Words by Alex, pics by Pete
Crew: Slim, El Pres, Butty, TJ, Dunc, Mr I, Stunt
Route: Pete’s Garage, Snickets of Tythy, Rainbow Bridge, Endon House Climb, Lidgetts Lane, Bull Hill Lane, Buxton Road, Tea Rooms, Shining Tor, Undulations to Hoolihey Lane, Lamaload, Rainow, Oakenbank, Home
Conditions: A hint above freezing in Tythy, below zero higher up. Frosty with added ice in places.
Stats:
2 Faffs Failed rear mech (mr I), Skipping rear mech (stunt)
3 Offs (Pete x 2, Mr I x 1)
Notes:
A Monday Bank Holiday ride aligned with the planets (Venus and Neptune apparently), to give clear and cold weather, and lots of riders 🙂
A prompt start at 1pm turned into a mega maintenance session…Mr I discovering his rear mech missing a key piece, and arriving at Pete’s with a shiny new one in his hand (and a void in his wallet) having popped into Evans on the way.
Cake courtesy of El Pres’s mum, and Tea courtesy of Jane (and the new tea pot), meant that everyone else could attend to greasing Maxles and Seatposts, fill water bottles, chat and generally offer unwanted advice to the mech surgery going on.
Unbelievably by 1:45 as we were due to set off Butty remebered that he needed some more air in his tyres (now that they were clean of doggy doo, and all repaired….it had been a long and filthy morning in the Butty household!)
Finally we are away with Dunc leading us on a tour of the Tythy riviera, over a potentially treacherous Rainbow bridge, and up Kerridge (to finally get warm), then up Bull Hill lane (to get really warm!).
Stunt needs some help to tweak his rear cassette, which allows the peleton to regroup, and on up to the Tea rooms.
The Sun is getting lower, the paragliderists are packing away their gear, walkers are heading back to cars, Layers are re-donned as its getting pretty cold.
At the top of the track there is a lot of sheet ice, our slim cameraman takes a minor tumble.
A cautious descent on the down bit of the “down and up” to Shining tor, but its ok, and a stunning sunset reward at the top.
Dunc provides Jura as a fitting sundowner, we watch a buzzard hanging effortlessly on the ridge lift, and Slim gets a couple of shots in before it’s time to move on to keep warm.
As predicted the normally boggy crossing is frozen…but there are still plenty of frozen puddles over said mud…some are strong enough to ride over…others are not! Extreme care is needed on line, and heading into the frosty grass can lead to wheels catching hidden ruts (both Mr I and Slim come a cropper), with a particularly spectacular leaping dismount over a plunging bike from Mr I.
A whisky mini quiz from Butty’s double barreled hip flaskery, the Laphroaig guessed …but the sweet blend beat the contestants..Club Haigh (reminicent of a rusty nail)
Stunning sky, crescent moon with Venus, orange tinge on horizon cloud bank, and light enough to decend by all the way to Hoolihey Lane…just as well as there is an extra fence half way down!
Slow progress through the Lamaload woods as our Cameraman makes the most of having a decent camera on board, Stunt provides welcome further refreshement with Cognac laced hot sweet black coffee.
Crunchy dam descent to a suprisingly muddy path, and the long climb out to test the legs and lungs again.
A parting of the ways in Rainow, two tythy bound boys head back via oakenbank, with the others hoping to find warmth in the Robin Hood.
Top ride and stunning scenery..a great start to 2017!
