Calderdale off-road forum ride from Hebden Bridge, Saturday, 25th March 2023, 53 km (33 miles)

[ColinJ]

I am free that day as it happens.

Ok, as long as the trains are running, the 15th it is then!

I'll start a thread to mark the date and update it after this ride has been completed.

 

[Julia9054]

Ok, as long as the trains are running, the 15th it is then!

I'll start a thread to mark the date and update it after this ride has been completed.

I'd better get out on my bike then and do a few more miles than my 5 mile commute!

 

[Jameshow]

I'm going to have to pass as my recent fall isn't healing very quickly.

Hope yo get to garforth one.
Sorry to disappoint.

 

[FrothNinja]

I'll be coming in on the train unless my car is miraculously healed.
Hopefully have enough grunt left to cycle back past Widdop to get home.

 

[ColinJ]

I'll be coming in on the train unless my car is miraculously healed.

There is a train getting in to HB from Burnley at 09:42. How about meeting at the cafe in the park 10:00-ish and setting off as soon as we are all gathered? (Or if everybody wanted to make it an hour later, we could make it 11:00. I don't really fancy 09:00!)

Hopefully have enough grunt left to cycle back past Widdop to get home.

If you do have and I am feeling lively too, I might ride up to Slack with you then ride back to Tod by the scenic route rather than the valley.

 

[ColinJ]

I am still trying to finish fettling the damn bike! I have a bleed kit arriving tomorrow. If that sorts the rear brake out then the bike should be good to go, though I won't be sure until I have done a test ride on it. I will let you know ASAP.

The bike is ready for its test ride, which will be later today. Fingers crossed that I haven't messed anything up!

 

[ColinJ]

The bike is ready for its test ride, which will be later today. Fingers crossed that I haven't messed anything up!

See my fettling post.

My friend and I did part of the route in reverse. As expected, there was some mud on the section of 'London Road' that we tackled but it wasn't too bad.

I think you will all be glad that we are riding down from Great Rock to the A646. We climbed up to Great Rock today and the top half is significantly steeper than I'd remembered!

Before the steep bit...

After the steep bit, looking knackered!

 

[bluenotebob]

After the steep bit, looking knackered!

That's a great photo ! .. your friend is to be congratulated.

I hate the expression "ticks all the boxes" - but that's what it does for me - a photo of a good bike, wonderful Pennine scenery (much loved in my childhood) - and someone struggling up a hill !

I hope you're pleased with your newly renovated MTB - and I hope that you have reasonable weather for your ride on Saturday.

 

[FrothNinja]

cafe in the park - is that the park next to the railway station?

 

[ColinJ]

cafe in the park - is that the park next to the railway station?

Yes.

 

[ColinJ]

That's a great photo ! .. your friend is to be congratulated.

I thought it was good too. Her phone camera isn't brilliant so the picture isn't so great once you zoom in on it, but she accidentally got a very good snap of my grovelling!

I cropped it to that shape. She is a social media addict so insists on taking all of her photos in portrait mode. It drives me mad! The originals were like this...

I prefer wider to taller!

This picture taken just before the good one didn't really work as well...

I hate the expression "ticks all the boxes" - but that's what it does for me - a photo of a good bike, wonderful Pennine scenery (much loved in my childhood) - and someone struggling up a hill !

I would have loved to have grown up around here but I didn't move here until I was aged 30, but that was more than half a lifetime ago.

I hope you're pleased with your newly renovated MTB

It's pretty good, though the collapsing suspension fork spoiled the downhills on that test ride. I had to descend very slowly to avoid bottoming the suspension out. I just took delivery of a shock pump and used it to sort that problem out. I think... no second test ride until tomorrow, and no more time to work on the bike before the forum ride!

My friend's bike is a modern full-sus machine. It is significantly lighter than mine, but it is much smaller. I'd like to be able to afford a lighter hardtail but that may never happen.

I hope that you have reasonable weather for your ride on Saturday.

It is looking like it will be fairly mild but pretty damp. Hopefully, nothing too extreme though!

 

[bluenotebob]

@ColinJ I don’t want to hijack this thread into becoming a private conversation – but here’s a response to your points anyway.

I agree – landscape photos beat portraits at least 9 times out of 10. I think the problem with most portraits is that the brain assumes that something’s missing – and wonders what’s missing on the left- and right-hand sides. The only exceptions that come to mind are photos of trees and church spires.

About MTBs .. I bought my first MTB in September 2015 and hardly ever rode it. An insignificant distance each year and apart from the occasional short off-road ride, it languished in the bike shed – unused and unloved. It’s quite a heavy bike (perhaps like yours) with a 3x8 set-up and smallish tyres (I think they’re 26 x 2.3) and it was a real pain to ride uphill and into the wind. In 2020, I decided to invest in a new MTB … carbon frame, a 1x11 set-up (I think) and bigger tyres (29 x 2.0). Because of lockdown and supply problems I didn’t get the new one until April 2022 – but it’s been an absolute delight to ride and although still less than a year old, it’s already done well over 3450km. Interestingly, it also pushed me into riding the older MTB more too.

If you can find a lighter MTB with larger tyres and better suspension (like your friend’s), then go for it – I’m sure you won’t regret it.

Final comment – I’ve seen the word “hardtail” used elsewhere in the forum but I don’t know what it means. Is it just another word for MTB?

Good luck to you and everyone else riding tomorrow.

 

[Littgull]

Yes, have a great ride tomorrow all.

 

[Dadam]

It is looking like it will be fairly mild but pretty damp. Hopefully, nothing too extreme though!

I've been keeping an eye on several forecasts. I'm still up for it and I don't mind the odd shower, but less enthusiastic if it's going to piss down all day.

Met Office and BBC seem to agree on about 9 or 10C and a fair bit of rain, whereas Metcheck suggests 5-6C and not much rain. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Jameshow]

@ColinJ I don’t want to hijack this thread into becoming a private conversation – but here’s a response to your points anyway.

I agree – landscape photos beat portraits at least 9 times out of 10. I think the problem with most portraits is that the brain assumes that something’s missing – and wonders what’s missing on the left- and right-hand sides. The only exceptions that come to mind are photos of trees and church spires.

About MTBs .. I bought my first MTB in September 2015 and hardly ever rode it. An insignificant distance each year and apart from the occasional short off-road ride, it languished in the bike shed – unused and unloved. It’s quite a heavy bike (perhaps like yours) with a 3x8 set-up and smallish tyres (I think they’re 26 x 2.3) and it was a real pain to ride uphill and into the wind. In 2020, I decided to invest in a new MTB … carbon frame, a 1x11 set-up (I think) and bigger tyres (29 x 2.0). Because of lockdown and supply problems I didn’t get the new one until April 2022 – but it’s been an absolute delight to ride and although still less than a year old, it’s already done well over 3450km. Interestingly, it also pushed me into riding the older MTB more too.

If you can find a lighter MTB with larger tyres and better suspension (like your friend’s), then go for it – I’m sure you won’t regret it.

Final comment – I’ve seen the word “hardtail” used elsewhere in the forum but I don’t know what it means. Is it just another word for MTB?

Good luck to you and everyone else riding tomorrow.

Hardtail is an MTB with front suspension only where as a full Sus has both front and rear suspension.