Hello from Rochdale

[cragster]

Hi from sunny Rochdale. Land of charity shops and phone shops, but with lots of nice countryside to balance out the bad points! Been viewing the forums for a while now and always find them interesting and informative. My bike is a Specialized Sports Sirrus, and I am currently in training to do the 'Over the Edge' bike ride in May. Hoping eventually to be able to commute to Manchester and back (16 miles,) at least a couple of days a week. All advice for training routes in this area would be gratefully received, as I seem to be stuck on the Whitworth Road to Bacup and back route 3 times a week. Thats about 14 miles btw!!

 

[ColinJ]

Hi cragster!

You've probably already noticed that there a quite a few CycleChat members in your neck of the woods, and people like me a few miles further away.

Instead of coming back from Bacup through Whitworth on your normal training ride, you could climb over towards Todmorden on the A681, then turn right on the A6033 and return to Rochdale via Summit and Littleborough.

If you are training for the 'Over the Edge' ride then a very obvious training ride is to cycle to Littleborough and then up the A58 to the White House pub and back.

How about a trip to Hollingworth Lake? Rochdale, Littleborough, Hollingworth Lake, (You could do a circuit of the lake on the shared path - watch out for dogs and children dashing about - and take in the cafe halfway round), Smithy Bridge, then the A58 back into Rochdale.

You could ride to ride to Todmorden and back on the A58, A6033. Once you can manage that, add another 8 miles on by riding to Hebden Bridge and back on the A646 from Todmorden. Another 4 miles by riding to Mytholmroyd and back from Hebden Bridge.

Really though, the nicest rides round here are when you start doing more climbing to get you away from the busy roads. Once you've got your stamina up, I could suggest loads of longer, hillier routes. We get together quite often for CycleChat forum rides. You'd be welcome to come along on some of them when you think that you are ready.

 

[numbnuts]

Hi & to CC

 

[cragster]

Thanks for the welcomes. Cheers for the route suggestions Colin, I'll be giving them a try soon and especially want to do the hilly routes, which as you say get us away from all the traffic in this area. So my first aim is Bacup/Tod/littleborough and back! Would love to do one of the forum rides when fitter, so early summer should be a reasonable target.

 

[ianrauk]

Welcome Cragster to Cycle Chat. I once visited Rochdale.. sat in a pub all evening after knocking on Lisa Stansfields door.. she wasn't in.

 

[cragster]

Welcome Cragster to Cycle Chat. I once visited Rochdale.. sat in a pub all evening after knocking on Lisa Stansfields door.. she wasn't in.

Ta for the welcome. I saw her singing in a local pub once, so believe me you're lucky that she wasn't in!!

 

[SlowerThanASluggishSloth]

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Hi, Cragster. Once you've got your mileage up, keep your eves open for the forum rides which ColinJ organises from Hebden Bridge. The riders are all very welcoming and supportive, the rides are scenic and the pace accommodating. A good time is invariably had by all. Hope to see you on one of them one day.

 

[cragster]

I look forward to going on some of the rides. As a matter of interest how far do you usually go, and is it always from Hebden Bridge?

 

[3narf]

Hello! My wife used to teach in Rochdale, at Balderstone and Falinge schools.

 

[ColinJ]

I look forward to going on some of the rides. As a matter of interest how far do you usually go, and is it always from Hebden Bridge?

People organise forum rides all over the place but the ones that I do are usually from Hebden Bridge because I live here! Sometimes we start from Whalley (6.5 miles NW of Burnley) for rides in the Ribble Valley.

Typically the rides would be about 50 miles, but I have done a loop through Trawden which is only about 30 miles (very hilly though). We did one last weekend from Whalley which was 101 miles but that was a lot flatter than the rides that we normally do.

 

[cragster]

Hello! My wife used to teach in Rochdale, at Balderstone and Falinge schools.

Hello back at you. I attended Balderstone school and both my kids went to Falinge Park school.

Typically the rides would be about 50 miles, but I have done a loop through Trawden which is only about 30 miles (very hilly though). We did one last weekend from Whalley which was 101 miles but that was a lot flatter than the rides that we normally do.

I can see that a lot of training is going to be required for me to get to those distances, but its something I am aiming to do.