The Groovy Chicks
the original Dirt Divas
Email: groovychicks
2007 membership now open
After the successful launch of the “The Groovy Chicks” we have identified some rides as suitable alternatives to the full Groovy Tribe Sunday ride. We will have a once a month ladies only ride on a Saturday. Not a member? Then apply to join now then you won't miss out! See column opposite for details.
Carolyn
Groovy Chicks Tee Shirts - £11 each (Except for Glentress "The Hub" shirt that Lindsay is wearing)
Need your bike servicing or repairing? Then why not ask Tony to quote you a price. Competitive rates for all kinds of work. From simple re-lube to bearing changes and a full re-fit. All kinds of forks and suspension serviced or repaired. DU or DX bushes to fit Fox shocks now available. DX bush has a nylon coating and should last a bit longer. Call Tony now on 01772616189 or 07719529868 or go to his WEBSITE
Do You Want to Join Us?
Team Groovy Chicks at Glentress
The
idea of this part of the club is so that women who don’t feel
comfortable coming out with the main
mixed club group can give
us a try first. We do a lot of the same routes as the normal club rides
but at a slower pace with more rests !
I
never do any routes that mean you have to push your bike for more than ten
minutes, as I hate pushing my bike.
I
would suggest that if you are really unsure then contact me and come for a
short ride (10 miles) around Rivington Country Park, Bolton, our local
riding area.
Yes,
we do wear arm and leg armour, but it has become apparent that this is
putting potential new members off. It is because we are sick of bruised
shins, nettle stings, insect bites etc, etc not because we throw ourselves
down ridiculous trails !!! Well not all the time……………
Armour is becoming more and more common in MTB. I rode for about eight years without it so please don’t let this put you off. Most of us only started wearing it after MTBing in the Alps as it is soooo steep there.
Although some of our Groovy Chick members are of a good standard there is a big variety in ability and age. Apart from the absolute beginner, most women of a reasonable fitness who are used to riding a bike should be capable of our shorter/easier rides.
Have
a look at our information page ‘Basic kit’
and "Tips"
to see what you will need.
If
you are a beginner the following websites may be of interest to you: -
http://www.mountainbikeinstruction.co.uk
Sandra
Andrea left and me right with some of the boys
In Les Gets, France
If you join our club you can either ride with the ‘Groovy Chicks’ or ‘Tribe’ or both the choice is yours, unless of course you are a bloke you can’t come with us, no not even if you wear a dress !
Groovy Chicks at Appletreewick
As
you can see from the write-up below we also do ‘Groovy Chick’
weekends.
Just a point of interest, we think you will need an MTB worth at least £500 + with at least front suspension. Most of the trails we do will shake your fillings out otherwise...
I have been a member of the club since 1995, and I am also the membership secretary, so please contact me via the Groovy Tribe e-mail click here if you would like further info.
If anyone is interested in coming with us then please don’t hesitate to contact me. The reason that the dates don’t go in the newsletter is because we like the dates to be flexible to accommodate as many of our small group as possible. Also if they went on the club rides list we may just get people turning up thinking it’s a normal club ride, and they may be disappointed when we go in the Teashop after and not the pub !
Carolyn
The Girls Do Glentress (again) - June 07
Just some photos of our weekend away. Great weekend with the main club. We did a girls only (except for the photographer) ride on the Sunday and got these photos...
The Girls Do Glentress
We headed up to Glentress for the weekend of 24 – 26 November. Despite the storm with 80 mile per hour winds that was forecast we had absolutely fantastic weather. Sunday especially, was glorious, with blue skies and sunshine all day. Thirteen of us turned up for the weekend and we had company in the form of a bunch of the lads who had decided to gatecrash our plans and have a weekend up there themselves (separate hotels of course though!)
We
stayed at the Glentress Hotel and ate there on the Friday evening. The
food was superb, apparently the hotel has a reputation locally for serving
good food. Some of us rode on the Friday, Jill and Carolyn did the
Sandra
Coed y Brenin (Groovy Chick style) -
Seven go to Coed-y-Brenin - Seven of us GC’s (moi, Marie, Carolyn, Jill, Andrea, Fay and Rachel) went to Coedy for a weekend and lo and behold the sun did shine – all weekend. It was the first time in shorts this year, fantastic.
Three of us were able to arrive in time to do a ride on the Friday and so we chose the Sport Route, as we’d never done it before and we thought it might be easier technically for Jill who was a bit wary after her last visit. We decided that it was a waste of time though as the technical sections on it were all borrowed from the main routes and so weren’t easier at all. So all in all not a route that we would recommend. (Ed: I like the Sport route J).
After the ride we set off for our luxury accommodation (well a bunkhouse to be precise) in Dolgellau. If you’ve done a Club weekend here before, you will know Plas Isa, the bunkhouse. It’s a great place and opposite a pub – ideal for those who like a drink or two and is in front of a huge car park. Unfortunately when we arrived the huge car park was filled to bursting with a traveling funfair!! So we had to park at one further away, which entailed carting all our kit in relays from the cars to the bunkhouse.
We discovered we were sharing the bunkhouse with two groups of men – some old (ish) blokes and some young (ish) lads. They were biking too although the lads were also planning on walking up Snowden, which begs the question; WHY? when Coed-y-Brenin is on the doorstep. I suppose not everyone is a bike addict though! Actually the climb nearly killed them in the heat and I think they wished they’d stuck to riding.
Saturday dawned sunny and clear and we headed off (in the cars – not into this riding there and back lark) to Coedy. We did the Karrimor route and it was Ace. Although some of the downhill sections could do with some trail maintenance, as they were tress tricky. A lot of trail erosion had obviously gone on over the winter months with all the rain and melting snow. There is a new section at the end of the trail, which is superb – great fun.
Of course we had to go to the café at the end of the ride and although Sian and Dafydd are no longer there the food was still good – and homemade. The service was a wee bit slow though as somebody’s mum had been drafted in to help and fast food was not part of her vocabulary!
Saturday night we headed off to the pub over the road for some food and made the mistake of entering the bar – passive smoking would be an understatement as it was thick with cigarette smoke, yuk. We soon moved out once we had ordered some drinks. Roll on the smoking ban.
Sunday was again glorious and we all headed off to do different things. Rachel and Marie had to go home and Andrea was going kite boarding. Jill and Carolyn decided to give the Marin Trail a spin and me and Fay did the MBR route at Coedy. It is a brilliant route and we did it pretty quick (what else with Fay taking the lead!). A couple of sections on this route were pretty hairy where the trail had washed away so it too needs some maintenance. We finished with a well earned brew and some food and then headed off back home.
Looking forward to going again.
Sandra
Sandra doing drop off at Glentress!
Sandra in Morzine 07
Groovy Tribe MBC © All rights reserved.
Flying Chicks - Some of the girls do more aggressive downhill stuff. Catch up with what they are doing here: www.flyingchicks.co.uk and blog them here http://flyingchick.blogspot.com
Girls only holidays with: www.mountainbikeholidays.co.uk Contact Sara Burdon on 020 8123 5654 or +33 631461859 in France
