The route starts in Matlock next to the railway station and heads down the White Peak Link which is a former railway line. This is just a warm up0 before the climbing begins ! If you fancy extending the route you could combine it with our Amber Gambler route to make a proper big day out of it.
It’s probably best done in drier weather as there are a few bits that can turn into a mudfest in Winter months and it’s definitely a big day out so pack your sandwiches !
The route starts and finishes in Baslow before heading up and over the moors.
Summertime is well and truly here in our corner of Derbyshire and I hope you are making the most of the dry spell. We’re about as far from the seaside as you can get so, last weekend, we though a trip to the seaside was in order.
The result is a new route that I published earlier in the week called the South North Divide. The route starts at Sheffield Train station and makes it’s way up through South and West Yorkshire before heading across to York. From here the route continues across North Yorkshire to finish in Scarborough. I did the route over a couple of days because I’m old and unfit but I reckon it could be done in a single day if you are feeling enthusiastic.
I’ve had a few deliveries in this month from Road Runner Bags, Outer Shell Adventure and Inside Line Equipment.
Included in the delivery are some Road Runner Buoy Bags (left), Outer Shell Camera Straps and Rolltop Saddle Bags and the newly released Inside Line Frame Bags.
I’m now offering free UK shipping for orders over £55, free local delivery and am now back shipping to the EU now the dust has settled on changes to various rules and regulations.
Vélotastic will be closed from July 4th to July 21st for our Summer Holidays. All orders placed will be shipped when we return. So if you have a trip yourself lined up and are after something, please order from us sooner rather than later.
The weather has meant that I’ve been busy at Vélotastic HQ fulfilling orders and looking at what to stock. It’s also been an interesting time for us watching the American president having a toddler tantrum and introducing tariffs and us wondering if our government was going to reciprocate. This is not the first time he’s done this. Back in 2018 there was a spat between Boeing and Airbus and it meant that, including duty and tariff we were paying 28% on some of the products Vélotastic were importing with VAT on top of that !
We’ve sent out all the patches and route information to everyone that’s entered our last virtual event – the Stoops and Stones. We’ve got a few extra patches for sale if you missed the pre-order. It’s a lovely couple of routes in the Peak District if we say so ourselves !
With the longer daylight hours and more settled weather it’s a great time to go for a weekend away with your bike. Whether you are a bikepacking newbie or a hardcore veteran we’ve a route for you.
A good introduction to bikepacking is to do a longer linear dayride on your bike, spend the night out (maybe with a cheeky recovery beer) and catch the train back the following day. Our routes from Chesterfield to Lincoln or York are great for that and with the Lincoln route you can always continue to the seaside for a bag of chips the following day.
If you fancy something a bit more challenging, you could always split one of our longer day rides into two. The Imperial is a fantastic route around the Peak District. If you fancy something a bit flatter the Superfondo is a good option.
Our classic bikepacking routes include the Park Patrol, Transpennine Express and Trans Peak Trail which are all gravel friendly. If you fancy something more at the MTB end of the spectrum the White Peak Wander and Velotastic 300 might be more for you.
Whatever you chose – leave no trace and enjoy yourself.
There is as usual, a bit of a caveat about how and where you popped your century cherry. A 100 miles on the flat on a light road bike is going to be a lot easier than a 100 off road on an MTB in the Highlands.
Somewhere in the middle is gravel biking territory. You’ve usually got a mix of surfaces. Gravel bikes are lighter than MTB’s but heavier than some road bikes. Tyres are in the middle normally unless you are riding a monster cross style bike.
A century is also a good distance for a long day in the saddle without the need for taking bikepacking gear and having to put an overnight stop in. Provisions can be carried on the bike. The only issue is water, but if you scout around there’s normally somewhere to fill up.
I thought I’d design a route in the Peak with these factors in mind. Its a mix of the White Peak’s ‘rail trails’ and a venture into the Dark Peak. It’s around 50% off road with the resat on quiet lanes that are more gnarmac than tarmac.
Enjoy. If you like what you see a virtual coffee would not go a miss.
This gravel friendly route starts and finishes at Chesterfield Station and is a mash up of our popular GravelFondo route and personal fave – Duke it Out route with a few extra bits on the side. Roughly three quarters of the route is off road – a mix of former railways, bridleways and a blue MTB route thrown in for good measure. It’s a lot less lumpy than some of our Peak District adventures and I recce’d it on my single speed gravel bike.
As things are picking up after the winter months I’m starting to re-stock our inventory. I’ve had a re-stock from Voilé of their ever so popular straps. Below’s a little video about how they came about.
I’ve also started carrying a selection of Litepro chainring bolts. A great way to give your bike a little bit of individuality. Available in sets of five in a selection of colours with a choice of single or double chainring sizing.
After a little bit of a hiatus I’ve decided to start carrying PNW Components again. They offer a great range of accessories for mountain and gravel bikes at a reasonable price. I’m ‘testing the water’ at the moment with a selection of their grips and bar tape and hopefully will expand my offering once they gain traction.
A huge thanks to everyone that entered our Stoops and Stones virtual non-event. You should have received a copy of the routes and hopefully your patches will be on the way to you at the back end of next month. If you a little late to the party, don’t worry as we have ordered a few extra patches and you can still join in here.
A New Year does however bring a fresh start. Mine is to spend less time on social media doom scrolling (I’ve removed most of the apps off my devices) and more time getting outside. Even if it’s not riding, a walk or a run is better than being indoors !
As a bit of a motivation I’ve launched my latest virtual non- event (ICYMI it’s called the Stoops and Stones). Based on the eastern edge of the Peak District close to home there’s a choice of two routes – the 100km Daytripper and 100 mile Weekender. Entries are now open. I’ll reveal the route to those that have in mid March and you can ride them at your leisure.
Things maybe quiet but I’ve had a couple of deliveries in. One from Outer Shell Adventure with a restock of their camera straps and harnesses and I’ve also started carrying some Ass Savers.
I’ve always had a love hate relationship with mudguards. Whilst I hate getting dirty and riding with a wet backside, I also find that traditional mudguards either end up rattling or get clogged up. I’ve been using Ass Savers for the past couple of months and they seem a good compromise, plus they are easy to remove when it gets drier.
I’ve got a few route ideas in mind that I didn’t quite get around to this year and I’m also planning a cracking new virtual event for the Spring. Hopefully if I can get over the seasonal excesses and out on my bike I should be launching entries for that next month.
The eagle eyed of you will have noticed that Velotastic didn’t do a Black Friday sale. We that the concept is a bit thin and don’t want to get into the cycle of perpetual sales on our slower moving stock. Instead we’re offering 10% off all orders over £50 until the end of the year – just use the discount code fiftyten at our checkout.
Early last month we added a new route to our website called the Coal Trail. Starting and finishing in Chesterfield, this route is ideal fro shorter winter days when you don’t fancy a long, epic ride. I’ve ridden it on my singlespeed, so it’s not as lumpy as some of our Peak District based routes.
We’ve had a delivery of the latest version of the Blackburn Outpost Cage . We’ve been using the original model for years now and they’ve been a solid product despite taking loads of battering. The never version is designed for use with triple bottle mounts or gives you the opportunity to move the cage up and down on traditional double mounts.
Situated about a mile from Leeds city centre, butted up next to a couple of TV studios, the warm welcome I received was in contrast to the cold wet weather when I arrived. I was greeted by Col and Nathan the owner and founder of Restrap.
The business was established in 2010 by Nathan making pedal straps in his back room using a single sewing machine and a homemade punch. Since then Restrap has now expanded its product range to a collection of bicycle bags suitable for commuting, gravel riding and bikepacking.
The business now occupies a factory unit full of workstations and cutting machines where they make 90% of their products in house. This enables them to be agile and keep up with demand and trends rather than rely on overseas factories and waiting for stock to arrive by container.
Making in house also means that the quality of their products is consistent. As Nathan showed me around the factory he pointed out the cutting machines where products start their journey from being a raw material. Most of these are computer controlled. This enables them to not only cut accurately but to keep waste to a minimum. No bags made out of offcuts..
Other elements to the bags were carefully thought out. YKK zips are used rather than saving on manufacturing. Bag spacers and stiffeners are also cut in house to ensure that everything goes together just so.
The vast majority of the staff have been with the company for years. The factory had a feeling of a happy workforce which reflected this low staff churn rate. The label on the finished products that are made in house are signed by the machinist which is a reflection of the pride in their work.
A corner of the unit was set up as a bike store cum workshop and there was a diverse range of bicycles in there from single speed commuters to full suspension MTB, many of them with Restrap bags attached to them. Many of the staff are riders themselves and some of them are Restrap brand ambassadors.
It was great to visit a company that manufactures in house rather than badge engineers their products and slaps a designed in Great Britain sticker and Union flags on their products.
Many thanks to Nathan, Col and all the staff at Restrap for making me feel so welcome.
Restrap products are available to buy through our online store.
The White Peak Wander is a 100 mile bikepacking route in the south of the Peak District National Park.
Ideally ridden over two days, the route is mainly on bridleways, country lanes and disused railway tracks.
We’d recommend using a hardtail MTB for this route – there will be a fair bit of hike-a-bike if you choose to use a gravel bike. The White Peak is often overlooked by mountain bikers who tend to gravitate towards the Dark Peak and Hope Valley. However there are a myriad of quiet trails and pretty villages to explore
The route starts in the middle of Matlock close to the railway station so there’s no need to drive to the start.
When I recce’d the route I camped at the YHA in Castleton which is just off the northern end of the route.
If you like our routes, a virtual coffee wouldn’t go a miss.
Have we completed the circle – Are ATB’s the new gravel ?Back in the mid-eighties I bought my first mountain bike – a Raleigh Montage. Way back then mountain bikes were still finding their way and had a bit of an identity crisis, partially due to the lack of proper mountains in many parts of the world and they were occasionally called all terrain bikes or ATB’s. The French still use the term VTT or Vélo Tout Terrain to describe them.
Back then mountain bikes were rather crude affairs. The geometry and frame were very similar to a hybrid bike, there was no suspension and the brakes were cantilever brakes which were popular on touring bikes at the time. The tyres were a tad chunkier than on a racing bike with 1.75” width if you were lucky.
Fast forward around 20 years and the likes of Specialized brought do it all models such as out the Tricross. It was a bit longer and more relaxed than a cyclocross bike and you could fit wider tyres. This slowly evolved into gravel bikes as we know it with disc brakes being borrowed from MTB’s, 1x drivetrains and wider tyres.
Meanwhile in the background brands such as Salsa and Surly were developing bikes in the background which were MTB’s with rigid forks for the bikepacking market which at the time was quite a niche pastime. Think of the SUV of the bike world, think of the original ATB with slacker angles, bigger tyres and better brakes..
We’re now at a stage where many gravel bikes have the capacity to take wider tyres that are a lot chunkier than the original mountain bikes. I think this is not only driven by marketing and the need to sell more bikes but riders are pushing the boundaries of where they want to take their bikes, finding many trails a bit tame for their liking.
Here’s the bit where I take a punt at the future and stick my neck out. I think that the market share of ATB’s will grow exponentially. They are slower on the road than a gravel bike, but many riders try and avoid roads. They have a rugged image that will appeal to a certain kind of rider and they have the potential to allow you to explore more. With the lack of suspension they are simpler to maintain than a MTB and many are designed to carry bikepacking luggage with additional mounting points.
Being a bit of a geek and sometime early adopter I thought I’d ask ChatGPT for it’s take on it. Here’s the answer after I told it what ATB stood for:
“Ah, I see. Thank you for clarifying. Yes, “ATB” stands for All Terrain Bike, which typically refers to a bicycle designed to handle various off-road terrains. On the other hand, “gravel bikes” are designed specifically for riding on unpaved gravel roads or mixed terrains.
While there are similarities between ATBs and gravel bikes in terms of their ability to handle diverse terrain, they are not necessarily the same. Gravel bikes are specifically optimized for gravel riding, with features such as wider tires, more relaxed geometry, and additional clearance for mud and debris. They often have drop handlebars like road bikes, but with more stability and comfort for off-road riding.
ATBs, on the other hand, are designed for a broader range of off-road terrains, including mountain biking trails. They typically have knobby tires, suspension systems (either front suspension or full suspension), and more aggressive geometries for tackling rough trails and technical obstacles.
While some riders may choose to use ATBs for gravel riding, the term “gravel bike” has gained popularity to describe a specific type of bicycle optimized for gravel roads and mixed-surface adventures. Gravel bikes offer a balance of speed, comfort, and versatility, making them well-suited for long-distance gravel rides, bikepacking, and exploring unpaved routes.
Ultimately, whether ATBs can be considered the “new” gravel bike depends on the specific context and how people are using the term. Gravel bikes have gained a dedicated following and continue to evolve with specialized features, so they remain a distinct category within the cycling world”.
It does feel to an extent as though we have gone the full circle with the ride of the ATB.
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