Peak district, Kinder Enduro Loop, Saturday 25th September

millemille

Active member
Feb 21, 2020
110
125
Peak District
Head off from Barber Booth at 10am, up Jacob's Ladder, Edale Cross, Kinder reservoir, middle moor, Hayfield, Mam Tor, Chapel Gate and back to Barber Booth

About 25 miles and 3,500 foot of climbing. 6 hours or so.

Some of the best trails and scenery in the uk.
 

Ripping g

E*POWAH Elite
Dec 8, 2019
694
544
West yorkshire
Head off from Barber Booth at 10am, up Jacob's Ladder, Edale Cross, Kinder reservoir, middle moor, Hayfield, Mam Tor, Chapel Gate and back to Barber Booth

About 25 miles and 3,500 foot of climbing. 6 hours or so.

Some of the best trails and scenery in the uk.
6hr is this a walk ?
 

millemille

Active member
Feb 21, 2020
110
125
Peak District
6hr is this a walk ?

No, it's a realistic time it could take in a group of mixed ability and fitness and experience and preparation when you account for crashes, mechanicals, cups of tea, stragglers, photos etc.

It could be knocked off in 3 hours or it could, and has, take 6...
 

EezyRider

Member
Sep 23, 2020
43
33
Lincolnshire
Up Jacobs Ladder? ? ouch. Is it even rideable up?
I think that route is much better reversed.

One of my regular routes from Castleton:
Broken road up to Mam Tor pass.
Up Rushup Edge to Roych Clough - Mount Famine - Coldwell Clough.
Then either drop into Hayfield - Kinder Res - Edale Cross or miss Hayfield and head straight up to Edale Cross.
Drop down Jacobs Ladder - Barber Booth - Edale/Small Clough then bridleway to Hollins Cross and drop down back to Castleton.
Do this a lot on normal bike but not sure it would be doable on a single battery, maybe if you bypassed Hayfield.

One problem starting at that time of day is the whole route will be littered with ramblers.
 

The Hodge

Mystic Meg
Subscriber
Sep 9, 2020
3,679
7,436
North West Northumberland
Up Jacobs Ladder? ? ouch. Is it even rideable up?
I think that route is much better reversed.

One of my regular routes from Castleton:
Broken road up to Mam Tor pass.
Up Rushup Edge to Roych Clough - Mount Famine - Coldwell Clough.
Then either drop into Hayfield - Kinder Res - Edale Cross or miss Hayfield and head straight up to Edale Cross.
Drop down Jacobs Ladder - Barber Booth - Edale/Small Clough then bridleway to Hollins Cross and drop down back to Castleton.
Do this a lot on normal bike but not sure it would be doable on a single battery, maybe if you bypassed Hayfield.

One problem starting at that time of day is the whole route will be littered with ramblers.
Im not local ( by a couple of hundred miles ? ) ..but each time we've ridden in that area it has been in the direction you have described ..must admit that the prospect of climbing Jacobs Ladder even on an ebike had me out of breath just thinking about it? ..but then having watched the OP's recent video he appears to be a young fit individual ..not old and knackered like me ..
 

millemille

Active member
Feb 21, 2020
110
125
Peak District
Im not local ( by a couple of hundred miles ? ) ..but each time we've ridden in that area it has been in the direction you have described ..must admit that the prospect of climbing Jacobs Ladder even on an ebike had me out of breath just thinking about it? ..but then having watched the OP's recent video he appears to be a young fit individual ..not old and knackered like me ..

Young and fit?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I'm 50, fat and fucked.

I bumped into a couple of guys down in the barber Booth car park a couple of months ago who'd been having a go at riding up it...


It is possible to ride up it, you need to be superhumanly fit to do it in one hit, but in stages once you've got your breath back and heart rate down to triple figures it is doable. Last time I was going up it was 3 or 4 weeks ago and it was wet so traction was iffy but I reckon 75% of it was rideable.
 

The Hodge

Mystic Meg
Subscriber
Sep 9, 2020
3,679
7,436
North West Northumberland
Young and fit?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I'm 50, fat and fucked.

I bumped into a couple of guys down in the barber Booth car park a couple of months ago who'd been having a go at riding up it...


It is possible to ride up it, you need to be superhumanly fit to do it in one hit, but in stages once you've got your breath back and heart rate down to triple figures it is doable. Last time I was going up it was 3 or 4 weeks ago and it was wet so traction was iffy but I reckon 75% of it was rideable.
Yeah like I said whippersnapper ..?
Posted by Hans Rey..??
 

millemille

Active member
Feb 21, 2020
110
125
Peak District
Up Jacobs Ladder? ? ouch. Is it even rideable up?
I think that route is much better reversed.

One of my regular routes from Castleton:
Broken road up to Mam Tor pass.
Up Rushup Edge to Roych Clough - Mount Famine - Coldwell Clough.
Then either drop into Hayfield - Kinder Res - Edale Cross or miss Hayfield and head straight up to Edale Cross.
Drop down Jacobs Ladder - Barber Booth - Edale/Small Clough then bridleway to Hollins Cross and drop down back to Castleton.
Do this a lot on normal bike but not sure it would be doable on a single battery, maybe if you bypassed Hayfield.

One problem starting at that time of day is the whole route will be littered with ramblers.

You must be in a different Peak District to me because I've never, in the 5 years I've been living and riding up here, come across any of the routes "littered" with ramblers. There was a fell running race on that came down off Kinder on Jacob's Ladder the last time I went up Jacob's, but they were by and large accommodating and courteous (apart from one ginger t**t, mid field at best, who got all shouty at one of us for daring to be on his mountain).

I've had more problems with other mountain bikers treating downhills as though they are qualifying for a world cup race and hammering flat out down things with no possibility of stopping, or even slowing, for those of us going up....
 

EezyRider

Member
Sep 23, 2020
43
33
Lincolnshire
Hans ‘no way’ Rey?
Well....
That’s some effort!!
But Is it possible to ride up from the bottom? From the stream upto the gate is rock fest. I don’t enjoy riding down it one bit, can’t contemplate riding up.
Not been over to the peaks this year and normally ride early to at least get a head start on people. Always find them when dropping back down into the villages/roads though.

I can feel a trip coming on!!
 

millemille

Active member
Feb 21, 2020
110
125
Peak District
I converted my Sam2 to mullet a few weeks ago and wanted to give it a try out on the most technical climb and worst descent for possible pedal strikes I could think of, so I nipped over to Jacob's Ladder on the way home from work one afternoon.

Got about a third of the way up and then turned round and rattled back down to my van parked at Barber Booth.

There's a woman sitting on the back bumper of a van parked next to mine and we get chatting, she asks me where's good locally for a coffee so I give her a couple of suggestions and then we get chatting about emtb's and she mentions in passing that her husband is off riding one right now.

A couple of minutes later her husband, with a couple of other guys, shows up.

It's only bloody Steve Jones from the EMBN youtube channel!

And who's one of the guys with him?

It's only bloody former world bicycle trials champion, Laguna Rad founding member, GT cycles world ambassador, Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee and all round mentalist Hans "No Way" Rey!

Now, I met Hans on a mtb road trip to America in 1988 - not that I would expect him to remember - so there was some catching up on mutual acquaintances.

Steve took the piss out of me for not riding all the way up, they'd been higher up watching me struggle.

I then did a piece to camera with steve, chatting about Jacob's Ladder and riding in the Peak District and old school mountain biking.
 

millemille

Active member
Feb 21, 2020
110
125
Peak District
Hans ‘no way’ Rey?
Well....
That’s some effort!!
But Is it possible to ride up from the bottom? From the stream upto the gate is rock fest. I don’t enjoy riding down it one bit, can’t contemplate riding up.
Not been over to the peaks this year and normally ride early to at least get a head start on people. Always find them when dropping back down into the villages/roads though.

I can feel a trip coming on!!

it is possible to ride all the way up in the dry, in one hit if you are superfit or otherwise breaking it into sections (bottom gate to first bend, first bend to 2nd gate and so on). In the wet it is bloody difficult to find grip in some sections and once you lose grip it's a f***er to get going again so some walk mode action is needed to get to the next section where you can get going again, but last time I rode it I'd say 75% of it was ridden....
 

St4nley

Well-known member
Subscriber
Nov 17, 2020
160
328
Derbyshire
As a regular Mtb rider and Walker in the Peak over the last 30 years I have witnessed riders riding up Jacobs and cleaning it even on hardtails so I could see how it would fairly doable for most on an Emtb. Ridden it many times but always going down Jacobs.
 

Rahr85

E*POWAH Master
Sep 6, 2020
494
1,058
nottingham
i'd love to but got to drop wife's car off for an MOT this day :( Not that i don't already have a tonne of weekend trips planned. Hope it goes well.
 

millemille

Active member
Feb 21, 2020
110
125
Peak District
Great day Mike.. I think its better going round in reverse hell of a challenge..good laugh too with a few of the guys having offs none serious but comical..look foward to the next one.

Jon set the bar very high with his ability to fall off in front of fit female fell runners...
 

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