aJohnson said:
Colin, sorry >
. I got there but it looked as if I was too late, I would have easily been there on time if the fog wasn't so bad on the motorway, next time I'll be an hour early.
Oh - we waited until 10:20 but it didn't look like you were coming after all! Never mind - catch you next time.
Did you go out and explore the area anyway?
trio25 said:
Svendo said:
Yeah, how was it? I was jealous looking at the almost perfect late summer weather as I did my mundane Sunday errands at B&Q with all the other non-cycling sheep.
Well, the weather was really nice when we set off but it clouded over after a couple of hours and a stiff, cool wind picked up. Sometimes it was against us (the climb from Marsden to Standedge was tough) and sometimes it helped us (Saddleworth Moor was much easier than I normally find it).
I'd forgotten what a hard combination of hills that route packs in. Suffice to say that is the only time in about 15 years of riding with fit mate Bill that I have ever managed to get him tired! He was having to wait for me at the tops of the bigger/steeper hills but he said that he wouldn't have wanted to ride much quicker anyway on that terrain.
Once we got to Slaithwaite, I decided that we wouldn't do some of the last tough hills that I'd been contemplating so we climbed Scapegoat Hill (as originally planned) rather than turning left part-way up to go to Pole Moor. We dropped all the way down from Ripponden to Sowerby Bridge and then came back along the Calder Valley Cycleway to avoid the hills and traffic.
It ended up being 58.5 miles (94 km) with about 7,000 ft of hills (2,150 m), some of them very tough. My arms and shoulders are as tired as my legs thanks to all the pulling on the bars on the tough climbs.
Svendo said:
Incidentally, had a good check and I think the bike's prob. OK. can't see a crack under the paint and couldn't make it open or move at all. Still get it checked at LBS tho.
It sounds okay, but getting the LBS to check it over is probably a wise move.