Manchester - Llandudno: Saturday May 13

[si_c]

I don't think so and something to aim for. Look at the strava times for that hill and you'll see I'm dead last. I have always been a slow climber, even when I was younger, fitter and lighter, I was still slow. I don't train to get faster on hills, I just train to have enough endurance to keep going and to recover after the effort. After 30 odd years of cycling I know precisely what i can and can't do and it's why I have a triple. I don't use it very often but Saturday was one of those days. Just kick it into a comfortable gear, find a rhythm and wind your way up. It's 30 minutes of effort and there's nothing steeper than that last kicker into Llandudno or up to the chippy, so if you can do that, you can do the climb you just need to train for sustaining the effort and the hills around West Kirby and Thurstaston would do for practise, they're what I use. Although I didn't this time. I was thinking I should've have done as I wound my way up.

I have a route that I was using last year on my way home from work, which included some fairly steep, albeit short climbs in the Birkenhead/New Brighton area, so you don't even have to travel to the West Kirby area to get to decent climbs, in fact I'd argue that these are at least as hard as any there.

@mike3121 all the climbs below are a bit hard and a couple of them are absolute leg burners that will hurt. If you can get up them all then you can do the hilly route. The nice thing about some of them being relatively close to each other is that you can really stretch yourself, and most of them have bail out points so you can stop if it's too hard.

Atherton Street in New Brighton (up past the station) - this is a fairly steady climb, averaging about 7% but the bit after the second junction is around 12%.
Broadheath Avenue (bidston hill) - Hard to actually get onto (from Beechwood Drive) but it's a wall, about 15% or so for the last half.
Beryl Road - I usually do this after Broadheath, roll down the hill to Upton, then up Beryl Road, it's not particularly steep, but it is steady and goes on for a little bit.
Boundary Road - Also on Bidston Hill, so you can join it up with Beryl Road and Broadheath for funzies.
Argyle St South, Birkenhead - Follow the road to the top and take the last left, and then follow the curve around to the top. It's fun.
Holt Hill - Any of the roads up to the top of Holt Hill off the Old Chester Road - most of them are pretty steep especially at the start, so be in the right gear or fall off.

I've got quite a few more that I've found, but these are the ones I enjoy and keep doing. Although the Wirral is pretty flat, there are plenty of short sharp ramps that you can do to get used to doing hills, for example if you can get all of these you can do the hilly route without worry.

 

[ColinJ]

I do have one question which I can't quite figure out. Which forum member was it riding with @ColinJ along the prom who caught up me and my son and rode with us until Rhos On Sea. Where I had to stop and yank the whet wipe out my derailleur?

It was @tommaguzzi. I had the same problem with so many new faces; in fact, I had to ask who you were! I often struggle to remember names/faces until I have met people several times.

I didn't know about the jammed derailleur. I attacked that final climb to see if I could get up it on the s/s and the rest of you were out of sight so I assumed you were just twiddling up at a more sensible speed. I conked out about 2/3 of the way up and walked the rest of the way.

I might hang a name tag below the top tube on my bike for the next big forum ride. My forum rides tend only to attract 1 (just me!) to (say) 5 or 6 riders so identifying each other is not so difficult.

I got a magnificent turnout of about 50 riders on my post-DVT/PE comeback ride and I still don't have a clue who half of them were!

 

[Crackle]

It was @tommaguzzi. I had the same problem with so many new faces; in fact, I had to ask who you were! I often struggle to remember names/faces until I have met people several times.

Ah, I thought it was but there was an element of doubt. And yes, you never think about introducing yourself on these things unless the moment comes up.

 

[ColinJ]

Ah, I thought it was but there was an element of doubt. And yes, you never think about introducing yourself on these things unless the moment comes up.

I have had the embarrassment of a rider coming alongside me and chatting as if we were old pals but me not remembering having met them before. On one such occasion it was because he had changed his forum name from the year before when I had actually chatted with him for at least 15 miles of riding ... I did recognise his bike though!

 

[mike3121]

@si_c @Crackle

Thanks for the feedback guys, I will try to include some of these hills on my future rides instead of my usual going around them. I will also be doing the ride to park gate more often, the climb back from there to Thornton Hough is a decent one. Also the route I take to Thornton Hough via Port Sunlight and Clatterbridge is decent to. I also often ride there via New Brighton Landican and Brimstage. So you are both correct there are plenty of hills to ride on the Wirral if you look for them, I just need to do them more often. When I do my coastal rides to West Kirby I will be going that little bit further and include the hill past the concourse, maybe popping into the white lion on the way back down.

 

[mike3121]

Where I had to stop and yank the whet wipe out my derailleur?

is that a euphemism?

 

[Crackle]

is that a euphemism?

Certainly not! No one would willingly choose Rhos on Sea for such a euphemism.

I did eye it suspiciously and briefly wonder what it might have been used for before it attached itself to my gears.

 

[tommaguzzi]

So now i know who Crackle is!
thank you for the bottle of water I was getting desparate and am now not sure if thanked you at the time while i was chugging it down. i didnt ride off straight afterwards, i was hunting for a shop to buy more and when i returned you lot had already set off. it took ages to catch up.

 

[Crackle]

So now i know who Crackle is!
thank you for the bottle of water I was getting desparate and am now not sure if thanked you at the time while i was chugging it down. i didnt ride off straight afterwards, i was hunting for a shop to buy more and when i returned you lot had already set off. it took ages to catch up.

I'm sure you did. The trouble is I have no memory of giving you the water, as I spent a few minutes looking for it when I got to the chippy. I must have been having a slightly frazzled moment. It all came back to me later though.

 

[tommaguzzi]

i was wondering why i was not recorded on the nicky's strava segment. i have just had a look and it is probably because i rode back down the first part looking for Moodyman and so by climbing it twice i went off course! ah well maybe next year by then i will be over 60 and will quaify for the veterans anyway.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't 'do' Strava but you've got me curious now ... I'll look up where that segment is and download the tracklog from my GPS and see what I did on my ride/walk up the hill. I did stop in a couple of places to wait for others so my time was probably way over 30 minutes ...

 

[mike3121]

i was wondering why i was not recorded on the nicky's strava segment. i have just had a look and it is probably because i rode back down the first part looking for Moodyman and so by climbing it twice i went off course! ah well maybe next year by then i will be over 60 and will quaify for the veterans anyway.

you could go back and do it again next weekend

 

[ColinJ]

It looks like I stopped for a total of about 20 minutes at 3 places on the climb. I took 55 minutes including those stops so about 35 minutes of riding/walking. Oh well, I could have taken a few minutes off that time if I had done it with sensible gears and just kept going. It would still have been over 30 minutes though. I reckon I could maybe do 27-28 minutes if I lost my surplus fat and got a bit more serious. Maybe next year, eh?

PS To whoever it was that I was talking to about the battery life of the Garmin Edge 500 ... Mine packed up back in Manchester so that pretty much fits in with the claimed 12 hour battery life from a full charge. I don't know how you manage to get 24+ hours from yours!

 

[wanda2010]

After all those reports I've nothing much to add except my great idea of training it after Eureka to get to the chippy before it closed was spot on! Did not miss the delights of Rhyl etc and that final bastard hill. Nope. No regrets whatsoever . Despite my shortened ride, my legs ached big time on the Sunday morning, so 'leaping' out of bed became more of a "oh sweet Lord, why do I do this to myself?" as I slowly, very slowly walked around getting ready for breakfast.

I never did get to wander around Llandudno after getting to the chippy, as I was quite comfortable munching the best scampi and chips I've had in a long time and nattering with Mrs Doughnut. I have an even more cunning plan for next year, which may involve no cycling and actually walking around the town before chips and a natter with Mrs Doughnut We will see.

Well done @nickyboy for organising. Mrs Doughnut for taking our bags and @theclaud for sterling navigation work
and @MossCommuter for getting the table in that pub

Back in dirty London, my pollution-related hayfever took off again and I've been sneezing like a champ. Joy See yous on the next ride

 

[DiddlyDodds]

It would still have been over 30 minutes though. I reckon I could maybe do 27-28 minutes if I lost my surplus fat and got a bit more serious. Maybe next year, eh?

I think your underestimation your self there Colin
I did a time of just under 25 mins, but that may have had something to do with the way i did the first half , going off up that first hill after Straas with the same optimism and belief my dog has when chasing birds in a field , with all the will in the world she aint getting anywhere near those birds and in the same way i was only hanging on to that wheel for a couple of hundred yards, only for Nickboy to saunter past saying "come on we can catch him" it was not happening and with no refuelling pie shops in view it was a bridge to far, to be fair Straas had the good grace to sit at the top of the hill to give us a glimmer of hope for a good 2-3 seconds before it was all over again..
So as said , always next year