Spring Into The Dales 2011

[potsy]

Great day, summed up well by the previous posts which leaves me to post some piccies.
1st checkpoint and we are still fresh-


Healthy lunch, guess who had the chips?-


Views-



Phil looking happy-


The March at Keithley


Caught up with the breakaway group in Keighley-


Where Skud and Phil managed to wangle a giant mug of coffee-


After the last climb up Cockhill-

 

[ColinJ]

Ooh, I feel right jealous!

I wasn't feeling too bad at lunchtime so thought I might have been over-cautious not riding today but I feel all wobbly again now. Why couldn't I feel like this when the weather was crap and nowt like this was organised!

Anyway, I'm glad you all had a good time.

As Kevin (tubbycyclist) mentioned to you, we are planning a fabulous Forest of Bowland ride so keep Sunday 15th May free for that if you can! I'll start a thread about that as soon as you've all finished discussing today's ride.

 

[skudupnorth]

It was all good ! Good team to ride with,great views,painful up-hills but fantastic downhills even with the Peugeot at the end trying to end it all suddenly !
I am now and Audax fan and will enter another once my poor old legs recover....138 miles completed !

Mrs Skud is taking the micky out of my red face and neck,better go and soak me bits !

 

[ColinJ]

I am now and Audax fan and will enter another once my poor old legs recover....138 miles completed !

What do you reckon about fixed vs geared for your extended SITD then?

 

[potsy]

Ooh, I feel right jealous!

I wasn't feeling too bad at lunchtime so thought I might have been over-cautious not riding today but I feel all wobbly again now. Why couldn't I feel like this when the weather was crap and nowt like this was organised!

Anyway, I'm glad you all had a good time.

As Kevin (tubbycyclist) mentioned to you, we are planning a fabulous Forest of Bowland ride so keep Sunday 15th May free for that if you can! I'll start a thread about that as soon as you've all finished discussing today's ride.

Good to see you at the end Colin, and there's no way you could have done that ride if you weren't 100%.
Will make sure I'm free for that one, can't believe I was ever worried about doing forum rides, can't get enough now
As Kevin said, we did see Svendo briefly, he was making up for lost time up the hills, nice to meet Zacklaws briefly before the ride too.
Yes I do need a bit more practice with the Garmin, but between that and Phil's route sheet reading we managed to stay on route most of the time
At least I got some sort of help off mine, eh Steve?

 

[ColinJ]

Will make sure I'm free for that one, can't believe I was ever worried about doing forum rides, can't get enough now

Think back to that rainy, windy forum ride with me and bromptonfb in early February. You were almost dead by the time you got to Laneshaw Bridge, which was a big hill and a descent before you even got today's first control point at Earby.

You've come a long way in only 10 weeks - just think how slim and fit you'll be by the end of the summer if you keep up that rate of progress!

 

[skudupnorth]

What do you reckon about fixed vs geared for your extended SITD then?

So glad i took on board everyones advice and went geared ! The down hill sections would have hurt more than some of the up-hill jobbies !!! Loved every bit of today,glad to see you at the end Colin.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Well that was my first ever proper paid for ride ever and I even blagged a free pen

First of all thanks to colin for organising getting everyone over to hebden bridge and sorry you couldnt make it and I hope you are feeling better.

We all met at the market car park and set off just after 9:00am, we all managed to stay together until we reached the first cafe break at gargrave where we had lots of beans on toast related food items, and someone even had a toasted sandwich with salad of all things (you know who you are), and lots cups of coffee and tea of course.

We left gargrave together but we (me, potsy & Skud) stopped to watch a couple of boats going through a lock and at that point we got separated from the rest of the group after which we took a wrong turn and ended up going a few miles in the wrong direction. We quickly realised something was up (due to the lack of other cyclists) and doubled back and got on the right track.
The weather the whole day was excellent and at this point it got even hotter and I think most people will have a very nice tan.

We made our way round the small country lanes skirting round skipton and onto bolton abbey then up to Keighley where we found the rest of the group at rossis cafe where we all consumed large amounts of burgers and chips and they served LARGE cups of coffee (see potsys pics) and watched the marching in the town center.

The other group set off about 10 - 15 mins ahead of us while we finished scoffing

The final 13 miles from Keighley to hebden bridge started out up hill quite gently then getting steeper and going right up to the very top of the moors so it was a long slog. We all regrouped at the top and did the final few miles down into hebden bridge together.

The stats according to my cateye computer are 63.46 miles and actual riding time 5 hours 31 mins

Skud decided he was going to cycle home rather than get a lift back so I hope you got home ok and you must be mad

Potsy kept getting bursts of energy from somewhere and me and skud would be nattering away and suddenly find him surging off into the distance (I think it is something in his drinks bottle )

A big thank you to everyone on the ride you guys made the ride the enjoyable event it was, we did the ride at a fairly leisurely pace (compared with certain people that were riding at warp factor 9, again you know who you are), it was very hilly but everyone managed to get up all the hills and I hope everyone had a great time I know I did and I look forward to the next one

 

[potsy]

Think back to that rainy, windy forum ride with me and bromptonfb in early February. You were almost dead by the time you got to Laneshaw Bridge, which was a big hill and a descent before you even got today's first control point at Earby.

You've come a long way in only 10 weeks - just think how slim and fit you'll be by the end of the summer if you keep up that rate of progress!

I know, that ride nearly finished my love of cycling I said today that I couldn't have contemplated doing SITD a few weeks ago, Seasons of Mist next!!

Just noticed I am now only 3 miles behind Shaun for the year on MCL

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Think back to that rainy, windy forum ride with me and bromptonfb in early February. You were almost dead by the time you got to Laneshaw Bridge, which was a big hill and a descent before you even got today's first control point at Earby.

You've come a long way in only 10 weeks - just think how slim and fit you'll be by the end of the summer if you keep up that rate of progress!

I think potsy did brilliantly he is definatly starting to up his pace and he tackled every single hill.

 

[skudupnorth]

Cheers for the company Phil,made it back in one piece but i can now officially say Rochdale's road system is pants ! My poor flexi wheels are now extra flexi now !
Fantastic ride everyone,yet another brilliant day with good company,this forum just gets stronger every time we meet up

 

[ColinJ]

First of all thanks to colin for organising getting everyone over to hebden bridge and sorry you couldnt make it and I hope you are feeling better.

When we did the flattish seaside century, I spent quite a bit of time riding close to Pennine-Paul who was getting over a bad chest infection. I remember thinking at the time that every time he coughed in front of me, there was a chance of me catching the same bug. But - I got away with it! And soon Paul started to get better.

But then Paul had a relapse and came out on the 2-loop ride last weekend. More coughing ...

I started to feel under the weather about 4 days later. It is now 3 days further on and I started coughing an hour ago and the coughing is getting worse! I can see a sleepless night or two if this carries on. PaulB also had a bad chest infection recently so if it wasn't Pennine-Paul's bug, I'll blame the other one!

Mind you, I also know someone else who has been ill recently so I may have caught it off her. There seem to be a lot of bad chests about at the moment. Funny, I think of them as being more of a winter thing ...

We left gargrave together but we (me, potsy & Skud) stopped to watch a couple of boats going through a lock and at that point we got separated from the rest of the group after which we took a wrong turn and ended up going a few miles in the wrong direction. We quickly realised something was up (due to the lack of other cyclists) and doubled back and got on the right track.

I bet it was where you should have gone straight on about a mile beyond Gargrave, but the main road bears left up past some stately home at Eshton? If it was, I did exactly the same thing myself on my first SITD!

The stats according to my cateye computer are 63.46 miles and actual riding time 5 hours 31 mins

There is definitely something up with your computer. I plotted the route using my Memory Map software and it came to 110.5 km or 68.7 miles. That was confirmed by my GPS tracklog and it agrees with the official distance and everybody else who I rode with who had computers on their bikes!

Perhaps your sensor or magnet is loose or got knocked out of position? I can't believe the computer's calibration is 8% out.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

There is definitely something up with your computer. I plotted the route using my Memory Map software and it came to 110.5 km or 68.7 miles. That was confirmed by my GPS tracklog and it agrees with the official distance and everybody else who I rode with who had computers on their bikes!

Perhaps your sensor or magnet is loose or got knocked out of position? I can't believe the computer's calibration is 8% out.

It is quite possible I sometimes get outragous cadence readings, never mind its near enough for me

 

[potsy]

With the extra few miles detours I (Garmin) made it 73+ miles Phil.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

With the extra few miles detours I (Garmin) made it 73+ miles Phil.

In that case we will go with those readings then