The one the ended up being a bit longer than planned.
Ride Date: 27/09/2014
Distance: 31 miles
Route: All over the peaks.
Weather: Temperature - 9°C, Wind - 4mph →, Humidity - 91%, Conditions - Sunny.
Riders : Jake, Deley & Basil
An early start for this one and on a day where the first fingers of autumn were starting to creep in, it was close to zero & foggy upon arrival at and already bustling Hope Valley College, with every make of bike being unloaded from cars & vans. Within 10 mins Deley & Basil arrived and we set off for the start. With 500 riders taking part we were expecting it to be a bit cramped, but with staggered starts and natural differences in ability & fitness, the field soon thinned out.
We set off initially along the road were Deley almost had an altercation with a confused and impatient looking driver. A bit more road took us around to the outside of the Hope cement works, then onto bridleway and up toward the broken road and the climb to the summit of Mam Tor. By this time the sun was well and truly out and it was coats off.
A quick breather at the top and it was a good blast down the other side and the first checkpoint at Edale. Next up was Jagger's Clough which involved the steepest climb of the day, followed by just reward with the long, fun descent of Blackley Clough, also known as Potato Alley. A stiff climb again followed taking us up and across the Snake Pass where unknown to us was the decision point for the 24 miler or the 4 mile extension (we think some clever soul was sat in front of the signs). Anyway despite stopping here to take on water kindly supplied by the army, we still never twigged it, so we ended up doing the extension by default, which is no bad thing seeing it is the superb Lockerbrook descent.
On the road back along the side of the reservoirs we had the only "incident" of the day with Basil misjudging a grass verge slightly. At this point in the ride, any climb was a tough climb, and the ride back up to Hagg farm was no different, however as was becoming the theme, the descent the other side made up for it. Next up was relatively steady with a good 5 miles of non too taxing bridleway that ran along the edge of Ladybower and into Thornhill. At this point we thought we were well on our way back to base, but a dreaded sign pointed us back up hill and away from the tannoy back at the college. We were flagging at this point, The smooth tarmac helped a bit, but once we hit the bridleway up Win Hill we were down to a crawl. A mixture of fatigue and us seemingly getting further away from the college had us wondering if we had taken a wrong turn, however other riders gave us comfort in that if we were wrong, it wasn't just us. However minds were put at rest with a strategic sign post at the top of Hope Brink & we began a very long and fast blast back down into Hope.
And that's it, we were done, we rode into the car park and were greeted by our medal givers and a goody bag and free Haribos. Screaming hunger did lead me into having a burger from the van, which I could only liken to warm cat food, but needs must... So what should have been a 24 miler plus 4 mile extension came in at 31 miles, we don't mind though, we rode rode some classic must do dark peak trails, met some friendly folk and had a great day.
We'll no doubt do it again next year & see if we can get a few more up for it, will we stick with the 24 miler + extension or step up the the 35 miler? Only time will tell.
Distance: 31 miles
Route: All over the peaks.
Weather: Temperature - 9°C, Wind - 4mph →, Humidity - 91%, Conditions - Sunny.
Riders : Jake, Deley & Basil
An early start for this one and on a day where the first fingers of autumn were starting to creep in, it was close to zero & foggy upon arrival at and already bustling Hope Valley College, with every make of bike being unloaded from cars & vans. Within 10 mins Deley & Basil arrived and we set off for the start. With 500 riders taking part we were expecting it to be a bit cramped, but with staggered starts and natural differences in ability & fitness, the field soon thinned out.
We set off initially along the road were Deley almost had an altercation with a confused and impatient looking driver. A bit more road took us around to the outside of the Hope cement works, then onto bridleway and up toward the broken road and the climb to the summit of Mam Tor. By this time the sun was well and truly out and it was coats off.
 |
| Stunning Views From The Broken Road On The Climb Up Mam Tor |
A quick breather at the top and it was a good blast down the other side and the first checkpoint at Edale. Next up was Jagger's Clough which involved the steepest climb of the day, followed by just reward with the long, fun descent of Blackley Clough, also known as Potato Alley. A stiff climb again followed taking us up and across the Snake Pass where unknown to us was the decision point for the 24 miler or the 4 mile extension (we think some clever soul was sat in front of the signs). Anyway despite stopping here to take on water kindly supplied by the army, we still never twigged it, so we ended up doing the extension by default, which is no bad thing seeing it is the superb Lockerbrook descent.
 |
| The top of the climb from Jagger's Clough |
And that's it, we were done, we rode into the car park and were greeted by our medal givers and a goody bag and free Haribos. Screaming hunger did lead me into having a burger from the van, which I could only liken to warm cat food, but needs must... So what should have been a 24 miler plus 4 mile extension came in at 31 miles, we don't mind though, we rode rode some classic must do dark peak trails, met some friendly folk and had a great day.
We'll no doubt do it again next year & see if we can get a few more up for it, will we stick with the 24 miler + extension or step up the the 35 miler? Only time will tell.
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