Spring into the Dales

[ColinJ]

Blimey - @Steve H - that's a blast from the past! It seems like ages since he has turned out on a ride with me. I was beginning to wonder if @potsy has kidnapped him!

 

[busdennis]

Littgull has just let me know that he won't be joining us for this one because of other commitments.

@busdennis - if you come over in your van, do you think I could leave my bike in it at the end of the ride while we go to the mill for coffee and cake? (I always feel a bit anxious leaving my best bike unattended outside while I am upstairs at the mill.)

morning Colin (how do you do the @ hyperlink)
will be in the van but last year the only parking I could find was a few miles from the start, will bring a good lock that I will leave at the start incase I can't get parked any closer

 

[ColinJ]

morning Colin (how do you do the @ hyperlink)
will be in the van but last year the only parking I could find was a few miles from the start, will bring a good lock that I will leave at the start incase I can't get parked any closer

Just insert the @ symbol and start typing the member name without a space after the symbol. The forum software starts suggesting possible names after a few characters. In your case, I think 'bus' was enough to narrow it down to you and two others. There are quite a few Colins but I come high in the list so I think it looks at post count to suggest more prominent members before newbies. You can scroll down the list of suggestions and select the right one.

One place you can normally park which only locals know about is at the foot of the steep road to Horsehold. Drive past the side road to event HQ, and then immediate left after the Co-op, over the canal bridge, and then immediate right. There are usually several places you can park up there, but SITD regulars may have spotted that possibility and grabbed them.

 

[Kestevan]

I'm considering parking at the centre at Mythomroyd where the event started last year and riding into Hebden.
Not too far away, free and gives me chance to get my legs going before the initial climb up Oxenhope.

@ColinJ - I know the centre was flooded out, but do you happen to know if the carpark is open?

 

[zacklaws]

I've entered this again. I'll be starting at the back again as usual. Recognisable by my Light blue shirt with "Velo Club Beverley" on. If that is not visible because I am having to wear a wet proof jacket because Colin has now doomed us to get wet, then I have "CC" in fluroscent red on both sides of my helmet.

This year is going to be a struggle, finding it hard to ride and the slightest gradient uphill almost grinds me to a halt. Don't know why, is it the after effects of PBP and being burnt out still?

 

[ColinJ]

I'm considering parking at the centre at Mythomroyd where the event started last year and riding into Hebden.
Not too far away, free and gives me chance to get my legs going before the initial climb up Oxenhope.

@ColinJ - I know the centre was flooded out, but do you happen to know if the carpark is open?

I'm not sure. I THINK I saw cars in the other week but I would not swear to it. You should be able to park on the Halifax-bound side of the A646 near Hebden Bridge station at that time on a Sunday morning.

I've entered this again. I'll be starting at the back again as usual. Recognisable by my Light blue shirt with "Velo Club Beverley" on. If that is not visible because I am having to wear a wet proof jacket because Colin has now doomed us to get wet, then I have "CC" in fluroscent red on both sides of my helmet.

This year is going to be a struggle, finding it hard to ride and the slightest gradient uphill almost grinds me to a halt. Don't know why, is it the after effects of PBP and being burnt out still?

If you genuinely are going really slowly as opposed to 'slower than usual but quicker than most' then you would be welcome to come with us if you would like some company.

 

[zacklaws]

I'm definitley slower than usual and I'll tag along with you Colin. I also have a problem with my right knee, sorted it for last weekends club ride and never had a twinge but for this weekend, I have the dilemma of using SPD_l's which I have got sorted out, or change to my preference of SPD's for Audax's and all the walking about etc in checkpoints. If it stops raining at some point today, I'll give them a test out.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm definitley slower than usual and I'll tag along with you Colin. I also have a problem with my right knee, sorted it for last weekends club ride and never had a twinge but for this weekend, I have the dilemma of using SPD_l's which I have got sorted out, or change to my preference of SPD's for Audax's and all the walking about etc in checkpoints. If it stops raining at some point today, I'll give them a test out.

A 'like' for joining us, not for knee problems!

 

[ColinJ]

It looks like a cold start, but mild later. The Keighley Road climb will soon warm us up but the first few descents will feel very chilly.

My friend Carrie will not now be joining us because she is going off mountain biking with some of her mountain biking crowd. My other local cycling friend (Bill) will be doing SITD but is expecting a faster friend to turn up so I think they will leave me/us behind on the first climb and not be seen again.

So it looks like ...

• Kestevan
• ColinJ
• busdennis
• zacklaws
• And possibly my friend Bill plus a fastish local rider

See you at the back of the crowd at the start in the morning, 08:55-ish!

 

[zacklaws]

Setting off in a few minutes. Going to be a cold day on them decents.

 

[ColinJ]

It is dry in the valley, but there is a cold mist enveloping everything. It looks like one of those classic editions of SITD which starts off very chilly but gradually gets warmer further into the ride, with an exhausting headwind on the lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng climbs back up from Keighley and Oxenhope towards the end of the ride. The great thing about SITD though is that the last 7 km are downhill!

I'll mess about on here for another 20 minutes and then get ready and set off to Hebden Bridge at about 08:15.

 

[Kestevan]

Cracking ride, and given the time of year the weather couldn't have been better.

My legs can certainly tell they've done some climbing today.

 

[zacklaws]

Totally agree, been a brilliant day, physically I feel great, mentally I just want to go to sleep, maybe dehydration causing it as I did not drink much all day.

 

[busdennis]

great rides lads, don't want to wish the summer away but hope "season of mist" is as good

 

[zacklaws]

"Season of the Mists" Well, once your up the first hill, then you can laugh about it as the rest is easy,...........well that is until you hit the 20% hill in the latter stages, where I once came across a rider who snapped his chain on it, and found out at the finish when he rolled in, he snapped his chain twice more on it, then you can laugh at that one too all the way back to the finish. Apart for that and a few other hills, it is an excellent ride. I keep coming back every year and I'm not a hill climber. Oh and just remembered did I mention the lovely climb up, "Old man of Pendle" or "Nick of Pendle" or something like that, that one always makes me think that there must be easier things in life to do on a Sunday.

In fact it is a chain snapping ride, a colleague from my club once snapped his chain on one of the minor climbs, that is if any of the climbs can be justified as being called "minor climb".

If you start carbo loading now and towing five or six anvils welded together up hills now behind your bike training, you might be lucky and just find it a hard ride, otherwise its like a cycling film made by the "Hammer House of Horror". Alternatively, buy a book on sailing and learn how to "Tack", comes in useful on steep hills, makes the hills twice as long, but not so steep..

Nice to see, today's exertions have not dampened by sense of humour.