SCCatTdeFinYorks

SCC Members at the Grand Depart of the T de F in Yorkshire

Words and pictures from Greg Callaghan, Michael Lloyd, Arthur Findley and Vincent Kelly

Greg and Max continued their Grand Tour themed holidays by taking in Le Grand Depart de Yorkshire.

We drove over to Leeds on Friday basing ourselves in the heart of the city. Saturday was an early start as the publicity caravan was due to leave at 09.00. Max was just amazed at the numbers on the side of the road. " The crowds were not this big on the Champs Elysee" Max stated. The atmosphere was lively and upbeat. The caravan got a great cheer and send off. Even the Police outriders were getting a 'shout-out'.

We witnessed a few of the last riders signing on and at 11:00 am the Peloton rolled out to an enormous cheer and applause. Due to the numbers watching it was hard to get many decent photos.This was an event which would not happen for a very long time. The wait was well worth it.

So that's Le Tour and Giro done this year. Is it La Vuelta next for Greg and Max ?

Vincent and Tom at the "Cote de Grinton"

If I had to sum up our experience in Yorkshire for the Tour De France in one word it would have to be "Magnifique". Tom and I had booked ourselves into accommodation in Richmond as soon as the announcement was made that the Grand Depart would take place in Yorkshire. We started our TDF weekender on Friday the 4th July We had been all set to ride up Tan Hill but the 40-mph headwinds proved too challenging for that and by the time we had stopped for a rest at Gunnerside the rain was getting heavier so we cut our losses and headed home amongst the the hundreds of other cyclists who were taking part in a sportive in the heavy rain. Despite getting soaked through and dealing with the strong headwinds we had a fantastic time soaking up the TDF atmosphere it was one of the rare occasions when the cyclists out numbered the cars on the road.

On the day of the Grand Depart after talking to some of the locals the night before about where to watch the race we had been tipped off that it would be worth having a look at Cote De Grinton Moor so we set off after breakfast to check it out. We saw every type of cyclist on the road on the way there; mountain bikers, people on tandems, families of all ages cycling in groups, old blokes on steel touring bikes, club cyclists, and ladies on folding shopping bikes. The roads were closed off just as we arrived at Grinton with hundreds of people milling around so we decided to cycle up the hill to have a look and to come back down to Reeth to get something to eat to keep us going.

The experience of cycling up Cote De Grinton is something I will never forget there were so many people around we had to weave our way around pedestrians and other cyclists as we were ascending and once over the tough first section the climb eased off and was a relatively steady ride up. It was fantastic to be cheered on as we were cycling up past the main viewing points for the crowds the biggest cheers of the day were for the children cycling to the top with their parents which all added to the party atmosphere on Cote De Grinton Moor. We had a great laugh with a gang of gnarly touring cyclists at the KOM line taking photographs, and after finding out we couldn't get off the hill to go back to Reeth we cycled back down to the refreshment tent where Tom ate enough cake for a platoon of Commandos and we had our photograph taken by three American chaps then cycled back up to the top of the hill to even bigger cheers from the crowds. Despite freezing to death for 5 hours waiting for the race to come through we had a brilliant time at what seemed like the biggest and best cycling festival ever, the sight of The Jensie coming up to the KOM point was amazing with the helicopters flying overhead and the crowds going berserk, my only regret is not getting a KOM cycling cap as they were thrown out of the TDF Caravan.

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