Brutal Day on Holme Moss

Anyone fancy Holme Moss next Sunday? Seemed like a simple enough idea, after all its been a few years since I've been over it and Le Tour visits in exactly a year.

It was warm waiting in Hillsborough Park on Sunday morning, suspiciously warm for 9.30am. A mix up meant I missed Dexter (the ride instigator) but hooked up with Garf in Oughtibridge and we set off up to Green Moor Road to avoid the main road traffic.

Trying to stick to the shade it was getting a little warm out on the hills but we made our way over to a relativity quiet Homlfirth and cooled down a little on the fast run down into town.

Stopped for a decent cuppa , the talk was "you are not seriously going up there in this heat?" Yes we were seriously going up there.

Now I've never found Holme Moss too bad a climb as long as you have a gear you can twiddle, sit back and watch the view. Today was different 28 Celsius and the air was still and hot, heat radiating back off the tarmac. 1 1/4 miles from the summit (dam those road marking) head started swimming and pulse rate gone off the scale. Ground to a halt twice until I recovered a little on the final 1/2 mile. Summit reached with great relief in the painfully slow time of 40 minutes.

There were big numbers to be had on the descent but we had already agreed to taking it easy given the heat and the state of mind. Brakes on at 45mph, 55mph would have been reached easily on the day.

A bumpy run along the TPT to the closed  Woodhead tunnel, a grim haul along the Woodhead Pass to Dunford Bridge, and then across the tops via the reservoirs to Wortley and a hard earned pint. Still the mercury was in the high twenties and the beer garden was abandoned for an arm chair in the shade

A brutal climb in the heat. Next time we will wait till its a little cooler

A Joyous Bike Ride

You know how it is,  just when you feel a little jaded about the whole cycling thing (the thick smog of Broomhill last night  didn't help) along comes a ride that puts the joy back into it and you are grinning like that 13 year old with his first real bike again.

Day off and the original plan was to head out toward Edale, maybe catch up with cycling Bob on his way back from camping but a late night, nasty cough and sore throat put paid to that.

Instead I got out around 11 and headed down to Malin Bridge. Took the main Loxley Road up to high Bradfield.  The Amey crew were out installing the new street lights so it cant be long till Loxley Road gets a long overdue resurface.

Past Stacey bank then I started to notice that the little side lanes had the shiny new black top on them already. Resisted the urge to go down Trouble Wood lane but ground my way up to High Bradfield. Stopped to enjoy the view that Le Tour will have next year, then took it easy down to the Post Office cafe, Woodfall Lane hasn't had its new surface yet and my days of 45 MPH down there have long gone.

Cup of tea at the cafe and a nice half hour chat with an old chap who was dog sitting for his son. So we get talking and it turns out he used to live 4 doors up from the Palm pub in Walkley before he moved out to Bradfield (after 30 years living here I realise this type of coincidence just happens in Sheffield)

Time to set off again so I just headed to the nearest piece of fresh tarmac I came across and kept following it. Blindsale Lane, single track, smooth as a pancake and not a car in sight. Glorious views over Dale Dyke Reservoir and across to the Strines. I must have been the first cyclist back up it, it was so freshly laid.

At the top of the lane had to swerve to avoid numerous toads basking on the fresh tarmac

 I just carried on taking whichever freshly surfaced lane I saw, the speeds crept up to 25mph on the flat and even the hills just rushed by.

At this point all I could think about that Ewan Maccoll song "the the joy of living". Not in a morbid way (he was dying when he wrote it of course) but just the shear joy of pedalling along smooth empty lanes in stunning scenery.

Ended up back down at the Damflask and took the main road back down to Malin Bridge. Not even Hillsborough's traffic jams could spoil the ride and I easily made the big climb up to Walkley via Walkley Bank

That whole area between Strines / Moscar / The Bradfields and Stocksbridge gets overlooked compared to the tourist traps around Hope, Castleton and Edale. I know where my next ride will be...just don't tell everyone else just yet .

Not the longest ride in the world (16 miles), not the fastest ride either, but just a perfect start to along weekend.