9th; Summer in February
I was in the mood for riding Saturday morning, and upon going on Facebook I had message from Gav of the Mountain Biking in The Peak District Group saying they’d be riding in Edale.
It was only in the car with James (Wilkinson) on the way over I found out it was more of an XC loop, with a mega hill climb out of Edale up to Rushup Edge (the name is ironic). It was a bad sign that we crossed the river right before the start of the climb, cos it meant we couldn’t start from much lower in the valley. Its 215m accent over about 2km to the top of the road, I was leading the attack at a fare pace, but just couldn’t maintain the effort for such a long climb and stopped to push at halfway, a wise choice I thought when I realised I’d only got halfway.
The ridge of Rushup Edge wasn’t easy going either with peat troughs every 10m or so to negotiate, but it wasn’t that wet and there was little wind. The track became more interesting when it rejoined with the footpath and got a bit rockier, however after it dropped into the gully it was a bit too rocky with loose stones everywhere sapping precious speed. The next “green-lane” section was good, quite fast and easy with a few bits to get some small air off.
Gav had his mini radios with him and I went ahead on the DH into Roych Clough, down a steep bed rock section, to set up for taking pictures. James (W) was the fastest down and the fastest to dismount from his bike at the corner. 😆
James (W) and I made the right choice in letting Gav and Greg go first down the next section as they opened the gate giving us a clear run down to the fords. I spotted how good the water spray from the ford looked in the sunshine so Gav and James went back up the slope so I could get some pics. It paid off. With the bright sunlight I could use a fast shutter speed and captured the spray so sharply. Just wish I’d asked them to do it again so I could get a landscape version too.
Unfortunately this rather good DH meant another big long uphill taking us towards Hayfield. 160 metres up and we reached the summit, the next section was quite fun and fast. Then down a long easy decent, which was a bit boring for my liking and didn’t make up for the big climb on the other side back up to Jacob’s Ladder. On the long push up it really felt like summer with plenty of sun and very mild temperature and virtually no wind (except for a certain group member 😉 ).
Unfortunately we arrived at the top of Jacob’s Ladder as all the walkers were heading down for the day, but this give us time for a self timer and some other pictures.
The ride won’t have been complete without some sort of bike problem and on the decent down to the right hand corner on Jacob’s Ladder James’ mech messed up so they spent a while fixing that while I took pictures and did a run down to the next corner and pushed back up, ‘too many cooks’ and all that.
All in all it was a great days riding and it was good to ride something new with a change of scenery. It was also good to get out in such great weather, especially considering only last weekend there was snow on the ground. Will we see any more snow this year, or will it be a warm spring and wet summer like last year… who can say?
Gav said,
Wrote on February 10, 2008 @ 8:53 pm
We all had a sweet day. Good conditions and great company.
You got some great shots Jeff, nice one!
shane said,
Wrote on February 12, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
hay any body up for a ride on monday 18th its half term and im off
James Irwin said,
Wrote on February 13, 2008 @ 9:02 pm
Shane, wish i could ride with you on monday but i have got a uni field trip. Looks like i am back this weekend though to ride, cant wait. Whats the ground like down at the pump track anyone been down recently? Was thinking about riding down there late friday afternoon/night if anyone is interested in joining me.
Jackr said,
Wrote on February 14, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
Jeff or James,
for an English project we are making an extreme sports magazine, and we are thinking of a cover. Can we use the silhouette image of james please? If so, can you send one to bashinfun@hotmail.co.uk in an A4 sized image?
Thanks,
Jack
King_Jeff said,
Wrote on February 14, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
I’d prefer it to be different one, it is probably my best image.
Is this one any good instead? (obviously the full size version):
Cheers,
JrK
Jackr said,
Wrote on February 23, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
yeah that’d be good if that’s altight with you. This is gonna be displayed at 18bikes by the way
King_Jeff said,
Wrote on February 23, 2008 @ 8:58 pm
Can I put massive text across it saying MONKEYSPOON? 😉 ( that wink may not be needed, I can’t work out if I’m joking or not lol )
JrK
Jackr said,
Wrote on February 26, 2008 @ 6:37 pm
Lol. If you really want to, sure as long as it’s at the bottom
King_Jeff said,
Wrote on February 28, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
Did you get my email?
JrK