First full days ride of 2023 and I certainly felt it. I’ve been getting out with the local CTC group Thursdays and Sundays, though this time of year they keep the rides fairly short and local. I’m trying to build some mileage and fitness so although these 40 mile two café rides are sociable, they’re not helping that.
This weeks Thursday ride was going out in a direction I like, the Vale of Belvoir (Pronounced beavor) so adding a loop could include a few more hills than I’ve done of late, and a World famous Melton Mowbray Pork Pie. In case this fame hasn’t spread to the international readers of this forum – It’s a bit different to most other pork pies in that the meat is cured, giving it an unappetising grey colour, though the taste is (IMO) superior. So unique that it has geographical protection, that is you can only call it a Melton Mowbray is that’s where it was made. It actually came about as the by-product of another geographically protected product, Stilton Cheese (Which you can’t make in Stilton! These things are complicated!!) Cheese = wasted whey = keep pigs to use it = what to do with the pork? = cure it and stick it in a pie for the huntsmen.
So, the CTC group met in a café a few miles outside Derby, I caught a couple of other riders on the way and we chatted along the mucky riverside path. Good sized group, 14, about the limit for this club, when there’s more we split into two groups. After coffee, out along some country lanes, past the power station burning the last of the coal stockpiled decades ago, a bit of cycle track along a main road and back onto country lanes. The group then turned back towards Derby and the intended lunch café.
Although that sounded tempting, I turned left when they turned right. A gentle, almost unnoticeable, climb for the next ten miles, followed by a blistering half mile descent to lose that hight gained. There was a major road improvement in the area a few years ago and some of the country lanes have been cut in half by the major new highway, with limited ways to cross it. A bit tough for the local motorists, but there’s various byways and bridleways now only possible on non-motorised transport so a plus for cyclists.
Up to this point I’d been travelling East, I now turned South, into the rolling hills, then dropping down into the vale. The views are pleasant without being exceptionally scenic, the weather as grey as a MM pie with the odd threat of rain, a few spots but not enough to get wet. Last few miles into Melton on a main road that thankfully wasn’t busy.
And a Pork Pie.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52652275148_231b0669d1_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2odGF2o)Pie-shop (https://flic.kr/p/2odGF2o) by Paul (https://www.flickr.com/photos/phbike/), on Flickr
The first couple of miles out of town were again on main road, then turning into a housing estate had me wondering if I’d plotted the right route, no fear as there was a lovely country lane out the other side. In the next ten miles I don’t thing I saw more than five cars, though it’s a popular lane with walkers and dog-walkers. And rolling, up and down, no flat at all, I was finding it quite tough and weighing up what the train options were. There’s little to say about the next twenty miles, very pleasant without being spectacular, through some lovely villages. Riding on country lanes and a few sections of cycle track.
Then into and through the only urban area of the day other than Melton, the town of Loughborough, which you can transverse all on cycle track. This was realistically my last train option, 20 miles from home, but I was feeling OK and now off the hills and a flat finish, so I plodded on, though watching the average speed drop!
The last section was a 50/50 mix of quiet lanes and track, some of it rough and mucky. It had become dark and I was glad I’d brought my powerful light to supplement the dynamo lighting, though leaving the bar bag at home had been irritating, I’ve still to work that compromise out. Last ten miles on the Cloud Trail which is converted rail track, then a section of canal, followed by ex-canal which passes my door.
82 miles, and 1,000 meters of climb, less than it felt, though it’s all concentrated in the middle third. I’d used the Nomad, I’d known it would be mucky in places. That’s the longest ride it’s done, very comfortable, some sections I would have expected to be faster on the Mercury, but all in all, the right choice. The only issue was on some of those tracks I was picking up a lot of muck under the front guard, that would grind away for a while, I stopped and pocked some out after one particularly bad section. The clearance under the guard maybe isn’t enough for a 40mm Almotion on these sorts of rides, I have a 35mm marathon somewhere I might swap and see how that feels. A more radical solution would be converting to 650B, it’s a bike with a lot of options!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52651790581_941092eb3c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2odEbYM)Gravel (https://flic.kr/p/2odEbYM) by Paul (https://www.flickr.com/photos/phbike/), on Flickr
For any Strava users interested - The route is here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/8456902725
Another day out in the Spring like weather, I have to remind myself that there may still be poor weather to come, but that's the more reason to take advantage. This trip went North into the Peak District National Park, not named for the hilliness, though it is, but derived from the name of the Anglo-Saxon tribe who first settled the area. Bit of everything on this ride, 80 miles, of which 42 were car free off road. Some muddy canal path, a rocky climb on bridleway, a track alongside a preserved narrow gauge railway, two dedicated cycle/waking routes on converted railway, the Monsal Trail with it's incredible tunnels and the High Peak Trail with it's equally impressive earthworks. The on road sections were mainly quiet country lanes, two cat 4 climbs according to Strava, though not in my opinion the toughest parts of the day. I thought all the climbing was in the first half, but I was caught out a couple of times on the way back, or it might just have been tiered legs. My first ride into the Peak District this year, it really is an incredible area on my doorstep and despite living here for 20 years there's still parts I've yet to explore.
The Nomad. in this configuration (I wouldn't know about any other) absolutely excels on these sorts of rides. There's no doubt it losses a bit to my Mercury on the road sections, but I'm happy to take it places I'd be reluctant to use the Merc. The Ogre which preceded it would have been better on a couple of sections, the muddy bits and the rougher bridleway, but not as good on the majority.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52690626975_ce9e56dc47_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2oh6eFM)White Peak (https://flic.kr/p/2oh6eFM) by Paul (https://www.flickr.com/photos/phbike/), on Flickr
Strava record for anyone interested:
https://www.strava.com/activities/8555712429