Three Peaks 2012

Congratulations to Robin, (4h 16m)  John (5h 47m) and Adrian (5h 29m) for finishing this year's Three Peaks.

My name was on the start sheet but I was struck down with the lurgy and so I followed the race from under a quilt using the SportEvent Live Event Monitor that gave me 'real time' information of when each of our riders reached the top  and the bottom of each peak.

Most of the times look slow this year with the exception of the winner Rob Jebb who finished with an amazingly fast time of 3hours 9mins

Sunday 30th September 2012

8.30 am Denholmgate / 8.40 Crossroads (top of Ingrow) to cheer our riders on in the 3 Peaks CycloX.
Route Oakworth, Laneshaw Bridge, Fanny Grey's, Paythorne and Feizor Cafe.

Weekend Report

SUNTER WINS NATIONAL CHAMPS

Congratulations to Brian who yesterday won the veterans national 50miles time trial championship on a course in South Wales.
                                __________________________________________

Four made today's club run to the Clarion Tea House, a ride up the Heptonstall cobbles soon warmed us up and a tail wind ensured that we had a fast ride over the Long Causway and through to Fence, we were at the tea house well before 11 o'clock enjoying pint mugs of tea.

Being young Simon had been able to plan ahead and had some nice squashed sandwiches in his back pocket, Ian and Steve had not managed to plan so far in advance and looked rather crestfallen when they were unable to purchase bacon butties, fortunately I found 2 pork pies in my saddlebag and shared them with my 2 hungry clubmates - an action I was later to regret (the energy from the pies went straight to their legs).  That well known Glaswegian, Hardeep Singh Kohli was at the premises together with a Radio 4 recording team interviewing a couple of veteran cyclists and walkers for a show that to be broadcast I know not when - we were advised several times that we had to keep quiet or we would spoil the recording but it was very difficult to obey so after a photo call we left, but not before the chap who makes the tea gave me the above enamel brooch which has now taken pride of place in my badge cabinet - you should have seen the jealous look on Ians face.  We came home via Roughlee, Colne, Winewall and the Herders stopping off at the Bay Horse at Oxenhope to look at dirty mountain bikers who were finishing the Hospice MTB Challenge. We were expecting to see Grimpy who had planned to use the event to add the finishing touches to his 3 Peaks preparation but he'd given it a miss as he's been down with a cold. We did find Richard though who was bemoaning the fact that a certain top 100 place had been lost due to a navigational error but once he'd had a pint of bitter he looked happy again, telling us about the new racing bike he's ordered (far superior to Damian's I am led to believe). Richard had also ridden last weeks Holme Valley MTB Challenge finishing 48th out of 288 and appeared far happier with his form than he has been all summer - good luck in next weeks 3 Peaks.

NOTICE OF AGM
The AGM is to be held at 8pm Wednesday 10th October at the Cat I'th Well pub, Wainstalls HX2 7TR. Please make every effort to attend and tell other Condors whom you may chance upon over the next couple of weeks.

Sunday 23rd Sept

I've arranged to meet Simon at the canal bridge at Luddenden Foot at 9 o'clock Sunday morning for a steady ride over to the Clarion Pavilion at Newchurch - only tea and cereal bars available so I'm taking a sandwich - we're going to come back over the Herders and may stop for a pint at the Bay Horse in Oxenhope which is the finish line for tomorrows Oxenhope Mountain Bike Challenge. Please feel free to join us - if you've never been to the Clarion Tea House you really should come.

GET WELL SOON
Best wishes for a speedy recovery from all the Condor to the Imp's Janice Saleem who has recently undergone knee replacement surgery.

Mid Week Report

Showers meant that only 7 attended at Shelf Roundabout last Wednesday.  We made our way down the Greenway to Dewsbury and to Newmillerdam for lunch via Thornhill. After lunch we rode on the back roads through Notton before joining the West Yorkshire Cycle Route just before Darton. We followed the Route through Bretton Sculpture Park where we dallied a while enjoying the works of Hepworth, Moore and Gormley before riding up the bridleway to High Hoyland and home via Emley, Briestfield and back up the Greenway. As always a pleasant day out at club run pace - highly recommended.

Dates for your diary

Sunday 30th September - 3 Peaks - A ride up to cheer on our riders in the toughest 'cross in the world - via Feizor Cafe.
Sunday 7th October - Season of Mists, 100k Audax from Hebden Bridge
Sunday 14th October - Mills & Hills Sportive, from Mytholmroyd Community Centre, enter here, http://www.mytriclub.co.uk/mills-hills-sportive-14th-october/ organised by Hebden Bridge's Emma Osenton there are 3 routes - long, short and cyclo-cross.
Sunday 28th October - National Hill Climb Champs - The Rake, Ramsbottom

Get well soon

Another name to add to the injured list is that of Wednesday club regular Paul Daly. Fresh back from the Czech Republic where he had won gold in his category in the mountain bike and silver in the road race at the Firefighters World Championships and training hard for the 3 Peaks he took a fall on a roundabout in Saddleworth whilst on his favourite training route over the Isle of Skye resulting in a fractured femur and thumb. Paul's still on crutches but is optimistic about making a come-back in time for the 'Cross Nationals in January which are being held in Bradford. Good luck and get well soon from all the Wednesday riders.  

Sunday 16th

Anyone for a 'club run' ? Robin and myself propose Bowland Knotts . Not wanting to tempt fate but it's not a great forecast and our last attempt got as far as Ye Naked Man cafe - however Robin is building up to the 3 Peaks race so a bit of rain shouldn't stop him.
The usual Denholme 8.30 / Keighley roundabout 9.00.

Cracking On

Sounds like your mechanical woes didn't spoil your day Pete - It was still a 'Gold' time. You did turn down my invitation to start with us - but in any case we didn't have a cassette remover with us either ! 
Yes. a stunning ride on a stunning day, with the early mists, sunshine and the lakes like glass. I made a point of taking it all in, at least till the 70 mile feed after which I seemed to look at Roger's rear wheel a lot !
It was a joy riding up Kirkstone Pass and around Grasmere, Langdale Valley, Blea Tarn. As usual Wrynose and Hardknott were getting choked with struggling cars but we had the the lanes after Eskdale to ourselves.
This second half of the ride had some really painfull climbs and my 39x27 was getting on top of me. (I'm still resisting a 'compact'). It also got a bit hairy on narrow, rough and gated roads- but slowing down wasn't an option.
We caught the Harrogate Nova duo who were riding well & Greg Ketteringham, who is usually one of the fastest, left his fading friend and joined us - but left us on Bigland Hill, no doubt chasing the days best time. We managed to come in just 5 mins. quicker.
The good weather did help make the day but its definately a ride I would do again.

Pottering On

Come on Robin, tell us how you performed 'Up the Butress', would have come over to cheer you on had I known about it earlier.

What a superb route for yesterdays sportive, 'The Cumbrian'. Anyone who was thinking that there were just Kirkstone, Wrynose  and Hardknott to worry about was in for a rude awakening. Mel was riding round with  former Halifax CTC man Roger Palfreeman, judging from the results they appeared to have a great day out finishing as the days fastest riders. Hopefully Mel will give us a full report.

My day didn't run quite so smoothly, breaking a spoke after about 5 miles I removed the offending piece of wire and slackened off the rear brake to stop it rubbing before setting off again. All was going well up Kirkstone but on turning left opposite the summit Pub disaster struck, unusually the spoke had snapped at the end of the butting and the inch and a half or so of remaining spoke had jammed between the cassette and hub preventing the cassette from freewheeling, there appeared little I could do without a cassette remover and chain whip so I had to pedal all the way down The Struggle to Ambleside with my brakes on so my legs could keep up to the pedals. My plan was to make it to the 1st check/feed station at the Youth Hostel after Grasmere, at the top of Red Bank, where I felt sure there would be some tools available - unfortunately the only bike tools available were 3 tyre levers, a search of the hostel eventually produced an alan  key and a pair of pliers which I used to dislodge the jammed spoke and bend over into the centre of the hub, away from the freewheel. After about 40 minutes I was away up Langdale now free from the self imposed pressure of doing a good time I resolved just to enjoy a beautiful sunny Sunday cycling up those iconic climbs and takeing in the scenery.  After Blea Tarn, Wrynose and Hardknott the route took us over Birker Fell into Dunnerdale and then over Far Kiln Bank to Broughton Mills and Subberthwaite Common before reaching the Lyth Valley and back to Milnthorpe. A superb route, equal to the Fred Whitton.

I'll be doing the buttress today. This year it takes in the steeper bottom bit, so we could end up on our arse.

http://singletrackworld.com/2012/09/up-the-buttress-prize-news/

Any other takers come along.

Ravensthorpe 120

Last Sunday

 I've copied the following from the Ravensthorpe CC's 'Thorper Blog' -
                                               
 'Firstly it was a time for reflection, todays ride in memory of the passing of a fellow cyclist Andy Ridsdale, and as the day went on it was evident how many riders had rode and knew Andy, and i”m sure his mother who waved us off must of felt joy and sadness in it all.      And so, on our now annual celebratory ride we welcomed fellow cyclists from around the district to join us in what is now known as the 120 ride.     We all met at the library which is the normal meeting spot for Ravensthorpe cc, but this time an hour early at 8am.   So with riders of a group around the 90 mark, we set off to Dewsbury and onwards for our first stop at Tadcaster.   it was nice to see the new members of Ravensthorpe  finding the tempo non to aggressive for what was their first time in a large group and can only bode well for the club as it tries to encourage and attract local cyclists to the club.   Once we got to Tykes cafe in taddy we all sat down for a coffee and a chat, for many this was to be the turning point for home, deciding to take the shorter ride leaving a now smaller group of the mid 40s to carry on for Sutton Bank.  The roads were nice and quiet as we headed onwards for Easingwold on the relatively flat roads , all the time everyone anticipating the first big climb up over the bank.  Pain and suffering for me as the cramp struck at the worst possible time as i hit the hill, got to say the cafe was a welcome sight and the need for food never more so, doesn”t get any cheaper does it!  The journey home in full sun made the trip worth it as the tempo cranked up hitting 30 mph for long stretches as we passed Borobridge for home .  I would like to thank on behalf of our club those who joined us today , wasn”t it great to see all different club shirts together?  A final word of thanks goes to Daz Whitely, Daz drove the full route [ wouldn”t you if you had a fancy lotus sports car?] taking pictures , thankfully not of me going up the big hill, hitting my thumb with a hammer i showed less pain on my face, Daz you a star and your good turn will never be forgotten . Got home with 130 on the clock with an average of 17 mph, bloody glad to get of the saddle , 130 mile on the flat left me with something a African baboon would be proud of, chamois cream ! next year its axle grease.'

There were 4 Condors at the start, Richard, Simon and myself loitered at Tadcaster cafe whilst Damian continued for the full route. We were joined at the cafe by Kev Brown who had his caravan parked near Selby so after an extended stop we made our way by the back roads to York then south via the Transpennine Trail to Selby and round Bishopwood to the cafe at Sherburn in Elmet for another tea break. We then said goodbye to Kev and rode home via Rothwell and Dewsbury. An easy day and a welcome change of scenery.

Along with Melvin I've entered The Cumbrian sportive next Sunday (although I'm not expecting to see much of him - perhaps a brief glimpse of his back wheel). When I saw the route I just couldn't resist - there's still time to enter so have a look at it, it should be memorable.

If the weathers not too bad I'm going to have a ride out to Blackpool next Wednesday to see the finish of stage 4 of the T.of B.  I suspect there may be a few other intending to do likewise so I'll post a meeting time & place later.

Cobbles & Sunshine

This might give Pete some ideas - but I 'm sure we wouldn't be welcome riding around the Piece Hall !

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cyclocross/article/cyx20120904-cycle-cross-Cyclo-Cross-Pre-Season-Training---The-Yorkshire-Way--0