I woke to a surprising inch of snow this morning and, for about 30 minutes, wondered if I ought to attempt to get to Chesterfield for the event. A quick look at the traffic cameras on traffic England for the M1 showed no snow so off I went but some of the roads, particularly the A38 near Burton, were treacherous until I got north of Derby.
I have ridden here twice before and knew a few of the tracks but the area to the south was new to me. I decided to head north first after clearing t
he centre. After a scrappy start getting into the map scale (I had been riding on 1:15,000 for the previous two days mapping) and making a couple of daft errors I hoovered up the central controls so as to keep my options open at the end. I think perhaps I should have left #6 as the tracks were awful and it involved a stiff climb back out. A particular problem in this area is the horses and the way they churn up some of the tracks. They were everywhere, and I spent a couple of frustrating minutes getting past a particularly large group on a lane going to number 4. I was going to leave number 21 but decided at the last moment to blast up and get it, which lost me about 4 minutes, as I had to double back. My route then took me up on to the moor where I was treated by amazing views in all directions and fast riding with a small tail wind. After being worried I was biting off more that I could chew I started to cover the ground much more quickly and had lots of options on the way in to get the timing right.
In the end I was 3 minutes and 1 second late and in 5thplace, but was very pleased with my ride overall, particularly the way I was climbing the hills. It seems the winter strength training is starting to pay off.
Stats – 55km riding, 1100 metres climbing.
Mark – Did you not spot the bridleway going almost directly from 20 to 21? Or was the decision to go for 21 made last minute as you headed for 22?
You’re not wrong about the horses. The bridleway in the centre of the map marked ‘avoid’ is an epic sea of mud that you literally cannot even pedal downhill.
I would’ve gone the other way round as well. Then you go downhill through 22, and 7. Been held up badly by horses in this area before as well, although I think it’s a good patch.
Yep I knew the bridleway was there but I had initially decided to leave out 21 until the last minute.
I came down that awful bridleway half way down the road from 21 though- bad mistake, I got soaked.
Perhaps if Id left it I would have got to #14 and #17 instead ?