ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Did you mention the wind?Well that was an experience!! Hills, hills, wind, rain, hills, wind, cake.
[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MScd_CbuGqM[/media]
Oh, you did! Yes, it was windy. Very windy ...
Fortunately, it was a strong tailwind going up the 4.5 mile climb up the Keighley Road from Hebden Bridge at the start.
At times, we'd have ridiculously powerful gusts pushing us up the hill. During one of those, I became Alberto Contador for a moment. I didn't (allegedly?!) reach for the Clenbuterol. No, I launched a devastating attack which caught our peloton by surprise. Not even Andy Shleck could have responded to my blistering pace. Okay, he wasn't actually riding with us today, and if he had been, he'd have had the same tailwind shoving him up the hill, but hey, this is fantasy, right!
I've never had the thrill of riding up a hill at 25 mph before - fun, fun, fun!
Shaun was developing a quite worrying laugh as conditions got worse. We were cycling under some big old trees and the amount of wind noise through the branches was incredible. Shaun thought this was very exciting. I was just worried that about half a ton of wood was about to fall on our heads!
Potsy punctured just after I shot that little video clip. He started to fix it and Shaun looked to the west and pointed out that some unpleasant looking black clouds were heading our way. Yes, you've got it - after that we had rain being driven sideways at us at about 20 mph! It made the cycling very hard work.
Potsy started to flag a little towards the halfway point and we had a chat about what to do. We could have abandoned the scenic (hilly) route and taken to busy valley A-roads, but that would have been a great pity. Shaun lent him a jumper to keep him warm. I had doubts about us getting to the Coldwell cafe in time so I rang them. Sure enough, they are still on winter opening hours and would be shutting by the time we got there so we decided to go to the tea rooms at Wycoller instead just before we reached Trawden. We all had coffee, pie and peas, and finished with chocolate cake and hot custard, a delight that I've never tried before will definitely be having again!
All week I've felt the muscles in my legs growing in strength since last weekend's ride to Waddington. It's amazing how one ride and plenty of recovery time can make that much difference. I felt a lot better than I did last weekend.Colinj was much improved from last week, the trauma of Trawden just a memory now as he tackled the hills that I was having to walk up
Thanks for the company lads. There is no way I'd have gone out on my bike in the conditions today without you!
