Cragg Vale

LSF Ride Cragg Vale from maxim arnold on Vimeo.

Some time early last year I got a call on a Friday afternoon from Nick asking if I wanted to sort out a ride up Cragg Vale in Halifax and film it. Cragg Vale is the longest continuous climb in the whole of England, so we knew it would make for interesting riding on fixed gears. I rushed off the the camera department at uni and begged them to loan me some gear, which they did eventually. We were a bit limited as to home many people we could take because of car space but it wasn't hard to get the lads up for this one.

On Saturday morning we headed off at about 10am (no beers Hukaz for us the night before then!) When we went to pick up Will (mouthy one) and Ben (climber extrordinaire) I thought there was a good chance one of them was gonna yak given the green colour in their faces - they had had a heavy one...

An hour of so later we got to the top of Cragg Vale, or Craggers as we call it. The idea was to start at the top, have a bit of fun riding down and then straight back up the same way, enduring lots of burning muscles.

The weather was amazing. At the top of Craggers the mist was heavy and visibility was pretty bad. The tick snow made it quite chilly too! But as we swept down into the valley the sun started to appear and morale was boosted.

On reflection, I should have taken a lot more time shooting and editing this. Things weren't planned out too well by me and I've learned a lot since. I propose a remake very soon....

Thanks to all the Lads who we there for the ride. Nick, Will, Ben, Tez, Ned, Andy and Nathan. It's a shame that not everyone could come that time round so we'll have to make it hella bigger next time. Enjoy...

Max