War of the Roses…

Photo courtesy of Neil Hendry

Photo courtesy of JoozeD

Sounds and smells akin to a scrabbling team of liniment smeared horse’s waft through the cobbled enclave, as floundering footed racers search for grip.  The essentially simple task of hooking a stud or cleat into a greasy sett, and levering oneself inch by inch up the hill, and ahead of your nearest rival, seems insurmountable at times, and an experience I will not forget in a hurry. 

I refer to the infamous ‘Chimney’ – an approximately 100m long, near vertical (it felt like it to me at least!!) cobbled climb, which was doable for the top boys and girls, but a real test to the rest.  The gruelling course threw everything it could at the riders – I say riders, but for large sectors of the very muddy loop, terms such as joggers, walkers, sloggers or draggers may be more fitting.  It’s difficult not to use the old ‘No Man’s Land’ cliché, but I find it difficult to come by words more fitting.

 

To continue the War theme further, and fully expose my very limited historical knowledge, I understand Todmorden to have had a long history of battles between flamboyantly dressed Lancastrians and Yorkshire People and, judging by the turn  out the other Sunday this, now thankfully peaceful tradition, is set to continue.

Todmorden provided a brilliant course and a brilliant day out, oh and a free Duvel to boot.  Roll on next year.

Cheers

Cobble hunting...



Felt like I might have been losing my touch......

Cobble balance restored.

Majoring on tubs...

Jonathan Day who runs Strada Hand Built Wheels is already signed up as a Belgian and you could do worse than to check out his cross and cobble specific wheelset - the Major Tom.

I'm testing a pair at the moment (and Dave Haygarth has a disc specific pair when I get my gluing act together).

Anyways, if you are thinking of going tubular or getting a purpose designed and built tub wheelset for cross, then I would highly recommend them.

Review here  

2 more events this Spring

Hot on the heels of Olly and his Spring in the Peak Audax info, and without wishing to detract from what will be a great day out on the bike, can I offer the following events for your delectation?

First up, and also run by one of our own merry band, Jason Miles, comes Hit the North.



Held on 12th February, I am told entries are almost full for this cross/29er/mtb extravaganza. So hurry!

A new course this year, evenly balanced so as not to favour cross nor mtb, this 2 hour ride/social/race (delete as applicable) offers 2 hours of unfeasibly good off-road fun, with a laidback Northern vibe including local delicacies in the form of Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and a full brass band to play you round the venue. Highly recommended and easy to get to using the Manchester motorway network.

Details for Hit the North are here

Secondly, by way of an advance heads up and plug for my own informal ride, back by popular demand - the Ronde van Oost Lancashire. Born out of the frustrations of not being able to get to Flanders every year, this pays homage to the cobbles and feel of the classic Ronde van Vlaanderen, but without the need for a boat (for UK Belgians at least).





This year it is on the same day as the Ronde Sportive, Sat April 2nd. Turn up, ride, and enjoy the pave. Last year we had 35 or so - this year I am expecting considerably more...

Details here

And big thanks to Duncan for the artwork for the Ronde poster. Class.

Tod Cross

Nick, Rich, Mark FM, Alan (Crossjunkie) and Mark Turner chew the fat after a tough Tod race.

They were aided and abetted in various forms by Dave and Phil Haygarth, Andrew McHugh, Steve Cavell, Carl Nelson, Jason Miles, Richard Seipp (see here), Simon Fox and Sunny doing his taptiming thing. Oh and soon to be Belgian and visitor from Dublin, Greg May and his partner Pauline.

Duncan did the artwork for the posters and cunningly didn't ride, and Jo Allen took photos with her spangly new camera.

All in all, I suggest that is a pretty good turn out at a single race, for an outfit that 18 months ago had 2 members. Pat yourself on the back Dunc - it was you that dunnit.

The Cobbles of Doom didn't disappoint and Dave H had a good crack at winning the magnum of Blue Chimay in the Vets. Alan and Rich's end of season celebrity deathmatch was a bit of damp squib as Rich had a technical early on the first lap and dropped significant time to Al who wasted no time in disappearing off. Inconclusive result there - to be revisited at Hit the North?





http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanglebads/sets/72157625738880276/

Race reports and vids here

Happy New Year to all and may 2011 be as Belgian as you wish for.

Mostly Mary Townley

Here's the juice on mine and Mark's mid week adaption of the classic off road Mary Townley Loop, part of the Pennine Bridleway and traversing around East Lancashire and Calderdale's finest hills:

7 hours out and about - 6 1/2 riding time

Temperature - 24 degrees, wind - nah. It felt hot. Damn hot.



Liquid intake - insufficient leading to a begging at nearest house water incident.



Chips and mayo? Oh yes.



Leffe on draught? Passed up, just.

Getting lost and having an inadvertant but pleasant adventure? De riguer for this sort of thing.



Suitability of cross bike for a mostly off road and rocky 50 miler? Adequate but a little harsh on long stretches of uneven packhorse sets with 65psi.



Longest stretch of cobbles ever ridden outside of Flanders? Up from Watergrove Reservoir, near Whitworth, nearly a mile long, in the middle of nowhere and going nowhere. Bizarre.



Tan/dust lines and salt stains on clothing? Guaranteed.

Travels and travails in Roubaix

Gary is a 'Belgian' through and through. OK so he seems to sport a bewildering array of 'other' jerseys, eschewing the classic monochrome look for the most part, but we will forgive him for that - he's one of our own at heart.

I had the privilege of riding the Flanders sportive 2 years ago with Gary (far left) - he's one of those lithe, lean effortless type riders packing a climber's genetics and the technique to match. He dropped me on every climb and rode the hardest cobbles with style and grace when all around were losing theirs. If they had any to start with. Impressive stuff.

Come to think of it, that Flanders trip was a proto Belgians affair really, with Winkie making up the trio, and all now signed up Belgians members.

Gary went off to complete his double of Classics monuments last weekend with possibly the hardest one day ride on the globe for amateurs - the Paris Roubaix Sportive.

Here are some of his random recollections, preceeded by the text I got on Sunday night after he finished:

Oh. My. God. Words can't describe how hard that was. Torrential rain, blazing sun, had it all.

- Seeing Rob's quick release open after a particularly bad section of pave. Scary.

- Riding all of 100 yards on Saturday and wondering whether I'd be able to finish that section never mind the whole thing.

- The detritus of bottles, tubes, pumps at the start of the Inchy pave.

- Researching who Jean Stablinski was/is.

- Looking back at the Arenberg trench and getting shivers down my spine. That was mainly the cold, but it was exciting too.



- Seriously considering the possibilities of dying in the thunder and lightning in a northern French industrial estate.

- Thinking that the pave couldn't get any worse and then hitting the l'Arbre section and almost ceasing any forward motion.

BUT...

- That moment of turning into the velodrome and onto the track... was possibly the greatest cycling moment I've ever experienced. The only slight scare was when I went way high on the track and for one second thought I might go skidding down the banking after hitting one of those ads.

I didn't. It was f*cking ace.

The use of the big ring and an inscrutable expression riding through the chaos of the Arenberg have been duly noted. Chapeau. We shall call you Flahute. Like it says on our new jerseys. I think.

Romiley Floubaix

Duncan had been planning this for weeks. A collection of snatched walks with the dog, forays on motorbike and then some pioneering efforts by bike.....


Floubaix? Well, take the short sharp cobbled climbs of Flanders, add in some classic Cheshire lanes and gravel tracks (including strada bianchi) and sprinkle liberally with some ancient Roubaix-esque pave. There you have it - Floubaix.

Romiley Floubaix

Map your trip with EveryTrail

Update: here comes the link

I think we all needed a bit of soul riding this weekend - coffee, chat and chilling round this great area. Dunc led myself and Mark round the route that, despite my previous and considerable knowledge of the area, yielded some absolute gems for the connoisieur. He found us a petit Arenberg, so rough that it has claimed several of Dunc's bottle cages on recce and a full blown, arrow straight grand Arenberg that is the closest thing to Northern France's finest you will ever find in this country. Riding on Dunc's wheel down these 16th Century cobbles, seeking out the centre ridge, for a moment I glimpsed what must the nerve shredding intensity of Roubaix, dodging the holes from missing cobbles, fighting to keep the bike straight, trying to relax amongst it all.

Like my Ronde, though only around 40 miles in length, this route wears you down with cobble, gravel and lots of up and down. No big climbs, but a hard parcours nonetheless. It flows beautifully, assuming you know where you are going, making great use of the small features as well as the overall landscape. We finished with latte and carrot cake in a great cafe in Marple Bridge, watching the elegant young ladies of well-heeled Cheshire going about their ritual Saturday shopping.

Oh, and if you like checking out how the other 2% live, then there are properties all over the shop that redefine the word 'mansion'.



PS Take some fat tires with you - your bike and bum will thank you.

Soul Ride Saturday...

Simply put, we're* going for a loop around some of Cheshire's finest secret spots, unpaved, gravel, broken and a healthy dose of cobble (at least 10 sectors of cobble squire!). A leisurely pace for a few hours soul riding. Catchups and laughter mandatory. Join us if you fancy it, 30 - 40 miles, a couple of hours or more. Social.

Were riding through Romiley (here) at around 10.30 a.m. Two cafés there if you're coming along, grab a coffee keep an eye out for us.

Last word. I have a petit Arenburg, proceed with caution. Lightweight carbon equipment may quake with fear, dress your bicycle accordingly.

*(we - Me, Crossjunkie, Mark Sportsart)