Winter Warmer ride - Hebden Bridge this Saturday (Feb. 13th)
- Thread starter ColinJ
- Start date
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Thanks for a great day out guys, another great route from Colin! Just about got back from the station before it got too dark to ride without lights, it was touch an go though. I Got home, had a bath, got changed and i'm now munching my way through a pizza and throwing back a cold beer! Happy days.
Hope to see you all again in the near future!
Hope to see you all again in the near future!
Thanks for the day Colin and Callum and to also the excellent company too, I quite surprised myself with my fitness which has not deterioated that much over the winter months. According to the Garmin I burnt off over 4000 calories so I think I shall have to replace them with a few beers. Also the Garmin says we climbed 5485'.
And despite "having an involuntary little lay down" in the middle of the road at the end I was not that tired!
And despite "having an involuntary little lay down" in the middle of the road at the end I was not that tired!
aJohnson
Senior Member
- Location
- Bury, Manchester
So Colin, when's the next one?
Thanks for the day Colin and Callum and to also the excellent company too, I quite surprised myself with my fitness which has not deterioated that much over the winter months. According to the Garmin I burnt off over 4000 calories so I think I shall have to replace them with a few beers. Also the Garmin says we climbed 5485'.
And despite "having an involuntary little lay down" in the middle of the road at the end I was not that tired!
And despite "having an involuntary little lay down" in the middle of the road at the end I was not that tired!
Rohloff_Brompton_Rider
Formerly just_fixed
yep cheers fellas. it was hard work keeping up and thanks for waiting. longers very impressive being on a fixie up in them there hills. nice meeting you all. i reckon i ended up doing over 55 miles and about 1500m climbing but i will wait for colins route map so i can work it out properly. it was nice that the weather held out. thanks colin.
trio25 said:
Longers legs were a blur going downhill.
I am not sure but I thought I heard screaming at one stage.
Thanks Colin and thanks for the company today.
I think you made it home before me and Bokonon Calum.
Calum looking thoughtful, wondering about the police escort Colin had kindly arranged.
Bokonon just before the alien erupted from his chest.
OP
OP
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Thanks guys - that was actually the biggest CycleChat turnout for me so far I think. Longers was only going to come up the first climb with us but in the end he came along for the rest of the ride.
We were really lucky with the weather. It was dry, not too cold and we even had some sunshine. In fact, my face is red from the amount of UV I was exposed to. When we got back to Hebden Bridge, all the roads were wet but we never saw the rain.
The feared icy roads never materialised except on the tight left hand bend coming off the fast descent from Oxenhope Moor. Shaun overtook me on the descent and I saw him go dangerously wide round the bend - he went right over the other side of the road. Fortunately there wasn't anything coming the other way. He said that his back wheel had started to slide out from under him. Yikes!
I felt pretty unfit after my long lay-off and wasn't able to keep up with the others on any of the climbs.
We had a good stop at Coldwell Activity Centre cafe and once again I decided to have both soup and a sandwich!
We decided not to do the original route back via the tough climb at Thursden. I quite fancied a burn-up down the A646 to Todmorden after all of the climbing that we'd done, so we headed that way via Worsthorne. It would also bump the mileage up a bit.
I thought that I was getting tired. In fact, I was getting tired but it turned out not to be just from the hills and the distance. On the false flat through Holme Chapel, the others just rode away from me without even trying. It's only about a 2.5% gradient so I shouldn't have been dropped like that. By the time I got to the start of the descent towards Todmorden my legs were shot. Despite my large size I could only get to about 20 mph down Cliviger Gorge and through Portsmouth and Cornholme. The others were waiting for me in Todmorden.
I had been getting increasingly annoyed with rubbing sounds from my Crud Roadracer guards. I really like this product but you do have to adjust the Cruds carefully or they rub. It turned out that my rear guard was jam-packed with thick mud. I lifted my rear wheel off the ground and stomped on a pedal and guess what? Yes, my wheel stopped dead! It did less than 1/4 turn before the friction stopped it. I'd pedalled who knows how many miles with the equivalent of my back brake being stuck on - no wonder I was knackered! Calum helped me scrape the gunk out and after that it felt like a new bike. It was easier riding on the flat back to Hebden Bridge than it had been going downhill to Todmorden!
It was a really nice day out on the bike! It has made me more realistic about next week's mini-North-West Passage though. I think 75 miles will be quite enough for me at my current level of fitness!
[Shaun - I'll work out today's route stats for you tomorrow.]
Oh, here's the group photo taken at Coldwell Activity Centre. L-R: Calum, colly, bokonon, bromptonfb, svendo, zacklaws, Me (ColinJ), longers
We were really lucky with the weather. It was dry, not too cold and we even had some sunshine. In fact, my face is red from the amount of UV I was exposed to. When we got back to Hebden Bridge, all the roads were wet but we never saw the rain.
The feared icy roads never materialised except on the tight left hand bend coming off the fast descent from Oxenhope Moor. Shaun overtook me on the descent and I saw him go dangerously wide round the bend - he went right over the other side of the road. Fortunately there wasn't anything coming the other way. He said that his back wheel had started to slide out from under him. Yikes!
I felt pretty unfit after my long lay-off and wasn't able to keep up with the others on any of the climbs.
We had a good stop at Coldwell Activity Centre cafe and once again I decided to have both soup and a sandwich!
We decided not to do the original route back via the tough climb at Thursden. I quite fancied a burn-up down the A646 to Todmorden after all of the climbing that we'd done, so we headed that way via Worsthorne. It would also bump the mileage up a bit.
I thought that I was getting tired. In fact, I was getting tired but it turned out not to be just from the hills and the distance. On the false flat through Holme Chapel, the others just rode away from me without even trying. It's only about a 2.5% gradient so I shouldn't have been dropped like that. By the time I got to the start of the descent towards Todmorden my legs were shot. Despite my large size I could only get to about 20 mph down Cliviger Gorge and through Portsmouth and Cornholme. The others were waiting for me in Todmorden.
I had been getting increasingly annoyed with rubbing sounds from my Crud Roadracer guards. I really like this product but you do have to adjust the Cruds carefully or they rub. It turned out that my rear guard was jam-packed with thick mud. I lifted my rear wheel off the ground and stomped on a pedal and guess what? Yes, my wheel stopped dead! It did less than 1/4 turn before the friction stopped it. I'd pedalled who knows how many miles with the equivalent of my back brake being stuck on - no wonder I was knackered! Calum helped me scrape the gunk out and after that it felt like a new bike. It was easier riding on the flat back to Hebden Bridge than it had been going downhill to Todmorden!
It was a really nice day out on the bike! It has made me more realistic about next week's mini-North-West Passage though. I think 75 miles will be quite enough for me at my current level of fitness!
[Shaun - I'll work out today's route stats for you tomorrow.]
He had front and rear brakes fitted so he didn't have to do the mad pedalling thing on the downhills if he didn't want to. Having said that, I was usually in front on the downhills so I didn't actually see what he was doing. I'd certainly feel more inclined to give fixed a chance myself if I had 2 brakes to slow me down in a hurry.trio25 said:
Oh, here's the group photo taken at Coldwell Activity Centre. L-R: Calum, colly, bokonon, bromptonfb, svendo, zacklaws, Me (ColinJ), longers
longers
Legendary Member
The downhills were exciting. That was by far the hilliest ride I've done on the bike and might do a couple more but not sure I could make a habit of it. It is good it not being monday tomorrow.
As Colin says I like having a rear brake on it and feel much more in control trying to stop. I can't leg brake very well and am not sure I could as effectively as a brake. I find it very easy to lock up the back wheel like this but don't like burning rubber.
Bromptonfb and I went looking at furniture and missed a few climbs that the others did and that worked out just right and was a good few miles once we were able to chat, even going uphill. I'll pop along to a CM and say hello sometime.
I'm a bottle of red to the good and had a good day today, thanks again
As Colin says I like having a rear brake on it and feel much more in control trying to stop. I can't leg brake very well and am not sure I could as effectively as a brake. I find it very easy to lock up the back wheel like this but don't like burning rubber.
Bromptonfb and I went looking at furniture and missed a few climbs that the others did and that worked out just right and was a good few miles once we were able to chat, even going uphill. I'll pop along to a CM and say hello sometime.
I'm a bottle of red to the good and had a good day today, thanks again
Rohloff_Brompton_Rider
Formerly just_fixed
longers said:The downhills were exciting. That was by far the hilliest ride I've done on the bike and might do a couple more but not sure I could make a habit of it. It is good it not being monday tomorrow.
As Colin says I like having a rear brake on it and feel much more in control trying to stop. I can't leg brake very well and am not sure I could as effectively as a brake. I find it very easy to lock up the back wheel like this but don't like burning rubber.
Bromptonfb and I went looking at furniture and missed a few climbs that the others did and that worked out just right and was a good few miles once we were able to chat, even going uphill. I'll pop along to a CM and say hello sometime.
I'm a bottle of red to the good and had a good day today, thanks again
sounds like we're moving in together...lol.
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