Hills Question

[Garz]

Ashworth valley needs to be tackled from the Heywood side otherwise you will just freewheel at speed being all downhill. It has three climbs in succession, I wont spoil the experience by talking in depth on them but if you can find the rake a breeze and run to the peel tower then you sound pretty fit and possibly need to focus on the fitness side of the forum.

AJohnson showed me AV (where is he btw?) and being a whippet he got up it no problem, it did take me by surprise but managed to keep with him. The next time we went I nailed it having more experience of the terrain, it is a fun route - challenging if you try not to take any rests between. If you scale all three and in quick time then you didn't go hard enough or you should be racing.

The hill that climbs to the top of the rake (lumb carr rd) is quite long and not too steep, the other two I use are Darwen up the a666 to bolton, or Horwich climbing up and out to bolton. These are good for working up a sweat and building good climbing rhythm.

 

[JustT]

Cheers Garz, will give that a go next week, oh and never said the rake was a breeze, more like a lot of puffing and panting

I have done A666 a few times, and usualy come back via Horwich after going over Grane rd towards Belmont then rivington, some lovely scenery over there, and a great cake stop. Most of my rides involve heading home over Lumb Carr and we use it on Wednesday night for Hill reps...(now replaced with time trials....oh joy) ..... so really looking forward to some new challenges.

I am not originaly from Rossendale, so dont know many of these hidden gems. Apart from the club rides, I usually find routes by trial and error and Google .. So looking forward to trying out this Ashworth Valley, let you know how I go on