November forum ride from Hebden Bridge

[colly]

I have talked myself into it. I think.

Barring disasters I'll see you tomorrow morning. It has started to pi55 down here and the forecast look bleak but sod it I'll be there anyway.

I'll check here first just in case Colin decides it really is too bad.

 

[goodspeed]

Cant make it tomorrow folks, hope you all have a good ride and the weather's ok. See ya next time!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

currently watching the weather on bbc 1. only the bravest will prevail. goodness me it looks bad. wintry, cold ne wind, hill fog, driving rain. just a typical east lancs day then. must remember to vaseline the webs between my toes and fingers.

 

[ColinJ]

Well, I was kept awake by the rain - again! At least it has eased off now.

I forced myself to eat a bowl of porridge at 08:00 so it looks like I'm fuelled up and ready to go.

I've just checked - it's 4 weeks and 3 days since I rode my bike up here. (I did 6 1.5 mile singlespeed rides on a family visit in the midlands, but even they were 3 weeks ago.)

Oh, and now it is raining again! Are we mad?

"I am just going outside and may be some time..."

 

[Garz]

I just surfaced from the week of boozing and entertaining guests about an hour ago. Judging by the weather its probably very wet right now, hope you guys are prepared!

I should have some CC clobber on the way, in the better weather would be fun to see a large forum wave on a ride. Anyway write up on here how it went and who showed up please guys!

 

[Crimmey]

They are too hardcore for me, I turned around before Walsden and when I got home there wasn't a dry piece of me anywhere. At least I got around 4 hrs cycling in. I got drenched going up Blackstone Edge by passing cars as they went through the rivers forming in the roads Thanks guys, see ya when its a little drier!!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

i got up at 7am, had some some toast and a brew. set off at 8am. the rain / sleet was hard, the wind was strong. everything ok till i got a puncture in the tiny village about 2 1/2 miles before todmorden, the one with the long arched bridge. stripped the bike down, which took quite a while with it being a brompton (it was like the tyre was glued in). new tube, unfortunately my pump would not work. pumped air in but let it out straight away. stripped it tried to fix it all to no avail. i had no choice but to start walking towards tod to find a garage. after about 1/2 hour i saw a cyclist and flagged him down, borrowed his pump. it was 10.15am by the time this was done and i was shivering from being wet and very cold. so i just rode home very slowly and shivered a lot. my phone got soaked and doesn't work, my endura jacket is to be thrown in the bin, it really is that bad!!!

so i am apologizing in advance if you guys wasted time waiting for me, couldn't be helped. i hope you had a good ride. the bloke who lent the pump said that there was lying snow on the hills.

i did play with the idea of waiting for you at tod but i was already shivering and feeling down so i thought it would be more prudent to go home.

colinj, it seems sir you are my jinx. twice i've arranged to go out on good rides and twice i have not completed due to mechanicals. of course i am joking. fancy fitting one in soon, just to break the spell..lol.

once again i am sorry if waiting for me held you up.

cheers

shaun

 

[Garz]

That sucks shaun, you cant have much more bad luck! Onwards and upwards eh?

 

[ColinJ]

Alun and colly were waiting for me, and we then waited 15 minutes for Shaun. I tried phoning him but as he says below, his phone was kaput. We were about to set off when Crimmey arrived to join us.

They are too hardcore for me, I turned around before Walsden and when I got home there wasn't a dry piece of me anywhere. At least I got around 4 hrs cycling in. I got drenched going up Blackstone Edge by passing cars as they went through the rivers forming in the roads Thanks guys, see ya when its a little drier!!

What he's not mentioning is that he rode over from Manchester via Blackstone Edge which is when he got soaked the first time, and then rode it in the opposite direction with us!

so i am apologizing in advance if you guys wasted time waiting for me, couldn't be helped. i hope you had a good ride. the bloke who lent the pump said that there was lying snow on the hills.

i did play with the idea of waiting for you at tod but i was already shivering and feeling down so i thought it would be more prudent to go home.

colinj, it seems sir you are my jinx. twice i've arranged to go out on good rides and twice i have not completed due to mechanicals. of course i am joking. fancy fitting one in soon, just to break the spell..lol.

Ah, that's what happened to you - bad luck! We watched out for you in Todmorden, just in case.

I probably won't be organising anything until the spring now. I'll do the odd 25 miler if we get a decent day, but most of my exercise for the winter will be walking or gym bike sessions.

We did the planned route as far as the stop at Coldwell where we had a really nice lunch. Time was getting on, we were wet, it was very windy, cold and gloomy when we left Coldwell so we decided to take a shortcut home and return via Widdop. It meant tackling the nasty climb at Thursden but then it's an easy run back.

I'm going to work out how much climbing we did later. Alun reckons the shortened route was 45 miles. On a day like today, it certainly felt like a lot more!

Good to meet you Simon (Crimmey). (It was Simon, wasn't it - my brain seems to have become waterlogged somehow! ) Well done colly for dragging yourself away from your home comforts at short notice, and good to see you again too Alun.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

do you know, i was thinking when i set off, i'll be lucky to get to the cafe stop in this. thanks for waiting and trying to ring. glad you all had a good day out. 45 miles and i'm guessing about 1400m of climbing in this weather is good going. i thought more people were going. is the cafe a good one? i pass that regularly. i'm definately going to complete that route soon. i did most of it on the 15th. starting to have doubts if we are going to get any decent weather before year end...i think the mtl is out the window.

 

[Alun]

A good day out, in spite of the weather! I can say that from the sanctuary of home. Thanks for organizing it Colin. Also good to meet Colly and Crimmy. I'd be interested to see the revised route with mileage and ascent if possible. Don't rely on my 45 miles, as I noticed my computer had reset and it was showing 458.5 miles on the odometer, I can't see it properly without glasses. Having said that seemed about 45 miles, certainly 34 miles at the cafe. My "rubber glove" boot gaiters worked quite well, just a little refinement required.

 

[colly]

Nice to meet you Alun and Crimmey. Could have been a better day for it though.

Oh boy are my legs aching now?

I had quite forgotten what fun feckin lunacy it was climbing the hills around Hebden bridge.

Thanks Colin.

Catch up with you all in the new year.

Colin, do you fancy a ride at the velodrome? That would be right up your street.

 

[Garz]

So was there a turnout of around five?

 

[Alun]

No, only four in the end.

ColinJ
Colly
Crimmey
Alun

 

[ColinJ]

No, only four in the end.

ColinJ
Colly
Crimmey
Alun

Shaun did turn out, he just didn't make it to the start - that makes it an honorary 5! The largest number of potential starters for any of my rides had dwindled to one of the smallest turnouts ever. I think the weather might have had something to do with it!