I was half joking about getting a train into a headwind in post on Tips for riding in wind. I never do it in Oxford, but when visiting Yorkshire, it’s a great way to see a few Yorkshire valleys I wouldn’t otherwise make it to. I cycled a hilly 6 miles to Bingley station and got the ‘slow pacer’ – Leeds to Morecambe train. It reminds me of what train travel was like in the 1980s; quiet, slow, a little dirty, a feeling of neglect, you’re the only passenger who gets off at the station.
However, the Bentham line is popular with cyclists – at different times, there were four different bikes on the train. One young girl took her bike from Skipton to Gargrave where she worked and was going to cycle the 3 miles home in an effort to get fit and lose weight. She said one mile on the bike left her feeling completely out of breath, but she hoped one day to be able to cycle both to and back to Gargrave. I encouraged her by saying – if you keep cycling every day, you will definitely see a big improvement quite quick. We all started with cycling for a couple of miles, and you never know where it may lead you.