I hear that after rain the Peak is something to be avoided – the grinding paste. Is that true of the whole Peak or just certain areas?
Does anywhere stay dry enough for year-round riding?
How many days without rain does it take for places to drain?

And what about places like Macc Forest or other low level riding? Be good to know of other stuff within an hour’s drive of Altrincham for quick winter hacks. As great as N Wales and the Lakes are, it would be great to have something closer that means I can get a 2-3 hr ride in without being out all day
Cheers

A lot of the peaks is rocky. A route like the Hope Triple Eight is nearly all rocks and what mud there is can be relatively easily avoided.

it’s true in general, basically, if it;s dark peak (gritstone), the grinding paster is terrible, it if’s white peak it’s limestone and it’s incredibly slippy.

There are routes you can ride but you need to know which bits are boggy when wet (Rushup edge, Whinstone lee tor, anywhere around Mam Tor) and which bits are mostly bedrock and still rideable (Roych clough, the roman road etc). To a certain extent this kind of knowledge comes with riding year in year out and thinking “hmmm, must remember to avoid that route next time it’s this wet!”

its the wet thats the issue, even a relatively mud free ride will be grinding paste because if wet and rock

What nbt says ^^.

There’s a lot of tracks (Roman Road out of Hope for example) which is mostly bedrock but then degenerates into HUGE ruts higher up where you could float a boat.
Same on places like Cavedale – the actual technical descent is fine in the wet (if a bit slippy) but the approach to it over the fields turns into a swamp.

Dark Peak is gritstone on a peat base so the water just sits on top of the saturated peat and turns the gritstone into a grinding paste. In the dry it’s superb, some of the best riding in the UK but to get truly dry it takes a month of drought.

Round Marple, Mellor, Rowarth, Hayfield isn’t bad at all and I ride it year round as the local routes. Mostly rock and stone so not really muddy but as mentioned the gritstone of The Dark Peak lingers when wet and is in those areas too

Well I live in macc and can confirm you can ride round here all year, sure you will get muddy, gritty, wear a few parts out, but it’s better than not riding at all! It’s not that bad IMO, once t gets colder and thr ground hardens up it’s fine

Apart from having to push your bike through bogs, the extra grinding of the grit stone really shouldn’t put you off riding. So what if you have to replace stuff eventually? Price worth paying and you’ll save more money by not driving up the the Lakes anyway.

I agree with Carlos, there are some rocky paths around Mellor/Rowarth etc but you’ll still be covered with mud. Linnets clough didn’t even dry out completely in the 3 months of no rain this spring/summer, still ace to ride though!

Oh and mostly rideable when snows on the ground too, a few bits of hike a bike (depending on personal ability) not like Charity Lane and parts of Macc which you’ll experience unrideable 4ft+ drifts

Use sintered pads. Ride anywhere with the possible exception of Cut Gate. Never, ever ride Doctor’s Gate. But mostly, wait for perfect, sub-zero winter nights when the sludge freezes into coarse-grade sand paper, your tyres grip like Velcro, even the ice is friendly and the ground glitters in your lights.

Oh, and as far as the mud goes, yes it’s abrasive, but it’s sludge, not gloop, it washes off fast, it doesn’t clog drive-chains, even the worst of it is rideable and it doesn’t smell bad. That said, there’s something profoundly gruesome about the sound of gritty slurry wearing away brake rotors, chains, cassettes, chain rings and – mostly – brake pads.

The Peak’s killed a set of SPD pedals in a year and worn a rotor down beyond its safe limit. But you might as well embrace it, makes the summer feel even better.

The White Peak in winter is something else entirely though, they have proper gloop there, avoid 😉

And I can’t believe no-one’s told you that it’s ‘The Peak’ yet. Get with the programme, pedants… 🙄

The Peak’s killed a set of SPD pedals in a year and worn a rotor down beyond its safe limit.

How’d ya do that? brake dragger?

I just ride quite a lot. How would dragging brakes wear out SPDs 🙄

Like badly wired dog says. We ride the peak from Manchester most weeks of the year. There are some bits best avoided in the wet, but lots of it is good all year round.

it’s probably more rideable than a lot of other places in the wet.

yes, you’ll ride through gritty puddles, but in other parts of the world you’ll be riding/pushing though heavy sticky clay…

the hardest part about riding in’t peak(s), is the exposure, you can spend a lot of time riding into a headwind on the top of an exposed moor. before rattling down a trail that has become a stream, that is flowing with water that can only be described as liquid snow, a form of matter that only exists in laboratory conditions, and on hill tops in Britain.

forget about the grit, watch weather forecasts, and dress accordingly…