A friend of mine, not normally a mountain biker, has just signed up for the Rob Roy Challenge. She’d like me to take her on a training ride this weekend, has asked for about 20 miles with big hills!

I’m in Sheffield so hills aren’t a problem round here but i’m not sure of something with the right terrain. Taking her out to the Peak District and doing a hope figure eight, for example, is going to be too technical.

Does anyone have any suggestions that would fit the bill?

Off to bed now but will check back in the morning and give this a bump for the day shift!

Morning all!

non-technical in the peaks…? hmmmm

“non-technical in the peaks…? “

The two don’t really go together do they

Last time I went with a particular set fo friends they’d invited me along for a bike ride in the peaks, wanting me to come up with a route that was ‘flowy’ as in trail centre flowy ..

Back on topic, you could try heading a little further south into the white peak, so anywhere south of hope (including the south edge of hope valley). Have you got the VG graphics white peak book?

round all the lady bower resevoirs with a detour up the screaming mile (the fire road climb through the woods – not far from fairholmes)

its 20ish mile with some hills but not technical – good for getting the legs working.

other than that you might struggle to find anything that isnt technical

james – no, only got the dark peak one. White Peak isn’t a bad idea though at all.

MrCrushRider – yeah I was thinking ladybower but wondering how to ‘hill it up’. Screaming mile is a good option cheers.

Any more?

Derwent Edge, Whinstone Lee Tor descents aren’t technical. Although the climb up to the top is a bit steep.

Or do the loop round from Hope -> Roman Road -> Edale -> to Mam Tor (on the road) -> down old Mam Tor road (Broken Road), lunch stop -> up Winnats Pass (road) -> Oxlow, Dirtlow Rake -> Pin Dale -> Hope. There isn’t anything very technical on that loop (okay there’s the one river crossing, but it is super easy), it’s a beautiful ride, has a nice number of hills on it, and is about the right length. I think it skips all the technical bits.

Joe

Pin Dale not technical? What planet are you on Joe? That top descent is one of the most technical descents in the peaks!

Pin Dale not technical? What planet are you on Joe? That top descent is one of the most technical descents in the peaks!

Really? Has it got a lot harder in the last year or so since I did it?

Cave Dale is very technical. But Pin Dale, the singletrack bits there is a choice of whether to do them, and they weren’t that hard when I rode them.

Joe

I think you’ve got them the wrong way round. Pin Dale is the super rocky, moto X haven with one way in and one way out next to the quarry, Cavedale is the one that drops down into the back of Castleton that has long grassy jumpy swoopy bits and a few rock bits at the bottom

Cavedale

The only pindale pic I can find has a burnt out car on it and doesn’t show the trail properly

When I did it, it was all just keep pointing the right way stuff. Thinking about it / looking at dates on my pics it is more like 4-5 years ago. This is a video (from someone else) of what it used to be like and roughly how I remember it. I guess it must have changed a fair bit if you’re describing it as super technical.

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/images/pindale.wmv

Cave Dale on the other hand I never have got to the bottom of the last section without crashing. That short section is a whole world of steep, slippy, rocky pain.

Joe

Yeah that’s the one. Perhaps super technical is a bit strong but I always found it more technical than Cavedale. I ride it on a hardtail so perhaps the fist sized rocks shake me up a bit more!

It may be a little further over than you’d be prepared to travel but you could set off from Hayfield (Sett Valley Trail car park) and head over to Brookbottom, Rowarth, Mellor Cross and Roman Lakes. 20 miles worth with some thinking out of a route before hand and can be as (un)technical as you like. The hills don’t have to be as hard as the Hope/Edale side of the Peaks either
Loads of us from this side of Derbyshire, Manchester and Stockport on here and I’m sure one of us would show you both around although if you wanted the most suave, debonair and to be honest outright good looking you’d have to ask directly (my email is in my profile :-0).