drunkcyclist2

Words by Eric
Crew; Butty, Eric, Three sheds, Mr I, Slim

In the pub; Millions of WNBs.?
Lame excuses; Stunt, already ridden today!
?Route; Rainbow Bridge, Middlewood Way, Sugar Lane, Styperson, Normans Hall, Birchencliff up, Bridleway diversion towards Dale Top, Blakestonedale Moor, Pott Shrigley, Birchencliff down, Styperson again, Canal to Bollington, Ingersley Vale, snicket, Poachers
Conditions; The weatherman was wrong, glorious evening with hints of the Autumn to come.
Stats; Eric seatpost recalcitrance
Offs; Butty and Eric

Is this a first, or could it be a last, a TNR organized wholly on smart appy thingies without the use of computers and forums. This inevitable march of progress gathered the famous five at the Rainbow Bridge for a northerly jaunt.
Three sheds was bemoaning the fact that it has taken 8 weeks to source a bit for his broken seat post and Slim turned up sans 5 to prevent further delays with jammed chains.

After a slight misunderstanding we were all soon tackling the tricky technical climb up through the woods. There hardly seems to be a yard of ground without jumps bumps and berms in there these days but it makes for interesting choices on the climb. Butty chose to attack a near vertical mud bank with his usual gusto; after some delicate counting we were able to continue! Eric’s seatpost let him down, literally but the contact with the ground was less spectacular than last week.

The climb up Birchencliff has been beautifully resurfaced but remains as steep as ever, then onwards and upwards across the crossroads all the way up to Dale Top. – It felt like this might be an evening with no descent at all. After a short sit on Butty’s favourite rock we enjoyed the bumpy descent – speed but not too much is your friend here. The planned second ascent of Blakestonedale was abandoned in favour of reaching the pub for food so it was back down Birchencliff and through the woods in the gathering darkness.

A bit of a sprint along the canal, urban route finding (or lack of it) in Bollington and a last climb up the snicket for a welcome return to a revitalized Poachers. The on screen picture quiz was particularly absorbing.
The march of progress saw 4 Peronis and a lone proper beer as the opening gambit but some were soon working through strong Belgian stuff in urine bottles before moving onto Brandy – progress?

Words by Eric, Pics by El Pres !!!
Crew; Stunt, Butty, TJ, El Pres, PtD, Eric, Three sheds, Dr S

In the pub; Just us.?
Lame excuses; Slim, altitude training in Majorca
Route; BL, OBR, zig but no zag, Teggs either side, Leathers, bridleway to Charity, snicket, Standing Stone, back of Back of the Moon, front of Back of the Moon, track to Nessitt, central descent, Bob’s, Sutton Hall.
Conditions; No showers on us boys !
Stats; Stunt, 1 x puncture, 1x brake caliper fright
Offs; None

Butty the birthday boy had come prepared with everything for a celebration evening; except a route, but everyone seemed happy to head for the forest for what seemed like the first time in a while.
Sides of Teggs were chosen with both being as slippy as each other judging by the tales of daring do in the car park. Whilst Stunt removed his rear Maxle, recently restored using local bike shop heavy engineering, to change a puncture, Butty suggested we had the first birthday snifter of the evening. After about 2 miles it seemed a little early but why not – the chosen birthday spirit was to be flaming Zambuka with a coffee bean in it, accompanied by savoury sausage rolls. Unfortunately our resident pyromanic was unable to get the aforementioned libation alight but what the heck it tasted good with the sausage rolls. Suitably fortified we headed across the dam and up the bridleway climb to Charity Lane.
At the bottom of Charity, as everyone head off for the snicket Stunt investigated a worrying rattle from his rear end and found that the brake caliper was more than a little loose – local bike shops for you !

The clockwise orbit of the moon was a nice variation on a theme with everyone enjoying some slippy singletrack before climbing to the Nessitt viewpoint for “seconds of sausage rolls and sniftah’s”
With Dan’s ashes now scattered close by there was also a second toast, to Dan; Always with us.

There was a nip in the air and lights were useful for the descent, reminding us that whilst the A word is still officially forbidden at this time of year, it is no longer mid-summer.
We all arrived safely at Sutton Hall just before the forecast deluge arrived, all except TJ who seemed to have got lost again and arrived solo.
With the usual range of beers on offer some chose Bass – “reminds me of drinking 30 years ago”. Yes but 30 years ago most beer was c**p.

Words by Eric

Crew; Stunt, Butty, Slim, Dunc, TJ, El Pres, Eric

In the pub; MrI, Dr Simon
Lame excuses; PtD – Whistler Bike Park

Route; BL, Sutton, Ridgehill, Hanging Gate, Plague Stone, Rose and Crown, Eagle and Child, Goldsitch Moss, Shawside, Roach End, Roach Grange, Tittesworth west side, Leek.
Conditions; Coats on and off before we even set off but then we somehow we managed to miss the heavy showers
Stats; None

Offs; None
Notes;
With the summer moving on and T’Tou’er now a distant memory it was time to risk being seen scantily trousered and on road bikes. Road bikes also seem to fit with the current outbreak of rather “sudden” shirts !

Not all our off road roots were forgotten though as we climbed up through Sutton it was every man for himself with no sign of a Peloton. The earlier heavy showers after a couple of dry weeks made the roads super slippery and descents required an element of caution. Over the Hanging Gate, past the Plague Stone and on the plunge to Greenways Bridge Eric met white van man, right shoulder dipped under van man’s door mirror, rear wheel locked and slightly sideways – meant to do that !

Resisting the temptation to call in on Luda at the very smart looking Rose and Crown we headed South to the badlands and out onto the Staffordshire Moorlands. Bleak on a good day but tonight we were treated to some fine evening views although stopping invoked the wrath of the six toed midges. El Pres had planned quite an epic route which required a little debate at the “this is not the main path” sign in order to keep the evenings social programme on track.

The pace quickened around the lesser trodden side of Tittesworth reservoir and we were soon in Leek at Den Engels to meet Mr I, the appointed social secretary for the evening and self styled “low countries a phile” and Dr S who just seemed to stroll along at the right time. Two exotic beers of your choice were quickly consumed although Mr I’s selection of flavoured Gin met mixed reviews. On y’re bike again for a bit of urban to the Bombsite Curry house. Whilst waiting for our table we were pleased to read in Curry News that our chef for the evening had come 50th in the world curry hall of fame or something. Whatever the accolade the food was grand although the Cobra was not Leffe. No time for pud or coffee as we rushed back to Den Engels for last orders.

Whilst elder statesmen did warn the youngsters, they had more beer before realizing that Leek is not Macclesfield. A motivated peloton set off and despite the miles spirits were maintained most of the way.
A good night, and morning!

Words by Eric
Crew; PtD, Stunt, Mr I, Croxy, El Pres, Coley, Butty, Eric

In the pub; Slim.?

Lame excuses; Non submitted

?Route; Buxton New Road, Cat, Danebower, Quarry, Blackclough, 3 Shires, Knar, Sparbent, Cumberland Brook, Standing Stone, RHS, Bob’s Bench, Sutton Hall

Conditions; Warm damp and very midgy in places

Stats; Butty – gear cable

?Offs; Butty- fell in river

Notes;
Bit windy as the peloton set off up Buxton road at what seemed like Tour de France speed. The wind made the climb a little more like hard work than recent ascents but apparently not for Mr I who was off the front again.
What is taken in one direction is given back in the other as the wind assisted the descent of Danebower; there were tales of skittery bits and tank slappers on the dry gravelly track. Across the road the terrain was more suited to Danny MacAskill than us mere mortals but despite a few pushes and shoves everyone emerged grinning – but not as much as after the superb drop down into the valley. The final bit to Three Shires was the first reminder of why this is a “path less trod…” with rocks the size of small cars. The second reminder of paths less trodden was when the crazy decision was taken to tackle the “swampy route” out – it was a little drier than normal but we were aware that this was where Coley had almost disappeared on a previous visit.
The stupid steep climb out at Knar was too much for Butty’s gear cable so we left him behind. Well most of us did, Coley was assigned to help the repair as the rest headed on.

At the regroup at the gate on Cumberland Brook there was much tyre pressure faffing before the descent although if we’d stayed a bit longer we would have witnessed Butty’s head first arrival following a 3600 spin over the ford.
Over Standing Stone and the RHS was just too good to miss on a dry night before a blast down to Bob’s Bench for a PtD birthday tipple. Unfortunately the Scotch was accompanied by that other famous product of the Scottish Highlands – midges, so we drank two hasty toasts and legged it. Slim was due to rendezvous at the bench but it was a case of “ *um” let’s get out of here.
Leffe and Golden something or other in Sutton Hall, with the lowlight of the evening being the bowl of “table salad” ordered by MrI – what’s that about.