Up north..100 mile ride to the coast and back

Oh that was just what I needed seeing you slide down there knowing I had to get down there too

Cracking write up of the day Colin, looks like I've become the official photographer now
The bit of weight loss and plenty of commuting miles has definitely made a difference to my fitness, think I'll be taking Shaun on next ride
I think that was my favourite ride yet, the weather, the route, the food, and not least the company made it a very enjoyable day, only downside was the awful mess my gears were in, have since put a new cable on which has helped slightly, needs more investigation tomorrow as it's still not right though.

Oh and thanks to Colin for the armwarmers they fit perfectly, wore them coming home tonight at 10pm

That's good. I think armwarmers are a great invention, as are legwarmers. They are effective and you can take 'em off mid-ride when you warm up.

The credit should go to palinurus (I think, but I have a dodgy memory! ) who donated them to me in the first place.

They were a tad too small for me (as in all blood flow in my arms ceased and my fingers started to tingle within 30 seconds! ).

I must have very puny arms for a 14+st bloke then better get on the rowing machine.
If they were originally Palinrus's then they become the 2nd thing of his I am now using, the seatpost rack I use for commuting was also donated by him, wonder what else he's getting rid of?

They go well with my blue cycling gear too

Just for the record lads my Garmin clocked 103.4 miles with 1200 metres of climbing. Oldnslow and myself may not have followed the exact intended route between Scorton and Whalley but the distance appears to be similar to the rest of the group. But 1200 metres of climbing ain't too bad for a flat ride. Looking forward to a re-run on a nice warm day.

I've added a link to my route in case anyone is interested how I managed to get to 101.98 miles.



MapMyRide gives it 2 rated Category 5 climbs, though both were very early on. But also presumably very late on for the rest of you, depending on route.

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/41021856/

http://app.strava.com/rides/369512

I was quite pleased with how my leg muscles coped with the ride given that I had only ridden 285 miles since October and had a complete break for 10 weeks of that time.

What I wasn't pleased with were the numerous aches and pains elsewhere.

From Knott End onwards my back was packing up which was unfortunate because my bum was too! I'd get out of the saddle about an inch to ease the discomfort and then have to sit down again because my back couldn't take it! I struggled to pick my 18 pound bike up to put it in tubby's car-van at Spring Wood.

At least my usually troublesome left foot wasn't too bad this time. It went slightly numb, but it didn't develop the painful cramps that normally follow.

My wrists and hands were getting sore and my damaged right shoulder was aching.

The worst thing is the top of my right leg. I damaged it on the Kirklees Sportive about 4 years ago when I did the whole ride with over-tight legwarmers on. I think it is a circulation problem. The leg starts to go numb at the top and feels hot. When I got home I could have stuck pins in my upper leg or hip area and I wouldn't have felt anything. I've only got 50% sensation back now.

Let's face it - I'm getting old and decrepit! Still, if I keep doing these rides at least I'll end up slim, fit, old and decrepit!

Cheers,really pleased with myself and ready for the next challenge.

Thanks buddy,great ride from all of us,back on the fixed today for work.Paul did really well considering he was suffering,glad we did it and will look forward to the next ride.

I'm still suffering only it's my legs now

Are we going to have to enter officially beforehand on the sitd site???

or can we just turn up on the day??

Get well soon,it was a good ride still.

You can often enter on the day but audax organisers prefer you to enter in advance so they can work out how many brevet cards to supply and how much food and drink will be needed. SITD and its sister event in October, Season of Mists, are renowned for the efforts of the catering team.

I must get my entry in soon. I'll start a thread about it if nobody has beaten me to it.

What is the Hillyness rating of the SITD course ?

Bloody hilly by all accounts but if Colin can do it there's hope for me too
You thinking about doing it Phil?

I was thinking about it but I cant download the course from the website for some reason. I want to see just how hilly it really is.

No, SITD is Very Hilly - 2,250-odd metres in 110 km.

The sister event, Season of Mists is Bloody Hilly - 2,500-odd metres in 100 km. About 10% more hills in about 10% less distance.

Is that really hilly you ask? Well put it this way - if half of the route was uphill and half was downhill then you'd have 50 kms at an average 5% gradient - that's a lot of climbing!

Since meeting "the group" I'd be quite interested in doing Spring Into The Dales. I'd need to ask one of the kind folk residing at Hebden Bridge if I could park my car round at their gaff though.

I copied the map from Bikely to MapMyRide to get a bit more of a detailed view of the climbs. It's here for those who might like to see;

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/30580606

I'm a bit lost as to when it is though? As long as it's a sunday I should be all good.

If you cannot get it, I'll download you it from last year what we rode, if you study it carefully, you might spot where we was going up a 20%er and my chain locked up and I started to roll down the hill backwards, and as I have no circus trick cyclist blood in me, I fell off. In fact I always seem to fall off on Colin's ride or I get very wet.

Sunday the 17th April. The more I read about it the less I fancy doing it it's like doing the Trawden route twice

Just drive straight through Hebden Bridge towards Halifax on the A646. You go up a little rise as you are leaving the town and shortly after that there is a long stretch of road with no yellow lines on the left hand side. Later in the day, all those spots will be taken but if you get there at about 08:20 on the Sunday morning you should easily find a space.

I checked to see if that is the current route - it is. It changed in 2009. It's interesting to note how that software only makes it 1,399 m of climbing. The official figure comes from 'contour counting' which takes into account all the little lumps in the road which aren't 'proper' climbs but still accumulate fatigue in your legs.

It is 2 weeks on Sunday - April 17th - audax UK page.

Just found this in the description on the CTC website:

Suitability - Suitable for strong cyclists
Hilliness - Mountainous