Peak District Wanderings

I've done quite a lot of rock climbing in the Peak District though it isn't my favourite area. In addition getting there always feels like hard work, the roads from us go cross country and it's hard to avoid large towns without even more shenanigans. I've not done a lot of biking in the area either, a few routes round Hayfield, the lower part of the Pennine Bridleway and a day around Edale. That's it.

So on the Bank Holiday Saturday a couple of weeks ago we headed down to Castleton in the Hope Valley to do some riding. Arriving in the car park just to before 10 it was surprising to see so many empty spaces (it wasn't exactly heaving when we got back either).

First up it was the old road up Mam Tor. This was shut in 1979 when the council finally gave up trying to keep it open due to the landslips continually pushing it down the hill. It's a steady climb enlivened by the traverse of the worst of the landslips. The road climb continued round to the back of Mam Tor.

There's an easy bridleway leading from the nick to the ridge line above Hollins Cross, the blast down to the cross is slowed by walker's blithely walking across the path without looking. There's a couple of descents leading down to Edale from here, actually we've used one as an ascent in the past so that one's out. Cath isn't too confident about the other. It begins by following the line of an old collapsed wall before a grassy section leads to a gate.

Descending from Hollins Cross to Edale

From here there's really only one line so you have to take whatever it gives you. There's a few drop-offs and occasional large rocks which are only just avoidable. After a sweeping left hander it becomes a lot easier and the drop down to the farm isn't too bad.

A bit of road work and Cath suddenly cuts in to a gap in the hedge, "Nearly missed it", a narrow bridleway leads round the back of a farm before opening up as a broad track heading up to the ridge. It's easy climbing before a short drop in to Jaggers Clough. We have to wait a while for a group of horse riders to pass by. It's just as well as the next climb looks steep and loose, "It goes on for a long while" says Cath. After a false start getting across the beck, clattering my shin on a pedal in the process, I start to climb.

As the gradient steepens the surface becomes looser and forward momentum slowly fades. I spy a cleaner line out to the right and I'm able to keep moving. Just as I thought that I was going to have to walk I see the angle begin to ease, a bit more effort and the worst is done. There's still a long way to the top though and it requires choosing the line well in advance. A gate gives some respite but the lane beyond is a lot easier and soon the summit at Hope Cross is gained.

Climbing up to Blackley Clough

There's several ways down from here, from right to left: the Roman road leading past Hope Cross itself and then back down in to Edale; straight on through the woods down the descent known as The Beast; left up a long steady climb before the descent past Blackley Clough, known locally as Potato Alley.

Left it is. The climb is easy, especially after what we've just done, then there's a short drop to a ford and a gate before the track traverses round the moor and begins to drop. As the gradient increases so does the size of the stones making up the bed of the track (it's called Potato Alley as that's the size of the stones but I'm sure some were the size of turnips!) Now I don't really get on with loose, rocky descents but the Peak is full of them so ... The technique is actually simply but you have to force yourself to do it: keep a good speed going and keep the weight on the front wheel.

The start of the descent from Blackley Clough

The steepest part of the descent. This is Potato Alley!

Well I'm sure that the local cognoscenti would say that I went too slowly but I got down in one piece and with just one dab so not too bad for me.

Across the A57 and another long climb up to Lockerwood Farm then another of the classic Peak descents: Gores Farm. This isn't as loose and rocky but again you have to keep moving as momentum is your friend, though I did get overtaken (at speed) by a local!

A bit of road around Derwent reservoir before our next climb up to Derwent Edge, this takes the form of a line of gritstone slabs set in to the field. They are like a ramp test slowly getting steeper the further you climb. Eventually, lungs bursting, we have to dismount about 100 metres short of the old farm above Grindle Clough. The next section after the beck is all but unrideable going uphill so it's hike a bike time until the gradient and surface roughness ease a little and we can ride to the next gate where the track leads to the open moor.

The last climb, reaching the ridgeline of Whinstone Lee Tor.

Easier riding leads to a steepening before the last wall so a bit more walking. Then the track traverses the edge just above the wall and we make good progress to Whinstone Lee Tor. From here it's a long traversing descent to Cutthroat Bridge. Normally this is boggy but the summer's dry weather is still holding out and our tyres hardly make a mark. The last hundred metres to the bridge is increasingly rocky and I have to make just one dab which I'm well pleased with. I wait a few minutes for Cath wondering where she's got to.

Dropping down to Cutthroat Bridge

Worried I work my way back up the track. No sign. "She went off down that track" say a couple of walkers. Somehow I'd managed to miss a major track junction! Pushing on I could see her heading back towards me, Oops! The descent was another Peak rock fest, just keep moving as fast as you can to keep control. The track ends suddenly and without warning on the A57 next to the Ladybower Inn. Time for a drink.

All that's left is a ramble through lanes and along old railway tracks to get back to Castleton. For a bank holiday in the Peak District we'd hardly seen anyone, with the exception of Hollins Cross we probably saw more mountain bikers than walkers. Not a big route, about 37Km but a lot of up and down and a lot of terrain that made you think.

Never Too Old To Learn

I think I must have been in my mid thirties when I first rode a mountain bike so definitely a late-comer to the sport and the techniques required. You might think that it's just riding a bike but it differs from riding on the road in that road biking is more about efficient transfer of power to the wheels and the bike set-up, body position, etc., is all aimed at that one goal whereas mountain biking is as much about weight transfer and pressure as efficiency. It's more like skiing than road biking.

I got the feeling that my ability on a mountain bike had plateaued: I could get down most descents but didn't feel "in control" if obstacles came thick and fast. Cath had been on a skills course earlier in the year and reckoned it was a day well spent. After a bit of looking around I settled on Great Rock http://great-rock.co.uk/ run by Ed Oxley. As much as anything it was that the course was run at Gisburn Forest so fairly local and I knew most of the trails so it would be a case of riding them better rather than thinking about what was ahead. At my age the fewer the uncertainties when learning the better! So course (Stop Crashing - level 1) was booked.

The night before I had a sudden thought: I didn't know the meeting place or time! There are three possible locations at Gisburn, a quick email with the hope that the response would arrive before I left in the morning. In the event the response was sent before I set off but I didn't receive it in time so I checked all three spots arriving about five minutes late (I'd had to go back for my wallet about ten minutes in to my journey as well). A quick assemble of my bike, payment of the car park fee and I was good to go.

On the first section Ed checked out our positioning on the bike - we all sat too far back apparently, so we had a discussion about what we were doing and why and a demonstration of what we should be doing - in effect letting the bike pivot around us so that our centre of gravity was always above or slightly behind the bottom bracket. On to the next skill.

Trackstands. Now I've tried these before and I'm shakey like a shakey thing stood on jelly. I happened to be the guinea pig: my stance was wrong! Bum stuck out behind and bent over the bars, it was a struggle. With a firm push to get my body straighter it became easier. Working in pairs, there were eight on the course, we spent a while either practicing or acting as steadier. Most showed progress, some managing a reasonable while.

The rest of the day followed the same pattern: find a section of trail to isolate a particular skill; watch Ed demonstrate it and detail why he did things that way then take turns in trying it ourselves. Even something as basic and simple as cornering was disected and explained how to be more efficient. Ed's view was that a lot of problems people have stem from language, where people are describing the consequence of an action rather than the initiator: "get your weight back" being a good example, your weight goes back as a result of letting the bike pivot around you. I think most of us took a fall at some point - mine was a comedy 1MPH scenario, unfortunately on to solid rock - ouch! But in general we were never far out of our comfort zone.

Some people criticise skills courses saying that you can learn the skills just by riding. However in biking quite a few skills are counter-intuitive and without tips and tricks being pointed out to you, you could spend a lot of time and energy doing something or everything wrong. It's the nature of physical skills that you aren't going to perfect them in ten minutes, you need to build up muscle memory so that it becomes instinctive, second nature if you will, for some things this will take weeks or months of repeated practice. As mentioned above riding on trails is similar to skiing: you are weighting and unweighting the bike/skis to generate a better interaction with the surface beneath you; the use of momentum, balance and weighting/unweighting to smooth out the trail. Also similar is the (mis)use of language in skiing: "Bend ze knees!" isn't how you turn but is the result of pushing your weight forward and turning your hips in to the bend to initiate the turn.

Was it worth it? Well I didn't leave a better rider than at the start of the day but I now know how to become better. There's a level 2 part of the course which is run on the following day but I need a few weeks (months?) getting the current ideas working for me. 

Bike and Hike

Well, Saturday was a first for me, I rode to the summit of my first Lakeland Fell! Actually I managed four.

With just twelve fells in Wainwright's list to do I noticed that those in the Northern Fells section had bridleways or vehicle tracks passing close to their summits but getting to the actual summits would be a little bit cheeky. Plan on!

An early start meant that I was the first car at Latrigg car park which was ideal as I didn't want to be annoying walkers by biking past them. I'd only ever been to this car park when running this leg of the Bob Graham so it was a bit odd to be starting off from here. One thing - it was bloomin' freezing! After the warm weather of the past month or two you really felt it. It was also blowing a hoolie, on with a long sleeved thermal. I wasn't sure where the path up Latrigg went - there were several wide trimmed areas through the grass but then I noticed a gravel path that had been put in for disabled access to the viewing point. Looked good to me. Five minutes later I'm on the rather non-descript summit, a quick look at the view (which is very nice) and then blast back across the grass to the car park.

There's a bridleway up Skiddaw, it's just rather steep on it's way up Jenkin Hill. I managed all of 100 metres before I reckoned it was just as easy to push. About halfway up there's a footpath that cuts off right, most people won't notice this as it's only faint, and heads up to the col to the west of Lonscale Fell. More pushing up this before I can finally ride again for the last few hundred metres to the summit. With the cloud down there's little to see so it's payback time!

Back down to the col is wide and grassy so little problem, the footpath is slightly harder as it traverses a slope so occasionally has slipped away leaving an off-camber surface, then it's on to the main track. Basically this is as fast as skill, nerves and the number of walkers allows. It's not particularly technical, well it isn't technical at all, the only real difficulty is not focussing on the loose rocks. Today there's very few walkers but a strong side wind that constantly threatens to push my front wheel to the left. Even with my cautious descending it's just four minutes to the bottom of the hill (from the summit of Lonscale Fell it was eleven minutes).  Part one done.

The next two fells were Carrock Fell and High Pike which lay in the north eastern part of the group so a drive round past Mungrisedale was needed. A quick bite to eat and then I was away. A bit of road work first since I'd parked at the wrong sharp bend in the road but not a problem. Then turn left and head up on a bridleway following an old mining track. This was right in to the wind so was quite hard work.

Even harder work was the climb up to the col: the first bit was just a steep push but the remainder should have been rideable but for the wind. After a hundred metres or so I resorted to pushing. Despite the recent rains the summit ridge was still quite firm so I made good time until I got to about two hundred metres from the summit of Carrock Fell when it became too rocky and much easier to continue on foot.

Carrock Fell is unusual in the Lake District as it's the only one composed of Gabbro and is the only one with an ancient hill fort on its summit. Today though I could hardly stand up in the wind so it was back to the bike and press on.

Now it was much harder riding as I was heading straight in to the wind. At one point as I headed towards the track contouring High Pike I was blown to a standstill, a bit of pushing required for a hundred metres or so. Riding up the path to the summit I was having to aim the bike windwards and lean in to the wind so that I had a chance of staying on the path. Once again the summit was wild and no place to hang around. There were two paths ahead, I figured the right hand one was the one I needed and so it proved.

Lovely and grassy, just worn in enough to give bite to my tyres, I had to stop once out of the wind to clean my glasses as the rain and steam meant I couldn't really see where I was going. Then it was downward to the contouring track. I knew that I had to leave this at some point to pick up the upper part of the track I'd used on the outward leg. For once it was quite obvious and after dropping over some of the old spoil heaps I was on the track.

Nowhere technical it was just a blast with the occasional slowing down for a tight corner or a section of loose stones. Without realising it I was soon on the outward leg as I began to recognise features I'd passed before. For a track that I'd thought was only slightly uphill on the outward leg it seemed rather steeper and I was going at a decent speed. Just ten minutes after leaving the summit of High Pike I was at the road (that included the stop to clear my glasses), average speed of around 22mph!

All in all an interesting experience. It's hard work getting up on to the tops when you've 12Kg of bike to push/carry but once you are up there then provided it's firm underfoot it's great going and of course the descents are just a hoot especially since you aren't putting any strain on your knees. It's just a shame that out of two and a half hours on the go there was just 20 minutes of descent.

So, another book completed. Just two books to do now with eight fells remaining, six in the Central Fells and two in the Southern.

Local Investigation

We've lived in our current house for nearly thirteen years yet there are still things just a couple of kilometres away that we've never investigated.

I'd been looking on a map at the route of a recently opened section of the Pennine Bridleway which goes quite close to us when I saw a couple of bridleways that I hadn't noticed before. It looked like they'd make a short loop, both started from the same point on one road but I've been past that point many times both in a car and on a bike and never realised there were bridleways there. So, last night, having biked back from work and with lovely skies I reckoned we should have an investigation.

There was a bit of road to get there from the house but soon we were turning down what to all intents and purposes looked like a track to a farm, no signs or any indication that there was a right of way. We decided to do the loop clockwise so headed left through a field. The track was a typical farm track of two ruts so you had to choose one or the other. Both had lots of nettles and thistles!

Eventually we got to a gate and the fun began. A really fast, well surfaced track and singletrack followed the wall downhill. It did however feel quite rough but I put that down to the speed we were going. Another gate and now the track is walled on both sides and it soon joins a larger track. Turn right and down to another gate. At this point I notice that my front fork is locked out - I'd forgotten to reset it after the road section so no wonder the track had felt rough!

Rough then smooth tarmac led down in to the neighbouring village and it was then a matter of finding the track back uphill. It turned out to be a long steady climb, it wouldn't make a good descent so we'd chosen the right direction. The bridleway leading back to our starting point didn't look that good (will have to investigate later) so we carried on the one we were currently on. This led to a house, just before this there was a gate leading on to the moor and a continuation track.

With all the dry weather this track was really pleasant and soon we had rejoined the road at the top of the hill. We could hear other cyclists and as we crested a brow we could see them heading off on what is technically a footpath, though I have seen tyre tracks on there before. We decided to follow as it would avoid a long road detour.

The group had stopped at the summit, they were effectively doing the same loop as we were but had started from the neighbouring village. Cath happened to know one of them. After a few minutes chat and spotting deer (as you do) it was time for the descent. I've run up this way and it can be boggy but now it was dry and firm and we could zoom along. All too soon we were back at the road. Ahead was a footpath that has been upgraded to bridleway so along that and up one final hill then it was back down the road to home.

So quite a good little loop to find on our doorstep. I think it will stand up to wet weather use, maybe not the boggy section on the way back up, and it is not overly technical so will do for night rides in winter. Result!

Red Kite Central

Many centuries ago the Red Kite was a common sight in both town and country, an opportunistic scavenger rather than predator due to its light build though it can take small prey. Despite this it was classed as vermin with a price on its head and numbers fell. With sporting estates on the rise in the 18th and 19th centuries they were the subject of further persecution and by the end of the 19th century the bird was extinct in England and Scotland. Wales has probably always been the main centre of their distribution: the Welsh for Kite is "barcud" and it's a common part of the names of natural features in the same way that there are over fifty Raven Crags in the Lake District.

By the 1930s there only an estimated 20 birds left in mid Wales. In a rather bizarre twist landowners and gamekeepers realising that the bird was about to become extinct began to protect it. By the 1970s numbers had slowly risen and a genetic survey of all the known birds suggested that they were all descended from a single breeding female, a very lucky escape. In an effort to increase bloodline, numbers and spread birds were introduced from the continent so that today there are several populations around the country though mid Wales is still the heartland of its distribution.

The kite is a pretty large bird, there aren't many UK birds that are larger, a grown adult has about the same wingspan of a heron, about 1.8m, so they are quite impressive to view close up. Rhaeadr is home to the Red Kite Centre where food is put out daily for them, let's just say that if you visit and don't see a kite then you really aren't looking as they are as common as crows in the skies.

All this is by way of introducing a long weekend mountain biking in mid Wales! Despite having lived in North Wales for nine years, I'd only ever passed through on my way to Cardiff. I'd not done anything in the area: no biking, no climbing not even any walking though I've a very vague memory of visiting the Elan Valley dams as a kid on a family holiday.

Friday didn't start out too well, we had torrential rain for most of the way down and this didn't really give up until mid-afternoon. Taking advantage of this we nipped out on one of the shorter rides in the Wales MTB guidebook, the Claerwen Valley loop. For the supposed grade (easy) this was pretty tough and there were several sections where we needed to walk and hike a bike. Hopefully this wasn't a sign of things to come.

Riding towards the Claerwen dam. A few "wet" sections ahead.

Pulling up through the bracken on the first climb out of Rhaeadr.

Saturday morning dawned with yet more rain though it was forecast to clear up during the day. By about 1100 we couldn't put it off any longer so headed down in to the town of Rhaeadr to do a loop on the hills between there and the Elan Valley. By the time we'd got a mile out of town it was boiling so off with the waterproofs and in to the first climb of the day. Again this was graded blue but required a bit of walking over rock steps. After a river crossing (interesting) and a road climb there was more uphill, made interesting by the local habit of removing sign posts.

Once on the top of the hill there was a really pleasant track heading over towards the Elan reservoirs before a cut back towards an ascent graded black in the book and described as "ten minutes of pushing". Oh Dear. Three minutes of riding and about 30 seconds of pushing later and it's done. Hmm, I haven't got that much better in the space of three kilometres. The next descent was a cracker, good track interspersed with rocky steps, unfortunately over all too quickly.

Beginning the descent down Y Gurn.

What followed was twenty minutes of hike-a-bike, yep - another blue graded ascent. After a (ahem) slight detour we found the main descent of the day down to the Elan Valley. Graded black it wasn't that bad apart from a couple of short sections maybe twenty metres in total.

Descending to the Elan Valley.

A short section on the road then we followed the Elan Valley trail to gain the upper reservoir from where a long red graded climb led back on to the moor tops. Nowhere difficult, it was just a matter of keeping the pedals turning. An easy, lovely descent, a bit of road then a long ridge led back to Rhaeadr.

One of the classic pieces of single track is the Doethie Valley. One problem: it really is the middle of nowhere. Even from close by it takes over an hour to drive to the start of the ride at Llyn Brianne. There's a lot of fire road to start but then things start with a vengeance with the climb up from Soar y Mynedd. Several signs indicating that the "road"(it's an unclassified country road) is closed along with locked gates aren't encouraging.

Descending to Soar y Mynydd

There was no way I was good enough to climb the track on the bike so it's push time. Eventually the angle eases and it's back on the bike and the descent on the other side shows why it's shut with 2 metre deep gullies running for hundreds of metres. Then it's a left turn and the track down the Afon Doethie begins.

Starting down the Afon Doethie amongst the bracken

Due to us riding this later in the year the bracken was in full growth and in many points it was more akin to skiing in deep powder although a strange green snow and you just had to trust that the track was still there beneath your wheels. Some people (strange people) moan that there's boggy bits and horror of horrors, gates that mean the ride isn't that good but this is a track that happens to be rideable by bike rather than designed with bikes in mind.

At one point we lose the track completely, there's no indication in the bracken as to it's whereabouts and we eventually stumble back on line. About halfway down the valley, Cath takes a potentially nasty tumble, managing to fall at one of the few points where the enclosing bracken wouldn't cushion your fall. Proceeding at an easier pace the riding still requires attention as there's an ever present drop to the stream to the right.

There's a lot of this!

There's a short rocky section which we walk as a fall here would have interesting consequences but it's the only really difficult part of the ride. Slowly the ride becomes gentler then we are in to fields and then a farmyard. All that's left is a long steady pull back up to the reservoir. 

One of the best singletracks in the UK? I'm not sure about that but I'd like to ride it earlier in the year when the bracken isn't so high.

For our last day we headed east for a ride on our way home. To the north of New Radnor is a small group of steep sided hills - the Radnor Forest. Now mainly clear of woodland they are splendidly isolated and there's great views from the tops.

The route started with one of the steepest roads I've ever ridden, it must have been 25% for nearly a kilometre, it was a struggle to keep moving whilst keeping the front wheel on the deck. Even when the tarmac ended the grass track was still steep. You've guessed - the guidebook gave it blue!

Great views from the summit plateau.

After another steep climb that I was sure I was going to have to walk but managed not to there was a bit of forestry fire road then it was out on to the plateau. The guidebook's boggy section was nearly dry thanks to the previous dry weather then it's a great descent before another steep ascent. This was all rideable and led back on to the plateau towards the curiously named Three Riggles. 

Contouring round the Three Riggles

This was another singletrack contouring round a steep valley but considerably easier than the Afon Doethie. All that was left was the final descent which was a blast down an old cart track with the fence bounding a firing range on our left.

Starting the final descent.

So, all in all a nice little break. Some good riding and some great riding. There's a few rides  still to do and I'd like to do the Afon Doethie again without the bracken.

Le Tour de France

Well it's finally come and gone. Wow!

I'd never spectated at a Grand Tour before so didn't really know what to expect. The forecasted number of spectators was 2 million over the two opening days (the initial estimate of actual figures as I write this was 2.5 million).

Certainly for the first day's route this was going to be mostly in rural areas so the potential disruption to the normally sleepy Yorkshire Dales was going to be immense. The route itself would be shut to motor traffic from 6am on the day of the race with cyclists being stopped half an hour prior to the publicity caravan coming through a couple of hours prior to the riders. However there were also restrictions on many of the roads leading to the route. If you weren't on a bike then basically the Dales were shut.

For the Saturday, we figured that we'd try to ride as far up Wharfedale as we could, hopefully we'd get close to the summit of Kidstones (or Cote de Cray as the official site has it) which was the first categorised climb of the Tour. Originally the first day was categorised as "flat" which for those of us who ride regularly in the area was a joke. Fortunately the organisers saw sense and categorised three climbs.

Some ten thousand mad Kilnsey their temporary home.

It was a truly weird experience riding up the road from Skipton towards Grassington. Lots of small groups of spectators were already (9am) sat at the side of the road but the truly weird part was the number of cyclists all heading up the Dale like moths being drawn to a flame. At a truly random guess there were about 50 riders a minute going past any particular point. It took until we were nearly at Kettlewell before I realised just how quiet it was. We've become so accustomed to the noise of traffic that it feels truly odd for there not to be any in situations where you'd normally expect it.

Some of the early crowds on Kidstones.

We managed to get up to Kidstones and decided not to head round the last bend but found a place on the bank above the road as it crossed the slope. We could see down the road as far as the pub at Cray so would get a bit of advance warning of what was coming.

The publicity caravan on its way past.

Even after we'd arrived there was a steady stream of cyclists arriving for the next hour to ninety minutes. Every child on a bike coming up the hill received a massive roar, the atmosphere was one of genial expectation. A few Mexican waves and the publicity caravan could be seen coming up the road. This is something that you rarely see on TV coverage but is best described as an bizarre mix of super sized versions of whatever the particular franchise is selling, so you'll get a ten metre bottle of fruit juice or a massive bag of oven chips. Each vehicle has someone throwing out some relevant trinket. I picked up a key fob but there were also cycling caps, inflatable cushions, herb seeds(?) - NO! not that kind of herb!

The king of the mountains needs to go on a diet!

The breakaway going past.

Just a quiet bike ride in the countryside.

The first sign that the cyclists were on their way was a group of five helicopters coming up the Dale. About ten minutes later the breakaway came through to huge roars. Finally the TV helicopter that accompanies the peloton throughout the race could be seen some way below us. In just a couple of minutes the lead car and TV motorbike were attempting to push their way through the crowds and the peloton followed looking remarkably unruffled, none of them were even out of the saddle!

The peloton making the first climb of the tour look very easy.

And that was it. As the hubbub died down the crowd got on their bikes and attempted to ride back down the hill. Eventually we got moving, heading for one of the big screens that were laid on for people to watch the rest of the race.

And so to Sunday. Cath was a Tour Maker so I headed over to Stanbury with the Wiggans clan. After a bit of fuss getting past a rather over-eager policewoman who had decided to shut the road 2 hours early we got ourselves a roadside spot about halfway up the hill - going much further looked as if it was just going to be a big crush.

Look! This is important, you'll just have to wait.

Much of the waiting time was spent chatting to the Police officers "on duty" - "We're only here in case there's a riot" - definitely an easy shift. Lots of the Police motorcyclists were high-fiving the crowd to cheers as they went past. Perhaps one of the only times that a crowd is likely to cheer them.

You mean I've got to ride through that lot?

Once again lots of noise and pzazz as the publicity caravan went through. We could see about a kilometre of the route leading to our position so we'd get plenty of warning of the riders approaching even if we missed the helicopters. This time the lead group of five could be seen circling over Haworth before swooping overhead.

The breakaway passing through some field art.

It wasn't long before the lead riders could be seen across the way, a quick swoop across the dam and then they were steadily climbing past us. Again they looked remarkably nonchalant  on a slope I'd been straining to get up.

The breakaway coming up 

 It wasn't long before the peloton arrived, a lot slower than Saturday so you could make out individuals: Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas of Team Sky passed right by us.

Again, that was it. Once the team cars had passed by there was just the broom wagon and a few Police outriders and the road was clear.

Riding back through Haworth, Crossroads and down to Keighley was bizarre: what would normally be a fraught dance with impatient motorists was now a closed road bike fest. By chance I caught up with Cath as we were riding through the village. Finally home we watched the rest of the stage as it headed to Sheffield.

So was it worth it? Too right! To have one of the biggest sporting event pass within a couple of miles of your house doesn't happen every day. The Tour is an event as much as a bike race and even as a Lancastrian I have to say that Yorkshire got it right. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

On the Other Side

Regular readers will no doubt have noticed that I've ridden quite a few sportives (timed road rides) over the last few years, this weekend was different - we were the organising club. With the Tour de France coming through Skipton in just five weeks' time there was a desire to have a local event to tie in with it.

Thus the local council and club put together a sportive and recreational ride covering part of the route that Le Tour will take on its first day. Several months of planning, designing and ordering stationary, sorting out the feed stations and supplies for those, getting sponsors on board and many more tasks followed. The numbers signing up for the rides steadily but slowly mounted and with a couple of weeks to go we had a projected entry of around 750. Then things went mad and there was a rush of late entries and we had to limit numbers to 900.

Saturday morning and a few of us turned up to move materials from the council offices up to the event centre at the Auction Mart. With 900 riders plus family members you need quite a large area to cope. The mart also has a cafe so we had on-site catering thrown in. A morning of work and we'd got the basics sorted out: food for the feed stations split up; signs sorted out and put up around the routes; barriers in place. The afternoon shift were getting all 900 envelopes filled with timing chip, food slip and bike number, then sorting them in to alphabetical order ready for the riders to pick up in the morning.

Sunday morning and it's a 5am start! Cath was one of the registration team so needed to get away early whilst I had been assigned two roles: one as part of the start team for the sportive and of "sweeper" also for the sportive ride so didn't need to be there quite so early but even so it was just after 6am when I got on site. The weather looked like it was going to be a scorcher.

We hadn't even got the inflatable start banner up before the first of the riders was on the start line! Come 0800 and we had a big bunch of riders waiting to go. Rather than let everyone go at once and block the roads we were letting groups of 20 or so go every two minutes and it was my job to organise this and check that people had got their numbers on their bikes and timing chips on their helmets - I wasn't being too strict on it being exactly twenty: if there was a group obviously riding together then I let fewer or more through as was expedient. By 0840 just about the whole field had set off so any turning up could just go once they'd had their starter briefing about the ride.

There were three cut-off points for the sportive ride: top of Kidstones(1100), Ribblehead(1400) and Settle(1500) with the timing system at the finish being taken down at 1700. All I had to do (hopefully) was ride until I came across the back markers and ride with them, if they hadn't reached the locations by the cut-off times then I'd to ask them to retire. Due to setting off a little late (40 minutes!) I was ten minutes late in getting to Kidstones where there was a St John's ambulance - the descent from here was the trickiest part of the course, to be told that there'd been an accident, one of the early riders had broken his shoulder.

All this had happened some time earlier so it was time for me to press on and get to the first food stop at Aysgarth. The last rider had left just five minutes or so before I'd arrived so I'd plenty of time to grab something to drink and eat as I'd got over two hours to get to the next cut-off. Despite us setting the riders off as spread out as possible they'd pretty much arrived at this food stop en-masse so they'd been rushed off their feet for about half an hour.

I always find the road up Wensleydale a bit of a drag and today was no exception, there was also a slight headwind so it was a case of plodding along. The road out of Hawes had just been covered in chippings, "road dressing" being the correct term, and it was hard work keeping traction on the initial steep climb. Halfway up Widdale I caught the back marker up, a lady on a mountain bike. So it's slow down and have a chat encouraging her along.

She'd never ridden more than 40 miles before and she'd got a sore bum! But she was still pushing on. At the top of the climb was another St John's ambulance so a chat with them to let them know I was the sweeper and then it was catch-up on the descent to Ribblehead. We got to Ribblehead with half an hour to spare before the cut-off, the lady had though about retiring there but decided to press on to the food stop at Horton.

By the time we get to Horton she's decided that she'll abandon there and get the train back. The next back marker is also there getting stocked up for the last section. Again I give him a bit of time to get going as I only have to be in Settle by 3pm and it only takes twenty minutes or so to ride. The Horton food stop was supplied by the village and was proper sandwiches, cakes, etc rather than gels and bars. The ladies serving up the food were very appreciative of all the riders and said they'd all been polite and pleasant which is really good to hear.

With the food stop tidying up it was time to get down to Settle. I got there with ten minutes to spare and no sign of the back marker. After a call to event HQ to let them know I'd be on my way it was just the small matter of High Lane. Now the road signs say this is 16% but it's actually over 20% for the first part up out of town and is a real grind (it's harder than the climb out of Langcliffe which is in the 100 top climbs book). It was here that I saw the only abandoned gel wrapper on the entire route, that's one piece of litter from nearly 500 riders.

I caught the back marker up at the top of the steep bit so it was then a case of riding back to the finish at his pace. On the flat he wasn't that slow but any slight uphill was a bit of work. We got to the finish with half an hour to spare and with the rest of the crew cheering us in. Unfortunately we weren't the last home as one rider had taken a wrong turn in Hetton and we'd leap-frogged her in getting to Rylstone, luckily she was a local so knew her way back.

All in all a long day out. Judging from the comments on Twitter (search for LPGD2014) everyone taking part really enjoyed it, we couldn't have asked for better weather