New YearsDay

Numbers were down for last Sundays club run with regulars like Paul D, Damien and Oakworth Steve all falling by the wayside it was left to tough guy's, Padiham Chris, Turbo Steve, with me as a bit of a tag along to fly the Condor colours. We were joined by Aire Valley's Tim Small and, due to the temperature being minus 4 decided to stick to more travelled roads.

We headed straight up to Skipton and over to Wharfedale, surprised to see that north of Skipton the snow disappeared and the dale was looking magnificent bathed in bright winter sunshine. At Threshfield we caught a guy on a mountain bike, we were keeping up a good average speed and by Kilnsey Crag I was impressed that the MTBer was still sat in and looking very comfortable. I dropped back to have a chat, asking him where he was going, and as I did so I noticed a pair of Walshes (fell running shoes) strapped to his Camelbak. He told me that he was on his way up to the White Lion at Cray from where he was going to run up Buckden Pike before meeting his mates back at Cray the having a pint a every pub on the way back down the dale - he made me feel like we were having a lazy day.

We said goodbye to him just short of Cray when we turned left towards Hubberholme to complete the Buckden Triangle. This little road confirmed to us that we had been sensible keeping to the busier highways as an icy surface was very evident.

Travelling back down the dale we enjoyed a slight tail wind. We stopped at the café opposite the car park in Kettlewell (Zarina's being closed) and had very ordinary bacon & sausage sandwiches, tea and a bun; at £10 odd we were not at all impressed.

From there we flew down the back road to Grassinton - Linton - Cracoe - Gargrave - Cononley B..tard and home. As usual Chris was on top form and Steve also showed us he has been kissed by the god of speed. Tim behaved himself (as expected from a guest rider on his 1st outing) and I clocked up 90 miles or so towards the Strava 500 Challenge.

                        Brian Sunter and the late Phil Smithies plus 3RT member

Which brings me to the subject of the blog entry - don't forget 10am Brighouse, New Years Day for breakfast at Holmfirth and afternoon refreshments at Sowerby Bridge

Sunday 28th and New Years Day

A grand day out was had on Christmas Eve, despite my new tyres feeling as if they were sticking to the road we made the 45 miles into a stiff head wind to get to Elaines Tea Rooms at Feizor by 11.15, and the effort was more than worthwhile when a short time later we were tucking in to the best bacon, sausage and egg sandwiches in the world washed down with a limitless supply of strong tea.

The calories went straight to our legs and by just turned mid day we were hurtling down Bucca' Brow with a tail wind, the momentum taking us up Langcliffe Scar and over to Malham from where Chris and Steve set a relentless pace back to Keighley with me having all on to sit-in.

Sunday 28th December,  meet 9am Denholmgate/9.30 Keighley. 40 or 50 miles en route to Neil's Christmas Pie & Pints Do.

New Years Day,  meet Sainsburys Roundabout, Brighouse, 10am for Holmfirth and Isle of Skye and a pint at Sowerby Bridge.

Christmas Eve

Not a bad forecast for Wednesday and as a few of us need to be home in reasonable time I'm meeting Paul D at Denholmgate at 8.30 and Chris at Keighley at 9am for a potter up to Feizor and, time permitting, a return over Langcliffe.  All welcome.

Whats On & Whats Been On



34 attended todays Wednesday Club Christmas Lunch and I think everyone was in agreement that the Robin Hood at Cragg Vale was an excellent venue - its a pity that the photographer did such a shoddy job - his excuse was that he couldn't get the flash to work on his camera (when he got home he realised why it was because the camera was set on 'burst' mode which disables the flash).

 



 

Sorry I didn't capture everyone, I just gave up because of the flash problem.

 

 

A very enjoyable ride out over Tadcaster way last Sunday with plenty of miles in the bag in dry conditions until we were almost home.

 

This coming weekend we've scrapped plans to ride the Winter Solstice Audax in favour of taking part in Jonathon Emberton's Cragg Vale Spiral on Saturday (9am at the Robin Hood). It promises to be a good turnout from the Condor with not just the usual suspects but also Brian, Lumby, Mick White and one or two more pledging their selves (although admittedly they had drunk a few pints when they declared their intention) 

 

 

This also leaves Sunday free to pop into the Robin Hood at Pecket Well to take a look at Rileys Treat, 9am Denholmegate or 9.30 Keighley so we can get a few steady miles and a café stop in before getting to the Robin.



Sunday 14th and a few other bits

How's about a change of direction this Sunday with a ride out east - Fairburn - Tadcaster etc. Meet Sainsburys roundabout, Brighouse  9am,

Since Damien got his new Whyte a few weeks ago there has been much talk (or grumbling) about the weight of winter bikes. In order to put an end to speculation Oakworth Steve came equipped with his weighing scales on last Sundays ride with the results being -
1.  Padiham Chris   14.5 kg
2.  Damien   13.5 kg
3.  Oakworth Steve  12.5 kg
4.  Tauranga Bay Paul  12.5  kg
5.  Pete H  11 kg
6.  Nigel  10.5 kg
7.  Ian  10  kg
8.  Richard  9.8  kg
With a couple exceptions the speed of the bikes follow an identifiable pattern - the heavier they are the faster they go.

If you enjoy Audaxing and the Scottish landscapes you will enjoy this episode of The Adventure Show from BBC Scotland http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v5hh

Force GB have kindly prepared the above artwork for me for a jersey (any sort of jersey from a skinsuit through to a heavyweight winter thermal), based on our old 60's/70's club kit. If you fancy one let me know and I will put an order together - already got several names on the list.

A Few Updates

Thanks to Ian for last Sundays ride report, but I still believe that the B E & S sandwiches at Feizor are better than Airton, but never mind, it was another good day out and the tail wind up Cowling Pinnacle made the early soaking all worth while.

RIDE OUT LUNCH & AWARDS CEREMONY
It was decided at the AGM that this winter we would hold our awards ceremony as a  ride out lunch rather than an evening dinner/dance. Early January was mooted as a suitable time of year for the event and the Robin Hood at Cragg Vale have agreed to host the event with a Bernard Hinault style buffet on a Saturday or Sunday of our choosing. However a January date is problematic with several prominent members being away for the month cruising the Southern Hemisphere (as prominent members do) and another engrossed in preparation for assaults on National and World Cyclo-Cross titles............so we're looking at early February instead.

 THE ROUND ROBIN CRAGG SPIRAL
Its back - the 2nd running of this event, promoted by Cragg Velo's Jonathan Emberton.

 

Saturday 20th December

Second Running of ...

'The Round Robin Cragg Spiral'

75/50/25km and never more than 5 from the Robin Hood.
3 climbs of Cragg on the full route with 3 different return routes through the Sowerby Lanes.
9am start - Robin Hood, Cragg Vale

Food and social at the Robin after. 

Belter! 

More information from
Jonathan Emberton
07792900971
craggvelo@gmail.com

The shower and the lost sheep

Short version: we got wet at the start and lost the vicar at the end. A reduced group went to the Bay Horse in Oxenhope. 

Long version: Setting off from home the sun was breaking though nicely and the day was full of promise. Then I got to Fly Flats and saw the wall of black cloud (Pete will tell you that it was just a light shower) headed my way and I enjoyed a 'refreshing' descent into Keighley. Sadly I wasn't the only rider at the start so had to continue with the club ride. Padiham Chris, Richard, Nigel, Oakworth Steve, Paul 'rides every' Daly, Damien were all present and correct. Feizor was mentioned, and so was the fact that its December so we're not chuffing going there. A democratic decision was taken to head for Gargrave first and hope the Cononley-Carleton back road would get some warmth back in our fingers. It didn't. So we went over from Broughton to Gargrave too, with Airton being mooted as a suitable breakfast venue with only moderate dissent (Feizor was mentioned again I believe but the wind was quite strong so pretending not to hear worked adequately here).

Riding along with sodden gloves, frozen feet and a chill headwind I was looking forward to reaching the cafe and mis-using a state of the art patented hot air hand dryer. Paper towels! Never been so disappointed to see them. But then a posh joint like Airton has under-floor heating so the bacon and egg butties were dispatched slowly while at least getting some warmth into the toes.

The return route took us  nearly over Attermire until Pete could be redirected on the right road to Otterburn instead. I was all for the long way round via Gisburn but el capitains directed us instead on a reverse of Spring into the Dales and then via Elslack over Cowling pinnacle avoiding all main roads or heavy traffic - especially Keighley. Or at least it does unless you are a certain club member with limited directional recall facilities and head straight on when you should be turning right next to Oakworth cemetery. Your clubmates could then stand around for a while, or go looking for you, thinking that you might be in a heap by the side of the road, but find nothing. By the point contact was eventually established (by one of those new-fangled pocket telephone devices) the group had split up and the day was done. Pete kindly sent me a text from the pub about the time that I was cresting the radio mast on Nab Water Lane (av. 17%). Being disinclined to acquiesce to his suggestion that we backtrack to the bar, I carried on home for a warm shower before taking ale in the Caty wearing more suitable clothing (lycra in public houses hasn't been banned yet but possibly should be).

Finally a couple of pictures. The first is an 'outtake' from last week - its basically the same chaps standing around but I like the informality of this unposed snap. The second is to illustrate the horrors of riding in California. I had to suffer down this quiet and pretty coastal road with a howling tailwind for about 25 miles (its a short part of highway 1 which runs from San Francisco all the way down to LA).

Sunday 7th December

Meet 9am Denholmgate, 9.30 Keighley; where a democratic decision will be made regarding route and refreshments.

Ten Green Bottles - Barley and beer

This week's ride report contains a thank you, an apology and an enquiry.

First the thank you - to the chaps for waiting at the start for a few extra minutes while the last straggler turned up in Keighley (me). I'd loitered through town after seeing Richard Burnham going up Ingrow, and hence was late at the start. However Richard wasn't keeping warm waiting for the Denholme contingent to come through, like I'd thought, but turns out that a major mechanical had befallen our comrade and he'd been forced to retire DNK (Did Not reach Keighley). The first of our 'ten green bottles' had fallen.

Next the apology - to Pete (Smith) and Peter (Whitely), from all of us in the rest of the gang and especially Peter (Horne) - for setting such a furious pace at start which caused our two clubmates to turned for home on Cowling Hill! Please, please shout out next time and we will ease up. This is supposed to be the social season, after all. Two more of the green bottles had gone.

I've found that riding second-row is ideal in order to be sheltered but still within shouting distance of the pace-setters, and that I can slip down a couple of bike lengths over a crest while staying in contact with the group or at least reducing the catch-up work required. So do please try it again chaps. And talk to Peter the map-master general about designing us a route with fewer bleedin hills.

Now the intermission: a picture of Pendle Hill taken en route to our butty stop in Barley. Whilst I enjoyed the view here from the top, you will note that Barley can be reached from Blacko by other routes which involve clocking up fewer ascending meters on Strava, but these routes apparently can be discounted.

Seven of the Ten remain

Finally, the enquiry. I peeled off at Mytholmroyd and headed straight home with Nigel, rather than following the flock to The Cross Keys in Siddal. Having been away for a week recently I thought that putting in an appearance at home might be useful. Meanwhile, did the last 5 green bottles get suitably filled with beer? And who won the Imps freewheeling contest?

Addendum - from the last remaining Peter
There were just 4 green bottles left when Ian and Nigel abandoned us , Steve had taken a left at Hebden Bridge to return to the security of Bronteland via Cock Hill. Once rid of the Wainstalls Whippets, Paul, Chris, Damien and myself settled  into a steady pace for a potter up Scout Road enjoying a superb panorama over the Calder Valley bathed in a late autumn glow, a low sun creating long shadows enhancing the landscape and filling us with an exultation of spirit. So much so that instead of opting for the most direct route to our stated destination of the Cross Keys at Siddal we threw in a right turn and went over the tops to Hubberton and down to Triangle.
Not wishing to arrive at the pub too early we then sprinted up the Stirk Bridge climb to Norland (well Paul and Chris did the sprinting whilst I reminisced about the last time I raced up the hill in anger, whilst  taking part in the Condor RC Hill Climb in 1978) and Damien complained about his new bike being heavy.
We spent an hour with our friends from the Imps who had been well and truly thrashed in their own free-wheeling competition by the Batley CC. Whilst the Lancaster Bomber ale was spot on we soon tired of having our ears assaulted by the live band and tore Chris away from a new best friend to seek  fresh air and peace.
If you are in Siddal and live in Hipperholme the obvious route home is of course up Trooper Lane; Damiens response  showed maturity, and vision beyond his years. He simply responded 'I'm not going up f***ing Trooper Lane,' and headed off in the direction of Exley (sadly this was not the first time on the Sabbath that he had lowered the tone by using that and similar expletives). However, undeterred, I was happy to face the cobbles alone - I should have known Paul and Chris better than  to think they would allow me to enjoy the hill in my own splendid isolation, no, despite it being in totally the opposite direction to their homes they decided to accompany me - or to be more accurate they decided to sprint off like greyhounds from the starting gate and wait for me at the top smiling like Cheshire cats.

On a more serious note, as Ian has said, the early pace up Cowling Hill towards Black Lane Ends was far too fast for the time of year, in future weeks I hope we can show more discipline and ride together.