Words by Eric
Crew; Stunt, Mr I, Eric
In the pub; Gee.
Lame excuses; B ride options available
Route; Cock and Pheasant in Bolly, Poachers, Blaze Hill, Pike Road, Bank Lane, Jenkin Chapel, Pym Chair, The Street, forest below Hoo Moor, Madscar Farm, Taxal ford, Shawcross Hall, Long Lane round Ladder Hill, Old Road to White Hall Centre, Roman Road to Buxton, Old Buxton Road to Derbyshire Bridge, Cat, Bottom o’ t’ Oven, Standing Stone, Sutton Hall.
Conditions; The perfect evening for a big ride.
Stats; Mr I, – rear mech kicking required.
Offs; Eric, clipped in thud to the ground. Root cause was failure of the sole of the £12.99 Aldi shoe which disappointingly only lasted three years.
Notes;
Two threads on the forum lead to the long awaited a) and b) rides. Stunt, Mr I and Eric joined up for the “big one”. There was some trepidation about whether the Buxton Circuit classic would be as classic done in reverse but there was only one way to find out.
Stunt and Eric slogged up Blaze Hill whilst Mr I lived up to his superhero billing with a sprint up Hurdsfield Road for a rendezvous at Four Lane Ends. Bank Lane proved to be as wet as the proverbial otters pocket despite the surrounding area being bone dry; however everyone arrived at the bottom alive this time, damp bottoms and big grins (if you can print that). ?Up and over Pym’s Chair and down the sneaky singletrack to the forest entrance – so far so good. The normal slog through the forest is so much better south to north as the gentle gradient makes for a big ring blast. Sadly no one risked the ford at Taxal before Shallcross Hall which became a technical climb. The start of the climb up Long Lane to Ladder Hill was a bit too steep in places and saw Eric’s soleless fall, being at the back no one heard the dull thud. The traverse round Ladder Hill gave fine evening views over Combs Reservoir. There was some trepidation about the start of the climb over to Wythen Lache but again it proved to be a do-able techy climb. Top speeds were recorded on the tarmac descent from the Wainstones to the outdoor centre as leaden legs started to set in. Our resident superhero had run out of water so we made a brief detour in Buxton for a top up, and despite a minor wrong slot in the suburbs were soon on the long climb out onto the old road. It may have been a road once but it is more a heap of stones now; the last couple of hundred yards of loose rock just too much for the legs at that time of night.
Compared to the rest of the ride the climb out from Derbyshire Bridge to the Cat was gentle. With time moving faster than we were it was a flat out blast from the Cat to Sutton Hall in time for food, although there was just time for a quick sideways glance at the Short Eared Owl hunting over the Tearooms.
So is it worth going clockwise ? The answer is yes, for whilst it has some gritty climbs there are some very rewarding descents, and at 3 hours 45 mins it makes for a good big spin. Given a little more time it could also be ended with any one of the standard “forest finishes”