Season of Mists 2009

[ColinJ]

I'm very tempted by this event; I've just come back from a few days in Yorkshire and I (& the Missus & Kids) thought it was bloody brilliant. Stunning scenery, friendly people - it was ace ! We wish that we could have stayed longer.

Problem is, I'd possibly be older than most others from this forum; certainly less fit and slightly overweight. Is there a 'cut-off' time for this event ?

To officially complete the event, you 'only' need to average a minimum of 12 kph (7.5 mph), including any time for stops. Now that is pretty slow, but it is an extremely hilly route so it isn't quite as slow as it sounds, if you see what I mean.

Actually, it is exactly as slow as it sounds, but you'd have a good excuse for going that slowly !

As for age, fitness and fatness... I'm nearly 54, relatively slow currently and still about 33 pounds above my ideal cycling weight so you wouldn't be alone. There will be riders in their 60s and 70s and most of them fitter than me!

I'm not yet sure if Alun is doing this one, but he is similar to me and we rode the sister event (Spring Into The Dales or SITD) together in the spring, taking just over 8 hours to do the 110 km. I imagine that we would be doing about the same again.

I only have a very old steel framed bike, at which you'd be able to sneer or laugh , but it got me round the 100m Cheshire Cat this year - my first and only event thus far. To be fair, the bike is not the limiting factor, but rather my state of fit/fatness. It would be great to meet some of you fellas, if only to wave you off as you vanish out of sight .

Nobody would laugh at your bike. You'd see everything from carbon fibre racers to rusty old steel touring bikes. Speaking of which, take a look at these forks...

For forks' sake!

We encountered the owner of that bike walking it to the next audax control point to abandon the ride. He'd done several really big descents on his bike before noticing that his front mudguard was rubbing against the wheel. When he investigated, it turned out that his forks were rusted through and about to snap off!

Alun and I were among the last few riders back for SITD so if you reckon you can manage 12-and-a-bit kph on some big hills, come along! Even if Alun isn't riding, I'd be quite happy to accompany you.

Start of Spring Into The Dales

 

[aJohnson]

Think I may be entering this as I cannot get transport to the Tour Of The Peninnes.

 

[Garz]

I hope for the next CC meetup people have ordered some of the new clobber off will which has a cut-off point in just over a week (resides in the cafe section). Thinking of hebden bridge brings shudders from nightmarish hills..

 

[aJohnson]

I hope for the next CC meetup people have ordered some of the new clobber off will which has a cut-off point in just over a week (resides in the cafe section). Thinking of hebden bridge brings shudders from nightmarish hills..

Will you be doing Season Of Mists, Garz?

 

[Garz]

It coincides with my birthday weekend and will be the morning after a very heavy couple of nights out I believe. Terrible preparation for a bonkathon of hills I reckon.

On the positive note, I will be doing the Ride of the Roses event this saturday which is 100 miles!

 

[aJohnson]

Oooh nice. I hope you enjoy the 100miler.

 

[Garz]

Me too, im preying for no rain and zero headwind!

 

[ColinJ]

In the full sized image of that climb, I see a road continuing in an undulating upward direction over in the left distance.

Do you go that far ???

Here's a view of it from the opposite hillside. I took it after a ride with PaulB & son over some of the other local hills on Sunday.

And this is what it looks like looking up the second half of the climb (as always, it's steeper than it looks in the photo!)

 

[Garz]

Man that countryside on a nice day is almost unbeatable, I usually only have the pleasure of seeing it by work van! (reminds me of the postman pat era).

 

[aJohnson]

Very very nice pics, looks like beautiful countryside.

 

[longers]

Nice to see it flattens out in the middle.

 

[ColinJ]

Nice to see it flattens out in the middle.

Not that you need to worry since you climb like a very climby thing!

Yes, it makes it a tough little hill rather than a complete legbreaker. The first section is about 25% but then it eases off and actually drops back down a bit but then kicks back up to 18-20%.

 

[Noodley]

The biggest pain in the arse is that you come down a very steep windy road to get to it and can see it from the top of the descent so you know you have to go all the way up again. And because it's so steep and windy you cannae get any momentum going! Especially if there are vehicles coming in the opposite direction....

The second biggest pain in the arse is that the descent back into Hebden is so steep and windy and cobbled that you're on the brakes most of the way down!

I really 'enjoyed' it, but would have enjoyed it more had I been fit and at my 2008 hill climbing ability. MSeries was very good company.

Strangely the bit I enjoyed most was going through the built up city bits....all very 'new' to me as a country lad more used to rural roads Seriously I really liked cycling through the suburbs of Burnley....

 

[ColinJ]

The biggest pain in the arse is that you come down a very steep windy road to get to it and can see it from the top of the descent so you know you have to go all the way up again. And because it's so steep and windy you cannae get any momentum going! Especially if there are vehicles coming in the opposite direction....

Very true!

The second biggest pain in the arse is that the descent back into Hebden is so steep and windy and cobbled that you're on the brakes most of the way down!

True - if you go down that way! What you should do is to bear left at Slack Bottom (stop laughing folks, it is really called that!) and enjoy a really fast twisty descent through Lee Wood before eventually rejoining the road from Heptonstall further down. That's much more fun.

I really 'enjoyed' it, but would have enjoyed it more had I been fit and at my 2008 hill climbing ability. MSeries was very good company.

I must say that I'm much less fit and heavier than I was when I did it in 2007/8 so I'm feeling nervous about doing it again.

Strangely the bit I enjoyed most was going through the built up city bits....all very 'new' to me as a country lad more used to rural roads Seriously I really liked cycling through the suburbs of Burnley....

Oh!

I had 2 near misses there. A dozy woman overtook me, pulled in and slammed her brakes on. She whipped out her lipstick and started applying it without a care in the world while I desperately swerved right to avoid hitting the back of her. Only the lightning-fast reactions of a van driver bearing down on me saved me from being squashed. He'd seen what happened, looked at her, looked back at me and tapped the side of his head. I nodded in agreement. She was completely oblivious to what she'd done. Cloud cuckoo land...

I regained my composure and accelerated back up to about 20 mph only to have a dozy man walk straight out from behind a parked van into my path. He froze and I just managed to swerve round him. I wasn't even riding close to the parked vehicles, he just came out really quickly as if he'd never heard of traffic. Also cloud cuckoo land...

 

[Plax]

That looks like a nice ride. Funnily enough I've just joined Audax UK. I'd have to stay over there though - is it popular i.e am I likely to be too late to book a B&B?