The Mince Pie Run

Ride Date: 28/12/2012

Riders : Jake, Ryan, Carro, Deley, Basil, Howard, Ady & Dan.

An early morning meet at the Hurt Arms would be start of of our first ever "Mince Pie Run". A good turn out too with 8 of the 9 making the trip, we'll get Neil on this ride one day!. With the heavy rain of the night before now all but stopped, we set off out of the car park and up the A6 to the start of the Cromford Canal.
 We set a good pace along the 4 miles of canal skipping many puddles and a few dog walkers and quickly arrived at the base of Sheep Pasture Incline, this is a legendary climb rising from the High Peak Junction at the bottom to Black Rocks at the top. It's a mammoth climb coving 1320 yards at a gradient of 1:9 and takes you to a height almost 500 feet above your starting position. A short pause at the bottom of the incline to confirm the £2 per head and first to the top takes the pot competition and we were off, after 12 minutes or so of hard climbing Ryan was the clear winner (I still owe him my £2) also a special mention should go to Basil and Ady for making it up without a stop . We had a short pause for people to regather their composure and stop coughing their lungs up.

Looking up Sheep Pasture Incline from about half way up, still can't see the top!
(Picture taken in better weather)

We set off on the flat for a mile or so to another killer climb, this time up to Middleton Top, this one is much shorter but appears to be steeper than Sheep pasture and we were soon at the top for another breather. and along for flat trail then up the far more steady Hopton Incline.

At this point we took a right over the fields which were quite heavy going after the rain, through a few gates and onto a limestone track, at this point I'd lost the group after closing a gate and seeing them disappear of into the now quite dense fog, turns out they had missed a turning, but a quick call got us all back on track. We continued over the fast rolling tracks and took another right and diagonally down a fast fun field with a few chances for jumps. This took us down to the crossroads at Grangemill opposite the Holly Bush Inn.

We then had some tarmac climbing up past tophill farm and the a left onto Blakemere Lane, which was more fast limestone track but with far more obstacles and stones giving more opportunity for jumping. We took a left at the end of this lane onto rockier climbing and then a right part way up the hill just after the quarry, this was a very muddy and rutted lane with a great bit of technical downhill at the end which gave us, I think the only "offs" of the day with Basil, Dan & Ryan all going "broadside" on the mud. The end of this lane led us to the main road just above Bonsall with some excitement at maybe seeing more dead moles like last time, but alas the gate was mole free.

The macabre array of dead moles from April 

Another small break and we were off again down a short muddy link up on to Nailor Lane, we were now in uncharted territory as we had skipped this bit due to a nasty looking hail storm last time. After some discussion we found the bridleway towards Bonsall, which was well worth the find with some good downhill over rocks, mud and and flowing water all the way to Bonsall village.  Looking at the map it seems we should have taken the left hand fork halfway down this trail, which is a shame as I think it would have been longer and more technical, but we'll know for next time. Once in Bonsall we took a left onto church lane which became a bridleway after a small climb on tarmac, the bridleway came to an abrupt end, splitting into 2 footpaths, one to Matlock Bath & one to Cromford, we took the later and this turned out to be the best bit of the day as we found ourselves on a great bit of single track with fast bits, drop offs and some very sketchy corners next to a steep drop.

This left us with a small ride to the start of the canal at Cromford Meadows and a 5 mile ride back to the Hurt Arms, unfortunately with far more dog walkers and ramblers this time.

All in a good Christmas ride, coming in at 23 miles, the weather ended up being quite good to us with only a few light showers and the dense fog to worry about, although we had to abandon the post ride beers due to the amount of mud and water we have bought back with us.

A muddy shot of the team on the way back past High Peak Junction

Thanks to all that came!

PS. We also got a mention from Canadian pro Rider Emily Batty

@72_Jake haha great pic. As long as your warm, riding in the wet muck with friends is always fun. Thanks for sharing :) Happy New Year Jake

— Emily Batty (@emilybatty) December 29, 2012

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/115258132

Slippery when wet!

Ride Date: 03/07/2012

Riders : Jake, Tony, Carro & Dan.

Start point was at Tony's house in Long Eaton, after a short delay waiting for Carro after he had been "Deley-ed" we set off with a few spits of rain, along a nice stretch of canal all the way to the former Stanton ironworks, with a short pause to see where Tony used to work. We then took the road to Stanton by Dale and diverted with a steady climb over the fields to rejoin the road at "No Man's Lane" (watch out for slippy stiles, I speak from experience!). This lead us down into Dale Abbey and through to the main road. A short ride took us onto a bridleway and then we got a bit lost (My fault!), however some on the fly navigation through some very wet fields helped us back onto the right track and on to the Derby Road heading towards Stanley.

Taking a right onto "Dale road" before the Bridge Inn with the rain now persistent, we followed a bridleway past some barns and up a small climb before taking a left at Hagg farm now a nice fast, but muddy downhill stretch and through a nice stream and onto "Cat & Fiddle Lane"

We made our way by road back towards Stanley and took a right turn at the White hart pub onto Morley lane. We peeled off to the right at "The green bench" (remember that landmark!) and followed the trail all the way to Lime Lane, The rain was getting worse!

A bit of rush hour road riding took us to the entrance to Locko Park on the Oakwood side, we followed the tree line path through the park all the way back to the main road near Dale Abbey again, we followed the path straight over the road and up past a farm, and dropped down into Dale Abbey village near to the church, then a small climb up to Hermits Wood where we took a small breather and climbed the steps to look and the fabled "Hermits Cave" , Dan chose to ride the steps back down, as did Tony & Carro, but after seeing them both take a tumble I chose the wimp option of walking down, we then carried on along the trail and back to the road at Woodpecker Hill.

The  Team Outside "The Hermits Cave"

As time was drawing on and we were all soaked through we decided to take the fastest road back to Long Eaton, with the Dan obviously feeling left out at being the only one having not landed on his arse at some point that day, he proceeded to miscalculate a wheelie and add himself to the list.

So just under 25 miles all in, a good route that was great fun despite the rain, it would be good to try it in the dry though!

A snippet from the Bike Cam (a bit blurry in places, due to the youtube anti shake filter, it looked better without it)

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/68597490

Extended Belper Loop

Ride Date: 14/06/2012


Riders : Jake, Basil, Deley, Ryan, Dan, Matt F  & Leon.


Start point was a handy little free car park near the Bridge Inn in Duffield, we left the car park taking a right on to Makeney Road, followed by another right on to Eaton Bank, the first bridleway was on the left and almost back on ourselves towards the top of a small climb. 
The start of this bridleway was littered with pine cones which made the steep climb difficult, we were then presented with a fair few steps which required navigation on foot. Once at the top the track lead us through several fields to the top of Eaton Park Wood, this a nice and quick downhill with some fast bends and the occasional obstacle. We left the wood and dropped down on the main road where we had the only puncture of the day on Basil's front.


A small track over a disused railway line and a footbridge took us onto Derby road and a 3 mile ride towards Belper via Kilburn Toll bar and Killis Lane. 
Almost at the top of Killis lane's stiff climb, we joined another bridleway which started as tarmac and became more rough later on past the farm, this took us all the way to Sandbed Lane, we soon took a left onto a nice fast limestone bridleway which lead to Mill Lane with a small pause part way through after Leon struck a gate that everyone else had managed to navigate, this caused some sniggering, mainly from a couple of school girls and a pair of pensioners.
Halfway down Mill Lane to turned off through Belper Park and over some fun steps to Belper Market Place.


We made our way through the town via the cobbles of Long Row and along Wyver Lane, stopping for a quick break at Broadholme before heading over the field towards Wyver Farm, once in the farmyard we opted to avoid the mud route and head up the lane through the wood on to Belper Lane End. We attempted the single track up to Longwalls Lane but it was far too overgrown, so we decided to head back to the road via the Hissing Geese and a scabby Turkey. Once on Longwalls Lane we absorbed it's big rocks, trees and steep downhill with some confidence.

The rocky descent of Longwalls Lane

Once at the bottom we took and quick left onto a track through a ford and up a killer hill to Lumb Grange, a few of us were starting to flag a bit by now so it was nice to roll down the hills towards the Bluebell at Farnah Green before joining the Chevin for the last off-road part of the circuit.
The Chevin proved good value and proved even better with the steep tricky descent onto the road below. Alll this left was a steady ride back along the A6 for a few miles back to Duffield.


We finished up with a much needed pint in the Bridge Inn.

Pedigree Diamond, Mine and Basil's choice, couldn't taste the biscuit though!

See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/63682218

Cruising in Calver

Ride Date:16/05/2012


Riders: Jake, Matt G, Basil & Ryan.


An early start for the first ever pre afternoon shift ride saw four of us gather near Calver Crossroads at 08:45.
With Matt leading Myself, Basil & Ryan we started out with a steep climb on tarmac, leading to a longer, rougher & steeper climb on limestone up the hill above Calver. This was a good first test for the gears after fitting the new rear dérailleur hanger and they passed fine despite Me wimping out and pushing the bike on some of the steeper parts. 
A short rest at the peak led to the first descent, the aptly named "Old Man's demise", this was a rocky narrow trail with a good length broken by the need for an emergency puncture repair on Matt's bike.

Puncture repair number one about two thirds of the way down "Old Man's Demise"

We continued down the demise and then took a steady climb back & took a break to admire the glorious views and take a few pictures to show the "No Shows" what they were missing. We then carried on up to almost where the demise began, this time taking a right turn down a fast grassy slope to a stile where "The Necker" began. I've no idea why it's called that, I keep meaning to ask.

The start of "The Necker"

This descent was an eight inch wide sheep track along a 500 foot ravine down to steam and path below, it was mainly hard mud with the odd rock and some very sketchy bits over loose shale, the surface and the precarious position lead to a lot of "dabbing" and a couple of dismounts but became faster as it widened out onto grass and down through a small wood.

A long but slight climb the lead us back parallel to "The Necker" and the took a sharp right, followed by a sharper climb up to the top of the quarry. This lead to our third descent, it was fast, wide and rocky, with a couple of slow downs as we crossed a couple of real roads. 

We then took a steady tarmac climb upto Eyam, a village steeped in history due to the plague. We took a left from the main road and climbed up towards the "Riley Graves". From here began two fast descents though woods with some great root, rocks & bermed corners, the outcome of which left us with just a mile of tarmac back to calver & left Matt with his second and final puncture of the day.

All that was left then was a quick dash home to get ready for work.

A great circuit with some killer climbs and some equally stunning descents, many thanks to Matt for the ace guidance, I can see this one becoming a favourite.

The view after "Old Man's demise"


See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/55907093