I recall a few years a go a thread was started about how bikepacking is all about pain and suffering (no really) focused on such things as the BB200 and Highland trail etc; which received a fairly vigorous response as you can imagine.

So this isn't about leg mashing, eyeballs out climbs, or even lengthy death marches through tussock infested moorlands. Nope it's all about the avenging vegetation that is getting it's own back for man kinds tendency to destroy it at every available opportunity.

My legs currently look like they have been shot blasted then flailed with barbed wire thanks to a few recent rides through trails overgrown with broom, gorse and sitka branches. But last nights ride home took this to new levels - a trail totally grown in with bracken, gorse, broom and the dreaded brambles. By the time I got to the bottom my legs were awash with blood, the pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes and now my shins look a mess. Of course once I'd entered the trail there was no way back and I figured it would get better further down, it didn't....

*sigh* I never learn...

Then you went for a sauna afterwards to recover and they started flailing you with birch twigs.

As we probably summarised last time, BP isn't really about actively seeking out S&M, it's surviving it and extracting what enjoyment you can if you encounter it.

Reminds me of the first time I went orienteering. I wore shorts

My legs looked like I’d been flogged

Didn’t make that mistake again

Hahha thats next level, definitely vegetation has stepped up its game recently.

On the pain and suffering - to very different degrees - i think thats what makes cycling appealing to people and definitely to myself: the ability to reach a place using nothing other than their leg power. Be it the pub or the top of a mountain.

Pic below is from a recent trip to the Lakes.
Thats what im sure it's a lovely trail in spring, but it was a bloodbath in July.

I do have to say there seem to be a small, but growing, group of event organisers that enjoy adding unnecessary pain and suffering to their routes, the type that has little to do with cycling or with reaching a destination.

The flip side of this year's rain/sun/rain/sun is that it's a long time since I have seen the hedgerows and heaths so colourful

Story time - a riding friend of mine who has had heart surgery used to fly out at the bottom of brambly trails covered in a kind of wet pink film He is now on even stronger medication and is under (very) strict orders to keep his arms covered; he now wears kind of knitted kevlar sleeves and long trousers.

Yeah it's pretty bad for all kinds of growth. I have to say that with brambles I will slow down and lift them up or round me if I can, or even do a dodgy one hand on the bars and one swatting manoeuvre. I've had too many cuts and tears in clothing to just rip through it. It has been better for the environment it being a wetter summer, it's been nice seeing the verdant growth.

My legs currently look like they have been shot blasted then flailed with barbed wire thanks to a few recent rides through trails overgrown with broom, gorse and sitka branches. But last nights ride home took this to new levels - a trail totally grown in with bracken, gorse, broom and the dreaded brambles. By the time I got to the bottom my legs were awash with blood, the pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes and now my shins look a mess. Of course once I'd entered the trail there was no way back and I figured it would get better further down, it didn't....

It's probably already on this year's BB200 route as one of the easy sections

There's a section of the NCR trail to gnosall that every summer shrinks down to about 6" wide as you plow through 50 foot of nettles. Even if wearing trousers and knee high waterproof socks I still get the odd sting.

The first time I did the Highland Trail I rode (sic) a section to Oykel Bridge that was pure gorse. I had no skin left by the hotel and a zillion ticks on me. Alan removed it from the route a week later as apparently someone had mentioned it was unrideable. Oh how I laughed

I see some bridleways round our way stuck in somewhat a viscous circle: If they don't get ridden they become overgrown/If they are overgrown they don't get ridden.

I try to ride them all once in a while no matter how bramble and nettle strewn they are, and complain to the parish councils too, but kinda feel it's more about retaining a right of way rather than anything that's practical to use at this point.

I like the idea of spinning this on its head and celebrating the fact that vegetation is growing like wildfire after a couple of bone dry summers where it's been burnt. Defo lots more buzzers round this year too, but that means more food for lots more interesting wildlife

My shins look even worse now that all the wounds have scabbed over. Knee length kevlar socks methinks!

I HATE nettles. It's ridiculous. But they're little barstewards ! There is no limit to how much you can be stung or seemingly how much a nettle can sting, being the last in the line of riders through a nettle patch, they're still just as vicious.

I've often considered making a leg barrier, out of something flexible like a thick plastic sack, something that lives in a pocket but when required can be slipped on, a leg gauntlet. There's probably something commercially available.

The fork bags on the Jones help if you're moving at a reasonable pace.

There's a section on Woods Rat Run called Nettle Alley. I avoided it, rerouted round it. It'd ruin my ride.

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2024 9:43 pm Knee length kevlar socks methinks!

I bought myself some 100% gloves with knuckle protection after a particularly gorsey ride.

Sometimes people look at me funny about my full length Singletracks (yes, I got another pair ebay special and it's the older versions again) even in summer. I'd argue that's when they're needed.

There's a section on the NorthPeaks100 that I reckon the farmer has purposely encouraged the (is it the really sharp needle stuff called) gorse to grow. He/she also pretends like the bridleway before this gorse section is public footpath (signed it as such through his/the land) which has allowed the path to grow into a tussock struggle. I reckon anyway!!

Legs are OK, but my arms always suffer on many an interesting ride. Glad we don't have owt named Nettle Alley. Sounds even more painful!

I always seem to hit a large patch of nettles at the end of a trail when retreat isn't an option.

Such situations remind me of that TV show from many years back called Endurance or something - Japanese people, for the entertainment of other Japanese people (then latterly everyone else,) were made to do various 'challenges' which involved what would be described as torture, the aim being to survive to the end of the show. I'm sure being thrown into a patch of nettles was one of them....

That show, or at least the contestants, totally crazy

Of course, if the trail was overgrown with nettles and brambles at the beginning you wouldn't go there that's why you're only committed to pushing on at the end of the trail

The other week Cath and I descended a bridleway near Addingham that I’d only ever run up many years ago. It was basically a bridleway version of those sunken cart tracks. The sides were about a metre apart but there was 30cm of nettles and brambles covering each side

You could only just push the bike downhill. 100m took nearly a quarter of an hour. Goodness knows how we would have managed if we’d met anyone coming up, even without the bikes it would have been difficult.

Are there any legal telescopic 'weed whackers' available?

A good stick helps but they're often scarce when you need them... something you could easily fold up and carry but keep close to hand on the bike, whip it out extend it ( like the police truncheon things) clear the nettles and collapse it back down..

If you're planning to ride the route again, take this iron horse out the first time.

Liking the 'slack' geo too, ideal for the downhill trail I swore my way down the other night....

Dean wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 2:14 pm If you're planning to ride the route again, take this iron horse out the first time.

That's the ticket !

Needs more Boudicca

I am an idiot, just been out for a walk and guess what - I started marching down a somewhat overgrown trail which descended into broom, bracken and nettles....
My shins are now glowing red and throbbing hideously....