Combing my hair….

Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset is famous for being the location of this Hovis advert from the 1970′s. It is the first ride listed in the excellent 50 Quirky Bike Rides by Rob Ainsley. Rob suggests cycling down Gold Hill as in the advert, I wouldn’t recommend it. Far less risky to try cycling up. If you do try, I suggest:

1. Attack the hill on the tarmac section, so you have enough speed to keep going on the cobbles – this is where I think I went wrong

2. Aim to put more than 23 mm of rubber on the road – this also did not help

Anyway, chapeau to Tim who made it despite a wrong turn near the top.

Of the 50 rides in Rob Ainsley’s book I have done only two others: cycling across the Humber Bridge (boing boing) and through the Ashbourne tunnel on the Tissington Trail (echo echo). But I will be trying some of the others. A book well worth getting.

For about two years people on the Sheffield Forum have been debating which is the steepest street in Sheffield. Blake Street is apparently the winner. Definitions matter, it is the steepest street (ie with houses along it) but other roads may be steeper. Anyway, today I thought I would see how difficult it was. The answer, not very difficult. It is steep, but it is not particularly long, so the cumulative effect of oxygen debt doesn’t have a chance to build up.

Andy posted this photograph with the title ‘Gareth riding French Style’. It took me a while to work it out. Was it that I was sat down? That I had my hands together on the bars? The fully unzipped jacket? The vague whiff of garlic from last night’s snails? Nope, simply the fact that I was on the wrong side of the road.

The full series is viewable here.

Bad news from yesterday’s ride; Paul, Peter’s son, broke his arm in the chute. Hopefully it will be a quick mend and will not put him off.

With the news full of reports about air travel chaos the Sunday CTC ride took us past Abney and its Gliding Club, a favourite climb (4 miles, average gradient 5% with as short stretch of 16%). On the way back through the oddly named Foolow we were closely overflow by a Curlew pair. I have never seen these birds so close up before and of of course I didn’t have my camera with me. Luckily I found this fabulous photo on flickr by Gidzy

No anyone familiar with Manchester and Sheffield will know that there is a range of hills in-between. Now you wouldn’t want to ride your fixed up the Snake Pass. Maybe Joseph Lobato has the answer. Or maybe not. But I liked the video when I saw it on Bikesnob NYC, so here it is here.

Profile for the CTC mystery ride - to lunch time.

OK so it wasn’t the Tormalet, but 18 hardy individuals set off on the Sheffield CTC Christmas Mystery Ride last Sunday. For me is was a first chance to really stretch the legs and open the lungs for about a month due to ‘building work’ at home. It was a clever route devised by Alison Marsh with two significant climbs, one immediately on leaving Sheffield was followed by the descent along Froggatt Edge. The second came out of Beeley and was one of those climbs that made you feel alive – 3.7 km and an average gradient of 6% it was great to settle into a rhythm and feel warm, genuinely warm for the first time that day.

After a superb lunch of soup, sandwiches, cake and Christmas pudding with 4 cups of tea at the Cafe Nostalgia which had been booked out for Sheffield and Bolsover CTC groups, it was downhill all the way home (well nearly and in a good way)

Tony Gore on his Airnimal heading for the Col de Sarenne

In a discussion in yesterday’s Guardian Bike Blog about car free cities, dan1973 used the single word ‘Sheffield’ to start a comment about the limitations of the idea.

That the car will always reign supreme in hilly places, is a popular misconception it seems to me. While it is true that some of the UK’s flat cities are also the places where there there is the highest concentration of cyclists, it is also true that Read the rest of this entry »

Nigel Bennett on Pea Royd Lane

Sunday saw us on Pea Royd Lane for the National Hill Climb Championships. It was a good field with some 150 competitors and Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday saw me on the CTC ride organised by Tony Gore. Described as 70 miles and classified as hard, the profile lived up to the description

Fortunately Winnats is not quite vertical

It was a fabulous ride with some stunning views across the Peaks. Read the rest of this entry »

The Roaches, viewed from the west

While Julia settled down to a day reading a PhD thesis, I set off for the Autumn in the Peak Audax. This is one of my favourite rides. Starting from Bamford the route wends its way west Read the rest of this entry »