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  • Cut Gate today.
  • JonEdwards
    Free Member

    So having carried my bike around the Hope and Snake valleys on Saturday,and frozen my t!ts off walking on Derwent Edge on Sunday, I had a brilliant idea – lets go and “ride” Cutgate, solo, in the snow!

    Car reckoned -2 when I left Fairholmes this morning. The road around the west edge of the reservoirs was arguably the hairiest bit of the outing – sheet ice most of the way, although the only bit that actually caught me out was riding through a running stream, then having the water freeze on my tyres resulting in an impromptu 180 on perfectly dry tarmac…

    Predictably, the climb up was under thick snow – a few walkers had been up the footpath, but there was only one set of footprints up the b/way and no tyre tracks.


    Bits of the bridleway were knee deep, so it looked like I might be indulging in some cheekiness on the way back.

    Up on the moor, and it started getting a little wild – a decent headwind brought the temp down, and there was absolutely no sign of the path itself. Fortunately I was generating a reasonable amount of heat carting the Rocket on my back and the footprints of the walkers gave me something to follow, even though the route differed wildly from where I knew the trail would normally be.

    The sun even made an appearance near the top!

    Once I reached the cairns, I stopped for a breather and some food. Other than the wind, it was absolutely silent, and the view was simply glorious. I could have stayed there for hours if it hadn’t been so pigging cold.

    A quick peak over the crest showed the trail as we would normally know it to be non-existent – the walkers were just yomping across the heather, so no chance of riding at all; and faced with the prospect of having to carry all the way across the top, both ways, AND back up from Langsett I decided to cut my losses and just crack on down back the way I’d come.

    The descent was hilarious. About 75% rideable, although there were numerous stops as I ground to a halt in a drift. Only 1 tumble though, when I put a foot down into a gully full of snow and did a slow sideways roll. Once I’d got a head of speed up, I could just crash through a decent depth of snow, although control and line choice were very much optional extras. The bottom section was lovely – cheeking the footpath was a good decision – steep carvey lines with a reasonable amount of traction. Ace fun. 🙂

    A quick spin back along the E side of the reservoirs saw me back at Fairholmes.

    I was only out for about 3 hours, but easily the best ride of the year so far, and already in the running for best of 2015.

    hora
    Free Member

    Beautiful but depressing. I’ve not ridden for two weeks as I cant face the drag bike through snow/ride/stop/reposition and repeat. 🙁

    JonEdwards
    Free Member

    Just get out there and do it. The more popular trails are getting more tramped down now – I walked House of Pain/WLT on Sunday afternoon, and that looked like it would be mint on a bike – nicely packed down, but still frozen solid.

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    Great pics thanks.

    cp
    Full Member

    great little write up, would love to be out there now.

    Jealous!

    GHill
    Full Member

    Good work Jon, hope you warm up enough for Blue Steel later.

    windydave13
    Free Member

    A bit brighter than when we rode from the Langsett side on Saturday

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/qKNJaj]Snowy Langsett[/url] by windydave13, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/r3hthU]Snowy Langsett[/url] by windydave13, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/qKNKuy]Snowy Langsett[/url] by windydave13, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/q6zhZg]Snowy Langsett[/url] by windydave13, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/r15bSQ]Snowy Langsett[/url] by windydave13, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/qKNLQu]Snowy Langsett[/url] by windydave13, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/r3dgzx]Snowy Langsett[/url] by windydave13, on Flickr

    will
    Free Member

    Great photos and story Jon. Sat in the office i’m not jealous at all…

    That cake also looks VERY nice.

    stevied
    Free Member

    Great pics 🙂 Want to get out in the snow but we don’t have any down here 🙁

    fbk
    Free Member

    Beautiful – definitely makes me wish I wasn’t at work right now! Thanks for sharing.

    KingofBiscuits
    Free Member

    Fantastic pics Jon. Really cheered me up today as I sit in the office on a boring conference call. Never seen Cut Gate like that and looking forward to riding it at some point this year.

    mindmap3
    Free Member

    Looks great – more fun than updating Cost Plans!

    That looks to be a pretty good covering of snow up there.

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    When all the hollows get filled with drifted snow, everywhere does become hard work.
    Looks like a great morning out regardless though!

    Went out for a road ride on Sunday and were faced with this!

    wilko1999
    Free Member

    Wow that cake looks amazing! Seriously hungry now

    ps awesome pics too :mrgreen:

    cp
    Full Member

    Good point, where was the cake at?

    wilko1999
    Free Member

    Seriously I keep going back and looking at that cake and I’m not even that fussed about cake. Is it a kind of Millionaires chocolate cake? I’m going to have to stop on the way home from work and pick up something suitably sweet and stodgy.

    JonEdwards
    Free Member

    Cake was Salted Caramel from Coleman’s Deli in Hathersage, and yes it was flinking great…

    @Windydave – how far up did you get – looks like you made the North America turnoff at least?

    @GHill – challenge night – bring it on 😈

    wilko1999
    Free Member

    I gotta get me to the Peaks for some Salted Caramel cake. Oh, and I’d also love to ride there too 🙂

    windydave13
    Free Member

    @JonEdwards We got past the turnoff and a fair bit further on where it starts to flatten out after the short steep rocky section. It got to the point where it was just knee deep powder and no sign of the path. We wanted to carry on to where they put the rock slabs down after the river crossing but it got to the point where we wouldn’t have been able to ride it all the way back down.

    From where we stopped and turned we rode about 75%. Its entertaining ploughing through snow banks 🙂

    Dave

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    Beautiful but depressing. I’ve not ridden for two weeks as I cant face the drag bike through snow/ride/stop/reposition and repeat.

    Was out last night. Stuff above Hayfield is good and getting better – you have to ask yourself where walkers are likely to have trodden it down, so the Shooting Cabin is good in a toboggan run sort of way and improving, the PBW under Lantern Pike is fine for once etc. There’s some proper choppy icy chunder where stuff has half thawed and refrozen and the Sett Valley Trail is uneven sheet ice in places, but it’s great on ice tyres.

    I walked over South Head on Sunday and that was grim, though Highgate Lane and the continuation is all fine. To be fair, I was running ice tyres and I’m not sure I’d have been happy without them, but there are plenty of clear lines emerging.

    stevedoc
    Free Member

    Proper green looking at this in my office ,I hope the sun holds out till weekend if only for a couple of hours so I can have a play out ,oh and some cake 😉

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