Them there Pennines frighten me

Snailpace-Bob

My coast to coast ride is looming ever closer. Training has been ok up until recently when a mix of work / family commitments has reduced my rides to once or twice a week. Now the nerves are jangling, day 2 on the ride takes me from Glossop up n over Snake pass to Sheffield then hang a left up to Bradford.I feel Im good for the distance but my problem is that its mostly flat where I live and the Pennines are far from that. Has anyone done the Snake pass and would like to share some advice for training tips. Ive got a little over 4 weeks to prepare.

thegibdog

Your location says West Yorkshire: that wasn't mostly flat last time I checked!

rolf_f

If your West Yorkshire is flat, then you are doing it wrong!

Barteos

Your muscles don't care if it's flat or hilly, only how much power they need to produce for a given duration

chris@68

mmm.... I also live in West Yorks - flat is not a word I'd use to describe it - flattest option I have is the (undulating) A62 into Hudds. All other routes from the door require varying degrees of 'Up' (with, of course, a similar amount of 'Down' )

From memory (in the car) the climb up Snakes Pass is long and steady, same for the drop to Ladybower on the other side - take your time going up. Have fun going down

rolf_f

Barteos wrote:

Your muscles don't care if it's flat or hilly, only how much power they need to produce for a given duration

Yes, and on the flat they don't need to produce as much power as they do in the hills.

Snailpace-Bob

Turn right at the end of my street and its flat for miles n miles out through Selby Snaith etc. The proper hills are 35 miles away and my fitness levels wont manage a 70 mile round trip to start hitting big climbs. Yes there are a couple of inclines around but my worry is that Snake pass is over 1600 ft high. Ive been doing interval sprints to try and replicate the big stuff but does this really prepare. Gravity is a beach.

napoleond

Isn't that East Yorkshire?.....

Snailpace-Bob

NapoleonD wrote:

Isn't that East Yorkshire?.....

Technically its actually North Yorkshire but my town is in West Yorkshire.

napoleond

Whereabouts? I thought Selby / Snaith was in the East Riding? I lived in Hull for 3 yrs.

rolf_f

Snailpace-Bob wrote:

Turn right at the end of my street and its flat for miles n miles out through Selby Snaith etc.

Well turn left then!

Seriously though, presumably you can head out towards Royston? You can make a hilly ride out of that. Or just cycle out to the West and get the train back. I don't think anything prepares in the same way as actually climbing.

NapoleonD wrote:

Whereabouts? I thought Selby / Snaith was in the East Riding? I lived in Hull for 3 yrs.

He's probably in Knottingley or Castleford I guess.

davidefernandes

Snailpace-Bob wrote:

My coast to coast ride is looming ever closer. Training has been ok up until recently when a mix of work / family commitments has reduced my rides to once or twice a week. Now the nerves are jangling, day 2 on the ride takes me from Glossop up n over Snake pass to Sheffield then hang a left up to Bradford.I feel Im good for the distance but my problem is that its mostly flat where I live and the Pennines are far from that. Has anyone done the Snake pass and would like to share some advice for training tips. Ive got a little over 4 weeks to prepare.

Hi mate, I did snakes pass myself for the first time as my first proper hill ride http://app.strava.com/activities/66959879

I live in Sale so I popped the bike in the car, drove to glossop and did the loop you see on the link above. I had to stop a couple of times, first half way up snakes then second up Winnets. If you don't live too close to hills, do what I did, drive to them and do a loop. Since I did this i have found smaller hills a lot easier to do.

One bit of advice I will give from my ride above is pace yourself up the hills, I went too quick too early, just keep your legs moving at a pace your comfortable with and choose the most suitable gear.

Kieran_Burns

NapoleonD wrote:

Whereabouts? I thought Selby / Snaith was in the East Riding? I lived in Hull for 3 yrs.

Don't you mean Humberside....?

Kieran_Burns

I don't understand this - I thought all rides that start and end at the same place are technically, on average, flat.

napoleond

Kieran_Burns wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

Whereabouts? I thought Selby / Snaith was in the East Riding? I lived in Hull for 3 yrs.

Don't you mean Humberside....?

http://www2.eastriding.gov.uk/

Guanajuato

I'm guessing your around Wetherby then. Its not that far (10 miles?) to Harrogate, and not that far beyond Harrogate you get to decent climbs.

Seems an odd coast to coast route to head East to Sheffield then Northwestish to Bradford - from Sheffield you're almost as close to the coast as you are to Bradford. Why not start in Blackpool or Morecambe and head through the gap at Colne/Hellifield? My memory of the Snake is that its much more gradual from the Sheffield side. Used to do a lot of riding round there when I was younger. How I got up some of the hills on a 24" 5 speed 'racer' I'll never know.

Just make sure you've got gears low enough and drag yourself up at a slow pace - its not a race.

mrdsgs

I'm from Selby originally (Brayton to be precise) and that is definitely North Yorkshire.

davidefernandes

Snailpace-Bob wrote:

My coast to coast ride is looming ever closer. Training has been ok up until recently when a mix of work / family commitments has reduced my rides to once or twice a week. Now the nerves are jangling, day 2 on the ride takes me from Glossop up n over Snake pass to Sheffield then hang a left up to Bradford.I feel Im good for the distance but my problem is that its mostly flat where I live and the Pennines are far from that. Has anyone done the Snake pass and would like to share some advice for training tips. Ive got a little over 4 weeks to prepare.

There is belter article btw in the August edition of cycling plus about hill climbing, may be worth a read for you.

gloomyandy

What route do you plan to go from Sheffield to Bradford? If it involves the Strines you may find that the Snake is the least of your problems...

negativelycra

Op, snake isn't that bad. Just select a nice low gear, spin and accept that it will take a long time.

rolf_f

mrdsgs wrote:

I'm from Selby originally (Brayton to be precise) and that is definitely North Yorkshire.

You should certainly be a force on the climbs then - all those formative years spent ascending the Barff!

Snailpace-Bob

Guanajuato wrote:

I'm guessing your around Wetherby then. Its not that far (10 miles?) to Harrogate, and not that far beyond Harrogate you get to decent climbs.

Seems an odd coast to coast route to head East to Sheffield then Northwestish to Bradford - from Sheffield you're almost as close to the coast as you are to Bradford. Why not start in Blackpool or Morecambe and head through the gap at Colne/Hellifield? My memory of the Snake is that its much more gradual from the Sheffield side. Used to do a lot of riding round there when I was younger. How I got up some of the hills on a 24" 5 speed 'racer' I'll never know.

I live near Knottingley, Its about 25 miles to Harrogate.
The coast to coast route is a charity thing and I'm going to visit all of my work depots along the way. Hence the weaving around.
Reading most of the replies it looks like i'll be chucking the bike in the car and having a go at it to check it out first.

rolf_f

Snailpace-Bob wrote:

I live near Knottingley, Its about 25 miles to Harrogate.
The coast to coast route is a charity thing and I'm going to visit all of my work depots along the way. Hence the weaving around.
Reading most of the replies it looks like i'll be chucking the bike in the car and having a go at it to check it out first.

Rolf F wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

Whereabouts? I thought Selby / Snaith was in the East Riding? I lived in Hull for 3 yrs.

He's probably in Knottingley or Castleford I guess.

I thank you.

Seriously, find somewhere the train goes, get on the train with bike, go there, cycle back. Or vice versa. Whatever you do don't do the thing that tragic people do and reccy the route in advance. That's just feeble! Some folk book themselves on a sportive, and then ride the route a week or two in advance to see if they can do it. These folk I suspect had something fall on their heads when they were babies.......