[Closed] best bit of Mary Towneley loop

the end?

I'd say the bit to the north of the Calder Valley. More interesting, not as many gates, a good long steady climb from the reservoir to the top of Gorple and another from Gorple reservoir back over to Jack Bridge. If starting from Hebden Bridge use whatever BWs/lanes you need to get to the west end of the Long Causeway then pick up the route from there.There's a decent track back down to Hebden Bridge from Jack Bridge.

Then again if you are training for the DR maybe all of it?

@andybrad - my training is focused entirely on the celebratory end-of-ride pints. I'm up to 7 now and aiming for 10 by the end or DR

@whitestone - I'm doing the full loop as you say, it's just my lazy/sensible friend who's going to bail out part-way through 😉

best bit of Mary Townley loop

That's a bit like "French Military Victories" isn't it?

@andybrad – my training is focused entirely on the celebratory end-of-ride pints. I’m up to 7 now and aiming for 10 by the end or DR

good work 🙂

depends, clockwise or anti-clockwise?

The gates. They're lovely, especially numbers 77 to 87.

Are you after distance or technicality? Are you on 'crossers or mountain bikes?

There are loads of gates on the western end, so if you're after distance, try starting in Worsthorne (or Holmes Chapel) and riding Gorple Road over to Hebden as suggested. If you want more, then carry on over London Road to Tod. You can then ride back up on the road to Holmes Chapel to rescue car.

Or start in Walsden and do the gatey madness half up to Holmes Chapel. At least it's downhill from there back to Tod.

If going anti clock wise I found the East to Southern half the most picturesque, but that's maybe because I'd pretty much lost the will to live by the time I got round to Holme Chapel.

There's pros and cons to most sections to be honest, the cons almost exclusively are motivation sapping climbs.

Definitely do it in good weather.

It's pretty well signposted, here's a handy sign advising not to ride off the side of a cliff

The Gates... [shudders]

Which is fastest on the MTL, Cross Bikes or Mountain Bikes ?

Would I be right in thinking the Cross Bikes would be quicker on the climbs, but slower on the descents ?

My 120mm Full suspension MTB feels like it's "over kill" for the MTL descents though as very little of it is technical, but some of the climbs are really hard on it.

I've not done the MTL for nearly 2 years now, it was good the first couple of times for the scenery, but after that, started to not really enjoy it that much

For me it's just a bit too rough overall for a CX/gravel bike, the bit round from Walsden to Whitworth would be pretty jarring on a CX for example. There's quite a few of the tracks that have firmly embedded large stones that knock you around.

I did it last year (a year ago yesterday as it happens) on a rigid Solaris but rode down the PBW from home and back again to get the mileage up 🙂 About 6 1/2hrs plus a bit of stops for the MTL. I'd done 100km on the day before as well.

@grannyjone  my take on it is that a rigid plus or xc short travel 29er would be ideal. Almost all of the 30miles was ridable on CX, but almost all of that was at the limits of comfort - packhorse slabs are intense, cobbles were brutal, natural rocky bits sketchy, zero-traction slop mildly perilous... The only extended section of fun riding surface for CX was in rossendale and a gate every 100feet is rage inducing!

Ibailed when turning a corner to find yet another field with no discernible path and hit the roads at Holme Chapel, missing out what is probably the best bit, but preserving a level of sanity 😀

If the Dirty Reiver is as rough as that then I just don't care if I finish it or not - it's clearly for mental people

@chipps thanks for the waymarkers - do you think next time you could put up a few directing to pubs too?

It's worth mentioning that it's a gorgeous part of the world tho and is highly recommended for more surface-smoothing wheels than 35mm CX, but make sure it's a sunny day!