Warburton said:
It turned out being a really nice day. There was a bit of a headwind on the way out but plain sailing on the way back, though I was starting to get quite hot on some of the climbs especially the one out of Padiham.
ColinJ and Goodspeed - good to see you at the start, I hope you enjoyed the day.
Nice to see you again too!
The Forest of Bowland was looking exceptionally lovely in the sunshine yesterday and I managed the Trough of Bowland okay on my Cannondale. That was where I thought I'd need my Basso's lower gearing. I must be getting fitter (despite still being overweight) because it didn't feel as hard as I remembered.
Goodspeed got a snakebite puncture when he hit something in the road just before Glasson Dock. Amazingly, it is the first puncture he's had. He has only been riding on the road a few months but he rode MTB for years. I used to get 2 or 3 a year off-road. I gave him the ColinJ tube-replacing tutorial and then we headed off to refuel at the control cafe.
Svendo turned up with another rider at Glasson Dock just before we left, them both having started 45 minutes late. Svendo ended up doing 150 miles yesterday after riding to Halifax from Rochdale (he got a lift home).
It was warmer than I expected and I started to feel over-dressed on the return leg. The leg-warmers came off at Glasson Dock, but I made the mistake of keeping my gilet on.
I got yet another bout of cramp in my left foot at the top of that little climb out of Whalley and had to ride round to Padiham pretty much one-legged.
My foot eased off and I got up the climb to Manchester Road traffic lights in Burnley okay, but felt the tell-tale signs of 'the bonk' at the top of the hill. I was feeling confused and giddy and totally lacking in Ooomph. Goodspeed gave me a gel, which I washed down with an emergency Coke I'd bought at Longridge. It was about 20 minutes before my blood-sugar levels had recovered.
I had to dig deep to ride straight through Hebden Bridge within a few hundred metres of my home, and ride the 8 miles to Halifax to complete the event.
I was finding every little rise in the road hard work. I didn't find out why until later. I wrote this elsewhere:
ColinJ said:
I was feeling particularly tired on one little drag yesterday and I couldn't believe that it felt as hard as it did. I checked my front brake to see if it was rubbing. Nope. Goodspeed was behind me so I asked him if my back brake was rubbing. Nope. Shucks, I was just knackered then. When we went to put the bikes in the back of his car after the ride, I discovered that the back brake WAS rubbing against the rim after all! Apparently, Goodspeed could only see one side of the wheel when I asked him... The friction was so bad that it stopped the wheel rotating instantly when I gave it a spin with the back of bike lifted off the ground. That must sap the strength somewhat.
I reckon we knocked the brake getting the bike into or out of the car in the morning so it had probably been rubbing for the whole 125 miles. That's my excuse, anyway!
We lost lots of time with the puncture and my problems, and ended up with a slow average speed of 16.5 kph. Thanks to Goodspeed for sticking with me on a bad day and congratulations to him for making the massive step up from the 110 km of Spring Into The Dales to 202 km for the Red Rose Ride in one big jump. It took me years to build up to my first '200'.
I was awarded a loaf of bread and a tub of cheese and onion spread in recognition of my achievement!
(they had food left over at the end and were giving it away
)
