cycling (longish)
icarusi
paths, so I started walking them for a while but soon became tired. It
later occurred to me that apart from the odd lock, canals by their
nature are flat and could possibly be cycleable by me.
I have a fold-up bike which I used before becoming ill, but the hills
around W Yorks are too much now. That bike is a Halfords with 20"
wheels and just folds in half with the seat and handlebar tubes
lowering and turning sideways. I used to be able to get it on a bus
but it took most of the available luggage space and tangled with prams
and push chairs.
I did see a guy with a Brompton which seemed to forld to the size of
an attache case but cost £500 approx. I started asking at the cycle
shops for fold-ups but they all said 'not much call for them, but we
can order one'. They seemed to be about £300-400.
For some reason I was looking through some boating mags and they
seemed to have fold-ups in the £100-150 range. I found a firm called
Mailspeed Marine which had 2 models on offer. One was £100 fixed speed
or £140 3-speed and seemed to be the same size as my Halfords, the
other they said was 6-speed and was reduced from £240 to £140 and
looked more the size of the Brompton.
I phoned the firm last Thursday and they said they'd get one from the
warehouse for Friday. They failed but said Monday definitely. They
left a message to say it was there Saturday but I preferred Monday
especially with the weather. I got caught up in a snarl-up on the M62
from a 'shed load'. I took me 2 hours to get to Warrington when it
should have taken 1/2 to 3/4 hours less. When I got there it turned
out not to be a 6-speed but a 3 speed. It was more the size of a
Brompton having 16" wheels and weighing 12 kgs. and included a
carrying bag. I decided to take it because I was unlikely to get
anything better, smaller or lighter for the price. The snarl up was
still there at 5:00 so I returned via Bolton on A and B roads, 2hrs
again but at least something to look at en route.
The previous week a Halfords shop had agreed to get a fold-up bike on
a sale or return basis, meaning I wasn't obliged to buy it. I went to
have a look to compare to my new purchase, although the retail was
£299 exc. bag. Turned out it was virtually identical to my new bike by
the same original maker (mine was rebadged). I said I had more bikes
to see and asked how long before they needed to return it. Having seen
it they said they thought it would sell and would put it on display
for sale on Monday, if I didn't take my option, which I thought was
fair.
The weather was fine today and after I'd left my sister to shop, I
realised I had enough time to try the bike on some towpath we'd been
looking at on another account the previous evening. It runs from
Sowerby Bridge to Todmorden and there's a convenient adjacent car
park, near a lock which sends the canal deep under a main road. It
took me about 15mins to get the bike out of the car unfolded, my stuff
in the car and bike to towpath. I parked at 4:30 and had agreed to
meet my sister at 6:00 for a meal so I decided to cycle til 5:15 and
then return.
It was wobbly going at first but as I got used to it the theory paid
off. It was less strenuous than walking, I was sitting, so little back
pain, the going was flat, so comparitively little exertion required
than for normal cycling in the area. At 5:15 I'd reached Luddenden
Foot where the Bronte brother was sacked as lock keeper for excessive
imbibing. I thought I might be late so I was less leisurely on the
return and got back to the carpark surprisingly at 5:30. The bike was
folded and all packed by 5:45 and I got to my sister's by 5:55, ready
for the 6:00 meal, which wasn't served til 7:05. Still, 45 minutes of
cycling is plenty for a first try.
If anyone's interested I have more observations about pros and cons of
the first ride, but I'll just finish by saying if you're capable of 4
'hefts' of 12kg (in and out of car boot twice) a folding cycle may be
worth considering even in hilly areas where canals are near.
Icarusi
--
remove the 00 to reply
Arthur & Pauline Kennedy
from "icarusi" <icar...@hotmail.com> contains these words:
> At 5:15 I'd reached Luddenden
> Foot where the Bronte brother was sacked as lock keeper for excessive
> imbibing.
There used to be a pub there serving fantastic food at very low
prices. We visited frequently until the word got out and the place
got too crowded! Perhaps it was the same pub that the Bronte chappy
visited to over-imbibe?
Mind you, I'm going back 20+ years here, so perhaps Luddenden Foot
has changed a bit by now.
Happy cycling!
Pauline
Steve Boyer
< bike & tow path stuff snipped >
We like to ride the tow path also occasionally. If you drive to
Mytholmroyd there is plenty of free parking close to the canal and from
there you have a good choice of East or West. At the moment I have a
Transit van and we just put all the bikes in there, (illegally) wedge the
kids in the back and off we go. At present, this is my favourite form of
outdoor exercise. Just sometimes I wish it wasn't quite so hilly around
here and I had the stamina to cycle further afield. We have noticed how
very courteous other tow path users are - how about your experience.
Makes a nice change.
Happy cycling.
Steve Boyer
icarusi
news:200006091...@zetnet.co.uk...
> There used to be a pub there serving fantastic food at very low
> prices. We visited frequently until the word got out and the place
> got too crowded! Perhaps it was the same pub that the Bronte chappy
> visited to over-imbibe?
>
> Mind you, I'm going back 20+ years here, so perhaps Luddenden Foot
> has changed a bit by now.
I did the Hebden Bridge to Todmorden section on Monday, so I looked
for the pub. If it's the one on the opposite side of the road to the
canal, then it's still there (and quite a few folk inside). I think I
went there with a Hebden Bridge local around that time, but I didn't
know that area too well (still don't, it's one of those places you
don't notice unless you live there).
I intended to do Luddenden Foot to Mytholmroyd on Sunday, but the
weather was good and I was going well, so I pressed on to Hebden
Bridge. A con is, there's a horse drawn barge, so you need to avoid
the horse muck (not easy with a bike on towpath). Pros, I found out
how horse drawn barges cross on a single towpath. There were hymn
singers with brass band in a park by the canal?
Hebden Bridge was like a Saturday, most shops open, a public
participating drum/rhythm thing going on in 'square' near the bridge.
A lot of the shops closed at 4:00pm even though there were crowds of
probable shoppers. I think they should decide if they're a tourist
town or not?
Going back was slightly easier due to the occasional lock giving me a
down slope (I walked up the slopes in the other direction). The con is
the bumpyish surface and the extra distance were beginning to tell on
my bottom, so I had to spend more time standing on the pedals and
trying to sit in a non-sore postion.
I got 3 more thumbs up for the bike, 2 from groups of biking kids in
Hebden Bridge and one from a guy in a group of (guess 60s plus?)
hikers on the towpath (they all had trekking poles and rucksacks so I
assume they were tackling more than towpaths). I think he liked the
idea of 'convenience cycling' with a fold-up, rather than 'serious'
cycling with a large bike.
I did Hebden Bridge to Todmorden yesterday, and Bingley (above the 5
rise) to Keighley today (Tues). I was going to rest but the weather's
a real tempatation ATM. I'm definitely resting tomorrow (Wed). I'll
try and recall the interesting bits and tot-up the critter count.
icarusi
news:8i6722$2eb$1...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
> I did Hebden Bridge to Todmorden yesterday, and Bingley (above the 5
> rise) to Keighley today (Tues). I was going to rest but the
weather's
> a real tempatation ATM. I'm definitely resting tomorrow (Wed). I'll
> try and recall the interesting bits and tot-up the critter count.
I did rest Wed, if you can call shopping in Bradford, resting. 2 hrs
in Bradford definitely felt worse on the legs than the cycling.
I returned to the Keighley area and was going to do Silsden back to
where I'd finished on Tues, but when I started I found a 'towpath
closed - detour' sign at Silsden. I recalled the 'towpath closed'
detour from Tues being the worse/tiring part of the journey. So I
decided to go in the Skipton direction. It's very rural so a lot of
the route was a bit mundane, long stretches between interesting bits,
and significant lengths of the route weren't bottom friendly. A lot of
large flinty stones, which aren't bad to walk on, kick at the tyres
and transfer the shock direct to the saddle. There were exposed tree
roots which did the same. If I was quick and observant enough, I could
rise from the saddle to miss the kick, but it's not much fun so I'll
look into more springing for the saddle in future.
I'm getting better at cycling under the bridges, but it's not
recommended in a 'canal use' brochure I've recently read. In fact it
did cross my mind what happens when two cyclists meet at a bridge. I
cycle as slow as I can, so when a pedestrian is under the bridge I can
stop in time, but some of the cyclists ride under bridges at speed. It
nearly happened. I stopped just in time, on seeing the front wheel
emerge, as a girl rider shot from under a bridge. Very pretty she was
too. If it'd been a movie we'd have collided and had an interesting
relationship, but it's not, so we avoided buckled wheels and possible
injury nr. Skipton.
The critter count improved. The flock of Canada geese colonising a
field near Todmorden, and the sheep wading in the shallows to eat
reeds, were increased by a couple of pairs of mute swans complete with
broods. 'Ugly ducklings' may be Hooper swan cygnets, cos mute swan
cygnets are anything but. Blackbirds do an interesting head-down
scuttle as they consider out-running me before flying away. Conversely
swifts like to fly towards me, down the alley of growth at the sides
of the towpath, pulling into a climb at the last possible moment.
Show-offs!
One of the funniest though, was under a bridge, where a duck was
facing the water in contemplation, while the brood of ducklings behind
her were paddling in a puddle. The entire canal to go at, but like all
kids can't resist splashing in a puddle!