Midweek Autumn Dales Ride (formerly the Buttertubs Ride)

andrew wheatley

It’s that time of year again – the season for the annual midweek Dales ride, which for the last 3 years has started in Hawes. Oldnewbiker (onb) usually organises it, but he’s recovering from a broken collar-bone at the moment, and he’s asked me if I wouldn’t mind taking on the job this year. With his agreement, I’m suggesting a different starting point this year (Settle), so that we can explore a different part of the Dales for a change.

What I was thinking of was starting in Settle, and going via Austwick, Ingleton and Kingsdale to Dent. Then back via Barbondale, Burton in Lonsdale, High Bentham, Keasden and Eldroth back to Settle. That's 52.4 miles according to Tracklogs, with just over 1500 metres of climbing. You can see the route in more detail at www.bikely.com - just search for Barbondale, and click on the route entered by “dayrider” (that’s me).

I hope that some of the usual suspects will be able to turn up again this year, but newcomers are very welcome too. It’s a social ride, not a race – what we tend to do is to re-group at the top of each significant hill. As a guide to new participants, my average road speed for the whole ride last year was 12.2mph, and that was a route which included the Buttertubs pass, the climb from Keld to Tan Hill, and the climb from Grinton over to Redmire.

The proposed starting time is 10:15am outside the Naked Man Café in Settle, and I’m assuming that we would be able to find somewhere to have lunch in Dent – if anyone knows different, please let me know a.s.a.p.

Last year we did the ride on a Thursday, so unless that’s inconvenient for more than one or two, I propose to stick to that, and I suggest Thursday 11 October. If you’re interested, please reply below.

Andrew

oldnewbikercp

bump

towpath hacker

I won't be able to do this as I work in Leeds - but can thoroughly recommend this route to anyone, all of which are bits I've done. The climb from Ingleton to Kingsdale is a good one, and is rewarded with some cracking views.

That long straight road through Barbondale is pretty cracking too -

Blonde

Cant do it this time - No annual leave left and I can't dip into next year's as I'll have to find another job again over the next few months...... thanks for the invitation though.

ColinJ

Hi Andrew.

There's a good chance that I can join you for the ride. It's likely that I can make it any day that week other than Sunday.

I haven't done the first half of your route before so that would be interesting. I have ridden the second half before and liked it so I'd be pleased to get another chance to ride that.

It would be nice to meet you and more of 'the usual suspects' again so I'll say a provisional 'yes'.

As for a stop at Dent - I did The Fleet Moss randonee last year and I remember that one of the controls was in a nice cafe/teashop there so we should be alright.

towpath hacker - there is a direct train from Leeds to Settle (the 08:49 gets in at 09:48 which is good for the planned start time). I'll probably be hopping onto that with my bike at Keighley.

towpath hacker

ColinJ wrote:

towpath hacker - there is a direct train from Leeds to Settle (the 08:49 gets in at 09:48 which is good for the planned start time). I'll probably be hopping onto that with my bike at Keighley.

Aye I know - pretty good Northern Rail - seem pretty tolerant of bikes on their services in my experience.

ColinJ

andrew wheatley wrote:

The proposed starting time is 10:15am outside the Naked Man Café in Settle, and I’m assuming that we would be able to find somewhere to have lunch in Dent – if anyone knows different, please let me know a.s.a.p.

ColinJ wrote:

As for a stop at Dent - I did The Fleet Moss randonee last year and I remember that one of the controls was in a nice cafe/teashop there so we should be alright.

Er, Andrew - I've just remembered descending from Barbondale towards Dent on the FMR and thinking Thank God I'm not riding up this hill! Dent would be a nice place for a stop, but I'm not at all sure that I could cope with going straight up a vicious climb like that with stiff cold legs, and having just eaten. How would you feel about getting that hill out of the way before stopping further on, maybe at Barbon or Burton-in-Lonsdale (if there is somewhere suitable)?

I've just plotted the route in Memory Map and I make it a mile shorter than you so I'll have to double-check and see if I've made a mistake. I like the first part of the route through Wharfe to Austwick. I'd never noticed that road before so initially plotted the route via the B6480 and A65. I also see by the little diversion at Cowan Bridge that you, like me, prefer to get off A-roads wherever possible!

andrew wheatley

Hi Colin

It looks like there's only you and me interested in this for Thursday 11 October, though nickwill says he might join us if we switch it to the Friday. Onb might also put in an appearance for part of the ride, depending on how his recovery is going. There are a couple of other people I propose to invite, though whether they'll be interested/available, I don't know yet.

I therefore propose we move the date to Friday 12 October, so if anyone else is interested in riding on that date, feel free to join in by adding to this thread.

Andrew

PS I don't mind where we stop to eat, so if you prefer to get the Barbondale climb out of the way before we stop, that's fine with me. The only thing is I don't have any local knowledge about cafes in the area, so I can't say for certain where we will find a decent cafe.

T.C.

Andrew , i'm interested in this ride , was planning ,it,but i'm in cyprus that week , but i do fancy it sometime , i could do your area in 3 hours from N Wales , i work shifts 4on/4off so could be flexible cheers T.C

Benny Hone

Count me in. I am free that day and can get to Settle in 25 minutes from home. Looking forward to it already.

andrew wheatley

Benny - glad you can join us. Looking forward to meeting you on 12 October.

Andrew

oldnewbikercp

HInAndrew I was under the impression this was down for 14 oct?

Steve GT

Hi Andrew,
Still cannot make it, but would be interested in doing the ride on a sunday. If you feel like recce'ing the route on the 7th, let me know!

andrew wheatley

Onb - I did contemplate changing the date to the Sunday (as mentioned in my message to you), as at that time there were no takers for a weekday ride. However, before going public with this proposal, ColinJ (see post above) said he would like to join me as long as it wasn't on the Sunday. I had one other possible taker (Nickwill) for a Friday ride, so I decided to change the date to Friday 12 October.

Steve GT - it's possible I may recce the ride beforehand on a Sunday, so I'll let you know.

Andrew

ColinJ

andrew wheatley wrote:

Onb - I did contemplate changing the date to the Sunday (as mentioned in my message to you), as at that time there were no takers for a weekday ride. However, before going public with this proposal, ColinJ (see post above) said he would like to join me as long as it wasn't on the Sunday. I had one other possible taker (Nickwill) for a Friday ride, so I decided to change the date to Friday 12 October.

Steve GT - it's possible I may recce the ride beforehand on a Sunday, so I'll let you know.

Andrew

Hi Andrew.

I'm okay with Friday 12th. I can't make it on the Sunday because I'd be coming by train and the first one is mid-afternoon that day. If it was a midsummer ride I'd contemplate cycling to and from Settle but not in mid-October!

I know someone else who is interested in doing the ride, subject to getting the day off work which is at best a 50-50 chance.

It's absolutely pouring down in Hebden Bridge at the moment and I was just thinking how glad I was not to be out on my bike 1,500 feet up on the moors. I don't mind going out when it is dull, drizzly, windy or cold, but I don't like spending the whole day soaking wet . I think it is only fair to tell you that if the last-minute forecast for the Friday turned out to be dire, I'd probably pull out of the ride.

As for the lunch-stop - the Barbon Inn looks nice! I've emailed them to see if they would be okay serving food to a bunch of potentially soggy cyclists on the Friday lunchtime. No reply yet.

andrew wheatley

Only five days to go until this ride, which takes place on this coming Friday (Oct 12), starting at 10.15am outside the Naked Man Cafe in Settle. Anyone else interested?

Andrew

nickwill

Andrew, I might still be a possible. The meeting at my son's school has still not been confirmed. If it isn't I'll do my best to join you. As regards lunch stops, I would regard Dent as the best bet, even with Barbondale to deal with. It is a steep and nasty climb, but doesn't go on as long as some of the other climbs out of the dale. Meadowside cafe in Dent is very welcoming to cyclists and does very nice cakes.
Its a long time since I've been in the Barbon Inn (20 years or so), so I can't help you on that one.

ColinJ

Nickwill wrote:

Andrew, I might still be a possible. The meeting at my son's school has still not been confirmed. If it isn't I'll do my best to join you. As regards lunch stops, I would regard Dent as the best bet, even with Barbondale to deal with. It is a steep and nasty climb, but doesn't go on as long as some of the other climbs out of the dale. Meadowside cafe in Dent is very welcoming to cyclists and does very nice cakes.
Its a long time since I've been in the Barbon Inn (20 years or so), so I can't help you on that one.

Hi Nick - it would be nice to see you again if you can make it.

If Meadowside is the cafe they used as a control on the Fleet Moss audax last year then - yes, it was very nice. I'll 'go with the flow' - if everyone else wants to stop in Dent - fine. I don't tend to eat that much at stops anyway, but especially before climbs. There were a few people on the Season of Mists audax yesterday struggling to climb Waddington Fell after over-long stops at the control at a cafe in the village. Having said that - I didn't eat and drink enough and ran out of steam climbing back out of Nelson . It took a big slab of chocolate cake at Coldwell Activity Centre to perk me up again .

The Barbon Inn looks nice, but they didn't reply to my email enquiry. I always think if a business doesn't check its Inbox, they aren't serious about business!

So far, the forecast is looking okay for Friday!

andrew wheatley

Nickwill - hope you can make it, it would be good to see you again. I believe Richard may be joining us too.

ColinJ - looking forward to seeing you on Friday. The forecast isn't looking bad, so it should be a decent ride.

Benny Hone - are you still up for this one. It would be great if you could just put a quick post in this thread so that we know whether to expect you or not.

See you all Friday - and anyone else who wants to join in.

Andrew

Steve GT

Have a good safe ride tomorrow Gents! I wish I could have joined you.

nickwill

Sorry folks, I can't make it. I've got to go to the school meeting.
Have a great day, and lets try to have another get together soon.

ColinJ

Hi Andrew.

Thanks for organising the ride - I enjoyed it. Pity about the weather though. It was very frustrating riding around some parts of the Dales that were new to me and not being able to see anything because of the mist!

Sorry for having to dash off so quickly when we got back to Settle. I sped round to the station and got there 1 minute before my train was due to leave. Of course it then turned out to be running 10 minutes late...

I'd forgotten it was a Friday and that everybody would be finishing work early. I left Keighley station in heavy traffic - not very pleasant.

Had a laugh descending into Hebden Bridge which was similarly snarled up. A woman in a 4-wheel drive was trying to squeeze her massive vehicle into a stupidly tiny gap and paid the price. She ended up scraping it along a wall. As I went past her I told her that perhaps she ought to walk 50 yards back up the hill to collect her bumper which was now lying in the road...

It was nice to see you again, and to meet Richard. I wish I could climb like him!

andrew wheatley

Hi Colin

Glad you caught your train OK - I thought you must have, as I saw it go past me as I was driving along the A65!

I think we were very unlucky with the weather - when I left Settle in my car, I was onto dry roads and in near-sunshine within about half a miile of Settle town centre. I think we must have planned our route to coincide with the longest-lasting blob of hill fog in the whole of North Yorkshire. Still, if you ride in the middle of October, you have to take your chances with the weather, and we were just a bit unlucky on the day. Like you, I was disappointed that we couldn't see much - I'll definitely go back and re-do the route some time when the scenery is fully visible.

When I got home, it took me about an hour to clean all the cow-muck and road slime off my bike. I really should have taken my winter bike, but the forecast was so encouraging that I thought I would be OK on my best bike. The wet-weather grip on my Bontrager tyres was a bit scary, maybe it would have helped if I'd reduced the pressures a bit.

Thanks very much for plotting the route into your GPS - it saved quite a bit of map-reading time. You've almost persuaded me that a GPS is worth having.

Glad you enjoyed the ride in spite of the weather. I enjoyed it too, and it was definitely better than being at work. See you again on some other rides, I hope.

Andrew

oldnewbikercp

Glad you all had a good ride yesterday i spent most of my day yesterday gazing out of the office window wishing I was able to join you .For anone who would like to see the scenery here is what it looks like.

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/o ... 700162.jpg


http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/o ... 700163.jpg

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y252/o ... 700166.jpg

The top one is the view down Kingsdale before you start the descent into Dent the second is the view down towards Dentdale from the same spot and the thirs is Barbondale which is cycling heaven,

ColinJ

oldnewbikercp wrote:

The top one is the view down Kingsdale before you start the descent into Dent

That was a complete whiteout yesterday! I'll definitely go back one day when the sun is shining.

oldnewbikercp wrote:

The second is the view down towards Dentdale from the same spot

We actually came out of the clouds on the descent from Kingsdale so we got to see some of Dentdale before our cafe stop.

oldnewbikercp wrote:

The third is Barbondale which is cycling heaven.

After grovelling up the climb from Gawthrop, I really enjoyed the long descent down Barbondale even though we were once again in the clouds and couldn't see the big hills either side of the road. I rode the other way through Barbondale last year and I agree - when you can see it, it is lovely.

ColinJ

andrew wheatley wrote:

The wet-weather grip on my Bontrager tyres was a bit scary, maybe it would have helped if I'd reduced the pressures a bit.

You had a near miss there mate, when your rear wheel started to slide out from under you on that tight bend.

A similar thing happened to MSeries at the weekend but unfortunately he wasn't so lucky...

andrew wheatley

Yes, I'd just read about Martin's mishap earlier on today. That's bad luck for him, and I'm very glad it didn't happen to me.

Andrew

Benny Hone

Really sorry I couldn't join you lot as I was really looking forward to it. Sadly, been diagnosed with sinusitis which mimics me having a chest infection and is not pleasant at all so there's no way I could have ridden with a group and not been coughing all over you! Sorry again and I look forward to your next ride and hoepfully being well so I can tag along.

andrew wheatley

Benny Hone wrote:

Really sorry I couldn't join you lot as I was really looking forward to it. Sadly, been diagnosed with sinusitis which mimics me having a chest infection and is not pleasant at all so there's no way I could have ridden with a group and not been coughing all over you! Sorry again and I look forward to your next ride and hoepfully being well so I can tag along.

Sorry to hear you were not well. I'm sure there will be other rides - in fact there's normally one just after Christmas (called the Xmaspudburner), which oldnewbiker usually organises. Keep an eye open for details on this forum.

Andrew

ColinJ

ColinJ wrote:

andrew wheatley wrote:

The wet-weather grip on my Bontrager tyres was a bit scary, maybe it would have helped if I'd reduced the pressures a bit.

You had a near miss there mate, when your rear wheel started to slide out from under you on that tight bend.

A similar thing happened to MSeries at the weekend but unfortunately he wasn't so lucky...

That link no longer works. I don't know if it was at Martin's request that the thread in question on acf was moved but if it wasn't I think it just shows that there is a real them and us thing going on over there. I wanted to keep track of how he was doing but I'm not allowed to because I'm not a registered acf member. I don't think I'll bother ta very much - why not just make the whole forum for members only and have done with it!