The Trail Master - The North Face Trail, Grizedale
The Trail Master - Grizedale (Russell Burton©.)
You know that feeling of standing around, having a pre-ride faff because there are a few butterflies reminding you of the sketchy section somewhere on a trail, and you don’t want to pitch yourself towards it quite yet? Well, some days it’s quite nice not to do that. Some days you just want to enjoy the feeling of your wheels turning over the dirt, with nothing around the next corner to scare the bejesus out of you.
So if your confidence has taken a bit of a beating or your
riding soul is in need of soothing, make your way quietly to Grizedale in the
I should say now that I’m responsible for The North Face Trail, so I’m expecting a wry smile or two when I say I like it. Because every designer produces something he wants to ride, right? Well, no as it happens.
Trails should be built to a brief that considers the sort of riders it wants to attract, the terrain, limiting constraints and budget. It’s perfectly possible to produce something that’s a good trail but not necessarily what the designer would choose to ride. And on paper, the all-levels-of-experience-welcome North Face Trail is a million miles away from the challenges of Penmachno and the Gorlech trail in Brechfa that I’ve loved riding recently. So what makes a family-oriented trail such a joy for this unreconstructed cross-country whippet?
Down dale
I reckon it’s because it sits lightly on the ground and feels fun to ride, and knowing the problems we had to solve to make it that way delivers the real satisfaction. Grizedale has a lot of visitors, so the first objective of this trail was to ensure that mountain bikers didn’t come into conflict with other users. And given that the majority of those visitors are families, extreme jumpy styling was out (so something that would encourage beginners but be interesting enough for experienced riders). Add into the mix the fact that there are wild deer with a habitat and delicate wetlands with rare flowers to avoid… there were days that it might have been easier to contemplate a career in something easier – nuclear physics or brain surgery, maybe.
So the brief was complicated and the constraints huge, but lots of time spent planning – plus a positive attitude to problem solving from everyone involved – led to creative build solutions that have helped define the Grizedale experience. Take the boardwalk for example.
Under the boardwalk
At the point that these sections were built, boardwalk had mainly been used to recreate North Shore-style riding, but here there is a large marshy area with protected flora and fauna that needed crossing or avoiding. The solution was long sections of boardwalk that mimic the singletrack that comes before and after. It can look scary for first timers, but children of seven can potter happily along it, while experienced riders hammer through taking the perfect racing line. As with many things the devil is in the detail – using the right sort of wood and having a lot of traffic makes it self-cleaning.
The common cry from the car park at the discovery of yet another punishing forest road climb hasn’t gone unheeded either – as much of the climbing as possible is on singletrack which makes it more interesting and probably about as effortless as it can get by virtue of the fact you’re thinking about your riding and not the pain in your legs. The trail flows with the gradient and uses the contours of the landscape to climb and fall – that in itself is a solution to a problem because switchbacks are expensive to build, so the route had to avoid using them where possible. The result feels very natural, and the climbing turns (see below) are easier to ride and maintain.
All those things play in my mind as I ride Grizedale, and of course I can spot the sections that washed out more than I expected and the parts that I want to go back and tweak the flow of. If you’re just starting out in this sport, though, you’ll have the sort of fun that tempts you to go faster. And if you’ve more years under your wheels, you’ll use it the same way as the local pros do – have a blast to switch off the brain and get fitter. Just don’t be overtaken by a seven-year-old.
The art of trail building - Climbing turns
Switchbacks are hard and expensive to do well. Very often you’re fighting a compromise of construction, cost and the need for maintenance. An effective solution is something called a climbing turn. The idea is to build a wide, shallow turn that allows the rider to climb in the saddle, so avoiding the wheel spin and wear associated with standing on the pedals. They are easier and cheaper to build, and lower maintenance. So why don’t we use them all the time? Well, you can’t build on a slope of more than 5% so the technical constraints make them difficult to use even if you want to. You need to place the turn and make the trail go to it – and the chances of everything coming together into something you then want to ride are slim to none most of the time. But at Grizedale the terrain lent itself to the use of them in a way that’s consistent with the design and overall ride style of the trail.
Getting there
Grizedale is accessed down a weeny road off the B5285 near Hawkshead. Use LA22 0QJ for sat nav and don’t say we didn’t warn you about the nightmare holiday season traffic.
On-site facilities
The Grizedale Visitor Centre is a proper, large old-school Forestry place. It’s not just for the cyclists so be prepared to share, but it has fantastic homemade cakes and sausage sandwiches. There’s a proper bike shop with a good hire fleet that’s always busy, so booking ahead is a good idea.
Go to www.grizedalemountainbikes.co.uk or call 01229 860369.
Make a weekend of it
Grizedale has walks, a Go Ape course, a sculpture trail and a massive adventure playground. The trail is fine for all levels of experience, but if you’ve got your gnarly head on you might want to go elsewhere. Forestry here encourages you to go ‘off-piste’ and explore the network of bridleways. Check out www.golakes.co.uk for places to stay or visit the Grizedale website above for camping.
North Face facts
- Distance: 16km
- Time: 1-2 hours depending on experience
- Climb: n/a
- Level: Easy
Good for…
- Fun riding for all abilities
- Getting to grips with boardwalk
- The best sausage sandwiches. Ever
Bad for…
- The
- Techy skills riding
- It really does rain more…
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