ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
My annual scenic forum ride to Conder Green (near Glasson Dock) will take place on Saturday 24th March. It is a week or two earlier than usual because Easter is at the end of March this year, and the following weekend is reserved for 'Spring Into the Dales', a fine local audax event which I like to take part in. NB I reserve the right to put the ride back a day to the 25th if we get the situation we had in 2016 - horrid weather on the Saturday, fine weather on the Sunday.
I will be riding to Whalley from Todmorden and back again afterwards. The route from Whalley will be a 'long' metric century (108 km/67 miles) and from Todmorden an imperial century (100 miles/161 km). You can choose which variation you would prefer to do.
There are 2 obvious routes from Whalley to our cafe stop - via Longridge Fell or via the Trough of Bowland. We did the Fell route last year so let's do the Trough route this time.
Map:
The route is undulating. That is - it is not super-hard, but it is by no means flat. You would need to be confident of coping with a rolling route with a few stiff climbs and averaging a 'reasonable speed'***.
Profile:
The route takes in the glorious Trough of Bowland. From the summit, it is mainly downhill to our stop at Cafe d'Lune, Conder Green, on the Lune estuary. We will return to Whalley via Longridge, Ribchester and Billington.
I have introduced a couple of small changes to the route we did in 2016 to add the extra distance required for those of us doing the imperial century. We will bypass Whitewell and take a scenic lane past the Wild Boar farm, near Chipping. On the return leg, we will add a few km on near Inglewhite. I have marked those with green circles on the route map.
I have attached a GPX file of the loop from Whalley.
If you are riding from Whalley, make sure you arrive at Spring Wood picnic centre car park off the A671 above Whalley [MAP] by 09:20 with a view to setting off at 09:30 or ASAP after that once the imperialists arrive. If you are late, we may have already set off so you would have to chase after us using your GPS or a map for guidance ... i.e. DON'T BE LATE! Note that there is a 2 metre height restriction on the car park and they now have a pay & display machine. Last time I was there it was only £1, but bring a bit more change just in case.
Usual CycleChat forum ride rules apply - nobody left behind (IF YOU ARRIVE ON TIME TO SET OFF WITH US, OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT BE!), wait at the top of hills for others in your group. The rides are not fast and are more about chatting, laughing and scenery, so don't come if you are desperate to average more than (say) 16-19 kph (10-12 mph).
If you are riding from Todmorden, meet beside Tod Chippy opposite the free Dalton Street car park at 07:55, aiming to set off at 08:00. If you are coming in by train, follow the green arrow.
View attachment 344822
This is the extra section between Todmorden and Whalley, to be done both ways by the 100 mile riders. The climbing on the way out is mainly long drags but coming back there are a couple of tougher sections (the Old Roman Road towards Read and Rossendale Rd up to the Manchester Rd TL). NOTE This map had been zoomed into more than the map for the main loop!
We take the Padiham Greenway from Rose Grove to Padiham to get us away from the traffic for a while. For the same reason we take the more difficult scenic route from Padiham to Spring Wood on the Old Roman Rd through Read.
If you are doing the 100 mile version, bring lights in case of unexpected delays. We will return on well-lit roads so small 'be-seen-by' lights should be adequate.
Express interest below ... (if you ARE interested!
)
100 mile riders from Todmorden:
*** My definition of 'reasonable speed' is one that means I can expect to get home in daylight (or shortly after sunset). Sunset is at about 18:30 that day (the clocks will not yet have gone forward). It takes roughly 1.5 hours for me to ride from Todmorden to Whalley (or back). If I set off from Tod at 08:00 then I would get to (Spring Wood picnic centre) Whalley at about 09:30 and we should get on our way ASAP after that. I need to be setting off for home by 17:00. That leaves 7.5 hours for the 108 km loop. 108/7.5 ~=14.5 kph (9 mph). That includes our mid-ride cafe stop. If we allow an hour for stoppages then we need to achieve an average rolling speed of ~16.5 kph (10.5 mph). I think that is pretty reasonable. If it sounds too fast for you then it definitely IS!
I will be riding to Whalley from Todmorden and back again afterwards. The route from Whalley will be a 'long' metric century (108 km/67 miles) and from Todmorden an imperial century (100 miles/161 km). You can choose which variation you would prefer to do.
There are 2 obvious routes from Whalley to our cafe stop - via Longridge Fell or via the Trough of Bowland. We did the Fell route last year so let's do the Trough route this time.
Map:
The route is undulating. That is - it is not super-hard, but it is by no means flat. You would need to be confident of coping with a rolling route with a few stiff climbs and averaging a 'reasonable speed'***.
Profile:
The route takes in the glorious Trough of Bowland. From the summit, it is mainly downhill to our stop at Cafe d'Lune, Conder Green, on the Lune estuary. We will return to Whalley via Longridge, Ribchester and Billington.
I have introduced a couple of small changes to the route we did in 2016 to add the extra distance required for those of us doing the imperial century. We will bypass Whitewell and take a scenic lane past the Wild Boar farm, near Chipping. On the return leg, we will add a few km on near Inglewhite. I have marked those with green circles on the route map.
I have attached a GPX file of the loop from Whalley.
If you are riding from Whalley, make sure you arrive at Spring Wood picnic centre car park off the A671 above Whalley [MAP] by 09:20 with a view to setting off at 09:30 or ASAP after that once the imperialists arrive. If you are late, we may have already set off so you would have to chase after us using your GPS or a map for guidance ... i.e. DON'T BE LATE! Note that there is a 2 metre height restriction on the car park and they now have a pay & display machine. Last time I was there it was only £1, but bring a bit more change just in case.
Usual CycleChat forum ride rules apply - nobody left behind (IF YOU ARRIVE ON TIME TO SET OFF WITH US, OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT BE!), wait at the top of hills for others in your group. The rides are not fast and are more about chatting, laughing and scenery, so don't come if you are desperate to average more than (say) 16-19 kph (10-12 mph).
If you are riding from Todmorden, meet beside Tod Chippy opposite the free Dalton Street car park at 07:55, aiming to set off at 08:00. If you are coming in by train, follow the green arrow.
View attachment 344822
This is the extra section between Todmorden and Whalley, to be done both ways by the 100 mile riders. The climbing on the way out is mainly long drags but coming back there are a couple of tougher sections (the Old Roman Road towards Read and Rossendale Rd up to the Manchester Rd TL). NOTE This map had been zoomed into more than the map for the main loop!
We take the Padiham Greenway from Rose Grove to Padiham to get us away from the traffic for a while. For the same reason we take the more difficult scenic route from Padiham to Spring Wood on the Old Roman Rd through Read.
If you are doing the 100 mile version, bring lights in case of unexpected delays. We will return on well-lit roads so small 'be-seen-by' lights should be adequate.
Express interest below ... (if you ARE interested!
)100 mile riders from Todmorden:
- ColinJ
- @Littgull
- Bill? (non-CycleChat pal of ColinJ)
- @rusty bearing (if ride takes place on 24th, as planned)
- Carrie and Kevin (non-CycleChat pals of ColinJ)
- @Domus at the cafe stop? (If the timing is right)
*** My definition of 'reasonable speed' is one that means I can expect to get home in daylight (or shortly after sunset). Sunset is at about 18:30 that day (the clocks will not yet have gone forward). It takes roughly 1.5 hours for me to ride from Todmorden to Whalley (or back). If I set off from Tod at 08:00 then I would get to (Spring Wood picnic centre) Whalley at about 09:30 and we should get on our way ASAP after that. I need to be setting off for home by 17:00. That leaves 7.5 hours for the 108 km loop. 108/7.5 ~=14.5 kph (9 mph). That includes our mid-ride cafe stop. If we allow an hour for stoppages then we need to achieve an average rolling speed of ~16.5 kph (10.5 mph). I think that is pretty reasonable. If it sounds too fast for you then it definitely IS!
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