Also,

I do believe I owe you a pint

You do? I probably owe you one as does most of STW for fixing their PCs.

That can be arranged 🙂

Oh btw are there any climbing walls around?

I’m just round the corner on the main road a couple of doors down from the Plough!

Thinking a STW preston ride sounds like a cracking plan!

Yeah Winckley Square is a nice option, handy for the train station and centre of town plus youre a couple of minutes from Avenham park so bring your running shoes as its great for jogging through there!

Oh btw are there any climbing walls around?

Yep there is one at West View Leisure centre.

How is best to arrange this ‘STW Preston’ group?

Are we all on Facebook? Any other suggestions?

If you’re doing Rivi, are none Prestonians allowed to attend? 😉

Perhaps only those with a PR* postcode 😉

crispo – Member

I’m just round the corner on the main road a couple of doors down from the Plough!

Ah, the landlord is my next-door-but-one neighbour! It’s a small world… 🙂

Yep, facebooker here, but there’s better riding than Rivington… 😉

You do? I probably owe you one

I owe you a beer, and you owe me a beer. I’m liking how this is working out.

are there any climbing walls around?

West View Leisure Centre. It’s not particularly stellar – it’s a wall down the side of a bunch of badminton courts – but it’s a fun little diversion.

There’s a good few other great walls in the extended area (Warrington, Manchester), but I don’t know how accessible they’d be on public transport.

And there’s a good bouldering wall at Longridge – at the back of Dilworth Reservoir next to the holiday park…

Shibboleth – Member
And there’s a good bouldering wall at Longridge – at the back of Dilworth Reservoir next to the holiday park…

It is a small world, my Fiances family live pretty much next door to that!

So where we thinking for the official Preston branch ride?

I’m thinking we have enough for an official Longridge branch 😉

As far as cafe’s are concerned – can’t get much better than The Old Station Cafe in Longridge.

For Pubs…. well, there’s quite a few more options to choose from!

I’m just north of Blackburn in Wilpshire. Preston is on the flatlands of the Ribble estuary and the Fylde so going north or south you’ve got flat easy riding to seaside resorts like Southport and Blackpool although traffic can be heavy. Inland you’re a few miles from Longridge and then Whalley, Clitheroe and further north, Chipping and Dunsop bridge and thence on via Slaidburn to Gisburn. All excellent road riding on empty roads with plenty of cafes and pubs. Riding in the Ribble valley / Bowland fells it’s quite common to meet road clubs from the Fylde and as far away as Warrington out for a day trip to the empty roads and hills of this overlooked area.

If I was you I’d be looking for somewhere to live in or around Longridge. The north side of Preston, Fullwood, has big Victorian houses and lots of flats, I expect. Preston itself is a bit of a dump with the longest traffic light timings I’ve ever experienced. There’s one shopping street with the usual selection of crap English provincial town stores, charidee shops and fast food joints.

Oh and you will be in the land of the very excellent Booths supermarkets, based in Preston. Many of them have great cafes and their beers are top notch. Look out for the local Bowland Breweries.

For mountain biking you should check out Bogtrotters.

My first choice would be a wild ride round the Trough, perhaps the Dunsop Death Ride (Ouster Rake) or Whitendale, Dunsop Fell and Beatrix Fell.

No Chorley Chavs in trackies and trainies cluttering up the place… 😉

Trough of Bowland – definitely worth a visit if you enjoy driving too.

Took our TT for a ‘test drive’ around it…… mid week in December…. saw ONE other car! 😯

Preston itself is a bit of a dump with the longest traffic light timings I’ve ever experienced. There’s one shopping street with the usual selection of crap English provincial town stores, charidee shops and fast food joints

Absolutely spot on in every way. Like all cities there are some nice bits around the outside, and the location is pot on for mtb’ing and road biking. There’s no way I would have stayed here five years if it wasn’t!

There’s also a lot of people from STW that live in and around it if you wanted to get out for rides with people (me included).

I’ve never actually ridden Dunsop fell and whitendale etc, i’ve heard its some what boggy unless theres a long period of dry weather. Ive always wanted to try it though. Can always stop in the Whitewell for a decent (if somewhat pricey) pint on the way back past!

Have done chipping over to Hareden and back through dunsop and back across burholme bridge and thats alright.

We could set up a longridge branch, there seems to be a few people from that way.

Longridge ride would have to start/end from Corporation arms and go up the fell, mess about, down to Hurst green, down to the river and along through Marles wood and back up from Ribchester, that a regular of mine.

Longridge ride would have to start/end from Corporation arms and go up the fell, mess about, down to Hurst green, down to the river and along through Marles wood and back up from Ribchester, that a regular of mine.

We do that ride but we follow the Ribble from Rib to Hothersall and then back up Hothersall Lane to the Corpy Arms. Or, you can extend it further on Bridleways and end up down Alston Lane, come back up through the Alston/Longridge ressies and up Chapel Brow.

Yep, the fells round the Trough are like a sponge when it’s been raining, and there’s a lot of hike-a-bike if you do Dunsop Fell. But the descent down Beatrix Fell is one of the best “wild” descents in the area.

Perhaps only those with a PR* postcode

What about people from Lancaster that just slagged off Preston? 🙂

You can come, but the first round is on you 😛

So, then, road or mtb, when and where ?

Well I dont have a road bike so if you do road I will be very slow……

I’d be very slow irrespective of bike.

We’re off down Ouster Rake tonight 0_o

Which is ouster rake?

Head up the bridleway that’s off the trough road (Next to the barn) then about 2 miles up head down the narrow techy decent with the steep drop of a few hundred feet down the left. It drops into Dunsop Valley.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=365500&y=450500&z=120&sv=dunsop+bridge&st=3&tl=Map+of+Dunsop+Bridge,+Lancashire+%5BCity/Town/Village%5D&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

North of Dunsop Bridge Look for the track at the side of Whin Fell.

@ Cougar Perhaps we could investigate which pubs would be good for stopping at? Tough job, but someone has to do it… 😀

That Whin Fell down to Brennand Farm?

http://www.pedalnorth.com/content/hareden-and-ouster-rake

In the pic they’re going the wrong way!

@crispo Yep

@ Cougar Perhaps we could investigate which pubs would be good for stopping at? Tough job, but someone has to do it…

At the very least, after that sort of trauma the rest should buy us a drink to say thank you…

Well, there are more pizza/kebab/burger/fried chicken joints in Preston than just about anywhere else I’ve been.

Any of you locals know a good place to swim? I see there are two public pools, which is better?

Pools? Pfft! Bloody southerners!! You’re surrounded by quarries, you big jessie

The women are better at Fulwood Leisure Centre. But the water is wetter at West View.

the water is wetter at West View.

West View Leisure Centre also has a climbing wall (as previously discussed IIRC).

you’ll surrounded by Bog Trotters!

That’ll be the kebabs.

Have you started doing a nightly comparison scale for the kebab houses? If not, why not? You could publish a guide for other recent immigrants, stray southerners and refugees 😉

Oh… and if you’ve bought a bike with you, we’re out tomorrow fella

How did I miss this thread?

Yet another Grimsargh resident here (think that’s 4 of us so far?).

Plenty of regular week-night rides in the area:
I’ve been saying I’ll join one of Shiboleth’s Tuesday night rides for ages but never got around to it (currently climbing most Tuesday nights at West View).

Boggies southern chapter do Wednesday nights at 7pm. Bit further afield this week though in search of somewhere weather-resistant, Gisburn Forest.

Also occasionally riding Thursday nights with yet another group.

Thanks binners. I have bought a bike with me – an Alivio equipped hybrid. I fear I may slow you down a tad 🙂

I might bring my climbing shoes if it’s worth it, but then again I’m supposed to be triathlon training really.

you have never ridden with Binners then

How about this Prestonian STW ride then?
Nightride?
Rivington?

How does next Wednesday 11th July sound?