Ride Date: 20/08/2013
Location: Black Rocks & Hearthstone Lane
Riders : Jake, Ryan, Basil, Carro, Neil & Deley
It was set to be the final "North of work" ride before the end of 3 shifts as we knew it, the actual final ride ever was a trip to Cannock a few days later. However on with this legendary tale...
The six of us set off from the Hurt Arms along the Cromford canal at a fairly brisk warm up pace, we left the canal at Whatstandwell and crossed the river to start the tarmac climb up to Wirksworth, we made good progress with only one real stop to drink and have a look at Neil's "rear end creak". As we got our breath back a bit Carro must have been possessed by a monster and set off up the rest of the climb like Chris Froome going for a stage win & to prove that the more you ride the fitter you get. Once we had all regrouped at the Malt Shovel pub it was a matter of a steady ride along the mainly flat Oakerthorpe Road towards Bolehill, where we diverted off the tarmac and pushed/rode over a couple of fields and up through the trees to the summit of Black Rocks & the "Trig point"
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| Assembled at the Trig point |
After a quick drink and photo & time for Carro to fart on Basil's arm, we set off down the first descent, a rocky, sandy bit of singletrack with plenty of obstacles to navigate, the trail splits a few times however it ends up at the same place so there are plenty of choices each ride. This led to Neil being the only one "lucky" enough to cross the path of a dead sheep, a delightful fragrance he claimed he could still smell some time later! Once through the gate onto stage 2, a wider, much faster, but still rocky section, with lots of opportunities to get a bit of air over rocks & roots. After the short & tricky slightly uphill link we set about stage 3, the woods, this gives fast single track with lots of weaving through trees, fast corners, swooping dips & tricky descent down onto Intake Lane.
Stage 4 is short climb up the bridleway takes us to another short, rocky singletrack, over a stile & then down the incredibly fast path through the wood down to something the locals call "Anorak Alley", got no idea why, but it's a strange section of natural half pipe with a base of cobbles, rocks, roots & dips, this takes us down to the A6 and High peak Junction.
And so began the second half of the ride, we have on previous visits, taken the canal to Cromford Wharf, then climbed to Riber via Starkholmes, this is however a killer climb, in fact it doesn't even fit on our "Bastard Hill Scale", so as a trial we tried the Lea Bridge route, it's about the same distance wise as we don't do the extra mile of canal, and this was a far more steady & leisurely climb, with Carro once again making a break for the Polka Dot Jersey.
We were surprisingly at the junction of Heartstone lane sooner than I thought and still in good shape even after the tough rocky climb to the top, there was the usual debate over whether we veer left or right after the first section, just to clarify ITS LEFT, it has always been left, it has NEVER been right, despite what Carro might try and have you believe.
The first section was the usual fast & breath taking trail over drops, rocks & roots, it's probably my favourite section, just because you can go balls out. We continued through the trees with the tricky up and over roots, through the broken down stone wall and down the steep drop under the tree (watch your head) to the top of the infamous "Brown Trouser". Now being late summer the whole area was overgrown with ferns and the descent, which you could normally pick your line over a good width, had nothing but a very narrow rutted trail down the middle. Still it's got to be done so off we went, it was very sketchy with the rut trying to kick the bike about a lot, and I arrived at the end with basil & Ryan not too far behind. After what seemed a good few minutes there was no sign of the other three, there were a few comments such as "fannying about" "Gay" and other not printable things, then Basil though in an almost psychic "I reckon something's happened!" Ryan went off on a recce for info, we waited another short while and went to look too, we were greeted with Carro limping down the hill with his left arm in a makeshift sling. Turns out he'd gone arse over head, landing on his shoulder & potentially broken his collar bone. Luckily he could walk ok and he was guided down the rest of the trail to the road.
Once back in civilisation Ryan phoned for an Ambulance, and a paramedic turned up within a few minutes and started to check him over and fit a neck brace, whilst there was a not inconsiderable amount of piss taking going on. As this was happening an air ambulance flew over, "be funny if that was for you, Carro" someone joked. "it is" said the Paramedic.
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| Left: Looking a bit sorry for himself Right: After medical attention |
A direct link to the video as it doesn't seem to show on iPads
And that was it, we all said our goodbyes, unfortunately most of the group still had a 4 mile ride back along the canal!
See the full route here http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/233478492
