I changed down, and down and down the gears until my chain went off the block into the spokes, which half way up the hill, made me literally grind to a halt. At this point, I could have quite happily slung the bike over the hedge into a field. But what I actually did was fettle the chain back onto the rear gears, turned around and went home. Due to family commitments, I have yet to remove the afore mentioned tyres or cassette, but once off, they shall be ceremoniously cremated on the remains of this afternoons BBQ.
Happy holiday weekend everyone.
Take a very close look at the spokes on the cassette side where the chain got jammed. A friend did that to one of his wheels and broke some spokes. He replaced the broken spokes and then sold me the wheels for a bargain price. £50 for a pair of Mavic Aksiums that had only done a couple of hundred miles ...
I did a forum ride to Blackpool on those wheels and another one of the spokes snapped where the chain had damaged it. (Neither my pal nor I had noticed the damage, but it was obvious when I looked at the broken spoke.) The wheel went so out of true that I didn't want to risk trying to ride it back, so I returned by train instead.
Ok ... here is my report for
this ride today ...
My route was: Hebden Bridge, Keighley Road to Pecket Well, Old Town, Midgley, Jerusalem Lane, Booth, Solomon Hill, Luddenden Foot, Jerry Fields Road/Brocks, Sowerby village, Hubberton Green, Steep Lane, top part of climb from Cragg Vale to Blackstone Edge, descent to BSE Old Road, Old Road through Lydgate, Littleborough, Caldermoor, Calderbrook, Walsden, Lumbutts, Mankinholes, A646 back to Hebden Bridge,
EVIL CLIMB of Church Lane/Mytholm Steeps, Blackshaw Head, Jack Bridge, Colden, Slack, Draper Lane/Lee Wood Road, Heptonstall Road, Hebden Bridge.
60 km/37 miles and loads of hard climbing.
It was a great day out in sunny conditions, with none of the recent killer winds to contend with. The climbs just did the damage instead ...
I was caught out by the severity of the climbs, the duration of the ride and the warm temperatures. I only had one bottle with me (OJ + water) and took no food. I drank the bottle dry and started fantasising about food and drink on the run back along the A646. I know from past experience that that is usually the first hint that I am close to bonking. If I had not taken the precaution of telling you lot that I was going to do that killer climb I would have rushed straight home and stuffed my face. Instead, I turned left onto Church Lane as planned ...
As you can tell by my post this afternoon, I was intimidated before I even got onto the climb, which you can see looming up as soon as you turn onto Church Lane. My memory told me that the first 3/4 of the climb was quite tough, but that only the steepest bit was really hard. In fact, it gets nasty immediately as it ramps up several times even before you get to the 25% section. I soon realised that I was going to have a very hard time ...
I winched my way to the foot of the steep bit with an impatient motorist close behind me, so I started to pull into a bridleway on my left to let him by. He shot past before I even got there so any feeble excuse for stopping had gone. Instead of stopping, I manned up, leapt out of the saddle, stomped on the pedals, and shot up the 25% ramp as if I were Boonen or Cancellara making a decisive attack on a climb towards the end of Flanders!
Dream on .. In reality, I looked up the ramp, gulped, and gave it a go, but my mind had failed even before my legs did! Another bloody car forced its way past me and I realised that I couldn't even risk zigzagging to decrease the effective gradient. I couldn't risk an emergency dismount higher up either, so I did a controlled one instead while I still could! I had only managed 1/3 of that final ramp. Score for the climb: ColinJ 3 Mytholm Steeps 4!
So near, yet so far!
This is the vicious bend that I mentioned being squeezed inside on a previous ride, resulting in a fall ...
So, a bit of a reality check! I used to use my weight as an excuse for struggling on climbs, but I can only sensibly lose another 3 or 4 kilos without losing much-needed muscle. It is fitness that I am lacking. I can't even use my illness of a couple of years ago as an excuse either because it was my legs and back that failed me, not my heart and lungs.
So a good, tough ride, but I will give '
The Steeps' a miss for another few months while I try and get fit enough to stand a realistic chance of getting all the way up the climb.
PS I was right about the dangers of Look cleats slipping on that steep road surface. I slipped sideways as I walked across the road to take my photos and nearly took a heavy fall!
. Up Graveley hill and on To Croxton, then past the closed Waresley garden centre. We turned back in an easterly direction at Gamlingay.
).
