Tissington trail: 28mm slick or 40mm treaded ?

jejv

Probably bimbling around Dovedale & the Manifold valley this weekend.

What's the surface like on the Tissington trail. out of Ashbourne ?

Walked on some of it round Tissington a few years ago. IIRC it wasn't quiite as smooth as a baby's bottom. OK for flat-tyred mountain bikes.

Kieran_Burns

I've ridden up and down it several times on my Tricross on 28mm Conti Top contacts.

It's never a problem. - If you like I can post a video of a section so you can see exactly what it's like. (I was up on it a couple of weeks back with the headcam)

If you're going to go from Ashbourne, the ride up to Tissington is VERY busy with walkers so expect to be asking to get past LOTS.

I find a friendly couple of tings on the bell works wonders, followed by a "Thank you" as you go past.

If you want to stretch your legs a bit - carry on past Tissington and onto the High Peak trail - it's much more open and the scenery is great. It's a bit of trek as the VERY slight gradient makes you wonder why you can't go quicker

I always go that far as there's a great cafe just after the trails meet and it's a nice target to aim for - total distance there and back is about 28 miles.

I'm actually thinking of running my 100k route up there this weekend as well - I might see you as I swish past

will3

+1 for take a bell. So much easier to warn people of your approach from range.

Also, it's a very dusty surface.

Kieran_Burns

will3 wrote:

+1 for take a bell. So much easier to warn people of your approach from range.

Also, it's a very dusty surface.

Hell yeah. My tricross is grey when I get home.

Oh, the car park at the bottom of the Trail (and it's best to get the one South of the tunnel, 'cos it's cool to cycle through it) is a bit odd to get to

It's here Look for the Doctors surgery and bloody big medical type building

Alternatively - you look for Mapleton Road just NE of Ashbourne and the car park there is after the tunnel, but that can be full.

essexian

28mm will be fine although after the signal box (about 11 miles up the trail), the route does get a little rougher; whilst around Ashbourne the route does go through a wooded section which can be quite tricky if wet.

A couple of things you will notice is that most cyclists will hire bikes and thus, nod along at 5mph without an idea of how to ride. Best get the first 5 miles out of the way before 9am IMHO. Secondly, if its a lovely day in Ashbourne, by the time you get to the top of the trail, it will be blowing a gale. There is always wind up there!

Finally, with the tunnels open on the Monsal Trail, its now possible to do a 100km loop up the Tissington Trail, across country to Monsal and then back to Ashbourne via the High Peak Trail and Tissington.

Good luck and enjoy.

graham.

If you go through the tunnel out of Ashbourne , hope that the speakers are switched on. Very eerie the first time!
Graham.

e999sam

I've ridden Tissington, High Peak and Monsal trals on 23mm Specialized All condition Armadilios with no problems.
I did the Monsal Trail last week for the first time it's a fantastic ride which goes through some great scenery.

Kieran_Burns

This is the stretch between Tissington and Ashbourne as cycled by yours truly a couple of weeks back.

http://youtu.be/o17Hv0AhH-4?hd=1

If you have sound - please excuse the deep coughing :oops: This is why I cut my 100k ride short and struggled home.

jejv

Sorry about the delay replying.

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I've ridden up and down it several times on my Tricross on 28mm Conti Top contacts.

Fair enough - then that's probably the biggest tyre you can fit. I didn't think we'd need 29" nobblies. 8)

Kieran_Burns wrote:

If you want to stretch your legs a bit - carry on past Tissington and onto the High Peak trail - it's much more open and the scenery is great. It's a bit of trek as the VERY slight gradient makes you wonder why you can't go quicker

Yes, there's a bit more of a view up there.

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I always go that far as there's a great cafe just after the trails meet and it's a nice target to aim for - total distance there and back is about 28 miles.

Sowhere round Parsley Hay, then ? Our 10YO is up for that, maybe a bit further. I think there's a few decent pubs off the A515 too.

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm actually thinking of running my 100k route up there this weekend as well - I might see you as I swish past

Well, if you see a couple of things that look sortof like touring bikes, but have funny bars and Giant written on the side, that'll be us. There can't be many Giant bikes with Veloce brifters.

More in a bit - and thankyou for that.

Kieran_Burns

It's a tricross CX bike I've got some 35c nobblies for proper Winter riding that can be fitted on there. I just use 28c as they're the best compromise between comfort and speed (IMHO)

The stretch up to Parsley Hay is much more scenic but I guarantee there will be a bit when you'll go "God, how much further?"

jejv

essexian wrote:

Secondly, if its a lovely day in Ashbourne, by the time you get to the top of the trail, it will be blowing a gale. There is always wind up there!

Finally, with the tunnels open on the Monsal Trail, its now possible to do a 100km loop up the Tissington Trail, across country to Monsal and then back to Ashbourne via the High Peak Trail and Tissington.

Yes, that would be good another time. We're not really up there to cycle - just thought we could explore a bit while we're there.

Kieran_Burns

Which day by the way?

jejv

Probably Monday - other stuff to do on Sunday.

I think we'll try to get over to Dovedale on Saturday afternoon.

The maps round there have a symbol that we're not familiar with - the roads sometimes have sortof chevrons marked on them. Often there are lots of thin brown lines close together where these chevrons are. Dunno what the thin brown lines are either. I thought we'd investigate.

jejv

Your advice was sound. 28mm was indeed fine for the railways. And 23mm would have been mostly OK too, but some of the high peak railway has a gravel surface - 23mm would be OK, but not ideal.

We did Ashborne station -> tunnel -> Thorpe station -> Dovedale -> stepping stones -> Ilam -> Mapleton -> Ashbourne on Saturday evening. ~13 Miles.

On Monday we did Ashbourne -> Kniveton -> Brassington -> Over two stiles onto the high peak railway -> left North of Brundcliffe farm -> Devonshire Arms, Hartington -> Hartington station -> Ashbourne. ~28 miles.

It was a bit dissapointing on the way back from Hartington - it stopped raining. We haven't seen decent rain for months.

[Note to self: When asking for advice about tyre choice, always tell the people that you are asking that you have a compulsion to follow muddy farm tracks]

The high peak railway was impressive - when we were approaching the embankment north of ?Minninglow? I was wondering - what's that dam doing there ? It was the railway embankment. I guess that's Georgian railway engineering.

10YO did his first club run today.

essexian

jejv wrote:

The high peak railway was impressive - when we were approaching the embankment north of ?Minninglow? I was wondering - what's that dam doing there ? It was the railway embankment. I guess that's Georgian railway engineering.

Do you mean this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minni ... _17540.jpg

Very, very impressive piece of engeering.

Glad you had a nice time:

jejv

essexian wrote:

Do you mean this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minni ... _17540.jpg

Yes, that's the one. Is there a Photoshop filter for wearing glasses in the rain ?