Calderdale/Hebden riding conditions?

Thinking of riding there tomorrow am. Rivers of ice or firm?

It's melting and a bit mushy in places. Might be OK if you're on compacted snow, if it's still deepish and or churned up it's an absolute b*gger, wheels are all over the place. I've given up riding the mountain bike, been reduced to getting the road bike out.

You'll be walking loads (like usual then) ;o)

Dave! Just conceptualise. Imagine the love child of Steve Peat and Tracy Mossley asked this question..

Was thinking of upto the top of Heptonstall, down the whole of blue pig, Crags/over the moor? Down into Hebden then one run of Pecket Well?

He wouldn,t be old enough to ride,you don't have that excuse.
Ian

He'd still ride better..

You said it LOL
Ian

If Ed-O gave me a lesson, he'd have to cancel his diary for the rest of the year and call Jedi for help/counselling 😯

Pecket A was iffy on Wednesday and we hadn't had half the melt we've had now. Usual spots after the river though so you takes your chances.

Usual spots after the river

Which parts? Not on the descent after the muddy-flat bit?

Only the first bit of the descent but the muddy flat bit is mudier than usual..There will be a decent amount of thaw water…

Having said that I've never been out in Hb and regretted grabbing the bike…

Having said that I've never been out in Hb and regretted grabbing the bike…

Definitely +1.

I'd love to live in the area if my preggers other half would relent..

Rivi on Christmas day was 'just' rideable but Edale etc today was awful. I actually thought it would make a nice walk today if I left the bike in a bush 😕

I live a 15 minute cycle from peckett A….

I do feel lucky 😉

Only trouble is I'm at peckett height so every ride ends in a slog rather than a good DH. Yeah I am hard done ton 😉

I live a 15 minute cycle from peckett A….

I do feel lucky

Me = 20 mins away on a bike, i also feel quite lucky.

Muddy mess.best avoiding the best bits to keep theMm that way.its a sloppy mess out there at the minute.

best avoiding the best bits to keep them that way

Give it a year at least to be on safe side ta Hora….

:o)

Our spring dried up last summer and we had to buy water in bottles. Top part of peckett A was a little less muddy but still sticky……..

Give it a year at least to be on safe side ta Hora….

No I'm the advance planning manager for Tesco Supermarkets and I need to measure up the Pecket Well descent for a new Tesco Extra site 😉 😆 …err 😕

The mulch just after the stream on Pecket Well- you could see pools of water however it was far gripper than I expected- cleared it. Must be the mulch on the very edge of freezing?
Rest of it was spot on. Only the second part of Blue pig (the cobblestones down the right) was hard to ride (I rode in the rut on the left instead.

Plus….Mooch was open 🙂

Any change since yesterday? Is it melting – still seems cold for it to be melting away that quickly?

Mud and ice = rubbish. I'm taking up darts until it's gone.

— Edward Oxley (@GreatRock) December 28, 2009

YMMV

from over hill
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/riding-rossendale-todaytomorrow

Went up Norland moor today via North Dean woods.
Woods were not great but Norland moor was better than expected. In fact it was better to ride than it was before the snow. In November it resembled New Orleans after Katrina!

Norland is decent whatever the weather.

We were out in Hebden today – went up behind the station and up to Stoodley Pike – the BW/farm tracks up towards Stoodley were bordering on unrideable on anything with a gradient. Dropped straight off the front of the Pike down to Mankinholes which was excellent and then down the BW towards HB before dropping through the woods to the canal. We then ended up going up Jack Bridge which was ok, up Ali's zig zags which was as good as riding in wet sand can be expected and then down tried a new descent from Slack down towards Hardcastle Craggs which was super tech – loads of slippery moss covered rocks which was excellent/insane. One for the dry nights that one. Then ended up on the bottom half of Blue Pig and like Hora says, stick to the gulley – the cobbles looked lethal!

It should be ok tomorrow. I shouldnt and I've promised our lass a day off the bike tomorrow but….I cant resist 🙁

Avoid Rivi for a few days though- we rode Rivi today and Belmont (we all cleared it) was concentration-central. Your mind was alittle fried at the bottom!!

Which route do you use down from mankin ? Always liked that run but never really like the final descet. My route always goes down a kind of unpaved road into the town. didn't know there was riding in Norland ?

There isn't any riding on Norland (officially). Just like there isn't officially any horse riding but you go up there some days and can't move for the horses. Plus its 20 minutes from home and I've never even had a grumble up there…

From Mankinholes its not great – theres a BW which heads east towards HB that goes through a water splash – after the water splash you can either go high and then along the edge of a grassy field which then hairpins and drops down quite steep or down the unpaved road I think you mean towards the canal but peel off about halfway down onto some nice woodsey singletrack.

PS – its the stuff near Norland thats the highlight! Thinking of organising a forum ride over this end of the valley in Feb sometime…

DavyBoy, are you meaning North Dean woods as the highlight?

Anyone been harrassed by those Geese? I fed them peanuts and had to shoo them out of the carpark back along into the canal/boatyard area!

DaveyBoy- was that you on either the Inbred or Santa Cruz going up Jack Bridge about lunchtime??

If yes, then you passed me on my Heckler…

Yeah sounds like it's the peel off I've been missing. Would love a STW ride in Feb, I owe you a beer for the routes anyhow !

My Mabkin DH goes round the back of that oub on the PBW, not shepherds rest the other posh one.

Mabkin DH

Hello, I'd be interested in finding that tomorrow….. 😀

Yeah yeah, you head down peckett A and at the bridge jump in the river 😉

We call it the mabkin DH

Aye teeto, that was us! We took the right hand fork and up the zig zags – was knackering!

mojo5pro – oh yes 😀

long shot but forgot my local map can anybody supply me with a doable route for tomorrow also can I get across from Bacup to Tod/Hebden easily? Cheers mail me if you want

Nice one.. We went left at the fork, across the tops then dropped back down into Tod..

Made for an "intersting" decent… 😯

Not inpressed with the sand on the zigzags. I thend to do then downhill, Wasn't good sanitized but appears to now be hollowing out from underneath.

O/T – mikewsmith are you the same who used to live in the NDowns?

The good thing about that sand is that its already starting to break down. Gulleys forming here and there. I commented on how that little stream that crosses the top straight needs to have a rock dropped in it so the water flows down the trail! That kind of trail sanitisation never lasts – see the 'Wireworks' bridleway opposite the Halifax building in Copley for how good a trail can become following sanitisation!

Oh, and if anyone fancies it I'm going to try and get out and about for a couple of hours around Norland Moor/North Dean Woods etc on New Years Eve morning…