Fancy a 'bit of rough' (Hebden Bridge area)?

[ColinJ]

Before some bright spark suggests it - No, I'm not offering myself up to the womenfolk of the forum!

Actually, I have been thinking about arranging one of my hilly forum rides but incorporating a few sections of minor rough stuff. I'm not talking about a mountain bike ride - I'm thinking that it would be 80% on road and we'd do it on standard road bikes, though naturally you could turn up on whatever sort of bike you wanted to.

The rough stuff would be mainly flat or uphill. I'm not going to put any dangerous technical downhills in which would wreck skinny wheels. Mind you, there would be potholes, drainage channels, cattle grids, loose stones and gravel and packed mud to negotiate so you'd have to watch where you were going, regulate your speed and get out of the saddle from time to time.

Your bikes would probably get dirty and there would be a bigger chance of punctures than usual but I thought it might be interesting for some of you who are not mountain bikers to ride some places round here that you probably would otherwise never get to see.

I'd want to wait until the weather is warmer and drier. There is still too much mud about at the moment.

I have done some of the rough stuff already on my Basso road bike which has 23C slick Michelin tyres and I didn't have any problems. I'll go and ride the other rough stuff over the next month or so to check that it is indeed rideable on a road bike.

There might be a few very short stretches which require walking so SPD shoes would be an advantage.

So, the big question... are any of you interested in this idea?

 

[shippers]

Could be tempted in a wee while... more worried about the hills round hebden than anything else!

 

[Alun]

Yes, I'll have some of that Colin, if things ever thaw out! Mind you there are enough potholes now just on the normal roads.

 

[ColinJ]

Could be tempted in a wee while... more worried about the hills round hebden than anything else!

Oh, there'll be plenty of those!

Yes, I'll have some of that Colin, if things ever thaw out! Mind you there are enough potholes now just on the normal roads.

Funnily enough, I was thinking that myself after I'd posted! The roads round here are worse than usual. Probably due to ice damage or being scraped by snow ploughs.

I'm going through a mental list of local bridleways and crossing off all of those which are too tough to risk using road bikes on (most of them!).

Goodspeed said that he might come along but if he did, he'd ride his mountain bike.

 

[Garz]

Not up for the punctures and rough terrain but a Colin road ride is perking up the ears!

 

[dan_bo]

Yeah- I'll abuse the crosser!

 

[ColinJ]

Not up for the punctures and rough terrain but a Colin road ride is perking up the ears!

Well, I'm going to pre-ride all the offroad stuff on my Basso to check that it doesn't destroy my wheels! If it does, I won't be doing that again in a hurry!

As for forum road rides... the next one I'm doing is this Saturday but it isn't one of mine. Bokonon has organised this ride from just north of Leeds out into the Dales and back. It's similar in nature to the kind of thing that I organise though and you'd be welcome to join us.

I might organise another ride round here before I set a date for the rough stuff ride.

Yeah- I'll abuse the crosser!

Sounds ideal!

 

[PaulB]

I fancy it. Sadly, I have been strongly advised not to mount a bike until I've got the all clear and it will take six full weeks since the incident for the bone to completely heal and then the blood flow to begin to become normalised. Obviously, my fitness and strength levels have have dropped since my incident (I lost 33 pounds in weight in the ICU!) so I will be about as efficient as Minnie Caldwell. I'll let you know when I'm back and able to ride wit' yo baaad self!

 

[ColinJ]

I fancy it. Sadly, I have been strongly advised not to mount a bike until I've got the all clear and it will take six full weeks since the incident for the bone to completely heal and then the blood flow to begin to become normalised.

Hi Paul. It could well be 6 weeks or so before the ride so you might be well enough by then.

Has anybody worked out what caused you to faint in the first place? Thank goodness you weren't driving or riding a bike at the time!

Obviously, my fitness and strength levels have have dropped since my incident (I lost 33 pounds in weight in the ICU!) so I will be about as efficient as Minnie Caldwell. I'll let you know when I'm back and able to ride wit' yo baaad self!

Blimey - that's some extreme crash diet! I wanna lose weight, but not that badly!

Minnie Caldwell - you're showing your age! Some of my first memories are of my parents watching Coronation Street on a small B/W valve telly. It was set in some far-off part of Northern England where they all spoke 'funny'. Fast forward 20 years or so and I ended up virtually walking past the Coronation Street set each day to go to university.

When you are ready to get back on the bike, let us know and we can organise a ride for you. One that isn't too hard - out to Country Kitchen in Waddington perhaps?

As for this roughstuff ride... One problem I'm having is making all the rough bits flat or uphill. For safety's sake I don't want to be taking people down them on road bikes but it might mean coming down a road just so we can go back up another bridleway, which seems a bit contrived. I'll keep working on it.

 

[aJohnson]

I'd be up for a hilly ride. Don't know about the rough part

 

[trio25]

Sounds a good ride, if I'm free I'll be there!