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.

November - keeping riding into winter

It's getting darker, tho not necessarily much colder. Riding this week has actually been warmer than the rides on the Rough Stuff camping weekend back in June!!! And this week has been a great week for rides.

I'd been largely off the bike in the first week of November - the first weekend we drove all the way down south to collect our third hand tandem. We'd planned on trying the bike there, but after some consideration of unfamiliar roads, unfamiliar bike & adverse weather, we decided to play it safe and save the test ride for familiar territory.

Lacey Green Windmill

Typically the day we were driving home was beautiful & I know we will be back to The Chilterns for a proper explore soon.  We stayed in a lovely garden annexe flat that we hope to visit again soon. Perfect place for a couple to base themselves at in that part of the country.

guard dogs in Oxford

apt seasonal decorations in Oxford

The tandem test ride round the park was a success, so we decided to do a proper first ride out to Brockholes. On separate bikes it usually takes about an hour; we shaved over 15 mins of this without breaking a sweat.
Kids looked befuddled by the tandem. Not one of them knew what it was called though! A sign of the times? We had a picnic at Brockholes nature reserve, I think that's probably my first winter picnic ever in my life.

We tried a new route home and fast discovered that our tandem isnt good for hilly muddy off roading! Shame that OS maps dont show if a bridleway / farm track is paved or not. But we did at least find a great fun route to Preston for our rough stuff bikes!

I booked a day off work in the week to join up with the troupe from the cycle club staying at Mankinholes Youth Hostel.
Calderdale has steep hills, so I was expecting it to be a very tough day, however John had a bad leg after a cycling / dog incident so we took a more sedate route than was originally described. It was brilliant. All the steep hills were ones we descended and I discovered there is a road to Mankinholes that isnt vertical!

puddle peddling

Heptonstall in the distance

Rochdale Canal at Hebden Bridge

above Todmorden

Stoodley Pike

A couple of cycle commutes to finish off the week. I'd hoped to get to over 100 miles this week, but circumstances meant I only did 83. But I enjoyed every single one of those miles, even the busy commute home in the dark and especially the few hundred feet of dark muddy single track foot path connecting the housing estates where I cant see what my wheels are riding over ;-)

Accrington in the morning mistiness.

NCN6 Woodnook Greenway

Working those road bike leg muscles

My vintage Cliff Pratt velo

I took my 60s ten speed mixte out for a quick blast in the sunshine today.  It was a thigh burning 26 miles with 2100 ft of ascent. But not my usual thigh burn on the tops of my legs that I get on my upright hybrid. When I ride my drops, it's the side of my thighs that feels it and since I ride this bike less often, getting up steep hills is challenging!  But the breath taking views are always worth it.


Calderdale is a beautiful part of the region, but certainly has the steepest hills that I've come across in my life. I avoided the two worst ones that I know of and did a more 'sedate' loop up to Blackshaw Head and back past Widdop Reservoir, thus not dropping all the way to the bottom of the valley to eliminate some extra climbing.

Hardcastle Crags in the valley below

Widdop Reservoir

See that road snaking up to the clouds? That was a fantastic descent.  It felt to take less than a minute to get to the bottom of the hill.  Having a steel bike with some heavy gears probably contributed to that somewhat.

the view from the other side of Thursden Valley

I was in this part of my region afew weeks ago doing an off road ride (see previous ). The feel of the countryside seemed completely different somehow from the saddle of my roadie.

My mum sometimes asks me which bike I prefer. I dont think there's an answer - the two rides are not comparable and I still have a way to go to really get my head round what gears to use on the hills on my road bike; it somehow isnt as instinctive as the hybrid. I feel to loose a lot more pace as I gear down but still feel to be putting in an incredible amount of effort, perhaps that's the weight of the gears - the steeper the hill, the more I need to pull. She's fun, but we still have a way to go getting to know each other.

Riding in Memory of my Dad

Yesterday was the 7th anniversary of my Dad's death. His ashes were scattered at Widdop Reservoir - a place he used to cycle to to go climbing up the rocks when he was younger and a place where he used to drag me to over the moors, by foot in all weathers when I was growing up.
In memory of him S & I planned our weekend cycling adventure. I knew it would be a toughy.
Old packhorse trails and bridleways over the exposed moorland for the first half of the route. Thigh muscles pushing up over rocky ground, the wind helping push us up. Finally after 7 gruelling miles, a fast, amazing downhill to the reservoir.

Looking back down the track already ridden. Still a long way ahead

Breezy

Fun downhill!!! S zooming off, fearless

Widdop

The next bridleway took us up the other side of the valley skirting the top of my favourite National Trust area, Hardcaslte Craggs. Another lovely downhill took us to a beer stop and the pub in the woods, The Blue Pig. I've walked past here loads in the last few years & never seen it open, so was happily surprised to get a drink there. I'd heard that the welcome could be something akin to League of Gentlemen... not far off. But it was a bargain and we got to sup our drinks in the beautiful sunshine.

:-)

note to self, Hawaiian shirt is not flattering

Straight down an almost verticle hill into lovely Hebden Bridge. We had a quick nosey in the town in some shops in the centre and a curious building on the canal where bicycles get recycled, you can buy jewellery made from old coins or buy a handmade besum.

The 4 miles along the Rochdale Canal were thankfully passable. This area has suffered badly from floods over the last month and there was still evidence to be seen. Stretches of the canal bank were still cordoned off where the waters had destabilised the edges, some places were lined with sandbags and the cobbled overflow on the tow path were like cycling through little rivers.

We parked the bikes up in Todmorden and got tea at Hanuman Thai. Bargain food. The cocktail menu looked amazing, but I reisited - we were only 2/3rds into the ride and I didn't fancy being sozzled riding on the main road.  However, I did have a really good beer called 400 pound monkey with my food. Will be looking out for that one in the shops :-)

Then The Killer Hill. I hadnt quite expected it to be as killer as it was. 690feet of ascent in a little under 2 miles from the very bottom of the valley to the top. Calderdale Hills are probably the hardest hills in the world!

looking straight across the valley

up up up...  Stoodley Pike in the background

up up up... When you think the worst it over...

this has to be the last hill right?  (this bit was considerably easier than the first part)

me trying to make light of the hill.  I was somewhat afraid S was about to dump me there and then for dragging him up here.

What a view and where the road drops off... you can imagine how good the descent was!!

After this a mere 6.5 miles of a steady incline back to base.

29 miles door to door,  2225feet of ascent and the same amount of descent.
Here's the route starting and finishing at Todmorden Train station (but it's a loop so any start points good - Towneley Park or Hebden Bridge) for those of you fancying a challenge! http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=435065