W Yorks Get Together

[marinyork]

Quiet roads? When I went up in that direction I thought the traffic levels were absolutely horrific! Sounds good to me but Hebden Bridge is an extremely long way from Leeds!

 

[ColinJ]

Quiet roads? When I went up in that direction I thought the traffic levels were absolutely horrific!

Yeah, the A-roads in the major valleys are busy, especially at certain times. I pretty much stay clear of them. I tend to use the network of little lanes which go along, up and over the hills. This kind of thing...

That is on the route I'd suggest if anybody did want to come over. And that is the kind of valley I like, not the ones from Halifax to Todmorden, or Littleborough to Burnley.

The A-road to Keighley is fine if you only go as far as Oxenhope (assuming you avoid school and work runs, and the worst of weekend traffic).

Sounds good to me but Hebden Bridge is an extremely long way from Leeds!

Well at least it actually is in West Yorkshire, unlike York and Tadcaster - the thread title was about a West Yorkshire get-together, not a Leeds get-together, and certainly not a North Yorkshire get-together

It wouldn't be a nice run over from Leeds by bike but it's only an hour from Leeds by train, and probably less than that by car.

 

[bonj2]

To be fair, Sheffield has great cycling on it's doorstep too. At least as long as you don't head East!

no, you need to head west.
Load o' pints in the fox house then a race to hunters bar?

 

[marinyork]

no, you need to head west.
Load o' pints in the fox house then a race to hunters bar?

Hehe, I haven't done Hathersage Road for a while. Did a stretch that was fairly decent gradient downhill for about 4 miles recently.

That is on the route I'd suggest if anybody did want to come over. And that is the kind of valley I like, not the ones from Halifax to Todmorden, or Littleborough to Burnley.

The A-road to Keighley is fine if you only go as far as Oxenhope (assuming you avoid school and work runs, and the worst of weekend traffic).

Well at least it actually is in West Yorkshire, unlike York and Tadcaster - the thread title was about a West Yorkshire get-together, not a Leeds get-together, and certainly not a North Yorkshire get-together !

It wouldn't be a nice run over from Leeds by bike but it's only an hour from Leeds by train, and probably less than that by car.

I think the person I knew lived on Keighley Road in some terraces up the hill. Been through Todmorden. I quite agree about Tadcaster and there is little there imho and certainly no hills!

 

[bonj2]

Hehe, I haven't done Hathersage Road for a while. Did a stretch that was fairly decent gradient downhill for about 4 miles recently.



I think the person I knew lived on Keighley Road in some terraces up the hill. Been through Todmorden. I quite agree about Tadcaster and there is little there imho and certainly no hills!

thing i like about the fox house to hunters bar route is it's constant downhill but it's nice and LONG - about 7 miles in under 15 mins

 

[colly]

Well I wouldn't mind travelling over to Hebden Bridge to sample the delights of the hills there. Not sure I would ride over though. I have a feeling by the time I got there I would be whacked, never mind a ride then a long trip back again.
I do have a large-ish van which could take several bikes in the back if anyone else wanted to travel over from Leeds. Only two other seats though so if there were more bods to go another vehicle would be needed.

 

[ColinJ]

(West!) West Yorkshire ride (or hilly walk) anybody?

I don't know if you ended up having your (East of) West Yorkshire get-together or even your (North, rather than) West Yorkshire get-together, but if any of you fancy taking me up on my offer to guide you round some of the nicer bits of (West) West Yorkshire, just let me know!

The weather this weekend is forecast to be grim, but I'm free the following 4 weekends if anybody fancies it? Hopefully we'll get at least one more reasonable weekend before Christmas!

 

[colly]

The weekend of the 7th is earmarked for a ride around Saddleworth and Holme Moss.

Other than that I would be ok for the 14th Dec.or even the 30th of this month. (Always assuming I am give time off for good behavior that is)

See if anyone else is interested.

What sort of distance were you thinking on doing?
Your answer will decide whether I ride over or drive.

 

[ColinJ]

See if anyone else is interested.

What sort of distance were you thinking on doing?
Your answer will decide whether I ride over or drive.

Well, the shortest loop I was thinking of is 29 hilly miles, but there are numerous variations which could take it up to 35, 40 or 50 miles (say) with even more hills. There's a nice cafe at Wycoller village which would probably be open if we fancied calling in there. The main concern (other than the weather) would be the limited hours of daylight. In my current state of finess, I'd probably only average about 11-12 mph on those hills. We'd have to allow for any stops and potential mechanicals so it would be best to set off relatively early, say 09:00 10:00 (PS if the ride goes ahead, it's going to be a shortish one so we don't need to set off early).

AndyH (andy1) - I know you're lurking out there somewhere! Have you got your new bike yet, and if so, would you fancy coming along ?

 

[colly]

30 miles or so?
Well I doubt I will be riding over. Might be ok in the summer but when it's cold.....................nah.
Also the roads over from Leeds to your part of the world are usually busy, even on a Sunday so I would NOT enjoy that.

So if anyone wants a lift from the Leeds area let me know.

 

[ColinJ]

30 miles or so?
Well I doubt I will be riding over. Might be ok in the summer but when it's cold.....................nah.
Also the roads over from Leeds to your part of the world are usually busy, even on a Sunday so I would NOT enjoy that.

That makes sense. So, if we were doing just the shorter loop, we could have a more civilised start time of 10:00 .

What I have in mind is Hebden Bridge, Oxenhope, Haworth, Oakworth, Laneshaw Bridge, Wycoller (cafe), Trawden, Coldwell, Widdop, Hebden Bridge.

33 miles, 4,000 feet of climbing, some steep (53 km, 1,250 m).

 

[colly]

Looks like a blinder to me.

Just set the date to suit.

 

[ColinJ]

Looks like a blinder to me.

Just set the date to suit.

Let's leave the final decision a few days to see what the weather is doing. If it looks likely to be okay, we could make it next Sunday (30th November)?

I'll see if I can get a few people to come along.

Anybody else fancy a nice half-day ride in the South Pennines? As mentioned above - we won't be going very quickly, but you'd have to be able to cope with a testing variety of hills. The initial climb from Hebden Bridge to Oxenhope Moor is about 4.5 miles long but isn't particularly steep. Some climbs are short and very steep indeed. and of course, there are others that are quite long and quite steep. After one particularly tough little climb at Thursden (just before Widdop), there is a lovely easy run back towards Hebden Bridge, and a nice descent to finish with.

If we set off at 10:00, only average 10 mph while moving and have an hour at a cafe, we'd still have an hour or more of daylight to spare so lights wouldn't be needed unless anyone decides to ride to and from Hebden Bridge as well, in which case they probably would be.

Provisional date/time (to be confirmed) - 10:00, Sunday 30th November.

Provisional list of riders - ColinJ, colly, Bokonon, Calum, Blonde, amrushton.

 

[Bokonon]

I might be able to make this, providing I am fully recovered from Saturday's planned hangover and can get a bike with variable gears into a road worthy condition.

 

[ColinJ]

I might be able to make this, providing I am fully recovered from Saturday's planned hangover and can get a bike with variable gears into a road worthy condition.

Okay, I'll stick your name on the list. With a bit of luck it will have warmed up by next weekend.

I've heard from andy1 - he won't have his new bike in time so he definitely won't be joining us.

Strictly speaking, because of boundary changes over the years, the Western parts of the route are now in Lancashire, but don't let that put you off !