A Monk and Two Passes

I should really say two Passes and a Monk as today I decided to ride out to Glossop Over Snake pass to Ladybower, East to Castleton, Up over Winnets Pass, down to Chapel-en-le-Frith, then up though Hayfield to Monk lane finally descending into BroadBottom then back over the road to Hyde.



It was a good run and I particularly enjoyed it. There was the Wiggle Tour of the Peaks going on today too so on some parts of the route including Winnets Pass I did run into a few riders taking part. Everyone was so friendly I was constantly waving and saying hello to people it was great!

I stopped at the bottom of Winnets Pass to take a picture of the Monster that lay ahead.

A chap out with his family started to chat to me and mentioned that he had seen lots of people passing by on bikes all wearing numbers, he was interested to find out what it was all about and I think even a little interested in cycling too.

The Pass itself however was a grueling and steep climb. The hard thing about the whole climb was defiantly having limited visibility as the road wound up the gorge so you could only see a few meters, maybe only 100 at most ahead. The sheer wall of tarmac I was riding up just seemed to go on and on, I have read in the top 100 hill climbs about how your legs and lung burn when you try to climb assents of such difficulty and I can safely say today I felt that burn indeed. It was over 26 miles to the foot of the pass including climbing and ascending the Snake Pass too. By the time I got to the bottom of the gorge my legs were already well warmed up along with the rest of me too as it was quite warm out there today.

I battled my way up the Pass and I am sorry to say I did have to stop 3 times as I just couldn't keep the momentum and my legs were burning, my heart felt like it was going to explode at any second and my lungs felt like they have never worked so hard. I did make it though without having to get off and push (as I saw some people do).

From there it was a beautiful ride into Chapel-en-le-Frith along the Edale Valley. followed by a very fast decent into the town and before I knew it I was turning right and heading north again up to Hayfield. In comparison to the hills I had already rode today the hills up though Hayfield and north towards Glossop are minor lumps in the ground. However with tired legs after such a long ride I certainly felt like they just dragged on for a very long time indeed. Again I passed lots of riders heading south and down to the finish of the tour and looking very knackered along the way.

I did finally reach the top of Monks Lane and having never been up to the top of the summit in good weather I thought it would be nice to take a picture of the view.

It was pretty spectacular and you can see the whole of Manchester from up there. Just to Prove I took the photo I even did one with me in it too.

 I must have looked completely mental.

Then for the very steep descent into Charlesworth which I decided not to go all out on as it really was that steep and gravelly, plus after such a long ride my arm were in bits. Anyway I hopped over the Main road through Charlesworth then down the hill to Broadbottom and with one final leg aching climb I made it to Mottram then down the road to home.

All the time I was out I had the screen on my phone turned off so I couldn't tell how far or fast etc. So after a long hard slog with a number of long hard hills I was impressed by my total mileage. "More of the same please!" screamed the voice in the back of my head, where as my legs just said "We are not currently operation right now, please leave a message after the tone!!". Shut up and get on with it legs is my answer.

Now I am busy re-hydrating and recovering and thinking about the likes of Holme Moss to add to my list of conquered hills too.

I am also still really looking forward to the Great Manchester Cycle. Its quite flat so should be quite fast one. Bring on the BURN!!!