Yes, it was a lovely day today. I got my February ride in early and chose a much nicer route than my miserable January one earlier in the week. The price to pay was 1,950 metres of ascent instead of the 950 metres of the earlier ride. I could really feel the lack of riding in December and January and was pretty knackered by the time I got home.
Brian (Littgull) and I met up in Todmorden and then rode up the A646 as far as Walk Mill. That was the end of serious traffic for a long while. We took the quieter, but lumpy route to Oxenhope: Southward Bottom, Mereclough, Worsthorne, Haggate, Coldwell, Clarion House, Trawden, Laneshaw Bridge, Scar Top, Stanbury, Haworth, Penistone Hill, Oxenhope.
From Oxenhope we climbed up through Leeming to the Dog & Gun at Sawood. A left turn up Trough Lane took us to Manywells Height, after which a rapid descent took us down into Cullingworth. We took the splendid cycle path over Hewenden viaduct and then up Station Rd to Harecroft. A quick blast down the B6144 took us to Wilsden for a cafe stop. We met pals Carrie and Kevin there for a chat and refuelling.
After a quick tour of Wilsden, the 4 of us climbed back up to the B6144 and then headed back over to Manywells Height by some nice lanes I checked out on my previous ride out there. We headed down to Oxenhope, where Kevin left us. Carrie and Brian climbed away from me and I didn't see them again until Hebden Bridge, where Carrie said her farewells.
Brian and I had toyed with riding to Littleborough via "England's longest continuous uphill gradient" (a.k.a. the Cragg Vale climb) but decided that we'd had enough climbing and chose the nasty A-road route - A646 to Todmorden, A6033 to Littleborough. Unfortunately due to how slowly I had been riding today we hit the Friday evening rush hour traffic so we opted to climb away from the main road and bypass Tod centre by going up Woodhouse Rd to Lumbutts and over to Shade. We stayed off the main road by taking Hollins Rd to Walsden but then had to rejoin the wretched traffic on the A6033. I accompanied Brian as far as I needed to to get my distance in for the day, then u-turned and headed for home.
I was 1.5 km short when I got back so I did a couple of local loops to clock up the '100'
About 25 kms in heavy traffic this time - still too much, but a lot better than Tuesday's ride!
Most of the drivers I encountered were competent, friendly and patient. As usual though, there were a few idiots. One insisted on overtaking me on a descent with a 20 mph speed limit, on which I was doing 23 mph (sorry!). He was doing about 40 mph and stayed on my side of the road, thus cutting me up in a very scary fashion. As he went by he gesticulated at me as if to say "
Look how dangerously you made me overtake you!" ...
Title of '
Idiot Driver Of The Week (So Far)', however, goes to the man who decided that he would overtake a string of 5 cars straight at me on a narrow road ... The other drivers could see the danger and were sounding their horns. He was clearly of the opinion that they were upset that I was in his way so he started blasting me too. I gave him a little wave that suggested it would be better if he squeezed into the car-plus-1-metre gap between me and the other oncoming traffic. He reluctantly did so but mouthed obscenities at me as he shot past. Why had I not disappeared into a parallel universe to ease his passage? Why did I give him such a fright! Did I know how close I had come to damaging his car! What kind of fool rides bicycles on public roads designed for cars! [Insert alternative ridiculous suggestions here ...]
Anyway ... That's my Feb ride done.
EXACTLY 100 km. And now ... I am going to have a nap!
Talk about rubbing salt into the wound; as you have almost 50 miles in your legs and are cycling pretty much into a head wind.
