Riding alongside the best riders from the country, let alone the world, is something that doesn’t happen that often unless you know the right people or are in the right job. However, it may just happen by chance!

Find the full route and GPX here! – Route Via Garmin

After enjoying our last ride along The Tissington Trail, we decided to head back to these trails, but start from Middleton Top, venturing over to Parsley Hay, before circling back via our favourite ‘gnarly’ track. A typical gravel biking plan for the Peak District Trails. The route itself would be about 25 miles and just as enjoyable as the last route.

Getting to Middleton Top, parking up, getting a ticket, and then starting to prep ourselves and our bikes is where our luck began for the day….

Pulling alongside us was another small van with stickering around the panels. Ray knew exactly who it was, turning to Anthony before saying, “That’s Johan Museeuw…” Of course, Anthony didn’t truly know the name, but had a recognition of it through cycling. Sure enough, it was Johan!

Just a brief introduction to the man himself. Not like he really needs one, but for context…

I think that says a lot about who Johan Museeuw is. Anthony would have recognised the name from videos talking about Johan’s achievements and briefly from Johan’s time in Quick-Step between 2003 and 2004.

For Ray, he was meeting one of his cycling idols. Unsure of how Johan would be in person, we all shook hands, took some pictures, and talked for a bit about Mondo’s and, of course, what brings a rider of such calibre to Derbyshire. Johan and his partner Angela had come to Derbyshire for a wedding.

Johan, in person, was as kind and respectful as a regular person; it felt like meeting a long-lost friend in a sense. Johan asked Ray for some chain oil, which, to Johan’s surprise, Ray pulled out his retro oil can and attended to his dry chain. These kinds of oil cans were used throughout the 80s and 90s, hence why Johan was amazed with it, posting to his Instagram, “This is how we did it 30 years ago”, showing both Ray’s age and years of mechanics.

After a great conversation and selfie taking, we both wished each other a good ride and thought we’ll see you later, as that’s how these trails go.

To our amazement, upon Johan stopping to capture the beauty that is the Derbyshire Countryside, we caught up with him and Angela. This amazement was extended further by the fact that we ended up riding our entire planned route with the accompaniment of them both! Johan would proceed to race ahead to get footage of the hills and wildlife, and then return to chat.

Those who already knew the name would probably wonder what he does now. We learnt that he has been racing gravel, of course, partakes in sponsorship deals and interviews, gives speeches at cycling event presentations, and he also has his own business called COBBLEHOUSE.

We aren’t being paid to share this, but Johan did shout out Mondo’s across his social media, so we have to repay that act of kindness.

Whilst not everyone has the luck of casually bumping into a world champion rider like we did, CobbleHouse invites people from around the world to sign up for a tour of his personal museum, full of his winning bicycles, trophies, and old newspapers from the era; however, that’s not all. CobbleHouse is a way for cyclists to join Johan and potentially other ex and current professional riders on a bike ride around the local area of Flanders. If that’s not good enough, this also includes accommodation! Yes – you can stay with, eat with, and ride with Johan Museeuw at his place in Flanders!

Explore this for yourself – COBBLEHOUSE

Despite Johan and Anthony getting carried away briefly, sitting on the front… We stopped off at Parsley Hay for a coffee before making our way onto our favourite ‘gnarly’ track. Anthony here then questioned why he chose to wear white on such a damp trail… Johan simply said, “Never white in the winter”. Well, that now brown jacket is not going to be white again…

Now, for us, this gnarly track feels somewhat technical and even tricky due to this track being covered in loose stones and rocks, making it a good recipe for falling off or, like last time, gaining punctures. We let Johan and Angela know what the surface was like, and Johan insisted on following us to ride it himself. Anthony, not wanting to get too carried away, decided to race ahead to get the large farm gates for the group, thus taking his time at the back afterwards. Ray powered on, enjoying the challenging descent and leading the pack, when, to his absolute amazement, Johan came racing past one-handed and filming the track… If there’s anyone who would find this track easy and ride it like a flat piece of tarmac, of course, it would be The Lion of Flanders… after all, he was also known as The King of The Cobbles, due to his ability to smash the classics like Flanders and Roubaix.

We would not recommend riding this track one-handed yourself… unless you have the skills of a world-class rider like Johan!

Making our way back to the High Peak trail, returning towards Middleton Top, the pace increased slightly, and the chatter began once more. Johan was amazed by the cattle roaming free next to us in the endless fields. We then hit the all-time favourite descent back to Middleton Top; we never get the chance to go all out as there’s usually a lot of walkers on this section; however, with the luck on our side, we could enjoy it to the fullest. We think Johan also enjoyed the descent as he flew away at well over 35mph.

Returning to the car park, we talked about the ride and shared local knowledge about where they could venture next. We said goodbye, shook hands, and off they went to find a cafe. We both packed away, sat in the van, looked at each other, and said, “How on earth did that just happen?”

Well, in conclusion, the route was again brilliant, but only in the world of cycling would it happen to ride with an ex or current pro like Johan Museeuw! Thank you to both Johan and Angela for being so lovely and joining us on our ride. We hope you enjoyed the little tour and will return in the future.

As previously mentioned, you can ride, eat, and sleep in the company of Johan Museeuw via COBBLEHOUSE.