Middle Pack

What better way to spend a sunny bank holiday than riding the Mary Townley Loop!

I was invited along on the loop as a way for a friend to celebrate his big four o. I am glad I accepted as it was a great day out. He had invited a few others along that seemed to know each other and it was also good to meet come fellow keen cyclists.

We met in Hebden Bridge at 8.30am. I had caught the train there so had warmed up with a 4 miler to the train station and maybe a mile wandering round Hebden Bridge looking for a bacon sandwich (I failed). But the others soon arrived and the thought of bacon sandwich was put away for later.

A great collection of bikes were put together. 3 hardtails and a couple of full susses. Nice to see two of the three hardtails were Rock Lobsters! My Aluminium and another Steel one.  A quick apply of the sun cream as it was already getting hot and off we went.

It was decided on clockwise and the long drag up towards Stoodley Pike. Three of us ahead and two a bit further back. This was to be roughly the order of the day, but as speed wasn’t the name of the game then it just meant the faster ones had more of a rest when holding gates.

I had never ridden around Calderdale, but had gone running many times. I knew that bikes would be fun but I have to say that the riding was first class! Great both up and down. The terrain really had a bit of everything. From good tracks, to boulder strewn singletrack to sharp ascents and swooping descents. A real mixed bag (as you would expect from 47 miles of riding.

We stopped for lunch briefly in a pub but were soon on our way again. The second half was starting to show more. It seemed that we were constantly going uphill, like an Escher Drawing but still the riding was great.

Some cloud cover came over in the afternoon which I was thankful for as we continued on our way. Forever upwards!

Before long we were at Widdop, the towards Blackshaw head and then with a ting of sadness I always feel on finishing an adventure, the long fast descent back into Hebden Bridge.

After managing to catch the train, I had to contend with someone nicking the signal cables in Pudsey so I had to bike across Bradford to swap trains and then bike the final 4 miles from the train station to my house. They must have been the longest 4 miles of my life and also the longest section of road I encountered all day.

All in all a great day out. Thanks Andy for the invite. It has wetted my appetite for all day epic rides so watch this space as I have some other 40+ mile routes already sorted.

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• Tags: calderdale, Hebden Bridge, Mary Townley Loop, mtb