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Before anyone says anything, I know 30 minutes isn't quick... it will be for me.
I've set myself a 2017 target of getting up Cragg Vale in less than 30 minutes (as well as some other fitness targets). Before this morning I'd been up there 3 times in 3 years and my quickest time was 37:48. I decided to get a current benchmark this morning so drove to Manchester and took the bike on the train to Hebden Bridge. On my previous attempts up Cragg it'd come 30km into the ride so I thought a start from Hebden would make it easier at it's at the start of the ride, after a little warm up.
I spun up the first bit in an easy gear, so I'd pace myself. After the village of Cragg a Vale itself I felt good so went a few gears up but kept a decent cadence. With the 3km marker passed I felt a bit out of breath so span the cranks in a lower gear, then picked it up at the end. It felt like my best ever attempt, but I don't run a computer on my road bike, so carried on back to Manchester via Castleton, Middleton, Heaton Park and Lower Broughton.
I got myself back to the car, threw the bike in the boot and went to Cafe North for a celebratory breakfast and a flat white. I uploaded the ride to strava...
40 minutes 36 seconds. I've got some way to go.
I'm training for this:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Steven-McNulty2017
so I've got a lot of road riding to date this year, so I'm going to attempt Cragg at least once a month. I'm a 123kg ex-powerlifter and as well as the Cragg Vale target I want to be able to clear the Loughrigg Terrace climb (2 pushed sections last month when I tried it), get myself to 100kg and maintain a 200kg deadlift (which I appreciate might contradict the cycling targets).
Sounds like a fine target to aim for! Best of luck.
I battered myself up there a few years ago when I was fit, I was a proper mess when I got to the top!
Edit: Blimey, someone has been up there in 16 minutes. That's properly mental, I can barely ride that fast on the flat 🙁
https://www.strava.com/segments/646914
The wind direction and strength up there makes such a massive difference to the times. The wind rarely pushes you up but I know from the days when I was a bit Strava obsessed that a lot of the top times get set on the rare days the wind is helping. Pick a good day and you'll be right !
Never ridden it but might plan it into my March 100km.
What would be the best approach from over Rammy way?
Agree with fubar - wind on the upper section once you get out of the trees can be a right pain. The angle eases but the effort doesn't neither does the speed increase 😳
Chakaping. From Rammy I'd go over towards Rawtenstall, through Bacup and into Tod and then on into Hebden Bridge. Coming back you could go up Spotland Road and up over Owd Betts, back down into Rammy.
In fact that would make a good ride from my parents next time I'm over there...
If you look at the Strava link - a pretty impressive number of pros on the first page.
Its a stern pull fo'shure, good luck with it, it's a decent target to aim for, 10 minutes is eminently doable!!
It's not that steep really, there's a bit through the village that's a bit steeper but mostly it's a matter of not pushing too hard early on and pacing yourself. Worth doing a couple of times in quick succession to get a feel for where you need to dig deep.
Once you can break it down into sections it's not too bad, the Km markers on the road for the TT also help.
As a climb I prefer that up the A6033 out of Hebden Bridge through Pecket Well to Cock Hill.
Incredibly weather dependent, but a great climb of two halves.
Just wait for a 30mph following wind and you're sorted. With a bit of effort you could time it to follow one of the busses and steal an extra few seconds.
I can barely get down it in half an hour.
Just out of interest, what is the Strava record for the descent?
It wasn't too windy this morning, there was nothing noticeable until the descent down Blackstone Edge which was pretty nasty and made me descend like even more of a pussy than usual (MTB fine, roadie just scares me).
In fact I've just checked and today was my quickest ever on the top 4km, so I'll push more at the bottom next time.
Rusty, 16:11... Oof that is quick
😯
Might give that a pop next week just for fun.
Doubt if I'd get within 10 minutes of it.
You'd need a big tailwind and some bloody tall gears for the first bit.
Could always demo something fast from Blazing Saddles.
🙂
Whitestone, I did the other climb you mentioned on MTB, thought it would be great on a road bike.
Bregante - thanks for that, is the valley road through todmodern and hebden ok for traffic?
Rusty, 16:11... Oof that is quick
That's the record for the climb. Can't find the descent as a segment although there's a couple of partial segments there.
I don't actually like that road much; it's very narrow, cars tend to drive quite fast on it and it's also not a great road surface.
38:41, only a minute off my quickest time 3 years ago and 15kg (ish) lighter.
Felt a bit faster than that, but Strava doesn't lie. About 5% quicker than my benchmark ride a month ago so I'm OK with that. I think if I can shift more weight and keep training 30 minutes is doable for me.
Heading in the right direction. Nice one 🙂
Well done OP - progress
(that strava KoM - FWIW, Bingley airport wind was 15mph ENE at dinnertime that day)
Is the turdy yorkshire going up it ??
is the valley road through todmodern and hebden ok for traffic?
Its pretty good. An alternate (longer) route from Rammy is to head up burnley road in Rawtenstall and then head to Cliviger and down into Todmorden that way. Burnley Road climb is nice and you can make pretty fast progress from Cliviger to Tod as its downhill(ish).
Has the advantage of avoiding Stacksteads and Bacup which is an awful road.
36:54 on Saturday morning. Definitely moving in the right direction. Felt like I could have gone a bit quicker in the middle but was careful not to blow up,
I think it's just a matter of shifting weight off me now and the time should tumble....
Well I’ve not been in this thread for a while. 32:41 today, shaving 3 minutes off my previous best. Getting there, steadily. I’m 100kg now which definitely helps.
Good effort. What's the opposite of 'marginal gains'?
Nice progress, keep it up 🙂
I think it's just gains.
123kg seems quite a substantial bulk to carry uphill. I reckon I weigh as much as your legs.
Nice process McNultyCop. You must be dishing out bestial Watts as an ex-powerlifter?
Hardest type of climb that to go deep on IMHO - easy / moderate sort of gradient so it's difficult to find what your limit is and it bloody hurts.
Fair play. My kind of challenge.
(loughrigg terrace climb is a beastly way to start a ride)
The wind direction and strength up there makes such a massive difference to the times. The wind rarely pushes you up but I know from the days when I was a bit Strava obsessed that a lot of the top times get set on the rare days the wind is helping. Pick a good day and you’ll be right !
Totally this. Massive differences.
Find a willing pace setter to take you up. Are you using your garmin previous time to race against?
Keep up the good work
I’m using my Wahoo (Cragg is one of my starred sections), which really helps pushing me along.
30:16 today. So close. Driving rain and a headwind for the last half so not great conditions, but I’m happy with the progress and sub 30 is within my grasp now.
Annoyingly I took two big bottles out with me today and didn’t drink as much as I usually did, so ended up not touching one of them. 660g of liquid plus the bottle must’ve slowed me down a bit...
Get back out tomorrow and make that 30mins!
30:16 today. So close. Driving rain and a headwind for the last half so not great conditions, but I’m happy with the progress and sub 30 is within my grasp now.
Good effort up there today. Horrible here.
You’ll do a 28:30 with good conditions if you did 30:16 today. Easy.
Excellent! As Brant says, decent conditions and you'll take a chunk off that time 🙂
Cheers all; it was grim up there today but I always seem to feel pretty good in the rain.
Just get a volunteer to spray water at you from a bottle...
Anyone fancy some Remi Gallard for the op?
took me 54 minutes in January this year. i was riding a surly ecr with 3'' tyres.
the wind was so bad that waves were breaking on the road at the dam at the top.
Don't carry any water at all, just an empty bottle. Why add 750 gms of weight? You will actually lose weight as you climb and sweat. Then when you reach the top fill the bottle from the reservoir and enjoy a fresh cold drink.
29:47 today. Finally.
Turns out lockdown and the roads being quiet mean that the hour a night after working from home I have been doing on the road bike have translated into a decent performance up there today. Slight headwind on the top but when isn’t there on Cragg Vale?
Nicely done 🙂
Well done, great sense of achievement isn't it?
Well done. Cragg Vale is on my to do list,when all this lockdown stuff is finally over I'll get over there & suffer...
I’m proper made up with it. I fuelled it properly, kept my cadence up and went balls deep on the last bit.
Only solo riders and obvious families out on my full loop too, which was great to see.
Hi Mcnaultycop,
Very impressive that you're using lockdown to get fitter and improve, I am too and I know I'm lucky that I can ride from my front door, get into the South Downs and do a loop back home. Don't want to rain on your parade however you drove to a station and caught a train to do your ride which isn't in the spirit of the current guidelines for exercising at best. If everyone was to do that, I'm pretty sure it would quickly lead to a blanket ban on cycling...
Stay safe
Don’t want to rain on your parade however you drove to a station and caught a train
That first post talking about car/train is from 3 years ago. Pretty sure we weren't confined to barracks then.
Ah, apologies didn't notice the 3 years ago...
Ruffrider. I rode from my front door and took in Cragg Vale. I don’t like public transport at the best of times.
Very sorry, didn't notice the date of your original post and obviously it makes my comment redundant. Happy riding
Slightly off topic and I'm sure the locals may know about this but seeing the name reminded me of a great book and accompanying album that's set in Cragg Vale..
The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gallows-Pole-Benjamin-Myers/dp/1910422320
And a group was set up by friends of the author with music inspired by the book. They are great. Seen them twice now....
The Shinning Levels
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0rf4m0rYIoxAz9VEyo9CQd?si=CynBTmsPS96620h5qVRjXw
That is all. Carry on 😀
Done it a few times since moving up these parts three years ago. It's a good loop if you turn left at the top, then left again opposite the reservoir going down the hill. The back lanes from there to Sowerby are always quiet and tail wind, plus another climb up through Mill Bank. You can then zigzag down the hill to luddenden foot and a quick blast back to mythomroyd or head up Danny Lane to the tops and along to wainstalls...
Well done for sticking at it!
Well done.
Always good to see an old thread with a positive result.
Fair play fella
Nice one mate!!
Pity you didn't go up there today, the tailwind was worth 5 mins compared to the usual headwind 🙂
I was actually thinking about it again today but did a bit around Rawtenstall instead.
I do that route Lots Of Hope, also good going right over at the reservoir too.