CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.

Hilly Tuesdays ®

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  1. LaidBack
    Member

    Advertisement.

    INTRO VO:

    Several weeks ago Ruggtomcat of this forum noticed that there was a large hill in the centre of town which had no cars on it after dark.

    From here the concept of 'Hilly Tuesdays' was invented.

    Thanks to him (and Kaputnik) the hill is still there and now features a few bikes!

    VO (Orson Welles style delivery):

    Is your Tuesday not hard enough?

    Maybe your commute is too short?

    Maybe you appreciate a hill which promises an even greater downhill?

    For you the concept of 'Hilly Tuesday' has been born.
    Conveniently located in the green heart of Edinburgh with only the tail end of the rush hour in the park to spoil/enhance your fun!

    All we need is you, and a bike... and lights ...as it's quite dark out there.

    SFX:
    Mashing of gears. Sound of an owl.

    TAGLINE/OUTRO:

    Hilly Tuesdays from the CCE Forum.

    Making the rest of the week seem downhill.

    Meet 6.15pm at St Margaret's Loch in Holyrood Park beside the barrier next or every Tuesday.

    Four laps suggested - on course till back of 7.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Alternatively at the Laidback Bicycle Emporium c. 6PM

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. amir
    Member

    Sounds "fun"! Won't be able to do this week but hopefully next week.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. Dave
    Member

    I'm waiting to build the new bike for this. All I need is hubs. And rims. And spokes. Oh, and a fork.

    But maybe Tuesday next! :-)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. Uberuce
    Member

    My inner lunatic is asking me to do this on my fixie cyclocross, but screaming at me to do it on the old roadster. Any bike you can lift overhead with one hand is light enough, right?

    Inner sensible chap is telling me to wait until I've built my as-yet-hypothetical road bike or at least flipflop the hub on the cross. Oh, and not to do it at all since I'm probably nowhere near fit enough to do anything but embarrass myself, even if I was on a modern ninja carbon thingmy.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Jackson Priest
    Member

    I'd like to join you on this, but not til my new (hopefully) super bright lights arrive. Current ones are more than adequate for the slow uphill bit, but I fear not good enough for the descent. Although I might try them on the way home tonight to check. Hope youse all have fun tomorrow night.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. PS
    Member

    Can't do this week, but may well be out there tonight testing my new lights.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. DaveC
    Member

    I've thought about this but are cars still allowed on there after dark or do they shut the gate?

    My commute is enough for me at the mo.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    Ice shouldn't be a problem

    http://m.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/hour_by_hour_tomorrow.html

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. wingpig
    Member

    @DaveC: "I've thought about this but are cars still allowed on there after dark or do they shut the gate?"

    They've been quite good about getting it shut by 18:00 any evening I've checked it on over the past few weeks. Pity they didn't do the same on Monday lunchtimes.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. recombodna
    Member

    I like the sound of Hilly tuesdays. I'll try and make it tomorrow night.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @Jacksonpriest to be honest you don't need massively bright lights - on the uphill it's slow enough and the catseyes are well illuminated enough that they aren't that neccessary. On the downhill there's enough car lights shining in your face to make them surplus to requirements!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. Jackson Priest
    Member

    Thanks Mr K. Might well join you in that case.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. Roibeard
    Member

    Is there a lightweight option? That is, would anyone mind if I rolled up on my way home, then completed only half a lap, before peeling off for the Commie Pool?

    I don't rate my capabilities at completing an extra 13 miles (4 laps) mid commute, particular when it involves colours I've not seen before on a MapMyRide elevation chart...

    (+9% in places - my usual routes max out at +5%!)

    Maybe having managed half, I might be brave enough to attempt 1.5 the next time!

    ;-)

    Robert

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @roibeard - you can do as many or as few laps as you feel like! Anth threatened to hang around at the top taking long-exposure photos of the sky and crazy cyclists out in the cold and dark I think.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. wingpig
    Member

    @roibeard Pop out for a practise/test at lunchtime. It's not far. Granted, there are extra tour buses and impatient idiots in cars tailgating rear-dropout-ing you in the middle of the day but it's easier to anticipate the remainder of the slope during daylight to get the feel of it.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. chdot
    Admin

    "Pop out for a practise/test"

    See (or not) -

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4344

    Posted 12 years ago #

  18. PS
    Member

    Well, I'm back from my private Hilly Monday with my new lights and I can heartily recommend the experience to anyone swithering about whether to give it a go. Thoroughly enjoyed myself.

    A very different experience to normal laps - the darkness messed with my perception of speed and made me ride much more by feel (especially with gear changes). It also made the steepest bit feel a wee bit easier for some reason.

    Sitting up there in the dark really makes you notice how much noise and light pollution there is in town. Lights out for darker skies. ;)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  19. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Spotted?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  20. wingpig
    Member

    I'm getting quite a not-been-round-the-hill-in-the-dark vibe off this thread. I always thought it was weird, when trundling, scuttling or striding around it at night, that I usually encountered no other people taking advantage of such a fantastic facility. Hopefully this will change that.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  21. chdot
    Admin

    "I usually encountered no other people"

    You mean cycling?

    I've certainly been up Arthur's Seat in the dark (not just for the May Day dew) and I know it has been a 'rite of passage' for some teenagers.

    Though I know 'most people' don't get further than Dunsapie car park.

    So if they can't drive there!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  22. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    chdot: "Though I know 'most people' don't get further than Dunsapie car park"

    One sunny summers day I cycled past five cars at Dunsapie, people inside, engines running.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  23. LaidBack
    Member

    People like to drive up in summer and take furniture with them to enjoy the great outdoors...

    Hey... don't these people have patios to go to?!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  24. kaputnik
    Moderator

    It's still there at night time.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  25. ruggtomcat
    Member

    Oh and for you guys swithering about what weight of bike to bring, Im normally on 17kg of recumbent and will be the slowest thing up the hill by some distance. Its not a race :)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  26. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Oh and 26th November sees Edinburgh Road Club's annual hill climb championship doing the same route. The park are kindly closing the road for this.

    Expect to see a lot of people taking it very seriously (it is a race) but plenty of people not so and just doing it for the fun of it.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  27. Instography
    Member

    I can recommend it as a fun, lung-busting way to measure your progress. I've been doing on my single speed and have yet to make it up without stopping to let my heart calm down. But one day ... one day.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  28. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    @kaputnik, taken together the two pictures suggest a very slow ascent.

    @laidback: "People like to drive up in summer and take furniture with them to enjoy the great outdoors...". Some people like to take their front-rooms on holiday.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  29. recombodna
    Member

    Hey don't knock taking your front room on holiday til you've tried it... ;-)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  30. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I was pencilled in for this, but I'm coming down with something and whisky in front of the fire is calling - especially given I'm in meeting hell today.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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