The woman with the blue hair at Grizedale forest seemed confident, at least. “Little kids do it,” she said, handing over a map and pointing out the mountain bike trial with her pen. “You guys will be fine.”
I’d been mountain biking precisely once before, on the trails in Clayton Vale behind Manchester’s velodrome. But, like a chef who thinks they can make a soufflé because they can boil an egg, I figured I’d mastered the basics.
I remembered the Manc trails were colour-coded like ski slopes. We’d just stick to the easy hues and we’d be fine. Only problem was, Grizedale doesn’t do breezy greens, or even medium blues. Just the North Face trail, which, we soon found out, is code red. In other words: really rather dastardly and far beyond the capability of two rank amateurs, incorporating 10 miles of rock-strewn, single-track paths, up, down and around the western edge of the forest, complete with perilous drop-offs, wiggly wooden “boardwalk” sections and bends so tight I almost always lost my bottle.
I’d used up all my swear words within the first five minutes. I couldn’t blame my bike. The GT Karakoram Elite is a nippy, lightweight aluminium-framed hardtail designed and priced exactly for newbies like me. With Rockshox XC28 suspension forks and super-reactive hydraulic disc brakes, it did everything I needed it to, which mostly was to brake frequently and suddenly. I’m used to calliper-controlled rim brakes on my road bike, which have a slight delay whenever it’s raining. Why more racers don’t have disc brakes, I don’t know. They are vastly superior and not nearly as badly affected by mud or rain, which is lucky, because the Lake District had been suffering a wet patch prior to our arrival.
The GT has big (29in) wheels, good for bumpy terrain and fast becoming the standard size in the MTB world. They were fitted out with grippy Continental Race King tyres, which I prayed would not let me down in the forest after my pump fell out of my pocket and into the bracken.
The GT’s triple triangle geometry, which has a smaller rear triangle than your average frame, made for a stiffer ride that still soaked up all of the rocks I plucked up the courage to ride it over. As a roadie, I am used to dodging obstacles. Ploughing through them does not come naturally and I usually ended up putting my foot down, like a little kid learning how to ride without stabilisers. I don’t think that’s quite what the blue-haired woman had in mind.
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GT Women’s Karakoram Elite 29er 2014
Price £699.99
Front suspension fork Rockshox XC28 TK with 100mm of travel
Brakes Avid DB1 hydraulic disc brakes
Gears Shimano 27-speed
Tyres Continental Race King
Frame Aluminium hydroformed speed metal 29er frame
