West Yorks Cycle Route

[marinyork]

Are there any half or sub classifications of the ride? Like Shadwell to Holmfirth (clockwise) would be about half and roughly 80 miles. Gives people a chance to familiarise themselves with it and mix and match bits before the final route (I'm sure people in Leeds will do this before then anyway!).

 

[ColinJ]

Are there any half or sub classifications of the ride? Like Shadwell to Holmfirth (clockwise) would be about half and roughly 80 miles. Gives people a chance to familiarise themselves with it and mix and match bits before the final route (I'm sure people in Leeds will do this before then anyway!).

That would be all of the flat part of the WYCR and only one big climb over to Holmfirth so it wouldn't really be anything like half of the overall difficulty. Also - how do you get back afterwards ?

If you wanted to do half the route, I reckon that the best thing would be to do Hebden Bridge to Castleford or Castleford to Hebden Bridge. Two reasons for that - (1) Each of those half-routes contains 50% of the easy part of the WYCR and 50% of the tough hilly part. (2) You could take the train from Leeds to the start at either Hebden Bridge or Castleford, do your ride, then catch a train back to Leeds with your bike from the other town afterwards.

Alternatively, you could do half the route on a Saturday, stop at a B&B (or a pub!) on the Saturday night, and ride the second half on the Sunday. I'd still split it into a north half and a south half to have two equal days. If you preferred a tough day, then a 'recovery' day, ride west from Holmfirth round to Ilkley on the Saturday. It would a tough little ride, and then you could have a much easier Sunday ride, if you preferred that.

 

[marinyork]

Oh I know all the hills are in the other half! The reason for this split is that is I have cycled around Shadwell before and done parts of the top right of the route so I am more familiar with the Eastern half. Both this and next weekend I go near/past some of the route. People are more likely to sign up for it too .

 

[colly]

I will be going over the Shadwell to Holmfirth section over the next moth or so to check the route and signs etc . Maybe will do the other half sometime in the spring.

If I can talk my better half into dropping off somewhere.

 

[ColinJ]

I will be going over the Shadwell to Holmfirth section over the next moth or so to check the route and signs etc . Maybe will do the other half sometime in the spring.

If I can talk my better half into dropping off somewhere.

When I did the southern half in 2006, quite a few signs had been either removed or turned to face the wrong way between Castleford and Holmfirth.

I've been looking ahead to next year and thinking about some local events to tackle before the end of June which is when we said we might do the WYCR. I've come up with a few of increasing distance and intensity which might be of interest.

I won't be doing anything special in January unless we get a nice sunny, dry weekend in which case I'd be up for something like a hilly 50-60 miler which I'd be happy to plan if you fancied coming over here again?

In February, I might do the mini- North-West Passage which is 120 km (75 miles) from Rochdale. It isn't monstrously hilly, but it is by no means flat either.

Nothing planned for March yet, but I'd like to do at least a couple of rides of about 70 miles.

In April, I'll be doing Spring Into The Dales again. It is 110 km (69 miles) out from Hebden Bridge on pretty much the same route we started off on last weekend, but then heading off to Wharfedale via Gargrave. It's a nice hilly route - over 2,200 m of hills crammed in.

The date hasn't been confirmed yet, but if the Kirklees Sportive takes place again at the end of April, I'd like to do that. It's 80 very hilly miles including the climb of Holme Moss. I ride to and from the event and that brings it up to a hilly century (plus a few miles).

I might be down in the midlands mid-May in which case I'd like to do the Cotswold Challenge from Meriden near Coventry. Event HQ is only about a 30 minute ride from my mother's house. It's a hilly imperial century ride, but I'd be doing about another 12 miles on top of that.

Mid-may for the Leeds posse? Well, Dave's Dales Tour from Richmond sounds like it should be nice. 150 km (93 miles) and presumably a bit on the hilly side?

By mid-June we ought to have some endurance in our legs, so how about the Red Rose Ride - a hilly 200 km (125 mile) audax from Halifax to Glasson Dock near Lancaster and back via the Forest of Bowland?

June 28th - WYCR? 253 km (157 miles) and more hills than you could wave a granny ring at !

 

[Calum]

Colin, that's a ****ing mint picture mate!

 

[colly]

Colinj

Some of those look to be good rides. If time permits I will be on a couple , if not all. Have to see how things pan out.

I like the idea of the ride out of Richmond. Swaledale is a lovely part of the world, I have driven through it and even canoed there but never cycled.
I have promised myself I will do so that might be the chance.

 

[ColinJ]

I like the idea of the ride out of Richmond. Swaledale is a lovely part of the world, I have driven through it and even canoed there but never cycled.
I have promised myself I will do so that might be the chance.

A couple of years ago I met up with a few C+ forum members in Hawes and we did a lovely ride up there.

It was from Hawes, over Buttertubs*** to Swaledale, through Thwaite and Keld, then climbed Stonesdale Moor to the Tan Hill Inn (no, we didn't stop there !), then a nice fast 18 km run down Arkengarthdale to the village of Reeth where we stopped for lunch. We then climbed over Redmire Moor to Redmire, and rode back to Hawes via Askrigg.




*** We stopped to look down into The Buttertubs. Most impressive they were too. Muggins here decided that he needed a pee and wandered away from the road to the edge of one of the holes. One of the other riders warned me to be careful because there was a big drop there and no railings. Yeah, yeah, I'm a big boy and... YIKES! I was wearing shoes with Look cleats and slipped on the wet rock and almost ended up falling into the void below .

 

[ColinJ]

Colin, that's a ****ing mint picture mate!

The photo was taken a couple of years ago after my niece's wedding. I was fit then and had the lean, mean look! The sunglasses were a joke. My sister said that I looked like a nightclub bouncer so I grabbed her sunglasses and posed for a picture, trying to look well 'ard!

Here's the original picture (I don't think many bouncers wear gold ties and flowers in their lapels!)

"If you're not on the list - you don't get in!"

 

[Kestevan]

>>I will be going over the Shadwell to Holmfirth section over the next moth or so to check the route and signs etc . Maybe will do the other half sometime in the spring.


If you fancy some company give me a shout. Just in my neck of the woods - and anyway you'll need someone to hold the bike whilst you repair the numerous punctures

 

[colly]

[quote
If you fancy some company give me a shout. Just in my neck of the woods - and anyway you'll need someone to hold the bike whilst you repair the numerous punctures [/quote]

Ha ha. Can you believe it I repaired the tube when I got home and the following morning it was as flat as a pancake again, this time it was the valve.

Sure, I will let you know when I will be over that way. Sometime during Jan or Feb I expect.

 

[ColinJ]

So, how are preparations going lads?

I've only done a couple of rides since our forum ride at the end of November () but I've been doing sessions on my gym bike and a lot of hill walking so I'm keeping reasonably fit. I'm gradually getting my weight down (about half a stone since Christmas) but I need to start getting some decent miles in soon or I won't be fit enough for the WYCR in June.

I'm still planning to do the mini-North-West-Passage from Rochdale in February if anyone fancies joining me? I may decide to ride to and from Hebden Bridge to take it up to over 100 miles. I'll see how I feel and what the weather is like on the day.

 

[marinyork]

I've done three metric centuries since the beginning of December. Two of them were hilly. Also been looking at better bikes than my 700x35 hybrid. So I may give the half loop a go in the spring/summer.

 

[Calum]

I'm still planning to do the mini-North-West-Passage from Rochdale in February if anyone fancies joining me? I may decide to ride to and from Hebden Bridge to take it up to over 100 miles. I'll see how I feel and what the weather is like on the day.

I'd give that a go, with you if you like. I'm not fit enough for 100 miles, so it could be interesting!

 

[colly]

So, how are preparations going lads?

I've only done a couple of rides since our forum ride at the end of November () but I've been doing sessions on my gym bike and a lot of hill walking so I'm keeping reasonably fit. I'm gradually getting my weight down (about half a stone since Christmas) but I need to start getting some decent miles in soon or I won't be fit enough for the WYCR in June.

I'm still planning to do the mini-North-West-Passage from Rochdale in February if anyone fancies joining me? I may decide to ride to and from Hebden Bridge to take it up to over 100 miles. I'll see how I feel and what the weather is like on the day.

Hi Colin,

I did 100 miles last weekend and was surprise I managed as well as I did seeing as how I havn't been out all that much since xmas. It was flat though, on the other hand it was damn cold at the start.

I would be up for the North West Ride depending on which weekend it is. Any idea?

I have done a couple of sections of the WYCR from North Leeds down to Pontefract. The section from Garforth to Pontefract is kind of dull to be honest and riding through Castleford and Pontefract it was difficult to work out where the route actually went. I managed ok because I sort of knew the area from years ago. I hope some of the other sections are better marked.
Having said that, with a map and a bit of nous it's not so bad.

Maybe later this month I'll do the section from Ponte. across to Holmfirth or thereabouts.