L'Etape du Dales

[Jon H]

For those entering the Etape proper and wanting some practice, or those just up for a challenging ride, how about a hilly 110 miles around the Yorkshire Dales in May?

In aid of the Dave Rayner fund - helping fund young British riders hoping to become our future european pro's.

More info and entry form [url=http://www.daveraynerfund.com/etapedudales/index.htm]HERE[/url]

And here's the route:
[img]http://www.daveraynerfund.com/etapedudales/etaperoute_files/mapsmall.gif[/img]

[Grahame]

Oooh, there's some "Reeet Bastid" hills on that route . At least it's taking you up the "easier" side of Buttertubs between Hawes and Thwaite - that's where the picture at the top of the click-through page is. I still can't believe that my grandad used to ride over that every 2 days on his one-speed police bike.

Lovely scenery, challenging climbs, swoopy descents and excellent beer for afters. I *could* be tempted.

[Maria David]

This is one of my favourite parts of England. All the beautiful scenery and nice country pubs, while still being down to earth and having real people, as opposed to being packed out with tourist coaches and transient folk like the Lake District across the way.

I recall number 7 (Fleet Moss) being a bit of a bugger to get up. Around Pen y Ghent (Kilnsey to Stainforth) was very pretty - a lot of steady climbing but no real sting.
Horton in Ribblesdale was very scenic, what with the Ribblehead viaduct and the Settle - Carlisle railway.
The section between 11 and 12 was really steep to go up - I'm not sure what the gradient was (my quads nearly exploded with all the effort I had to make to get up) - and really steep to go down - I was sh1t scared on the descent, especially considering the blind corners and the prospect of having a close encounter with a tractor or some farm animals - it seems like in that part of the world if they put up gradient signs for every climb, the roads would become more cluttered than a teenage boy's bedroom.
I haven't ridden up Buttertubs, but I know you can go up it either via the difficult side or via the incredibly difficult side.

All good fun eh, so will enter !
Places are limited (about 250), and I understand that the equivalent race in the Lake District (Fred Whitton Challenge) is already full so this event could attract the same level of interest.
Avoid disappointment and enter now !