A Summer of Cycling - Saltaire to Ilkley and Otley

2014 promises to be the biggest year for cycling we have ever seen. If you are inspired by the Tour de France and want to do more cycling or join a group of women on regular bike rides, today’s rides could be for you. In Saltaire, Breeze Champions (Female British Cycling Qualified Ride Leaders) will be running rides from the Village. Meeting at Vicars on the First Saturday of each month there will be rides for all abilities. This ride is the steady road ride, there will also be a gentle introductory ride on the canal path, check out the list of Breeze rides for information. There will be a couple of leaders so we will be able to go at a pace that suits the group. This ride is a social ride starting from Vicars cafe in Saltaire. The route is on a mix of main roads and quieter lanes, so you will need to be traffic aware. There are some hills but don’t let that put you off – getting up the hills is much easier in a group, we will go at a pace that suits the group. There are some great views from this route and plenty of cafés to choose from if we want to take a break en-route. We’ll leave Saltaire and head towards Hollins Hill for our first climb, making use of the new bike lane which is quite wide with a great surface to cycle on. After that it is more or less downhill to Burley in Wharfedale and then on to Ilkley. Before the town centre we’ll cross the River Wharfe and take the country lane towards Otley, with just one hill in the Asquith area and then it is downhill to Otley. From Otley we have a steady fairly gentle climb which takes us to Menston and back towards Hollins Hill. We’ll have a change of scenery on the way back and turn off the main road to take the country lane (Old Hollins Hill) back down to Baildon and on to Saltaire. The route is suitable for all types of bike, road tyres would be best, mountain bike tyres won’t stop you getting round the route, you may find it a little more challenging than using smoother road tyres. If you’ve never cycled up Hollins Hill then come along and have a go today, it is definitely the gateway to some great cycling routes.