Hill 3 - Beeley Moor, Derbyshire

The forecast for today was for heavy rain in the mid-late afternoon so I thought I'd better get out asap after lunch.  It was very muggy and, with hindsight, I was a bit overdressed.  I think I knew that as soon as I set off but it was a bit late to do anything radical about it!

I combined it with a CTC Sheffield Challenge to find a couple of landmarks on Top Lane on the Eastern Edges (pics below), then it was a long fast (60Km/h) descent to Beeley village.

With every descent there inevitably follows an ascent.  Beeley Moor is never particularly steep - it's only 4/10 in The Books - but it goes on for almost 4Km.  It was a case of put it in bottom gear and twiddle on up, fairly straightforwardly.  I never felt especially challenged by it, although I was sweating cobs.

A beer at home and then a thunderstorm rounded off the day nicely!

Hills 1 & 2 - Carr Lane and Bib Lane

The forecast was for heavy rain this morning, in fact all day, so when it turned out to be merely dull with a few spits & spots of rain I thought I ought to make a start.  The plan is to do the 'easy' ones first and which aren't too far away.

So today it would be, hopefully, Carr Lane near Bolsover and Bib Lane, Brookhouse, east of Rotherham.  Both worked out well enough.  Short but testing, and both ranked only 3/10 in The Books.

Here's Carr Lane.  The second pic isn't Carr Lane but is actually Rylah Hill, which isn't in the books but looks as though it ought to be.  I'll have to go back and give that a go sometime.

And here is Bib Lane.  I didn't cycle between them - a short blast up the M1 in the car joined them up!

Bib Lane starts off pretty innocuously in this stretch but just around the corner it steepens quite a bit.  Once at the top you're on top of quite a ridge which stretches out east for a good distance and would be worth a longer ride at some point.

Brookhouse is a pretty little village, tucked away east of Rotherham

So that's opened the account for the 7070 Challenge.  Let's see how well it goes!

Delayed start!

I was supposed to start this on or about March 23rd 2020, my 70th birthday.

But that was the day the COVID-19 lockdown was announced.  Couldn't travel, couldn't start, could only cycle locally for exercise.

The lockdown has been relaxed somewhat now so it's probably about time I did something.  The question is, though, when to finish.  It's highly unlikely I'll be able to finish it in 2020.  Finishing it in the twelve months from my 70th birthday would be a good plan, but lockdown has likely put paid to that.  Perhaps the best approach is to finish it in the twelve months after starting it, having started it asap after turning 70.

The Rules

There'll have to be Rules.  Try these for starters:

For a hill to be cycled up...it's gotta be cycled up.  No walking.

But it doesn't have to be cycled up in one unbroken ride.  Stopping to, ahem, "blow my nose", "admire the view" or, more likely, put my lungs back in...is allowed.

That's probably it.  

The bikes

These are the two bikes I'll be doing it on - a 40 year old Claud Butler Majestic, refurbished and resprayed about five years ago, and a 20 year old Dawes 301, overhauled with a new bottom bracket, freehub and chainset to provide a set of lower gears.  Claud has also just had a new chainset, also to provide lower gearing.

Signed off!

After almost six weeks I've been signed off by the surgeon as fit to cycle and run.  Yay!  Result!!

I've actually been cycling indoors on the trainer for a week or so now without any issues so I'm confident about cycling 'properly' outdoors.  Just need the weather to improve.  Soon please.

What's this about then?

This is the year I turn 70.  I've always liked cycling up hills, and there are lots of them within striking distance of where I live in Sheffield.  I have books about them:

• the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs
• Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs
• Cycling Climbs of Yorkshire
• Cycling Climbs of the Midlands

So here's the plan.  My challenge is to cycle up 70 of them in the year I turn 70, starting as soon as possible after my birthday on March 23rd 2020.

There is a small problem.  At present I'm not cycling at all.  On January 21st I had surgery to repair a hernia and I'm still in the "Do not run or cycle" period which necessarily follows.  That ends in early March, after six weeks, so I'll make a start then.  And post about it on here.  I'm going to have to do an average of more than one a week to get through.  It's gonna be a challenge!