Autumn Cut Gate special

Slightly Underestimated?

Ride Date: 03/10/2016

Distance: 32 Miles

Climbing: 4000ft

Route: Derwent Edge > Cutgate> Derwent Edge

Riders : Jake, Matt, Duncan, Paddy & Mick


It's been a while since we did a "mid week escape" so when Mick mentioned we should get one in before the bad weather arrived we were keen to sort a date, with folks busy everywhere we came up with an early autumn ride and chose Cut Gate as the venue, then ride plan had multiple options so long as we squeezed in a bit more than just Cut Gate itself. We opted for a starting at The Yorkshire Bridge and an up & over of Derwent Edge to warm up. Not much can be said, the ride up to Whinstone Lee Tor took us through the clouds and into lovely sunshine & blue skies, the trails were dry and the climb very pleasant.

The climb up to Whinstone Lee Tor was Breathtaking, not in a bad way

After admiring the view & taking some photos we climbed further and hit the dipper after the gate rota was sorted, the descent was excellent, although it's never not.
Next up was a the steady ride along the banks of the reservoirs to slippery stones and the push/ride/hike up to the cairn on the southern end of Cut Gate. Once over the lunarscape we let loose and kept off the brakes on this well renowned singletrack down to the trail split.
Time for a quick breather and off over North America, just a quick interlude for puncture repairs and we were rolling up at the Bank View Cafe for breakfast.

Mick tries out the latest offering from Yeti

Once fully replenished it was back on to the trails and the steady climb back to the top of Cut Gate. There was some flagging by now, but as we reached the cairn all was forgotten for the descent down the other side, I jibbed the steps as usual. Rolling back along the reservoirs was hard going, some of us were certainly feeling the burn, one of the original plans had been to ride up Lockerbrook, down Hagg Farm, up The Beast and down off Win Hill, but there wasn't much enthusiasm for it. Paddy swung off at fairholmes to see a man about a dog, the rest of us carried on discussing options, we decided on a final push and with the famous mountain bike rules of "if you're out, you're out" & "all rides must finish with a down" echoing around we started the climb back up to Derwent Edge. It was tough I won't deny, water had run out, it's steep and rocky even with plenty of energy left. It was a relief to reach the top again.

Whinstone Lee Tor in the morning

It was an excellent run from top to bottom, the trail seemed to run really well, although I may have got lucky with the lines, I think most was on auto pilot though! 
After another quick puncture stop the pub was calling for some much needed hydration. 
A hard tough ride, severely underestimated, but none the less superb, the glorious weather and good trails helped.
Same again next year anyone?

When September ends

The Last Of Summer?

Ride Date: 18/09/2016

Distance: 22 Miles

Climbing: 3000ft

Route: Cartledge > Curbar > Stoney > Eyam

Riders : Jake, Matt, Duncan, Luke, Deley & Basil


A slight change from last year's effort, this time starting at owler bar which would allow a good finish on the walled descent, easy for the pub too.
The day started with a bit of drama as Dunc rolled up with his bike almost hanging off the roof rack, only a slight scratch though so we were soon off up the road to Horsley Gate and the first descent of the day, nice and fast too although there was a feeling that DCC had been at work with their stealth resurfacing. Next up the bastard hill, which didn't seem so bad this time round, there was some talk of sending out a runner down Cartledge to check for Horses & walkers, but as we were making swift time we just went for it, it was bang on as usual. It was already looking like a very nice day and we were well ahead of plan as we hit the bottom of Johnny Gate, this is usually a slog of a climb, but again seemed steady. That just left a bit of tarmac and on to the short spin along Baslow edge to the Eagle Stone.
From here it became apparent just how good a day we had before us. Just like last year, a superb cloud inversion filled the valley. 

On Baslow Edge 

After admiring the view it was off along the usually superb Curbar & Froggatt Edges, with a slight deviation down a little used "cheeky" path to the road. From here we made the decision to ride the Stoney & Eyam descents, unfortunately this involved the climb of death up to the road above the Stoney trail, then up a nice steady lane Matt had found on a demo day, then a well earned breather in Eyam village. As we left the village we had a chance meeting with Dunc's better half, Kerry, who was on a 75 mile Audax ride. The Eyam descent was ace as usual, nice change to do it in the dry though, then back down the climb of death.
From here you could see the magnitude of the climb back up to the hunting lodge near the grouse, we didn't point it out to Luke though, not want to dampen his spirits! The climb though wasn't too bad, very surprising really. After a brief pause to answer a call from Carro, who was planning to meet us at the pub, it was down that nice little trail from the moor to the road & up to the top of the walled descent, a great one to finish on, a top ride, probably the template for next year.

More of the weather

 I think the good weather had brought the masses out, we had to queue for a beer, shocking in this day and age, true to his word, Carro did meet us at the pub, also bringing his sister & Mandy, who it was lovely to see after her op.
And that was it, apart from a brief incident with a huge umbrella & a gust of wind!

Dark peak special

Pretty Damn Good Really!

Ride Date: 24/06/2016

Distance: 21 Miles

Climbing: 3500ft

Route: Mam Tor > Hope Cross > Fairholmes > Hope

Riders : Jake, Matt, Duncan, Luke, Deley & Scott


A warm dry day was on the cards as we met in Hope for this pre summer holiday extra ride.
Six of us headed out through Castleton and up the broken road of Mam Tor. From here the usual route was tweaked slightly by heading part way up Rushup Edge for a nice addition of singletrack. A small break for a puncture and it was off down the North Side of Mam Tor, there is rumour of an off part way down, I didn't see it, but I heard it. We regrouped at the bottom before the ride/push back up to Hollin's Cross and the descent into Edale. Much drier than November and running well with just a group of walkers as an interruption. 

On Rushup Edge

A steady climb out of the valley around Jagger's Clough before the much steeper, but shorter climb up to Hope Cross. A quick pause at the top to discuss options, we chose the very much "marmite" descent of Potato Alley, For me the top is good, the bottom is reasonable, but the middle is just mayhem, with those loose "baby's head" rocks it's a case of grit your teeth and hang on. The normally grim climb out, over the snake and up past Rowlee farm didn't seem to bad, so with us all feeling fresh it was Lockerbrook time, my personal favourite, and it was bone dry except for the stream, excellent stuff!

Mam Tor

 After trying to fix a bloke's brand new £99 bike, whose crank had fell off we headed up the fire road to the top of Lockerbrook, the heat and humidity was pretty intense on what is a very tough climb when it's cool, a short recovery at the top and a brisk ride over to Hagg Farm, superb as usual, I was feeling the effects of the last climb though and found the bottom section really hard going. This didn't bode well for the push up The Beast! It was a relief to get back up to Hope Cross and the nearly all down hill run on The Roman Road into Hope.

 A cracking ride by everyone, it's probably the toughest we have done this year with the climbing and the heat. I even had to have a shandy at the pub!

Check out the video below, it's a free service from https://www.relive.cc/ you get the video link emailed to you after you upload your ride to Strava, nice to see where you've been.

Ticknall Nostaligia Trip

Nettles, Brambles & not quite as much mud as expected!

Ride Date: 10/07/2016

Distance: 22.5 Miles

Climbing: 1500ft

Route: Ticknall > Stanton By Bridge > Milton> Bretby

Riders : Jake, Deley, Basil, Duncan, Luke, Howard, Ricky & Matt S


A similar story with lot's of heavy rain preceding this ride, with our previous experiences of the area we were expecting plenty of mud. However a nice sunny morning saw eight meet up at the village hall, missing notables were Matt in the Alps, Scott Footballing & Carro spending to quality time with his better half.
Basil had done a mid week recce on the route and had deemed the usually fun Robin's wood as a complete no go due to extreme mud and logging operations so it was off along the road to the first bit of a blast around the field and on to King's Newton where Ward's Lane , usually a double track was barely even a singletrack due to encroaching undergrowth, then a short bit of road before the fast rattle down past Robin's Wood. From here we took a new route over a maize field before dropping back on the usual track to Milton. Then up the Sandy climb to the mast. Time for a breather.

Re grouping at the top of the sandy climb

A short break and we were off again, down the fast track along the woods to the entrance to Repton Shrubs, I have a confession to make here as due to some miscalculations I lost Howard! Although we didn't realise until we were well into the depths of the shrubs, as usual when you need it most there is no phone signal whatsoever. Deley was kind enough to ride along the road to gain some extra height and eventually got hold of Howard who was making his way back to the village hall. Despite the trudge to the top, Howard hunting & head high nettles, fern & brambles (Luke said it reminded him of Jurassic Park , the descent was actually pretty good, even the bit along the bottom with the devious off camber was good.
So Howard-less we set off towards Bretby, through the woods and avoiding the likely boggy usual route we opted for the cheeky corn field dash followed by the drop back on to the bridleway. Now we had the unavoidable steep road climb back up to the mast where it's full chat back down to Milton via the sandy climb in reverse, trying to make use of the little berms to get as much speed as you dare. 

Deley, followed by Luke & Howard on the sandy climb

 All that was left was the road climb up past Foremark and the roll into Ticknall to the pub, however this time we lost Deley as he had gone all "Chris Froome" on the road and left us all for dead, Basil tried phoning, but as previously the signal let us down, turns out he'd headed back to the car park while we called in the pub (I blame Basil for this one!), so he'd missed out on a well earned pint.
It was nice to go back to Ticknall, even though it may not have the adrenaline fuelled descents and outstanding views of some of our other rides it was a nice steady, social ride on the trails where most of us started our love affair with mountain biking, it also gave the ideal opportunity for Howard and Ricky, both of who had not been out for a long time, to get out again with us, it was great to see them both again.

Eastern Moors Epic

The Not So Dirty Dozen!

Ride Date: 12/06/2016

Distance: 22 Miles

Climbing: 2700ft

Route: White Edge > Curbar Edge > SheepSkulls > Lady Canning's > Devil's Elbow

Riders : Jake, Matt, Deley, Carro, Basil, Duncan, Darren, Dave, Steve, Ian & Paul +1


Lot's and lot's of rain leading up to this ride he me expecting a mudfest rather than the dry trails expected in June. Matt had the plan for the route, sprinkling in some new options to last years route and also a visit to Ride Sheffield's crowd funded trail at Lady Canning's Plantation. We had a new record turn out for a Sunday ride with a full 12 expected. We grouped up just below The Grouse at Froggatt and set off up a new bridleway Matt had found, up on to white edge where it became apparent that the previous week's rain wasn't going to be a problem, with the trails fairly dry bar the odd puddle. We swiftly moved along white edge with only a puncture break, then along Baslow edge and a blast along the superb Curbar Edge, with just the obligatory photo stop. First bit done in just over an hour.

Carro "Flicks The Bird" on White Edge

A bit of road took us back past the cars and back up the first bridleway of the day, this time forking left and onto White Edge Moor before dropping back to the road before climbing over Totley Moor and dropping down the excellent, but very sketchy walled descent into SheepSkulls, for some ultra flowy, bermy fun and a play on the jumps for those that had the skillz! We now had a bit of leg work over the remainder of Totley and onto Houndkirk moor up to Lady Canning's for the Blue graded trail that get's better the faster you ride it. From here it's the mega fast blast back along Houndkirk and down the aptly named Jumble Road, before everyone's favourite Devil's Elbow, a beast of rocks & roots where good line choice is essential to keep the flow. Plenty of smiles and talk of near misses at the bottom.
Unfortunately, the Devil bit of Devil's elbow is the push up back out of it (there's got to be an easier way, surely) This pretty much finished everyone off and just left a roll back along the road with the bonus, but moist descent from the hunting lodge down to the cars. There was a slight delay as we lost Carro somewhere on Devil's Elbow & the pint in the grouse was very well deserved.

Standard "arty" shot of the lads on Curbar Edge

 An excellent ride all in, weather wasn't too bad with only a bit of cooling drizzle, a record turn out and some fantastic descents, very well ridden by everyone, especially Ian, Steve & his two lads, who had only really ridden trail centres before this ride.

Wormhill triple eight

Good Weather, Dry Trails!

Ride Date: 15/05/2016

Distance: 22 Miles

Climbing: 2500ft

Route: Miller's Dale > Chelmorton > Wormhill > Brushfield

Riders : Jake, Matt, Jonny, Basil, Duncan, Luke & Paddy


Decent weather on the lead up to the ride had us confident the trails were going to be dry which was something long overdue for this year. Also a healthy turn out continuing the average group size of seven with a rare appearance from Jonny (Hairball), but missing Deley & Scott due to Nat coming home and Carro due to reasons I can't remember.
We started off with the steady warm up along the Monsall Trail, before climbing sharply up to Kings Sterndale followed by the short  but sweet drop in to Horseshoe Dale and following the steady but rewarding rocky route along the Priest's Way to Chelmorton. A bit of a climb out and then  over the singletrack and down to Blackwell before the fast decent into Wye Dale. A small break at the bottom for puncture repairs, then back out the other side up the steep switchbacks to the farm.

Decent views on the climb out from Wye Dale

With a bit of leg work between two farms we were soon at the start of my favourite part of the ride, the descent from Wormhill into Monk's Dale, almost a mile of twisting singletrack broken up by a couple of gates, the second being the point of another puncture. I think most had a sketchy moment at some point on this section, not least Luke, who had a stunning "over the bars" at the bottom, fortunately he got up and shook it off OK.

Puncture break, just before the last drop into Monk's Dale

 Next up was the drop into Miller's Dale, again with the flow broken up by a few gates, once in Miller's Dale Paddy left us to go and see a man about a dog, the rest of us enduring the tough, but final climb of the day to Priestcliffe and then weaving in and out of the only puddles of the day as we made our way along the trails to Brushfield and the final descent of the day, which starts off on fast hard limestone, then into a section someone described as riding on marbles, before a sharp left and a steep rocky drop onto the Monsall Trail.

Looking back up the excellent singletrack from Monk's Dale

 That just left a roll back along the Monsall Trail to the cars. A good ride all in, great weather, dry trails and a good group. Don't miss the video below.
Next up The Eastern Moors Epic, keep an eye out for it.

Ambergate Alert

Pretty hard going to be fair!

Ride Date: 03/04/2016

Distance: 18 MIles

Climbing: 2500ft

Route: Ambergate Woods > Shining Cliff > Black Rocks > Shining Cliff

Riders : Jake, Matt, Deley, Scott, Duncan, Luke & carro


Not a huge write up this one, as Ambergate has been well documented in the past. We started as usual with the lung busting climb up to the top of the woods, once off the road it was apparent it was going to be a hard going ride, the almost dry trails of 2 weeks previous were now decidedly soggy again (cheers rain!). There were no incidents from top to bottom in Ambergate woods before riding back up into Shining Cliff were we made time for some fun on a nice looking jump (see video below). By now, what had been a mist damp morning was warming up nicely with the strong spring sun bursting through the trees, with plenty of us getting a dab on as we rode out over the fields towards Alderwasley & Black Rocks.

Some quick modelling action at the bottom of Jake's demise!

Black Rocks was much better, still a few puddles but none of the sogginess, the centre rock blast being a particularly memorable section, down through the trees I did have a minor wet root/face plant incident and managed to rip my reverb hose off,  skipped the loamy bit and met back up at the Gully, which, as always was great. From here we altered the usual ride a bit as the other side of the valley was borderline quagmire and we climbed steadily back up to the road at Black Rocks, not an unpleasant climb in the warm sun. From here is fast road via Kennel wood and back over the fields to Shining Cliff, one more go on the Millstone descent (I actually saw the millstone this time as I was a bit slower because of no dropper). That just left the blast back past the wireworks to the pub, still warm enough to sit outside with an ice cold Moretti. 

 A tough ride then all in, the soft conditions being the main reason, but otherwise a good ride out with with nice group of seven.
It's the Wye Valley Triple Eight up next, it should be a new ride for most people even though some have done parts of it before, hopefully we'll get a dry spell before then.

The Best Ride....Ever??

Spring In The Air.

Ride Date: 20/03/2016

Distance: 17 MIles

Climbing: 2800ft

Route: Derwent Edge> Lockerbrook > Hagg Farm > Win Hill > John's Demise

Riders : Jake, Matt, Deley, Basil, Duncan & Luke


The first 8am start of the year saw us back to Derwent Edge almost exactly one year later from the last visit, we also had new recruits Duncan & Luke joining us.

We met as usual along the road by the Yorkshire bridge with everyone on time with one exception who had the time wrong (not for the first time). It was a cloudy cool start to the ride as we made our way up towards Cut Throat Bridge & Whinstone Lee Tor, the trails were mostly dry with the odd boggy bit. By the time we reached the top the sun was breaking through and the temperature was rising

The view over Ladybower from Whinstone Lee Tor

Next up was the ride/push up past the Hurkling Stones and onto the first descent of the day; the Derwent Dipper, bone dry and great flow! We regrouped at the gate before setting off down towards the reservoir, I struck gold here, due to shedding some layers I was last down, meaning all the gates were held open right down to the Curlew hut, I think the first time I've made that journey without even a single dab! We grouped again at the hut before blasting down the slabs to the road & then the cheeky bit past the giant wooden rat.

It was still getting warmer as we passed a load of runners near Derwent Dam and even the 15 minute log climb up the fire road to Lockerbrook wasn't unpleasant. Time for a quick recovery at the top and on to possible my favourite descent in the Dark Peak, Lockerbrook, bone dry except for just a single puddle and the stream, it was lightning fast and superb from top to bottom.  As we made our way along the road, the runners were now all on road bikes. The nice steady tarmac roll took us to the foot of Hagg side another stiff climb, but again it seemed fairly pleasant, although tough enough for another refreshment break at the top.

Time for a breather at the top of Hagg Side

After getting some energy back it was the short blast along Barbed Wire to the famous Hagg Farm descent, again it was superb, dry and fast I just mistimed Basil on the gate unfortunately, but you can't win them all. A quick stop at the bottom for Matt to fix a flat and it was over the road and down the chicken run to the bottom of the beast. It was nice to get some cool shade for the push up over the rocks and we were soon up at Hope Cross & making our way along Hope Brink.

Absorbing the sun and the views at Hope Cross

 The steady climb along Hope Brink wasn't too bad, although most were starting to feel it by now, it was almost summer like at this point, a far cry from the 70mph winds & rain we had back in November. Even the walkers were in chirpy moods! Almost at the summit of Win Hill, we tuned off left and onto the narrow, heather lined singletrack of John's Demise. Up at the gate we briefly lost Deley, Duncan and Luke, watching on as they took a wrong turn (our fault for not explaining the plan), a quick phone call got them back on track, when they made it up to us we learned Luke had taken a bad fall, but as always with the young 'uns he bounced back up! That just left the woodland drop down onto the dam wall, even this was dry and we were sat in the pub garden by lunch time!
Sat out in the warm sun, drinking a cool Farmer's Blonde, there was the suggestion that this was the best ride ever, well, if it wasn't the best then it was close, I'll let you decide.

Longnor Mud & Rocks

A Winter Gamble.

Ride Date: 24/01/2016

Distance: 16 MIles

Climbing: 2000ft

Route: Longnor> Glutton Bridge > Dove Head > Tenterhill > Hollinsclough

Riders : Jake, Matt, Deley, Basil, Scott, Carro, Paddy, Joe & Rick +1


It's always a big gamble choosing a new route, especially in winter, even more so this time as nobody had any experience of it, normally Matt would have at least a smattering of experience from some point in his long MTB career, but we were all blind to this one and looking at the plus points it's always good to ride new trails. 

We met in Longnor on the market place, with six of our normal crew, plus occasional group member Paddy, who brought three others with him, this took us into double figures for the first time. We set off leaving the village and onto Dove Ridge before dropping down a farm track into a very, very wet field, much wheel spinning and dabbing ensued as we climbed steadily up and over the top and then sliding down a steep grassy drop to a bridge over the river, once over the death trap wet, wooden bridge it was steady farm track out onto the road at Glutton Bridge. From here a steady climb on tarmac up towards Buxton Quarry and over the fields before dropping down again to the road at Upper Edge. From here we chose to follow the road rather than the bridleway that ran parallel to us, as we approached Buxton Raceway Matt told us about the bunkers that belonged to the university and also the HSE Lab. 

The view from Upper Edge looking towards Glutton Bridge

More farm track and a fast descent towards some houses, with mass confusion as a random bloke sent some of us down a steep footpath and then a farmer, luckily pointing us in the right direction, which happened to be a pleasant bit of singletrack along the river bank littered with rocks & puddles before swinging sharply left over a bridge, this was Dove Head, the source of the River Dove. Back onto a short bit of tarmac then down another fast section of track for a very stiff climb back up the other side and heading back south and onto a fast bit of bridleway, and into a sharp left onto zero friction wet grass, which saw everyone drifting and struggling for grip before popping us out at a farm and the first of the famous rocky stepped descents of the day, this being Tenterhill. First we had to negotiate some long, axle deep puddles that had a certain animal waste twang to them, there was a hold up on the first descent, most of us were round the corner but reports were that Carro had gone over the bars, flashbacks of the "Brown Trouser" incident, but he bounces well these days. It was a tough descent, I don't think many cleared it before crossing the deeper than it looked river at the bottom. A push up the other side and we were on a long, fun, slip slidey descent to the river again.
Another bit of stiff climbing followed, one on road, one off road before the last two descents of the day, the first was fast double track with the odd rock sprinkled in for fun, this led to the final run, which started off not too bad, fast & rocky, before big steep steps in the middle, then going back to fast & rocky at the end. All that was left was a steady roll back to Longnor.

I was a bit worried about this one with it being untested, would the Tenterhill & Hollinsclough descents be too extreme for our riding level to be fun? How would it ride with all the rain we've had? Would the stuff in between be too boring? Feedback was decent, better in summer was a definite theme, it's also very tweakable for instance the long push up from Tenterhill would make a great flowy descent and it looks like it wouldn't be too hard to weave in and still keep all the other descents. maybe we'll see it pop up later in the year next year! That means I'll need to find another winter ride though, any thoughts anyone? Or shall we chuck Kinder in?