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Shibden Spinner PREVIEW

by Emma Osenton

Shibden Spinner Essentials:

When: 15th September 2013
Registration: 15th September 2013
Where: Shibden Hall Estate, Lister's Rd, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 6XG
Distances: 40 and 90 miles
Feed Stops: 1 on the 40 mile and 2 on the 90 mile
Cost: £20 with Streaza Pizza afterwards
Event website: http://www.mytrievents.co.uk/sportive/shibden-spinner-sportive/
Other info: Parking (£1 per day) food and drink available at event HQ, route card, chip timing, and SAG wagon support.
Participants: 400

New for 2013 and part of the South Pennines Walk and Ride Festival, The Shibden Spinner Sportive promises to encapsulate the charms of the South Pennines. The event is brought to you by MytriEvents, the same team behind Mills Hills.

The sportive is the second day in a weekend of events at Shibden Hall Estate. Starting from the beautiful grounds of the Lister family home, the route leaves the hall and turns into the beautiful Shibden Valley. Shibden means valley of the sheep incase you wondered. Following the route of the 1989 Milk Race, it takes in the legendary Lee Lane - more affectionally known as Shibden Wall - 900 meters of Yorkshire cobbles which hit 25% in places before turning at the top and taking you towards Bronte Country, where it picks up the route for the 2014 Tour de France.

The route is not for the feint hearted as the South Pennines offer some beautiful yet challenging cycling. The round soft hills can be quite deceiving and are littered with punchy climbs. The Shibden Spinner has two route options, with one at 40 miles and one at 90 miles. Both routes take in Cock hill as they leave Oxenhope, I wonder if any of the riders will manage the same speed as the pros will do in just a few months time?

From the top you can see Stoodley Pike Monument which dominates the moors above Todmorden. The monument was designed in 1854 by local architect James Green, and completed in 1856 at the end of the Crimean War. The route then takes an exhilarating plunge down to the mill town of Hebden Bridge, famed as the fourth most funky place to live in the world, before it begins the longest continuous climb in England, Cragg Vale out of Mytholmroyd. Kilometer markers have been recently added to countdown the 8.25km to the top.

What goes up must come down, and as is the case for much of the route, you're rewarded with and amazing descent into Ripponden before embarking on Ripponden Bank; a steep start gives way to a gentle mid section before it banks up again. Here the route splits, with the 40 mile route taking in a more direct route back to the estate and the 90 mile route heading off further south touching the edges of the Peak District and the famed climbs of Isle of Skye from Greenfield to Holmfirth and then onto Holme Moss, the distance markers are on the road here too, however, they must have been down a bit longer as they're written in imperial and denote the countdown in quarter miles.

Before you know it you're plunging down again back through Last of the Summer Wine country and even pass through a place called Tandem. The 90 mile route then takes in the hidden back roads around Elland and Brighouse before heading back to Shibden Park for pizza from Streatza and their wood fired oven in a Citroen H-van. Lets face it, you'll need it by then!

Entry http://www.mytrievents.co.uk/sportive/shibden-spinner-sportive/