Hilly, scenic 102 km (63 mile) forum ride, Whalley, Sun 6th May (?)

[ColinJ]

NB Start moved to a cafe in Whalley. Park at Spring Wood and nip down the hill into Whalley for a hot drink first? See this post.

Hi again folks.

I have planned a rather lovely and strenuous 102 km (63 mile) forum ride from the Spring Wood picnic centre on the A671 above Whalley. This will be my 'metric century a month challenge' ride for May and it will take place on Sunday 6th May.

I will be catching a train to Accrington, about 8 km (5 miles) from Spring Wood and the first train on a Sunday morning is supposed to get in at 09:59, so let's say we will meet at 10:20 and aim to be setting off at about 10:30, subject to my train running on time and me not having any problems in the 5 mile ride over from Accrington.

I've based the route on parts of the shorter version of the old Pendle Pedal sportive but tweaked it to suit our requirements, and here is a description (modified several times from the original proposal to cut out busy roads):

Spring Wood, Whalley, Wiswell, Pendleton, a tough ascent of the Nick o' Pendle (we've done it the other way on my previous forum rides over it), Sabden, climb the Old Roman Road (Read) and on up to Padiham Heights, Forest of Pendle, a steep yomp up to Sabden Fold, Newchurch-in-Pendle, Roughlee, left onto the A682 above Blacko, then immediately left again for another steep climb, this one taking us over to Twiston Moor, right at the crossroads and then mainly downhill for 8 km (5 miles) on a nice lane to Downham, through Chatburn to the Ribble, climb Beacon Hill, drop into the dip at Lane Ends, climb back up and descend to Slaidburn. Optional*** cafe stop at Riverbank Tearooms after 52 km (32 miles). Climb the 'quiet lane' through Laythams and descend back to Newton, Dunsop Bridge, Burholme Bridge, climb past the Wild Boar Park and descend/climb/descend again to Chipping. Optional*** stop at Cobbled Corner cafe there after 72 km (45 miles), followed by a little loop to extend our ride distance to just over 100 km. A tough climb over Longridge Fell to Jeffrey Hill (but not by the ultra-steep Jeffrey Hill itself - I'm not mad!) From there we have an easy 15 kms ride back to Whalley - along the south side of the Fell [CAUTION - awful road surface in fast section of that road!] to Brook Bottom, descend past Stonyhurst College, Mitton, Whalley. Then we can have a race up the hill to Spring Wood car park. I'll rephrase that - I'll watch the rest of you race up the hill from the back of the bunch!

*** I'm only proposing one cafe stop. If the weather is nice, Slaidburn would be a good place for it because we can sit at the tables outside Riverbank Tearooms or across the road on the village green by the River Hodder. If the weather isn't so good, it might be better to crack on and stop at Chipping instead. I think the cafe there has more room inside, and we wouldn't have so far to ride back with cold legs.

Click here for a detailed route map on Bikely. Some people have had GPS difficulties with my routes downloaded from Bikely due to excessive numbers of trackpoints, so I have simplified the route and saved it as this GPX file which will fit into the memory of most Garmins that I know of.

I should point out that this is a very strenuous route and is not suitable for beginners. We will not be riding quickly and nobody will be left behind, but you really should be able to cope with relentless hills, either by virtue of your fitness, or by doing it my way and using low enough gears!

I think with a good cafe stop and my current (lack of) fitness, the ride will take about 7-8 hours.

So, who's up for it?

 

[oldfatfool]

Pop me down as a probable

 

[potsy]

So, you organise a 'flat' ride and get a great turnout.
Is this one to keep the numbers down a bit?

Put me down for a bit of pain

 

[ColinJ]

Pop me down as a probable

Will do.

So, you organise a 'flat' ride and get a great turnout.
Is this one to keep the numbers down a bit?

Put me down for a bit of pain

If it hurts you, it will kill me!

There are some fantastic roads on this route that I haven't taken you on before; you're in for a treat!

I'm quite sure that the numbers will be way down on last week's high of 13, but with a bit of luck we can get 6 or 7 to turn out. Alun is interested as long as it is that weekend. He might be away later in the month.

Riders:

• ColinJ
• Alun
• potsy
• oldfatfool (probable)
• Ajay (Whalley to Chipping)

 

[Ajay]

Nice route Colin, I'll be up for this.
I'll ride to Whalley for the start and leave you at Chipping.

 

[ColinJ]

I've swapped messages with tubbycyclist and he points out that the route through Barnoldswick is a rat run so I think I'll cut that out and take us straight up the A682 instead. That road can be a bit dodgy itself so we will have to watch out for mad motorists. We'd be climbing 3 kms at about 3.3% and then do a quick descent to rejoin my original route. I've added a loop between Chipping and Longridge Fell to bring the distance back up over 100 km. The amended route is 102 kms in length (63 miles) and the cafe stop comes sooner in the ride at 53 kms (33 miles). I've edited my original route description.

 

[Ajay]

You could always miss out the A682 altogether and take the gorgeous route from Newchurch to Downham via Barley (unless youre scared of witches), you can easily make up the mileage on the quiet lanes west of Chipping (Beacon Fell!). Slaiburn could become a pit-stop, with the "offical" cafe stop moving to Cobbled Corner Chipping. Just my thoughts

 

[ColinJ]

You could always miss out the A682 altogether and take the gorgeous route from Newchurch to Downham via Barley (unless youre scared of witches), you can easily make up the mileage on the quiet lanes west of Chipping (Beacon Fell!). Slaiburn could become a pit-stop, with the "offical" cafe stop moving to Cobbled Corner Chipping. Just my thoughts

I was trying to keep the little lane from the A682 to Downham in, but you could be right - why do a climb on a busy A-road just to get a few kms of quiet lane in? The other factor was the cafe stop, but yes - Chipping would be okay if we made a short stop at Slaidburn on the way round. I like Beacon Fell.

I'll get back to my maps!

 

[ColinJ]

Okay - I've had a look at the map and come up with a nice variation. I've done the climb from Barley lots of times so I fancied doing something slightly different and I've spotted it ...

Stay with my route to the A682 but after a few yards up the hill, turn left and climb though Lanefield to Lower Black Moss and up to Twiston Moor, descend through Twiston to Lower Gate where we rejoin my original route. I've checked the distances - the total is 101 km so Beacon Fell can be left for another ride. Maybe Slaidburn at 52 km would be a better place to stop than Chipping at 72 km? We could go with a short stop at Slaidburn and a longer one at Chipping though - let's take a vote on it when we see who is riding!

Reactions to this 3rd version of the route?

 

[totallyfixed]

We are up for this too, mainly because this really is where I grew up but I think we might have to use gears on this occasion. Dr Pink is racing a hilly 29 mile TT tomorrow [and I do mean hilly] and the weather isn't looking great so I told her it would be character building for Colin's Pendle ride

 

[potsy]

We are up for this too, mainly because this really is where I grew up but I think we might have to use gears on this occasion. Dr Pink is racing a hilly 29 mile TT tomorrow [and I do mean hilly] and the weather isn't looking great so I told her it would be character building for Colin's Pendle ride

Good luck to Dr Pink for tomorrow, if the forecast is right it will be a wet one

I notice Colin hasn't put the usual small print on these hilly rides, it will be slow,slow,slow

 

[totallyfixed]

Well we are not expecting much tomorrow, definitely not race fit yet, was nearly 2 mins down on her normal time for a 10 yesterday [26.11] on a rolling course, tomorrow will be "interesting" as she is up against an Olympian so nothing to lose.
Regarding the ride, just want to relive a lot of memories, one of the most scenic rides there is up north, used to do most of those roads on a 3 gear bike that no doubt weighed a bit more than those I ride now.

 

[oldfatfool]

Personally not bothered about making 2 stops especially if there is only 20k between them.

 

[I like Skol]

I notice Colin hasn't put the usual small print on these hilly rides, it will be slow,slow,slow

Maybe he is working on a new health warning as everyone else seems to be picking up speed?

'He will be slow, slow, slow......'

 

[ColinJ]

We are up for this too, mainly because this really is where I grew up but I think we might have to use gears on this occasion. Dr Pink is racing a hilly 29 mile TT tomorrow [and I do mean hilly] and the weather isn't looking great so I told her it would be character building for Colin's Pendle ride

Ah - I was thinking that you would like this one, but didn't expect to see you for it because it is about as fixed-unfriendly as they come!

Good luck to Dr Pink for tomorrow

I second that emotion!

I notice Colin hasn't put the usual small print on these hilly rides, it will be slow,slow,slow

Maybe he is working on a new health warning as everyone else seems to be picking up speed?

'He will be slow, slow, slow......'

Er, I will be very slow uphill, riding along at an easy pace on the (few!) flatter bits and could well be doing 80+kph (50+ mph) on some of the descents!

Personally not bothered about making 2 stops especially if there is only 20k between them.

Chipping is about 3/4 of the way round and I would prefer to stop there if the weather is poor - less to do after the cafe stop to get back. If the weather is pleasant then stopping at Slaidburn would be good because we could sit in the sunshine at the tables outside the cafe or on the village green opposite.