It was my child-free weekend and yesterday I decided to go out on the mtb (2005 Scott Aspen, upgraded with disc brakes and a Brooks Champion Special). I specifically decided to go and do some of a ride that I used to do in the '90s, when
all of my weekends were child free (and my then mtb - a '93 Diamondback Topanga - was a rigid, rim-braked, black and purple thing).
I wasn't sure I would remember the route, but I still had the page torn out of the Feb '95 edition of Cycling Today with the route on it.
I knew I wasn't up to the full 20 miles. That was hard work even 30 years ago, so I picked what, from memory, was the better half, parking at Foremark Reservoir near Ticknall and heading SE.
It was as hard as I thought it might be, and then some. The rain had made many of the more extreme paths very challenging. One was really just a stream and I ended up walking some of it (Repton Shrubs) which - hilariously - was the only time I fell: my new shoes really don't have enough grip for that much mud.
I was very grateful for the disc brakes. I remember the screaming of my rim brakes in the old days as the mud ripped into the rims but somehow also almost completely failed to slow me down. I held out against hydraulic discs for a long time but they really have their place.
Some of the route was completely unrecognisable but I forgave my memory because it's had a lot on since I last rode there and - unusually - I was riding it counter-clockwise. Which, when I looked at the profile for the ride this morning, was probably a mistake.
I was just over 5 miles in (SW of Bretby Hall) when I realised that I was going to have to cut short the already reduced ride. I'd thought the sun was going down but it was just a huge bank of low cloud in the west. However, it was having the same effect. That and the fact that a particularly challenging section was coming up and I was already feeling tired made me go left instead of right at Moxon's Hill to shave (I estimated) about 45 minutes of the ride.
If I'd known how steep Greysich Lane is I might not have bothered with the short cut. That's the monster that starts at mile 6.4 rising from 253 feet to 499 feet at 7.1 miles. But it was, at least, pretty much downhill all the way thereafter. I hopped on the the A514 and followed it north for a minute or two before turning back into the reservoir paths and the car park.
I was muddy, tired and getting chilly but, perched against the boot of the car, warmed by a flask of tea while watching the sun actually go down over the reservoir, I remembered how much fun a bit of XC is.
The route:
https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2553724