Inspiring stuff!

My first MTB race (SITS on a team) incorporating my first ever night ride, first go on MTB tandem, first CX race. Quite a few firsts… finding out you *can* do things is great :D

Life has had to be quite cheap this year so there’s been a lot of bike commuting and cycling day trips to keep me out of trouble. I think my favourite was cycling to Ilkley and back for a Yorkshire curd tart from Betty’s tea room (at 50 miles round trip I probably should have run to two…). None of the others had such quality cake.

Can’t work out how to post pics so you’ll just have to imagine the joys of the rainy Pennines on a CX bike… Now off to look up where everyone else has been and try and get there.

Hey Trio, another girl, that’ll be nice. Waving!

Weather today is pure slush with no redeeming features. Promises to warm up further. Proper mudfest on the horizon (on the ‘up’ side, the cobbles will be in if it’s not icy).

Whilst longer might be better for you, think of your poor bike… there were quite a few casualties last year :(

Weather update:

Todmorden

It should thaw and freeze a few more times between now and 2nd Jan… already an interesting encrusted ice surface (sounds like eating a Crunchie on max volume) concealing polished ice and puddles. But what you can’t see, doesn’t hurt you, does it?

Tod CX
Hit the North

er… that’s it.

Although bf is doing some mental all-the-steepest-climbs-in-the-lakes which means I’ll pootle along after him on training rides and consequentially will be a bit fitter. Maybe I should think of something to do with extra fitness. Any suggestions?

I’ve dropped off one of my bf’s old frames at Cyclerecycle and they make you fill in a provenance form so I don’t think they’d do anything deliberately dodgy.

Not sure how you get the police to investigate further though. I’d go to the Hebden Bridge News if you’ve not had any joy from them…

I’m aware that you’re an old woman. But that’s fine, you’re still doing 2 hours at HTN

I know, don’t remind me. It was a moment of madness.

PS I won’t be officially old until HTN… that’s another thing I don’t like to dwell on.

I hope you’re not calling *me* a young man. I’m the other category in with the vets ;-)

MTB welcome.

Every minute will be truly exquisite: embellished with mud and mounted on a tiny sliver of frost-bitten cobble for your delight and delectation. 40 will be a plentiful sufficiency. Honest.

We’re laying down a nice track for you. The weather gods did a test run today – three layer puddles consisting of mud then water topped with snow sprinkled ice crust interspersed with mud slushpuppy and little rivulets. All it needs is a good old mix with a hundred or so pairs of ‘cross wheels and it’ll be perfect.

I can only race if Chipps gets enough marshals – otherwise I will have to run the signing in as incompetently as I did last year. If there’s anyone out there who’d rather get hypothermia standing still than hypothermia from sliding down the icy mudchute he’s preparing, do let me know. You get food and tea and to marvel at the lunacy of it….

Contact police – some Singletrack test bikes were nicked and ended up on Ebay – the police were very helpful and assisted with the ‘buyer collects’ moment.

Every little thing that makes nicking bikes less attractive is a good thing.

Those are the rules? Why was I told they were here?

http://www.m-bike.org/blog/2011/11/29/1895-donts-for-women-riders/

Poor you. Don’t forget to set up your ebay watch (and gumtree etc). Stuff does show up – sometimes after a while when the thieves/fences think you might have forgotten:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cube-on-ebay

I was helping last year with the real Clover (apricot standard poodle) patiently taking the entries (she was patient, I was drafted in at the last minute and slightly clueless).

British Cycling video

Might have a go this year – although course is a bit intimidating (have done a three ‘cross races this year and turning up not knowing what the course is like helps – innocence is bliss till the warm up lap…).

:cry:

Hit the North entry? No?

…. maybe just me then :-)

PS I have asked for skills and base layers too…

Off to the physio with you. I got tight crampy calves and was told why (how my riding was causing them) and what to do to stop them getting like that. One session – bit of an investment but as I ride to work I didn’t want to break my ‘motor’.

I’ve done up from Lee to Cragg and back. The link’s fine – nice gravel track artistically arranged into curves with rocks for jumping off at regular intervals. Cragg is one big grin. Lee is more pick and choose as portly says.

Bacup tends to live up to its dim reputation for nickage. Don’t leave anything nice in view…

Last time I went to Gisburn I had a massive flat and got four lads into trouble with their wives ‘cos they stopped to help out. So don’t be doing that. :wink.

Seriously there’s a lot of opportunity for time loss faff in that. Two laps of all of Gisburn might be a bit optimistic in 2.5 hours unless you’re doing it at race pace (you can cut a bit out though if you run short of time and fire road out). Don’t forget to leave time to visit the Dog and Partridge in Tosside for flapjack and hot beverage (they have bike bits and a bike wash too).

The Lee / Cragg link sounds realistic although there are lots of routes round Lee so it depends on which you pick and how much time you spend in the middle of Lee messing around on the pump track and trying out the various drops and variations.

Interesting – I bimbled around behind BF mountain biking (quite like the view, have reasonable strength and base level fitness from farming so it’s nice to do) but have got fitter in the last six months because I’ve been riding to work and back as well – and I’ve lost a stone in weight.

It’s motivating me to get fitter and train (although I’m not entirely sure I’ve worked out how or what for – partly so that I can do stuff easily rather than struggling). I’ve also developed a ‘cross bike habit which is difficult to kick. That’s serious, isn’t it?

My physio did a session with Ed at Great Rock and loved it.

I’ve put it on my Christmas list…

Thanks for that. Full suss has been laid up for a bit and I’ve been very surprised at where you can take a cx bike. Sounds nice. Almost rideable from Todmorden… hmmm… maybe in the summer…

Valley miles count double. It’s a scientific fact.

Sorry to have missed it (hands note to teacher ‘she had to go cx racing in Bingley’) and hope to come next time. But what did you do to the weather? It was sunny in Todmorden when we left this morning…. :wink:

Hey Jase, you’ll have to come up north. We had latte and everything at the Bingley CX today. Anyone else there?

Muddy off-cambertastic and steps of doom for my third cx race. We left sunny Todmorden and were enveloped in mist for the rest of the day – usually the other way round.

There’s an excellent book about stroke and recovery written by a neurologist who had a bleed on the brain – it’s called ‘My stroke of insight’ by Jill Bolte-Taylor. Hope it helps.

The Business Link website has the quickest company set up – linked straight to Companies House.

I have just done one on there and it was a doddle (especially compared to years ago when you had to buy an off the peg and change it).

I did get our accountant to be our company secretary.

Cheap help – the Federation of Small Businesses – join and they have lawyers on hand to help clarify what your obligations (and rights) are. Not sure about insolvency but they’ve been great for queries about people not paying me. Also if you have HR issues… reading between other people’s lines.

VAT – contact HMRC and arrange to pay in instalments. I’ve done this once and it was not as horrific as I expected.

Stock – have a sale. It’s really hard not to buy one of everything (especially whilst you’re learning your customer and some of them do ask after things, you get them in and then they don’t buy them leaving you feeling most ‘annoyed’) and to get left holding things that noone wants. When it comes to the choice between not losing your business and not making what you expected on something the former is more important. Cash in your hand can then be used to make wiser choices even if the balance sheet isn’t as good.

Noone is having it easy at the moment. Surviving should make you proud.

I thought about this for a while – owing £40k might seem pretty ridiculous BUT I can see how it could happen if you start your own business. Which I have – and I wouldn’t recommend it in the climate.

You start business and take home next to nothing because you’ve set yourself x amount of time before you make money. Maybe you borrow to set up business – let’s say 5k.

You see the business grow (yippee) and you start to think ‘hurray I’ll soon be paying myself at a reasonable rate’.

But in the meantime you have a couple of horrid bills and stick them on the credit card to await that day (dental work for example, or the essential to everything car falls apart etc). Then the credit crunch happens. There’s a general wobble but it’s just a wobble (August – October 2008) isn’t it? So digging into the overdraft to pay essential bills is just a temporary measure. Isn’t it?

The problem is that the crunch has developed into a recession which has gone on and on – what might have been an excellent business plan five years ago can seem like pie in the sky these days. In discovering this you can end up with debts on many fronts (business and home) and then if any of them are on credit cards with interest at 20%+ it can suddenly get out of hand.

I’ve been lucky not to be in a similar position but I don’t think you *have* to be off the scale stupid to run up debts if you’re self-employed, just mildly over-optimistic. Which wouldn’t be noticed in a boom.

I could be wrong in this case but it’s not an automatic assumption.

Er… that was yesterday Elaine Anne and it was all fab and lovely – got up early to get London Road in before work.

I guess we’re in the same place as I got up early again today thinking it was all going to be the same then realised you couldn’t see Stoodley Pike for vertical drizzle so I commuted on the valley road into a blinding headwind. Ugh, it does throw it at us.

I ended up here by accident and I’d never been off-road on a bike until I got here so I’m not sure what it is except enjoyable.

Glad you like the route. I planned a couple more alternatives to choose from for this morning’s pre-work ride then I saw the tops and had a second breakfast… Hopefully days off – tomorrow and Tuesday – will be better.

Got up early to do shepherding then off-road to work… could not resist the tops and shaved 5 mins off my CX best for the London Road bit of the Mary Townley loop. That’s 5 mins more to rub mud off face before opening shop to the discerning ladies of Hebden Bridge :D

Great stuff! Did you do the MT loop after all?

Oh no, you’ve got me bike stalking now…

I borrow my ‘cross bike and spend way too much time playing ‘when I get my own bike’… just throw paraffin on that fire, why don’tcha?

Hope you’re having fun as promised rain has not shown up. I turned up at work with an interesting ‘freckle’ pattern from the bit of the Mary Townley splatterfest which is my off-road alternative fun route.

You are unlikely to be beaten up in the Polished Knob (opposite the market) and there’s probably a band on right now. Up Water Street (if you stand opposite the Town Hall with the roundabout to your left it’s the little cobbled road behind you) there is the Three Monkeys which is diverse beers from little breweries downstairs and an excellent Thai upstairs.

Routes? My current ‘cross fave is from Mankinholes to Hebden over London Road, out of Hebden on the Keighley Road and down the Haworth Old Road, right at the bottom of the hill up a nice sharp track then flying down towards Hebden until you hit gravel – if you go left you end up in Hebden, right and you climb back towards Widdop coming out near the Mary Townley. You can do a few miles of it back into Hebden or Tod. Max 20 miles and only takes a couple of hours though, not an all dayer.

We’re probably going out on Sunday morning and you’d be welcome to join us but I have to be in Hebden by 11.30 for work :(

Hey Sue,

Our house is way too big to (I bought it by accident – long story) and the people who’ve lodged here over the last few years would make a great novel.

Mostly comedy although the last one had a habit of coming home drunk, playing loud music at 1am and then (after we’d flipped the fuse to his room because repeated requests to shut the f*ck up were ignored) sidling into the kitchen first thing in the morning trying to work what misdemeanors he’d committed (he didn’t remember). Don’t get one of those.

The drystone waller, artist(s), festival organiser (and dog), Ghanaian princess and ex-nun have all been great value.

In fact, we’re a bit low on lodgers at the mo – anyone want a room in mtb friendly house in the Calder Valley?

Friday just got better… :-)

Do it. Then you’ll have done it. Like a rite of passage…

It’s not very technical but there are some decently pretty bits to reward the long grinds and slog. I can imagine that it’s interminable pain on a claggy day but we had the last day of summer and it was ace.

The Todmorden Cycle Club… last seen in 1893. Maybe you’d like to revive it? :wink:

Your hill climbing ability will improve. There is no option.

Lee and Cragg Quarry are on your doorstep too if you’re up by the 20th there’s a ride being organised (on another thread) – it’ll be a blast.