Today's Bike Ride

[Graham Breeze]

5500 ft in 42 miles! Now that is climbing, and is even more than Llani Boy's 1000ft/10miles territory. Can we have the route please?

I fancy having a go at this, when I allowed to. Might even have to put the 42 teeth ring on

Two words: Pateley Bridge. It lies in a river ravine and when it rains a lot the River Nidd floods, a lot. Every road out involves a hill, some are long and steep (Greenhow 3990 m, gain 282m),Nought Bank Road (2700m, 207m) which are in Simon Warren's book but others with chevrons are not (Old Church Road and Peat Lane). Oh and the mainroad to Harrogate is steep as well.

So a few hilly loops round Pateley will sort out anyone's climbing credentials.

My son lives in Otley (on the R Wharfe) and to go North to Pateley involves climbing over Blubberhouses Moor ,losing all the height going down to a river valley (Washburn) and then climbing up over more moors to reach Pateley.

It's why Yorkshire has an ICU recognised Tour (of Yorkshire) and no other county has.

[noel]

Every road out involves a hill, some are long and steep (Greenhow 3990 m, gain 282m),

I remember this from one of my and Mrs Noel's tandem adventures. Thankfully we went down it having stopped for an excellent cake at the stump cross caverns cafe over the tops.

[Graham Breeze]

I remember this from one of my and Mrs Noel's tandem adventures. Thankfully we went down it having stopped for an excellent cake at the stump cross caverns cafe over the tops.

Well if you went by way of Grassington to Stump Cross you would also remember the long 16% climb up from Dibble's Bridge**. The "S" bend over the bridge has killed 3 descending cyclists over the years and 33 people in a coach which went over the parapet is the worst ever traffic accident in GB.

The last cyclist to die (in late 2020) was on an "E" bike,one of the brakes failed,he hit the parapet at 47 mph and landed on a barn roof. There are now belatedly two new huge signs prior to the descent warning cyclists to check their brakes.

** but with two of you pedalling 16% is presumably just a family frolic.

[Fellbeast]

I’m rubbish at searching for segments on Strava, so it’s probably me, but that Dibble bridge hill only seems to a) have one segment on it (shown as 10.8% by the looks of things Graham) and b) it’s only for the downhill!!!! It must be the fell runner in me but who the hell cares about downhill times?

[Llani Boy]

I’m rubbish at searching for segments on Strava, so it’s probably me, but that Dibble bridge hill only seems to a) have one segment on it (shown as 10.8% by the looks of things Graham) and b) it’s only for the downhill!!!! It must be the fell runner in me but who the hell cares about downhill times?

There are 4 Strava segments on the hill up from Dibble Bridge east towards Stumps Cross, named as:

B6265 climb
B6265 steep section
Farcarl Climb
New Rd Climb

They all have over 6,000 attempts.

Go get'em

[Fellbeast]

There are 4 Strava segments on the hill up from Dibble Bridge east towards Stumps Cross, named as:

B6265 climb
B6265 steep section
Farcarl Climb
New Rd Climb

They all have over 6,000 attempts.

Go get'em

Thanks. A top 4,000 place is ripe for the taking

(I think it’s using Strava on my mobile that’s the problem - segment searching seems a bit more basic on the mobile app)

[Fellbeast]

Two words: Pateley Bridge. It lies in a river ravine and when it rains a lot the River Nidd floods, a lot. Every road out involves a hill, some are long and steep (Greenhow 3990 m, gain 282m),Nought Bank Road (2700m, 207m) which are in Simon Warren's book but others with chevrons are not (Old Church Road and Peat Lane). Oh and the mainroad to Harrogate is steep as well.

So a few hilly loops round Pateley will sort out anyone's climbing credentials.

My son lives in Otley (on the R Wharfe) and to go North to Pateley involves climbing over Blubberhouses Moor ,losing all the height going down to a river valley (Washburn) and then climbing up over more moors to reach Pateley.

It's why Yorkshire has an ICU recognised Tour (of Yorkshire) and no other county has.

We have a name for the people that live in Greenhow (and Queensbury above Bradford)

....the fog people

[Graham Breeze]

I’m rubbish at searching for segments on Strava, so it’s probably me, but that Dibble bridge hill only seems to a) have one segment on it (shown as 10.8% by the looks of things Graham) and b) it’s only for the downhill!!!! It must be the fell runner in me but who the hell cares about downhill times?

Well maybe I don't know much about fell running but isn't, say, Snowdon "won" on the downhill?

A 16% climb isn't at all steep when you can find 25% climbs + hairpins + gravel.But what is a bit different about the Dibble Bridge descent is that if you don't navigate the narrow S bend at the bridge with, of course, vehicles coming in the opposite direction and which you can't see until the last few seconds so you don't know how much of the road they are taking up, you might die.

And three cyclists have.

And North Yorkshire Highways has just spent a lot of money erecting two huge signs specifically aimed at cyclists (not bikers or coaches) because they clearly think it could happen again.

[Fellbeast]

Well maybe I don't know much about fell running but isn't, say, Snowdon "won" on the downhill?

A 16% climb isn't at all steep when you can find 25% climbs + hairpins + gravel.But what is a bit different about the Dibble Bridge descent is that if you don't navigate the narrow S bend at the bridge with, of course, vehicles coming in the opposite direction and which you can't see until the last few seconds so you don't know how much of the road they are taking up, you might die.

And three cyclists have.

And North Yorkshire Highways has just spent a lot of money erecting two huge signs specifically aimed at cyclists (not bikers or coaches) because they clearly think it could happen again.

Yeah I drive that road a lot (well used to pre-covid anyway) and I know the squiggle turn at the bottom too. It can be a bit unnerving in a car to be honest

[noel]

Well if you went by way of Grassington to Stump Cross you would also remember the long 16% climb up from Dibble's Bridge**. The "S" bend over the bridge has killed 3 descending cyclists over the years and 33 people in a coach which went over the parapet is the worst ever traffic accident in GB.

The last cyclist to die (in late 2020) was on an "E" bike,one of the brakes failed,he hit the parapet at 47 mph and landed on a barn roof. There are now belatedly two new huge signs prior to the descent warning cyclists to check their brakes.

** but with two of you pedalling 16% is presumably just a family frolic.

I do remember seeing some signs that day. Scary business. Thankfully on the tandem I have an in-built safety system that shouts at me if we're going over about 35mph.

You're right, with two pedalling we should fly up those hills. Just looking back at a segment called Dibble's Bridge to Stump Cross Caverns. It took us 21 minutes. Dividing the time by two, as we were on a tandem, we were only 2 and a half minutes off the fastest time of about 7 and a half minutes!