# Mont Cat



## doctornige (27 Oct 2012)

Yesterday I went out for a longish one. 63km from Whaley, out round Bramhall and Prestbury, then up the Cat and Fiddle, and home over Long Hill from Buxton.

As I rode along, I thought, as I always do, about cycling. I looked down at my red Specialized and agreed with myself that it looked cool. I whined to myself about getting tired, before reminding myself about a Rule 5. Finally, I occasionally imagined whether I might be capable of doing something truly monumental, like Alp Huez or Mont Ventoux, as some of my friends have done.

So, it was with Ventoux on my mind that I rounded the second last corner of the Cat and Fiddle road on the Macclesfield side. In contrast to the leafy lower slopes around Rainow, the upper part was bleak and barren. A wind whipped in from the Matterhorn-like Shutlings Low, and a radio transmitter lanced into the clear, cold sky. If I tried really hard, and flipped that scene through 180 degrees with the transmitter on the right of the road, rather than the left, I could imagine the Cat as the Peak's Le Petit Ventoux. Heck, I think that is my new name for the Garmin course,


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