It was dry when we set off 9am this morning, but we all had cags on before Bottomhouse. Ipstones edge was thick mist and wind. Even though we still had high spirits we turned down to Oakamoor. 3 of the 9 decided to turn home at ‘the Star’ while the rest carried on to Denstone for coffee and a dry. Optomistic Collin said the sun was about to break through. but a directish route home was proposed taking in Greatgate. We did have to stop for a little mud on the road in a couple of places!!!
11, riders headed out yesterday with eccleshall the destination.
The weather soon turned, and was definitely worse than the forecast indicated, but at least it was pretty mild.
Rich Coates wanted to be back for some scalextric racing on the telly, so we left him at the black lake, and we headed into stone via the downs banks.
As we were getting damper by the minute, we made a unilateral decision to get to the cafe pronto.
A new cafe to us on the high street, I didn’t remember its name, was very welcoming, and they even managed to cope with mr Coghill’s inattentivenous. Good food and coffee served, and some Sunday lunches were drooled over.
Getting back on our steeds we headed out of town for swynnerton, and barlaston, for the drag back up to Meir Heath.
A brief respite up the hill for the railway crossing and we were back on our way.
A regrouping at the windmill, and we decided to come back via foxfield and carsa, then werrington and denford.
It was just as we set off down Grindley lane that the heavy rain kicked in, and continued pretty much all the way home, and the rim brake mafia were cossing a little about a lack of stopping power.
As we came into leek, we started ditching riders as they headed home for a dry and warm up, for a reasonable 53ish miles, with some returnee riders (Stuart and Gareth), and Rosie showing she’s a strong rider yet again.
A good ride folks. No piccys today, PG
Thanks to everyone for the donations, comments and support.
Rob B and myself completed LEJOG on Saturday around mid-day (9 very full days and 2 half days).
Those that followed Strava probably thought I wasn’t having much fun, but that was really my dry sense of humour!
We did have horrible weather and this made it much harder, but it also elevated the sense of achievement.
It was a fantastic experience riding in a straight direction through some cracking countryside, villages, towns and even cities.
We camped as much as health and safety would permit – Bivvy tents and tarps are great…… but only in milder conditions (otherwise just emergency shelters!).
The stats….
1033 miles
81 hrs and 52 mins on the bike
54,000ft of ascent
Mechanicals….
2 bottom brackets
2 rear tyres
6 punctures
1 snapped tubeless valve
1 rear mech retune
Broken rear spoke
Accommodation…..
4 nights camping
3 nights pods
3 nights hotel/B+B (these were genuinely our only options!)
Ailments…
Sore Achilles
Sore knees
A few others that won’t be mentioned
Food highlight…. Dirty mac and cheese!
Lessons….
Garmin routing needs to be double checked (it went through a stone terrace house at one point on a popular “road” route) and battery save is often too slow to react at anything above 10mph.
Don’t need to pack as much food….. lots of places enroute.
Gortex waterproof is essential (not just standard “waterproof”)
Nutrition – give more thought if slightly sensitive to sugar/salt!
A massive thanks to Mr and Mrs B senior for the lift to Lands End and the surprise collection at John O’Groats, and to Amy and Ange for the emergency chamois cream drop off (just over halfway – Halfords and GoOutdoors didn’t stock it for some reason).
Defo do more of this type of thing in the future (in better weather).
Rob was strong as an ox and a great cycling buddy – he seemed to love riding into a head wind so I was kind enough to let him as much as I could
Cheers BR
The longer haul group (of 7) set off yesterday on a route chosen by Dave Mag, destination a cafe in Hathersage to be decided on arrival.
Headed up main thorncliffe for a nice easy warm up for some of the climbing to come,we soon lost our first rider, as Nick Deaville turned for home with a very sick wheel.
Into longnor and crowdecote , across to Flagg and Taddington, before the descent into Millers Dale, to be greeted with a bit more taking in the back lanes to Tideswell.
At least we got some downhill again as we plummeted into Bradwell and the Hope Valley.
At this point the cogmeister hijacked the ride to take us all to a beauty spot for some photos, and to deflect our attention for what he’d got in mind…
It’s not often steep defeats me, but there’s a first time for everything! Let’s just say Bamford Clough is evil!!
From there we dropped down to the deli in Hathersage, just beating the lunch rush, and we’re treated to some great food.
Returning back towards Hassop and Ashford, and the typical climb of Sheldon bank to magpie mine and monyash, before a bit of up for a change, over the rakes to hartington and a quick refreshment stop, where the group split; some coming home direct through Warslow and the mermaid, and a few others meandering their way past the butchers arms and the winking man, before dropping around the back of the roaches and Meerbrook.
A cracking ride.
https://blog.veloviewer.com/bamford-clough-the-steepest…/
What a hill, Peaslows hill, we left one rider doing repetitions, he loved it so much. gorgeous weather, a few new stretches of road, Good food at the cafe with a flustered owner. 53 miles, 5470 feet of climbing and ten in our group today. that equals 54700 feet of climbing. 1.9 everests, a good team effort!
That’s 100 miles in the bag for us, some prep for the Fred Whitton sportive in a month.
Can recommend the Hartleys Garden Centre cafe at Glossop for anyone riding that way. And we were lucky Will found a much nicer route back to avoid the awful A624 to Chapel-en-le-Frith.
There was good representation from Leek based riders at Buxton CC’s Good Friday Hilly TT in Longnor.
We were not treated to stunning conditions like 2023. Instead flooding and hail storms added further challenge to an already tough course.
Mark Lovatt (Congleton CC) put the rest of us all in our places, winning the Vet category and bagging himself a free holiday.
Graham displayed some spectacular acrobatics, snapping his chain on the start line. He recovered well, getting it fixed and setting a time from a later start slot.
Some gravel racing in the diary next and then National Road Bike TT Champs at the end of the month.
22mi hilly TT, road bikes, 2500ft climbing.
Mark Lovatt 1:00:54
Andrew Magnier 1:02:28
William Neill 1:03:27
Aidan Wade 1:05:41
Graham Sargent 1:08:29
Andrew Gibson 1:08:55
On Sunday March the 24th, Leek Cyclists Club once again held its annual Hilly Reliability Ride. The Paul Derbyshire Memorial Reliability is a scenic 52 mile ride through the Peak Distrtict, which takes in some lovely lanes & challenging climbs. The ride started in Leek at 9am and had 27 riders signing on.
The ride was followed by a Buffet & the Clubs Awards presentation at The Den Engels in Leek.
A tough ride (for me) but the buffet , generously provided by Den Engles, awards presentation and a good social afterwards , all made for a good day. Big thanks to the organisers, sponsors and participants.
A small Leek contingent, less a few for illness, rode over and took part in Macclesfield Wheelers reliability yesterday, Circuit of the Edge.
The route certainly made for a tough day with cobbled climbs of Beeston Brow, Bollington and Woodbrook Road, Alderley Edge.
At times a boat would have been more suitable than bike. But a good time was had by all.
Many thanks to Macclesfield Wheelers for the invite. Congleton 65 mile reliability next Sunday for those interested in a good pace and social.
There was a mini exodus from Leek yesterday morning, as quite a few of us went over to Congleton, for the first of their reliability rides.
The day started very misty and damp cool, esp for those that rode out, and continued for the next hour or so.
Some of us decided to stay together as a club group, some went for it, and others decided to jump ship when a faster boat came along.
Following a traditional route around the Cheshire lanes, it was fairly uneventful until Helen decided she’d disappear down a giant pothole on the outskirts of Crewe.
In these days of equality, we all stood around and empathised while she fixed it (just kidding, Stuart did a sterling job getting us back up and running in a few minutes.
It didn’t take long though to chill off again, and the next few miles were spent getting legs moving once more, for the home run back to Congleton.
A brew and biccys awaited us back at base where we sort of wended our various ways back.
Big thanks to congleton Cycling Club for organising it, and credit for me pinching their pics.
