Is the worst of the winter weather now behind us? I even rod
e in shorts and normal shoes this weekend!
Well what a weekend of diverse riding:
First on Friday there was a 2 hour blast around the mountains south of Abergavenny with a friend who is moving there, checking out his riding options. The climb up the ‘Blorenge’ is not for those who shirk a challenge and I’m sure Fraser will be a mountain goat on a bike once it becomes his local haunt. GPS indicated 500 m of climb in two goes!! Great riding though and I’m looking forward to lots of weekends sampling those Welsh delights.
The rest of the weekend was spent in the Peak District at the AGM of our ex-university orienteering, ‘SPLOT’, catching up with old friends, avoiding committee positions and enjoying the hills around Gradbach YHA.
Saturday morning, however, I first had a quick hours ride near Stone on the road bike whilst Holly was at ‘Little Luvvies’ before fighting my way back up through Leek for an afternoon walking. I managed to grab a quick MTB ride from the YHA at dusk. From the photos below you can probably see I was treated to some amazing vistas as the sun slowly set.
My route took me up out of Gradbach on a permissive Bridleway (Oooooh! It was nice to politely put the lady who challenged me about that one right) then down into Wincle before climbing back over to Allgrave and along to Gradbach. It all went horribly wrong, however, when my right pedal fell off about 2 miles from home. It seems to have threaded on the outer edge of the crank. With no phone reception I just pedaled one legged as best I could (very hard work though). With a few decent tools back at the hostel I have managed to get it back in for the time being but I think the crank has had it.
The next morning I took Fraser and his fiance, Kate, on a 3 hour bimbly ride up to the Cat and Fiddle for a hot chocolate returning via Macclesfield Forest and Wincle again. The weather was not so great and there are still some huge snow drifts in places which made riding interesting, but it was nice to be riding in that area and actually take time to enjoy the views, stop and chat and generally enjoy the recreational side of the sport for a change.
I was in Winkle on Saturday, too. Ran there from Dane Bower then had lunch in The Ship, then a walk down to Langley via The Wild Boar, The Hanging Gate, The Leathers Smithy and the St Dunstans!