Cracking day out today. Up the zig-zags and down Dollywagon/Grisedale. I did a lot better than the last time I did it. Usual selection of nice friendly walkers telling us we were mental, everyone very good spirited.

Weather was like this most of the way up:

Hellvelyn Mountain Biking (1 of 4) by Grum Wynne, on Flickr

Then got a bit drizzly:

Hellvelyn Mountain Biking (2 of 4) by Grum Wynne, on Flickr

No view at all on the top:

Hellvelyn Mountain Biking (3 of 4) by Grum Wynne, on Flickr

But then we were rewarded with this:

Hellvelyn Mountain Biking (4 of 4) by Grum Wynne, on Flickr

This section down from the tarn is fantastic imo – really rocky and technical but with some fast bits too. Still not that into the section above that, the drainage ditches are a real arse at times.

Great day out though – only the second proper mountain ride I’ve managed to do since getting ill with CFS/ME and being off the bike completely for about 9 months. Hopefully I will manage a few more this summer – Ullock Pike is next on the list I think.

😀

Looks fantastic Grum. Was this your first ride since Ben Lomond? Well done!

Nice bit of sailoring on the second picture. 😆

Can’t wait to ride there

Cheers Ad – it was great ta – similar gnar level to Ben Lomond though less sustained.

I’ve done a few little bits at trail centres and locally since Ben Lomond but not been out in the mountains. It’s good to be back. 😀

sailoring?

Sailoring. Standing in a camp way when out on a ride 😆

Quality! havent been up there for ages

Is it wrong to adjust the drainage ditches so most people can ride over them? I’ve read that they are a bastid to ride over for most people but I doubt anyone from the local authority is going to fix it just for bikes.

So would it be wrong if riders took a few minutes just to tidy up a few lines allowing for others to have a better run down?

Obviously this work shouldn’t be to drastic to get bikes into trouble with the keen eyed red socks or of such an adjustment to make it unsafe for walks and other users.

Just some minor rock movement to let others who may follow have a better go at it?

We can ride there for free, so putting a bit back is fair in my opinion.

As for the route I’ve always done it the other way round as I love the super steep drop off Hellvellyn then you go up again then head down a track right into Glenridding, it starts with a set of zig zags which are really fast and rocky!

Some minor movement of a few rocks could make it a lot easier, but I don’t know how that would affect the drainage. Some of the gaps are very large though – I can’t remember ever seeing others so big on a bridleway.

IIRC the only requirement for a BW is to make the way passable for horses, though I’ve never seen any evidence of them up that route.

Great pics and good inspiration, can’t wait to get shut of this chest infection and get riding.

woohoo – up there next week. Can’t wait now – cheers grum

Nice, proper hills and that 🙂

Nice one!

We did it on sunday too,up from landrigg past yha and down Dollwaggon,was aswesome,nice weather too,

draniage channels were quite a task on the hardtail with not one bit of sleep the night before, 😀

Well done mate.

Fantastic – I really does feel good to be back on a bike when there’s been a big break due to bad health, hope you can keep it up 🙂

Great news Grum – really chuffed to hear you’re back out there again, and even more delighted that you’ve been on a mountain whilst I’ve been in the office today. Hrmph! 😀

This section down from the tarn is fantastic imo

Is it from Grisedale Tarn heading West? (doesn’t look like the Patterdale side).

Can a rock be moved to make a strategic kicker for the drainage ditches?

Top sailoring and great pics. Thank you 🙂

Cheers for all the comments everyone. Had my hours cut at work (yay Big Society!) so might as well make the most of it eh? 🙂

B.A.Nana – it is heading back down to Patterdale, about mid-way down maybe?

Hopefully Adam (not adstick – different Adam) won’t see this but he can be quite camp on occasion 😀

Great stuff, and what a way to get back into biking. Aim high indeed.

Looking at the landings I’m not sure you’d want kickers over the drainage bars. It is a shame though. What could be a very technical descent for your average decent rider just turns into intimidation. Bump, bash, hang-on, bounce, sketchy – stop! Mahoosive rocky hole!

Kunstler – it’s probably way too much for me at the mo if I’m being sensible, but my mate was doing it and sometimes you just have to say **** it and go for it.

scuttler – yup, just when you are getting going on the steps a massive ditch ruins your flow. I’m not sure a kicker is the way forward. 🙂

Normally I can hop over drainage ditches but it’s very hard to lift the front end when you are right over the back of the bike – and some of them are huge. I wonder if there is any mileage in asking the National Park authority to make it more rideable – I very much doubt it though.

It is a bridleway, so you’d have thought if it would take little difference to lay the path to be suitable for bikes (and horses) they ought to. Surely there’s something about blocking rights of ways, like farmers who plough over footpaths across fields or padlock gates etc.
I can see them not wanting to make it possible to go too fast though, and have no problem with that.

Great pics btw, can’t wait till I’m next up there
(saturday perhaps…)

Actually weather dependent I may go up this weekend 😀

So what route(s) would you guys recommend to tackle Helvylln in the nicest (i.e. enjoyable) way?

Hora, you would end up walking a lot of it if you went down Dollywaggon. Not being nasty but it is beyond your riding level. The opposite to this route would be a better bet for you, although you will be carrying for a long time to get to the summit via Dollywaggon. so maybe an out and back, or the route I suggested to you via email.

*is jealous*

I’m going to bend Keensy’s ear off this weekend- see if he can get out at all

ir_bandito – I doubt making things nice for a probably fairly limited number of bikers is high up the priority list for the NP authority unfortunately.

Hora if it’s dry you could go up and over Great Dodd etc from Dockray – go right along the ridge and come down the Keppel Cove BW. There’s nothing too technical on there – it’s just steep and loose in places. You could take a detour to get up to the summit of Helvellyn itself – then you’d get to descend back down Lower Man (possibly hairy 🙂 )

Dollywagon is very tech a fair bit of the way down – I found it a lot easier second time around but it’s still pretty challenging, especially the steps.

Going up from the Old coach Road is boggy to say the least. Ok coming down with gravity to help, but a PITA to go up.
Better off trying to ride/pushing up Keppel Cove, fast as **** to come back down. Down Sticks Pass is supposed to be good, I’ll be trying it asap.

Keensy won’t do Dollywaggon if it’s at all wet, I can tell you that for certain

Ha! He just said that as well.

Got him out (either Sat or sun) following week

Just stitched together a panoramic shot – probably best viewed a bit bigger on flickr.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/grum_wynne/5575596809/]Hellvelyn Mountain Biking (5 of 5)[/url] by Grum Wynne, on Flickr

That’s a cracking pic grum, going for the first time next weekend and your pics are definitely contributing to the excitement!

Quick q, is it worth pushing a dh bike up or will the rest of the gang on trail bikes just get fed up of waiting for me?

I’m going up with hora and a few others and whilst a few of horas mates have tried to point us to something tamer I reckon we will have a wicked time trying our hand at something that will test us. Even if we have to session stuff or skip bits it looks well worth the effort!

Slowrider, I’m one of Hora’s mates who has advised him against Dollywaggon. I’ve ridden with him a fair bit and I know that he will be walking his bike down a lot of the trail. I’m not saying it to take the piss out of him or anyone, but it is one hell of a long climb to come back down something that will involve a lot of walking and lowering.

To get the best out of Dollywaggon, especially the steps, you need to ride it fast. Try and ride it slowly and pick your way down and you may end up going over the bars quite a lot.

There are better routes to do that will result in everyone enjoying themselves and not just those who are up for what basically is a full on techy DH course on solid rock. After riding up there, you will definitely be back for more so if a few of you do fancy giving it a go, I’d do it on a return trip.

For what it’s worth, if I can persuade my girlfriend that me going away for yet another weekend of biking without her is a good idea, then I might just come along.

As for a DH bike up there, I’d say no. You can pedal up quite a big chunk of Helvellyn from the Glenridding side (and I am pretty unfit) but you’d probably be walking up with a DH bike unless you are some sort of pedalling monster, whereas your mates on trail bikes would be way off in the distance.

Cheers, I’ll probably just take the one bike then. We have a route for the second day thats more of a ‘proper’ ride so a bit of tech won’t hurt. Unless I go over the bars on the steps.

Sorry just noticed this. I wouldn’t take a DH bike up there as there are some flat and up/down bits along the summit, and a fair bit of it was rideable on the way up. An ‘all-mountain’ type bike is ideal imo – pads are definitely a good plan too imo.

It’s definitely a challenge – be prepared to walk a fair bit of the steps potentially, but try and save yourself for the section after as it’s ace if you have the confidence to attack it a bit.