Another hot and humid day here in the UK, 27-28C and just horribly muggy.
Went out on the fat bike again over the local hill. Took it easy for the most part but strangely got a couple of PBs and some fast times, then again you’ve only really got one speed on a single speed, I suppose that’s how it gets its name
First descent of the ride, heads past the buildings to the left to get to the purple area.
After that I had the choice of dropping all the way to the valley floor but that would have meant a 300m climb to get back up so headed back to the road and up this to head off up to the top of the hill.
After a bit of a sit down in the breeze the rest of the ride would be mostly downhill, or at least some short easy climbs. Back the way I came up but stopping at a memorial stone to a local man who died supplying the beacon that sat on top of the hill during the Napoleonic Wars.
The gravel road started at roughly the bottom of the hill, and it was so chunky by the last km or so that I walked up most of it. Couldn’t get the back tire to stay on the ground long enough to pedal, heh. Rode almost the whole thing down though!
It’s actually a little boring - it goes back to town! But going the other way it turns into a gravel climb, to hot springs, then a single track descent. Or another alternative, a gnarly singletrack climb to the wilderness area boundary where bikes aren’t allowed (unfortunately).
At the bottom we saw what things might have looked like after such a release but this damage was from a deluge that hit this part of the valley almost a year ago to the day. The gully floor used to be level between the two green areas on either side, it’s at least 2 metres lower. There is only a small catchment area to this gully.
Up and over the other side via a cracking descent and then another climb over the skyline to our bivy spot at an old lead mine (the reason for all the hushes)
We dropped back down into the valley via a descent I’d not done before and then headed to the local bike shop/café for a second breakfast This just happened to be the shop where I’d bought the bike I was riding so ended up having a chat with the owner about the events of last year with him pointing out the bits of the Dale that were still damaged a year on.
I met some mates I hadn’t saw since the start of lock down and headed to The New Old Barn Cafe. I was intending to substitute it for my TR session but lol every time I started to go into the sweet spot I started to drop them and they are too good mates for that so I sat up The guys done good though, coming through when I dropped the pace and set lots of PRs for them
When I got back I saw a WhatsApp from another mate who needed forks so I took the long way to his, dropped them off and went to finish my sweet spot session. It was too strong a tail wind though so I barely got out of HR zone 3 Sweet spot also got me a personal KOM up a local bump.
I had grand plans to go across a ferry and visit a cafe on the water, but turned out a bunch of the “gravel” I planned to have an excuse to leave the knobby tires was actually rocky, rooty singletrack. I walked most of it. We also almost got shot I guess?
Kenilworth Beach just north of Evanston in Chicago. Weather today was spectacular all morning with mid to low 70s and light wind on the roads (whipping wind on the lake though). Just the tranquility was I was looking for to reset my mind this Sunday.
)
This just happened to be the shop where I’d bought the bike I was riding so ended up having a chat with the owner about the events of last year with him pointing out the bits of the Dale that were still damaged a year on.
The guys done good though, coming through when I dropped the pace and set lots of PRs for them 
