Green with envy. Sulk,sulkOriginally Posted by Marco
...has seen my weight balloon to 61kg
Green with envy. Sulk,sulk...has seen my weight balloon to 61kg
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 03-02-2021 at 01:48 PM.
Yesterday an out and back on the Arkose. Down to Youlgreave and up to Middleton, Gratton, Elton and Winster before a bit of an off road slog up a rutted lane, with 4 gates to lift the bike over, to within 150 yds of the TP at Blakelow Hill. Finally two barbed wire fences to roll under to reach the TP. Won't be going there again in a hurry.
Back under the fences, over the gates and down the rutted lane again onto a less rutted lane before the relief of tarmac. Having been on road tyres recently being back on the Arkose with its knobblies is such hard work. Back home by the same route in reverse.
Only 21 miles, 4 of them off road, and 2'497 feet in a tortoise like 2hrs 2 min. Had to don the old waterproof top on the return as it started to rain, not very hard but icily cold. No other cyclist seen.
Last edited by Llani Boy; 04-02-2021 at 12:01 PM.
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
When you started on this Trig Point endeavour, I was thinking that a lot of trig points are on private land, well away from PROWs, and how were you going to visit these? Now I know. Do you have a plan for when you encounter an angry farmer or gamekeeper with a shotgun?
Good question.
My strategy is that if the TP is on land that is obviously part of a particular farm I seek permission. If no one is around I will still proceed, without trying to hide, and if I see a farmer, rather than try and avoid them, I approach and try and engage them. This has worked on the few occasions I have had to use it.
This plan of action was learned on approaching farmers in Mid and North Wales in the 70's and 80's, and some of them were VERY angry, especially around Dinas Mawddwy, Dolgellau and Bala!
As for "this Trig Point endeavour" my little challenge has finished but I have decided to see how many different ones I can visit this year as a bit of motivation and to run/cycle/walk some different routes.
Last edited by Llani Boy; 04-02-2021 at 03:08 PM.
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
With a manageable wind blowing this morning I went out on the Arkose. Tarmac to Chelmorton and then a snow and ice covered HPT. The majority of it was very ridable with a light dusting of new snow covering the frozen crisp slush underneath. Only two hitches, the first was ploughing into a drift, which I did not see, and coming to an abrupt halt from 15mph with snow up to my knees but I managed to stay upright. The second was my rear brake not working which I only found out after 6 miles. It was OK when I set off but I think it had frozen and it was too cold to mess about with the disc and pads.
Down the HPT to Parsley Hay and then the Tissington Trail to Biggin and up Cardlemere Lane back over to the HPT and back up to Parsley Hay and then a retrace of my route back home.
A total of 35 miles, 12 tarmac/23 trail, and 1,841 feet in 2hrs 54min. Very cold and only 4 people, one set of bike tracks and one of skis seen.
The interesting thing about the bike tracks that I followed for a few miles was that I was thinking that the rider had really skinny tyres for such conditions. My Cyclokings are 35mm. However on my way back up the HPT I picked up another set of skinny tyre tracks and suddenly realised that they were mine. I was amazed at how narrow a track my 35mm tyres were leaving in the snow. The original tracks that I had been following were probably made with a tyre width similar to mine!
Last edited by Llani Boy; 09-02-2021 at 05:25 PM.
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
I enquired of my Bianchi shop when I could book my bike in for a fine-tune. The answer was that you drop it off and three weeks later you might hear something, if we have the parts, and with the increasing difficulty in that regard our advice is the sooner the better.
So, mind concentrated, off I set down to Woodrups of Kirkstall under a clear sky. I thought it was cold (it was actually several degrees below freezing) but that was a pleasant memory when it started hailing. It was 15.5 miles and I returned home using two buses and was reminded again that once your core is cold even being on a bus doesn't warm you up. What did warm me up was walking the last mile to my house but walking the other 15.5 miles did not occur to me until too late. I must make a note for next year
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 09-02-2021 at 06:33 PM.
If you get your bike back by then!I enquired of my Bianchi shop when I could book my bike in for a fine-tune. The answer was that you drop it off and three weeks later you might hear something, if we have the parts, and with the increasing difficulty in that regard our advice is the sooner the better.
So, mind concentrated, off I set down to Woodrups of Kirkstall under a clear sky. I thought it was cold (it was actually several degrees below freezing) but that was a pleasant memory when it started hailing. It was 15.5 miles and I returned home using two buses and was reminded again that once your core is cold even being on a bus doesn't warm you up. What did warm me up was walking the last mile to my house but walking the other 15.5 miles did not occur to me until too late. I must make a note for next year
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
I remember that when I was given my first bicycle, I was warned that if I used my front brake without first applying the rear brake I risked going over the handlebars. More than 50 years later, I still always apply the rear brake first.
That's what my dad always taught me. Is it not true?
I bought my Cube 29er from a European web site as it was about £30 cheaper than buying in the UK. Of course I didn't realise that the brake levers would be the opposite way round to the standard UK setup with the rear on the left. Hydraulic disc brakes are not the easiest things to maintain yourself so I kidded myself it would be ok. A near miss of going over the handlebars on a steep downhill proved otherwise and so a trip to the local bike shop was in order which subsequently cost a lot more than the money I saved on the purchase. Lesson learnt.
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