The best descent in Wharfedale

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31st October 2011  In June I took a friend of mine, Stuart Rider, on a ride in Wharfedale. Stuart is a bike mechanic and a superb mountain biker. He’s always fitter and faster than me and often breezes through technical sections on his fully rigid 29er that I struggle with on a full suspension. 

The plan was to show him some sneaky trails he hadn’t ridden before, in particular two descents near Kettlewell and Buckden. We had superb conditions all day, didn’t meet anyone and only had one mechanical, a flat tyre after I bunny hopped onto the only spike of rock on that section of trail.

The first descent into Kettlewell is superb, probably the best technical trail in the Dales. The other descent into Buckden is not technical but it’s fast in places. Stuart decided to video it so he followed me down the trail. In an effort to stay in front of him and I completely screwed up one corner but at least didn’t come off my bike. Have a look at Stuart Rider’s blog for the video or watch here:

Alpine Buckden descent from stuart rider on Vimeo.