The choice today was either to head over to North Wales and ride some man made trails or to stay local and try and tackle a new route in the Peaks. The peaks option won through and I ended up heading up to Langsett and doing a big ride around the reservoirs in that area. I took the singlespeed out again and it’s the first time I’ve chosen it for a big ride in the Peaks.
I’m still running 34:16 from Thetford, which if you get enough weight behind, is okay for most of the riding on offer. There were a couple of highlights like riding the Snow track that runs to the Summit of the Woodhead Pass and a few other well constructed tracks. The rest of the ride was a mudbath, traversing poorly drained moorland and bog.
The winter boots proved their worth once again, but there were a couple of times the front wheel sank up to it’s axle and pitched me into the mud over the bars. In all there was enough good riding to make it a worthwhile route, but I don’t think I’ll be going back there until we get summer drought conditions for a month. Most of the trails just seem to double up as wet weather streams. Photos will be added soon.
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