Overall, training was very good, very informative. Would definitely do it again! A.R.T Services, highly recommended! You can find them on facebook – HERE.
This one was the extension after weekend, that didn’t end very well: HERE
25th, September. Friday.
Day before ART training in Peak District, on a way to a pre booked campsite decided to visit a few places. Started with Jenkins Road in Sheffield, as it was marked on a dangerous roads website, however, I didn’t find it interesting… for cyclists it would be good fun, for motorcycle riders nothing special. Next stop was Wynyards pass, short interesting road between two hills, brilliant, lovely place for hikers. Next Cat and fiddle, however curiosity led, went off track and found a few interesting lanes on a way, one seemed like going around quarry (“Bee Low Quarry Trail” click to open link to a video), and another one over the hills (Buxton Old Coach Road) . First one quite a good fun and easy going, second one a bit more challenging. Also sometime in between I nearly knocked off a girl who jumped out on the road without looking, and when she saw me coming, instead of freezing, started running forward making the situation even worse, lucky… anyway, once finally reached Cat and Fiddle – i was blown away by views. I haven’t followed it all the way, instead had a loop in there and then a long way to the campsite…
26th, September, Saturday.
After fairly cold night and frozen tent morning- First day of training. Jim does know a lot about riding, and lots of tips, feet and body position, leaning and where to look – did really improve my riding. We had few good lanes, dropped my bike on one funny lane where one guy in front of me stopped on a side because the guy in front of him lost control and dropped his, and me managed to get my bike in a middle and drop it in there, i think mainly because i panicked, stared slowing down, and then because i concentrated on a fallen rider and not the exit, just lost it.. Lane – “limestone way”. We had another fairly tricky lane, which was a lot worse than the previous one, a lot of riders had troubles on it, big rocks, steep climb, next to quarry – “Pindale” -Super awesome lane.
27th, September. Sunday.
Second day of training, a bit short, finished around 3 or so, mainly because of ktm that broke down, and there was no way to get it running again.. anyway Jim said that we had few more lanes left, and that would be it anyway.. but a good day overall, nothing too tricky, few good rocky lanes, few crashes, Africa Twin guy fell of on a fairly easy descend, i only saw him picking up his bikes bits. On another rocky lane BMW 1250GS guy said he went flying of his bike too… then one KTM just stalled and the guy didn’t bother to fix it, just asked another guy to give him a lift to his van and that was it.. we had a bit of slow manoeuvring practice too.. I think I got every guy on camera doing it. Good day, lots of fun.
Recreated route
So here it is, my own route for the training weekend. As the riding was split into two days. After some time I have decided that I would like to re-visit that area and hopefully do it all in one go, so I made this route that covers not only trails from that weekend, but also a few more that i think should be interesting too…
It’s a nice mixture of trails, from hard packed farm roads to super rocky climbs, all doable on most motorcycles, just depends on the rider’s ability, keep in mind that this training was not for beginners and trails were picked accordingly.
Starts:
(Parking for customers only, so please get some Tea before the trip)
Wetton Mill Tea Rooms,
Dale farm, Ashbourne DE6 2AG
53°06’07.2″N 1°51’31.2″W
53.102001, -1.858679
Ends:
Morrisons Petrol Station,
Bakewell Rd, Buxton SK17 9TB
53°15’15.5″N 1°54’15.0″W
53.254299, -1.904173
Download Gpx File: (*.zip – compressed “zipped” file)
Please check the route before use! and if used – use it at your own risk!
Something to keep in mind!
When wet, some lanes can and will get slippery, some lanes will be super rocky – Pindale Quarry Trail.
