Crew: El Pres, Dunc, TJ, Butty, 3 Sheds, Slim, G, Stunt
Route: Top ‘o Bull Hill Lane, Tea Rooms, Stakeside, Shooters Clough, Errwood, Foxlow Edge, Pym Chair, Jenkin Chapel, Ewrin Lane, Smith Lane, Robin Hood, Oakenbank, Poachers.
Conditions: Cool, muddy in places.
Notes:
Dunc declares a Goyt route and Poachers finish, and no one diagrees 😉
Autumnal temps have finally appeared, and although its not cold, its cool compared to the last few weeks.
A promptish start from Bull Hill lane – leaving the late arriving E’ers to catch up en route to the tea rooms.
Dusk has fallen by the time we reassemble, G did Charity and Bottom of the oven (and beat us all to boot), Butty caught up from behind. A chill wind = the odd extra layer.
It feels like a long time since we did the long descent along the wall into the Goyt – proper mountain biking! First proper dark descent – and first slippy mud too! Luckily only in patches, but enough to notice the lack of grip.
More fun down shooters clough – and the wet section with a layer of the slimy brown stuff on top gets a few folks unexpectedly sideways ;-).
At Errwood the track up to the Shining Tor-Pym Chair ridge looks to have been resurfaced – we didn’t explore how far up that went though..
Some drainage work at Kershaws ditch of doom = slippy slabs, so care just before the steps needed.
Over the stream a long debate about Shrine or Foxlow, eventually we decide to do Foxlow.
It seems we have forgotten both the exact route (we cut a corner and had a super steep push early on), and just how much pushing there is – the track was both partially overgrown and muddy – not much riding until atop the ridge.
The bonus grassy descent to the road was good fun though – despite the dew.
At Pym chair we challenge E-G to do the cheshire corkscrew in reverse whilst we do the traditional “dead mans hill” route – he takes the bait. At the corner of Smith lane he tells us it was great fun with a couple of dabs – the shrubbery sticking out of his pack suggested that they might have been a little more than that ;-).
Tired legs (or bodies in the case of double jabbed Butty) take a little persuading to do Oakenbank – but of course its worth it!
Sarah is back in da house to look after us, the Seven Brothers IPA is an excellent session beer – and goes down very fast (or maybe we had worked up a decent thirst). Special mention for the special Haddock and Chips – best fried fish in a long time!! After some debate on the rather depressing situations in the world, the Vicount of Ribaldry (aka Dunc) and Beelzebug of Badness (aka Butty) take us into more light hearted and humourous territory. Aided by the chewy coffee flavoured pudding stout. Tales of glorious riding in the Pyrenees from G, Butty and TJ test out visual search algorithms on the rest of us …with disappointing/depressing results..younger but uglier!! A discussion on heart rate on acoustic vs E contines online post the ride. In a make of it what you will, G on E, and Stunt and Dunc on acoustic all had the same max heart rate of c160bpm. The debate about fitness and E bikes will continue…
A whisky free night SHOCKER! but a classic TNR 🙂 Not quite a Munro night, but 800+m (2600+ft) of climb was a decent effort.
Torrential rain alerts on phones sting us into action, with rapid riding home in lightish rain we get in ahead of the deluge (21.8mm recorded overnight by Buxton weather). “Quadrophonic” owls reported in Bolly.