The Peak District Riding Thread

It'll be lovely and warm and definitely not raining in May, right?

Never in doubt, enjoy!

(Credit to eskay for the link back)

Thanks (and thanks @rhb also). Sadly I have fucked my leg and am struggling to do more than 20 miles at a time at the moment, so I am out.

Damn, sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery

Tinnies and cowbells ftw

Thanks. What I should probably do is take a solid couple of weeks off the bike, but after a full winter and spring of pure shite weather there is no fucking way I’m not getting at least a bit of riding done whilst it’s as glorious as it is.

Sorry to hear!

Tor Divide was great. If it runs next year do recommend. Met lots of sound bike people. Pizza & Pints at the end created a little social and as it was a figure of 8 lots of people made it a social weekend. I however carried on and pushed through the evening after an extended stop and several cups of kickback coffee.

Was glad to have brought the mtb as was knackered at the end. Cutgate was amazing descending in the morning though and did feel for the gravel bikers but plenty made it round overall quicker than I managed. Didn't take a single picture but grabbed below from trail pal and 6am finisher Andrei's insta.

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Sounds amazing!

I believe I can now make that date (15/16th). Not sure how many ‘hitters’ I’ll be able to convince once they see the route.

seen this in sheffield,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226123002912
if anyone is going up and coming down and doesn’t think collecting/meeting me back in london would be too much of a shag let me know! x

Added to ever-growing todo list.

Don't forget the highlight of nearly killing another rider with a gate...

Big Peaks Loop report

I think me, @Po and @jmg412 were all a little surprised the Peaks route on Saturday, which is kind of dumb because it was clear it was going to be hilly. Normally you have hard sections but then the road relaxes so you build in physical and mental space to recover, but not with this one. It was serious business all day long.

The weather was fine fine fine for the first three hours. Lot of the roads were taken from the Hard Day in T’Peaks route, meaning start in Greggs in central Sheffield, Rivelin Valley out and the immediatly shit-got-serious Rails Road to the perfectly named Uhghill. Chilly but the sun was out, wow do the Peaks deliver views.

Along the top it was fresh and expansive, and then to spin and coast down the A57 instead of arriving at Ladybower out of breath from 130rpm spinning. Hit the left at the intersection perfectly and it was such good fun nailing it with the sparkly reservoir to our right. We did our best to not park the bus at the bottom Bamford, tricky to scrub off all that speed and go straight to little ring. Bamford is another wicked climb but the descent was pretty sketchy. After Bamford the climb through Abney was tough but through Hucklow we saw those patchwork fields with greens and browns and purples and it was so, so beautiful. Those 2 miles were “chill”. Took Pindale into Castleton with again great views and an excellent descent.

It started to get a little serious from here. Mam Nick is obviously a 10/10 climb but we got tinkled on the way which was fine if a bit ominous. Mam Nick is maybe not fixie friendly but definitely fixie doable, what a road! From the top went down the Broken Road and as we’d stopped earlier in Hathersage for a quick mechanical and coffee it was straight back up Winnats.

We lucked out. Hardly any traffic, and with only a small whiff of clutch from a police van heading down there were long stretches where it was empty and the gorge was silent and vibrantly green. Once was enough as it was steep and by all accounts choked with traffic but I can only report what I experienced which was that it’s absolutely banging, with scale and scope and drama. A total headline climb. Winnats is awesome.

Regrouping at the top we suddenly saw our breath which was a bad sign. Wherein 2 mins later we got smashed with freezing rain interspersed with hail which was not very welcome on the A road descent. We couldn’t see shit. The rain let off after a while and we struggled to get warm and it wasn’t until we were through Cowlow and to the Top of Pyms Chair that I felt sort of normalish. Which btw Cowlow / Whaley Bridge to Pyms Chair was so good but the Goyt Valley was maybe the highlight of the ride for me. I am bringing my fixie back for that. Smooth roads, gurgling stream at to the left on the ascent, say 3 or 4% one car, no wind, it was on another level good.

Then a slightly unwelcome climb to the Cat and Fiddle. Name me a more iconic A Road pub, I’ll wait.

Back in Whaley Bridge we decided to shave off some distance and elevation - at that point we had done 45 miles and 5.5k feet of climbing and with a later start and being slightly caught out by the road book we wanted to be home in good time. So from Meerbrook we changed it up using Po’s knowledge. He said “we can cut up North and and head more directly East. We'll do The Roaches to get north - which is a great climb! It sort of flattens in the middle and then you disappear around the side.” I’d say this underselling it because it was fucking hard. The sun did come out for the climb and it was hot on our backs but eesh the Roaches has ramps. From there I thought it was going to be easy rolling to Bakewell - which it sort of was - except for Crowdecote which is NOT chill. But after that it felt borderline reasonable getting into Bakewell. I was a bit sad to miss Larkdale’s terrifying descent and brutal ascent but that’s ok because it’s only a small sharp thing and the run into Bakewell was fast and flowy.

In Bakewell we went full audax in the Co-op and we were all feeling the elevation. Po was short on time for his train and JMG was also keen to be at the hotel so they did a reroute up Froggets. However they were both very supportive and said ‘do what you came here to do!’ so I went ahead with the original route. I accidentally missed some kind of steep thing out of Bakewell (booo) and instead went through Hassop with JMG and Po. From there said thanks for everything and bye and I continued to Sir William Hill and then the Dale. Sir William was total garbage, and straight and boring, remarkable only for it’s consistent dinner plate pitch. Then back to Hathersage the Dale for which I was richly rewarded for my effort. The sun came out 2 mins out of Hathersage, I had golden views back over the valley in the evening sun, rainbow over the moor at the top, traffic free the whole way. I crushed it down Ringinglow, sunnies on, looking pro af - but inside a total husk of a shell of a shadow of a person.

Arrived in Sheffield absolutely fucked. JMG and Po were excellent. Joe particularly, he is on terrifyingly good form. So that’s what people mean by ‘race fit’. He jumped on a train home and JMG and I found a vibrant wetherspoons to top it off. You all should give the route a go sometime. I've had my fill of the Peaks, my cup runneth over with hills.

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Here it is for future reference, not sure about the elevation. It's somewhere between 13-15k ft depending on device (palmares?)
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47136733

Epic. Pics to follow? edit pics just appeared!

Goyt Valley was maybe the highlight of the ride for me. I am bringing my fixie back for that. Smooth roads, gurgling stream at to the left on the ascent, say 3 or 4% one car, no wind, it was on another level good.

My fave "local" (ride out from mcr) climb tbh. Beautiful place.

Brutal ride and temp/ weather made it feel a lot more like mid march than June.

I think with some minor tinkering and more b-road you could make this into a much more enjoyable loop.

I loved it all (in my special way) but yeah I did not enjoy being very cold for 3 hours

You’re all nuts.

Well done on getting round. I would have died.

I’d say this underselling it because it was fucking hard

It is a good climb though :D

Yeaah that was hard. Coldest I've been on a bike since riding the Fred Whitton route... in late October. For comparison, the Fred is ~3,700m over 180km and the route Dan completed was nearly 4,700m (acc. to Strava) in 196km. Where he found the appetite for Sir William Hill and the Dale after @jmg412 and I bailed is beyond me.

Shoutout to The Fryery in Whaley Bridge which (I think for all of us) saved the ride.

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Insane riding folks well done
Agreed on the Fryery, though the bakery on the junction is top notch too.
Goyt Valley and the parallel Long Hill are both superb climbs, Goyt having the benefit of very few cars.
Winnats when it’s quiet is stunning so congrats on timing that right as it often is a nightmare!

Somehow I’ve lived for 6 years with a view from upstairs of Holme Moss radio mast about 25km away and
A. Never realised that’s what it was
B. Never ridden to it
Today I fixed both errors of judgement and it was well worth it. 2hr30 round trip, mostly back roads, brief 500m or so on woodhead pass. This was the easy side of Holme Moss

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Nicely done! I'm supposed to be heading up that way next week too

It’s stunning on a decent day, once you go over onto the holmfirth side the views of gods country are unreal

Planning a few days riding at the end of the month.

Any recommendations for a place to stay? Cottage or something, two beds would be nice. Can do Airbnb etc but thought worth checking here.

Any bit of the Peak in mind? More road or MTB?