Boxing Day Cycling

I'm getting to grips with Do It Yourself Audax rides. And with the niggles that seem to crop up. First I plot in Memory Map, then I do the Google Man walking distances. Then when I ride the route and pull the tracklog data off... the distances never tally & of course the elevations are never on mark (but that seems a universal issue & I'm too lazy to count contours).

Coal Clough windfarm, Long Causeway

Yesterday I decided to have a go at my second short hilly ride after thoroughly enjoying the first a couple of weeks ago.
Later this year I'd like to do some of the hilly 100 / 150k calendar rides, but I'm building up to that. That distance on a non-hilly ride is a piece of pie, but I'm a slow hill climber (I'm really an off road rider - so low gear & chill out going up), so I need to get my legs in gear for a faster pace. Doing short hilly rides seems a sensible option & there are no shortage of hills where I live.

Google Man had tallied the most direct routes at 53.5kms, but the tracklog was a mere 49.8. It probably wont count. Which will be the second duff DIY route I've done (the first was a gps problem when it lost signal).

In any case, it was a lovely Boxing Day ride. I probably should have rested with the cold I have, but I'd have hated missing out on a beautiful day.  The first six miles were hard as I warmed up, but the rest was lovely and the massive thumbs up from a German couple driving past me on a steep hairpin gave me an extra big smile as I continued climbing.

And of course, I got to cycle past where my Dad's ashes were scattered. He'd usually drag me over this way on very cold boxing days when I was growing up, so it's always nice to relive that tradition.

Widdop Reservoir

That road in the distance snaking past that tree- that's where I'm heading. Very deep valley just below with one of the toughest inclines I can think of... thankfully it's quite short.

Thursden Valley

I wont be making the Rapha Festive 500 this year. Right now, my nose is a tap and I'm living off vapour rub & I'm not a martyr to cycle in gale force winds either (well not on road anyway).
So time to spend a couple of days tucked up, vegging out & watching cartoons. Hopefully I'll be fine for the club ride on Sunday. 

Audax #3

A crack of dawn start to venture through Yorkshire Dales national park, over to Richmond for Lucia's Vale of York 100k populaire.  The drive over was stunning, although my satnav packed up after Skipton (I had no problem getting that far), so I was winging it on roads I'd never been on in my life. The early start meant it was just me & the pheasants, and the early morning sunshine breaking through the haze. I know that I will be planning a bike tour on bridleways following a similar route sometime; it was such a stunning drive. 



After some getting lost and relying on my bike gps instead, I made it to the start with enough time for a brew. A lovely couple kindly waited for me to park up to lead me to the startpoint at Swaledale Outdoor club. I admired the lady's lovely pink Tifosi (a bike I would have my eye on if I was in the market for another...or not saving up for a house deposit).



This was my third audax, and getting a bit more comfortable with knowing what the day will bring in terms of my own riding, which is a massive comfort after riding the first one mostly on my own.
I was a bit worried that I'd not been able to transfer the gpx to my device (the cable was at Stephen's house, but I had not been there), so would be relying on the paper instructions, but the route had looked straight forward & I did have the map to fall back on (the paper directions on audax #2 would have had me lost but for the gpx). 

The group today was the smallest I'd set off with (others had set off earlier on the more challenging routes). For the first few miles we were bunched together, but it wasnt long before we were strung out in smaller clusters. After realising that my old 60s bike has smaller wheels and getting to better grips with the gears, I know that I cant keep up with modern bikes on her and I shouldn't try (my first audax I did try that and just got worn out). So I was happy to get into a rhythm that was comfortable for me. I actually spent most of the ride in the highest gear (the terrain was pretty flat), despite some reasonable headwinds.

The first section to Northallerton and out the other side towards Thirsk had some reasonably busy roads (it was also saturday, which may have accounted for this).
We felt to be in Northallerton in no time. My first paid job out of uni was here, where I was put up in The Station hotel to work at a trial radio station covering a sickness absence. I interviewed William Hague- he ribbed me in front of a full bookshop, thinking I was going to give him a political grilling, but I was just there to ask about his book he was doing a signing for.  It is the best part of a decade since I was last in the town; I remembered it being quiet and sleepy, but today it was bustling with people visiting the market and so busy with traffic being funnelled down the main street, that I pushed my bicycle through the town so that I didnt have to worry about the traffic and taking the correct turn off any of the roundabouts.

The roads towards lunch in Coxwold were much quieter and more enjoyable with some small climbing to make you earn your food.  But a nice little descent into the village which is in a dip.

The tea room was incredibly pretty (as was the village) and most cyclists sat out in the cottage garden making the most of the decent weather. Nice food, nice cakes, a little bit slow on service, which isnt really what you want on an audax, but this one did have the most generous upper time limit I've seen, so there was no need to rush.

At lunch I was chatting with a group of ladies on their first audax. They were a group of mum's whose kids are at the same school and decided it would be fun to go away for the weekend. They were up from Derby and seemed to be having a fantastic time; they liked the low-key nature of the audax compared with sportives. It was nice to chat with them for a while.
The clouds were thickening as the return leg got going. Most roads were long so navigation was easy. 

As usual the physics of bike riding were at play and the wind had changed direction for the return. I had hoped it would be pushing me back to Richmond.

Three down, two to go to make my Brevet 500 award. Fingers crossed. I didnt think it would be this close when I joined Audax UK in late spring, but with other cycling commitments, work and trying to buy a house, I've not been on as many rides as I imagined.

My thanks for David Atkinson for putting on this lovely ride, which took me to places I'd never have otherwise ventured.

Anglesey Lanes Audax Trip

A perfect weather forecast - sunshine, low humidity & (the best bit) light winds meant I was looking forward to our trip to North Wales a lot!  Plus, I'd managed to talk Stephen into taking the tandem to join me on the 104km ride.

On the drive down, I wasn't feeling too great and afew miles from Conwy, I pulled off the road in agony. We spent saturday afternoon in the hospital in Llandudno - some pain killers later & a recommendation to 'rest on a beech' rather than ride an Audax and we were slowly pottering around Conwy.

We wandered to the harbour to find some food and then slowly made our way back to the hostel via the castle walls enjoying the stunning views over the town and up to the hills.

The morning of the audax arrived. I popped some painkillers for breakfast and we set off. I did have some twinges and some reservations about whether I should ride, but I kept those to myself knowing that Stephen would certainly not let me ride if he knew I wasn't up to it. Being a determined person is certainly a strength & a weakness.

We chatted with the three other tandem couples at the start of the ride, which took my mind off the twinges. There was a speedy looking Co-Motion, a beautiful Longstaff and a practical (S&S couplings and 26inch wheels) looking Orbit.
There was a great turn out for the ride that Holyhead CC had organised.
We started at a great pace matching the carbon fibre roadies until the first set of hills where we slowed down a bit. The views were beautiful and the lanes were very quiet. We managed to keep a great speed with me navigating from the back and we caught up with the roadies at the lunch stop.

The afternoon was a little slower and at 70k in my painkillers had worn off, but I kept going. We made it back in 5 hours 25 (including lunch and controls), so actual riding time was pretty speedy.
I was so glad to have done the ride and Stephen even enjoyed the day. The cycling club members riding made us very welcome. I'd certainly love to do this ride again.


Sunday morning brought more sunshine and we decided to walk to Great Orme along the coastal path (which is also the NCN5 bike route).
The view from the hostel breakfast room overlooked the opposite side of the estuary where we would be heading for.

A leisurely few hours of strolling along warm sands with beautiful views before the steep ascent up Great Orme.

Great Orme overlooks Llandudno (there's also Little Orme, but we didnt have chance to visit there this time).
In the sunshine it felt like being in an old fashioned / countrysidey version of San Francsico with the sea, hills and tramway.

There's a visitors centre, an expensive pub & cafe and even cable cars (the hanging variety) up here.

The weekend had been so nice weather-wise, I felt like I'd been on a proper holiday and I wished that we'd been staying for longer than just a long weekend.

York hen party trip

This weekend I loaded my bike panniers up & set forth towards York to meet up with the hen party goers. Rather than trekking on the road, I'd planned to take the Leeds Liverpool Canal all the way to it's eastern end and then join some of the National Cycle Route.

I started on the familiar stretch of Route 68 that the RSF Family Friendly Group ride on a regular basis.  I had planned on doing the ride as a DIY 100k Audax, I set my gps to record.

Pendle Hill from Reedley Marina

I was making fantastic time and had reached Salterforth in an hour. This stretch was the easy part though. It's well surfaced until you reach East Marton.

A bumpy stretch of tow path slowed my progress significantly. With heavy panniers in tow, rutted ground made the rear of my bike a little unsteady and there were one or two hairy moments where I had to fight to stay out of the water. It made things interesting... pretty much all the way Bingley.

The pretty views kept my spirits up as I slogged on.

Looking at the ground, there were dozens of muddy tyre tracks all over the place, its very obvious that people want to cycle here & do cycle here, so why the local authorities in the area dont put some proper provision of a decent track down, goodness only knows. Improving the towpath quality would keep it in better condition for everyone to enjoy!

I was very pleased when some smoother surface was under my wheels again. Cycling on the canal when carrying a load means one thing; unrelenting peddling! Bingley's Five lock rise was pretty much the only bit of free-wheeling of the day. But I stopped to take a picture :-)
 

My progress was going guns again and I reached Shipley and onto Leeds without much effort.


I met a father & son who had cycled from Liverpool on the canal over the course of the week. I dont often see young teenagers touring, so it was refreshing to see this lad out & about with his dad. After chatting for a while, I sped off - I still had some miles to cover.

The ride towards Leeds had lovely open views before the cityscape appeared. In the bright sunshine, the modern high-rise buildings made the city look more American than British and the canal took me right into the heart of a newly developed area.

From here, I followed the Route 66 signs, which took me out of the city without fuss. One deprived area was a bit grim (probably more so because I was on my own in an unfamiliar place), but I quickly left that behind and found myself in the blubell lined woods leading to Temple Newsham, where I decided to have my lunch... at 3pm!

From here I'd planned to use various bridleways to take me to Tadcaster. I reached for my gps... it had glitched and was not recording my route. I was somewhat irritated that this meant I couldnt submit the ride as an Audax and I was making reasonable time on the route. Heyho.

I beetled round various interesting looking bridleways enjoying seeing what I could find now I didnt have a time limit to make.

fields of lovely smelling rape

I reached Saxton, where my b&b for the night was and called them up to check if I should turn left or right at the main road.
When I arrived, they were stoking a fire for me and I had a big pot of tea and a slice of cake waiting. It was certainly a warm welcome at the Old Presbytery b&b and I enjoyed relaxing in the chair listening to the clock tick and the fire crackle - after a day in the saddle, I could have fallen asleep there and then!
I wandered into the village for a pub tea and returning, the other guest had checked in for the night & we nattered for a few hours by the fire.

By morning, the rains had arrived, it was drizzling as I had breakfast, but by the time I was due to leave, it was torrential. I had a short ride into Church Fenton to get the train to York (I had planned on cycling, until I saw the forecast) & was sopping by the time I got on the train.

waiting to board

I dropped my bike off at the secure cycle parking and enjoyed a lovely weekend of hen-do festivities including a chocolate making workshop at the Cocoa House York followed by a lovely canal boat cruise with a bbq and dancing in the evening.  There was much singing, dancing & drinking!

River Ouze

 Thankfully we did not literally 'rock the boat'

York Minster

The train journey home

 I wasnt so rough that a ride home would have been tough, but I got the train home to enjoy the company and have a leisurely morning in York enjoying the sunshine and the spring flowers in the minster gardens.

More party fun when the wedding arrives. I might convince Stephen to cycle to the wedding - after all, it's not as far away as the hen do was!!

My legs are now feeling better prepared for the summer's 300+mile tour.  In fact, when I got off the train, I had a mile of uphill and even with a loaded bike and high heels, I managed to sail past a guy on a road bike (always a good feeling - tho I'm often overtaken by real speedsters).

And I'm now decided that I'll stick to organised Audax rides rather than faff around with technology that somehow always seems to let me down.

That was an awesome week of riding!

152 miles of unadulterated FUN miles in the last week.

Regrouping after Silsden

It started with two days in North Yorkshire starting from Skipton for the Rough Stuff Fellowship AGM rides. We had members from Newcastle, Scotland (George Berwick), the distant south, Wales and of course a strong presence from northern members. We got pretty lucky with the snow, finding roads that had been cleared and since the snowdrifts hadn't yet started the big melt, it was mainly ice free.

Bolton Abbey

Day 1 (gpx file) was a lovely road ride onto the moors above Silsden to take us to Ilkley for lunch before returning via Bolton Abbey & Embsay steam railway. Lots of lovely hills to enjoy and stunning views.
 

'Harold'

Old LMS tourism adverts

All kinds of bikes do Rough Stuff riding

Day 2 (gpx file) took us to Airton via some brilliant off road tracks skirting Flasby Fell through Cragg Wood and lots of swooping up & down N Yorkshire roads through pretty Bell Busk, Gargave, Broughton & Carleton in Craven by a very churned up disused railway.  Seeing the little lambs with plastic ponchos on to stave off the cold weather was by far the highlight.

Bridleways are my ideal riding terrain

It was lovely to meet new faces, see members I dont get to meet with too often and also enjoy the brilliant food that Rendevous Hotel had to offer.


On Wednesday I did my first ever Audax - a total of 70 miles from Marple across Cheshire round the dairy farms beyond Tatton.
I'd planned on swapping the tyres on my hybrid for skinnies, but the night before saw one or two technical mishaps and I ended up taking my 60s tenspeed. I had thought 15kmph was a generous lower speed limit... until half way through.

A slow lunch, paired with a steel steed with unfavourable gearing meant I ended up spending much of the time riding solo and that  really hit my time. I spent some of the ride keeping up with one or two packs of road clubs, but I couldnt keep up with them comfortably. When riding solo, navigating really slowed me down; stopping at every junction to double check my route and keeping eyes open for the controls.
At 50 miles I was sure I wouldnt make the time limit, I was totally disheartened, alone and wondering just why I was doing this. By 60 miles and the last stretch being the off-road option, I was beaming away, flying along the lovely Middlewood Way, listening to the birds and giving it all I had, not for the time limit, but for the elation of flying along.

The last hill was hard, but the last checkpoint, the pub was at the top, which spurred me on. I made it with a minute to spare!!!
A kind gentleman offered me a drink and we spent the next hour chatting about audax rides and routes - he started last year and it was useful listening to his stories and enthusiasm. I didnt catch his name, but do hope he can make some rides out with RSF soon as he sounded keen. 
I've put some more rides in my calendar - ones with slightly more generous lower speeds (just to be on the safe side). Still undecided if I should swap the hybrid tyres and go on that.

Yesterday S & I got the tandem out to have some easy fun with the RSF Family group.  Young Theo is now showing some good progress on his new bike and our youngest member was busy sleeping away on the back of his mum's bike despite it being off road!







Today I headed for the Calderdale Hills with 15 other RSF riders from the Yorks & N Peak S Pennine groups. Calderdale borders on those two areas as well as Lancs. The area overshadowed by Britain's highest motorway, the M62. It was lovely to be led around an area I'm not very familiar with.
It was also nice that there was no biting NE wind that has been the bane of many rides for what has felt like months.

The impressive dam at Baitings Reservoir

Typical northern moorland views

Sowerby Bridge

Wainhouse Tower

Thanks to all those who have organised the rides I've tagged along to this week & the good company along the way. It's been brilliant.