Cut Gate Debacle

The Cut Gate path is a true Peak classic. It’s one of the few routes that’s worth doing as an out and back ride, and unless you want to make it a long day out, it’s the only way to ride Cut Gate.

Sunday afternoon saw me rolling into the car park at Langsett, to meet my friend MrX from Leeds. He’s a ‘proper’ cyclist, having toured from Norway to Italy, England to Israel and across India. The trouble is, he seems almost entirely clueless about maintaining a mountain bike. He’s well known amongst his friends for riding a barely functioning bike, and making frequent demands on anyone with an ounce of mechanical nous to fix his brakes/adjust his gears/scratch his arse. Sunday saw him with a brand new (that morning) chainset and rear mech, no front mech (cos he'd taken the old one off and the new one 'didn't look right somehow', and an old chain and cassette. He told me how he'd just bought a chain wear measurer which told him his chain was worn out, but didn't think it worth getting a new chain and cassette.

We set off into the woods and MrX's chain fell off on the first bump, having no front mech to hold it on. His drivetrain made an alarming random clicking and scraping sound, so he asked me to ride behind him to see if it was the old chain slipping on the new chainset, or the rear mech not being adjusted right. It was both. I did my usual and tried to adjust his gears, the adjusters needed winding in a few turns. Unfortunately, they were all completely wound in, so I just stepped back and left him to it. I didn't want to start faffing around with his bike (again) on a cold and damp November day. He admitted that he had just 'slapped' the new rear mech on, without setting it up. Fercrissakes...

We ploughed on up Cut Gate, or rather he walked and I rode. Part way up Mickleden edge we gave up and rolled back to the car park. What a waste of frickin' time.

I drove home feeling grouchy. Not a good day.

Oh, and the authorities are thinking of
improving Cut Gate :o(