Cut Gate, North America and the TdeF.

With the worlds greatest cycle race running through part of the Peaks we decided that it would be seriously silly not to make the effort to be there, especially as Dani is a great follower of cycle racing. But how to get close...

Parking at Hetherdene car park at the eastern end of Ladybower reservoir we jumped onto mountain bikes (me on my Kona - see yesterdays post) at about 11am and rode tarmac up to Fairholmes visitor centre, between Ladybower and Upper Derwent reservoir. Then we picked up the gravel track that runs along the eastern side of Derwent and Howden reservoirs, heading north until we reached Slippery Stones, then turning east to Cranberry Clough and the famous Cut Gate track. Obviously this was a good idea as a lot of other mtbers (about 60 at a very conservative estimate) were doing the same.

Now, I've been meaning to ride Cut Gate for a while now, which is a pretty serious track across moorland famed for its singletrack, but one which needs to be in condition to be ridable. The one time that I rode it in the past it was a grim slog, I gave up and turned back halfway and wore out a set of brake pads for good measure. Today despite recent rain the track was thankfully in condition.
The first section was a walk up the side of the clough, then some more walking up steep singletrack, then a short ride followed by some more walking...

Dani pushing up Cranberry Clough.

We were not alone...

When we did get going there was a lot of quite technical rocky sections, great fun of course despite my usual poor line choices...

Pavement cyclist...

Technical!

We finally hit the famed singletrack which draws bikers from miles around, and it was good! Flowing along the hillside, never too steep, never too rough, just great riding down towards Langsett Reservoir and woodland. Here we entered the woods, then turned left and followed a fireroad along to the Woodhead Pass, arriving at about 1.20pm. A short ride found us a decent spot, not too crowded, and we settled down and dug out Dani's Jetboil and our picnic. Except that the piezo-electric starter on the Jetboil wouldn't work and the matches that we managed to scrounge didn't light, so no tea was had with our ham rolls and Aldi Jaffa cakes. Still, it was a nice day and we spent a gentle two hours looking at the promotional vehicles, wondering why so many cars needed to travel in front of the riders and waving at friendly British motorcycle policemen, obviously enjoying a jolly day out, unlike the French Gendarmes on their bikes who looked so very serious...

Happy British coppers.

Chips and cycling - obvious really...

When the Tour finally came through it was all over in a flash, I didn't even get any good photos, but the sight of so many riders in such a tight group is always impressive.

My best Tour photo.

The journey back started with some stiff climbing, and to avoid the worst of it we detoured across the moors on superb trails to the ruins of North America Farm, then turning south to rejoin Cut Gate. Along here the rain finally let loose, fortunately it was a brief shower and the sun soon returned to dry us all off. Heading back towards Slippery Stones saw us riding down terrain that we previously walked up, before hitting fireroads and tarmac on the return to the car.
 

North America - we've ridden there...

Overall we did about 44k of riding. Not a bad day out. And the Kona performed faultlessly.

Paul.