2014 marked a year of discovery for me personally and for my family. We spent much of the year in Yorkshire, deep in the valleys of the western Pennines: “the wettest place in England”, “it rains so hard, your head will bleed” they said but we brought with us the best UK summer since forever. The people were welcoming, the landscape inspiring and it was a near-perfect base for our time in the UK.
The cycling turned out to be a revelation. Quiet roads with sprawling, rugged vistas and some of the toughest terrain you can imagine. The section between Cross Hills and Hebden Bridge sticks in the memory. There is no flat, it is ramp after ramp of 20%+ leg munching climbs with daredevil, pad chewing descents. It often featured at the end of a 100, 200km or more ride up and down the superstars of the Dales. It was only 25km and every time I would think “only an hour to home” and, of course, it was always significantly more! While I was in the UK I was fortunate enough to find time to ride in Wales, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and even the South East, although the latter hardly rates as a highlight!
Being in the UK also gave me the advantage of being only a 2 hour flight away from some of cycling’s most renowned peaks, such as the Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. It also provided me the opportunity to see the Tour de France in the flesh instead of the via the graveyard shift on TV.
I left calling 2014 the year of “discovery” and came back to 2015 and the year of “for enjoyment”. It really was a year where I rediscovered why I ride. Here are my personal riding highlights with a link to the full write-up.
The cycling turned out to be a revelation. Quiet roads with sprawling, rugged vistas and some of the toughest terrain you can imagine. The section between Cross Hills and Hebden Bridge sticks in the memory. There is no flat, it is ramp after ramp of 20%+ leg munching climbs with daredevil, pad chewing descents. It often featured at the end of a 100, 200km or more ride up and down the superstars of the Dales. It was only 25km and every time I would think “only an hour to home” and, of course, it was always significantly more! While I was in the UK I was fortunate enough to find time to ride in Wales, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and even the South East, although the latter hardly rates as a highlight!
Being in the UK also gave me the advantage of being only a 2 hour flight away from some of cycling’s most renowned peaks, such as the Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. It also provided me the opportunity to see the Tour de France in the flesh instead of the via the graveyard shift on TV.
I left calling 2014 the year of “discovery” and came back to 2015 and the year of “for enjoyment”. It really was a year where I rediscovered why I ride. Here are my personal riding highlights with a link to the full write-up.
The Audax Alpine Classic weekend – I couldn’t decide whether to do the 250 or the classic 200 but with the sunrise climb of Buffalo. Don’t worry, I did the 250 as a warm up on the Sat before the 200 on the Sunday!
Everesting Mt Macedon South – yes, that worldwide phenomenon was kick started by the Hells 500 mass weekend in late Feb (although it's origins stretch further back to one George Mallory, grandson of THE George Mallory) and I was part of it on my local mountain!
The Fred Whitton Challenge – often described as the toughest non-competitive ride in the UK, it’s long been on my list and a hell of a way to get an introduction to the Lake District. Thanks to shipping delays, the undisputed king of steel was roistered into action on the ride’s 30% climbs!
Les Dix Alpes – the epic trans-Alpine journey that I have dreamed of since I first started watching the Grand Tours. An extraordinary two weeks powered by Bike Dreams and co-starting the unstoppable Just Rigs.
The Coast to Coast – one of the classic rides in the UK, the inspiring Coast to Coast, from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, took me from the rugged peaks of the Lake District, up the UK’s highest paved road, over the Pennines, through chocolate box villages and up and down the knee popping troughs of the North Yorkshire moors.
There were certainly other memorable rides, such as the Dales “Circle of Death”, that takes you over 5 super climbs of the Dales (all but one of which features ramps in excess of 20%) or the Devon Coast to Coast, but these were the ones that represented milestones for me. Not because they were epics but because they all represented and progressed me as a cyclist and will stick with me as more than “do you remember that really hard/long/wet ride we went on?”.
It's no surprise that I thank my ever supportive and patient family for allowing me the time to follow my passion! Even the car drivers of the UK deserve thanks for not once giving me a hard time and being courteous with me in those little lanes. Even that lot in the South East of a very crowded isle were just in a rush and never made me feel unsafe!
It's no surprise that I thank my ever supportive and patient family for allowing me the time to follow my passion! Even the car drivers of the UK deserve thanks for not once giving me a hard time and being courteous with me in those little lanes. Even that lot in the South East of a very crowded isle were just in a rush and never made me feel unsafe!