Bakewell Pudding at the Bakewell Pudding Shop (don’t make the mistake of calling it a Bakewell Tart – locally this is regarded as a highly inferior mass-produced product compared to the real thing).
Visitors to the west of the region may get the opportunity to sample the unique taste of Staffordshire oatcakes – particularly filled with hot melted cheese. To the north (and spreading increasingly south through the region), the Yorkshire Pudding often comes in giant form, filled with roast beef, sausages or lamb – the latter of which, one of Derbyshire’s best-known specialities, is on offer at many of the region’s pubs and restaurants. Lamb shank with rosemary washed down with a pint of real ale is a well-earned treat after a hard day’s cycling!
No food and drink section would be complete without mention of the vast array of real ales on offer in the region’s large selection of pubs and inns. As well as the region-wide offerings from the Marston’s Brewery (of which Pedigree is the most common), other regional treats include Stockport’s Robinson’s (Unicorn), mostly in the north-west of the region, and Theakston’s beers (XB, Best and Black Sheep) towards the north. More local micro- and not-so-micro-breweries such as Peak Ales (Bakewell/Chatsworth area), Thornbridge (Bakewell area) and Hartington’s Whim Brewery can also be sampled in many pubs. Even the YHA in Castleton has got in on the brewing scene with its own micro-brewery onsite!
Wine aficionados are not so well catered-for with local products, but Renishaw Hall (near Sheffield) held the distinction of being the most northerly vineyard between 1972 and 1986 and has produced award-winning wine since then. More recently, Holmfirth vineyard started up in 2009 and is winning awards. Fortunately, despite the general lack of locally grown offerings, restaurants and increasingly pubs are fairly clued up in their understanding of the best wines to import.
In this book, key places where refreshments can be found are noted in the information box at the start of each route. However, please note that places come and go over the lifetime of a guidebook, many pubs still shut between lunch and early evening (especially midweek), and not all places are open every day of the week. It’s worth checking current information online before relying on anything – especially for stop-offs in the middle of the afternoon, on a weekday or outside summer. A list of cafés and pubs currently known, with greater information on opening times, can be found at www.peakimages.co.uk under ‘Cycling’.
Money
You should be able to find a cashpoint (ATM) in most towns these days, but it is wise to carry sufficient cash for an overnight stay, a meal and a day’s supplies (say £50–£200 depending on your budget) as many villages do not have one and credit and debit cards are not universally accepted by smaller businesses.
Electronic payments such as Android and Apple Pay are still a novelty – only time will tell how well these become accepted in the future. Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted, although American Express often isn’t. Purchases of less than £5 or £10 may be refused if not in cash.
Accommodation is pricey in the UK and often costs in excess of £60 a room per night unless staying in shared (hostel) dorms.
Bike setup/Choice of bike
Riding along the Carsington Reservoir Dam Wall (Route 4)
The ideal bike for the rides in this book is a gravel bike (which is also known as an adventure road or adventure bike) – or any of its close variants such as a cyclocross bike, a hybrid (as long as it isn’t too heavy) or a lightweight 29er mountain bike with semi-slick tyres. These bikes provide the best compromise between fast and efficient progress over tarmac and the strength to go off-road on easy-to-hard trails and into the easier reaches of pure MTB territory. However, most bikes will be capable of the routes, other than lightweight road bikes. These, with care and a reasonably lightweight rider, may manage some of the gentler off-road and most of the trail sections, but riders will probably wish to take the ‘road detours’ mentioned in the text – especially for those on ultralight performance machines!
What is a ‘gravel bike’?
Not heard the term before? Don’t worry, it’s still fairly new. But it seems to be gaining popularity very quickly as it’s such a good idea.
In simple terms, a gravel bike is a hybrid bike which has wider (although moderately smooth) tyres and disk brakes like a mountain bike. But like a road bike, they tend to be relatively lightweight (especially when compared to many hybrid bikes) though still strong enough to venture off-road, and have drop-handlebars, which make longer distances (on and off-road) much more comfortable. (If you haven’t tried them and think they don’t sound comfortable, it’s well worth giving them a go. You may well be surprised!)
They also bear more than a passing resemblance to a cyclocross bike, but where the cyclocross bike’s gears and geometry are optimised for an hour’s race around a muddy field, gravel bikes are intended for all-day and multi-day use across a wide variety of terrains.
Gears
Many bikes with drop handlebars come far too highly geared for mere mortals on the average steep hill – let alone when overnight luggage weight is added to the equation! This being the case, you have two options. The traditional advice is that you don’t ride challenging routes until you’ve built up the necessary leg strength on flat and then gently increasing hills. However, this requires significant time and very frequent riding, which, sadly, can put people off before they’ve even started.
For many people, the best solution is to first of all change the rear cassette (set of cogs) for a mountain biking cassette. If this still doesn’t give low enough gears, change the front derailleur for a MTB triple. (Note that this is likely to require specialist help from a bike mechanic if you’re not a confident bike fettler, and may mean that 11-speed gears are no longer an option – but 30 useable speeds spread across three rings are far better than 22 across two rings that are too high!)
Alternatively (and this is my current preference), some gravel bikes come with the new SRAM 1x11 setup. This gives a rear range of 10–42 teeth with just a single front derailleur, which is lighter, easier to use and removes one derailleur from the trouble-making equation! I’ve swapped the standard 44-tooth front ring for a 38-tooth ring. This does limit my top-end pedalling speed, but means I rarely have to walk up a hill, even fully laden. And gravity means I can still reach speeds of 45mph on a decent descent!
Saddle height
Low saddle height may initially give confidence to a new rider, but it significantly reduces pedalling efficiency and leads to sore thighs and backs, particularly when riding uphill. It’s best to raise the saddle so that your leg is fractionally less than straight when sat on the saddle (with leg extended with the pedal at the bottom of its stroke). But if your knees end up locked-out, you’ve taken it too high!
Saddle
The best saddle is the most comfortable one! However, this is very hard to judge, especially when you’re new to cycling. As a general rule, men tend to need slightly narrower and longer saddles than women. For everyone, counter-intuitively, too much padding is as bad as too little as it soon deforms on longer rides and doesn’t give the required support.
Talking of support, it’s worth bearing in mind that the reason a saddle is called a saddle rather than a seat is that in normal riding your weight should ideally be spread equally through pedals, saddle and hands, with the core muscles preventing your body weight from resting too hard on the saddle.
The best way to find the right saddle is to try out a few and gradually
