FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast April 15th Manchester to Blackpool 2011

[Globalti]

Having once cycled to Preston and taken the train up to Scotland I know the effect of strolling around a busy station concourse dressed completely out of context in lycra. Let's just say that there's a certain, er, magnetic effect that the shorts seem to exert on the eyes of younger female travellers. If you turn around casually you catch eyes being suddenly averted and knowing glances between travelling companions. It's an unexpected experience for a bloke.

My brother's then GF was once standing outside Manchester Piccadilly waiting for my bro to pick her up when she was approached by a woman who told her to "F**k off; this is my patch!" The poor girl didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed.

 

[dellzeqq]

Having once cycled to Preston and taken the train up to Scotland I know the effect of strolling around a busy station concourse dressed completely out of context in lycra. Let's just say that there's a certain, er, magnetic effect that the shorts seem to exert on the eyes of younger female travellers...........

you tellin' us you've got balls of steel?

 

[frank9755]

you tellin' us you've got balls of steel?

Sounds like there is a risk that you two might not be able to meet because you are both likely to get mobbed!

 

[Aperitif]

as it's Manchester I'll be sporting a bunch of glads....

Maybe a change of bike to a Lynskey, Enigma or Van Nick... there's nothing like 'getting your Ti s out for the glads', apparently.

 

[dellzeqq]

Adrian C
Alan S
Andrew B
Andrew Br
Andrew C
Andrij B
Charlie B
Chris L
Claudine C
Clive B
Dave J
Frank P
Gina B
John D
Kathryn C
Kim W
Marcus C
Marilyn B
Mick D
Miranda S
Nasir M
Olaf S
Paul R
Susie F
Susmito B
Tim P
Titus H

 

[Aperitif]

^

 

[CharlieB]

I managed to get a return to Manc from Euston + bike for £47. My plan at the mo is to ride back to Preston and get whatever train arrives from there to Manc. In the collective experience, is this likely to be a problem, or do I need to organise the Preston train now?

 

[dellzeqq]

well that was some ride. Thanks to Andrew, Ben and Paul for the company.

- it's certainly the toughest FNRttC
- there are some grinding rises along the lines of the A237 out toward the North Downs out of Manchester and a tougher one still out of Bury
- there are three, not two sharp ascents, the last two being ravines in rapid succession. If you pile down the slope and change down rapidly, you can do the ravines in pretty short order, but piling down a slope you don't know in the dark, particularly one that involves sharp bends on an unlined road, is probably completely schtoopid
- 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, and a good deal more beside on the road between Bury and Blackburn. I'm going to have to show people the line to ride. And the road from Ribchester to Blackpool had loads of holes on the left of the carriageway. Lancashire tarmac is rubbish. I will never complain about Surrey again.
- if the night is clear the view over Darwen will be stonktastic
- the descent in to Blackburn is lethal
- the halfway stop is a delight
- 'flat' as in Ribble flood plain ain't flat as we know it. There's a lot of small upsydownsy stuff
- riding the B6245/B5269 is a hoot. You just follow the line down the centre of the road for 17.2 miles. The entire night out probably involves about six discretionary turns.
- Blackpool prom is undergoing major repair and is a right horlicks

 

[StuAff]

well that was some ride. Thanks to Andrew, Ben and Paul for the company.

- it's certainly the toughest FNRttC
- there are some grinding rises along the lines of the A237 out toward the North Downs out of Manchester and a tougher one still out of Bury
- there are three, not two sharp ascents, the last two being ravines in rapid succession. If you pile down the slope and change down rapidly, you can do the ravines in pretty short order, but piling down a slope you don't know in the dark, particularly one that involves sharp bends on an unlined road, is probably completely schtoopid
- 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, and a good deal more beside on the road between Bury and Blackburn. I'm going to have to show people the line to ride. And the road from Ribchester to Blackpool had loads of holes on the left of the carriageway. Lancashire tarmac is rubbish. I will never complain about Surrey again.
- if the night is clear the view over Darwen will be stonktastic
- the descent in to Blackburn is lethal
- the halfway stop is a delight
- 'flat' as in Ribble flood plain ain't flat as we know it. There's a lot of small upsydownsy stuff
- riding the B6245/B5269 is a hoot. You just follow the line down the centre of the road for 17.2 miles. The entire night out probably involves about six discretionary turns.
- Blackpool prom is undergoing major repair and is a right horlicks

Sounds like a good 'un. Hopefully I'll find a way to make it next year....

 

[Andrew Br]

Having been on the reccy with Simon and the rest, I felt that it was only polite to register.
Hello.
It's yet another chance to spend more of my life on the interweb..................

It was an excellent day out today so thanks to Simon, Paul and Ben for their company.
As Simon's abiding memory of the day appears to be the state of the roads (it really is grim up north) then I can only reinforce this view by reporting that I noticed a broken rear spoke while I was on the train home.
Compared to Simon's (and Ben's) bikes I have lots of spokes so it didn't affect me. I suspect that it happened when I went through a pot-hole at speed on the roller-coaster section before Blackburn.
If I can't get it fixed before Friday night, I'll be doing the reccy on my MTB.
Luckily it has road wheels and tyres, a great dyno light and it's 3kg lighter than today's bike.
Unfortunately it's not as comfortable for distances and it's not so aero.

Still, mustn't grumble.

 

[Globalti]

Might as well chip in with my ha'p'orth then.... great day out, great company and what was noticeable was that as soon as we got into Ribble Valley BC's area (Wilpshire to the A6) the roads improved and there were even sections of new tarmac and patches. I pay my council tax to Ribble Valley so I'm glad it's being put to good use! Blackpool is indeed a mess - or a worse mess than usual - a tsunami would be a merciful end for Blackpool and like the Manchester bomb, would achieve in a couple of seconds what the town would need twenty years to achieve. As long as the Benefits office was spared, that is.....

 

[marinyork]

well that was some ride. Thanks to Andrew, Ben and Paul for the company.

- it's certainly the toughest FNRttC
- there are some grinding rises along the lines of the A237 out toward the North Downs out of Manchester and a tougher one still out of Bury
- there are three, not two sharp ascents, the last two being ravines in rapid succession. If you pile down the slope and change down rapidly, you can do the ravines in pretty short order, but piling down a slope you don't know in the dark, particularly one that involves sharp bends on an unlined road, is probably completely schtoopid
- 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, and a good deal more beside on the road between Bury and Blackburn. I'm going to have to show people the line to ride. And the road from Ribchester to Blackpool had loads of holes on the left of the carriageway. Lancashire tarmac is rubbish. I will never complain about Surrey again.
- if the night is clear the view over Darwen will be stonktastic
- the descent in to Blackburn is lethal
- the halfway stop is a delight
- 'flat' as in Ribble flood plain ain't flat as we know it. There's a lot of small upsydownsy stuff
- riding the B6245/B5269 is a hoot. You just follow the line down the centre of the road for 17.2 miles. The entire night out probably involves about six discretionary turns.
- Blackpool prom is undergoing major repair and is a right horlicks

Thanks for a good ride. I've not been to Blackpool for quite a few years and not on a bike. The B5269 was a lot of fun wasn't it. Thanks for the cup of tea at Globalti's. A very decent ride and great to get a long ride in after such a long time.

Before I have a play around with the files here's what the GPS said about our stoppages. We stopped off in Blackburn for 12 mins, we stopped off at globalti's for 39 mins and we stopped of at the cafe for 45 mins. If you chop 5 mins off going around Blackpool that means we arrived there virtually at the cafe at 17:55. We left the bottom of Deansgate about 11:37. The last 25 miles to just before we got to the seafront was very fast, we had a total average (not a rolling one) of about 14mph (not that many stoppages). So we have about an hour and a half to play with, but that might easily be eaten up with stoppages.

I'm not sure how hard it was as we had the tail wind in our favour, but on the other hand it's at a faster pace than I'd have done it on my own and I also forgot my water bottle and was overheating a bit and getting cramp. So maybe if the ride has to be done at near that pace at the front then it is a tough one. If it slows down a bit I'm not sure it's that tough.

53°. 40.388 north and -2°25.363 west where the second 'ravine' is I still think is a bit dodgy when unlit. You can see it on streetview and the GPS seemed to think slowed down slower than you guys I got up to 33mph.

 

[frank9755]

So not one for a fixie then.

Go on, I'm sure you'll be fine!

 

[dellzeqq]

Marin - I make that 282 minutes of riding - as in 4 hours 42 minutes - although I think that we spent a while touring Bury, and I'd have thought that 12 minutes at Blackburn was a bit of an underestimate. I'm reckoning on seven hours of cycling on the night.

 

[marinyork]

Marin - I make that 282 minutes of riding - as in 4 hours 42 minutes - although I think that we spent a while touring Bury, and I'd have thought that 12 minutes at Blackburn was a bit of an underestimate. I'm reckoning on seven hours of cycling on the night.

Forgot about Bury. I really meant on all that that I pretty much figured out a bigger group would more than nullify all the stoppages we did and round up. Figured 7:30am arrival which is where the 1hr30 spare came from which doesn't mean the rolling speed at the front is any slower, but the hour and a half is for the back. Only guess work anyway, unrealistic assumptions? Quite possibly, not done one of the recces before, not sure how they compare. Sure you'll have a better idea on Friday.

I can't see a large group doing Ribchester to Blackpool at anything like the overall average time we did, which is not a problem at all. If the pace slows down at the front from what we did I think it's all right, although people have lack of sleep + travel to factor in.