Pendle Pedal 2008

ColinJ
ColinJ Posts: 2,218
edited July 2008 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
Online entries for the Pendle Pedal 2008 now being accepted here.

I've signed up for it again. I must be a glutton for punishment - check out the thread for last year's event here :shock: .

In case any of you are tempted by the optional trek over Salter Fell this year, take a look at this. More suited to MTBs methinks and 100 miles on knobblies is a bit much!

Comments

  • vermooten
    vermooten Posts: 2,697
    Is it the same route as before Colin?
    You just have to ride like you never have to breathe again.

    Manchester Wheelers
  • ColinJ
    ColinJ Posts: 2,218
    vermooten wrote:
    Is it the same route as before Colin?
    As far as I can make out it is the same gentle rolling hills as the past couple of years ( :wink: ), though there will be a...
      "New start and finish this year at the Rolls Royce Sports Ground, Barnoldswick to coincide with the return of the Pendle Cycle Fest"
      I'm going to make a real effort to get my weight down and sort out my dodgy back this year because that route takes no prisoners! I want a minimum of 1 hour off my time and preferably nearer to 2 hours. That would put me about halfway down the finishers rather than 191st out of 196!
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      Luuurve the entry form ! http://www.pennineevents.co.uk/document ... Form08.pdf

      That lot on the second page look lost, and that woman on the last page...!

      (- I think she came 190th, Colin !)
    • ColinJ
      ColinJ Posts: 2,218
      andy_wrx wrote:
      Luuurve the entry form ! http://www.pennineevents.co.uk/document ... Form08.pdf

      That lot on the second page look lost, and that woman on the last page...!

      (- I think she came 190th, Colin !)
      Now, now - we are supposed to be encouraging people to go out on bikes, not laughing at them :wink: !

      Having said that, I wasn't too happy at coming in behind some of the people I saw out on the road. I couldn't believe the size of one or two who managed to get over those hills better than me. Good for them, but a bit disheartening for me... :?

      I've invested in a Swiss ('Gym') ball and have some very handy-looking back/core exercises to do which should sort my back problem out over the next few months. My legs can handle far more punishment than my back and a long hilly ride really gets to me. After such a ride I'd have no problem walking up and down stairs, but my damn back is usually so bad that I can't even pick my bike up (it weighs about 20 pounds).
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      Ah, take the rack off, Col.

      Or don't ride Hebden Bridge over the tops to Burnley, do the Pendle Pedal, ride back home again and wonder why you feel knackered ?


      I'm going to see a nice woman (she sounded nice over the phone but I've been on her wesite since and seen her picture, which was disappointing...) about some pilates exercises on Weds, with intention of strengthening my core/back.
      It's getting better and I'm back to being able to do Half Marathons again, but still a pain (literally) on long car journeys, flights, etc and sitting at a desk all day.

      And because the bikeshop removed all the spacers and cutdown the steerer, the Roubaix is a bit lower at the front than the winter bike, so I found I needed the stem upside down last year if I was doing over 50 miles - the logo's thus the wrong way up and that offends my tidy mind, so let's see if I can beef-up the back...
    • ColinJ
      ColinJ Posts: 2,218
      edited February 2008
      andy_wrx wrote:
      Ah, take the rack off, Col.
      It doesn't add that much to the weight of the bike until I actually put things on it - maybe a pound or so. It's really handy for carrying food, extra drinks, a rain jacket etc. I'd rather carry them on the rack than on me.

      I'd ride my Cannondale on long hilly warm-weather rides if I was light and fit enough to cope with its 39/29 bottom gear. That's 26% harder than the 30/28 bottom gear on my Basso and at the moment I think it's worth the extra 5 pounds or so of bike weight to have that low gear option. I can't afford to change the gearing on the Cannondale, and anyway, I should get fit enough not to need the really low gears soon. When I bought the Cannondale I was happy to do hilly centuries on it.
      andy_wrx wrote:
      Or don't ride Hebden Bridge over the tops to Burnley, do the Pendle Pedal, ride back home again and wonder why you feel knackered ?
      I don't mind getting tired - I think it is quite natural to feel drained after 200 km of cycling and 4,000 or so metres of steep Pennine climbing!

      What really bugs me is the back pain. I love to be a bit of an animal on the bike, the trouble is, at the moment I'm a wounded animal :cry: ! I don't have a serious back injury, it's all down to stiffness and lack of strength. I've done enough cycling now to know that doing more cycling isn't going to fix the problem - the more I do, the worse it gets. I need to do appropriate exercises off the bike to stretch/strengthen the offending areas.

      Anyway Andy, if you don't have anything in your diary for 31st May come along for my next forum ride and see what bike I'm on! If it is the Cannondale, it'll mean that I'm feeling good. I'm waiting until nearer the time to start a thread about the ride, but briefly, it will be a 50 mile loop in the Forest of Bowland, with an optional 50 mile loop from Mytholmroyd attached to it. I'll be riding 25 miles to the start of the main ride and then 25 miles back. Most people will probably opt for the FoB 50 miler, but one or two have already indicated that they might join me for the full century.
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      Tempting...
      I'm doing White Rose Classic on Sun 8th June, so perhaps won't want to cripple myself wit hthe Century, but a tough 50 the week before might be a good idea.

      I'll probably do Spring into the Dales again in mid-April, might bump into you there.
    • ColinJ
      ColinJ Posts: 2,218
      andy_wrx wrote:
      Tempting...
      I'm doing White Rose Classic on Sun 8th June, so perhaps won't want to cripple myself with the Century, but a tough 50 the week before might be a good idea.

      I'll probably do Spring into the Dales again in mid-April, might bump into you there.
      Yes, I'll be doing that again. I'll keep an eye open for you.

      I'm also doing Kirklees Sportive a week later.
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      Kirklees - no, very tempting (Holme Moss, etc) but I'm doing a 10K that day
    • trio25
      trio25 Posts: 300
      I did the short route last year so I'm seriously thinking about doing the long route this year.
    • wors
      wors Posts: 90
      Just Entered, can't wait!
    • trio25
      trio25 Posts: 300
      I've sent my entry in for the long route.
    • johnbirkby46213
      johnbirkby46213 Posts: 399
      Online entries for the Pendle Pedal 2008 now being accepted

      Phew!
      thank goodness I'm on holiday!!. Now I don't need an excuse for whimping out of it.

      Colin, remember to let me know when you are down this neck of the woods. message me and I'll send you my fern number..

      JB (still grovelling up anything off the horizontal)
      2 minute grovels can sometimes be a lot longer..tho' shorter on a lighter bike :-)

      Ride the Route Ankerdine Hill 2008

      http://peterboroughbigband.webplus.net/index.html
    • ColinJ
      ColinJ Posts: 2,218
      vermooten wrote:
      Is it the same route as before Colin?
      Yikes - I've just compared the new route with old one - it's now 5% longer and has 5% more climbing :shock: !

      pendle_pedal_profiles.jpg

      There is slightly more climbing at the beginning, but it is broken up more. What bothers me most is that there is an extra lump at the end which was already pretty tough before...

      On top of all this, the event HQ is now further from Hebden Bridge so I'll have to do about 220 km (137 miles) in total. It's going to hurt... :?
    • Benny Hone
      Benny Hone Posts: 43
      I've said elsewhere that if the organisers had their wits about them, they'd rename this event the Red Rose Classic as it is a Lancashire equivalent of the White Rose Classic. Quiet roads, stunning scenery, lovely (!) hills and great cameraderie. You certainly see a greater variety of bikes on the Pendle with several recumbents, tandems and hybrids in evidence the last two years. This is one I would certainly recommend to anyone though as it is a truly cracking event.
      ************************
      Your optimism strikes me like junk mail addressed to the dead.
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      Yes Benny, but the Pendle Pedal is sponsored/promoted by Pendle Borough Council as part of their Pendle Bike Fest, hence they'll want their name on it rather than Red Rose which could be seen as it being a Lancaster or Preston thing.

      Or perhaps the organisers of the WRC should rename their event as the Calderdale Pedal ? :lol:

      I thought it was a bit stiffer than WRC, some truly malicious short-but-steep stuff at the end.
      I got to the last feedstop last year and thought "great, only another 15m, I'll be finished in less than an hour" - err, no I wasn't !

      I wasn't planning on doing it again this year, but now I think about it it's getting tempting...
    • Benny Hone
      Benny Hone Posts: 43
      But it's all in Lancashire and therefore a Red Rose equivalent and not only run through Pendlle but the lovlier parts of Lancashire. Pendle Red Rose classic then! Describes it perfectly Also, you can't NOT do it! It's too tempting. Go on, you know you won't live with yourself if you don't!
      ************************
      Your optimism strikes me like junk mail addressed to the dead.
    • ColinJ
      ColinJ Posts: 2,218
      Andy - the WRC doesn't go anywhere near Calderdale - it would have to be The Dales Pedal!

      I think the current name The Pendle Pedal sounds a bit twee but I think The Pendle Red Rose Classic sounds really good.

      I plotted the route last night including my ride to and from Barlick (Barnoldswick) and it came to 230 km (147 miles). I don't know how I'm going to get fit enough to do that in just over 7 weeks :shock: !
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      You haven't explained on the Pain in the Pennines thread how Pendle Pedal goes through Hebden Bridge either, Col :lol:
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      And I still love the entry form
      http://www.pennineevents.co.uk/document ... Form08.pdf

      It's not...well...very enticing is it ?

      Those guys on page 2 look like they're watching a UFO land in the next field.
      And that woman on p4 looks like Compo in drag (on a Bob Jackson though...)

      I guess they're trying to show it as an all-inclusive fun-day-out cycling ride for everyone though, not just something for mid-40's guys on top-end carbon race bikes who want to rush round the countryside frightening walkers and horseriders and dropping empty gel wrappers everywhere...
    • ColinJ
      ColinJ Posts: 2,218
      andy_wrx wrote:
      You haven't explained on the Pain in the Pennines thread how Pendle Pedal goes through Hebden Bridge either, Col :lol:
      I have now.
    • ColinJ
      ColinJ Posts: 2,218
      andy_wrx wrote:
      And I still love the entry form
      http://www.pennineevents.co.uk/document ... Form08.pdf

      It's not...well...very enticing is it ?

      Those guys on page 2 look like they're watching a UFO land in the next field.
      And that woman on p4 looks like Compo in drag (on a Bob Jackson though...)

      I guess they're trying to show it as an all-inclusive fun-day-out cycling ride for everyone though, not just something for mid-40's guys on top-end carbon race bikes who want to rush round the countryside frightening walkers and horseriders and dropping empty gel wrappers everywhere...
      Rider 1: So that is Pendle Hill?

      Rider 2: Witch one?

      Rider 3: Yes!

      Rider 4: Huh?
    • wors
      wors Posts: 90
      Does anyone know what these unmettled roads are like? Got my pack through last week and it says you can decide on the day which route to take. What is the surface of these roads like?
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      Tried Colin's post, the first one on the thread ?
    • andy_wrx
      andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
      Bump !
      Only a couple of weeks off now...

      Got my entry pack yesterday, but with the envelope flap open and the stuff spilling out.
      I have my bike number and chip, the A4 entrants' details leaflet, plus various leaflets from Lancashire County Council, etc about cycleroutes, so I hope I'm not missing anything important.

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