Recent content by hawkhill97

I'll take that, and so will the Marin 😂

I almost hesitate to put up a photo of my effort on the same post as the stunners pictured above... But will do so in the interests of balance, and to give hope to the mere mortals and bodgers among us 😂 Here's my 1997 Marin Hawk Hill. Hmm, it actually doesn't look too bad from a distance...

Do you make the modifications to the frame yourself? Looks like really neat welding! I love that this sort of mod inherently lends itself to the bike being ridden hard off road rather than being kept nice and safe and dry in a garage forever. I'm also suitably impressed that you've found...

That looks amazing!! Bet it rides lovely.

You've got it in one! Have you got a pic of your Kona you could pop up? I'm even slightly looking forward to next winter and taking it out in the mud rather than staying in :D The next big trip I've got planned for this one is "the gap" in the Brecon Beacons. A friend wants to ride the route...

Cheers! Might have to wait until I get a bit more time off, most of my regular riding isn't particularly inspiring. I'm planning on riding "the gap" in the Brecons later this year, will stick that up on here when I do.

So, comparing & contrasting the two rides, I'd have to say the Exmoor ride was the more scenic of the two, and had the better singletrack set-pieces.... although there's still something about the North Dartmoor landscape that I find extremely compelling, and it has a greater feeling of...

I had been planning to loop right back up to Dunkery Beacon, and ride the bridleway that heads East from the top - this is probably my favourite natural descent in Somerset - but my legs were getting pretty tired! So I ended up taking the roads back from Porlock to Webbers Post, and settling...

Eventually I made it to the top of Hawkcombe Head. This descent seems to pop up on a fair few forums as being one of the better on Exmoor, and while it's not one of my personal favourites, it's always very enjoyable. The top section is the best, with the odd steeper rocky bit to keep you on your...

From the valley bottom, I set off towards Hawkcombe Head, one of the classic Exmoor singletrack descents down toward Porlock. This required a short road link, but even the roads in this bit of Exmoor are gorgeous, and I was still buzzing with a big grin all over my face. I went back off road...

You can't really see from this photo, but just beyond the foreground, the trail steepened significantly! I actually got off and walked this bit first, to check it would be safe to commit to riding, and to check a couple of line choices. Although fairly short, it was quite an involved section...

The climb back up was pretty brutal. The Attack Trail is a pretty tenacious climber, and will get up pretty much anything if you point it uphill and pedal hard, but you do notice the extra heft on long and steep drags. The Quad Link 2 suspension platform is generally excellent for seated...

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...

Cheers! There is something special about walking up in the middle of nowhere like that... But I can definitely see the appeal of an air BnB too!

The way I see it, we're all (bikes and people both) getting older, our parts are all gradually wearing out, eventually we're no longer gonna be around, and there's nothing we can do about it - but we can sure as hell enjoy the ride along the way.