busy till near midnight every day. I know this from the times of his Email replies!
It was funny reading about Peter's first impressions, because we had them too! We saw you both turn up on your old bikes with something attached to them, that seems criminal to any serious mountain biker in Austria .... MUD GUARDS !!!!!!!! Only tourists & city mb riders use them outside winter at home. Peter & myself looked at each other unsure and wondered, if this could be a big wind up! That would fit the bill for any event organised by Phil of cause and could go either way!
It soon turned out, that it was not! The riding was great and so was the pace we went at. Fast enough to keep it interesting, but still slow enough to not run tired and enjoy the very different settings.
On the equipment side it was funny to see opinions influencing each other. Whilst Austrian Peter started to fully accept mud guards when riding a bike in English conditions (I still need to be convinced there!!) UK Peter started to be teased by our fancy 29'er hard tails!
At the end of the day it was obvious, that we all had a great day also very much enjoying each others company. Maybe - unsurprising to you guys I guess - Paul was a little less thirsty than the rest of us (as you can see on my picture, which Phil will have to post for me, as I just can not work out how to do that)??!!!
Either way we need to keep this up & I would like to put the challenge up for some of you flying condors to come & visit us. We could either take you on some cool alpine MB tracks or amazing altitude RB trips local to where we live. Salzburg airport is less than an hour away from either Peter or myself. Munich airport would be around 2.5 hours away. Maybe we can look at some cross visits both ways and make them a regular thing, if the interest is there. Phil knows the area we are talking abt and can give you more info. Anything is possible. Small trips or large ones of up to 5000 height meters or more in a day - always dependent on how much time should be left to try the local beer, that is very different & very good too!!!