Sun 14th, 50-60 hilly miles from Hebden Bridge/Todmorden

[trio25]

Thanks for the text AJ.

Think I am ready to leave! Have gears, food, water. Gone for the layers version of dressing instead of winter jacket hope I am not too optimistic! Just need to find road shoes and I will be off!

 

[ColinJ]

Gone for the layers version of dressing instead of winter jacket hope I am not too optimistic! Just need to find road shoes and I will be off!

I'm doing layers too on my top half.

I'm going to try wearing my thin 3/4 length shorts over a standard pair. If that doesn't feel right then I'll change into the winter tights instead.

I reckon I can get away without my neoprene overshoes as well. I'll wear my lightweight Shimano ones instead. (You watch - I'll have frozen feet all day now!)

 

[longers]

Good to see you all today, hope you enjoyed the rest of the ride.

 

[Garz]

How did it go guys?

I managed to get out after a brief hangover around 11am and for once didnt wear: full gloves, leg warmers, winter cap, jacket!

Temperature was about 10 degrees outside, and andy I hit the rake and blitzed it!

 

[trio25]

Well after a crazy start I had a great day. Longest ride this year easily and first century in months. Glad I caught up with you all in the end!

 

[aJohnson]

How did it go guys?

I managed to get out after a brief hangover around 11am and for once didnt wear: full gloves, leg warmers, winter cap, jacket!

Temperature was about 10 degrees outside, and andy I hit the rake and blitzed it!

Nice, I'd probably die if I tried the rake at the moment. I need to get in some serious mileage asap

Hit Ashworth Valley the other day, those hills really tired me out, the rest was fine though.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm tired - I will post about the ride after a good night's sleep!

 

[PaulB]

The requisite 6 weeks for bone to heal was up yesterday so I did my first outdoor bike ride since Jan 5th this year yesterday and I felt fine. Me and our Liam did 15 miles and I'll build up that mileage this spring and hopefully be back to normal in June/July.

 

[Alun]

Another good ride, the weather was dry if a little windy. Thanks for organising it Colin !

 

[Amanda P]

Thanks Colin - we had a great day out. It was worth coming just to see Longers winching himself up that hill on a fixed. How does he do that without his knees exploding?

I apologise for the behaviour of my front wheel's fretting spokes. If they annoyed anyone, they were driving me mad by the end of the day. I shall show them the spoke key and have words with them.

 

[Bokonon]

Good ride. I hadn't done any decent hill climbing for ages, it might inspire me to go out and do some more now especially as the weather is now starting to improve.

 

[ColinJ]

The requisite 6 weeks for bone to heal was up yesterday so I did my first outdoor bike ride since Jan 5th this year yesterday and I felt fine. Me and our Liam did 15 miles and I'll build up that mileage this spring and hopefully be back to normal in June/July.

That's good news Paul - keep it up and join us on one of these rides again as soon as you feel able to.

********

Well, bromptonfb couldn't make it in the end because of late night taxi duties, and aJohnson couldn't make it because of a bad arm.

Alun, goodspeed, Uncle Phil + Mrs. Uncle Phil, Calum and Bokonon met me in Hebden Bridge and we were about to set off to meet trio25 in Todmorden when an incoming text message informed us that her rear gear cable had just snapped so she was reluctantly turning round and heading for home.

That was a bit of a downer, especially since trio had wanted this ride organising as training for a race coming up.

We set off for Todmorden and just as we got into town, a familiar shape emerged from a side street - longers on his trusty fixed-wheel bike. He was in the area anyway and had decided to intercept us. He said that he would ride with us for a while and then go off and do his own thing.

We warmed up on the A646 towards Burnley and then took a sharp left at Portsmouth to begin the stiff climb over to Sourhall. I didn't think longers was going to ride up that, but he did...

It was worth coming just to see Longers winching himself up that hill on a fixed. How does he do that without his knees exploding?

Yes, I know! I asked him about his knees and he said that they were fine. My joints would never take the strain, even if my muscles, ligaments and tendons could!

I apologise for the behaviour of my front wheel's fretting spokes. If they annoyed anyone, they were driving me mad by the end of the day. I shall show them the spoke key and have words with them.

I'm a bit hard of hearing so I didn't notice, but most of the time I wasn't that close to you anyway. I find noisy bikes a bit annoying when I do notice them though, especially if the noises are coming from my own bike!

The worst nosiy bike experience ever was when I spent an hour climbing a Spanish mountain with a rider with a squeaky pedal. It was like having a needy donkey trotting beside me - hee-haw-hee-haw-hee-haw, pedal stroke after pedal stroke. Unfortunately our climbing speeds were perfectly matched...

We said good bye to longers when our first loop took us back to Todmorden and then we went up the nasty climb of Cross Stone Road. That felt like really hard work, but fortunately there was respite before our route took us up another tough one to Great Rock near Blackshaw Head where we stopped for the traditional group photo.

(L-R: Bokonon, Uncle Phil and Mrs.Uncle Phil, ColinJ (I clearly still haven't mastered the art of setting the camera timer, running back to the group and posing sensibly!), goodspeed, Calum, Alun)

Every time we went up a steep hill, I got left behind (as is the norm these days), but every time we rode along into a headwind I'd get ahead of the rest. My weight is a disadvantage for climbing but helps me when it is as windy as it was yesterday. I don't get blown about as much as lighter riders.

We were very lucky with the weather. We had sunny spells all day and I actually started to overheat later in the ride.

I began to realise that the original route was going to be a bit too long and hard so we agreed to shorten it. We also decided to stop at Coldwell Activity Centre cafe because it would take us too long to get to Scar Top and we were getting hungry.

The cafe was pretty busy and we had a long wait to be served but at least I enjoyed my soup, scone and coffee when they eventually arrived.

Trio sent me another text message while we were at the cafe. She'd ridden back to her favourite bike shop (Cooksons) and they had replaced her gear cable. She was now riding our route in reverse and hoped to encounter us somewhere along the way. It was going to be a long hard day in the saddle for her. I am not worthy!

We set off from Coldwell and after another series of hills met trio by the defunct Herders Arms above Wycoller Country Park. She joined us for the ride back to Hebden Bridge.

There had been rain in the Stanbury area but I only felt a few drops all day. I could see that it was raining on the hills behind Keighley in the distance, but we escaped it. It did produce a spectacular rainbow for us though!

The sheep at the end of the rainbow

We said goodbye to goodspeed in Oxenhope and headed up the climb of Cock Hill, the last one of the day. There is a great 7 km descent from the top down to Hebden Bridge which I enjoyed despite the cold headwind.

Calum and Bokonon left us to ride back to Halifax to catch their train to Leeds. The local trains weren't running because of track repairs.

Trio still had the ride home to do, but she decided to stick to the valley roads rather than taking the scenic route via Blackstone Edge. Perhaps she is mortal after all!

I clocked what I did at 81.4 km (50.6 miles). Not a huge distance, but the severity of the hills and windy conditions made it feel like hard work at times. I was tired when I got home.

It was nice to meet you and Clare, Uncle Phil, and of course - The Usual Suspects!

 

[trio25]

Now everyone will blame me for the hills! Well at least you lot had cake!

Tired today but suprisingly legs are not sore! But will be in bed early!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

are they moultons? wish i had come now, just to beg a go on a moulton!! trio25 110 miles, respect!! colin, you really are jinxed aren't you? only joking.

 

[trio25]

Yes moultons I believe, I had never come across them before. They looked great. Normal riding position and they were flying up hills so no disadvantage I noticed!