Enjoying some rides at Grizedale on a Rockhopper Elite, just the simple bike: front suspension, hardtail with big fat tyres. Much more stable on a muddy track than my classic Marin due to the Rockhopper’s bigger wheels and still quite a bit lighter than the Marin. The Elite is 10-speed on one gear cassette whereas my Marin Palisades Trail Lite has the original 3x5 chain wheel and dérailleur, more fiddly but useful in riding a variety of terrains, town and country.
A lot of boring gravel forest access roads here at Grizedale Forest Park that the e-bikes cruise along, the fun is on the little tracks. And the hills to burn the leg muscles. Interesting to try trails that are officially graded after my rides on the ungraded trails of the Calanques, I’m happy and interested somewhere between red and black grades but taking it slowly.
Attractive “Cloudy Bright” weather, from a rider’s point of view it was warm enough and dry but lots of wet sections and mud. Seen a big bird quite close, maybe it was a buzzard, and heard lots of little birds tweeting in the forest.
That was a demo day trying out a variety of bike styles, hardtail, full suspension and e-motor versions. My decision was a hardtail and there’s a Rockhopper Expert 29 coming out of the workshop with my name on it, the Expert version has the 12-speed drivetrain.
