Routes in the Burnleyish area?

liveforever1982

hello forum,
right where to start,about 2 and half years ago bought myself a 'proper bike' a giant terrago, and started doing the blue trail at 7 stanes newcastleton,which was great as it was always quiet so didn't feel like ppl were watching or judging me,anyhows did that trail regular for about 6y months,until i lost use of company van,and only had my car,and could seam to find a suitable and easy way to transport.anyhows now i'm living in east lancs(burnley),and have decided i need to get back biking,still have my bike,and just treated myself to a thule ridon for transporting my bike,so basically need some suggestions of blue routes to get me started again? any help much appriecated,and sorry for waffling on in this post,thanks gareth

im first to die

there is the bottom route at gisburn not too hard but still good fun and graded blue but dont get hung up on grades try riding some of the red route if you have to get off and push or get out of someones way so what just ride at a pace you are happy with and you will have fun thats the main aim

sparrowlegs78

At Burnley, you have Lee Quarry at Bacup withing easy distance, but it is quite techy.
There's Gisburn Forest, the 2 short trails in Billinge Wood in Blackburn to play on, and you've got tyhe Mary Townley Loop within easy didtance to, you can do sections of that, no need to do the whole route.
Caz xx

stumpyjon

Loads to ride South and East of Burnley so you don't have to travel too far. Calderdale in the East is particualrly good but there's a fair bit in and around Rossendale to. Gisburn's good, have a crack at the red, particuarly on the lower loop, there's not to much that should cause you problems. If there's a bit you don't like get off and push as 'im first to die' said. If you don't practice you won't ghet any better, I couldn't ride all of the red at Gisburn first time, and I built quite a lot on the southern loop :oops:

Oh a good choice for your first proper bike, I've still got my Giant Terrago from 1996, cracking bike.

liveforever1982

thanks for all the replys guys, think i'm gonna try gisburn as starting of from my house is uphill either way.lol. plus it'll give me chance to try my thule rideon.does anyone know if it'll be really busy during the week there now? as i'm only used to doing the newcastleton trail at 7 stanes,this particualer trail centre was always very quiet,so i could ride around without holding anyone up or feeling to self concious.

sparrowlegs78

I don't think it's that busy during the week, but even if the carpark is full, the trails don't seem to get busy.
I'm deadly slow and I've never held anyone up round there:D
Caz xx

liveforever1982

cheers caz! will prob feel like my lungs are on fire first time,as only cycling i've done so far this year is from burnley to nelson on the tow path. haha

sparrowlegs78

Do the bottom loop first time then lol, the whole loop might finish you off.
There's plenty to ride on the lower loop thats not too difficult and there's not the lung busting climbs either
It took me over 2 hours to do the bottom loop when I first did it :oops:
Caz xx

liveforever1982

gonna try and go next tuesday when i'm off,hopefully weather will be better don't fancy going out in the wind on my first ride ,once i get bitten by the bug again,no amount of bad weather will stop me! then may go further afield,heard good things about blackburn trails.i work in blackburn,so would be handy too

sparrowlegs78

If you want someone to show you the Blackburn trails, I'll come ...takes me 15 mins to ride there
Caz xx

liveforever1982

cheers for that i'll be the one,who has a very red face and is pushing his bike :oops: i wouldn't mind,but i'm not old or overweight just unfit,lol

stumpyjon

Gisburn's pretty sheltered in the most part, car park can get pretty full at the weekends but as Caz says the trails do tend to swallow up the riders. One of the good things about Gisburn though is that all sorts of people ride there from families (on the fireroads) right through to guys on DH rigs ride there.

RichardKS

stumpyjon wrote:

Gisburn's pretty sheltered in the most part, car park can get pretty full at the weekends but as Caz says the trails do tend to swallow up the riders. One of the good things about Gisburn though is that all sorts of people ride there from families (on the fireroads) right through to guys on DH rigs ride there.

This. I've struggled to park once or twice on a weekend, but barely seen a soul out on the trails... I've never come across any 'attitude' there either. Fast and slow dwell happily together at Gisburn in my experience!

I'd be happy to ride along with you one saturday or sunday if you wish. I'm totally non-competitive!

philRM

i'm from Accrington and there are loads of plces to go if you live in burnley. Worsthorne down the gorple road to hebden and then back. some easy blue grade style paths around crown point and access to the pennine bridalway. ride from love clough, up by radar station on to Hambleodon and down fairy steps to hapton. then have Lee Quarry and all the bridleways around there.

liveforever1982

was thinking also about going up toward clowbridge,i walk my dog up at snakepass,but not sure on which routes i could take,i don't wanna get on the wrong side of any horse riders or walkers.

stumpyjon

Most of the area around Crown Point is fine, a lot is either bridleway or permissive for horse riders. There's footpaths you're not supposed to ride on but I 've never had any problems. I have a 5 mile loop around the the edge of the access land which is my local loop, not too techy, couple of lung busting climbs, good little training loop.

Hothouse

philRM wrote:

i'm from Accrington and there are loads of plces to go if you live in burnley. Worsthorne down the gorple road to hebden and then back. some easy blue grade style paths around crown point and access to the pennine bridalway. ride from love clough, up by radar station on to Hambleodon and down fairy steps to hapton. then have Lee Quarry and all the bridleways around there.

Would agree with the routes from Worsethorne. You can pick tons of different trails from the starting point at the bottom of the Gorple rd. :P