Rain or Shine, We Ride Bikes...
Jordan Lunn gets out a splashy bar turn Moses, early into the Red route.
The depths of winter didn’t keep the Halo Wheels family away from getting out and exploring some hidden gems. Gisburn Forest is in the North of England and it's nestled between the coast and the South Yorkshire Dales. The trail centre offers fast rolling, all weather, maintained trails, without being too manicured.
With the objective of forgetting the heavy rain of the previous week and breaking in some fresh bikes, it was time to get out and see what Gisburn could offer. The 18km Red route with Black graded optional features awaited us.
 |
 Jordan's chosen ride for the day, the forthcoming Identiti Mettle built with Halo Vapour 35 wheels, which contrasted nicely against the winter murkiness. |
 |
| Enduro racer, Pat Campbell-Jenner, shows how his winter training has paid off, on every climb. |
 |
| International slopestyle rider, Matt Jones, takes the less majestic approach. Climbs aren't so much his thing. Stick to the double flips, Matt. |
 |
| Throwing his new Marin around with ease, Matt is the definition of style. |
 | Gisburn was a long drive followed by a trail ride with loads of laughs. We spent a good portion of the day inside a cloud, which absolutely nailed the northern cliche for me... The rain made the tracks a lot of fun, especially amongst the woods sliding over roots and smashing puddles! - Matt Jones |
 |
| Foot out, flat out over the loose scree turns amongst the moss covered woodland. |
 |
| There are numerous line choices on the varying trails through the eerie forest that time seemingly forgot. |
 |
| A small river gap after a fast, rocky chute throws you out of the darkness of tree cover, into a sharp catch berm. Matt couldn't help but show his signature flow whenever there was any airtime. |
 |
| A fallen tree adds to the natural features dotted around the forest. |
 |
| Brake dragging down wet, slick rock is the preferred option for Pat. Coming from a dirt jump background when he can add some flair, he will. |
 |
| The climb to the top went faster than expected thanks to some tricky rock climbs and the ever twisting trail. As the clouds rolled in at the summit, visibility dropped and the rocks turned slick. Fast descents now felt even faster, riding blind into the mist. |
 |
 |
| Poised and ready for the long decent out of the clouds and back to civilisation. |
 |
| Huge natural rock slabs emerge from the hillside and beg to be ridden. |
 |
| The swooping turns descending back down the Red route called "Hully Gully" are a highlight of the whole trail. Let off the brakes and enjoy the big, fast turns. We could ride these all day. |
 |
 |
| Ruins of former dwellings made for welcome cover from the ever worsening weather mid descent and doubled as a good spot for chin wag about the trails that had just been encountered. |
 |
| After numerous miles through the typical British weather, a warm coffee and a chunk of cake awaited us at the base of the trails. We couldn't think of a much more fitting end. Matt praised the trails whilst sinking his cappuccino. Gisburn Forest offers everything you could want from a day out on the trail bike from interesting and varied climbs, technical descents and well thought out features. The trail builders got it spot on. So, if Gisburn isn't on your map for a day out in the saddle, perhaps it should be! |
MENTIONS: @lunatyk / @Identitibikesdotcom
Author Info:
Member since May 4, 2008
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
31 Comments
- 17 1
adamsemmens
(Jan 9, 2017 at 12:05)
I think I almost enjoy riding in the rain as much as the dry! It's a different challenge and on some of our local tracks the wetter it is the more grip you can find
- 17 1
DaMilkyBarKid
(Jan 9, 2017 at 12:33)
Same here, sharpens up the old skills and there is something very satisfying about being out there when everyone else is staying indoors. Helps that a lot of the local trails run well in the wet and a lot of the trail centres actually benefit from a bit of moisture to give more grip!
No such thing as bad weather, just poor choice of clothing.
- 8 1
Angus-4
(Jan 9, 2017 at 13:20)
@DaMilkyBarKid: ...... "No such thing as bad weather, just poor choice of clothing" .... top quote ✨
- 7 1
kornbrot
(Jan 9, 2017 at 22:30)
@Angus-4: Especially with the people in the article only wearing shorts and t-shirts...
- 6 0
Zelicanth
(Jan 9, 2017 at 12:09)
Cant wait any longer for the mettle to come out, been wanting one since the prototype photos. Great to see a British bike in British weather
- 2 0
Identiti-Bikes
(Jan 10, 2017 at 0:20)
Thanks! They're in production now and should be in the UK by early April. Sorry that it's taken so long, we wanted to make sure that it was perfect!
- 3 0
Patrick9-32
(Jan 10, 2017 at 2:56)
I weirdly find I tend to ride more in the winter. It is like in the summer I feel like there will always be another nice day so I can do that other thing I need to do rather than get out on my bike, in the winter it feels like I need to make the most of every opportunity to ride so I end up on my bike more often. Plus riding in sloppy, wet, slippy, sideways conditions is rad.
- 4 0
warnold
(Jan 9, 2017 at 14:38)
I like riding in the wet, what I don't like is how fast it minces your bike if you're riding regularly. My bearings are lubricated by water and grit...not grease.
- 1 1
nick1957
(Jan 10, 2017 at 10:34)
get an am hardtail
my Dartmoor hornet is so good for this time of year
- 2 0
haroman666
(Jan 9, 2017 at 15:54)
Love a bit of wet riding. I spent all this weekend out in the soggy forest.
Getting super loose and expecting to fall is part of the fun.
I'm looking forward to some dry weather riding now to see if the winter riding has improved my skillllzzzzz.
- 1 0
thenotoriousmic
(Jan 11, 2017 at 5:06)
I was wondering what jordie lunn was doing at a little trail centre in the middle of nowhere for a minute.
Winter riding is the best kind of riding... the trails are better and there's no insects and your not riding through long grass and bushes ether like you are in the summer.
- 3 1
flipiddy
(Jan 9, 2017 at 14:03)
Superb photographs. Looked like a muddy blast boys!
- 1 0
pencapchew
(Jan 11, 2018 at 0:12)
"nestled between the coast and the South Yorkshire dales" You mean it's in Lancashire
- 1 0
netracer-enduro
(Jan 9, 2017 at 14:28)
riding today reminded me.....in the uk we don't ride sun rain or shine, we ride in showers, sleet and hail
- 3 0
poah
(Jan 10, 2017 at 0:56)
what's a dry day?
- 1 0
HankBizzle
(Jan 10, 2017 at 7:02)
Surely you remember that Wednesday at the end of May last year?!
- 2 0
poah
(Jan 10, 2017 at 7:31)
must have been watching the kids
- 2 0
iian
FL (Jan 10, 2017 at 10:02)
I remember dry. May 7th 2003 was a hell of an afternoon.
- 2 0
timmeh2k
(Jan 10, 2017 at 3:33)
That purple Identiti looks the absolute business!
- 2 0
Identiti-Bikes
(Jan 10, 2017 at 5:31)
Thanks! We're still arguing which colour is our favourite here in the office!
- 1 0
timmeh2k
(Jan 11, 2017 at 1:43)
@Identiti-Bikes: I'm a sucker for purple, coupled with the blacked out forks it just looks so mean! haha like a bike version of this s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/02/26/9e/02269ee72665ff2b7a3392949b93f9b5.jpg
- 2 0
Identiti-Bikes
(Jan 11, 2017 at 7:09)
@timmeh2k: R34 for days!
- 3 1
identiti124
(Jan 9, 2017 at 12:37)
Wet rides are awesome!
- 4 0
bashhard
(Jan 10, 2017 at 8:28)
that's what she said!
- 2 1
dirtydog11
(Jan 9, 2017 at 12:49)
River gap, fallen tree, cafe, when did this happen?
- 1 0
marko369
FL (Jan 9, 2017 at 13:31)
The gap and tree are on one of the cheeky duro lines, they're a must next time your up there :yes:
- 1 0
dirtydog11
(Jan 9, 2017 at 14:26)
@marko369: Cheers marko, I'll have a look next time I'm there, no doubt I'll find it on Strava segment explorer.
- 1 0
danposs86
(Jan 11, 2017 at 2:43)
@marko369: No, the gap and tree are on the downhill lines. Nothing cheeky about them.
- 1 0
cains08
(Jan 10, 2017 at 0:52)
Just decided where my next ride will be.
- 1 0
lunatyk
(Jan 10, 2017 at 0:54)
perfect! you won't regret it!
- 4 4
finnpickford123
(Jan 9, 2017 at 12:00)
do we really tho??
Login or Sign Up