Tales of Trails: Coefficient Of Friction = Zero

The one where there were two offs, a broken rear mech, mud with a zero coefficient of friction & the best chips in the world ever!

Ride Date: 01/06/2014

Distance: 9 miles

Route: Linacre> Old Brampton> Wigley.

Weather: Temperature - 18°C, Wind - 7mph →, Humidity - 85%, Conditions - Sunny.

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt & Tony

Beer: Farmer's Blonde by Bradfield Brewery at The Gate Inn Cutthorpe.

A brand new ride from the book, although Matt had warned me it might be a bit tame, but being local he had sussed out some extra fun stuff to add in. We met at 9am in the car park for Linacre Reservoirs, notable absentees were Howard (pre arranged plans), Basil (Biking with the wife) & Carro (pissed up).

First off we headed for the woods and the ride down to the reservoirs, it started off steady enough but soon we were into some of the slipperiest mud on earth, no doubt down to the previous week's rain. I was the first casualty, sliding into a rut and going over the bars, only minor injuries plus a good coating of grey mud. Once at the reservoirs it was generally dry on fast riding paths down to the road.

A short climb on tarmac lead us to a bridleway that Matt had been tipped off about and it did not disappoint, being a fast rocky, root blast, not too wet either, but as with all things would be even better when fully dry. Next up was a long, but not too steep climb back up to Wigley and to the start of the next descent

This ended up being more mud fun, making for difficult and testing riding as it wound it's way down the valley, but lots of fun slip, sliding down and around corners. Most of us stalled at some point and Matt lost it in some particularly nasty, axle deep sludge. A nice handy brook at the bottom provided a good way of cleaning down the bikes a bit. It was here that Matt noticed his rear derailleur hanging off, further investigation found it had snapped off where it attaches to the hanger, also the bolt look sheared off too.

The snapped off rear mech

Despite attempts to change to a single speed system, it wouldn't allow for the rear end movement so, even though we had the best and majority of riding still to come we had to concede and head back to base. Luckily we weren't too far away and most was downhill on tarmac.

Dave goes over the wall

It didn't take us long to get back to the car park, giving us just enough time to clean up, pack up and get the the pub 5 minutes before opening time. After the revelation of the Derwent Water Arms at Calver, Matt has gone even further this time by taking us to The gate Inn at Cutthorpe. Whatever you thought you knew before, these ARE the best chips in the world. We left 4 spotless plates, all washed down with a very nice local ale in the glorious sunshine.

Local Buffalo Burger, Homemade Chips & Local Ale. Perfect!

Will we ride this one again? I reckon so, hopefully on drier trails, at least to see the the biggest part of the ride that we missed out on & to eat at The Gate Inn again! Even though we had to cut this one short, everyone agreed these things can't be helped and it was still great to be out in fantastic weather on some new trails in a very nice area.

See you on the next ride, Ambergate next time, hopefully all four descents for the first time ever!