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.
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?
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 |
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?
