hawkhill97
Retro Guru
After doing a big Dartmoor ride on my 2000 Marin Mount Vision a short while ago, I thought I'd finish my week off with a trip to Exmoor.
Exmoor is one of my favourite places to ride. The hills are much larger and longer than most in the South West, and there are plenty of descents that go on for over a kilometre... with climbs to match!
I thought about taking the trusty Mount Vision, but while it would have been spot on 90% of the time, there are a good few options for steeper, more technical descents on Exmoor compared to Dartmoor, and it would have been a case of getting down these in one piece on the Mt Vision, rather than smashing them in any sort of style.
So I opted to take my 2010 Marin Attack Trail instead. This would have been marketed as a "freeride" bike back in the day, with 150mm travel front and rear. It's no cross country bike, but it climbs extremely well (actually better than the Mt Vision on super technical short sharp climbs), and with sensible tyres on isn't too much of a pig to pedal around on longer days out. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder here, but I think it looks ace too!
I set off from Webbers Post and headed off West, warming up the legs nicely with a traverse along the North slope of Dunkery Beacon (the highest point on Exmoor, and I think second highest in the South of England).
You can sort of see in the photo above how the track just drops away out of view - the tracks on this ride were much steeper, faster, narrower and rougher than those on my Dartmoor ride.
One of the things I love about natural descents is there's no guarantee that they're going to be "fair" - there could be surprises around a blind corner, or sudden unpredictable ruts, roots and boulders in inconvenient places. The Attack Trail inspires massive confidence in a way the Mount Vision never will, and I absolutely flew down this one. The sheer speed on descents like this is a pretty big rush, and the bike is incredibly flattering, making you feel like you're smashing it (even if in reality it's doing a lot of the work for you).
At the end of the descent, I flew around this right hander god knows how fast, and didn't have time to scrub anywhere near as much speed as I'd have liked before the surprise stream crossing, which earned me a pretty thorough soaking!
Exmoor is one of my favourite places to ride. The hills are much larger and longer than most in the South West, and there are plenty of descents that go on for over a kilometre... with climbs to match!
I thought about taking the trusty Mount Vision, but while it would have been spot on 90% of the time, there are a good few options for steeper, more technical descents on Exmoor compared to Dartmoor, and it would have been a case of getting down these in one piece on the Mt Vision, rather than smashing them in any sort of style.
So I opted to take my 2010 Marin Attack Trail instead. This would have been marketed as a "freeride" bike back in the day, with 150mm travel front and rear. It's no cross country bike, but it climbs extremely well (actually better than the Mt Vision on super technical short sharp climbs), and with sensible tyres on isn't too much of a pig to pedal around on longer days out. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder here, but I think it looks ace too!
I set off from Webbers Post and headed off West, warming up the legs nicely with a traverse along the North slope of Dunkery Beacon (the highest point on Exmoor, and I think second highest in the South of England).
You can sort of see in the photo above how the track just drops away out of view - the tracks on this ride were much steeper, faster, narrower and rougher than those on my Dartmoor ride.
One of the things I love about natural descents is there's no guarantee that they're going to be "fair" - there could be surprises around a blind corner, or sudden unpredictable ruts, roots and boulders in inconvenient places. The Attack Trail inspires massive confidence in a way the Mount Vision never will, and I absolutely flew down this one. The sheer speed on descents like this is a pretty big rush, and the bike is incredibly flattering, making you feel like you're smashing it (even if in reality it's doing a lot of the work for you).
At the end of the descent, I flew around this right hander god knows how fast, and didn't have time to scrub anywhere near as much speed as I'd have liked before the surprise stream crossing, which earned me a pretty thorough soaking!