A hillyish Hebden Bridge to Waddington forum ride, Sun 20th March

[potsy]

I'm afraid I've been beer-loading this week! Not as bad as it used to be - still 3 or 4 nights off the beer this week depending what happens over the weekend, but I'm over my quota. I'll try harder next week!

I see everyone's getting their excuses in early, or is it a double bluff and we are all 10lbs lighter and in great shape for Sunday?
We just need Svendo to put 3 or 4 stone on by Sunday and it could be interesting

 

[Steve H]

I see everyone's getting their excuses in early, or is it a double bluff and we are all 10lbs lighter and in great shape for Sunday?

That's right potsy. I was bluffing last time. I was wearing a padded suit to make me look chunky. Really I'm an 11 stone whippet and this week I'll be powering up those gentle slopes in the big ring.

 

[potsy]

That's right potsy. I was bluffing last time. I was wearing a padded suit to make me look chunky. Really I'm an 11 stone whippet and this week I'll be powering up those gentle slopes in the big ring.

Well I did wonder
I see Colin is making excuses in a different thread now, bad ankle and back, what's going on? We are meant to be semi-fit cyclists

I also see the Beeb have downgraded tomorrows weather to white cloud and drizzle last time I looked it said sunny spells.

Bike ready, apart from slightly dodgy shifting on the rear, maybe one of you guys could fettle it tomorrow if it starts playing up? I am not too confident about my cack handed attempts to make it better

 

[Garz]

Probably requires a 1/4 turn on the RD or thereabouts potsy. I also am hoping the weather gets upgraded as on thursday the forecast did look far better!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

sorry lads, something just come up. i won't be there tomorrow. see you next week tho.

cheers

shaun

 

[potsy]

That's a shame Shaun, hope it's nothing too serious

At least there'll be less 'detours' now

 

[ColinJ]

Well I did wonder
I see Colin is making excuses in a different thread now, bad ankle and back, what's going on? We are meant to be semi-fit cyclists

I should be okay, but I'm a bit annoyed with myself for being so clumsy. I was out on a walk on the Pennine Way and didn't watch where I put my foot. I stumbled and almost fell on a pile of rocks. 15.5 stone of me put quite a pressure on the twisted foot and jarred my back.

Yes, that's my excuses ready!

sorry lads, something just come up. i won't be there tomorrow. see you next week tho.

cheers

shaun

We finally get the number of riders back up to 7, then suddenly we're back down to 6 again!

Oh well - see ya for the century ride.

I also see the Beeb have downgraded tomorrows weather to white cloud and drizzle last time I looked it said sunny spells.

And it will probably be a bit chilly on the tops. It was quite warm out of the wind yesterday, but when it clouded over for a while the wind felt pretty cold.

Bike ready, apart from slightly dodgy shifting on the rear, maybe one of you guys could fettle it tomorrow if it starts playing up? I am not too confident about my cack handed attempts to make it better

Damn - I still haven't sorted my front brake out! I can't find my spare brake blocks so I'm going to have to nick the shoes/blocks off my Cannondale for now.

I will be sporting my new 3/4 DHB bibs. Even though I went for XXL this time, I'm still testing the limits of stretchability of the material ...

 

[Steve H]

Good day out today gents. Enjoyed everything bar losing the spoke. Good also to meet you - Svendo and Gordon.

Looking forward to the next one.

 

[potsy]

Another good day, couple of mechanicals (broken spoke) Steve, and a slightly more serious one for debutant Old n Slow(who was anything but btw) broken carbon seatpost meant his ride was cut short, luckily we weren't too far from his home at the time.
Weather could have been better, but the company and views on the hillier outward leg made up for it.
59 miles for those that started from HB, more for Sveno and stass.

Some piccies-
Big Steve making it look easy.

Old n Slow and Colinj-

Lovely new cycle route through Padiham that Colin wanted to try-

Where did it go?

Group shot after the cafe stop-
L-R Svendo, Stass, SteveH, Colinj, Potsy.


Off roading on 23mm slicks!!

 

[ColinJ]

Globalti - sorry if you waited for us at Spring Wood - we rode even slower than expected and then had bikes breaking left right and centre so we were pretty late getting there.

Okay Shaun - I admit it - I am ColinJ-inx!

Svendo was slow in catching us. I said that perhaps he'd had a problem - he had - a puncture.

I was describing your mountain bike accident and said that I wouldn't want a carbon fibre mountain bike because of CF's catastrophic failure mode. A couple of moment's later, super-light Gordon (OldnSlow) who was on a super-light CF bike with CF this, CF that, CF the other, rode over a sleeping policeman and there was a loud CRACK! He had snapped the top of his extremely expensive CF seat post! He wasn't a happy chappy ...

Riding with Steve H, I described the problem I'd had with breaking a spoke on the Rochdale-Blackpool ride last year. Next thing - PING! Steve had broken a spoke!

I decided it was only fair to jinx myself too, so I spent some time talking about the Crud mudguards on my bike, plonked the bike down on the back one and snapped the end of it off!

The weather was disappointing but we enjoyed the ride despite all the problems.

OldnSlow says he is used to being dropped, but that is probably by a peloton doing 25 mph up a 7% climb! Nice to meet you Gordon. Sorry about your bike!

SlowerThanASluggishSloth had ridden over in the morning and was riding back to Bolton afterwards so he should have got a century in. Well done Mike, but I still reckon the calibration of your bike computer needs checking!

Potsy was enjoying his new lower gearing and managed not only to climb that 20% section of The Old Roman Road, but did it significantly faster than me too! We both reckon we are getting fitter. This was a harder ride than the last Waddington outing but it only felt about the same in terms of tiredness.

My ankle didn't bother me at all and my sore back survived, though it feels pretty stiff now.

 

[Garz]

Sporting a beard now Colin?

Must admit like your mini cyclo-cross you decided to throw in!

 

[potsy]

Must admit like your mini cyclo-cross you decided to throw in!

Will be interesting to see if it stays for the next one Garz

 

[ColinJ]

Sporting a beard now Colin?

Winter plumage! It keeps the chill of my face but it will be coming off again soon.

Must admit like your mini cyclo-cross you decided to throw in!

Potsy captured the problem in those pictures. I was enthusing about what a good job they'd made of the Padiham Greenway. Here was a cycle path that was actually good to ride on as an alternative to a busy main road, then suddenly it stopped! It was as if they had run out of money. (PS No - it is because if the path had continued another few hundred metres we would have ended up on the railway line between Burnley and Accrington!)

A man out walking his dog suggested that we go up some steps on the left get to a little lane. The lane is what I'd planned on going down, but it didn't seem to be connected to the cycle path. We had that cyclo-cross to do first.

I reckon we might have had more luck going up the way the dog-walker went which was the opposite side of the former railway line.

Ha - I'm right - I've just checked the Google Maps satellite imagery. We could have got up to the Leeds-Liverpool canal and gone just 100 metres along the towpath and that would have brought us to the end of the lane that we had to do the cyclo-cross to reach.

This view shows the steps up both sides of the cutting and where the cycle path was laid. It was obviously taken after the old line was removed but before the tarmac cycle path was laid.

We didn't have any yoof problems but I wouldn't fancy going down that lane alone just in case. It was a bit depressing along there. Fly-tipping and dereliction. That's a shame, because the main cycle path was well presented. It must have been a big relief to the families living either side of the disused railway line when it was replaced by the Greenway. There were quite a lot of people out walking with their children and dogs, but the path was wide enough for us all.

 

[Svendo]

Got home safe and sound, no crashes this time!

78 miles for the day. Nice to meet Potsy again, and Stass, SteveH and Old n Slow albeit briefly.

I've fixed the punctured tube but think I'll leave the cleaning until tomorrow.

 

[ColinJ]

78 miles for the day. Nice to meet Potsy again, and Stass, SteveH and Old n Slow albeit briefly.

What about me!