ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Depending on where you measure it from, just shy, or if you include the shallow slope at the start of the climb, just over. I have done the first half of it on my singlespeed but it gets harder in the second half and would be too much, so I turned back and haven't tried again.
No, the one I was on about and tackled earlier was from Woodhouse Mill up to the Shepherd's Rest.
(The dip shown at 1 km does not exist. The road climbs round up round the slope of a small valley and a very slight lateral error in plotting my course makes the software think that I was way down the hillside.)
I got halfway up the ramp and decided to be sensible and take a breather. My heart rate was going crazy (~180 bpm) and I didn't want to push any harder for fear of inducing arrhythmia. (The damage left by my blood clots of 2012/13 mean that I can't risk going into that last 5% of effort any more. If I do then my heart can play up for a day or two afterwards, and that can't be healthy!)
The problem with stopping on a steepish climb up a narrow road, with pedals that need to be clipped into is... how do you get started again? After nearly falling off trying to clip in across the width of the road, I gave in and aimed back down the hill and clipped in before turning back up again. Not ideal, but just about doable.
I continued up the ramp and was within 100 metres of my right turn when I felt a couple of tell-tale heart flutters so I jumped off quick and walked up to the junction. (For those of you who didn't get my joke earlier on... a 24" gear = a two foot gear = walking!) I need to lose the 10 kg of weight that I have put on in the past 4 or 5 years...
I turned to face up the easier slope towards the Shepherd's Rest and set off again. Unfortunately, I was now exposed to a headwind which took away a lot of the advantage of the easier gradient. I ended up climbing standing up but on the drops and crouching down over the handlebar, a very unusual climbing position!
The wind took 15 kph off my descent from the pub. I would normally freewheel at 50 kph down there but only managed 35 kph today.
I continued my little loop round, calling in at the station for my Metro on the way home. It's a short loop, but tough on singlespeed. Only 11 km, but with 213 m of ascent, all of which was hard in a 52/19 gear.
Good morning all.
