I met Santa, but he was very busy. And at the same ride, I visited my grandmother's grave to light a candle.
Pic of the Day
- Thread starter Kilham5
- Start date
Boxing Day ride. We still don't have snow.
@johnc and I were out on Sat 20th Dec to do Jacob's Ladder in the Derbyshire Peak District. John had stitched together an 18 mile ride starting with Broken Road and Mam Tor and including Jacob's Ladder in the last 25% of the ride. The route shows over 3000ft of climbing (felt like a lot more!) See the Komoot map below:
Jacobs classic | mountain bike activity | Komoot
I have descended Jacob's Ladder four times before via various routes. I can tell you that it is a LOT more broken and washed out than it was when I last rode it, twelve years ago. There are more loose rocks rolling about and bigger steps. I didn't even recognise that we had done the first section (I came off) until we got to the cairn that marks the start of the second section. This pic below is the start of that section. Sorry, its a bit blurred, I was shivering at the time.
You can see the line of the trail heading downwards from the right. The descent ends up at the stream, the wriggly line of which can be seen lined by bushes. Once across the stream, the pale-coloured trail takes you away towards Edale, paralleling the stream but to the left of it.
The only other pic I have that is worth showing is a shot uphill of a descent about half way around that I had never seen before, so it was a warm up for Jacob's Ladder. This is me looking up it at John, I was the guinea pig.
The memorable aspect of this ride was that despite Komoot forecasting the ride to take 3 hours and we allowing 4, it took us 6 hours!! The reason for that was the amount of pushing uphill we had to do. There was one section that must have taken an hour just to get up it. Steep, very loose, rocky and wet; rutted, and muddy if we tried to get around. I have no idea where it was, but it will be on my top 10 places to avoid in the future!
We also decided to take a "short cut" over a bloody big hill. That turned out to be a steeply sloping cambered field, also heavily rutted and muddy. More pushing. It was getting dark as we reached the summit (we had no lights). As we peaked we could see the lights of the caravan park near where we had parked. They looked so far away. The descent started in the gloom and swiftly became so dark that we had to get off and walk! We could not see the ground, which as you might guess was also muddy and heavily rutted. I could see John's display glowing as he turned one way or the other, that was all I had to follow. It was deeply unpleasant. I later discovered that over the whole six hours I had only drunk half a litre of water! No wonder I felt like shit, stumbling and sliding in the mud and making crap decisions. I thought I knew better than to get myself into this situation, but once you are in it, it's too late!
The slipping and sliding in the dark continued for what felt like an eternity until we got onto a gravel track and we could proceed at a good walking pace but this time on the bikes. We promptly nearly hit a tree across the trail, it was only six feet away when John saw it. As we neared civilisation, still without any lighting, I almost ran into a bloke walking towards me, I don't know how I missed him! He was dressed all in black and had no lights. If he was wearing reflective clothing there was no light to reflect! It was a good job I was only at walking pace.
Without exaggeration, I can say that I was exhausted. Not completely exhausted, but I took an absolute age to get cleaned up and changed back at the van. I was doing stuff in the wrong order, stumbling around and making a complete fool of myself. It took two nights sleep and a days rest before I felt normal again. My heart was OK though!
The good thing is that I have learned two things about my bike (Merida eOne Sixty).
1. The combination of tyres & pressures and suspension set up were absolutely spot on. The bike was on top form that day. The bike coped with what I thought was some serious steeps and chunkiness. Whenever I stopped and walked over something rough, I accepted that it was my lack of bottle, despite being confident that the bike could have done it.
2. The Shimano EP8 and I can do a lot more in Eco than I thought possible. I ended the day covering 18 miles, 3000ft of climbing and six hours of travelling with just 8 miles left in Eco. For the last 90 mins, I didn't think I'd make it with any battery left! I never used Boost, and Trail only on the steepest climbs. For the first time, I felt envious of the 800Whr battery in John's Amflow instead of my 625Whr (and he's a lot lighter than me!)
EDIT: I added this video of the descent. Much better than my few pics. Similar conditions though.
Jacobs classic | mountain bike activity | Komoot
I have descended Jacob's Ladder four times before via various routes. I can tell you that it is a LOT more broken and washed out than it was when I last rode it, twelve years ago. There are more loose rocks rolling about and bigger steps. I didn't even recognise that we had done the first section (I came off) until we got to the cairn that marks the start of the second section. This pic below is the start of that section. Sorry, its a bit blurred, I was shivering at the time.
You can see the line of the trail heading downwards from the right. The descent ends up at the stream, the wriggly line of which can be seen lined by bushes. Once across the stream, the pale-coloured trail takes you away towards Edale, paralleling the stream but to the left of it.
The only other pic I have that is worth showing is a shot uphill of a descent about half way around that I had never seen before, so it was a warm up for Jacob's Ladder. This is me looking up it at John, I was the guinea pig.
The memorable aspect of this ride was that despite Komoot forecasting the ride to take 3 hours and we allowing 4, it took us 6 hours!! The reason for that was the amount of pushing uphill we had to do. There was one section that must have taken an hour just to get up it. Steep, very loose, rocky and wet; rutted, and muddy if we tried to get around. I have no idea where it was, but it will be on my top 10 places to avoid in the future!
We also decided to take a "short cut" over a bloody big hill. That turned out to be a steeply sloping cambered field, also heavily rutted and muddy. More pushing. It was getting dark as we reached the summit (we had no lights). As we peaked we could see the lights of the caravan park near where we had parked. They looked so far away. The descent started in the gloom and swiftly became so dark that we had to get off and walk! We could not see the ground, which as you might guess was also muddy and heavily rutted. I could see John's display glowing as he turned one way or the other, that was all I had to follow. It was deeply unpleasant. I later discovered that over the whole six hours I had only drunk half a litre of water! No wonder I felt like shit, stumbling and sliding in the mud and making crap decisions. I thought I knew better than to get myself into this situation, but once you are in it, it's too late!
The slipping and sliding in the dark continued for what felt like an eternity until we got onto a gravel track and we could proceed at a good walking pace but this time on the bikes. We promptly nearly hit a tree across the trail, it was only six feet away when John saw it. As we neared civilisation, still without any lighting, I almost ran into a bloke walking towards me, I don't know how I missed him! He was dressed all in black and had no lights. If he was wearing reflective clothing there was no light to reflect! It was a good job I was only at walking pace.
Without exaggeration, I can say that I was exhausted. Not completely exhausted, but I took an absolute age to get cleaned up and changed back at the van. I was doing stuff in the wrong order, stumbling around and making a complete fool of myself. It took two nights sleep and a days rest before I felt normal again. My heart was OK though!
The good thing is that I have learned two things about my bike (Merida eOne Sixty).
1. The combination of tyres & pressures and suspension set up were absolutely spot on. The bike was on top form that day. The bike coped with what I thought was some serious steeps and chunkiness. Whenever I stopped and walked over something rough, I accepted that it was my lack of bottle, despite being confident that the bike could have done it.
2. The Shimano EP8 and I can do a lot more in Eco than I thought possible. I ended the day covering 18 miles, 3000ft of climbing and six hours of travelling with just 8 miles left in Eco. For the last 90 mins, I didn't think I'd make it with any battery left! I never used Boost, and Trail only on the steepest climbs. For the first time, I felt envious of the 800Whr battery in John's Amflow instead of my 625Whr (and he's a lot lighter than me!)
EDIT: I added this video of the descent. Much better than my few pics. Similar conditions though.
Last edited:
Now that’s an adventure!
Yep, John sold it to me as a big day out and I was all for it!Now that’s an adventure!
I added a video, not shot by me of the Jacob's Ladder descent.
billwarwick
Language Police
Didn’t get muddy or fall off the bike today for change. Went and watched some cyclocross riders do it instead.
Nice ride but just proves you have to keep sipping that water. 
Yes I'm watching the ski reports and hopefully get a week somewhere. I will wait till I see a spell of good weather and go a couple days later. Not good for me skiing in poor visibility .
Just a 2-hour drive between the snowy mountains of Gorski Kotar (photo 1) and Cape Kamenjak in Croatia.
Wow! From what you wrote and I have seen in the video I would rate it as a trail to be avoided. No doubt by that you and John deserve the title Mountain Goat!
Nice one that maybe go a bit slower thoughWow! From what you wrote and I have seen in the video I would rate it as a trail to be avoided. No doubt by that you and John deserve the title Mountain Goat!
It wasn't me in the video. But my speed was only a little bit slower.Nice one that maybe go a bit slower though
etoni
E*POWAH Elite
Wallis Sitzerland 2025-Winter
Cheers
Cheers
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I can do slow or fast but not mega fast. It's deceiving watching videos.
He's at it again!Wallis Sitzerland 2025-Winter
Cheers
So little snow!Wallis Sitzerland 2025-Winter
Cheers
It's global warming, don't you know!
Soon all the glaciers will melt and the world will end. Doom, doom, everywhere is doom.
The world over
Could be worse imagine being in your twenties.It's global warming, don't you know!
Soon all the glaciers will melt and the world will end. Doom, doom, everywhere is doom.
Why would you want to be half British ????
Lovely bike . Stay Slovakian
Went a little hard last night at the local dive bar and felt it today.
Hawes trail system, Mesa, Arizona.
Hawes trail system, Mesa, Arizona.
ottoshape
Well-known member
Ouch!! What tire pressure were you running? Were you able to do a trailside repair?
InRustWeTrust
E*POWAH Master
Usually I run 0.8 bar (about 11 psi) front and rear and very rarely get a flat. For really rocky stuff I bump the rear up to around 1 bar (15 psi) and keep the front at 0.8. On this trail I smashed both wheels so many times I was honestly surprised it didn’t happen earlier.
The final hit came right at the end of the trail, where the open section drops into the forest. I hit a sharp rock hidden under the leaves at around 40 km/h. The blow was so unexpected and hard I thought my rear wheel exploded.
Looking at the rim damage, no pressure or insert would have saved it. Tomorrow I will assess the wheel and spokes... hopefully new one won't be needed.
I also made the classic mistake of not carrying tools, so I was lucky the puncture happened basically at the end of the trail. Short hike back to the car. And just to top it off, after unpacking the bike at home I noticed the front tire is losing air too
Went out for a solo ride in the Simonside Hills above Rothbury Northumberland today, our group don’t normally ride on a Sunday but it was posted anyway.
Just me and @The Hodge were up for this but even he sucummed the curse of the “Norfolk Black” and had to bale.
The car park was packed….never seen it this busy ! The ride started well, I went along the west side of hills adjacent to Tosson in good conditions underfoot, a tadge dull but no wind. The trail conditions worsened once out on one of the Enduro loops…..
A world away from @Powerslider pics of the Arizona desert
One of our motley crew is a retired vetinary and last year when he was out on this ride he checked over these beauties (which are a long way from home) so here’s pics just for you…..
All in all a grand little ride if a bit quiet
Just me and @The Hodge were up for this but even he sucummed the curse of the “Norfolk Black” and had to bale.
The car park was packed….never seen it this busy ! The ride started well, I went along the west side of hills adjacent to Tosson in good conditions underfoot, a tadge dull but no wind. The trail conditions worsened once out on one of the Enduro loops…..
A world away from @Powerslider pics of the Arizona desert
One of our motley crew is a retired vetinary and last year when he was out on this ride he checked over these beauties (which are a long way from home) so here’s pics just for you…..
All in all a grand little ride if a bit quiet
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