Local rider Littgull had hurt his back and taken 2 weeks off his bike. I wanted to get a 50 km ride in today and he wanted to see how he got on with that distance, in order to see if he could do a local audax event with me on Sunday. We did the first part of our planned hilly route but had to make a detour halfway when we discovered that road repairs on Midgley Rd down into Mytholmroyd did not complete as planned at the end of March. Part of the retaining wall for that steep descent was washed away by flood waters on Boxing Day 2015, and the council are still sorting it out ...
Before the flood:
After the flood:
We had to improvise an alternative so we descended through the village and took a narrow, steep road (Naylor Ln) down to the A646. It is a bit iffy as a descent because it is steep, narrow, gravel-strewn in places and abruptly terminates right on the main road below. It would be very easy to overshoot and end up out in the busy traffic flow. I think I might ride up it for the challenge in future but will generally avoid it as a descent.
After that we headed back to Mytholmroyd and rejoined our planned route. Brian had already concluded that though his back was improving, it was not ready for the weekend audax's 115 km with 2,250 m of climbing, so we opted to take the easier option out of Mytholmroyd on that side of the valley. The hard way is up Scout Rd, and then Steep Ln, which is, er,
steep! Bad for bad backs, so we headed off up England's longest hill instead, the Cragg Vale climb. Its length means that the average gradient is much lower - 3.3% with a maximum of about 8%. Halfway up, we turned left and rode round to Craggies cafe. We normally like to sit outside but there was a really chilly wind blowing today so we opted for the warmth of indoors instead. We chatted a while and ate our lunches before venturing back out to face that wind. Fortunately, we only had 3 km to go to the top of the hill, and after that a rapid descent to Littleborough, where Brian turned for home.
I took the scenic route out of Littleborough via Caldermoor and Calderbrook rather than riding straight up the A6033. Calderbrook Rd is closed to motor traffic at the northern end due to a landslip a few years ago, but it is still passable by bike so ignored the road closure signs. What I hadn't noticed was that it is now closed even to pedestrians, and therefore to cyclists. I soon found out why ... A whacking big excavator had dug a huge hole in the road to lay a new water main. Fortunately, nobody was actually working there today so I was able to pick my bike up and clamber over the big pile of earth dumped at the side of the hole. If I had slipped I would have fallen about 8 ft into the hole with my bike. Luckily, conditions were dry today so I was clambering on soil rather than mud.
I got through the works and then emerged onto the A6033 and headed home where I did a loop round the block to increase my tally for the day.
Nice ride, and it was good to see Brian back on his bike.
cafes in Bodmin and in St Tudy, after the Snails, if you want to ride a couple of miles up the hill.
