Yorkshire Dales forum ride from Settle, Sun 26th June

[ColinJ]

Fancy even more company in the van, colly?!!

Fixed or multi-geared for this one ...?

Bikely is currently running again, though their admin has announced a system upgrade in July because the site is 'hitting the endstops'. I hope that goes better than the BikeRadar forum fiasco. They hit a limit on posts and the forum was offline for a long time. Now that it is back, their search farce-ility can't go back into posts archived before the crisis!

Anyway, now I can access Bikely again I've uploaded the route and added a map link to the original post (and here).

 

[evilclive]

Fixed or multi-geared for this one ...?

Bikely is currently running again, though their admin has announced a system upgrade in July because the site is 'hitting the endstops'. I hope that goes better than the BikeRadar forum fiasco. They hit a limit on posts and the forum was offline for a long time. Now that it is back, their search farce-ility can't go back into posts archived before the crisis!

Anyway, now I can access Bikely again I've uploaded the route and added a map link to the original post (and here).

If you're being accurate about it, Ingleton needs a short diversion south-west (down to Laundry Lane) to avoid the one-way.

Have discussed at home, and if the weather's nice and I'm not being nocturnal, we'll join you. If it turns out we're too slow, we're entirely capable of riding our own way home :-)

(be interesting to find out how well we mix - we're likely to be slower up the hills, but faster down them)

 

[Bokonon]

Fixed or multi-geared for this one ...?

The fixed has the advantage that it doesn't have problems changing down to the lowest gear; the 'temporary' Shimano rear mech doesn't entirely play ball with a Campag group set! The fixed also doesn't throw the chain, and thus doesn't trash the rear mech, when up shifting on the front rings.

Gears it is then !

 

[zacklaws]

(be interesting to find out how well we mix - we're likely to be slower up the hills, but faster down them)

Don't worry about that, we all fit into that category, slow up em and fast down em.

Oddly enough, I thought I would read some old magazine's today, and what was in the first one I picked up, a small article on "Fleet Moss", now I'm beginning to realise what I have let myself in for. Looks a bit of a challenge

 

[ColinJ]

If you're being accurate about it, Ingleton needs a short diversion south-west (down to Laundry Lane) to avoid the one-way.

Well spotted!

I do need to be accurate because I navigate by GPS and rarely carry paper maps. My GPS is a very simple one which doesn't have mapping built in. It just displays a line to follow so I need to get all the turns plotted properly. In this case you would probably have been able to put me right out on the road but on a lot of our forum rides everybody is expecting me to tell them where to turn and they often don't have a clue where they are!

I plot the routes on Memory Map and it doesn't show one-way systems. I didn't really think to check for that but I will double-check online in future. I know that Hawes has a one-way system and it looks like I guessed the right way for that! I've corrected the route now.

Have discussed at home, and if the weather's nice and I'm not being nocturnal, we'll join you. If it turns out we're too slow, we're entirely capable of riding our own way home :-)

(be interesting to find out how well we mix - we're likely to be slower up the hills, but faster down them)

It's been 4 years since I was fit enough to climb reasonably well so everybody has got used to me being slow. There always seems to be a good conversation going at the summits by the time I get to them!

Like you, I tend to go downhill pretty quickly. I had a very near miss on Fleet Moss in 2006 when I was descending too fast towards Hawes. The way the road suddenly steepened to 25% caught me out and I took off!

The fixed has the advantage that it doesn't have problems changing down to the lowest gear; the 'temporary' Shimano rear mech doesn't entirely play ball with a Campag group set! The fixed also doesn't throw the chain, and thus doesn't trash the rear mech, when up shifting on the front rings.

Gears it is then !

Phew!

 

[ColinJ]

Don't worry about that, we all fit into that category, slow up em and fast down em.

Oddly enough, I thought I would read some old magazine's today, and what was in the first one I picked up, a small article on "Fleet Moss", now I'm beginning to realise what I have let myself in for. Looks a bit of a challenge

Ah, I see that Fleet Moss isn't on your list of monster northern hills!

Here's a more detailed profile of it (we'll be tackling it right to left). (You can see the abrupt increase in gradient at the top which caught me out on a descent and is a killer on an ascent.)

You should also add Park Rash to your list. We will be going close to it when we pass through Kettlewell, We'll leave that for another time, but to whet your appetite, here it is ...

 

[evilclive]

Like you, I tend to go downhill pretty quickly. I had a very near miss on Fleet Moss in 2006 when I was descending too fast towards Hawes. The way the road suddenly steepened to 25% caught me out and I took off!

One of the great bits about it is it's wide, straightish, fenced and there's a decent run up to it - we were expecting the sudden steepening and timed our sprint for then :-)

Still not our record breaking hill though - only got to 60, though it was nice maintaining 50+ for a fair way after the steep bit. The one with our record is somewhat narrower and actually shallower - wind must have been right that day.

 

[colly]

Fancy even more company in the van, colly?!!

Full house then.

 

[Steve H]

(be interesting to find out how well we mix - we're likely to be slower up the hills, but faster down them)

When I read the above, I was thinking to myself - Hey I'm a big 17 stone chap. There's not many more than me in terms of slowness up a hill, but there's also not many more that go faster than me downhill due to my extra gravitational pull...

Still not our record breaking hill though - only got to 60, though it was nice maintaining 50+ for a fair way after the steep bit. The one with our record is somewhat narrower and actually shallower - wind must have been right that day.

... but when I read this bit and see "only 60", I'm thinking - Wooaahh. This man's got balls of steel! I've not been near 60mph yet. Looks like I've still got a lot to learn!


In terms of 20% to 25% uphill stretches --> will have to have a think about whether it will be better to wear cycling shoes or hiking boots.

 

[colly]

... but when I read this bit and see "only 60", I'm thinking - Wooaahh. This man's got balls of steel! I've not been near 60mph yet. Looks like I've still got a lot to learn!

+1 I'm not sure what my fastest would be but it is probably around 38/40.

I don't really think I would fancy very much more........let alone 60mph

 

[ColinJ]

I don't often check my downhill speeds these days but I've told a few of you about my 56 mph 'flight' on the Rossendale Road downhill from the lights at Manchester Road on the western fringes of Burnley. I was staring at my computer, trying to watch it clock 60 mph and looked up just as I hit a raised drain cover. I chinned the handlebars and almost bit the end of my tongue off, and the bike just took off. Once again, like my near miss on Fleet Moss, I somehow managed to stay upright; scraping along the road at that speed wearing only Lycra didn't really appeal ...

Oh, I'd forgotten our forum ride over Ilkley way a couple of years ago!

I went out on a CycleChat forum ride in March which took us over Ilkley Moor. The descent off the Cow and Calf was in heavy mist on greasy roads but I still hit over 50 mph. Bokonon had warned me that there was a cattle grid at the bottom but I didn't spot it in time and was still doing 47 mph when I hit it! Fortunately it was in good condition - I've been over some mangled grids that would destroy wheels if cycled over at speed...

 

[evilclive]

When I read the above, I was thinking to myself - Hey I'm a big 17 stone chap. There's not many more than me in terms of slowness up a hill, but there's also not many more that go faster than me downhill due to my extra gravitational pull...

... but when I read this bit and see "only 60", I'm thinking - Wooaahh. This man's got balls of steel! I've not been near 60mph yet. Looks like I've still got a lot to learn!

Actually, our record is 62, so "only 60" is a bit of mock humility :-). But we do have a few more stone than you - there's two of us on the bike. Tandems are also massively more reassuring than a solo at speed - well, ours is anyway to me. It's a combination of the weight, the chunky tyres, the stability, and the reassurance that no matter how hard you haul on the brakes, the back wheel isn't going to lift, even on a 1:3.

Uphill we have a similar advantage - there's no problem with the front wheel lifting up. And we make quite a lot of use of that as we slog up in our 19.5" bottom gear getting overtaken by passing snails...

Unfortunately since I broke my hip (flat, ice, solo, slow), I've also lost a lot of my nerve, so I'm not trying as much as I used to on the descents :-(

 

[Kestevan]

Ok, I got final permission from SWMBO so I'm now a definate - barring mechanicals, illness, acts of gods/demons/other supernatural agents, or just changing my mind

I will probably be bringing a workmate - he (very) occasionaly visits these boards as IG88, and maybe another hanger-on - Mainly to keep me company pushing the bike up Fleet Moss

 

[ColinJ]

Ok, I got final permission from SWMBO so I'm now a definate - barring mechanicals, illness, acts of gods/demons/other supernatural agents, or just changing my mind

I will probably be bringing a workmate - he (very) occasionaly visits these boards as IG88, and maybe another hanger-on - Mainly to keep me company pushing the bike up Fleet Moss

Super! Your mates are welcome as long as they are happy with a slow, chatty ride.

A mate of mine came along with a mate of his on a forum ride once and they embarrassed me by moaning about how slow we were riding and then clearing off halfway round to do their own ride!

 

[ColinJ]

A question for you evilclive - how is 'Langstrothdale' pronounced? I've been told it isn't how it is written (similar to how locals pronounce 'Barnoldswick' as 'Barlick').