OP
OP
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Aargh, @Littgull - what a pity about your ruined family day out yesterday! 
As for our 'unethically flat' forum ride ...
I set off from Todmorden about 10 minutes after my planned departure time because my Etrex GPS was playing silly buggers and wouldn't lock onto the satellite signals. In the end I gave up on it because I know the way to Clitheroe and wouldn't need it until I got there.
I'd only got about 1 km up the road when I spotted @Littgull and (I think) @nickAKA riding the other way. Brian shouted something about meeting me in Clitheroe as planned so I (correctly) assumed that he had just been getting some extra distance in before his train so he would have less to do later in the day for his imperial century. I couldn't understand where Nick had come from though...
There was a bit of a headwind on the way out so I actually only got to Clitheroe a few minutes before the train. I managed to get the GPS working and met Littgull and @colly as they disembarked.
We set off and did a nice little ride (including views of cute free-range piglets!) over to Rathmell where we were a little late meeting @Sea of vapours. We then headed off to our next meeting point, Ye Olde Naked Man cafe in Settle. My pals Carrie and Kevin met us there, and all seemed well, but things went VERY pear-shaped, VERY quickly...!
Carrie loves cycling and gives her bikes a good thrashing year round. The thing is though - she is really not into bike maintenance. She used to have a favourite local bike shop which did that work for her, but it has now closed down. As a result the bikes are getting worn out and in desperate need of TLC. Her plan on Saturday was to cycle over to Settle (on a knackered bike...) and get it seen to before we all set off from there. She had them put on a new chain and thought the bike was good to go. It wasn't!
There was a short, steep ramp to tackle just round the corner from the bike shop. Carrie was just ahead of me and went to make her usual rapid uphill acceleration when there was a loud CRACK which I instantly recognised as a chain slipping. She came to an abrupt stop and toppled sideways onto the leg which she had shattered a couple of years ago! I feared for the worst, but fortunately she had got away with minor scrapes.
So it was back to the bike shop with the bike... Carrie wanted me to accompany her because she wasn't confident in explaining what had happened. We saw the mechanic and I told him that the new chain had slipped, which to my mind meant that the cassette and/or chainrings had been badly worn by the old knackered chain and needed replacing too. He wasn't convinced, but I told him that I know the sound that a chain slipping under pressure makes. I locked both the brakes on and got him to press down hard on the leading pedal... CRACK - the chain slipped!
The mechanic then fitted a new cassette. I wasn't entirely sure that the chainrings were okay but I didn't have my specs with me so I couldn't really see them clearly.
Off we all went, but exactly the same damn thing happened - CRACK - another heavy fall onto the reconstructed leg!
Back to the bike shop. Carrie was by now very shaken and upset. I told the mechanic that it must be the rings, unless the freehub had suddenly developed a serious fault, and that seemed much less likely. He was still saying that he thought the rings were okay when a more experienced mechanic appeared and declared that the rings WERE worn after all! We asked that they be replaced too but they said that they didn't have any in stock...
Game over! The bike was not safe to ride and couldn't be fixed so Carrie's ride was finished. There is a railway station in Settle, and we agreed that she would have to catch the train home while the rest of us got on with the ride. We were already running well over an hour late, and there was nothing more that we could do. We offered our commiserations and reluctantly said goodbye...
We cycled to Langcliffe, and tackled the horribly steep climb of Langcliffe Scar. It seemed to go on forever but eventually we crested the worst part of it and wound our way up towards... what, er, appeared to be a tiny blonde in cycling gear with a very pink face! As we got closer I realised that it was Carrie, and she was holding her phone up and taking photos of us approaching. (The phone has a pink case.) WTF - how did she get up there!!!!! Then I spotted the bike shop mechanic driving back down towards us and surmised what had happened. I gave him a thumbs-up for rescuing the damsel in distress, and we rode up to Carrie to hear the story...
She told us that the whole episode had upset her so much that she had gone "into meltdown" after we left. The young woman serving in the bike shop cafe had sat her down and plied her with free coffee and cake, while the mechanics quickly worked out a solution to the lack of chainrings in stock. They removed 2 rings from a new bike in the showroom and fitted them for her - free, gratis, and for nothing! They asked her which direction we were heading in and gave her and her bike a lift to the top of the hill.
I think the young mechanic won't make the worn cassette/rings mistake again. I'd like to say a BIG THANKS to the staff at 3 Peaks Cycles in Settle for rectifying the mistakes and going out of their way to save Carrie from a miserable end to her day out!
Here are pictures Carrie took of us approaching...
(Sea of Vapours in pink, and Kevin.)
(Colly ahead, ColinJ and Littgull behind)
The road from there past Malham Tarn and over to Arncliffe is magnificent, but it includes more ups and downs, including another really hard climb. Finally there is a fast descent to Arncliffe.
We made our way round to our cafe stop in Burnsall. I'm not sure how colly forgot that we were going to Burnsall, but he did after stopping behind us somewhere to take photos. To get to Burnsall from the rest of our route involved a short diversion which colly did not take. We had ordered at the cafe when we realised that colly was not with us and at that moment a text came in from him saying that he had ended up ahead of us. He always intended to leave us after the cafe stop to ride home to Leeds, but it meant that we didn't get to say goodbye to him, which was a pity.
Time was getting on. We were not riding quickly and had lost a lot of time in Settle so SoV was getting a bit worried that he would not get back in daylight, and he did not have lights. (If you look at one of the photos below, you can see him looking at his watch and calculating what average speed he would have to do to beat sunset!)
We then had to climb over Halton Moor to Skipton. Kevin described it as a "long drag" but I remembered it as being a real slog. Carrie and Kevin went on ahead, and took photos of us following them. I think they show what happened next ...
Sea of Vapours and Littgull show how to climb Halton Moor...
"Ooh, this is fun!"
ColinJ shows how NOT to climb Halton Moor ...
Littgull, Sea of Vapours and Kevin enjoy a chat after gentle climb of Halton Moor...
Hang on a minute while Carrie walks round to take the picture from another angle ...
ColinJ fights for life after nightmare ascent of Halton Moor!
I had got halfway up the climb when I realised that I was overheating. I'd got a long-sleeved base layer on, plus a gilet, those funny compression sleeves on my legs (for my gammy swollen left leg, and an unnecessary matching one for my ungammy, unswollen right leg). I was also feeling thirsty and that my blood sugar was getting low. I.e. I 3/4 bonked on the climb. I ended up flat on my back for about 5 minutes, and never felt 100% again for the rest of the ride.
Onwards ...
We rode through Skipton and then through Cononley to Glusburn. I had completely overlooked the amount of climbing in that section and was getting more tired by the minute. Carrie and Kevin left us at Glusburn and we had to climb over the moor before dropping down into Lothersdale. We then had to climb out of that valley before a rapid descent to Earby.
Littgull and I had long lost any chance of making our 19:10 train in Clitheroe and I was concerned that we would now miss the 20:25 too. I was also worried about the fact that we would have to do another climb from Barnoldswick over to Downham. Then Littgull made a suggestion, which I immediately accepted - get on the Leeds-Liverpool canal towpath at 'Barlick' and follow that to Burnley, where we could pick up the train we would have eventually got on at Blackburn if we had stuck to 'Plan A'.
We said goodbye to SoV and got on the towpath. It was an easy ride, but it did seem to take a long time and we got to Burnley just after one train had gone, which meant nearly an hour's wait. It actually only takes an hour to cycle back to Todmorden from that station but I had already covered more than my 161 km (100 mile) target and really didn't fancy adding 15% to that so we waited and eventually caught the next train.
It was a good day out and it was nice to see everyone again, but I was painfully reminded of several things:
As for our 'unethically flat' forum ride ...
I set off from Todmorden about 10 minutes after my planned departure time because my Etrex GPS was playing silly buggers and wouldn't lock onto the satellite signals. In the end I gave up on it because I know the way to Clitheroe and wouldn't need it until I got there.
I'd only got about 1 km up the road when I spotted @Littgull and (I think) @nickAKA riding the other way. Brian shouted something about meeting me in Clitheroe as planned so I (correctly) assumed that he had just been getting some extra distance in before his train so he would have less to do later in the day for his imperial century. I couldn't understand where Nick had come from though...
There was a bit of a headwind on the way out so I actually only got to Clitheroe a few minutes before the train. I managed to get the GPS working and met Littgull and @colly as they disembarked.
We set off and did a nice little ride (including views of cute free-range piglets!) over to Rathmell where we were a little late meeting @Sea of vapours. We then headed off to our next meeting point, Ye Olde Naked Man cafe in Settle. My pals Carrie and Kevin met us there, and all seemed well, but things went VERY pear-shaped, VERY quickly...!
Carrie loves cycling and gives her bikes a good thrashing year round. The thing is though - she is really not into bike maintenance. She used to have a favourite local bike shop which did that work for her, but it has now closed down. As a result the bikes are getting worn out and in desperate need of TLC. Her plan on Saturday was to cycle over to Settle (on a knackered bike...
) and get it seen to before we all set off from there. She had them put on a new chain and thought the bike was good to go. It wasn't!There was a short, steep ramp to tackle just round the corner from the bike shop. Carrie was just ahead of me and went to make her usual rapid uphill acceleration when there was a loud CRACK which I instantly recognised as a chain slipping. She came to an abrupt stop and toppled sideways onto the leg which she had shattered a couple of years ago! I feared for the worst, but fortunately she had got away with minor scrapes.
So it was back to the bike shop with the bike... Carrie wanted me to accompany her because she wasn't confident in explaining what had happened. We saw the mechanic and I told him that the new chain had slipped, which to my mind meant that the cassette and/or chainrings had been badly worn by the old knackered chain and needed replacing too. He wasn't convinced, but I told him that I know the sound that a chain slipping under pressure makes. I locked both the brakes on and got him to press down hard on the leading pedal... CRACK - the chain slipped!
The mechanic then fitted a new cassette. I wasn't entirely sure that the chainrings were okay but I didn't have my specs with me so I couldn't really see them clearly.
Off we all went, but exactly the same damn thing happened - CRACK - another heavy fall onto the reconstructed leg!
Back to the bike shop. Carrie was by now very shaken and upset. I told the mechanic that it must be the rings, unless the freehub had suddenly developed a serious fault, and that seemed much less likely. He was still saying that he thought the rings were okay when a more experienced mechanic appeared and declared that the rings WERE worn after all! We asked that they be replaced too but they said that they didn't have any in stock...
Game over! The bike was not safe to ride and couldn't be fixed so Carrie's ride was finished. There is a railway station in Settle, and we agreed that she would have to catch the train home while the rest of us got on with the ride. We were already running well over an hour late, and there was nothing more that we could do. We offered our commiserations and reluctantly said goodbye...
We cycled to Langcliffe, and tackled the horribly steep climb of Langcliffe Scar. It seemed to go on forever but eventually we crested the worst part of it and wound our way up towards... what, er, appeared to be a tiny blonde in cycling gear with a very pink face! As we got closer I realised that it was Carrie, and she was holding her phone up and taking photos of us approaching. (The phone has a pink case.) WTF - how did she get up there!!!!! Then I spotted the bike shop mechanic driving back down towards us and surmised what had happened. I gave him a thumbs-up for rescuing the damsel in distress, and we rode up to Carrie to hear the story...
She told us that the whole episode had upset her so much that she had gone "into meltdown" after we left. The young woman serving in the bike shop cafe had sat her down and plied her with free coffee and cake, while the mechanics quickly worked out a solution to the lack of chainrings in stock. They removed 2 rings from a new bike in the showroom and fitted them for her - free, gratis, and for nothing! They asked her which direction we were heading in and gave her and her bike a lift to the top of the hill.
I think the young mechanic won't make the worn cassette/rings mistake again. I'd like to say a BIG THANKS to the staff at 3 Peaks Cycles in Settle for rectifying the mistakes and going out of their way to save Carrie from a miserable end to her day out!
Here are pictures Carrie took of us approaching...
(Sea of Vapours in pink, and Kevin.)
(Colly ahead, ColinJ and Littgull behind)
The road from there past Malham Tarn and over to Arncliffe is magnificent, but it includes more ups and downs, including another really hard climb. Finally there is a fast descent to Arncliffe.
We made our way round to our cafe stop in Burnsall. I'm not sure how colly forgot that we were going to Burnsall, but he did after stopping behind us somewhere to take photos. To get to Burnsall from the rest of our route involved a short diversion which colly did not take. We had ordered at the cafe when we realised that colly was not with us and at that moment a text came in from him saying that he had ended up ahead of us. He always intended to leave us after the cafe stop to ride home to Leeds, but it meant that we didn't get to say goodbye to him, which was a pity.
Time was getting on. We were not riding quickly and had lost a lot of time in Settle so SoV was getting a bit worried that he would not get back in daylight, and he did not have lights. (If you look at one of the photos below, you can see him looking at his watch and calculating what average speed he would have to do to beat sunset!)
We then had to climb over Halton Moor to Skipton. Kevin described it as a "long drag" but I remembered it as being a real slog. Carrie and Kevin went on ahead, and took photos of us following them. I think they show what happened next ...
Sea of Vapours and Littgull show how to climb Halton Moor...
"Ooh, this is fun!"
ColinJ shows how NOT to climb Halton Moor ...
Littgull, Sea of Vapours and Kevin enjoy a chat after gentle climb of Halton Moor...
Hang on a minute while Carrie walks round to take the picture from another angle ...
ColinJ fights for life after nightmare ascent of Halton Moor!
I had got halfway up the climb when I realised that I was overheating. I'd got a long-sleeved base layer on, plus a gilet, those funny compression sleeves on my legs (for my gammy swollen left leg, and an unnecessary matching one for my ungammy, unswollen right leg). I was also feeling thirsty and that my blood sugar was getting low. I.e. I 3/4 bonked on the climb. I ended up flat on my back for about 5 minutes, and never felt 100% again for the rest of the ride.
Onwards ...
We rode through Skipton and then through Cononley to Glusburn. I had completely overlooked the amount of climbing in that section and was getting more tired by the minute. Carrie and Kevin left us at Glusburn and we had to climb over the moor before dropping down into Lothersdale. We then had to climb out of that valley before a rapid descent to Earby.
Littgull and I had long lost any chance of making our 19:10 train in Clitheroe and I was concerned that we would now miss the 20:25 too. I was also worried about the fact that we would have to do another climb from Barnoldswick over to Downham. Then Littgull made a suggestion, which I immediately accepted - get on the Leeds-Liverpool canal towpath at 'Barlick' and follow that to Burnley, where we could pick up the train we would have eventually got on at Blackburn if we had stuck to 'Plan A'.
We said goodbye to SoV and got on the towpath. It was an easy ride, but it did seem to take a long time and we got to Burnley just after one train had gone, which meant nearly an hour's wait. It actually only takes an hour to cycle back to Todmorden from that station but I had already covered more than my 161 km (100 mile) target and really didn't fancy adding 15% to that so we waited and eventually caught the next train.
It was a good day out and it was nice to see everyone again, but I was painfully reminded of several things:
- Climbing is much harder when you put an extra 6 or 7 kgs on
- 'Unethically flat' doesn't mean 'flat', or 'not stupidly steep'!
- A few long rides aren't as good for fitness as lots of shorter ones
- Don't overdress on warm days
- Make sure to eat and drink enough
Last edited:
. Mind you, mine are only very marginally better but at least I have long cottoned on to taking my pics in landscape. Even if a lot of the pics I take look like it's a very misty day due to the phone being screen being affected by my body sweat through my now very old and delaminated gilet.