Hands up I hate hike a bike...

Reading Ian's Lakeland 200, several horror stories about the HT550 and recently Wotsit's Lakeland ride/push has put me off them for life.

Miles of bogs, pushing a laidened bike up and even downhill just doesn't float my boat.

On my only WRT several years ago we pushed for 3 miles across a bog and that was about my limit. Am I getting old or wise or soft?

So what's your take on Hike a Bike, love em or hate em?

Think you're getting soft

Dont mind a bit of Deathmarch. It opens up more route options which wouldnt be available if you made all of your route totally rideable.

I don't mind a bit of bike hike but if it goes on for miles and miles then I do get rather p****d off.

I it's up and down a technical climb then why bother taking a bike, just drive to the bottom and walk in with a light weight rucksack and trekking poles, leave the heavy bike at home.

Most of the time I find it alright but occasionally when particularly technical hike a bike with lots of ankle breakers is when I get fed up of it. I guess because it just takes so much concentration. General unridable hills, bogs and rocks don't bother me really.

..and yeah you're going soft.

Embrace it ... it makes you big, strong and handsome

s8tannorm wrote:Embrace it ... it makes you big, strong and handsome

Handsome you say?

Ok I love Hike a Bike

Sometimes it makes a nice break from all that pedalling....

Every ride in the hills, sometimes I go for a walk and carry my bike for fun! Think about 5-10% of my ride will result in hike-a-bike. Did a rife in the berwyns not so long ago with a a carry DOWNHILL!

I did a spot of planned hike a bike on a route from coed y brennin to barmouth on sunday.
it took about 1 and a half hours to get to the top with the bike on my back,
just over the other side you drop down to pont secthin bridge.

I'm generally quite philosophical about it, as long as I can see some purpose. Obviously that all changes once I get tired,cold and hungry.

s8tannorm wrote:Embrace it ... it makes you big, strong and handsome

It hasn't yet. Nope. All its done is make me is rueful, bitter and twisted.

I did Ben Nevis once on a Saturday, rammed with three-peakers. Carried to the top and bottom, oh how I laughed all the way. But sat here I'm strangely glad I did do it as I can claim my place in the top 1% of fecking idiots of all time.

On the technical stuff, it makes a massive difference if you can carry the bike effectively, as I discovered in the Lakes. Pushing the bike became tiresome after a while, but slinging it onto my shoulders made it much easier to traverse difficult sections.

For many many fantastic single tracks in the Alps it's the only way of approach.
If you don't want to miss out on riding decent stuff then you got to embrace HAB. It applies to any other place with mountains...

I tend to say "if you haven't carried your bike, you haven't been mountainbiking".

I enjoy the change to pedaling.










This only thanks to carry a bike and hike a bike

With all this talk about hike-a-bike i squeezed into my new BB top & went in search of handsomeness again this weekend

Stavevley- Dubs reservoir- back of Garburn- Ill Bell & along this ridge-

IMG_20140921_125436 by wotsit_legs, on Flickr

To here-

IMG_20140921_135715 by wotsit_legs, on Flickr


Then along High St

IMG_20140921_142413 by wotsit_legs, on Flickr

Loadpot Hill- Brampton- Wet Sleddale, then a bog march to Mosedale Cottage Bothy

IMG_20140921_175353 by wotsit_legs, on Flickr

Couldn't stop long due to failing daylight & no lights

IMG_20140921_181910 by wotsit_legs, on Flickr

Another joyous bog march to the foot of Gatesgarth- Longsleddale- Sadgil- Kentmere- Staveley..

Need to try harder cause last time i looked i was still fugly

John, you just need to MTFU mate & get the mountain back into your biking

If you've got somewhere to go, hike a bike to get there is acceptable. I find that no matter how soul destroying a push can be, if you push through it to where you were intending to go then it really isn't that bad at all.

I'll happily push, drag or carry my bike up a hill if I have an inkling that there will be something rideable on the other side. There are plenty of good trails I've discovered that way...

It's the boggy tussock fight a bike I hate, where any wrong foot results in wet feet, and progress is painfully slow. Normally happens in mid Wales along a piece of prime bridleway according to the map, and will often have a fence across the middle with a gate in the middle to aim for. Who on earth would ever use the gate - it's completely inaccessible? I show my disdain by climbing the gate not opening it, I'll show these possessive farmer types!

I not only don't mind a smattering of hike-a-bike but actually need it in order to give my back a rest.

I also think it makes all the difference not having SPD's as in my fell-running shoes I find the whole experience enjoyable.

The only reason many of you won't see me enjoying walking my bike for large sections of the BB200 in a couple of weeks is that I'll be at the back!

Just back from what was a hard 3 dayer and on second day we had a pretty epic hike! 4 hours to do 6 miles across 2ft high round Sphagnum moss tussocks and marsh grass and bogs that we frequently fell into up to our knees at times. And with my bike with the gorilla cages on front forks just made it harder and was wishing at the time they were not there.

Both of us i think were close to SOH failure towards the end as all i kept saying was " Its a bloody bridleway marked on the F'in map and we're bang on it" and also Chew's words rang in my ears " this is defo type 2 fun"

But once out of the bog of doom ...we rewarded ourselves with jelly babies, cheese and meat and a can of coke it was forgotten and i do think it makes you appreciate the normally boring fire road after .... we flew the next few miles

If it gets you to an amazing trail it's worth it and not every path is rideable. I've pushed and carried my bike for 2hrs or more up footpaths in the Alps and enjoyed it, mostly.. If it gets you to a HAB descent it can test your resolve .. but in the name of exploring HAB is required and to be embraced imo.
I can't see me enjoying a set-route trail that has a lot of required HAB though. It's ok if the riding it accessed is utterly stunning, but if it was average riding I wouldn't see the point. There needs to be a pay-off on set routes. After all I like to be either exploring or riding my bike, or both.
Edit to add, type 2 fun is all well and good but once you've had a few good doses of it you don't need as many reminders, just the odd one now and then : )

Generally I don't mind a bit of HaB, nice to change muscle groups, and rest the sitbones on long rides. But like many said, if the reward is walking back down the hill again, it's a bit crap. The only time i've got really hacked off was on BB200 last year, all the tussocks and peat foot traps between them, in the dark, rain and after 120 miles. The reward though, was a sandwich the size of my head, so it was worth it. Only a couple of weeks until it all happens again.

Alpinum wrote:For many many fantastic single tracks in the Alps it's the only way of approach.
If you don't want to miss out on riding decent stuff then you got to embrace HAB. It applies to any other place with mountains...

I tend to say "if you haven't carried your bike, you haven't been mountainbiking".

I enjoy the change to pedaling.


This only thanks to carry a bike and hike a bike

Is that Burnmoor Tarn?

--

As regards some of the more publicised bits of HaB, the northern loop of the HTR 550 was flippin' brilliant. Not all rideable obviously, but that descent off Bealach Horn 500m drop. Amazing.

I can't say I enjoyed the Lakeland 200 as much as I did the HTR - they are very different, but both have their place as a test piece of the highest calibre. I knew there would be more HaB on the Lakeland 200 and prepared my bike/ kit accordingly. Kudos if you choose to step up, but equally, if it's not your thing it's not compulsory to do it (that is, unless you want to line up at the HTR next year...).

mountainbaker wrote:Generally I don't mind a bit of HaB, nice to change muscle groups, and rest the sitbones on long rides. But like many said, if the reward is walking back down the hill again, it's a bit crap. The only time i've got really hacked off was on BB200 last year, all the tussocks and peat foot traps between them, in the dark, rain and after 120 miles. The reward though, was a sandwich the size of my head, so it was worth it. Only a couple of weeks until it all happens again.

I remember you being well pissed off on one those steep scrambles.

"I've had enough of this s**t".

Ian wrote: I knew there would be more HaB on the Lakeland 200 and prepared my bike/ kit accordingl

I guess this has been on topic here before, but I'd like to point out, that putting more weight onto your back will help a lot during HAB or CAB.
If you go with a eg. Inov-8 Race Elite rucksack you can throw some heavy gear, water or food on to your back and merily push and carry your bike through the boulder fields, tussocks, bogs etc. Try it, even 2 kg less on your bike will make a huge difference. If you have a 2-3 h section of road, re-distribute the load onto your bike whilst munching a bar.