Mills Hills cx sportive for me tomorrow:

http://www.mytriclub.co.uk/mills-hills-sportive-14th-october/

£15 for a 30 mile loop and a pie seems good value… I’m sure my last hour long soaking and splattering cost that and there was no pie.

CX for me. Hurray!

We did one of those. Once. I think whiskey for the stoker should be mandatory. :D

Nah, it’s a date machine. My bf won me over by lending me an Ibis mojo. You could try it, southshore.

Still my favouritest bike. Bf not bad either. :D

Ace! What is the collective noun for tandems? Cacophony? Flotilla? rabble?

Adult discussion tandem? Look forward to hearing about that.

I don’t think I have had an adult discussion on an tandem. I could provide a list of non-adult words used though, many completely lacking in consonants…

Hope to see you next month!

Is there anyone else out there who just can’t stop eating? I got back on my bike today and my legs shuddered. Might have had a Jens Voigt moment… :-)

Ah Sam, Craig and Kirsty were there for you. I’m very glad as, in the event, Kirsty saved me on Pen y Ghent lane with bars which got me to the top. Cheers!

My first 3 Peaks. My first cycling blog… reading everyone else’s I am increasingly grateful that I finished at all here

Sounds ace. Any pics?

Maybe they’ll make it a different date to the Three Peaks next year so I can do both.

That really was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

The fabulous ease of carrying the superlight bike I borrowed was somewhat offset by deep rims and the ‘windsurfer effect’. I was scared to carry at some points in case it took me over the edge.

Thanks to the people who picked me up after the comedic ‘I can’t stop moment’ which took me otb on Whernside. Loved Ingleborough and the Pen y Ghent pond though. It’s really weird how you don’t feel the wet and the pain until it’s over. It’s really quite hard to move now though!

I really wanted to do this as it looks ace so was gutted when they changed the date – I have an entry for the Three Peaks (yey!) and it’s the same day.

We live above Walsden train station and it’s 29 minutes to Manchester Victoria. Trails out the door. Small and sleepy. Compared to the fleshpots of Todmorden just a mile down the road.

Like a kid at Christmas! I will be on a borrowed bike which is currently still in bits but otherwise kind of prepared.
Ish.
:D

waders
:(

Would love to but sadly am stuck at London Fashion Week. Grrr.

If you check out the results sections you might spot that a well-known (around these parts), Todmorden-based mtb magazine editor likes his regular cx fix too….

Not just that, he also organises the Tod one (next one December 30th). It’s all his fault that I’m a believer…

Probably trailed around in your wake a few times Sanity Assassin as I am proud if I get above lower third – I managed six of the summer series this year.

I think I do it because I don’t try that hard or go that fast under any other circumstances and I think it’s made me go faster in general.

You need to come to God’s own country[/url]. We have a winter and a summer season series … it’s great and not just playing fields.

There’s also the 3 Peaks (entries closed now, try next year), Hell of the West and Mills Hills[/url] which promises to be great.

Not quite sure why I love cyclocross so much – it hurts *a lot* but when it’s fast it’s very fast and it makes me giggle.

I am a convert to Belgium. And the Daily Mail*

I used to be much more ‘cyclists need to be super aware, use the correct equipment and be responsible’ etc… then I spent a week cycling in Belgium and it was just so nice.

The rules are that bikes have priority everywhere in urban areas and if anyone comes to grief it’s the car drivers’ fault, end of. Hardly anyone wears a helmet. So many people cycle. It’s not a lifestyle choice or province of the fit or keen, it’s just something most people do, like walking. Which has got to be a good thing.**

*ok, just this once, it’s a great article
** car on car on motorways Belgians seem hell bent on annihilation but that’s another story

Just a hug from me. That sounds horrible.

Please stop drinking. There are some people who just turn into something else on alcohol. My ex used to drink, get grumpy then nasty and then would behave as though nothing had happened in the morning. Even if you know (or hope) they don’t mean it it gets you down eventually. And telling me that it was because we were close that he’d lash out was not (as I realised after years of feeling crushed) a compliment. It just made me miserable.

Everyone is different but if you’re ‘moody’ when you drink, it’s best avoided because you lose perspective on yourself and maybe don’t realise how you come across.

Lots of people have said what to do on here. You’ve got to find a load of strength to do it. All the best.

Speak for yourself… a kilo is definitely more than 1% of me on a cx bike. One of the reasons I love cx riding.

[shuts up before she starts an iDave-BMI-what did you have for breakfast thread]

I love living in Tod (well, Walsden). Most places are nice as long as you go up off the valley bottom just a little bit. It’s easy to cycle round here – I cycle to Hebden daily, quite often off road. There’s a good mix of people – yes there are those who’ve never really been out of the valley but there are enough people from different walks of life to make for decent socialising and some great friends. If you land here, give us a shout!

Currently being checked out for similar symptoms too. Apparently can be down to all sorts of things and so get checked!

I have cut down the vast amount of tea I drink to one or two a day, lowered the gears on my bike (didn’t notice for ages that there was a reason that the new cyclocross bought for my 40th seemed absurdly hard up the Wrynose Pass) and seem fine.

Blood tests showed up incredibly low vitamin D and anaemia and I think that supplements to sort this are helping too. For some reason my suggestion of EPO and a training camp in Tenerife have fallen on deaf ears.

Ah, those were different lines than the ones I chose skittered down on my bike. Guess that’s why I was a minute slower… :oops:

Thanks for posting.

I think 7 people did the hill climb. Including a bloke who basically bunny hopped up the very last steep bit as far as I could see from the bottom. Well impressive.

For me the downhill was the limit of my capabilities – glad to have got a time at all as I offed on my second run. But the XC was an ace course – only ever done laps on 24 hour race courses before so this was much more fun (although actually I am better at grinding out climbs at a reasonable pace than anything else it’s nice to find something hard and still do it). V pleased with being on the podium :D

Were you the bloke practising on the climb out of the quarry before the trials? He was on a borrowed Rocket. I was on a white ibis also practising. I didn’t make it up the climb but I did the see-saw and the log… confirming that I can cycle in a straight line but not much else…

The air ambulance was what was sent when mountain rescue called for an ambulance. A non-racer did his face quite a bit of damage, not life threatening but needing patching up.

Well done the people who got the ducks!

It was great! I was proper in two minds about racing but chuffed that I did.

Did anyone get any pictures of my ‘most sketchy descent into the arena’? I practiced the line but when it came to it I missed it completely and was lucky to land upright. :oops:

I had serious tandem envy when I saw it! They were ace. In fact the whole thing was ace. I haven’t done many races but that one was a proper shove beyond the comfort zone and it was good to do. :D

Don’t know about wet but judging by the 500 tonnes of rubble washed into Hebden off the tops after today’s little flood-ette, they may well be a different shape by now.

More cyclocross. Yey! Although trying to work out how it will be run – on laps or time?

Oooh, interesting, can I come? My ‘training’ went down the pan this weekend what with trying to help clear up after the floods in Hebden.

You’re right. I’ve been helping the clean up in the valley and it’s pretty horrendous in Tod, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd. Coming back from Mayhem is a bit of a case of out of the frying pan into the fire.

Er, not all of it. Organic House and Watergate tearooms are open. Mooch, Copa House, the Deli shut. Cafe Solo not affected but shut to help mates – don’t know whether she’ll open tomorrow. Cafe Cali looked shut. Some of the shops on the square didn’t have electricity today – but might be ok tomorrow.

Blazing Saddles is open.

Ring ahead?

Spent the day cleaning shops on Market St. Horrendous mud in many shops but I don’t think that’ll necessarily be the same on all the trails.

There are quite a few cafes closed – some that don’t seem badly affected otherwise still had no power. Lovely Copa House will need a full refit but Organic House across the road was fine (kitchen upstairs, minimal water). Mooch shut but the Watergate Tearooms open. Country stores which does pasties on the square was open.

If you need a nice knitted shrug Makepiece was just above the tide mark. However despite opening today only had people in interested in discussing our near miss rather than buying anything…

Walsden (how can you not heard of our famous chippy??) is ok now although there’s a lot of clear up to be done. I’ll post you a pic of the railway line later which was unbelievable, RustyS. Tony’s famous flood sale? There’s a rather delicious thought.

I’m just heading into Hebden where my shop survived by a whisker but Blazing Saddles and many others are in need of a mop. Blazings’ flood sale…. hmmmm another thought….

Road’s shut in Walsden…

[/url]
IMG_2382[/url] by BeateKubitz[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Book it now!

I’m aiming to get out on Sunday – stockpiling the rain gear. Where are you riding?

Did I imagine that somewhere on this list there’s mention of a Ramsbottom Brewery Ride on Sunday?

Hi, Solarpowered, by the way… give me a shout if you want to go round Lee Quarry and want company – I live in Todmorden and ride in the area with a couple of other girls (and boys* sometimes too). *They probably think of themselves as rugged manly blokes though.

If you’re happy to take the blame GrahamS, I am willing to give it all to you.

I crumbled and drove in today due to raining stairrods and a huge grey low cloud blanket with no respite in any direction. Then I spent the drive wondering how much capitulating to rainy days and driving in adds to my carbon footprint and our increasingly chaotic weather patterns…