I did ride #12 yesterday.
I wanted to take advantage of lovely sunny conditions which had been forecast several days in advance. I did get the all-day sunshine. I also got an all-day blustery wind! My route was a meandering figure-of-eight so I would be getting a great tailwind for a few minutes, make a couple of turns, and then hit a wall of wind. It made for a very tiring day, even though my route was '
undulating' rather than '
hilly'.
It was one of my rides from Rose Grove station on the fringes of Burnley. It is only a 20 minute rail journey from Todmorden and it saves 10 miles each way on the lumpy and often busy A646.
I got a puncture early in the ride. I was just starting to fix it when a very friendly dog walker wandered over and asked if I needed any help. I
didn't, but we got into a long chat which actually delayed the repair by over 30 minutes! Eventually, he realised that he was stopping me getting on so he took his dogs home, but not before telling me where he lived in case I needed any of his spare tubes... Nice man!
That delay became very significant at the end of the ride...
I cycled past a field teeming with (metal) detectorists! It was a big field, and I don't mean just 5 or 6 people - there were scores of them. I have no idea what was going on, whether it was some sort of competition, or whether someone found something exciting in the field and word had got around?
Despite the windy conditions I was making reasonable progress so I thought about putting a big effort in to get back to Rose Grove in time for the 17:34 train home. There is only one train an hour and I didn't want to risk just missing the train because I would then be faced with (say) a 50 minute wait for the next one, a 20 minute train journey, and then another 5 minutes back to my house; I can do it in under an hour on the bike...
I decided to aim for the 18:34 train instead, so I slowed down for a relaxed ride back over the climbs of Longridge Fell, from Whalley up the Old Roman Rd, and then the final long drag up Padiham Greenway.
I eventually got back to Rose Grove feeling spent, the windy conditions had used up what energy I had for the day. The station at Rose Grove is just a platform passing below the road above. No lift, no escalator, just a flight of stairs -
NOT disabled, families with kids in buggies, OR tired cyclist-friendly! I staggered down to the platform at 18:15, and was preparing to have a rest and make a few phone calls while waiting for my train when the platform P.A. speaker crackled into life - "
Northern regret that the 18:34 train to Wigan via Todmorden [etc.] has been cancelled due to unavailability of a driver. The next train due is the 19:34..."
Aaaaargh!
"
... which is delayed by at least 15 minutes!"
Oh, FFS!!!!
So, wait 20 minutes for a train which wasn't coming, 60 minutes more for the next one, at least 15 minutes more because it was late, then 20 minutes on the train and 5 minutes back from the station to home. A minimum of 2 hours hanging about, or 1 hour on the bike. I chose life...
I really did
NOT enjoy having to lug my bike back up those damn stairs. Nor did I enjoy the drag up Rossendale road leading to the stiff climb up to the Manchester Rd lights. More ups and downs until I got to Holme Chapel. One last drag took me to the summit in Cliviger Gorge, and then I was ok - a nice 6 km downhill to Todmorden.
One more to go!
