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On the ebike
Can anyone specifically recommend any of these Komoot loops?
I'm familar with a fair bit of the area, but not everything that would be encountered on most of these. Could maybe stretch to 40 miles, but with the terrain, would be getting battery anxiety even with 2x batteries.
The Glossop/Cut Gate route looks to have some nasty bits of road and I did cut gate out and back a few weeks ago, so probs not that one, unless there's anything special about the bits I don't know (in and out of Glossop)
If I'm honest, I wouldn't do any of them, though depends what you're after? The Hayfield to Hope loop is in the wrong direction in mine and most peoples opinion.
I'm assuming you want to be starting on the West of the Peak? I'd be parking in Hope and doing a greatest hits tour, Beast, Lockerbrook, WLT etc.
I enjoy the hayfield loop but, as above, in the opposite direction. i.e. do it clockwise.
Who in ther right mind tries to ride UP Jacob's ladder?
Variation on it: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1092121704?ref=wtd&share_token=aA4BFuVh7fovtMVhfd26rwuAheNPHFwicYZdTRWinYil4ty10o
The Sett Valley Cafe at Hayfield is well worth a visit.
I've not done Jacobs for years, so might give that a crack. Cheers
Looking for something different to the usual Ladybower loops
Who in ther right mind tries to ride UP Jacob’s ladder?
Because (heretical?) in comparison the decent after it is much better; longer and more fun, and at least pushing up JL is faster?
I've only ever 'pushed' the bike up Jacobs, if the loop is the other way.
Second the Sett Valley cafe, you won't be disappointed.
The Glossop/Cut Gate route looks to have some nasty bits of road and I did cut gate out and back a few weeks ago, so probs not that one, unless there’s anything special about the bits I don’t know (in and out of Glossop)
Doctor's Gate recently had the bottom end, erm, sanitised - but in a positive way - to make the super boggy section towards the bottom less horrific. I rode it with a mate a few weeks back and it's okay in a techy, nadgery way, but there's not much flow to it and a couple of small sections are pretty much impossible for most normal human beings. Some folk love it, I'm not too fussed and the only legit access is via the A57 either from Glossop or the Ladybower end, neither of which are very pleasant, particularly on a mountain bike.
We got there using slabbed footpath on a quiet weekday, which is a whole lot more pleasant, but I still wouldn't particularly bother again. It's a pretty place to be though, so epic views and a bit of interesting exposure too.
Of those, I'd probably do a classic Roych/Jacob's loop then extend on the Heyfield side over the Shooting Cabin / Middle Moor, but avoiding the road climb at the end on the permissive footpath that runs parallel to the road, onto Monks Road then some variant of the PBW - coffee at the Sett Valley cafe - then something over Chinley Churn before dropping back down. Either way round has pros and cons ime, I do both, but if you do it so you go down Jacob's, do yourself a favour and choose to do the climb up on the Hayfield side on the bridleway that starts above Kinder Reservoir rather than the main track, and consider continuing on the fp that runs parallel and is an obvious continuation.
Start at langsett car park
Up and over cutt gate
Along the LHS of the reservoir to and up to Whinstone Lee Tor, pick a descent from there to Ladybower Inn (apline or the other more melow one).
Head from there to Spud Alley or Beast
Then up Hagg Farm to do Lockerbrooke descent
Then back over Cutt Gate to the car park
Its about 35 miles
Head from there to Spud Alley
I hate Spud alley. it's a dull straight wide horrid (slight) descent that has neither flow, nor technicality other than needing the ability to be able to ride over loose stone, and the bottom half is essentially riding in a stream.
There. Said it. Feels quite nice to have that off my chest
I hate Spud alley. it’s a dull straight wide horrid (slight) descent that has neither flow, nor technicality other than needing the ability to be able to ride over loose stone, and the bottom half is essentially riding in a stream.
There. Said it. Feels quite nice to have that off my chest
This
Why anyone would choose it over the Beast is beyond me
Why anyone would choose it over the Beast is beyond me
It's probably that it finishes in a more convenient place than the Beast if you want to do a straightforward climb afterwards, though you can end up in the same place by trending left along the culvert thing anyway. But yeah, not a thing of loveliness unless you like rubble.
Who in ther right mind tries to ride UP Jacob’s ladder?
I've pondered this recently as in the earlier days of mountain biking, when suspension was minimal if at all, the Hayfield/Edale loop was ALL about the climb up Jacob's Ladder. Mythical tales of how Nick Craig had once done without a single dab.
Suspension technology has not only changed attitude to riding (more about the downhill than the uphill) but also changed the viability of riding certain tracks - in this case totally reversing the loop from what was once the more common direction on the Komoot link. The downside of this change, of course, a pretty horrible drag up from Hayfield to Jacob's ladder which used to be a fast, rough, tricky descent with 60mm or less suspension on a hardtail with canti brakes.