Hebden Bridge / Marsden / Holmfirth / Emley Moor - Sunday, May 23rd

[Garz]

So what day is it gonna be?

 

[ColinJ]

So what day is it gonna be?

The plan is still for the 2nd and the 9th. Some people can make the 2nd and some the 9th, that's why there are two dates.

This is subject to me being relatively lurgy-free. The thing is - unless somebody else has a GPS then there would be a bit of a navigation problem if I can't ride. I can put the route up on Bikely so that you could print it out but I don't think you'd thank me if you got lost somewhere!

I'm starting to feel a bit better but I don't want to immediately jump back on my bike and risk triggering this bug off again so I'm going to leave it until Friday or Saturday and nip out and try and do 20 hilly miles. If I manage that okay, then I'll go ahead with this Sunday. If 20 miles on Fri/Sat turns out to be too much for me then 85 miles on Sunday obviously would be.

Sorry for sounding wimpy but I tried rushing out on my bike straight after an illness a few years back and I ended up blacking out at the side of the road. I took that as a bit of a warning not to be macho about health matters - symptoms can go away but it doesn't mean that the body is fully recovered 24 hours later!

So, are you thinking of coming along with aJ?

 

[Sysagent]

Curious to see the route on Bikely or something...

Just to evaluate it etc

If you could thanks

Russ

 

[ColinJ]

Curious to see the route on Bikely or something...

Just to evaluate it etc

If you could thanks

Russ

Okay, after several attempts to get onto the stupidly slow Bikely site... here it is - Hebden Bridge to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

My route brings us back through the Sculpture Park on the bridleway but we could opt to go back round it on the road.

I've marked the route back from Sowerby Bridge to use the Calder Valley Cycleway to avoid hills and the busy A646, but again, the hills and A646 are there if you want to use them!

 

[Sysagent]

Thanks for that Colin, can't seem to get the elevation profile though for the route on that link?

;-(

 

[Kestevan]

Thanks for that Colin, can't seem to get the elevation profile though for the route on that link?

;-(

It's been censored

Just imagine a line that has absolutely no horizontal bits - you won't be far wrong.

 

[ColinJ]

Actually, it's a strange feature of Bikely! They perform some sort of background batch processing on new routes so elevation data can take up to 24 hours to be available. Since I know how desperate you are to see a profile, I've knocked one up in Memory Map for you...

(The little hill shown between Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd on the left of the profile doesn't actually exist! The software seems to think that the hillside near that part of the A646 juts out into the road - it doesn't!)

Just imagine a line that has absolutely no horizontal bits - you won't be far wrong.

Actually - you're right!

 

[Garz]

So, are you thinking of coming along with aJ?

Definitely, although I would probably prefer the 9th and maybe try get some friends to join in the fun!

 

[Bokonon]

Damn southerners, why cant they just stay put ?

The bastards! They come up here taking our jobs and our housing stock... Hang on a minute...

 

[ColinJ]

The bastards! They come up here taking our jobs and our housing stock... Hang on a minute...

Yeah, but I can't say much because I'm really a Midlander. Well, er, actually if you count Scotland, then the Midlands is more like the South so perhaps I am a Southerner and now I'm becoming a Midlander. Hmm, my mum and half my family are Scottish so perhaps that makes me a half-Northerner. The average of Northerner + Southerner = Midlander - aaargh!



The current forecast for Sunday is sunny but cool with strong NE winds (20 mph gusting to 30 mph!). Since the route is a flattened figure of 8 we will get a bit of everything windwise. If that is accurate then some sections of the route will be very hard and some will be very easy.

Still not sure how I am health/fitness-wise since I've hardly done anything for about 10 days now. If the rain holds off I'm going to do a good brisk hilly walk this afternoon and that should give me a clue.

 

[Chrisc]

Okay, after several attempts to get onto the stupidly slow Bikely site... here it is - Hebden Bridge to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

My route brings us back through the Sculpture Park on the bridleway but we could opt to go back round it on the road.

I've marked the route back from Sowerby Bridge to use the Calder Valley Cycleway to avoid hills and the busy A646, but again, the hills and A646 are there if you want to use them!

Yeah that brideway is a bit lumpy for road bikes. The alterantive road bit, Litherop Lane is a long steep drag HOWEVER there is a nice pub at the top...

 

[ColinJ]

Yeah that brideway is a bit lumpy for road bikes. The alterantive road bit, Litherop Lane is a long steep drag HOWEVER there is a nice pub at the top...

I did the BW on my road bike in 2006, but thinking about it, my view was that it was really more suitable for mountain bikes. Okay, we'll go back round on the road then. I think we'll give the pub a miss though - a pub stop 20 minutes after a cafe stop would be a bit much!

PS Or we could skip the Sculpture Park and head straight for the pub instead...

 

[aJohnson]

About 99% sure I'll be able to make it this Sunday, as long as my legs are up for the hills. Looks like a good route, hopefully that wind prediction will be wrong and it'll be calm.

 

[ColinJ]

I went for a very brisk walk up the steep hill to Heptonstall this afternoon and didn't get the wheezing and jelly-legs I've been suffering from recently so it seems that I'm on the mend! Hopefully all will be well for the ride. I'm certainly not going to be quick on Sunday though - please bear with me!

Have I got this list right then?

Sunday 2nd:

• ColinJ
• aJohnson
• dan_bo
• Kestevan

 

[Svendo]

'Fraid I'm definitely working this Sunday (2nd) so I'm out. I'm on for the 9th though if you repeat it.