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jontea
atk
Dragged myself and 16kg of bike/tat around Occasionally Hilly yesterday. I would hate to think what "Fairly Hilly", "Mainly Hilly" or "Entirely Hilly" would look like if the organiser were to devise routes around different adverbs.
There was some sillyness going on with trains, so I ended up ECEing it to a 200. This meant an early start and nudged the climbing up to a little over 3300m . The extra miles were unremarkable, other than taking the broken road off Mam Tor as a nod to the Harder Day in the Peaks ride I bailed on a week earlier and a puncture in the last 5km.
The event itself was well organised with a pleasant route taking us to the eastern edge of the Peaks under Bamford, Stanage and Burbage Edges before heading back down into Hathersage and into a bastard headwind, all the way to Hartington (via several hills, including Abney, Longstone Moor and a 19% out of Bakewell). Climbing into the wind was unpleasant, having to grind away to keep moving on the downhills was worse.
Things did pick up a bit when we finally made the turn and started heading back. A long, straight, sunny descent to Conksbury was very welcome and there were some great views at the top of Monsal Head (could have left the switchbacks up to Cressbrook for another day though...).
Knees were totally fucked by the time I got home and it was a struggle getting up the stairs. Thankfully they're feeling a bit better this morning.