A Tour de France Climb and The Cottonstones Club

[@blytonblast]

Fair play to you Gordon, Ripponden Bank is a swine 💪

[@clippingin1593]

It's so sustained. You run into it with downhill speed and always think you've got 'the right sprocket' but after the old railway bridge it starts to bite. I've avoided it in the two years since restarting so I'd completely forgotten about the 'false flat' section after the steep left-hander - looking at the GPS on getting home it's a steady 7 or 8 %.

[@michaeldenton2581]

What a belter of a ride Gordon 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻….Happy Anniversary for a week Thursday, as well as your upcoming 40th 😉….Stay safe my friend 👍🏻

[@clippingin1593]

Thanks for the reminder, Mick. It's 11 years since I went up the Alma climb towards Cottonstones so I was a bit unsure in places. Great lanes for pottering around tho'. I'll film the little rollercoaster route between Baitings, Booth Wood & Ringstone soon.

[@toddfield4744]

Great vid Gordon. Hopeful for another year of content.

[@clippingin1593]

Cheers, Todd. Let's hope so. I'm capped to c. 100km for the time-being but I've plenty of ideas for rides.

[@mattjohn7700]

Wow fantastic bike ride. You've got some great knowledge of roads Gordon, built-in mapping.

[@clippingin1593]

Cheers, Matt. I wasn't sure about the 1st climb because it's 11 years since I last went up, but I know the overall area fairly well. Smashing cycling lanes - I'll be going back to fill in a few more.

[@barkleyuser]

Fabulous content and splendid views Gordon… Bravo!!. As a young man back in the mid 1980,s my fellow cycling pals and I would regularly track Lancashire/ Yorkshire roads. One of the round trips I remember was affectionately called a ‘Tale of Two Towers’ taking in the Winter Hill and Emory Moor masts. No mean feat way back then. Now content to take in my local Canmore to Banff Legacy trail ( albeit at a much slower cadence 😅). Keep up the great work Gordon and for sharing your local knowledge, history and passion for the bike community. All the best from Canada 🇨🇦 🙌

[@clippingin1593]

Thanks! That sounds like a really good theme for a ride : Winter Hill to Emley Moor. When I've got a little more time I'll try something along those lines - maybe take a train to Bolton and ride home through the hills. I did a ride a couple of months ago that almost linked Holme Moss & Emley Moor masts but I like the idea of adding Belmont.Winter Hill for the triple crown. All being well, I'll be going over Holme Moss in a few days' time to start 'Clipping In Anniversary Week'

[@barkleyuser]

Awesome, looking forward to seeing that Gordon. Happy Trails 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇦

[@CyclistColinJ]

I have been enjoying watching your videos on my local roads recently. (I used to live in Hebden Bridge and am now in Todmorden, just down the road.) These days I don't tend to ride busier roads like the Buckstones climb (in a recent video) as often as I used to because the traffic is starting to bother me! I do love those quiet lumpy lanes around Blue Ball though and ride them regularly. I either do the Cragg Vale climb or the climb from Littleborough to Blackstone Edge, then drop down to Blue Ball and criss-cross those lanes. A local showed me that network of roads about 30 years ago when the Ball Ball was still open. We called in for a drink and sat looking out over the reservoir. I think the pub closed towards the end of the 1990s? I recognised nearly all of the roads in this video but you did manage to find one that I haven't ridden before! I have been changing my tyre sizes recently. I switched from 23C to 25C about 10 years ago. I have just converted my best bike to 28C and another bike to 28C on the rear. (The front won't take bigger than a 25C.) A bike that I keep in Devon has just been fitted with 32C. When roads are as rough as some of the lanes up here or down in Devon, the extra cushioning definitely helps! I don't really notice any drawbacks with big tyres. Even the pros are using them now! I'll start working my way through your 'back catalogue' now...

[@clippingin1593]

Equipment has changed so much over the past 10-15 years and I'm still catching up. As you're finding, the older bikes with rim brakes don't have the clearances for super-wide tyres. This Dolan Titanium will take 28s but it's such a plush ride that I've stuck with 25s for the time being. One major benefit of pro peloton input is the quality improvement of wider tyres - you'd struggle to find a supple racing tyre wider than 23 or occasionally 25, but now Conti et al have GP5000 up to 32. One day I'll do a 'lost inns' themed ride in the area. I think you're right with the late 90s/early 00s for the Blue Ball, that's when almost every month I'd spot another closure.

[@gmivisualsjason3729]

Makes me smile when I hear you speak of "Monster sprocket" when on my road bike ice got 46/30 front and 11/36 rear... Another very enjoyable watch after a long day. 😃 Gawd you look good for 39! I reckon for Yorkshire day you could have a group ride of some of your local subscribers?

[@clippingin1593]

Haha - I'm showing my 90s roots with my gearing descriptions. My first road bike was 52/42 with 13-23 and for a decade or more you couldn't find sprockets beyond 26T if you wanted to run racing groupsets. I think Shimano finally released a 50/34 compact chainset in 2005, prior to that it was just the niche manufacturers - or facing the stigma of having a triple chainset! I bought a triple to go to the Pyrenees in 1997 - turned out to be a really wise investment - although it only had 32 x 25 bottom.

[@sandrahill5899]

Another great video thanks Gordon

[@clippingin1593]

Thanks, Sandra. Chilly but bright and fresh - a great morning to be out for a couple of hours.

[@steppings5645]

Beautiful ride. Everything you said about gears and tyres rang true, I remembers starting on Hutchinson blue line clinchers 19/20mm at £4 a tyre! the good old days back in 1990.

[@clippingin1593]

That's going back a bit! I started in 96 and I'd use either 19-21 mm Michelin or Vittoria clinchers for training at £6 each with 21 mm Vittoria tubulars for racing, prob. £20 each. It's easy to forget the pre-compact gearing days when you'd even get funny looks asking for a cassette with a 25T. My first road bike was 52/42 w. 13-23, it's no wonder that we did so much more honking. First time I went to the Massif Central I'd geared down to 39x26 & was surprised when I ran out of legs. Maybe I'll do a video on '90s Tech' at some point.

[@hxjay1971]

Great video have subscribed ,i cycle these roads almost every week its my local area the loop taking you over from the old blue ball to millbank is called eccles parlour its a nice little pull and the views are stunning ,ive been taking on ripponden bank most weeks lately my bike has an 11/28 groupset ,im going to put a bigger cassette on at some point

[@clippingin1593]

Welcome aboard! You'll know most of the routes and roads on here - it's just great cycling country. By the sounds of it, your bike will know its own way up Ripponden Bank! It pays to be cautious with the gear ratios when you're not sure of a hill or when it's been a long time since you last climbed something. I've learnt that I'm a different rider compared to the 90s and 00s and what seemed easy then can be quite a toil now, but generally I find that if I climbed on 39x23 in the old days then I can get up on 34x23 today - with the safety net of extra sprockets in case I'm having an off day.

[@ianrichardson4558]

enjoyed this video gordon once again 👍

[@clippingin1593]

Thanks, Ian. I'll be returning to the area soon and exploring a few more of those little lanes.

[@Langers.]

Brilliant, a stunning ride with the little country lanes, definitely looked tough though, i was knackered watching you 😆. I remember going to watch the grand depart in Leeds, it was a great day 🙂.

[@clippingin1593]

I've slightly raised the chest-camera position so my breathing is louder than previously, making everything sound like hard labour 😁 Those are lovely lanes for cycling though. I had to miss the Grand Depart but I still watched the Yorkshire stages on TV with my dad (he was a Leeds lad) What a coup - getting something as big as the Tour in our area. Cheers, Claire.

[@Langers.]

@clippingin1593 you did well to still be able to talk whilst going uphill, I'm usually hyperventilating on any sort of climb 😆. Oh yes, it was an exciting time having to tour start in West Yorkshire....couldn't see much at the grand depart tbh but it was a great atmosphere 🙂

[@clippingin1593]

@@Langers. It's all about the atmosphere and being part of it. I was on the Champs Elysees in 97 for the Ullrich win - an unforgettable experience but I barely saw any of the actual racing. I had to catch up on TV when I got home.

[@Langers.]

@clippingin1593 oooh, I can imagine how good that was. I'd love to go and see the last stage of tdf.

[@ajollygoodchap]

A great series of country lanes with punchy, and most of it on a bus route...just in case! And that Ripponden Bank, well I think you must have angled the camera in some way, because it looked too steep to have houses on it!

[@clippingin1593]

Haha - yes, there's a little GoPro perspective-bending but it's genuinely an intimidating hill because it's so sustained. Never more than 15% but it sticks at 10-11% for ages, even after the bend where I said it was easing the GPS shows 8%, then it kicks again past the Fleece. I've kept clear in the two years since restarting but I thought I'd give it a bash with the compact gearing. Overall it's a nice addition to the 'Sub Two Series' and feels like a proper ride rather than circuit bashing closer to home. I've got a few more candidates for the Sub Two over the coming weeks.

[@onemorecyclist]

Cracking ride and how time flies on the channel. Nearly two already, great stuff! That Ripponden climb is a little beast. Only done it once in the latter stages of a fairly long route and it pretty much finished the legs off for the rest of the ride. 🙂

[@clippingin1593]

It's so sustained. I returned a couple of days after the video and didn't find it quite as hard, probably because I knew what to expect and I wasn't trying to commentate en-route. A climb that deserves respect tho'

[@ronaldallen8604]

I've had many a scoop of Theakstone's at the Blue Ball, Afterwards it was always a struggle going home for some reason. Happy fortieth, I've just had mine (again).

[@clippingin1593]

Brilliant, Ronald. Mid-to-late 80s we'd go out for Sunday lunch as a family and usually ended up at the Blue Ball, White House, or Nont Sarah's. I had my first Old Peculier and Pendle Witches Brew in those places! White House is the only one still open.

[@ronaldallen8604]

@@clippingin1593 My brother and I would sally forth on Sundays looking for pubs supplying Old Peculier. My first time with this fine winter ale was at the Blue Ball, great location but a lumpy ride back to Outwood. Very sad at its demise and if we both had remained in England I'm sure we could have helped keep the two pubs alive.

[@hiworldstephensonultranate290]

Hi Great on downhill narrow lane. Very Gracious of T. Pogacar to bring onto Podium his Full Team Never saw b4 oh ,booing of cyclists. etc. also by cowards !

[@clippingin1593]

Pog seems like a nice well-mannered guy. A ruthless competitor - definitely a winner - but gracious too.

[@vihuelamig]

Mill Bank. That's Feynman country! I was there a couple of years back but not on a bike. I walked it from the station. I shall have to return on a bike and see if I can make it up that hill.

[@clippingin1593]

I was going to make a Big Daddy 'Easy, Easy' reference but I didn't know of any other famous links. I don't think it's harder than Mill Carr, but half the trick with these twisty hills is knowing what's around the corner.

[@vihuelamig]

@@clippingin1593 I've been doing the climbs up to Wrose. Livingstone Rd is short but nasty. . . but aren't they all. I think it's time for me to extend my horizons. The Mill Bank/Ripponden ride you did today looks lovely. It's on my radar and I am fond of that area.

[@clippingin1593]

@@vihuelamig Great stuff. You'll enjoy it.

[@Tarmaccyclocross]

Yes I got a shock when I went outside this morning,it was so humid in the house. But it turned out to be a good ride. There were some right leg burners there 🥵I loved the Barum 19 mm tubulars I used to race on

[@clippingin1593]

I'd left the windows open overnight so I felt the temperature dropping in the early hours. It made for a nice fresh ride though - I had to be home for 10am but it's been set for the day here. I raced on 21mm Vittoria Corsa tubs (prob. around 125 psi) but I remember seeing time-triallists with 18 or 19 mm Conti tubs. Back in the 50s my dad used Dunlop No.1, No.2 - maybe because imports were still restricted. There are ads for tubs in some of the old road-race programmes.

[@Tarmaccyclocross]

@@clippingin1593 the tubs were fitted to 28 spoke campag wheels with regal spindles.I was that light that I used them in road racers happy days

[@clippingin1593]

@@Tarmaccyclocross Lightweight specials. 28H was quite exotic with the rims of the day. I've got a pair of original red Mavic Helium from 1997-98 : 26 Front, 28 Rear

[@hiworldstephensonultranate290]

Yeh Gordon look forward to that. Commentary n Laughs I Enjoy. Brian Gee I'm Lot Older !🚴🚵

[@clippingin1593]

Cheers, Brian. I included the little railway bridge at Sowerby Bridge for you. I like the way the camera adjusts to the light for those sections.

[@hiworldstephensonultranate290]

@@clippingin1593 Yeh Tks Gordon I saw cute railway bridge on that it's also Great to see cyclists n people out walking U can't beat d fresh air Cheers Mate 🚵🚴