Snowed in!!

I had tried to organise a social ride today but the weather had other ideas. Here's a few pics of our lane and the lane at the top of the hill.

The neighbour using his mini tractor to make a way through the first drift.

Once past that drift, there's this lot!

At the top of our lane. This drift is up to Cath's shoulders and about six metres front to back.

Then there's more!

And this is going the other way.The drift over the road is about 2 metres high.

Trying to clear the drift from the top side.

Now they're stuck!

The problem with trying to clear anything away at the moment is that the wind is still strong and depositing more snow so the drifts will just fill in again. We are going to have to wait a while methinks.

Oops Pt2

Well that was interesting! The consultant wasn't too pleased that I'd been walking on a broken fibula for a month - I wonder why. Good job I didn't tell him about the bike rides :-) Basically the leg/ankle and fracture are stable so there's no further meddling to be done. I've now got an air cast which makes me look as if I'm getting dressed to be an Empire stormtrooper in a Star Wars movie! At least I can take it off if it gets itchy or to have a bath.

Two to four weeks wearing the cast then four to six weeks of getting things back to strength - the consultant did mention "impact" sports such as running so I'll just have to see how things go with regards cycling. Basically broken bones take three months to get back to full strength unless there are complications or the fracture is particularly serious or extensive. With luck I'll be fine in six weeks or so.

Oops!

For once fine weather coincided with a weekend. Rather than head in to the Dales and do lots of hills I decided to head out towards Wetherby for a "flatter" ride. First there was the little matter of getting the car headlights fixed - both had blown within a matter of days. Guess which lights on the car aren't user replaceable? Fortunately the garage didn't charge for fitting.

So, on to the bike ride and everything went well for the most part. I didn't get quite as far as Wetherby, turning round after around 26 miles as I haven't really done a lot of riding recently. Having gone out via the back roads I returned using the main road up Wharfedale. Even though I was on my own I was making good time averaging around 17-18mph. Everything went well until Ilkley where I bonked having not eaten enough and the last ten miles over Cringles and up to home weren't a pretty sight. Oops!

Sunday was even better weather wise but the ride was a bit of a comedy of errors. Firstly I needed some oil on my chain so as we were going close to his house in Embsay, I nipped in to Andy's for some lube. I'd misheard which route we were taking so headed off up the climb to Halton Heights trying to catch the others who had actually gone via Bolton Abbey. Still I got a PB on the climb:-) It was only after finding out at Kilnsey that they were behind me (waiting for a slow rider!) that we met up again.

The plan had been to head up to Halton Gill but time pressures on various members of the party had led to a change of plan and they were now intending to head from Arncliffe straight over to Malham. Unfortunately there's a very steep hill in the way, one which I'd never actually managed to ride up before, with a still delicate ankle it and also recovering from Saturday's debacle it wasn't something I was exactly keen on. So it proved as I ground my way up the incline at the back of the group. Amazingly I actually managed to ride it in one go with no getting off :-) There's a long drag after the main climb to get to Malham Tarn and with a strengthening breeze it was getting harder and harder work, I'd no energy in my legs at all. Even the slight inclines on the way back to Skipton felt hard work.

Monday, I rode to and from work for the first time in nearly two months and my ankle felt quite a bit worse than previously but the discomfort eased over the day. Tuesday morning and the ankle was again swollen and painful so I arranged an appointment with my GP who put me in for an x-ray at Airedale hospital. Thus on Wednesday lunchtime, x-rays duly done, I'm waiting in the Radiology department for the preliminary results when I'm told to head to A&E because they've seen a fracture. It's then a wait for triage (daytime TV is truly appalling!) who send me on to the minors facility (I think it's minor injuries rather than minors as in young people).

Once my name is called, the doctor wants to send me for an x-ray until I tell her it's the Radiology dept who've sent me to A&E. When she pulls up my x-rays it's plainly obvious that I've a break in my lower fibula. Bugger! If I'd headed to A&E when I'd done it then apparently I'd have been in plaster for around 6 weeks. The fracture is very similar to look at to this one: http://nateklein.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/november-22-2009-thanksgiving-week.html A bit of plaster work later and I'm on my way home with an appointment for the fracture clinic tomorrow (Friday). We'll just have to see what the prognosis is. Oops!

Cool Riding

With bad weather forecast for the Sunday, I was keen to get out and do something on Saturday. I didn't want a route with any steep climbs as I (correctly) didn't think my ankle would be up to much out of the saddle efforts even though it's nearly a month since I sprained it.

I settled on a route from Gargrave over the tops to Settle then to Clapham and over Cross o' Greet to Slaidburn then back via Bolton by Bowland.

It was pretty foggy in the valleys so flashy lights front and back were the order of the day and I made decent time to Airton then it was turn left and the long climb. All this was OK but as I approached the cattle grid on to the moor the road began to get snowy. Fortunately it was clear where vehicles had been so I carried on past the herd of Highland cattle who gave me very funny looks as if to say "Where's me grub?" to the summit. It was here where the fun began and as the descent steepened I remembered an antipodean attempt at snowploughing and decided to walk.

About 200m later I could get back on the bike but the descent still needed care and it took me as long to descend the two miles to Settle as it had done for the three miles of the climb :-( Time to reappraise the plan. Cross o' Greet is about 50m higher than where I'd just been and isn't as well a travelled road, it was likely to be a bit on the tricky side. Direct line to Bolton by Bowland seemed like a better bet as it kept low. 

So head down for a bit of personal TT'ing to Rathmel then on to Wigglesworth. Climbing out of here I was passed by another lone cyclist so with him in front I made good time down to BbB. In fact I lost about 200m in total on my unknown target.

The cafe at Bolton by Bowland was open but I was the only customer: "Want a paper to read?" enquired the owner! After a cuppa, it was just the usual long drag over to Halton West and then back via Nappa and Bank Newton. I got back to the car in just under two and a half hours. The first ten miles had taken an hour, the last twenty five an hour and a half.

Due to the state of the roads, my bike was absolutely filthy - I've been mountain biking and come back with cleaner bike! My ankle wasn't too bad, certainly easier on it than the social ride last week.

A Quiet January

With the weather and various events January has turned out to be very quiet on the sporting front. Riding a bike isn't much fun when the roads are icy.

Looking up the wintry lane.

Cath had her operation early in the new year so I took a week off work to look after her after she left hospital. Looking after an improving patient is a lot of hard work, it gave a small insight in to how much work is done by full time carers especially those helping terminally ill relatives. A lot of respect due.

There were one or two days that I managed to get out for a quick ride but they were pretty cold, cold enough to need ice climbing gloves rather than cycling ones! One ride was a blast up to Kettlewell and back on the day they announced the Tour de France route for Yorkshire in 2014 - they'll have to do some work on the roads before then.

A deer running through the field below the house. 

Big snowfalls often lead to strange events - we had a roe deer wander round the outside of the garden one morning. On a more painful note I took a flyer when walking down the lane and slipped on some black ice. Cue one sprained ankle:

Some nice swelling, the bruising came later.

It's still sore ten days later but slowly becoming easier. I might risk a bike ride this weekend if I can get my foot in my shoe. I need to get some miles in as I've entered the Etape du Dales, a 112 mile sportive over a number of rather large hills in the Dales.

Back on the Chain Gang

Well after the flood that was the christmas/new year holiday last weekend saw a couple of days that could reasonably be described as dry - well it wasn't raining. Everything is still rather overcast however and I've only seen shadows for about ten minutes in the last month.

Saturday morning saw a rather large group or 22 turn up for the club social ride. Almost too many really so we headed out of town in two groups to avoid annoying motorists and regrouped in Carleton. With a wide range of abilities and fitness levels it was inevitable that the group would get split up and it turned out that about half of the group got to the cafe at Malham whilst the slower riders and those of us riding with them settled on the cafe in Airton (both fine establisments by the way). There was a bit of discussion about how to keep the "social" ride, well, social. 

I've been provisionally entered for a long sportive (details may follow depending on whether I get an entry) so after the cafe stop I decided to head off on my own over the moors above Malham and return via Littondale and Wharfedale. This did mean heading up one of the steeper climbs in the area, the Cove Road. I've done it a few times before but there was a head wind this time and it was a bit of a struggle even on the easy ground at the top. Fortunately the council have filled in the worst of the pot-holes on the road over to Arncliffe so there was just the short sharp climb of Brootes Lane to deal with before the descent down to Arncliffe and a blast along the valley bottom in to an increasingly strong wind back to Skipton. I got back to the house just as Cath was texting me to see where I was. 50 miles on the clock.

Sunday is the faster ride and just seven of us turned up. The plan was to head out to Barnoldswick to Downham and then back through Bolton by Bowland and Hellifield. The weather was still really overcast and lights were needed for pretty much the whole ride. Barnoldswick took an hour via the quieter back roads, then it was hilly ground to get to Downham - there's no real flow to the roads round this area: narrow roads with short steep climbs followed by descents with blind bends soon pull your average speed down. 

The cafe at Downham was empty - I reckon it was because they'd run out of Victoria Sponge. Refreshed, our route continued down to Chatburn before crossing the Ribble and turning for home. One short steep climb then it was fast roads and a good solid effort to get to Bolton by Bowland. It's a nice steady drag out of the village on a good surface but halfway up Ian got a puncture (he'd had two on Saturday) so we had an enforced break. Then it was another effort down to recross the Ribble before rolling in to Hellifield. Getting back to Skipton whilst avoiding the A65 doesn't leave many choices: this time we went via Otterburn and Bell Busk before turning left to pick up the Airton road (I'd never cycled this bit of road before) and then down to Gargrave.

Ian got another two punctures within 800m, something definitely wrong with his rim/tyre to get five punctures on the same wheel in a weekend. At Gargrave I headed back home rather than head in to Skipton but the climb over the top back home felt hard work, I was definitely tired.

Happy New Year for 2013

Well I've not really been up to much in the month since the last posting, the weather's conspired against me much of the time. A few shortish bike rides and that's been it. Oh well.

A quick review of 2012:

• bumbled along with my climbing until the end of July when I couldn't be bothered and haven't actually done any climbing since then. 
• Still closing in on completing the Wainwrights. Nearly there, about four days' effort and I should be done.
• Quite a lot of biking in the second half of the year with two weeks of holidays (Scotland and Somerset) that happened to coincide with fine weather in both locations.

That seems to be about it! Let's hope that 2013 will be better both in terms of weather and getting things done.

All the best.