Manchester - Llandudno 25 April 2015 featuring the Inaugural Hill Climb Sausage Challenge

[nickyboy]

Although the hill in photo 3 isn't the one you can ride up (this is one way downhill only, the uphill is nearby) you can see why I am reasonably confident in promoting the Great Orme Fixed-Only Hill Climb for a Sausage Challenge

 

[mikeee]

Hmmmmmm, I only own one bike, it's a fixed gear, it likes going up hills, hmmmmm

 

[mikeee]

Just had another look at pic 3 and it does appear to be quite steep and also appears to have a train track???

 

[nickyboy]

Just had another look at pic 3 and it does appear to be quite steep and also appears to have a train track???

That's the Great Orme fernicular railway. The start of this is across the road from the chippy. You can't cycle up that as it's one-way. The Fixed-Wheel Sausage Challenge will be here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sJT7iwRBR6s8muk5JGmZhTw!2e0

This is the road to the top of the Orme. It becomes ridiculously steep (at least 20%) so the Challenge will be the Fixie that gets the furthest up the road without stopping gets the Official Hill Climb Sausage from the chippy

 

[david k]

Hi, sorry do you have the list of start points again please, I'm looking at joining at the second point and riding all the way. Looking to book a hotel for me and my OH if you have any suggestions please
I can get a train from St helens to Manchester in 30mins for £8 but it's a 6 miles ride to the station, then add 97 it would be a good 15 mile further than I've ever done before and I'm fatter than ever!

 

[nickyboy]

Quick heads up that the Advance tickets have gone on sale for the April 25/26 weekend, as have the bike spaces.

I'm booked on the 1730 out of Holyhead on the Sunday. Please note that you may need to play around with tickets to get the best pricing. For example, an Advance Single Holyhead - Glossop is £46 (ie the undiscounted price). However, I can get a Holyhead - Manchester Advance ticket for £16, then buy a separate Manchester - Glossop for £3. I guess that other destinations that require changing at Manchester may be the same

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Bicycles/
You ring the number on this website, tell them what train you want to book a space on. Then they go away and email you later to confirm the space (you need to show this email to the Train Manager when you get on to prove you have a reserved space)

 

[nickyboy]

Hi, sorry do you have the list of start points again please, I'm looking at joining at the second point and riding all the way. Looking to book a hotel for me and my OH if you have any suggestions please
I can get a train from St helens to Manchester in 30mins for £8 but it's a 6 miles ride to the station, then add 97 it would be a good 15 mile further than I've ever done before and I'm fatter than ever!

Manchester Piccadilly (98 miles) 0900
Altrincham (88 miles) about 0945
Marbury Country Park (73 miles) about 1100
Eureka Café (50 miles) about 1340
Bike Hub Rhyl (18 miles) about 1700

Travelodge and Premier Inn seem popular choices but try to snag the cheaper price if possible. Travelodge is £40 discouonted

 

[david k]

Manchester Piccadilly (98 miles) 0900
Altrincham (88 miles) about 0945
Marbury Country Park (73 miles) about 1100
Eureka Café (50 miles) about 1330
Bike Hub Rhyl (18 miles) about 1630

Travelodge and Premier Inn seem popular choices but try to snag the cheaper price if possible. Travelodge is £40 discouonted

Travelogue showing £65 when I go on it?

 

[nickyboy]

Travelogue showing £65 when I go on it?

Travelodge seem to offer a limited number of rooms on an "inflexible" basis; once you've booked it you can't cancel and get a refund. That's the £40 price at Llandudno. The "flexible" price is £65.
Seems all the CCers booking have snapped up the £40 prices.....for now. It may be that they release more later. Then again they may not. I booked the Travelodge so can't suggest any other hotel. Maybe some others can?

 

[david k]

Travelodge seem to offer a limited number of rooms on an "inflexible" basis; once you've booked it you can't cancel and get a refund. That's the £40 price at Llandudno. The "flexible" price is £65.
Seems all the CCers booking have snapped up the £40 prices.....for now. It may be that they release more later. Then again they may not. I booked the Travelodge so can't suggest any other hotel. Maybe some others can?

That would be great, my plan is to stay over with the wife and make a night of it, may wait and try to book a posh spa hotel on late rooms , mmmmm what to do.
Also been checking out the trains, I can get to ellesmere port for £4 but seems a waste to make the effort and do all that for 50miles, I want a target. Cannot find a station near the country park and altering ham is over an hour on the train and £20 so prob go for the full 97 and limp in behind you lot

 

[nickyboy]

That would be great, my plan is to stay over with the wife and make a night of it, may wait and try to book a posh spa hotel on late rooms , mmmmm what to do.
Also been checking out the trains, I can get to ellesmere port for £4 but seems a waste to make the effort and do all that for 50miles, I want a target. Cannot find a station near the country park and altering ham is over an hour on the train and £20 so prob go for the full 97 and limp in behind you lot

To hopefully put your mind at ease somewhat I did a bit more recce today. The first 20 miles or so are either completely flat or very gentle indeed. Then there's 20 miles of "rolling" with a couple of climbs that will probably take about 3-4minutes each. After that it is very flat again. Providing we aren't blessed with a strong Westerly on the day, 12mph is not difficult

 

[david k]

To hopefully put your mind at ease somewhat I did a bit more recce today. The first 20 miles or so are either completely flat or very gentle indeed. Then there's 20 miles of "rolling" with a couple of climbs that will probably take about 3-4minutes each. After that it is very flat again. Providing we aren't blessed with a strong Westerly on the day, 12mph is not difficult

12 mph for me is doable, I've done 88 miles with lots of climbing as my longest ever ride, so 97 flat at that pace is within my stretch abilities, if I'm doing 97 miles I'll have to do 3 more and get my first ton

 

[david k]

Think I'll keep an eye on premier in but prob pay a little more and get a spa, will be nice the morning after

 

[david k]

I think it's hard to cycle at 12mph when in a group, even 14 mph is steady with a group, maybe the first 20 flat miles will be covered at closer 15

 

[nickyboy]

Just a note about the '12 mph' thing. Maybe I'm wrong, please tell me if I am, but going by my audaxing experience '8 hours cycling at 12 mph' would mean no stops and no mechanicals. So really, in order to achieve an average of 12 mph over the allotted time of 8 hours, we are going to have to be travelling a fair bit faster than that for a fair bit of the time. Just in case anyone is thinking the pace will be a steady 12 mph throughout.

You're quite right about mechanicals, I had a puncture on the recce today that cost me at least 20 minutes. But the 12mph thing is moving speed based on my planned timings. 96 miles @ 12mph gives 8 hours actually cycling. Leaving Manchester at 9am, allowing 1hr 30mins for stops (cuppa at Marbury CP, proper lunch at Eureka, another cuppa at Rhyl Bike Hub) gives us 1830 into Llandudno.

On the subject of mechanicals, there obviously will be some given the number of riders we hopefully will have. What I would like is if a fast rider suffers a puncture then he/she can probably catch back up him/herself. If it's a slower rider I would like a couple of the faster riders to stay with them, help them do a fast repair and then help get them back onto the ride schedule. I'll be publishing a list of local bike shops nearer the date so if someone suffers a more serious mechanical, they can hopefully get there and get a fix. Then they will need to decide if they can continue to Llandudno (perhaps by train) or if they need to sack it all together