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.
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.
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!
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 |
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 |
And that was it, apart from a brief incident with a huge umbrella & a gust of wind!
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