Having had this card for a while and my other half and Marj being off wedding dress shopping this was an ideal opportunity to ride it using a Cheadle start, but lying in bed listening to the wind it took a lot of motivation to head out and so it was 7.15 by the time I’d ridden from Tean to Cheadle.
Heading off past JCB and up to Kingsley Moor made me realise how strong the wind was as it all came rather easy despite getting a good soaking on the drag up to Wetley Rocks, after the descent to Deep Hayes and the subsequent pull back up to Rudyard I was making very good time and the road was just starting to busy up as I got to Macc. Heading out through Sutton was beautiful as all the bluebells were out and the rain had put that spring freshness in the air and my thoughts started to turn the forthcoming climb. A bit of a pull over Burntcliffe Top and the dash over the Dane bought me to the climb up to Flash where I briefly toyed with idea of making the easier and slightly longer climb up New Road, but that didn’t seem in the spirit of the thing, in reality it’s only the final couple of hundred metres that are steep but it was long enough.
After a top notch feed for not a lot of cash at Flash Bar the fast descent was slightly marred by a motorist who didn’t really have a good grasp of the physics of cornering. The roller-coaster of Grindon Low was followed by a steep and twisty descent that terminates rather abruptly with the A6 before picking up the joy that is Monsal Trail.
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Hassop Station café was heaving so I bypassed the queue by paying for a cold drink at the shop till for a receipt. Up out of Bakewell ‘The Butts’ is a bit of a pull made trickier today by not having a lot traction due to all the fallen blossom, the same problem was then found on the pull up past the C&C club site, the subsequent descent was a bit soul destroying, I hate have to pedal hard to go downhill but that was the price for my free ride past Rudyard, I also had a bit of a moment as this road is currently absolutely covered in gravel. The wind made the ride over Roystone Common very tough and I was grateful to drop down to the Grange where I took a break.
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Through the valley an angry wasp got stuck between the two lenses of my glasses so I removed them to remove it and ended up holding my glasses on the bars over some rough stuff, more on this later. The work around of the steep and stony track led to some extra climbing before a long drag into the wind to Hatton where I was ten minutes late to eat at The Salt Box so a forecourt lunch it was, getting an odd look off the cashier.
Through Tutbury and there was a brief exchange conducted concerning the chacteristics of cyclists and Audi 4x4 drivers but I continued unperturbed on my slog to Armitage where I shot past the control due to chasing buses so had to backtrack where this cashier looked at me like I’d fell off another planet.
Now another off road section on the Heritage Trail and it was lovely riding right next to the stream before crossing onto Cannock Chase. As I approached the visitor centre the rain began and just as I arrived they locked the café doors 25 minutes early so JayP had to put with a selfie as PoP which revealed why I was getting the strange looks.
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Holding my glasses on the bars at Roystone Grange had shaken a lense out and I’d not noticed!
Along the top of the Chase was superb and I really enjoyed blatting past a few mountain bikers but it was now hammering it down and the descent was a horror, there was so much water running off the hill that the track was a river, I couldn’t see the surface much less avoid the holes and rocks and despite having discs there was no slowing as the surface just flowed under the tyres and so I shot into the car park like a cork from a bottle.
At Great Haywood I noticed my front light wasn’t working and this being a Luxos feared the worst with the amount of water about but a brief fettle showed the vibrations had just knackered the wire and I decided there was enough light to finish. The remaining leg to Totmonslow was really characterised by all the lanes being flooded but by luck I didn’t hit anything in them. Dropping down Breach Lane off Totmonslow was an absolute delight because this was my childhood playground and hurling myself down here shouting ‘Geronimo’ I was suddenly 10 years old again. And so back to where I’d started from a shade under 12 hours ago, a great day on the bike on a stunning route despite the weather.
https://www.strava.com/activities/583469996