Such a glorious day, who’d waste it in work. Had a great ride around three reservoirs, Ladybower, Derwent and Howdon. The dams are great, okay they’re not as big as the hoover dam, but they’re far prettier.

Total Distance: 15.5 miles

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So, my first trip out on Esmerelda (she was christened on our return with water and Muc Off!). We did a 16 mile trip round Clumber Park, including a rather nice downhill section through a sandstone cutting. Our route came from the Mountain Bike Guide Nottinghamshire

Total Distance: 16 miles

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Having faith in the weatherman’s predictions that Sunday would be a total washout we dragged ourselves to the peak to complete a leisurely 11 mile bike ride. The first half followed the High Peak Trail and the cuttings and embankments provided shelter from the wind most of the way. The second half had us wishing that we’d already invested in the clear glasses we’d been talking about, wheels flinging sheep and cow poo at you takes some of the enjoyment away from downhill sections.

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Up and down and up and down, that’s how it went today. A route described as pleasantly undulating; undulating yes, pleasant not so sure about that! I suppose you have to go uphill to enjoy the downhills, I would just prefer the uphills to be on something other than nasty sandy soil.

Total Distance: 16.05 miles (not including detour)

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After follow the dog
Originally uploaded by ebygomm

A trip to Cannock Chase to check out the XC course there. It was really great, not even marred by the fact my chain snapped half way round, pulling the rear mech into the back wheel and I had to complete the course only using two gears because of a severely shortened chain. As the picture demonstrates, it was a little bit muddy, not surprising considering the amount of rain.
Total Distance: 6.3 miles



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Managed to squeeze in a nice 12km ride today without getting rained on Lots of lovely single track down through the woods.

An evening ride, along the towpath of the now disused Grantham canal then coming back round through the woods. Saw some great thistles and some not so great stinging nettles! A really nice quiet ride though. Max speed 45.7 km/h

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Instead of driving to Sherwood Pines and biking round we decided we’d bike there (of course this leaves you too tired to do any biking once you’re there but the cafe’s quite nice!) Much more up and down than I expected, the GPS route confirmed it wasn’t all my imagination with a total ascent of 627m! It’s a long time since we’ve ridden that far. Wonder if we’ll feel it tomorrow?

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Got up at some godawful hour for a sunday and cursing why we’d ever arranged to do such a thing. Soon forgot about that though, as the mist lifted and we climbed the hills above Ladybower. The first part of the route was part of the BHF ride that was going on later that day, glad we got up there before they did, it was fairly muddy already. A great descent down back down to the road, and then a fairly gentle ride around.

The reservoirs were absolutely still, great reflections.

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