Gisburn Forest – February 2010
Well as you probably already know we’ve all been in the depths of a deep freeze this winter, and the dirty bikers have been itching to get out and about. So when the weather did start to get a bit milder, founder members Pete Owen, Alan Yarwood, and Mike Warhurst thought it was time to hit Gisburn Forest!
Early start as normal, I open the curtains, and great, we have full covering of snow. After quick conference with the boys we all agree that were going to do it anyway, you only live once. So were off on our way to Gisburn, and after about 1 ½ hours were pulling up outside a pub, next to a forest, wondering what the hell we were doing.
Can I also add that Mike Warhurst seems to think that Gisburn Forest is a local loop, no mate it isn’t lol..
There are two places you can start the Gisburn Forest which are either at this pub, or the correct start which for some reason we didn’t do. Why was that? Anyway as soon as you get on the trail it does start to flow quite nicely. Most of the course is a red route, but with a combination of snow and rock it was pretty difficult in places.
There is a small black section part way round the trail, but with all the snow it was difficult to do with any speed. The main obstacle in this section is a large drop off which we all decided we were going to do. Firstly Al went down as he’s probably the most experienced rider, great looks easy enough. Second went Mike who again looked really good until his back wheel slipped wide, and bang, down he goes ouch. Finally I decided to turn round and wheel my bike back down, ha ha what a wimp!
The rest of the course is to be honest pretty simple but in a good way, and you do have to be careful as the signs around aren’t that great. Couple of times we passed riders going in the other direction and we didn’t know who was wrong. The only down side was that the famous Roller Coaster section was closed for repairs.
Finally we got to the real start of the trail which is where the big climbs seem to be. Now this is probably the real reason your best to start here as climbs at the end of a ride aren’t as fun. Unless you’re Al and me watching Mike throw his bike to the floor like a big girl at the top….ha ha only joking Mike!!
Overall Gisburn is a decent trail and a good choice if you want to go somewhere different for a change. We definitely need to go again though when there is no snow so we can ride it properly.
PS. Mike I have added a picture of the sign we wiped the snow from, you know the one we found just after you fell off for the second time that day..!!
Pete O
March 4th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Good effort pete… however, you forgot to mention the alternate ‘easy climb’ at the end. Needless to say mike was not HP about us taking him the hard way! : )