the Peak District, that was the chosen playground for this weekends riding. I had arranged to meet up with Pete and Tom (Bad Brains recruits) for a ready to ride start time of 8.30am at Heatherdene car park near Ladybower Reservoir. Waking to wind and a little rain was not going to curb my motivation for yet another day in the saddle. After a detoured journey through Sheffield I finally found my way back onto a road which I had some recognition of and evetually found myself at Heatherdene. The other two had hit the same problem as me in Sheffield and rolled up a little while later. Our ready to ride time shifted to just before 9.00am.
So off we set, taking a right out of the car park and heading towards the A57 and with a short section of Peak District tarmac we found ourselves heading off left on to a bridleway just next to the Ladybower Inn. This is a steep and rocky ascent which warmed the legs up in no time. The track eventually turns left and still headed skywards we were finding ourselves battling the wind more and more. Good news though...the rain had stopped.
A fairly long climb and it brings you to a superb viewpoint overlooking Ladybower Reservoir and the surrounding beauty of the Peak District. The next section contours for a bit then takes a sharp left for some downhill fun. A steep descent, albeit, through a number of annoying gates lands you right next to Ladybower. Its amazing how quick you can lose your hard earned height.
Our path (or as it happens 'our tarmac track') brought us round to Fairholmes car park just infront of the dam wall. The dam, it must be said, was looking very impressive today with the amount of water it had dropping of its top lip.
We made our way up the West side of Derwent Water and never been far away from very steep hills to climb, we decided to do just that. More or less doubling back on ourselves we took a bridleway UP through Gores Plantation with our sights set on getting to our 'summit point' from where we would take a right turn to lead us to Rowlee Farm and its grintastic downhill. Full of switchbacks and natural berms and near on ear popping descending this can only be described as awesome.
The pleasure is all too soon followed by the pain and that said we were now facing another long rocky climb. The legs were certainly getting some use today. We were now on a track which if followed further than we chose to go would bing you to Hope Cross. We took a right turn, signposted Edale, before you get to the stone cross in the middle of nowhere, a track I have done many a time and a track I love more the more I ride it. Its downhill, its long, its fast. There is an uphill section about midway down, not a rocky one this time which comes as a bit of a treat at this stage of the ride. Then more downhilling as fast as you dare (or as fast as your bike wants to go with hardly any brake pads left!!) right down to a B road near to Nether Booth.
Turning left onto the B road and following it until we got to Townhead Bridge where a left turn brought us to the start of our last major climb of the day. Another rocky climb but the legs were still turning. A switchback eventually took us even higher with the thought in mind that this must be leading to yet another fantastic downhill section, and that it did. We were finally spat out onto tarmac near a place called Aston which left us with a few miles of road work to finish with.
Back at the car, thouroughly pleased with our pace today and a mouthful of fruit gums kindly donated by Tom, I felt a very happy man. What started as a rainy and windy day turned into a dry (ish!) day with even a bit of sun. And whats more, I am feeling fast on the bike...the training is paying off...
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