Lower Nidderdale – 1st February 2011

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

Five of us met at St Aidans School,  including new rider Pete Flynn.

Karl suggested a “Tour de Birstwith” route which actually took us past Pete’s front door.  We set off to Hampthswaite via Penny Pot Lane and a fairly brisk pace was set, helped by racing whippets Martin P and Martin G.  Up Clint Bank and then left down to Birstwith.  We then crossed straight over to do the 15% hill past the church.  It was a good test and we paused briefly at the top to let Duncan deal with his tea time curry which was threatening to reappear.

Turning right at the crossroads we headed down towards Darley past Pete’s front door and then back along the river returning to Birstwith and the 14% climb on the main road leading back to Hampthswaite. We then returned to Harrogate via the route which we came in on, which meant further climbs out of Hampthswaite to the crossing of the A59, and then up Harlow Moor Rd.

24 miles total.

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Retro Bike Build by James Lovell

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

Back in November 2010 I set out on a project to build my first bike from scratch.  I had acquired a WF Holdsworth steel frame from fellow Cappuccino Club member, Martin Proctor, which was in excellent condition.  The frame is from the 1980’s and is made from Reynolds 531 ST tubing.

My first decision to make was whether to restore it or to convert it using modern components, but trying to maintain a retro feel to the project.  I opted for the later, as I had some spare parts from upgrading my main road bike.

The main challenges I faced were:

  • The rear stays were spaced at 127mm (modern wheel axles are 130mm)
  • Adapting the stem to accept modern oversized stems
  • Finding some band-on cable stops for the down tubes to enable the use of modern STI gear/brake levers

I overcame the rear stays issue after consulting a few people and was advised not to have the stays permanently spaced as they will bend to accommodate modern axels.  I tried this and it worked, so that saved me a few pounds.

The stem conversion was also fairly straightforward.  I bought a 7/8 inch quill-stem adapter, I then applied a shim which enabled me to fit a modern oversized stem.  I had found on eBay a very nice Deda Quattro stem in high polished silver finish to maintain the retro look.

My hardest challenge was to find a way of attaching band-on cable stop adjusters.  The Holdsworth frame did not have any braze-on lever bosses, so I had to trawl through eBay to see what I could find.  After doing some research in forums, and lots of phone calls to various bike shops, I discovered that I need to look for band-on bosses made by Sachs or Huret.  These were hard to come by and I ended up buying on eBay some Sachs downtube gear levers and removing the levers.  I then bought some Shimano cable stop adjusters which I attached to the lever bosses.  Job done!!

Once I had overcome these three main challenges, I then built the rest of the bike with the components listed in the specification.  I did have some help from another Cappuccino member, Jonathan Mosley, who runs the Cyclespa bike repair business.

The bike took it’s first outing on the roads recently and was put through its paces on a couple of challenging routes, with plenty of hills.  It performs really well and the ride is very smooth and very forgiving.  It is a little heavy on the hills, but that is to be expected with a steel frame and will only help make me stronger!  I am looking forward to this bike complimenting my main carbon framed bike.

Specification

Frame & Forks:  Holdsworth 1980’s frame built with Reynolds 531 ST tubing.  Size 54cm

Stem: Deda Quattro 110mm Silver Oversized.  Fitted using a 7/8inch headset converter and a shim.

Handlebars: Deda Newton polished metal 44cm

Bar Tape: Charge U-bend, brown

Gear Levers/Brakes: Shimano 105 STI 10-speed

Gear/Brake Cables: Jagwire Racer White

Brakes: Tektro 753 long reach calliper brakes, silver

Downtube Cable Stops: Sachs Huret band on bosses fitted with Shimano cable stop adjusters

Seat Post: Charge Chopstick in Silver

Saddle: Charge Spoon in brown

Chainset: FSA Gossamer Pro Megaexo Double Compact 50/34.  Cranks 172.5mm

Front Derailleur: Shimano 105 double band on, silver

Rear Derailleur: Shimano 105 short cage 10 speed, silver

Chain: SRAM 10 speed with Powerlink

Cassette: Shimano 105 10-speed 12-27

Wheels: Shimano RS10

Tyres: Continental 4 season 700×23

Mudguards: SKS Chromoplastic Road, Silver

Pedals: Shimano SPD PD-M520

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Ilkley – 30th January 2011

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club
Almost a re-run of last weekend’s ride but with one of the area’s more testing climbs added.
Seven riders gathered at St. Aidans for a cold and damp start including Rosie, along for the first time.  The route took us through Burn Bridge and up Brackenthwaite Lane where Martin P started the fun by coming off on black ice at the top.  Nothing injured except pride.  Flew down into North Rigton, up again past Almscliffe Crag and on to Leathley and Farnley before the big pull up Norwood Edge.
More leg punishment awaited on the climb to and beyond Timble before some refreshing downhill to Askwith and flat road along to Ilkley.
Avanti Coffee House once again provided a welcome stop before heading back to Otley via Askwith and Weston.  After crossing the bridge at Pool we pushed on to Castley and Weeton where Luke snapped his  rear mech cable and was stuck in a high gear.  With the help of Jonathan’s deft mechanic skills we were all off again in no time up to Kirkby Overblow before returning to Harrogate past Rudding Park.
The consensus of those with computers was that we’d done around 55 miles with some interesting climbs thrown in.

So that’s half an Etape!!

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Avanti Coffee Company, Ilkley

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

Avanti Coffee Company, Ilkley

6 The Grove Promenade, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, LS29 8AF

Tel: 01943 609874

Comments: We stopped by this cafe on Sunday 23rd January, and we were lucky ot find it as Alex spotted it out of the corner of his eye as we were heading for Costa.  We were not disappointed!!  The coffee was good and the cakes were great!

 

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Ilkley – 23rd January 2011

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

Once again on a Sunday morning, the shout of “hills” could be heard echoing around the front of St Aidans as we gathered deciding where to go.  After little deliberation, we opted for a route up past Beckwithshaw, Swinsty and Fewston and then continuing up into Timble and onto Askwith Moor beyond.

That certainly got the legs warmed up and we were glad of the descent into Askwith village before turning right into towards Ilkley.  We eventually settled on Cafe Avanti for our coffee and cake stop and we were not disappointed.  The carrott cake was gorgeous and Alex went back for seconds!!

We left Ilkley along the same route we had entered it, but continued through Askwith and onto Otley and Pool, before crossing over the Wharfe and turning down the lane to Castley.  We met up with Jamie (who had overslept) and then climbed up to Almscliffe Crag, through North Rigton and to the top of Brackenthwaite Lane, where the legs were once again hurting.

It was then a steady run back to Harrogate through Burnbridge.  A really nice ride and plenty of hills to get the early season strength building.

View the route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/64789154

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Ripon and Boroughbridge – 16th January 2011

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

The wind was blowing hard and the rain showers kept on coming, but despite this we had an excellent turn out this morning for a ride out towards Ripon.  Because of the wind we initially planned to shorten the route, however as we porgressed out of Harrogate via Penny Pot and Hampsthwaite it became apparent that it was not too bad, so we went for the longer route we had originally planned.

We welcomed two new riders this morning – Dave and Nick.  After Hampswaite and Shaw Mills we turned towards Fountains Abbey in Markington.  Once at Fountains we headed down the main drive of Studley Park and onto Ripon, Skelton and a coffee stop in Boroughbridge at Tasty Snacks.  We have ditched Gilchrist’s due to the unfriendly staff.

After refuelling we made for Aldborough and the Dunsforths and somehow managed to loose one of the team off the back.  We caught up with them at Arkendale eventually and all headed back to Harrogate with aching legs.  It was a slightly longer ride than anticipated, but the 47 miles will be good miles in the legs for later in the year when we attempt the Etape du Dales.

View the route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/63711500

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Wetherby – 11th January 2011

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

It was good to finally get out on our first night ride of the year last night.  We were also pleased to see that six of us had got fed up with sitting around waiting for the ice to clear and decided to get some miles in.

We decided to keep the ride to lower ground and headed off on a familiar evening route out along Leadhall Lane and down into Burnbridge, before crossing over the Pannal roundabout and up towards Kirkby Overblow.  On our way up to Kirkby we did come across a very large patch of ice, but thankfully no one hit the deck and we carried on.  Soon after Duncan suffered a punture, and whilst repairing managed to break off the valve, so Karl had to lend him another.

After that was fixed it was a quick blast down into Wetherby and back towards Knaresborough.  Just after North Rigton, Duncan had another mechanical, this time with his seat coming loose!!  After fixing that we returned to Harrogate along Abbey Road and up the main hill into Starbeck.

It was a nice ride, albeit a bit cold.

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Ride Canclled 9th Jan 2011

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

Due to very icey roads this mornings ride is cancelled.

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Cappuccino Cycling Club Website Stats 2010

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,800 times in 2010. That’s about 12 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 69 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 90 posts. There were 16 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 8mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 13th with 70 views. The most popular post that day was About Cappuccino Cycling Club.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, shuttvr.com, en.wordpress.com, and search.virginmedia.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for cappuccino cycling club, harrogate cycling club, cycling clubs yorkshire, ripon cycling club, and harrogate cycling.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

About Cappuccino Cycling Club July 2009
5 comments

2

Cafes July 2009
3 comments

3

Contact Us August 2009
7 comments

4

Cool Links July 2009

5

Ripon and Boroughbridge – 31st January 2010 January 2010

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Etape du Dales – 15th May 2011

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Cappuccino Cycling Club

The Etape du Dales is one of the toughest sportive rides in the UK.  It covers a distance of 112miles over some of the  Yorkshire Dales’ most challenging climbs and passes.  The total ascent for the route is over 3,500 metres.

The Cappuccino Cycling Club will be entering a team for the event and if you would like to join us on the day, please get in touch.

Further information about the event can be found at:

http://www.etapedudales.co.uk/

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