On the Saturday of most recent May bank holiday weekend James and I made a late start and drove down past Matlock-on-sea to Ambergate, near Derby, to check out some of the semi-unofficial tracks in Shining Cliff Woods.

It seems the tracks have been there a few years and are generally tolerated, with most tracks towards the far end of woods. The first track we directed to was quite good with lots embedded rocks and tight steep sections making it very technical with a flatter fun section towards the bottom. With the heat and humidity it was a sweaty push to the top and we only did a few runs of that track. I got the only pictures of the day there, which I think came out quite well considering they were from one run and I sometimes need to shoot loads of runs to get what I want.
Further across the hill, beyond the footpath, there are more tracks starting from a small hill. There were many lines coming off the start point taking you into a small maze of rocky turns that led to two tracks. One was flatter with jumps and fun corners to slide into due the water still lingering on the track. The other went left and more steeply down the hill with some reasonable sized drops and big technical rock garden. I spent many attempts on this giant pedal and bash ring sander, eventually completing a run on the line I was aiming for, well more or less. For some reason when it came to ride back to the car my front middle ring was bent, hmmm.
You can find more info on Ambergate and directions on Gravity Slaves, here.

09-05-23 Ambergate JI+JK, 5 Pictures by Jeff

So as the weather was great me and Jeff headed out for a couple of yours ride in the evening, as it would have been too hot and really busy with walkers during the day. But even at this time it was still roasting, with some people using the great weather to top up their tan at the top of Hagg Tor. With it being almost bone dry I was really enjoying myself putting in many runs of the top section of Hagg Tor, even trying the inside line in the lower woods!

After we had got enough shoots we headed over towards Gores to get some more there. In stark contrast to Hagg Tor the upper sections of Gores were much muddier looked like a 4×4 had been up there. Stopping over half way down to unblock a drainage gully. We did a couple of shoots on Gores but I don’t personally think it has the same level of interest as Hagg Tor. A couple more turns would make it alot more interesting. Which starting us thinking how good It would be if we had a transporter, which meant you could do a full run down Gores and then get transported to the top of Hagg Tor One for the future maybe. Other highlights of ride must have been Jeff using a branch to hold his chain rings and bash guard to cranks. After completely destroying them at Ambergate isn’t it amazing how the Caveman comes out when required.

Earlier this month we were invited to join a small group of DHers to ride some of the bridleways on Blacka Moor on the west side of Sheffield. We initially met up with Eamonn and Josh and we started off on a bridleway that descends through the wood, featuring some embedded gritstone rocks to weave round and ending in a bumpy rooted section, there were quite a few lines to try and quite a few bits to remember. After sessioning this we headed back up and across to the top of another bridleway. It led you in gently enough with swooping singletrack across grass before reaching the moorland and becoming sandy and rocky. Then a sudden corner took you into a gulley with a few large rocks to avoid, after which came swooping turns into the cover of the birch trees and rounded rocks to weave round and over. It was a fun track with a lot of variety, bating us to do more runs. We were joined by ‘Dogman’ (Andy) and Micky who brought along some rather tasty home-made cakes. I got the camera out and did some shots on the moorland section before we started discussing where we’d go next.

After much debating and banter we decided we’d all headed to a bridleway near Bakewell. Near the bottom of the bridleway it crosses over the golf course Situated In fairly open woods it had some nice line options, including natural bermed corners down a gulley Which was very difficult to take as speed due to very tight pedal clearance. Which lead down onto a slightly awkward wall ride to gully line. As much as the bridleway would have been fun on its own it also had a parallel alternative line with some drops, jumps and berms. Nothing too big but enough to provide entertaining. The woodland floor was covered in Bluebells making it interesting going off line, catching Micky out! It was great to ride some place new so thanks to Eamonn, Josh, Andy and Micky for showing us, and providing such good company.

09-05-09 Blacka Moor+Bakewell JI+JK+, 20 Pictures by Jeff

So myself and James W have been riding at Wharncliffe a far bit recently. So I thought it was about time we got Jeff along to do some filming. There have been some new additions and alterations to the tracks at Wharncliffe of late which is great to see.

We were joined by Matt P not long after we entered the woods, once he had found us he took a couple of pictures in-between riding. Although he did complain to me that the sun was catching him out. As it was very sunny one minute then rather overcast the next.

We rode a couple of the old favourites such as “NEMBA” and “The fast course” and even had a quick attempt at “Peatys” and then ventured onto some relatively new stuff. “Dogs” as it is known is abit shorter than most of the other tracks in the woods as it goes almost straight down the hill. I have to say it must be one of my favourite tracks in the woods. Anyway enjoy the video!

09-05-02 Wharncliffe JI+JK+JW+MP, 5 Pictures by Matt P

Irwin and I (Jeff) went out for a medium length ride up onto the ridge from Aston and down to Hope Cross, then turning right down HopeX DH. We sessioned this rocky descent for quite a while and took some pictures on different sections to normal. Unfortunately my flash refused to work when we got down to the corner in the woods, which was frustrating. We looked at and tried quite few lines on the bottom two corners before the Ladybower turn off, but the standard ones were generally the fastest, if a little unadventurous.

I found more parts to add to my collection for ‘Project Trail Bike 2009′, which is a challenge involving building a bike from parts I find on the trails in 2009. So far I have two orange pedal reflectors (so I’ll be able to legally ride it on the road at night ), half a (genuine) Shimano large front ring guard and the end part of a large metal brake lever (obviously another victim of a tumble on HopeX DH). Inner tubes should be easy to find, although unpunctured maybe a little harder. If anyone finds a frame on a local trail (preferably green and with air rear shock) let me know.

After that we went up the fire-road to Wooler Knoll on the ridge and then rode Brinks Road, which was quite dry and dusty and more smoothed out than previously. It was a very quite day, despite good weather, we saw more motor bikers than mountain bikers and unusually few walkers were out.

09-04-25 HopeX+Brinks Road JI+JK, 13 Pictures by Jeff

As some of you may be aware myself, Jeff and Shane are members of Ride the Peak. ‘What is Ride the Peak?’ I hear you say.

“Ride the Peak is a group open to all with like-minded interests in maintaining and enhancing mountain biking in the Peak District”

A couple of weeks ago now we went to carry out some basic maintenance to the Derwent Edge bridleway. There was only a small group of the four of us. With Martin Sharp, who works for the Peak Park, keeping us in line we were able to achieve what we set out to do. Which was to unblock the ‘bomb holes’ so that they could start to dry out.

Anyone who has ever ridden there before will know that in the winter it get extremely muddy. Which leads to users (not just cyclists) trying to find alternative routes around the worst bits. But even in the summer some of the deeper bomb holes just don’t dry out. So we were trying to drain some of the largest puddles/pools of water. Although we did leave a couple as there were full of tadpoles.

We (Ride the Peak) are going to be carrying out more 'quick fixes' to other bridleways so stay tuned for more updates in the future.

09-04-21 Derwent Edge Maintenance, 5 Pictures by Jeff