Rolling the Moss

I had a great idea this morning for a nice ride that wouldn't take too long. It involved hill number 43 from the top 100 greatest cycling climbs. but to get there i would have to navigate the wonders of Stalybridge and then over Dove-stones to get to Holmefirth. It was quite a hot day today but deceptively windy one I got up on the tops too. This slowed me down somewhat on the road over to Holmefirth but I did eventually get there. and had a bit of a moment when I couldn't remember which turning I had to take. Thankfully I did stop to check at the right one before I found myself too deep inside the land of the summer wine!

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So in all it was a 43 mile slog, Dove-stones was hard work and really got the legs warm especially in the head wind that I experienced all the way up. Near the top the little wimp in my head went wouldn't it be nice to just turn around and cruise back down the hill!! Of course as always Sergeant Major Matt gave wimpy Matt a whole hearted slap and told him to shut up whining or he would eat him!! The bazaar thoughts that go through your head when your hanging out of you proverbial.

The ride across the tops was long and not as flat as I thought it would be but then came the first descent of the day at speed. Little would I know it wouldn't be even half as steep or fast as the next descent after that.

Anyway I reached Holmefirth and turned towards my goal of the day Holme Moss. Now for those of you that don't know it Holme Moss used to be used by the Great British Milk Race when that was around many years ago and is currently (but I may be wrong) part of the Tour of Britain cycling route too. It is a cat 2 climb so is a bit of a beast. The icing on the cake though has to be the distance markers that you get all the way up from the bottom of the climb. It starts at 1 1/2 miles to go and works its way down in 1/4 mile segments, this may be a great thing for the Pro's to measure the distance and help them gauge when to turn up the heat, but for someone like me who is just doing this for training and is a real amateur then all these markers do is kill me a 1/4 mile at a time and make me think surely that  was more than that and I must nearly be there by now!!.

Anyway when I did reach the top which by the way only took me 28 minutes, i got the customary happy snap of me with the summit marker in the background.

I must have looked completely nuts yet again

This is what the summit looks like

This is the view back down the hill. The white line in the road is what all the distance makers are measured from. Great view from the top too.

It doesn't look it but this is the road ahead back down the hill. Oh my goodness me it was steeper and faster than any road I have ever been on. It really did scare the pants off me in some places, but being grown up and sensible (apparently!) I didn't go eyeballs out sprinting round the bendy bits.

So after all this excitement and leg burning stuff I dropped down into Glossop then up to Charlesworth through BroadBottom and over to Mottram then Finally back home for tea and medals!!!

We when I say tea and medals I really mean a shower then out to pick up the family from where I left them a few hours earlier.

It was all good fun though.

Now for my next big ride I am still undecided and I am open to suggestions if anyone has any. Still working towards the Great Manchester ride at the end of this month followed shortly after by the Cheshire Cat. Busy Busy and lots of mileage ahead. Bring on the HILLS!!! :)