I ride round Rivington (offroad) a lot and your right there are some big (and steep) hills! Its a lovely area considering its so close to Bolton etc, it feels a million miles away from it when your up there. The thing about the masts is you can see them for miles and when you approach them they never seem to get any nearer.

There are a couple of road cycling clubs round Preston as its a big cycling area and I think at least one of them caters for beginners. When I used to live in Fulwood there was a regular CTC meet at the Royal Bank of Scotland on Garstang Road on a Sunday morning. It was before I really cycled but I do remember reguarly seeing a lot of bikes and flouro yellow jackets and I think it is still happening. I did have the information on them somewhere, I can dig it out.