England : Lancashire Scenic ride - Cross o' Greet, Wray, Bowland Knotts - Sat, 6th August?

[ColinJ]

Another date for the diaries of lovers of hilly rides in NW England ... This is a rerun of the ride I did last year with @Littgull. He is too busy to do the ride this time, but I'm sure that he will spot the thread and drop in to tell you good the route is!

I postponed the ride from last weekend after dental surgery and I'm now hoping to do the ride on Saturday, 6th August. (I will put it back by another week if conditions let us down this weekend.)

For details, see last year's thread HERE. It will be exactly the same route so I won't bother duplicating the information.

As you can see, it is a fairly demanding route so you would need to be happy going over some big climbs and descents. We will take our time though so (within reason) don't worry about speed. I'm happy as long as I can get back with plenty of daylight to spare.

Meet at Spring Wood car park at 09:45, and aim to set off at 10:00.

Express your interest below. You don't need to commit yourself to the ride at this point, but it would be nice to see how much interest there is.

Cheers,
ColinJ

 

[Littgull]

Another date for the diaries of lovers of hilly rides in NW England ... This is a rerun of the ride I did last year with @Littgull. He is too busy to do the ride this time, but I'm sure that he will spot the thread and drop in to tell you good the route is!

I'm hoping to do the ride on Saturday, 30th July but will keep the option of doing it on Sun 31st instead if the weather is more favourable, or even putting it back by a week if conditions are foul at the end of July.

For details, see last year's thread HERE. I will copy details to this thread later.

As you can see, it is a fairly demanding route so you would need to be happy going over some big climbs and descents. We will take our time though so (within reason) don't worry about speed. I'm happy as long as I can get back with plenty of daylight to spare.

I am hoping to get a lift to the start at Spring Wood near Whalley. If I can't then I will ride the extra road sections from/back to Todmorden and you could opt to join me for those, or I could meet you at Spring Wood. The main loop is just over 100 kms. The extended loop would be well over 100 miles.

Express your interest below. You don't need to commit yourself to the ride at this point, but it would be nice to see how much interest there is.

Cheers,
ColinJ

Just back home after being away for a few days. As @ColinJ says I am unfortunately unable to make this ride as July and August weekends are always crammed full of family commitments. But I can massively recommend this ride and route. Last year it was just Colin and me and we rode it a couple of months earlier right at the end of May. It is a stunning route, very scenic and on very quiet roads ( as is the norm for Colin's rides). I know he will be disappointed that at there have been 50 views of the thread so far but no one as yet has declared they are 'in'. It really is a fantastic route this one and I only wish I had that weekend free but I will be 200 miles away on the day of the ride.

 

[rusty bearing]

Should be free Colin

 

[ColinJ]

Should be free Colin

Yay!

I had decided that I was not going to post in this thread again unless someone showed some interest.

I am hoping that some of my non-CycleChat cycling pals may be interested but they do not yet know if they will be free.

I'll update the first post in the next couple of days.

 

[Sea of vapours]

I am toying with heading over Bowland Knotts and meeting you at Slaidburn on the way out, then peeling off left to Wigglesworth after the Bowland Knotts second crossing. Only toying as I'm not sure I want to do Bowland Knotts twice in one day, plus I may have another committment on that day. So call it 25% chance.

 

[ColinJ]

I am toying with heading over Bowland Knotts and meeting you at Slaidburn on the way out, then peeling off left to Wigglesworth after the Bowland Knotts second crossing. Only toying as I'm not sure I want to do Bowland Knotts twice in one day, plus I may have another committment on that day. So call it 25% chance.

Bowland Knotts twice in one day ... Hmm, I would probably take the longer, easier route via Rathmell and Wigglesworth!

I hope that you can make it.

 

[Sea of vapours]

I have a more cunning plan: go over the Cross of Greet so that I can just keep rolling 'til I meet you. Join you to backtrack over the Cross, do Bowland Knotts, then back via Wigglesworth. Still 25% though.

 

[ColinJ]

That makes more sense!

We should get to Slaidburn at 11:30-ish and Cross o' Greet by 12:30-ish so you could base your ride out on that There probably won't be a phone signal though so we might not be able to report any problems on the way towards each other.

 

[rusty bearing]

The usual 10 a.m start is it? Weathers looking good, not too hot and gentle westerly winds.

 

[Sea of vapours]

I'm afraid I definitely can't make this. Sorry about that.

 

[ColinJ]

The usual 10 a.m start is it? Weathers looking good, not too hot and gentle westerly winds.

Sorry, rusty ... I am going to have to postpone the ride due to dental issues!

I had a rotten wisdom tooth extracted last week plus another (thankfully smaller) tooth. I stayed off the bike for 5 days to give the wounds a chance to heal. The holes in the gums are now starting to close up and they have stopped bleeding so I thought I'd nip out on the bike this afternoon and see how I felt ...

I was okay for 8 or 9 miles but then the gums started to ache so I turned round and came home. They were starting to throb by the time I got back. I therefore think that tackling a hard ride this weekend is not a good idea. I am going to give myself at least another week before doing any rides longer than about 20 miles.

Is there a Saturday in August that you could manage? (Hopefully) My gums should be ok by 6th August. I am currently free for all the Saturdays in August. I have rides planned for September so I would like to do the Wray ride before then. With luck we might get a better turnout for another date as well?

Which reminds me - I must tell my non-CC pals that I am postponing the ride - several said that they might do it.

When we have a new date, I will make an effort to get more riders interested!

 

[Sea of vapours]

That all sounds pretty nasty, Colin. Good luck with an accelerated recovery.

On the upside, I can definitely make the 6th August, should you select that date. (Note - again, not meeting you at the beginning but somewhere in the Slaidburn area.)

 

[ColinJ]

I made the mistake of searching for info on the subject and found a few horror stories of patients having clotty scar tissue breaking open under exertion ... My gums ARE getting better, but I don't want to risk getting halfway round and having such problems!

 

[rusty bearing]

You have my sympathies Colin, especially with wisdom teeth!
It's a shame but I'm already committed for August weekends then of course it's off to sunny France till mid September. I'll catch up with you when we're back.

 

[ColinJ]

Okay - have fun, and I will see you later!