Crew: PTD, El Pres, Butty, TJ, Mr I, Stunt, Coley
Route: BL, Tearooms, Shining Tor, Pym Chair, Corner of the moor, Pym Chair, Deadmans Hill, Blaze Hill, Poachers.
Conditions: Still, cool, very soft and soggy trails
Notes:
National Pie week and our very own Salad Dodger misses out!! Troll teases with pie logistics, but his cunning plan is thwarted by pie shops closing promptly 🙁
TJ comes to the rescue by arriving with team pork pie and english mustard – Hurrah!
A tricky route choice, good weather, but trails wettest we have seen for many a year, and forest fatigue setting in.
Goyt is floated, but PTD suggests the “Yorkshire” North Shore….for many this brings back disturbing memories of of puncture fest carnage from following an over enthusiastic G some years ago…
However faith is had in newer tyres (some even tubeless), and there aren’t many other options so off we go.
Mr I finally has his new TJ lights…and boy are they bright! It may not be a new bike, but they seem to have the same effect as he streaks uphill at a rate of knots!
Lack of wind means a “not unpleasant” ride up to the tea rooms although cold feet, numb bums and overheated heads are the “normal” effects.
Trail conditions are quite unusual in that there is little standing water, but anything not very rocky is super soft!
This makes cleaning the shining tor ascent nigh on impossible as deep patches of fine silty soil cause either spin out or sticktion!
Waterlogged peat at the top.
Pie is ceremonially cut, and pasted with lashings of mustard, while TJ reminices about his first saturday job “dibbing” pies (it remains unclear why they needed such attention!)
Pete is missed (mainly because it’s tricky to cut a pie into 7, and eventually El Pres has to step up to the plate to eat the extra bit!)
North Shore Ho! with a cunning plan to shout “BAR” as you see a waterbar to ensure no punctures or dinged rims.
Well rather like the “TNR do Strictly numbering fiasco” (how hard can it be to number off in turn…impossible!!)
We almost immediately sound like sheep on acid! but amazingly it works!!
When the slabs finally end, the slop begins, with water splashing from underwheel wherever you go. The moor is wide and there are lines to be found, its actually quite fun.
Discussion at Pym Chair on where next, Butty’s for Windgather and Kettleshulme, the rest are not! Compromise is reached by doing the first part of the moor back to the wall, then riding back up the road to Pym Chair again.
My word is this different to how it normally is – bikes and feet are black with peaty mud by the time we hit the tarmac. Justifying our route choice (and how responsible we have been to stick to slabs for most of the ride).
A few cars in the top car park, a whiff of interesting aroma…and a glimpse of something else?? It must be spring!!
Uber fast to Jenkin Chapel before the crew strings out on the ups before the final downs into Bolly.
Sunshine ale and a veggie night!!! Halloumi burgers or Veg sausages all go down rather well, and we must have ridden hard as its three pints before anyone breaks the seal 🙂
Plenty of banter to keep even the most serious of mens health topics lighthearted! Mr I amazes us with his encyolopedic knowledge of Viz characters (Skateboarding Nuns had passed the rest of us by!!)
Rather chilly ride home.