Coefficient Of Friction = Zero

The one where there were two offs, a broken rear mech, mud with a zero coefficient of friction & the best chips in the world ever!

Ride Date: 01/06/2014

Distance: 9 miles

Route: Linacre> Old Brampton> Wigley.

Weather: Temperature - 18°C, Wind - 7mph →, Humidity - 85%, Conditions - Sunny.

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt & Tony

Beer: Farmer's Blonde by Bradfield Brewery at The Gate Inn Cutthorpe. 

A brand new ride from the book, although Matt had warned me it might be a bit tame, but being local he had sussed out some extra fun stuff to add in. We met at 9am in the car park for Linacre Reservoirs, notable absentees were Howard (pre arranged plans), Basil (Biking with the wife) & Carro (pissed up).

First off we headed for the woods and the ride down to the reservoirs, it started off steady enough but soon we were into some of the slipperiest mud on earth, no doubt down to the previous week's rain. I was the first casualty, sliding into a rut and going over the bars, only minor injuries plus a good coating of grey mud. Once at the reservoirs it was generally dry on fast riding paths down to the road.

A short climb on tarmac lead us to a bridleway that Matt had been tipped off about and it did not disappoint, being a fast rocky, root blast, not too wet either, but as with all things would be even better when fully dry. Next up was a long, but not too steep climb back up to Wigley and to the start of the next descent

This ended up being more mud fun, making for difficult and testing riding as it wound it's way down the valley, but lots of fun slip, sliding down and around corners. Most of us stalled at some point and Matt lost it in some particularly nasty, axle deep sludge. A nice handy brook at the bottom provided a good way of cleaning down the bikes a bit. It was here that Matt noticed his rear derailleur hanging off, further investigation found  it had snapped off where it attaches to the hanger, also the bolt look sheared off too. 

The snapped off rear mech

Despite attempts to change to a single speed system, it wouldn't allow for the rear end movement so, even though we had the best and majority of riding still to come we had to concede and head back to base. Luckily we weren't too far away and most was downhill on tarmac.

Dave goes over the wall

It didn't take us long to get back to the car park, giving us just enough time to clean up, pack up and get the the pub 5 minutes before opening time. After the revelation of the Derwent Water Arms at Calver, Matt has gone even further this time by taking us to The gate Inn at Cutthorpe. Whatever you thought you knew before, these ARE the best chips in the world. We left 4 spotless plates, all washed down with a very nice local ale in the glorious sunshine.

Local Buffalo Burger, Homemade Chips & Local Ale. Perfect!

Will we ride this one again? I reckon so, hopefully on drier trails, at least to see the the biggest part of the ride that we missed out on & to eat at The Gate Inn again! Even though we had to cut this one short, everyone agreed these things can't be helped and it was still great to be out in fantastic weather on some new trails in a very nice area.

See you on the next ride, Ambergate next time, hopefully all four descents for the first time ever!

View the ride on Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/333545240/151189

3D view of the terrain

Carro's Video Update

A very short update containing a couple of videos that Carro captured on recent rides with his Garmin Virb.  I've also added 3D terrain images for all the rides to the beginning of the year, I'll add the rest going back in the near future

The first one is set on Ward's Lane near King's Newton on the Ticknall ride & involves Howard falling foul to a nasty rut.

The second clip is on the new section just after the bike park, we had ridden it once and were heading back for a second go, which Carro was going to film us all going over the jump (Video to come soon), the incident happened as Ryan & Tony were trying to find the correct spot for filming to take place.

!!Warning - Contains some strong language after impact!!

Springtime In Ticknall

The one where there was some weapons grade faffing, some new faces, some old faces & Howard went over the bars.

Ride Date: 04/05/2014

Distance: 15 miles

Route: Ticknall> King's Newton> Ingleby.

Weather: Temperature - 12°C, Wind - 10mph ↑, Humidity - 70%, Conditions - Sunny.

Riders : Jake, Deley, Dan, Basil, Howard, Carro, Scott & Matt S

Beer: Timothy Taylor Landlord

We had a 09:30 meet at Ticknall village hall for what was to be a change in direction from our recent rides, with this one being a more rolling cross country type affair. the group consisted of the usual regulars, with a return of Deley's lad Scott for his first proper ride with us & a debut from Basil's lad, Matt. We set off almost bang on the half hour and made good pace across the first fields towards Robin's Wood at was at this point my phone started ringing, after wrestling with my bag and answering it I was greeted with "Ay up Serry, I thought you were setting off at 9:30", "We did, and it's now 9:37" I replied. After a few more exchanges and some heckling from the group, myself & Dan set off back to the car park to meet legend & chief faffer, Carro! (Which highlights why you need to let either myself or the ride leader know you are coming on a ride! We could have been a lot further away, or even changed venue) What with with him setting up and a further small delay for Basil to come back and wind his driver's side window up, we were finally underway proper about 20 mins late.
First port of call was Robin's Wood for a bit of technical downhill, Dan was our first casualty, falling foul of the jumps at the bottom, but not put off, he tried them again with greater success. Matt captured the second go on video, so I'll add it on here when it's on Youtube.

Next up were the fast and dry bridleways over towards King's Newton, then back on the green lane, it was here we had our 2nd incident, after some back wheel tunnel vision most of us ended up in a deep rut, some managed to wriggle out of it, however Howard went over the bars, no injuries luckily, and we believe Carro has it on video, again it'll be added here if & when he uploads it.

After passing back past the north end of Robin's wood we were taken on a new section passing close to the Trent along some very sketchy singletrack, with some parts requiring bike carrying and culminating at Anchor Church Caves near Ingleby, time for a quick refuel and a history lesson from Matt.

Howard celebrating after "Draining the Lizard" and on a historical  site too, shame on him!

We then headed towards Foremarke School and through the ground taking the long but not unpleasant climb up through Heath wood, lovely Bluebells I might add, and a field of cows that some of the "townies" were scared of! Once at the road we made a group decision to make it beer time and headed back down the tarmac to the Staff of Life. Once at the pub Basil showed great generosity by buying everyone's drink for them.

In the beer garden having a well earned pint

A good ride out all in, although we ended up cutting it short due to the various hiccups and delays. Also a big thumbs up to Scott, who completed his longest ever ride, rode everything that was thrown at him & kept pace with us all the way round, a solid debut from Matt &  it's great to see Carro back out on a proper ride with us again, it's been a long time coming.

Finally a well done to Howard, who won the bottle of beer, the actual amount of climbing over the first 10 rides was 19326 feet, his answer was 17850. 

See you on the next ride, where ever it may be, no excuse now the dry trails & warm weather are here!

2D Gradien Profile

3D view of the terrain

View the ride on Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/333545240/151189

On The Edge

The one where we rode 3 edges, I fell off, Matt's chainrings almost did, we negotiated some cows & had a top dinner.

Ride Date: 06/04/2014

Distance: 19 miles

Route: Froggatt > Eyam> Calver.

Weather: Temperature - 12°C, Wind - 37mph ↑, Humidity - 93%, Conditions - Cloudy.

Riders : Jake, Deley & Matt

Down to three again due to Birthdays, Paint balling & various other reasons, however we were not put off and Matt suggested starting from a different spot & trying some classic peak district trails before dropping back down to loop round Eyam & Calver. So we set off a couple of miles up the hill above Froggatt and parked up in a little lay by. Despite a forecast of heavy rain it was quite pleasant but slightly overcast as we started a steady climb up the road, turning off onto the first bridleway opposite the desolate Grouse pub. The bridleway continued to climb steadily up to the peak, where we turned and headed south along white edge for a good 3 miles of tough, rocky single track fun, which despite a few puddles & soft spots wasn't too bad given the heavy rain during the last week. It was along here that I had my "incident", still not sure what caused it, at the time I thought I'd clipped a rock, but the slo-mo seems inconclusive, either way I got some bruised ribs for my trouble.
At the end of the trail we crossed the road and headed West along Baslow edge, stopping for a refuel and drink at the Wellington Monument.

Deley admiring the Wellington Monument

We carried on along Baslow edge and after more rocky trail and negotiating some Highland Cattle we turned North again and rode along the 3rd and final edge, this one being Curbar, it's a cheeky trail at the moment, but due to be made into an official bridleway soon. Matt told us that his Thursday night crew like to race along these edges, and at night too. As we reached the end of Curbar edge, close to our cars we ran into a group of Satan's spawn (walkers) who looked to be heading down our next cheeky route, so we opted for the road down to Calver followed by a steep off road climb up to the top of the 2nd Eyam descent, this was it's usual fast action, I even shaved over a minute off my best time. A spot of refreshment at the bottom near the Roman Spring and we were off again up what is probably the 2nd steepest hill ever, after Starkholmes to Riber. This eventually took us to the top of Black Harry Lane, we usually climb this, but not this time, we rode it downhill for a change and round the sharp left at the bottom and onto Coombs Dale, again the reverse of our usual ride. This was a roller coaster 2 mile blast over undulating terrain giving almost constant opportunity for jumping, it also throws in a couple of loose, sketchy corners and a stream for added fun. This took us back into Calver, where we just had the road climb back up to the cars, which wasn't too bad (although it felt bad at the time!). The ride ended up being a nice 19 miles, it was hard going in some places though, due to the rough terrain and some very strong winds. It's a very good ride though, it would be nice to go back when the trails are dry and it flows a lot better.

Matt on Baslow Edge

We then headed to the Derwent Water Arms for a very well earned dinner & a pint, Matt & Deley going for the famous Pie, I opted for the char-grilled gammon, couldn't fault it again, service was brill, the food was superb! All washed down with a pint of Chatsworth Gold.

2D Elevation

3D View of the terrain

You may or may not know that this was our 10th weekend ride since we started back in September, we've done some great new stuff as well as some old favorites. So in order to celebrate this anniversary we have a small competition to win a semi-rare bottle of Status Quo's very own beer called Piledriver and made by the famous Wychwood brewery, it doesn't get anymore rock n' roll than that, does it?

To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is guess how many feet we have climbed in total over the 10 rides based on what my Endomondo says, I've hidden the workouts in question so you can't cheat, the nearest wins. You must either put your answer in the comments below or email it to me, you can only enter once, your first answer counts and it's only open to those that have been out riding with us at some point (even if it was a while back). Best of luck.

You could win a bottle of this!

View the ride on Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/319094225/151189

The Three Musketeers

The one where, Basil had his new bike & Deley's front hub failed.

Ride Date: 23/03/2014

Route: Ambergate Woods > Black Rocks > Crich Chase.

Weather: Temperature - 4°C, Wind - 15mph →, Humidity - 86%, Conditions - Cloudy.

Riders : Jake, Deley & Basil

Only three this time on a cool morning in Ambergate. We met, as usual in the Hurt Arms car park, where Basil unveiled his new beast to us, and very nice it is too! With a fairly stiff wind we opted to climb up through Ambergate woods (I found out the road was slightly quicker on a recent ride). We set off at a good pace and were soon passing the cottages where we normally enter the woods, however this time we continued on up the road right up to the tip of the wood.
This is a new section, that starts off with some twisty single track with plenty of roots & rocks and then it opens out slightly into a full on blast with lots of options for a bit of air via various roots & stones. This brings you out on the fire road we would normally use with the short sharp climb up to the ridge.
The ridge was in pretty good shape, mostly dry, this time we passed the usual point where we start the descent and carried on to another new section, this one is better flowing and longer than the previous one and joins up with the same bottom section. It's known locally as "Millstone" presumably named after the millstone that Deley spotted part way down.

The view from the top of the Millstone Descent

Black Rocks provided it's usual standard of fun, with only one fallen tree blocking the trail, once down at the canal we discussed the options and decided to do some exploring in Crich Chase.
We started off with the same top section we had ridden last time, but kept left where the trail split, this turned out to be the full official "Bishop's Pointy Finger" Descent and it was pretty good, throwing up loads of options and good technical stuff ultimately joining up where our previous ride did with just the last few hundred metres left to the canal, it was in this clearing we met a random bearded bloke on a lapiere, who said that despite several years riding the area, he was still finding new trails & proceeded to point out several options from where we were stood.
I'm really starting to like Crich Chase, with just under a mile of descent and more trails than you can shake a stick at, I think it's got lot's more to offer us in the future and the climb up there is probably the easiest of the 4.

2D Gradient Profile

3D View of the terrain

Anyway, that's about it, the next ride will be our 10th weekend ride, so look out for a competition in the next blog entry.

View the ride on Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/312344014/151189

A Change Of Plan

The one where, It was windy, muddy, Tony lost a shoe & Ballcross took several victims

Ride Date: 23/02/2014

Route: Bakewell>Haddon>Youlgrave>Birchover>Daley Dale>Chatsworth

Weather: Temperature - 9°C, Wind - 16mph ↑, Humidity - 78%, Conditions - Cloudy.

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt, Basil, Howard & Tony

After a trip "down south" to Cannock a few weeks back & a first meeting with the legendary Bear, we were back in the peak district again. the original plan was to ride north from Bakewell towards Calver, but some on the fly decision making saw us ride most of the Rowsley Loop from the White Peak book.

Things started off steady enough with a warm up along the Monsall trail and then around the back of Haddon to the A6. Matt was on his new winter hard tail and was making a few tweaks along the way, we were also stung with a few punctures along this first section. It was during a puncture repair session our plans changed and we opted to head out towards Youlgrave.
It wasn't too bad a climb up the old bridleway, but once on the muddy fields at the top it became very hard going with heavy mud and a strong headwind. Once we made our way through it was time for the first tricky descent of the day, with a series of tricky, rocky switchbacks down to the River Lathkill, this gave Howard a chance to try out his new dropper seatpost. Not sure of many incidents, my descent went ok apart from drifting into a fence right at the end.

The River Lathkill, a scenic spot for some much needed refuelling

After a short rest we set off again, climbing up into Youlgrave village and down over the River Bradford and up and over the fields, which despite the recent rain was a lot less muddy than in August 2012. A bit of road work took us to Birchover, past the Druid's Inn and on to a long fast track all the way to Darley Dale. A slight error on my part took us the wrong direction and needing to either ride back up the hill we'd just ridden down, or take a cheeky footpath shortcut back to the road. "You'll be fine, there's only a couple of streams to cross" said some random bloke with a dog. It all started well with some nice twisty singletrack in and out of the trees, however it didn't last with several offs, bikes stuck in axle deep mud & at one point Tony losing a shoe to the bog monster (he managed to wrestle it back though). We needed Haribo & Worms after that to recover. 

In the muddy woods near Darley Dale

A short a ride took us back up to the A6, followed by a blast to Rowsley (I think the wind might have at last been with us at this point). It was here we decided on our next plan of action, which were either back to Bakewell by road or Chatsworth via road or offroad, culminating in the famous Ballcross descent. We opted for the middle route and followed the road to Chatsworth, then left through Edensor and up the rough track towards Bakewell, this proved, for many to be the killer climb at the end of a very tough ride, but we all made it up in one piece.
That just left the final descent through the woods, this did not disappoint, with all the usual roots, gulleys & rocks made all the more sketchy with a healthy dose of mud. There were plenty of incidents on the way down for most, with Tony's over the bars being the most spectacular.

"Have A Banana"  Tony takes on some energy

That was it, just over 20 miles of hard winter fun, which we finished off with a walk down into Bakewell for a well earned pint in the Queens Arms, unfortunately basil couldn't join us, but was very generous in contributing towards the beer fund!

3D View of the terrain

View the ride on Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/300009640/151189

A Frosty Start To The Year

Ride Date: 12/01/2014

Location: Duffield

Riders : Jake, Deley, Matt, Basil & Tony

The first ride of the year gave us a very cold & frosty start at the church in Duffield, with everyone wrapped up warm, we set off up the steps onto the plateau between Duffield & Coxbench where we rode across crisp fields in bright winter sunshine just having to avoid some deep tractor ruts on the way to the first descent at the top of Coxbench Woods.

The frosty start at Duffield Church

We rode the trail down through the woods , (where Felly definitely did not fall off a few years back), all the way down to the tarmac and then set off exploring back in the woods along some new trails that ran perilously close to shear drops, this new trail takes you right down to the main road, and with a bit of fine tuning will become standard on this ride.
Then after a quick blast down the short bridleway to Derby Road we rode a nice and pleasant climb on singletrack and fire road all the way to the peak of Morley Woods. I have to admit I was hoping for something similar to Shining Cliff once at the top, but we found it to be proper downhill stuff with some fairly hefty jumps & drops, so after making our excuses to the lad's up there on their 200mm+ travel bikes we set off down the less aggro side of the trail and on to another new section, Castle Wood. A bit of a cheeky one this, but it was reasonable fun, with the mud and we were soon back down on Derby Road again.

Looking towards Coxbench over the frosty fields

The rest of the ride was the usual Belper circuit written about elsewhere in the blog, we did have to avoid the farmyard on Wyver Lane due to the standard winter axle deep cow shit. Longwalls lane was it's usual good self & we made a more direct diversion to The Chevin avoiding the big & frankly pointless climb to Hazlewood. 
Once on The Chevin it was very hard going on the climb to the top with plenty of mud and also Sunday Ramblers, or Satan's Spawn as Matt calls them. This ended up being a telling blow for some of us and myself and a few others must have just rolled down the other side and down into Milford, we briefly lost Tony for the ride back to the carpark, but found him already there and feeling very under the weather.
It had been a hard ride due to the conditions and also my slight underestimation of the distance with it coming in at nearly 20 miles! Might be worth trying again in the summer when the trails are dusty.

That left a visit to the Bridge Inn to warm up and have a well deserved pint.

3D View of the terrain

Below is a first edit of the video, this may get replaced with a different one once me & Tony have exchanged our versions. There is also a bonus out takes video!

View the ride on Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/285407061/151189