My 20 minute Cragg Vale hill climb challenge

[ColinJ]

Interesting!

There are also times for the longer segments incorporating the HC course.

I have been off my bike for 16 days with a bad cold. I think I might ride up CV in the next couple of days but leave the GPS at home so I don't get tempted to do something silly. It will probably take me a week or two to start feeling ok again. The bug really exposed how sensitive my lungs still are post-DVT/PE. I get by most days on or off the bike, but my reserve lung capacity has gone. It only took a bit of phlegm in there to reduce me back to a wobbly-legged person with breathing difficulties.

 

[Hacienda71]

Noticed the Cragg Vale sign on the way to the camping shop on the Halifax road so thought I would check it out. Rode over from Howarth yesterday, didn't really know where the start was so just rode up it quite hard. 20:57 on the HC and 24:18 on the entire length. There was a bit of a cross wind so on a neutral day or tail wind I reckon a 20 would be possible for me.
Have enjoyed doing some different hills around West Yorkshire the last few days, some nice cycling in the area.

 

[ColinJ]

Noticed the Cragg Vale sign on the way to the camping shop on the Halifax road so thought I would check it out. Rode over from Howarth yesterday, didn't really know where the start was so just rode up it quite hard. 20:57 on the HC and 24:18 on the entire length. There was a bit of a cross wind so on a neutral day or tail wind I reckon a 20 would be possible for me.
Have enjoyed doing some different hills around West Yorkshire the last few days, some nice cycling in the area.

I'm glad that you liked riding round here - I certainly do!

I've had to put my personal Cragg Vale Challenge on hold for now because my heart and/or lungs are playing up after my recent cold. The bug seemed to find a weakness left over from my previous illness. I'm having a lung function test next week to see if the doctors can work out what is going on.

I'm still riding up the hill regularly, but at a more sedate ~30 minute pace - I don't want to push myself hard until I feel better and I get an all-clear.

 

[Hacienda71]

I'm glad that you liked riding round here - I certainly do!

I've had to put my personal Cragg Vale Challenge on hold for now because my heart and/or lungs are playing up after my recent cold. The bug seemed to find a weakness left over from my previous illness. I'm having a lung function test next week to see if the doctors can work out what is going on.

I'm still riding up the hill regularly, but at a more sedate ~30 minute pace - I don't want to push myself hard until I feel better and I get an all-clear.

Hope you are feeling better soon. Cragg Vale definitely gives you the option to take it a bit easier and it is always best to take your time getting over any health related issues.

The climb over from Oxenhope to Hebden Bridge reminds me of the Cat and Fiddle (although the gradient is a bit steeper in places) but without all the nutters on motorbikes.

By the way thanks for the tip on Aire Valley Cycles. Initially they gave me a shimano cable that was too short for a Sram setup. rode the bike down to get a different length cable and they fitted it for me free of charge. Seem like nice guys. One of the mechanics is from Altrincham and used to work on the road where I live.

 

[ColinJ]

The climb over from Oxenhope to Hebden Bridge reminds me of the Cat and Fiddle (although the gradient is a bit steeper in places) but without all the nutters on motorbikes.

I have never done the Cat and Fiddle, having been put off by reports of mad bikers ...

I have done Snake Pass a few times when it was not too busy and quite enjoyed that.

Yes, the 2 mile climb from Oxenhope is nice. I am enjoying it a lot more since I lost weight - it was a bit of a slog when I weighed 16+ stone. The 4.5 mile descent to Hebden Bridge is fun!

 

[ColinJ]

I haven't forgotten about this challenge, but my health and fitness got knocked right back in June by a heavy cold and its after-effects on my dodgy lungs.

I got over that and have been feeling much fitter for the past few weeks, but the weather has been really windy so all thoughts of speed were forgotten. I just concentrated on getting my hilly miles in with a view to making a serious attempt to get fit next year.

Anyway ... I woke up today feeling pretty good and the forecast was actually looking promising for me to try and take a few seconds off my Cragg Vale PB. It was supposed to be dry, mild, overcast and with cross/headwinds on the climb of only 4-5 mph.

So, I did a short warm-up on my gym bike this afternoon and then headed off to Mytholmroyd to see what I could do.

As forecast, it was pretty mild, and the skies were grey. I set off with my usual plan - make a fairly strong effort as far as the bus turning area at the start of the steep section and only then look at my GPS to see how I was doing. On days when wind is not a big factor, my time to that point is about half what my total will be to the top, give or take a few seconds. My current PB is 25-37 so I decided that if I was 13-00+ at the halfway point, I would abandon my attempt and just climb the second half at a steady pace. 12-00 to 13-00, I would really go for it ...

Anyway, the first half of the climb went really well and I had to fight the temptation to look down at the GPS screen until the halfway point. When I got there and looked down, I saw my time was ...

... 11-27. Blimey, that's the fastest I have done on that climb for years! It seemed that I was going to smash my PB so I got out of the saddle and sprinted up the steeper part of the climb to where it eases off on the open moorland, and ...

... met a wall of wind!

Curses! The forecasters had got it wrong today - the clouds were rolling in, it was getting darker and colder, and then the rain started. The wind was way stronger than forecast and my speed was crippled. I should really have backed off there and then but decided that I might as well see just how bad it would be. Answer - pretty bad! I was getting tired and it ended up taking me 28-00 to do the climb. That was a full 5 minutes slower for the second half of it!

By the time I got to the reservoir I was soaked and it was getting dark an hour early because of the clouds and rain. Waves were breaking on the sides of the reservoir. I didn't have lights with me so I u-turned and headed back down the hill. The wind noise disappeared at about 12 mph so that is a pretty good guesstimate of the wind speed I had battled.

I'll keep an eye on the weather and if an opportunity presents itself, I'll have another go. I would really like to achieve a 23-xx before the end of 2014, but even a 24-xx would be pretty good, considering what has happened the past couple of years.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

@ColinJ on a totally unrelated topic have you tried Google Fit from the Google Play store I downloaded it yesterday, when I went for a bike ride today and it knew I was on a bike ride even though I didnt tell it so you might want to check it out.

 

[ColinJ]

@ColinJ on a totally unrelated topic have you tried Google Fit from the Google Play store I downloaded it yesterday, when I went for a bike ride today and it knew I was on a bike ride even though I didnt tell it so you might want to check it out.

Ha - my phone is only running Android 2.3.4, so no chance ...

10,000 steps a day - I can't imagine that most people get anywhere close to that!

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Ha - my phone is only running Android 2.3.4, so no chance ...

10,000 steps a day - I can't imagine that most people get anywhere close to that!

During the summer I did a few walks and I found that between an hour and two hours of walking would get me between 10,000 and 16,000 steps for that day

 

[ColinJ]

During the summer I did a few walks and I found that between an hour and two hours of walking would get me between 10,000 and 16,000 steps for that day

You'd have had to have been walking extremely briskly ... Have a think about it - that would be 1.5 - 2.5 steps per second!

I don't think that most people walk 1-2 hours a day at any speed, let alone briskly.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

You'd have had to have been walking extremely briskly ... Have a think about it - that would be 1.5 - 2.5 steps per second!

I don't think that most people walk 1-2 hours a day at any speed, let alone briskly.

No I meant that if I went on that walk then at the end of the day I would get that total not that I did that total in 2 hours

I used to have one of those fitbit things but it fell apart after a month, in November Misfit are coming out with the Misfit Flash which will be £50 and it gets some good reviews so I may look at that but at the moment I quite like the Google Fit and it works fine on my phone even though it is only a £125 phone.

 

[nickyboy]

Gonna give Cragg Vale another try tomorrow. The fact that a light NE is forecast is merely coincidental of course.

Probably going to give the stoke up full English in Hebden Bridge a miss this time though. I have a full suite of excuses ready for a crap time however.....already done 30 hilly miles by the time I get there, headwind to get there knackered me, bit chilly for optimal conditions blah, blah, blah

 

[nickyboy]

30 hilly miles to get there, bit chilly, wind more cross than behind.....blah, blah, blah

25mins for the HC course, 27mins for the full thing. Dunno if that is any good for a 14stone porker....probably not

 

[ColinJ]

30 hilly miles to get there, bit chilly, wind more cross than behind.....blah, blah, blah

25mins for the HC course, 27mins for the full thing. Dunno if that is any good for a 14stone porker....probably not

I think it is quite good for a 14 stone porker, though it wouldn't be impressive for a fit, skinny rider!

I also rode up there this afternoon and felt that the wind was more cross than tail, but later in my circuit the direction that wind turbines were pointing suggested maybe more of a cross/tailwind?

I made a stupid mistake with my timing today ... I usually get to the start of the HC course in about 9.5 minutes from home so I stop and wait for my GPS clock to hit 10 minutes and then set off. I check the time by the bus turning area and go for it if the total elapsed time is under 22 minutes - or a HC time of 12 minutes. I got up there 22 mins 40 secs after leaving home, which meant I had taken 12 mins 40 seconds and was unlikely to beat my 25 mins 37 secs current PB, so I reduced my effort and continued to climb. I got to the 1 km to go marker and suddenly remembered that I had been delayed at a couple of sets of traffic lights on the ride from Hebden Bridge, so I had actually started the HC course at 11 mins 40 seconds, which meant I had reached my decision point in 11 mins dead, 1 min 40 secs faster than I thought I had! It was too late to claw the time back but I sprinted the final km to see what time I could manage. It was near enough 26 mins dead. I had lost way more than 23 secs relaxing on the second half of the climb so I reckon I could have done 25 mins myself today - damn!

 

[nickyboy]

I think it is quite good for a 14 stone porker, though it wouldn't be impressive for a fit, skinny rider!

I also rode up there this afternoon and felt that the wind was more cross than tail, but later in my circuit the direction that wind turbines were pointing suggested maybe more of a cross/tailwind?

I made a stupid mistake with my timing today ... I usually get to the start of the HC course in about 9.5 minutes from home so I stop and wait for my GPS clock to hit 10 minutes and then set off. I check the time by the bus turning area and go for it if the total elapsed time is under 22 minutes - or a HC time of 12 minutes. I got up there 22 mins 40 secs after leaving home, which meant I had taken 12 mins 40 seconds and was unlikely to beat my 25 mins 37 secs current PB, so I reduced my effort and continued to climb. I got to the 1 km to go marker and suddenly remembered that I had been delayed at a couple of sets of traffic lights on the ride from Hebden Bridge, so I had actually started the HC course at 11 mins 40 seconds, which meant I had reached my decision point in 11 mins dead, 1 min 40 secs faster than I thought I had! It was too late to claw the time back but I sprinted the final km to see what time I could manage. It was near enough 26 mins dead. I had lost way more than 23 secs relaxing on the second half of the climb so I reckon I could have done 25 mins myself today - damn!

Need to get the weight off, but it won't be easy. I rode with a guy of similar age and fitness and he did the TT course in 22.40. The difference is he's 12 stone and I'm not. I could keep same pace on the initial 2-3% section but when it went up to 6-7% he was gone

Did the long drag climb out of Denshaw (Ripponden Road?) into a strongish headwind then did Styes Lane out of Sowerby Bridge to get to Mytholmroyd so we were pretty tired by the time we got there. See, it's not about the quality of your riding, it's about the quality of your excuses