Last Thursday ride of 2008

Ice, Ice Baby........

Five of us turned out for what seemed at first like a bit of a crazy route, the longest ride again.
If you read the previous description of this ride it says: big loose rocks and lots of walking, well this time it was 'sheet ice with a thick frost and light snow covering, lots of walking'!!
I set off 5 mins ahead of the group, (I find I go much better if I get to the top of the 1st climb ahead). I found the steep road climb to be easy, but as I turned off tarmac and on to the loose of Chapel gate I discovered just how difficult this would be.
Basically all the bits you would normally ride on (smooth flat bits) were sheet ice covered with light snow or thick frost. It was possible to get some forwards motion except where there was a steep up section or there was a any sort of camber, the rear wheel either spun or slid.
What was very good though was the Almost full moon, it meant that the front light could be saved for later, it would be a long night after all.
Walk it was then! Even on foot the walk with the bike was a stretch of the individuals nerve, finding the grippiest bit of track and then commiting all your weight and that of the bike made for a slow climb. At the top I waited to pick out the others in the darkness, it felt quite cold, but not uncomfortable the altitude making it a dry cold. Just as I started to feel a bit of a drop in temp ther others appeared.
A brief disscussion about wether we should be attempting this route in these conditions was had, the decission being made that it would be a shame to cancel at this point. My main concern was if the downhills were just as slippery then we would be doing a 10 mile plus ride at walking pace, we'd be late back, and probably cold. We decided that as we were on Chapel Gate (predominately North facing) we would be over the worst when we dropped down the otherside facing West.
Here we go then, the big rock steps offered reasonable grip as we dropped down to Roych Clough, my self and Geoff H rode without lights choosing the moonlit option. I though I was going quickly untilI looked up to see Geoff had gone out of sight - good going matey.
Just before reaching Roych I was negotiating a particulary rocky step section when Andy G passed me on the right with his light on, or at least it was as he passed me. Just as he got in front we were plunged into darkness! His light had switched itself off, (it has some sort of bad connection) unfortunately for Andy he was just at the top of a 16" or so drop off a rock, his front wheel dropped in and the back wheel... well you know the rest. A head plant with bike on top, There was a lot of groaning, and as the guys behind arrived on the scene Andy stood up and took off his helmet and back pack standing almost ridged for a couple of seconds looking very dazed and shocked. I was a bit concerned it was a bit out of character for Andy to act like this. he did seem to pick himself up and come around pretty quickly. There was talk of him returning back, but a quick think about where we were meant it was better to go on, and with the proup for safety. Jeff S had 2 lights with him so we sorted Andy out with a good light and carried on.
Up on to the edges of Mount Fammine and the descent to Coldwell Clough offered a repreive from the slippery, a grippy and fast section down to the gate and across a frozen (usually muddy) field. The sweety stop was due here but not many were on offer tonight so we cracked on.
The descent to the road in the bottom was good, also offering excellant grip and plenty of drainage ditch 'jumps'. At the bottom, now a lot lower in altitude than all the previous bits, we found a really damp penetrating cold that made you wish we were already back in the vans!
It is a very long climb now all the way to the top of Jacobs Ladder. It can best be described as: 'conditions varied'. Deep snow at first, full of boot prints but had frozen since leaving holes just gagging to get your ankles. Then as we climbed higher the snow had turned to ice again, looking like it had probably melted in the daytime sun, and then frozen over again leaving a smooth glass like surface, again covered with thick frost, it took what seemed like an eternity to get to the top of here. At the top of coures it meant we had to endure the very un-natural descent down the errosion control steps. Geoff went ahead still in moonlight mode and went really well, I followed but was passed by the now fully back to speed Andy so I switched my light on and persued them. I didn't catch them but did make it down the descent, I found the grass high up on the left of the path to be very grippy, but was a bit exposed to going over the edge where there was a relentless fall to doom if i got it wrong!
We made it then, so glad we hadn't abandoned it, we looked at our watches to find it was 22:50, no time to get to the Grouse for the compulsary Kronnenbourg. We quickly got stripped down and into the vans, heading to the Nags Head in Edale for a quick drink.
All in all an excellant finish to the year with somoene being out on every Thursday, a couple of trips to the Lakes, and the 7 Stainnes and of course the legendry Alps trip back in July.
What a year guys! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and........................
See you all on the trails in 2009!

Distance: 12 miles?
Ascent: Lots & lots
Bike ridden: NS Bikes Surge
My performance: Much better with the head start, 95%