More Pootling

Another peaks pootle, johnnie bailed at last minute so drove up on my tod, despite the preceding weather it was looking like a nice day. Rushup is closed for the foreseeable so I had to make a quick detour parked at winnats head and did cold side/harden clough to get me warmed up, met the group at edale and wow, 37! Oh dear, I was worried about a faffathon but turned out to be ok actually. Lots of familiar faces Pook and NBT were organising, Neil (h4muf), hora, Cotic sola rider from the HTN night ride last month and Sheldon (niche knight and singlespeed event organiser extraordinaire) on a northern visit. Some not so familiar, including crazy legs on a crossbike. Hard start up chapel gate soon separated the field, managed the first half then struggled a bit before manning up and riding the rest. Riding down the roman road I was going well til my new gear cable slipped dropping me into a low gear and had to freewheel to the bottom. Sorted it at the regroup then along a car free rushup edge to do dirtlowe rake, just as I set off Sheldon passed me so I put my foot down and tried to keep up., this guy is quick, I ran out of gears but couldn't have managed much faster anyway and I was only just keeping up, me on a 6" full susser him on a hardtail and he still had a couple of bike lengths on me by the bottom. We were about quits on pindale, impressive, wouldn't fancy doing that on a hardtail.
We dropped into Hope the climbed up to hope cross, did Jaggers Clough ok, no walkers or horsists for once, tho Pooks mate managed to overshoot the corner and bin it into the ravine, not injuries fortunately. Steep climb out then tear down the double track. A few punctures meant a delay at the bottom so I nipped back up to check all was OK (and do the second half again) Nice gentle roll back into Edale and a chat at the carpark where Hells got out some fantastic chocolate brownies, being tired may have put an edge on my hunger but these were top notch, awesome baking skillz. I just had to negotiate the climb back up out of the valley, ouch. Hit it pretty quick as the weather was starting to turn rain spots appearing on the road, knackered by the time I got to the car, a good day out with a sociable bunch, was a bit sun burnt too - who'd have thunk it in July?