England : West Yorkshire West Yorkshire Cycle Route - South

[ColinJ]

Some of us have discussed tackling the West Yorkshire Cycle Route (WYCR) in the past in this thread, and the subject came up again recently in this one.

Given that it is over 150 miles in length, and that 50% of it is extremely hilly and 25% quite hilly, it would be a major undertaking to tackle it in a single ride, and would be one for mid-summer to give maximum daylight hours. I don't think that there is a realistic prospect of me having the fitness for such a ride this June or July, so I will put that on hold until mid-summer 2013.

What I would like to propose for this year, is to split the WYCR into a northern half and a southern half and tackle them separately. Each half would be a pretty demanding, but more manageable 75-80 miles.

I've looked at the logistics and the terrain and have come up a southern WYCR ride from Garforth to Hebden Bridge via Marsden and a northern WYCR ride from Hebden Bridge to Garforth via Ilkley.

I'm suggesting a choice between the 16th and the 23rd of June for the southern ride. If you are interested, post below and choose one or both of those two dates. The majority choice of date wins.

(The northern ride will be on the 7th July and I'll start a new thread for that after we have completed this ride.)

I'll update this post with more details about the route etc. later, but if you fancy coming along, post below!

 

[Calum]

I'm in! either date's fine, so long as it's decided quickish so i'm able to book it off work.

 

[oldfatfool]

Col I think you have made a mishtake

I'm suggesting a choice between the 16th and the 23rd of May for the southern ride. If you are interested, post below and choose one or both of those two dates. The majority choice of date wins.

(The northern ride will be on the 16th June and I'll start a new thread for that after we have completed this ride.)

I vote for the 16th of June for the first half

 

[clarion]

I think that's a great idea. Some of the route is deeply challenging, and I wondered about the choice of roads, particularly around HB. Most of these sorts of routes are aimed at leisure riders, but I reckon a number of those would bail before getting out of Calderdale (not that there's really an easy way to cross the valley).

 

[ColinJ]

Col I think you have made a mishtake

I vote for the 16th of June for the first half

Oops - you're right! 16th or 23rd June for the southern ride (state your preference, if any), and 7th July for the northern one - sorry! (I have gone back and corrected the original post!)

 

[ColinJ]

I think that's a great idea. Some of the route is deeply challenging, and I wondered about the choice of roads, particularly around HB. Most of these sorts of routes are aimed at leisure riders, but I reckon a number of those would bail before getting out of Calderdale (not that there's really an easy way to cross the valley).

We were discussing some of the choices of road (and bridleway/cycle path) in the other threads. I don't think we need to stick religiously to the official route - we aim to bypass the Sculpture Park bridleway, for instance. OTOH, I don't want to avoid hills just because they are challenging. I've done the southern half and the hardest 75% of the northern half in the past so I know what to expect. If some of us have to walk a few short steep stretches, I'd prefer that to doing detours on busy roads to avoid them.

I think we will take an easier option at the start of the northern ride out of Hebden Bridge. It's a bit much to head straight up Birchcliffe and Sandy Gate from a cold start so I think we'll ride up via Pecket Well and Old Town instead.

They won't be rides for people who don't like challenges, but by splitting the route over 2 days (with 3 weeks recovery in between!) we shouldn't actually kill anyone!

Doing the whole route in one daylight ride is still an ambition of mine, but it will have to wait until I get back to the fitness level I had about 6 years ago.

 

[clarion]

Oh no, I wasn't meaning to suggest that it wouldn't be doable for reasonably experienced cyclists. And the Pecket Well/Old Town route always made more sense to me. I was merely wanting to suggest that the two day option is a very good one.

I fear that the whole thing in a day will remain an impossibility for me.

 

[DCLane]

OK for the 23rd of June if you choose that one. I'm at a wedding on the 16th.

The 7th of July is also good; my 3 Peaks of the UK is a week later so it'd be no risks from me!

My aim is to do the whole route in 2013 in a day. Group attempt at the record?

 

[tubbycyclist]

I expect I would have a crack at this, depending on the date that is settled on. 23rd June looks good.

 

[ColinJ]

Oh no, I wasn't meaning to suggest that it wouldn't be doable for reasonably experienced cyclists. And the Pecket Well/Old Town route always made more sense to me. I was merely wanting to suggest that the two day option is a very good one.

Oh, I see. Yes, I agree - novice cyclists would have a problem with the gnarlier parts of the route no matter how many days they took!

I fear that the whole thing in a day will remain an impossibility for me.

Me too if my recent leg problems don't get sorted out!

I've just been looking at the route through Castleford and Pontefract which I didn't enjoy much when I rode that section before. I have worked out a detour round the eastern side of those towns (dipping into North Yorkshire for a short distance) which adds about 9 flat miles to the ride.

We could stop at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at what would be the 42 mile (67 km) point. The visitor centre restaurant is a bit busy and pricey, but there are a couple of small cafes/kiosks in the grounds that we could use instead.

We could stop again in Marsden after 66 miles (106 km).

I would probably suggest coming into HB along the Calder Valley cycleway from Mytholmroyd, to avoid the main road.

That's about 90 miles (144 km) in total, with about 6,500 ft (2,000 m) of climbing, some of which is very tough.

 

[ColinJ]

Sorry chaps - my fitness isn't up to this tough southern WYCR ride at the moment, especially with my dodgy right leg, so I'm going to put it off later in the summer. We don't need to worry about available daylight hours because that is only really a concern for a full WYCR attempt.

Hopefully, I will be okay for the (slightly) easier northern section in July though.

 

[DCLane]

Colin, hopefully you'll be fitter for the July one.

If anyone's still interested in the southern bit on the 23rd of June let me know ASAP. Alternatively I'll put myself down for the Ron Kitching ride by the end of this week ( http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/ron-kitching-ride-york-23rd-june-2012.102441/ ) .