Three of us from Clifton CC went down to do the Phil and Friends ride in
the Peaks on Sunday. A nice simple plan: 150km, 3 cafe stops. Well, it
is a CTC ride...it would seem wrong not to have three stops!
The ride starts in Stannington on the outskirts of Sheffield, and
then heads in a big loop round the Peak District. Sadly since I
didn't bother to pick up either a route sheet or map, I can't
remember most of where it went!
The route covers Holme Moss, Winnat Pass and various other hills.
Most of it isn't that hard: Winnat's is the only really hard hill
and that isn't acutally that long. It's one of those hills where
having ridden it before is a great help because then you know that
the steep bit actually stops just around the corner!
Last year I was on 39x23 and had to walk a short section. This year
not only did I know when the hill stopped but had a 25 on so made it
up with some grunting. Steve made a point of twiddling past on his
34x25 though 🙁
Those on the 100km ride miss out Winnats, but also miss out Mondale
Head (which isn't that hard a climb) and the excellent cafe stop at the
top. We sat out there for about 40 minutes eating. I can highly recomend
both the scone with cream and jam and the chocolate cake 🙂
The last part of the route can be a little busy in places with August
traffic, but is always pretty and heads back to the start via Snake
Pass.
I saw Martin "MSeries" Newstead's name on a certificate at the finish
but didn't manage to see him before we had to leave.
Top day out. Even the weather wasn't bad. I started in leg + arm warmers
but actually took my leg warmers off for the last section back from
Mondale Head. Most of the CTC lot were in shorts all day of course.
Arthur
--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
The struggle of people against power is the struggle
of memory against forgetting - Milan Kundera