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.
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.
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.
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 |
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 |
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.
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