After my last thread bemoaning the riding in Yorkshire, I tried again to give it a chance. I’m still amazed about the amount of Fox 38’s I see bouncing around this fair County (not that I’ve found anything that even really justifies full suspension) but there must be at least some good riding left that I’ve missed?

Swaledale
Skipton / Leeds city limits
Shipley / Saltaire
Calderdale Valley / Hebden Bridge area – both footpath and bridleway
Hawes / Sedburgh XC loops
Boltby
Various small wooded areas with crap cut trails in e.g. Chevin, Swinsty,
Bilsdale / west moors.

All of which were super-unimpressive and left me feeling hugely over-biked on my little giant trance. I’m sure they’re lovely on a nice day and a rigid singlespeed and a group of friends, but I’m just getting a bit tired of getting in the car for nigh-on three hours to get a decent adventurous day’s riding in.

Obviously this is really subjective, but I’m not really interested in travelling for anything that wouldn’t at least get something like ‘black’ at a trail-centre – otherwise I’d just take the gravel bike (which is increasingly becoming the bike of choice up here). I’m ignoring the trail centres / offpiste at trailcentres here as I’m not interested in these places anymore (done them all a load of times, now just save them for days to take children or my other half mountain biking stress and crash free!).

the colne / holme valleys Marsden/holmfirth and the pennines.
some great riding on the moors/ offpiste and around greenfield / m62 motorway to hollingworth lake.
can easily get 600-700 metres in on a local cheeky 20-25km ride

@whatyadoinsucka

Got any strava activities or similar to get me started? Can’t find many segments that link together well.

Sounds like a tough crowd – if Calder Valley doesn’t work I can’t see any appeal in Holme / Colne Valley. With this full suss / Fox 38 vs single speed rigid, are we being trolled? Criteria also excludes Wharncliffe.

@scuttler

No? A little flippant at most? Just a lot of the rides that I’ve been sold as “Classic Yorkshire Singletrack” have ended up being grassy slopes or stony bridleways. Calderdale was hard going on rutted muddy footpaths – some of it is very steep but that’s just a matter of a bit of braking control rather than requiring a 40lb 170mm 29er. I’m not proposing to be any kind of riding god – I back off plenty off plenty of stuff in the lakes (e.g. Grizedale pike).

I guess it’s all stuff that would be fine and fun enough if you were getting on the bike from your back-door of an evening after work and wanting to just ride, but not worth putting the bike in the car and, right now, not worth having to wash it in the bath in my flat :D.

I was going to say Wharncliffe. There are things in between the off piste and bridleway as though which are still great fun riding there. I’ve not been in a long time but when I lived locally I was up there every week.

What are you actually looking for? Sure there’s a lot of land-rover tracks but there’s plenty of other stuff too, There’s also plenty that wouldn’t get a trail centre black grade.

If you’re looking for lakes type rocky stuff then no, you won’t find it in Yorkshire, the geology just isn’t there.

“Classic Yorkshire Singletrack” have ended up being grassy slopes or stony bridleways.

Uh huh. That’s pretty much exactly what that is.

Regarding your suspension comment, you could level that about any riding, anywhere. As I see it some people become obsessed with the sport and buy the best they can possibly afford, whether its necessary or not. On Saturday I saw 2 people zipping along a bridlepath above Sheffield at a speed that could only have been an e-bike. When our paths crossed they were indeed on 4 – 6″ ebikes. Having ridden all of these trails on a rigid / hardtail SS, you could argue that their bike of choice was completely unnecessary.

@dangeourbrain

Basically, I’m hoping someone will tell me there’s a fantastic hidden area with loads of bits of interesting singletrack that isn’t just kids tracks cut into the hillside above an industrial wasteland where my car gets the wing mirrors kicked off whilst I’m riding.

Swaledale was good. Is there anything more like swaledale?

@pieface

I would flat out not be able to clean the Nant Bield Pass on a gravel bike. I probably don’t need a V10. I’m not a shit rider, but not the best. Somewhere in this continuum is a place where being under-biked is just being bloodyminded, but I haven’t yet found it around here. But this isn’t a thread about this – sorry to diverge.

link us to your strava so we can see what your riding usually? that way we can offer something that will suit.

If you dont see the point in full sus my guess is your going too slow?

There are rocky trails you’d find challenging in Hebden, sounds like you haven’t found them.

There aren’t any secret Yorkshire mountain ranges that we’ve all been hiding from you though.

Swaledale was good. Is there anything more like swaledale?

Mostly the whole of the dales, but like pretty much the rest of the dales, the decent legit bits of swaledale are few and a long way apart, the rest is “Classic Yorkshire Singletrack” or Land rover tracks.

There’s some lovely riding in swaledale but the whole of the northern dales are pretty much all big-sky-rides country.

Long techy descents in abundance there are not.

requiring a 40lb 170mm 29er

Err…

For me this is where the sport is split. To me the Yorkshire Dales, and most of the Lakes (and anywhere else for that matter) is classic mountain biking territory, its about riding your bike ‘off the road’, whether that involves any actual riding or not is neither here nor there, its about pitting yourself and your bike against what you find in the hills. There will be sections that are challenging, but I expect these will be a smaller part of a much bigger day out in the hills.

from your back-door of an evening after work and wanting to just ride, but not worth putting the bike in the car

Also, given Yorkshire is quite a big place, where is your back door? (not a euphemism)

@chakaping

https://www.strava.com/activities/6667004983

Is the last time I went nosing around Hebden. Where should I have gone?

@dangeourbrain

Leeds

It must be said, Yorkshire is, in many respects, an inferior county.

Well I’m going out later to ride my 35lb 170mm Enduro rig up some terrible trails through the Leeds industrial wasteland. Then down some crap trails the kids have cut in at one of the locations you mention.

Then I’m going to go to another place you didn’t mention (sorry I’m not telling where)

It’s going to be absolutely awful*

(* actually it’s going to be ace)

….

To an extent I know what you mean OP. It’s not the lakes or the tweed valley…most of it (not all of it!) Is doable on a short travel hardtail. However to ride some of it it is certainly better on an Enduro bike or if you want to ride it quickly you need an Enduro bike. You also need to be prepared to pedal. A lot of it is best sampled in the style of amlong xc ride with bits of fun technical stuff chucked in along the way.

You really need local knowledge to make the best of most of it, though.

Is the last time I went nosing around Hebden

That’s a lovely ride but not techy at all, it is however one of “the classics” and by that I mean people have been riding that exact route since your gravel bike would have been a beyond bleeding edge mtb.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6667004983

Is the last time I went nosing around Hebden. Where should I have gone?

It should be noted that nearly half of your disappointment is not Yorkshire’s fault. 🙂

It should be noted that nearly half of your disappointment is not Yorkshire’s fault

I don’t think that’s true, no one has any expectations of the other place so they can’t be disappointed by it.

That’s not the best Hebden’s got to offer fo’shure

Plenty to have a go at in NYM, but you just have to sniff it out.
You been over to Yearsley/Kilburn?
Nidderdale? Pop in to Stif, they’ll point you in the right direction.
Not been to Silton in years but there used to be some decent on/off piste stuff up there.
Not Yorkshire, but Guisborough is a hoot.
Further south, you can easily get into the Peak via cutgate, must only be half an hour down the M1.
Wharncliffe/Greno? Absolute ton of technical stuff to go at.

that isn’t just kids tracks cut into the hillside above an industrial wasteland where my car gets the wing mirrors kicked off whilst I’m riding.

Well that’s Lancashire, the Peak District, & significant chunks of Wales & the Midlands out as well then.

Are we talking about the same county.

I can’t believe my luck that I’ve ended up in Calderdale.

Literally throw a stone and you’ll find a nice trail.

Not just in Calderdale, but Bradford, Kirklees, Leeds, NYM and South Yorkshire.

I do agree the dales can be abit of a snore fest at times though.

There’s a really good place to ride, about an hour from Yeadon if you know where to look.

Geneva, I think it’s called.

There’s lots of nice stuff in West Yorkshire, but to be fair you need local
Knowledge to get the best of it linked up.

I’d suggest you are probably riding the wrong type of bike, something around the 120 travel mark would be fine, but then some stuff I rode I wished I had a lot more travel

That Strava linked ride does have some nice stuff in it but certainly the stuff that could be done on a hardtail, and better suited to a hardtail

Yorkshire Dales is a bit dull on the whole

I’ve always bought bikes that suit the area where I live, and not the occasional ride I might do in the Lakes every 6 months or so.

Yup, plenty you’re missing. But as your criteria is so fixed, best you get that gravel bike out fella.

i know a group of lads who ride out of huddersfield. the stuff they ride around hebbers is pretty intense and full on. it is there if you know where to look.

There’s great stuff at Stainburn and a few lines in Timble Ings nearby https://www.strava.com/segments/28105716 is definitely much harder than a trail centre black.

I really enjoy big day, classic XC style riding so the Dales had plenty to keep me entertained when we lived there. I can see how you’d get bored though if smashing trail centre / Alps / Whistler bike park terrain is your prefered style of mountain biking. Thing is though, the Lakes aren’t that far away, nor is Wales and Scotland if you go up / down for the weekend.

Not Yorkshire, but Guisborough is a hoot.

Technically, Guisborough (the town) is classed as being part of the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire.

I think Guisborough Woods are also within the North Yorkshire Moors park boundary too.

There is tech in the Dales, but very little of it can be found on official bridleways/routes. It’s an artefact of geology and the way the BW/byway network developed with relation to shooting estates etc.

If you’re happier using all your travel all the time, bring your gravel bike.

Growing up in Leeds/Yeadon/Bradford, I’d say within easy reach is some of the countries best riding.

Used to love Nidderdale for a challenging away from it all 25 mile ish up and down challenge.

Even out of the door into Esholt Woods was great. Or down the A65 into Skipton and over hills that way.

Or down to Huddersfield/Halifax/Sheffield.

All great and probably a lot better with local guidance.

Now living in the midlands for the last 20 years I have an appreciation for just how good Yorkshire is for Mtb riding.

I did Silton Forest DH a few years ago and that was good fun for about 3 mins of descent, only issue is the hill is so steep to get back upto the top so either need to be really fit or an E-biker.

Does sound like you probably need to move to Scotland or Wales though

Now living in the midlands for the last 20 years I have an appreciation for just how good Yorkshire is for Mtb riding.

FTFY

Spent 18 years living in the Calder Valley and its so good I rarely put the bike in the van and rode anywhere else. Sounds like you’re just missing the good stuff (which generally isn’t found in a guide book etc). The stuff at the Halifax/Brighouse end of the valley is far quieter/less advertised than Hebden but just as good, if not better I reckon.

Then you have Dalby Forest. Yes there is the follow-the-signs stuff which is just a race track for people on e-bikes these days but explore away that and you’ll find some amazing off-piste stuff for all abilities as well as forgotten tracks/footpaths and quite a lot of the “old” trails built way before the current red route which now have a properly natural feel to them. Obviously you can break out from here over the moors too.

Theres Sutton Bank/White Horse and then over to Yearsley. Think you can actually link the two by heading towards Kilburn via Ampleforth etc. The inbetween bits are probably more gravel/CX biased though. Some really nice stuff from Sutton Bank though.

Then theres some proper moorland riding around Rosedale with some big descents and climbs and some lovely singletrack between.

Looks like gravel biking to me

Fellas on that vid showing Tommy-C around are the Huddersfield lads Ton refers to. Talented.