Went out without any plans, ended up on Barden Moor and thought why the heck not. Turned off the road and went off road. It went well, the Azub is rather stable, though the Marathon Racer tyres are not really suited to gravel. I felt that this rough riding was hard work and was somewhat happy to see the no cycling sign. So the loop around the reservoirs and much longer ride didn’t happen.
Though, returning the way I came I found why I found it hard, I had been climbing for nearly two miles, about 400 feet 🙂 The ride back was fast and fun, got a bit carried away and clipped the sides of the deep wheel trough and tumbled. Hey, you can’t call it single track/off road riding unless you have at least one drop.
A few scratches on the handle bars and a cut on my lower leg. Not sure where from but I got a feeling that it was the GPS mount, as I know I clipped out with the leg closest to it last and the GPS was out of the mount.
I wasn’t very popular with the Lagopus lagopus scotica, every ten or so metres I had 1-2 taking off to much indignant flapping. Even managed to get a photo of one in flight.
It was a bit of a learning curve as the Azub handles differently off road compared to an upwrong. You can’t just grab the handle bars and control the bike with shear force from upper body and arms.
Now I’m going to do that again some day when the light isn’t fading so fast. I WILL be up there one day, erm night, when I know the route better in the dark, that would be well fun 🙂
Now of to look for off-road tyres …
[ride id=755752890]
https://www.strava.com/activities/755752890