We decided to ride some hills in the Peak District. We were initially going for a 50 Miler... having only a rough idea for a possible circuit.
We went out to Derby with my good friend Julian. We were a bit a late and knew that our other buddy, Marc, would be waiting for us. We tried to ride reasonably strongly, but the wind kept playing against us. Finally we mae it at the rendz-vous point where Marc... wasn't. He had already cycled up the road to Duffield. Cued a second chase; but we finally found Marc. The group swerved left in Duffield along the B road to Wirksworth; only this time we had no plan to take the climb to Kirk Ireton as we've done a bit over the lat year or so. Today we were going to Climb to Crich from Wirksworth village, heading North East along the most direct route. As Marc and I were talking shop Julian took the front; we were maybe too comfortable chatting! We took our relays soon after and became quiet. the group was working well. Upon turning at Wirksworth the road appeared *nice* at first; then we hit the climb, a long, snaking ramp around the hill. The beginning was stepp but it soon became more acceptable; except that it lasted, longer than we had anticipated. This was followed by one of the most wonderful downhills again though and, if it hadn't been for some unwanted gravel in places, it could have been perfect. We crossed the A6 and left it seconds after to climb up to Crich, leaving the Derwent valley behind. Upon reaching the top we went back to the A6 to resume our early morning chaing gang activity. We left the A6 in Milford to climb around the hills to Makeney and cut Derby's outskirt. A couple of short climbs later we were on the A6005 starting to cruise home.
A great morning. 60 odd miles at 17.2Mi/h average. Nothing special, but a good work out in good company (getting too fast!) and the type of riding I like. Nice weather too, although a bit windy!!