Sleep easy
@ColinJ, it was a fantastic day out on the bikes with
@Starchivore (Thomas). I must start by saying your gpx route was, as expected, flawless and a pleasure to follow. Many thanks for that from both of us. It made a huge contribution to our enjoyment.
Surviving the relentless challenging climbs proved to be the very least of our ‘worries’ compared to a massively scary incident that occurred barely 35 minutes into our ride. I’ll explain later.
Firstly, it was a delight to meet and ride with Thomas, a simply smashing young chap. We chatted away about all the things cyclists talk about – bikes, fitness, routes, diet and plenty of other interesting things too. Thomas is super fit, super slim and, all but by a few months, 40 years younger than me! That quickly became evident as his power and pace got him to the summits well before me but his patience and understanding were very much appreciated. As Colin mentioned in his opening post on the ride thread this is a very tough, ultra hilly route but also fabulously scenic and together with a day of perfect cycling weather (not too cold and not too hot with a light wind - much of which was a tail wind). This cocktail of positive factors made for a truly splendid experience. I never struggled up any of the climbs but by necessity adopted a very low gear and consequently a very slow pace. I was pleased my bad back didn’t give me any discomfort at all and that my recovery regime had done the trick.
We reached Willow Tree Café on the outskirts of Halifax (approx. 2/3rds way through the route) at about 3.20 pm and the hot food was ceased at 3 pm. But there were light bites still on offer and we settled for 2 toasted bagels with jam and a pot of tea. These were fine as we had taken Colin’s pre ride advice and brought/consumed sufficient food and drink with us to sustain our efforts until we reached the café. The service was friendly and quick and the adjacent garden centre toilets were very clean. A good recommend Colin, and I’d go there again. We took a few photos at the café which I’ll try and post later (or Sunday) but the ‘teccy’ know-how to do that is sometimes beyond me so don’t hold your breath. On such a ride of constant ups and downs it’s difficult to stop and take pictures of the scenic splendour as you don’t want to lose the momentum on the climbs and then relish getting stuck into the descents.
Whilst at the café, Thomas read a message on his phone to ring home. Unfortunately, his uncle had been taken ill suddenly and had been admitted to hospital. It was good that we had only the last third to ride as Thomas was naturally keen to visit his uncle. I hope he is now recovering and will be ok. Those last 20 odd miles seemed to fly by once we had climbed the long haul of Greetland Road.
Now to the scary incident I mentioned at the start. We had only been riding about 35 minutes or so. We had just turned up the Bacup Road and ridden a few hundred yards when the driver of this black car raced past us, sounding his horn in an absolute manic frenzy. He stopped just in front of us, shouted obscenities at us and accused us of damaging his car. This was not a measured verbal attack, he was absolutely demented in his rage! The totally weird thing was that neither of us had been anywhere near his car let alone touch it. Thomas told me afterwards that he had noticed a cracked wing mirror but that was nothing whatsoever to do with us. We hadn’t even passed him prior to him racing in front of us and starting his rant. At first, as I was a few yards in front of Thomas at the time (the only time in the whole ride ha ha) I went over to the passenger window in a futile attempt to tell the driver he was completely mistaken. But it instantly became apparent that this guy was totally beyond reason. He continued shouting obscenities and started walking towards us threatening to ‘do both of us in’ and ‘put us in his car boot!’ We tried to remain calm and both instinctively knew it was not worth arguing with this worryingly dangerous individual. He threw a heavy metal door hinge at us which mercifully missed us. Thomas later, very aptly described him as ‘unhinged’ – he sure was, in more ways than one. We quickly sidestepped him and rode on. It doesn’t end there! With that, he got back into his car, we could hear his engine rev up loudly, he put his foot down and raced past us again still shouting threats and obscenities. He then got out of his car some 50 yards up from us on the other side of the road, continued to make severe threats and shout obscenities. We stayed frozen to the spot. Meanwhile, as we had reached a point that was opposite some houses two local residents heard this commotion and also expressed horror at this nutter’s behaviour. Finally, he got back into his car still shouting obscenities and raced off in the direction of Bacup. We were extremely shook up. The two residents were very empathetic and asked if we wanted to come inside to ease our fears. We politely declined, thanked them for their understanding and offer and decided to wait where we were for a few minutes to see if he returned. Then perhaps, seek the residents refuge if he did. Fortunately, he did not return and we both knew it was only a relatively short distance until the route took us to the turning of Sourhall Road and the quiet refuge of the country lanes. Of course, with hindsight we wish we had taken his car registration number but actually you don’t think of that when preoccupied with your own safety. We both discussed the merits of a helmet camera but we have mixed views about that. I have never previously considered it but it does make you think. Needless to say for a few miles afterwards, we were nervously on the look out for solo drivers in black cars. Thankfully, there weren’t any.
It’s a measure of how good the day was after this frightening incident that in no way did it spoil our overall enjoyment.
Colin, you paint an amusing Dickensian-like picture of you in your mitts etc. But in all seriousness, I hope you start to feel better soon and be ready to get out on your bike shortly.
We will certainly do this ride again and you will love it! Will be good to see Thomas and other chums on Colin's forthcoming rides too.
