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Jacobs ladder 16/05/10
Riders out: Roger, Clone, Dave K, Kiwi, Tyre, Tracey, Gunter, Pands, Hendy, Sex Pest, Brian A, Red Rooster, Andy Cas, Noddy, Sidge, and myself.
Great ride out with some amazing sections and some tough height gain and loss. No flat sections all day, it was either upwards or downwards!
Starting from Castleton, on a chilly cloudy day, we set off up the broken road towards Mam Tor, Clone stopped for a pic with his Ti powered Mam Tor on Mam Tor! The climb certainly got us warmed up but the every direction wind seemed to be a constant headwind.
Once the first stint of climbing was done we had the cracking Rushups Edge descent to come, fast rocky with steps and drops it was sketchy enough to keep you concentrating all the way down but fast and with enough flow to get up some real speed.
Once we regrouped at the bottom, we got rolling again with some more climbing gaining height again; stiff climbs were linked with fast technical descents to keep all on their toes. Red Rooster had a stack on one of the technical downs with some steep drop offs, he was unhurt and was lucky not to get squished by the following riders!
Once at the start of the ladder, a famous climb and descent for good reason, we got going, it really is a punishing climb, technical and draggy, but never overly steep, it punishes the legs and soon had many walking as the gradient became too much. It seems to just go on and on, and sections of hike a bike and riding winched all to the summit.
A quick lunch stop at the top allowed the back markers to catch up, whilst the group recovered and kept out the chilly wind. From the summit the downhill started super steep with large rock slabs to negotiate, then the gradient eases slightly but the difficulty level doesn’t let up, a flat for Pands was soon fixed, and on the last section of the ladder descent Andy Cas had an OTB moment, but was thankfully ok. Both the up and down sections of the ladder are a true test of your mettle and those that didn’t make it all today (myself included) know what to expect for next time.
After a regroup at the bottom of the ladder, we set off on the long road climb up to the top of Mam Tor again for the final sections of the day. Red Rooster had a broken mech hanger from the earlier stack quickly sorted at the bottom.
The climb was a long gruelling drag gaining a lot of height again. Once at the top an energy bar stop before the last off road climbing to the peak of Mam Tor for the final drops of the day, an ace fast and open descent followed and at the bottom by a tough tight and rocky section to negotiate leaving only the final spin back into the village for a well earned pint.
Once back, Hendy, Kiwi and Clone decided they hadn’t had enough of the action so headed for another quick loop taking in the Cavedale descent before calling it a day.
All in it was a typical corker of a route in a truly fantastic part of the country to ride in, fantastically led and with a great bunch out. What’s not to like about that.
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