03/01/2017 - Calver Christmas Demo recap
As far as demo rides go, booking one in mid December is a brave move. Thankfully we must have paid our dues somewhere along the line as last Saturday was just perfect! Fog in the valley was warmed and cleared by the sun within an hour of us setting up. We had a Kaddai (fire pit) on loan from the very good guys at The Kadai Company which helped both keep us warm and get rid of the pallets from the big delivery of Escapades the previous day. Braving the potentially horrific weather, we had a large bunch of keen riders turn up who were greeted with mince pies, hot coffee and a fine fleet of bikes. Almost every bike was booked on each ride and every single bike was ridden at least once throughout the day. Poor Sam had a right job with the bucket and hose yesterday.
The loop got above the valley fog within 5 minutes of the start and we had spectacular cloud inversions to take our minds of the steep climb. Leaves had covered a lot of the rocks on the downhill sections making line choice even more tricky than usual. Mud splattered faces and fly-catching grins at the bottom meant that most people had stayed upright for the duration though. Along the route were hidden Cotics ‘Golden Tickets’ which the finders converted into a t shirt and pint glass back at HQ. Two were found by people on our demo loop; the final one by some walkers who popped by later! They stayed for a chat and even rode a new escapade round the yard! There’s little better than converting walkers to cyclists.
The final ride of the day wrapped up and we realised there was enough daylight & mojo for another… It didn’t take much arm twisting so after a (literally) smashing a whole mince pie into our mouths, we set off up the hill, spraying crumbs everywhere. At the top of the first downhill section is a series of bomb-holes which are used sometimes for motorcycle trials. We’ve done a couple of photoshoots up there and need to spend some time there with a shovel, scoping out some 50:01 style lines to cut in. @wesfife155 hit a nifty little drop and he then discovered a gap over a whole tree root section. No chicken runs, just straight to it. What a lad. Some sketchy moments, loose corners and big-time laughs accompanied us all the way down the final descent and we all returned to the warehouse with a case of #unsustainablyhighstoke.
Massive thanks to everyone who turned up - you made the ride what it was. We’ll definitely be running more demos from the warehouse in 2017 so keep an eye out here for more information. Fingers crossed it’ll be that sunny next time. Enjoy the photos.
