200km Kendal-Ripon-Kendal in July

[Fiona N]

Over in the Sportives and whatnot forum, we (mainly me and ColinJ) floated the idea of a long, pretty hilly ride from Kendal (or more precisely, Oxenholme Station on the main railway route, for convenience) taking in Sedbergh, Hawes, Ripon and Patley Bridge before wending it's way back to Kendal avoiding the A65 as far as possible. We reckoned that the distance will be around 200km and it will be HILLY Besides the obvious big climbs, most of the roads along the valleys, e.g. from Hawes to Ripon, tend to go up and down the valley sides making for pretty strenuous riding. I would reckon that about 4000m of climbing wouldn't be a gross over-estimate.

Neither the date nor the route are fixed. So this is a chance to put your oar in.

DATE:
There's a Cross-Pennine 100 already in the calendar for the last weekend in July so I'd suggest we go for another weekend and I'm suggesting the weekend of the 16/17 July. Also, as the number of trains stopping at Oxenholme is not great on a Sunday, I'd also suggest we go for Saturday 16th rather than Sunday to accommodate people who'd like to get the train up for the day. Also, would a pre-9am start be feasible to give us as much daylight as possible?

ROUTE:
Kendal-Sedbergh-Hawes-Ripon-Patley Bridge-Kendal gives us some way points but the route between places is open.
My preference would be to take the easier options with respect to hills where possible. It's going to be hilly no matter how we cut it, but there are gratuitous hills and unavoidable hills. E.g. Due to the geography, a big hill from Sedbergh to Hawes is unavoidable but the direct route is a pretty, quiet A road which climbs fairly gently up Garsdale. Whereas, in the former category, I would put the alternative steep climb out of Dentdale to join the road between Ingleton and Hawes (which, though only a B road is busier than the Sedbergh-Hawes road). So I'd take the former route rather than the latter to get between Sedbergh and Hawes.
Just to be pragmatic, as many potential riders are not mountain goats, I think this could save us a bit of time and have us back before dark

So, any takers?

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

i'm in.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm still interested and all of my July is currently free so any weekend is okay for me!

I'm hoping that tubbcyclist might be up for it. He has been kind enough to give me a lift to a couple of forum rides starting away from Hebden Bridge.

I think I'd be struggling on the trains unless we were all quick enough to get back in well under 12 hours. I could have a very early start and get to Oxenholme at 08:21, and I could catch the 20:45 back. That's it. Anything else would involve an overnight stay which I don't fancy. I wouldn't fancy having to race back to catch the train.

I was doing hilly 200s in 10 hours in 2006 so it should be possible to do that again if I do a lot of riding and lose a lot of weight by then.

Anyway - yes, if I'm fit enough and the logistics work out!

 

[PaulB]

I am interested. I'm doing an event in July with over 4,000 metres of climb so could be up for it your one. Trouble is, the one I'm on about is in July. Early July so if this one you're on about comes later in a month I'm not on holiday (the first week apart - the one I'm on about is in Italy so travelling sadly unavoidable) and with no football, then without promising anything, I'd be keen. It's only this Pately Bridge thing that troubles me. The road out of PB towards Grassington is truly gruesome beast going up but appears suicidal going down it! And PB town centre itself is so narrow, I've always avoided the place when I'm on a bicycle. Still, put me down as a definite possible.

 

[ColinJ]

It's only this Pately Bridge thing that troubles me. The road out of PB towards Grassington is truly gruesome beast going up but appears suicidal going down it! And PB town centre itself is so narrow, I've always avoided the place when I'm on a bicycle. Still, put me down as a definite possible.

I'm hardly the world's greatest climber and I got up that hill okay on my Park Rash 200! (Mind you, I was fit enough to get up Park Rash then ... )

 

[Ajay]

Yep, I'd be up for this. (On the understanding that I'm certainly not a mountain goat, and don't do "gratuitous" hills )

Out of interest, what do you people use for route planning? I use Bikeroutetoaster, but the total climbing figure often seems low compared to what I see others quoting for routes. (eg approx 2400m compared to Fiona Ns 4000m estimate - unless she has included lots of gratuitous climbs!!)

 

[colly]

Sounds like a good one.

If I do trundle along I might take the option of breaking for home at Pateley Bridge rather than going back. That would also excuse me the climb up Greenhow Hill out of Pately Bridge.

Patley Bridge back to mine is around 50km so about 170 km or so for the day. Thats quite enough thank you very much.

Of course riding back home would mean arriving by train rather than driving.

Bl**dy hell .......... a 5.51 start from Leeds and nearly 28 quid . AND 2 changes.

How many bikes are allowed on trains at any one time? It would be a crying shame if some of us weren't allowed on because all the spaces were taken up by the rest.

 

[ColinJ]

Yep, I'd be up for this. (On the understanding that I'm certainly not a mountain goat, and don't do "gratuitous" hills )

Out of interest, what do you people use for route planning? I use Bikeroutetoaster, but the total climbing figure often seems low compared to what I see others quoting for routes. (eg approx 2400m compared to Fiona Ns 4000m estimate - unless she has included lots of gratuitous climbs!!)

I plot all my routes in Memory Map and then upload some of them to Bikely to share.

My 'Park Rash 200' was gratuitously hilly and came in at just shy of 4,000 m so I'd be surprised if a route where we were trying to avoid the tougher hills was more than about 2,500 m.

Sounds like a good one.

If I do trundle along I might take the option of breaking for home at Pateley Bridge rather than going back. That would also excuse me the climb up Greenhow Hill out of Pately Bridge.

Patley Bridge back to mine is around 50km so about 170 km or so for the day. Thats quite enough thank you very much.

Of course riding back home would mean arriving by train rather than driving.

Bl**dy hell .......... a 5.51 start from Leeds and nearly 28 quid . AND 2 changes.

How many bikes are allowed on trains at any one time? It would be a crying shame if some of us weren't allowed on because all the spaces were taken up by the rest.

The small 'sprinter' type of trains that they use on the Leeds- Manchester line through Hebden Bridge usually have one bike compartment which takes a couple of bikes, maybe 3, but you can normally stand with your bike if you have to. You can't reserve spaces on those trains. I once had to wait for a second train from Leeds because I couldn't physically get my bike onto a crowded train just after 17:00. Once the office rush had gone, I had no problem getting on the next train.

You need to reserve bike spaces on mainline trains. They sometimes have 1 compartment taking 2 or 3 bikes but I have seen one carriage which had 2 compartments. Some of the places were taken by unreserved bikes. In theory the staff should track down the culpritss and make them get off the train at the next stop, but could you see that happening?

Another thing - when trains are crowded, people chuck their luggage in the bike compartments! Hopefully, and early Saturday morning train wouldn't be too busy.

I've been on a train that had an old-fashioned 'guards van' type of carriage which was locked. I had to get the train manager to unlock it to put my bike on board. There was plenty of room in there for a number of bikes. It was a bit worrying because there was a staff-changeover before I disembarked and the new manager didn't know about my bike. I had to scour the crowded train to find him. Not easily done when you can hardly get past other passengers!

It's a good idea to carry a bungee cord or two to tether your bike. The compartments often have hooks to hang bikes from and they can swing about in an alarming fashion. It's also handy if the bike spaces are taken. I fixed my bike in a wheelchair space but sat next to it so I could move it if a wheelchair user came on board.


It would be 1 change from here (at Preston) and about £32 return. You must be going by a different route, either to Manchester first or to York. If you got on the same Blackpool train through Hebden Bridge as me and changed at Preston, that would be 1 change. Still an early start though.

Sometimes you can get cheaper rail journeys by splitting your journey into multiple single tickets. It's stupid, but that's how it is with the new system. I once saved over £20 by buying 6 single tickets instead of 1 return to Coventry!

 

[Spinney]

Definite maybe here. That's further than I've ever ridden in a day, but I'm hoping to get my mileage up a bit this year.

Edit: on the other hand I've just plugged a possible version of the route into bike hike

Hilly, as you say...

 

[ColinJ]

My sister has just booked the first weekend in July with me, so I'd prefer any other weekend if you don't mind!

 

[colly]

JUst looking at dates I can be free.

Is the 16th July a definate?

 

[Fiona N]

JUst looking at dates I can be free.

Is the 16th July a definate?

Yes let's make it definite as we haven't had any objections.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm in (subject to health, fitness and transport)!

 

[trio25]

Think I'm in as long as I'm not working! Sounds a great ride.

 

[Fiona N]

Thought I'd better bump this back up to the 'active' list as we're about a month off the Saturday 16th July start.

So takers so far seem to be :

Fiona N + sister too
Trio25
ColinJ
Colly
Ajay
PaulB

Maybes:
Spinney

Just a thought on the start: I suggested Oxenholme station on the assumption that most would arrive by train but, for car drivers it's not that good as, although there is plenty parking, it's £8 a day. So if the majority are arriving by car or are local, perhaps we should rethink. For small numbers (i.e. 3 or 4 cars), my cul-de-sac would be OK, for larger numbers, I doubt Asda would notice us and they have an early/late opening cafe. Asda is only about half a mile away from the station but at the bottom of the station hill which makes the start a bit harder from cold.