"In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lovers voice fires the mountainside"
Destination - Peak District
Objective - Scale and conquer Jacobs Ladder
Formation - 9 man assault
Just as with all things planned to within an inch of perfection and military precision, this ride was always doomed to fail. For some inexplicable reason whenever there is more than five riders in a group, essential parts of your mountain machine seem to fail, disintegrate, dissolve.
It almost feels like it happens in a billigerent way, like your bike has developed A.I.
Well this was certainly the case with Sunday's ride.
Setting off under a mundane sky in search of the best descent the Peak District has to offer, the infamous Jacobs Ladder. We departed from our obscure (under the bypass) parking spot, due to the dedicated Hayfield Car Park being over subscribed and scuttled off through the winding roads towards the Pennine Bridleway.
Burning Calf's. Wrought chest....... a sign of things to come?
Not so fast!
One seized pedal and a quick detour to the Village Store almost saw an early casualty, but three quick swigs of WD40 saw it right (I know, it's bike killer) and five became nine again.
Climbing out towards the shooting huts along the ancient byway we have time to regroup and enjoy the Singletrack to the top as we aim high over Middle Moor, now the tempo has eased and breath regained new faces are accepted and chat ensues of what's to come.
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| Marepiece Wood |
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| "Ready" dropping in |
Navigating right towards Farlands Booth and Marepiece Wood we see various states of disengaged gears, bent hangers and unusual grimaces as we partake in some fast, uber fun sketchy descent work. Dropping effortlessly past Kinder Reservoir we take in the wet cobbled run at an unusually high pace, following lines set down from the man in front, no time for brakes it's a dedicated run of trust!
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| Drop by Kinder Reservoir |
Wham! Were spat out onto a tarmac road, faces alight with the first real taste of what's to come. No respite though, straight into an upward heave on a trajectory titled "Jacobs" up onto Broad Clough, this is grassy steep track intermittently cut with the remnants of double track, stone laid down years before which serves no purpose other than to guide the weary in the direction they need to be. As we top out we can scan the entire breadth of the opposing valley and its enormity is staggering. We regroup and exchange views on how many dabs were taken, if any, on the sublime climb.
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| Atop Broad Clough |
A few smart gels and boiled sweets later, we forge ahead with visions of the "golden path" and embrace a fantastic singletrack odyssey which winds around Kinderlow End over and out to Edale Cross, super dry and techy, a marvel to ride spitting our platoon to the foot of the ascent to the top of the ladder.
From here it is all guts and garters as we hoof and power up the muddy, wet, slippy, loose rock and track. Over babies heads and toiling with the effort the group splits.
Regroup and start over.
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| Singletrack Edale Cross |
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| Nearly there.... |
"And as I Walked along the supposed Golden Path
I was trembling with fear all the lions and wizards yet to come"
Excitement. Tension. Adrenaline.
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| Jacobs Ladder Anyone? |
All too much for half of the nine, well almost half.
Gopro camera at the ready four of us bring up the rear which starts with a full on assault of the senses, a little too full on for one of the Collective as he takes an early dive O'er Angies!
The rest are in full flight, dropping, cutting, drifting.Taking air and cutting a path through impossible off camber slabs and gaps. This really is one of the best sections of trail in the UK, get it right and it's Alpine in feel, get it wrong and..... well it wouldn't be good.
A section passes through a wooden gate we regroup and take on the next full on section of loose rock and cut fast hillside trail.
Trail 1
Rider Nil
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| Mech Ripping Time |
Sram X9 rear mechs prove no match for 7000 year old rock strewn down this hillside as one of our number see's his entire mech ripped from his frame, sulky faces and an end to the "fun" follow as we discuss singlespeed options and Ray Mears style survival techniques.
Mech removal and chain stuffed in Camelbak prove most favourable with a trip to Edale marking the end of Mike's ride.
From here Dickie and I discuss and examine the GoPro camera which has gotten itself all perplexed at taking over a 1000 pictures and some video...... this too gets stuffed in the Camelbak.
On the continued Bridleway down to Edale we come across more of our number in dire straits, this time a puncture. Always a comedy of errors when two or more people get involved with a simple task....... ten minutes later and three frustrated riders see the tyre inflated to 40psi, within seconds the incorrectly seated Continental Rubber Queen pings off the rim birthing a huge inner tube which quickly expands, almost engulfing the bike in the process.
Shouts of "Quick let it down!" aren't heeded. Explosion. Matt is almost thrown to the dry stone wall on the other side of the trail, the bemused look on his face say's it all. Laughs and screams of "Medic!" in a Vietnam war film kinda way go down well and we finish up and get on our way.
No-Speed Mike is towed to town and our platoon head from Edale/Barber Booth leaving him drowning his sorrows at the local pub for a lonely taxi ride bike to Hayfield.
Our ascent starts well, Mam Nick is an awful road climb at best, our grippy tyres really aren't the first choice and we meander to our next climb. Taking a right onto Chapel Gate path we splinter again, firstly to accommodate the series of farm gates and secondly as each of our troops abilities start to wane, urgency takes hold as "Ready" needs to start his night shift as Crew Commander for Bolton Fire Service, it's apparent he is on a fine schedule. So with our nine being spread in a thin line across the traverse it as it this point where Dickie's seatpost decides to explode!
Nuts. Bolts. Cursing. Cold.
We fall behind to remedy, the pack moves on, one of the new faces passes by and continues. Eight weeks off the bike and on a big ride like this isn't enviable. Hurt. Loss of concentration. Hunger.
We top out and regroup, the Bridleway takes us to Roych Clough which raises the smile level all the way to eleven!
Uber techy track catapulting each of us off our line competing for dominance in the Trail vs Bike category. We sustain our delivery and pulsate down the line.
Slabs. Drops. Dirt. Water. Fast. Ebb. Flow.
We contour around the Roych making our way to Mount Famine, people are tired and making bad decisions. Cramp takes a hold of some and sheer calorie consumption on others. What should have been a tough fifteen mile loop in the Peaks on a good day has turned into a war of attrition.
"Good things, when short, are twice as good"
Baltasar Gracian
Doggedly we carry on, still with a "no dab" mentality.
Almost the last section, it's been a slog but it's also been incredible, exhilarating, a rush.
We all make the return leg down a superb fast track back into Hayfield, at almost 40 mph even the most drained of us are smiling.
Dirty.
Exhausted.
All together
wait a minute.....
Mike??
Riders on the day
DickieRiders on the day
Mike
Ready
Andy
Scott
Matt
Darren
Dean
Rick (Me)
Route - Hayfield - Jacobs Ladder - Roych Clough - Hayfield
Distance - 15 miles
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