Elton One

I used to ride my bike a lot with friends but it’s been a good while since I have seen any of them and even longer since I rode with any of them. We used to ride around Shipley and jump down steps and up walls and ride at Saltaire skate park (if you can call it that - it’s just a few rounded tarmac humps) and up on Shipley Glen. About 9 or 10 years ago there were enough people all up for it to build some jumps in an old quarry and I remember building the first jumps with a few others, but being too scared to jump any of them after doing a front flip to face on an early attempt.

I never made these doubles then but today, even with the lips worn down I did it in a couple of tries.

To be fair I did do this:

But that was in the Shipley Swimming Pool car park before I got there. Puddles are like ice when you’re going really fast and your chain comes off. I needs horizontal dropouts cause single speed is ace.

I went up a few years back while walking about and the jumps I had known had grown and sprouted offspring. Some awesome lines and they looked pretty well maintained despite kids always riding over lips made of sandy soil so I guess they were getting used a fair bit. As I say, that was a few years ago and having a look on Youtube turns up the odd video but nothing of the larger jumps or any one who looks like a local. I decided to go up and see if anything was still there (you can see them from Google Maps but thats a few years out of date too) and indeed there is. Even more lines, but in a state of neglect with a couple of sets of tripples, a step down, some rhythem section stuff. It’s all there, ready to be polished. The soil is getting washed away so the larger doubles are badly eroded but the smaller and less pointy ones are fairing up ok. While I was there a few kids came up and rode over what remained of any lips, but then one of them fell in the bog of eternal stench so he got his comeupance. It’s a shame because I never really got in to it or got as good as some of the people I knew (my next door neighbour was in the paper doing a 360 up a step up that was huge then) and I never even saw it in it’s full glory. No one seems to have a problem with the jumps up there and there are loads of people walking about and lots of younger kids ride up and down the steep bits and fall off in the muddy bits. I was reading the other day about some trails over in Adel that have been flattened by Leeds City Council with no real warning or explanation after being there for years and harbouring several pro riders, and they looked awesome. Aw they look so good. And they are gone Or are they back? I don’t know, and I don’t know any one who knows their location any way

Shipley Glen Trails seem to be a permenant fixture and in 15 minutes ride of Saltaire train station 2 stops out of Leeds, I’d love to see more people building up there. Maybe there are some locals? Haven’t really seen any bike riders other than communters and look-at-me-I’ve-got-a-£3000-bike-with-matching-lyrcra types. If any one is up for it, send me a mail.

I can’t wait for the summer, I might pitch a tent up there.