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Matlock 2013 .... Dummy Run
Posted by : Andy2Cubs/Ripley (78.149.109.252) 
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On Friday 08/02/13 at 02:11:14
With just 2 months to go before Matlock 2013, I decided that a dummy run for the Saturday route was needed, just to iron out any glitches. So with two dummies (Harry & myself), we set off from Matlock on a very cold February morning up north into the hills for a day's Bimbling.
We'd taken the precaution of wearing several layers of motorcycling type clothing including thermal long johns, thermal socks, scalfs, extra jumpers and Harry was even wearing a woolly hat under his helmet. Even with all this clothing I soon started to get cold despite my latest addition of handlebar muffs for my 'hyperthermia hands' (a very serious, although totally made up medical condition). The road conditions so far were fairly good. We had one or two moments of wobble on the back roads of Baslow but had managed to stay upright as we turned off to the legendary Derbyshire plague village.
By this time the sun was shining and we decided to sample the legendary coffee at the legendary tea rooms. As we sat in the warm homely surroundings of the touristy refreshment confectioners our minds wandered to thoughts of the affect that the plague had back in 1665 and the effect the plague of dozens of Honda C90 riders would have on April 6th. Harry's mind wandered too, but it didn't have to wander quite as far.
Once warmed up we continued on our journey ascending higher and higher up and over the Peak District hills. By the time we reached the moors outside Hathersage, our light hearted Bimble had become nothing more than a life & death struggle as we negotiated treacherous road conditions that made 'Ice Road Truckers' look like a ride in the park.
Sadly I do not possess the photographic evidence to support this, but at one stage Harry witnessed me doing a complete 360' on a totally ice glazed country lane that would have had Torvill & Dean awarding me a 5.9 for degree of difficulty. I managed to stay on somehow and the laughing we both did helped to warm us up long enough to reach 'Ladybower Visitors Centre'
I took a break from coffee on this occasion and went with hot chocolate to wash down my beef sandwiches. Harry on the other hand persisted with his caffeine intake and we ate lunch and fed the ducks.
The mallards here are surprisingly difficult to catch considering the sheer number. Maybe I should have looked for the older/weaker members of the group to pick off or better still enlist the help of some sort of fishing net attached to the bike so as to scoop up mallards as we departed this picturesque reservoir and dam place.
Come April 6th, this will be the furthest north will we have travelled on a Matlock Bimble measuring 25.4 miles as the mallard flys, the distance by road is around 34 miles.
After another few miles on mainly clear dry roads we once again encountered the white stuff but by this time our confidence to ride over it had grown and grown as you will see from the final picture of Harry circling his cycle in a dear devil stunt to raise his adrenalin level.
All in all it was a great day out in Derbyshire. Can't wait till April.
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