Manchester - Llandudno Saturday 12 May 2018

[ColinJ]

Speaking of Rhyl and Prestatyn ...

I am now planning travel arrangements for @si_c's fine-sounding North Wales ride on June 30th. (It starts at Chester and we will do a much lumpier route round to Llandudno than this one (so no singlespeed bike for that!))

I will be catching a train from Manchester to Chester in the morning. The train which then goes on through Prestatyn and Rhyl to Llandudno. It appears that we (currently, at least) can't buy Advance tickets to Chester but can to Rhyl or Prestatyn. That means it is cheaper to buy a ticket to Rhyl but accidentally get off a few stations early than to buy the ticket that we actually need!

 

[nickyboy]

At least your wheels held up ok this time.

Now this practice run is completed when are you going to turn your focus on the main event, Scarborough?

This topic did come up

To be honest, my work has got to the point where I can't guarantee to be able to organise these rides as well as I'd like. Everyone was very kind on this ride but really it was "download the files, see you at the start".

So I'm not committing to Scarborough. It's a lovely ride though so would be great if someone else offered to organise it properly. Routes etc are fine, it's just the admin

 

[si_c]

So I'm not committing to Scarborough. It's a lovely ride though so would be great if someone else offered to organise it properly. Routes etc are fine, it's just the admin

Perhaps @nickyboy's Leeds To Scarborough Spectacular, brought to you by @I like Skol?

 

[I like Skol]

I'll give him some proper guidance on the date for that one so he gets it right!!!

(8th Sept, put it in your diaries now )

Perhaps @nickyboy's Leeds To Scarborough Spectacular, brought to you by @I like Skol?

I'll see what I can do but can't commit to it myself at the moment until I get the medical go-ahead to start riding a bike again. Hopefully should know either way by mid-June at the latest......

 

[ColinJ]

This topic did come up

To be honest, my work has got to the point where I can't guarantee to be able to organise these rides as well as I'd like. Everyone was very kind on this ride but really it was "download the files, see you at the start".

So I'm not committing to Scarborough. It's a lovely ride though so would be great if someone else offered to organise it properly. Routes etc are fine, it's just the admin

@Littgull and I have talked about it. If you can't do it this year then I'd be happy to take it over this time. I'm doing that for the Humber Bridge ride in June.

Unlike the Humber Bridge ride (which I have come up with a new route for), I'd just pinch the Scarborough route and copy and paste details from the other editions of the ride. I wouldn't get the chance to go and check for problems beforehand though so I would just ask locals to warn me if there were going to be roadworks etc.

 

[Crackle]

This topic did come up

It did and I explained over a gesticulating pint, that you've not only tapped into the zeitgeist of the secret British love of Victorian seaside towns and excursions to them but you are the glue that binds us together, a weighty responsibility, I know.

It's the fish and chips which sets us though and the beer which releases us. I forecast, with this Victorian seaside revival, that one day, we'll all look forward to finishing in Rhyl. As opposed to Rhyl finishing us.

 

[ColinJ]

It did and I explained over a gesticulating pint, that you've not only tapped into the zeitgeist of the secret British love of Victorian seaside towns and excursions to them but you are the glue that binds us together, a weighty responsibility, I know.

I certainly wouldn't be doing any 'binding' if I took over for a year!

(More a case of riding to the nearest railway station and fleeing before you lot gang up and force me to start boozing again ... )

 

[nickyboy]

I think the problem for me is never knowing far in advance if I'm going to be around. It was touch and go that I made this one

Let me think about it. If I do give up the organisation of Scarborough rest assured I will not be a back seat driver. I'll do the ride if I'm in UK but whoever takes up the organising is in charge

Similarly, i think I should step back from the madness that is the Magic Rock Huddersfield ride (now that is a proper ride for beer lovers)

 

[Crackle]

I think the problem for me is never knowing far in advance if I'm going to be around. It was touch and go that I made this one

Let me think about it. If I do give up the organisation of Scarborough rest assured I will not be a back seat driver. I'll do the ride if I'm in UK but whoever takes up the organising is in charge

Similarly, i think I should step back from the madness that is the Magic Rock Huddersfield ride (now that is a proper ride for beer lovers)

Absolutely no pressure intended, merely encouragement. I think you underestimate your contribution to these rides, we may turn up but the reasons we do are complex and intertwined. Personally, it's all about Rhyl for me

 

[Andrew Br]

Don't stress if you can't organise future rides nickyboy, it's part of a hobby, not something that pays your mortgage.
As far as I'm aware, everyone who's come along on your rides has loved their day out. That people from "far away" have returned for several years says it all.

Tangent-> Here's the route that I took (accompaned for most of the hilly bits by diddlydods):- https://www.strava.com/activities/1568087052

It'd be interesting to compare the climbing on our route against the "suggested" route.

 

[nickyboy]

Don't stress if you can't organise future rides nickyboy, it's part of a hobby, not something that pays your mortgage.
As far as I'm aware, everyone who's come along on your rides has loved their day out. That people from "far away" have returned for several years says it all.

Tangent-> Here's the route that I took (accompaned for most of the hilly bits by diddlydods):- https://www.strava.com/activities/1568087052

It'd be interesting to compare the climbing on our route against the "suggested" route.

Assuming our GPS devices work in broadly the same way, your route is about 3km shorter but about 200m more climbing

In fact, only three participants did the whole ride and in accordance with an official route (clue: I was one of them)

 

[StuAff]

Assuming our GPS devices work in broadly the same way, your route is about 3km shorter but about 200m more climbing

In fact, only three participants did the whole ride and in accordance with an official route (clue: I was one of them)

Well, I did the official route, I just did a few detours off it.....

 

[Leaway2]

Assuming our GPS devices work in broadly the same way, your route is about 3km shorter but about 200m more climbing

In fact, only three participants did the whole ride and in accordance with an official route (clue: I was one of them)

Me. Me. Me. I did. I did.

 

[nickyboy]

Me. Me. Me. I did. I did.

Whole ride

 

[ColinJ]

It is the first time that I have been lost for years. At first I didn't mind because it was good to explore and there was time to spare but once we had used up the spare time I didn't like the feeling that I risked missing my train if I continued to Llandudno. I was certainly going to miss the fish and chips. (BTW - what time does the chippie close?) I'm going to make sure that it doesn't happen again!

I was checking my GPS last night and it turns out that neither of my GPS batteries had died after all.

I think the problem that I had on Saturday was due to one or both of the batteries making a poor connection to the contacts on the GPS. It is a 12 year old device and the battery contacts are now the worse for wear. (The GPS cut out a couple of times when I hit bumps in the road, which I think was due to the batteries momentarily disconnecting.) Last night I squeezed some Blu-tak behind the contacts to force them snug against the ends of the batteries. I then did an extended soak test without problems, and even shaking the GPS vigorously couldn't make it cut out.

Not having battery problems wouldn't have helped me on Saturday though, because I got lost on the route variation which I had NOT programmed in! That's what comes of wimping out of the hilly route in advance, but then being put off the flatter route by overhearing @nickyboy talking about long stretches of A-road after Flint before reaching the cycle path. The stupid thing is that I had considered putting both variations of the route on the GPS just in case ...

I have another GPS which has maps on it (kindly donated to me by Oldfentiger) so I ought to start using that. The problem is that I did a bodge repair to it (the battery contacts on that one had been eaten away by leaking battery chemicals, which is why OFT gave it me in the first place). I don't trust it to not pack up again out on the road. I should take it to bits again and do a more reliable repair. I could carry both GPS devices, each with all route variations downloaded. The old one could then be a backup for the newer bodged one. They both use the same bar mount, so that wouldn't be a problem, and I don't think carrying an extra couple of hundred grams would kill me!