# Spring Into The Dales 2017



## Kestevan (13 Mar 2017)

Anyone planning on riding this event?

I've done it a few times and really enjoyed it..... but it's very weather dependent - can be warm, sunny, wet, windy or snowing (or indeed all of the above).


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## ColinJ (13 Mar 2017)

Oh, yes ... I was thinking it was getting close. Subject to non-awful conditions, I am in again, as usual!

Last year's edition - SITD 2016.

Audax event page.


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## ColinJ (21 Mar 2017)

I just got my entry in.

It is a really good event, one which is definitely worth making the effort to travel to if you are not from round here. About 85% of the route is on scenic country roads. The only slight downer is the busy section between Silsden and Haworth Brow but that is a price worth paying, given that you probably wouldn't fancy the hundreds of metres of additional steep climbing which would be needed to avoid most of it.


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## DCLane (21 Mar 2017)

Can't do it - I'm riding the GHS Memorial Ride instead as a 100 miles in 8 hours.


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## ColinJ (21 Mar 2017)

DCLane said:


> Can't do it - I'm riding the GHS Memorial Ride instead as a 100 miles in 8 hours.


Oh well - have fun!

We normally manage to get several CC members to form a slow, chatty SITD group.

I have cyclist friends who live in the Keighley area who might fancy meeting up in Oxenhope on the way out and riding round as far as Keighley, that is if they don't want to drive over and do the full official ride with me. I have another friend who will be riding but he rides quicker than me so I only see him for a few minutes at the start, then he is gone!


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## busdennis (31 Mar 2017)

this threads moving very slow, best i can say is im only 50% at the moment. want to ride but not sure how it will fit in with my TT training at the moment


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## ColinJ (31 Mar 2017)

@Littgull hopes to join us but he has a bad back. We aim to get a midweek ride in to see how his recovery is progressing. All being well, he will 'enter on the line'.


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## ColinJ (31 Mar 2017)

For those of you who don't know the event and who might be interested in doing the ride, take a look at the SITD threads from past years ... 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

That lot should whet your appetite!


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## Kestevan (6 Apr 2017)

Think I'm going to have to pass on this one this year... Family commitments mean I just cant justify spending the best part of Sunday riding round the Dales.
Think it will have to be a quick blast Sunday clubrun in the morning instead....


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## ColinJ (6 Apr 2017)

Kestevan said:


> Think I'm going to have to pass on this one this year... Family commitments mean I just cant justify spending the best part of Sunday riding round the Dales.
> Think it will have to be a quick blast Sunday clubrun in the morning instead....


Oh, I was about to suggest meeting up at the start!

Littgull has decided to be sensible and give his back a proper chance to recover from its recent problems so that means that I am currently without any CycleChat companions for the day.

My pal Bill will be riding but he is quicker than me so I expect him to drop me on the first climb (Keighley Rd, Hebden Bridge), and if not on that one, then on the second one (Penistone Hill, Oxenhope).

If I am riding alone then I will ride quicker than I do in the usual chatty group. In that case I will try to get round in less than 7 hours rather than 8 or so.


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## ColinJ (9 Apr 2017)

It was damn nippy when I got up at 06:30 (after less than 4 hours sleep!) but the temperature is gradually creeping up and is currently 7.5 C. It should be nearer 10 when I set off in about 35 minutes time and is forecast to hit 18 C mid-afternoon when I will be climbing back over to Calderdale. A bit windy today though, so that will give 2 or 3 degrees of windchill.

I have ridden the event in conditions like this before. It always feels cold in the valley and for the first half of the Keighley Rd climb but after that it just gets better and better. A definite day for layers. Short-sleeves and armwarmers rather than a long-sleeved jersey.


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## Kestevan (9 Apr 2017)

Hope you had a good one. Gutted I couldn't do it this year.

I managed a quick 25 with the club this AM and the weather was perfect. Wind was picking up later though..


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## dan_bo (9 Apr 2017)

Kestevan said:


> Wind was picking up later though..


you're telling me! felt like I was carrying a sack of spuds on me back on me way back from Marsden.....


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## ColinJ (9 Apr 2017)

Yes - it was a good day out on the bike.

@zacklaws spotted me on the first climb and held back for me for a while but I still wasn't able to keep up so he went on without me. I saw him later back at event HQ and we had a good chat then while I scoffed sandwiches and cake.

I didn't feel as though I had any ooomph today so I found it a bit of a slog, and as pointed out above - the wind DID pick up, which hampered progress.

I had to stop on the first climb to take off my armwarmers and base layer because even at 09:30 it was getting pretty warm with the effort of that long climb (~30 minutes).

The entire population of Yorkshire seemed to have gone to the Dales today! Burnsall, Cavendish Pavilion and Bolton abbey were heaving with visitors. Despite that, I saw fewer impatient/idiotic drivers than usual, and ... and - no driver/passenger hurled abuse at me on the climb back from Keighley. Normally, there are at least a couple of morons who have a go. 

What I did see on the climb to Haworth Brow was 2 mountain bikes descending the other way at speed WITH 3 DRUNKEN YOUNG MEN per bike!  The rider, a mate on the top tube in front of him, and a second passenger perched on the handlebars. Drivers were alarmed to have them weaving in and out of the traffic. _*What could possibly go wrong! *_

I have had 5 or 6 attempts at this post but I keep dozing off for some mysterious reason!

I totalled 136 km (85 miles) for the day, including to and from the event along the A646. I briefly toyed with the idea of adding an extra 15 miles to get an imperial century in but I was pretty tired so I didn't bother. Oh, and I did about 2,350 m (~7,700 ft) of climbing, some steep. 

I didn't quite manage to break 7 hours for the event itself - I took 7 hrs and 5 mins including stops. I would like to be able to go faster. I'll try again next year.

(Sorry - no photos. It's a pity because the Dales looked beautiful today, but my phone was buried at the bottom of my bag and I didn't want to keep stopping to take it out for snaps.)


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## Pale Rider (9 Apr 2017)

Good job, Colin.

I was doing 60 mostly flat miles around Northallerton in north Yorkshire - you'd have been bored to tears, with the exception of the climb up through the village of Borrowby.

Jolly hot in the middle of the day, and a bit windy later on.

Did Bill turn out for your ride?

He had no excuse with the weather.


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## ColinJ (9 Apr 2017)

Pale Rider said:


> Good job, Colin.
> 
> I was doing 60 mostly flat miles around Northallerton in north Yorkshire - you'd have been bored to tears, with the exception of the climb up through the village of Borrowby.
> 
> ...


Bill DID turn out but I knew that he would go at his own pace. I saw him for 5 minutes before the start but that was it. I'll find out tomorrow how long it took him. I would guess about 6 hrs 15 mins. I know he enjoys the post-ride spread but there was no sign of him when I got back.

Just after Appletreewick I was overtaken on a small climb by a man on an e-bike that looked very similar to your new one. I saw him again later on sitting at the side of the road, enjoying a snack and the fine view.


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## Pale Rider (9 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> Bill DID turn out but I knew that he would go at his own pace. I saw him for 5 minutes before the start but that was it. I'll find out tomorrow how long it took him. I would guess about 6 hrs 15 mins. I know he enjoys the post-ride spread but there was no sign of him when I got back.
> 
> Just after Appletreewick I was overtaken on a small climb by a man on an e-bike that looked very similar to your new one. I saw him again later on sitting at the side of the road, enjoying a snack and the fine view.



Mmm, nearly an hour faster than you - he can certainly pull on when he needs to.

I don't know if the guy you saw on the ebike was doing the ride, but there was some talk of Audax UK introducing an ebike classification.

No point in me looking further into it because, fortunately, I already have enough group/organised riding opportunities to keep me occupied.


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## Littgull (9 Apr 2017)

That's another good day out on the bike, Colin. Glad the weather was so amenable though, as you say, the wind did pick up later on.


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## ColinJ (9 Apr 2017)

Littgull said:


> That's another good day out on the bike, Colin. Glad the weather was so amenable though, as you say, the wind did pick up later on.


You were sensible not to risk re-injuring your back. I had a few minor twinges in my back and neck before I set off and the ride aggravated them; nothing serious, but they did limit what I could do. I think you would have suffered!


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## zacklaws (10 Apr 2017)

The problem with my terminal problem with serious dehydration and passing blood in my urine was resolved when I got home, breaking the news to her indoors and I may be seriously ill was answered by, "Don't forget you had beetroot for tea yesterday", which suddenly explained it all. Oddly enough, I did find it strange that I had far too much life in the body to climb up from Keighley and then up Cock Hill to be as dehydrated as I thought I was and a piece of carrot cake and can of coke would not have made that much difference to the body.

Try rotating your bars upwards very slightly Colin and it may alleviate your back problem. I had the same issues last year which just started happening for no reason and just rotating the bars ever so slightly solved the problem. Make a small pencil mark at the edge of the stem where it clamps to the bars so you have a reference point to see how far you have rotated it or if you need to go back to where it was. It may only need a couple of milimetres at that point, but it will be a lot more near the shifters. I did wonder if over time, with all the weight that gets applied to the bars etc especcially when standing to pedal, and only 5 newtons torque holding them, that over time they slowly move downwards which caused my issue.


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## ColinJ (10 Apr 2017)

zacklaws said:


> The problem with my terminal problem with serious dehydration and passing blood in my urine was resolved when I got home, breaking the news to her indoors and I may be seriously ill was answered by, "Don't forget you had beetroot for tea yesterday", which suddenly explained it all. Oddly enough, I did find it strange that I had far too much life in the body to climb up from Keighley and then up Cock Hill to be as dehydrated as I thought I was and a piece of carrot cake and can of coke would not have made that much difference to the body.


Ha ha - that's good!

[*FAECAL ALERT - Don't read the rest of this paragraph if you are fussy about poo talk!*] That reminds me of a time when I was called to the bathroom by my girlfriend who was in a right panic. She told me that she thought that she had developed bowel cancer or some other serious illness because there were huge blood clots in her poo. I tried reassuring her that it was not that, but she wouldn't listen. She absolutely insisted that I stare at the offending faeces with her. I started howling with laughter, which did not impress her at all. I told her that I would have been much more concerned if I hadn't produced identical 'blood clots' (a.k.a. large chunks of partially-digested beetroot from the night before's salad) just an hour earlier ... 



zacklaws said:


> Try rotating your bars upwards very slightly Colin and it may alleviate your back problem. I had the same issues last year which just started happening for no reason and just rotating the bars ever so slightly solved the problem. Make a small pencil mark at the edge of the stem where it clamps to the bars so you have a reference point to see how far you have rotated it or if you need to go back to where it was. It may only need a couple of milimetres at that point, but it will be a lot more near the shifters. I did wonder if over time, with all the weight that gets applied to the bars etc especcially when standing to pedal, and only 5 newtons torque holding them, that over time they slowly move downwards which caused my issue.


The problem yesterday was that I already had an aching back and a sore neck before I got on the bike. I think I must have fallen asleep in an awkward position.

I actually lowered my bars and put a longer stem on last year because I had discovered that the shorter, higher position was _causing_ me backache! I had always thought that I needed a higher position but I borrowed a bike with a longer, lower position and it had felt more comfortable. I think it is because I have a long torso. My 6' 1" height comes more from that than my legs which are only about a 32" inseam.

Still, I might experiment with a minor change to the bar setup though I already have the shifters pretty high up.

One thing that I changed today was the saddle position. I moved it forward about 5 mm because yesterday I felt that I was not sitting on the widest part of the saddle. As a result it was giving me a bit of a wedgie as I was riding. My bum felt better when I slid back on the saddle but then I felt overstretched to the bars. I developed a slight saddle sore on the ride and that was affecting how I sat on the bike and that in turn was aggravating my back.

I spoke to my pal Bill today. He got round an hour quicker than me (6 hrs 5 mins), but at least he had the decency to admit to being knackered when he finished. I took about 15 mins more stops than him so that fits in with my guess that he could do the ride about 45 minutes quicker than me. I met him about 20 years ago and there have only been about 2 years in that time when I have been as fit as him.


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