It would not be stupid to assume that a ride in the tire tracks of the Tour de France peloton would involve croissants, vin rouge and poor attempts at communicating in French drawing derision from the locals.

Thanks, however, to the hugely successful Grand Depart hosted by the English county of Yorkshire in 2014 it is possible to ride a recent Tour stage (or a part of it) keeping to the left of the center line and refueling with cream teas and pints of warm beer.

Grimpeur Joe reaches the steep bit on Kidstones.
Stage 1 of the 101st edition of the Tour de France was waved off from the city of Leeds by royalty in the form of Wills, Kate and Harry. It finished in Harrogate, 15 miles to the north of Leeds after 190km/118 miles looping clockwise through the Yorkshire Dales.

The Dales is clearly proud of the day it hosted the Tour.
Our route, planned with help from Nick Howes of Welcome to Yorkshire and formerly with Team Sky, took in the northwestern top of the course including the day's two toughest climbs, Buttertubs and Grinton Moor.

On that day in 2014 even the French had to admit they were impressed as an estimated million cycling fans lined the route with 10,000 on the CAT3 Buttertubs alone doing a fine Yorkshire version of Alpe d'Huez.

The crowds on Buttertubs. Credit: North Yorkshire Police
We had a bit more solitude as we rode out of the town of Hawes and tackled Buttertubs after the briefest of chances to warm up. Our audience was about 11 strong and they all had four legs and woolly fleeces.

The ride was Day Three of four riding in and around the Dales with a small group of friends. The Dales are one of the United Kingdom's 15 National Parks where development is strictly controlled to protect the beauty and character of the area. It isn't the Alps or Rockies, but does not need to be to offer amazing riding.

Due to having my in-laws just down the road, I know the Dales a little. My first ever sportive/gran fondo had been the Etape du Dales over some of the same roads in 2014 just a few months before the Tour graced the region.

Of course, one disadvantage to being in the north of England rather than France was the weather. It lived up to the stereotype.

As Joe, Jon and I pulled to a halt in the parking lot in Hawes — one of three cars in a space for over a hundred vehicles — the scene was a little different to the frenzy in 2014.

We sat in the car for a couple of minutes before taking the plunge and unloading the bikes from the roof as the rain lessened.

Three MAMILs running along Bishopsdale.
Buttertubs, or Cote de Buttertubs as it was tagged as the pros swept over it in 2014, is 2.8 miles/4.5km at an average grade of 6.8% with sections up to 20% early on and then a steady grind.

The traditional Tour encouragement daubed on the road had been removed, but enough discoloration remained to make out the two-year-old "Go Cav!" and "Allez Froomey".

More permanent souvenirs of the Tour's passage are the Strava KOM leaderboards for the climbs. The list of all-time fastest riders for the climbs is a roll call of pros, topped by Laurens ten Dam, then with Belkin Pro Cycling and now Team Giant-Alpecin, for Buttertubs and FDJ's Thibaut Pinot for Grinton Moor.

The Dales is named for its valleys (the dales) and climbing Buttertubs has taken us from Wensleydale, home of the famous cheese, over to Swaledale.

Reminders of the Tour are numerous.
We ran alongside the River Swale soaking in the views and spotting the multitude of signs, painted bikes and other markers of the Tour's passing before taking a very early refueling break in the lovely village of Reeth.

It's safe to say that Jens Voigt missed out on the scones when he came through in a solo break and put himself into polka dots over the climbs of Day 1.

Traditional refueling.
We hit the CAT3 Cote de Grinton Moor on leaving Reeth, which had informed the scone scoffing. As with Buttertubs some of the steepest climbing came near the base where we were at least distracted by a procession of vintage Bentleys, Maseratis and similar beauties taking part in a time trial of some sort.

The 1.9-mile/3km climb averages 6.6%. At the top the moors opened up dotted with the red flags and "Danger" signs of the British Army rifle ranges used by the Infantry Training Centre in nearby Catterick.

Jon and Joe on Grinton Moor.
The more gradual descent from the Moor delivered us back to Wensleydale. In 2014, the pros then headed southeast for Harrogate where home hopes were shattered when Mark Cavendish crashed with 300 yards to go and wrecked his shoulder — Tour over. Marcel Kittel took the stage and ownership of the yellow jersey.

Instead we swung to the west back in the direction of Hawes.

Shortly thereafter the heavens opened. Within five minutes I was soaked to the skin and within 10 standing water was accumulating on the road. With no obvious shelter to be had we put our heads down and rode, which at least kept us warm.

Thirty minutes later the rain had tailed off when the welcoming sight of a pub swam into view.

A damp lunch.
A quick lunch and a couple of pints of Guinness later we were back under way with literally chattering teeth in my case as the damp took its toll.

A straight run along the valley would have delivered us back to the car at Hawes, which is how Froome and company reached Buttertubs. Instead we turned left at Aysgarth Falls and headed south in the opposite direction to the TdF route gently climbing on the valley floor before heading up steeply at the end of the valley. The steep drop — the CAT 4 Cote de Cray in 2014 — deposited us in the village of Hubberholme with just Fleet Moss, the highest point of the day, between us and the finish.

Heavy traffic near Hubberholme.
Hubberholme to the top is about eight miles and once again we had a longish gradual climb following the river in the valley bottom before the slope pitched up to a maximum of 17%.

All that remained was a wide open drop down into Hawes which had me clamping my knees to the top tube as my bike started to wobble at high speed. I think it is the only time I have applied a piece of "what to do if ... " advice from a bike magazine in real life. At the bottom, I was unable to join in Jon and Joe's grinning appraisal of the fast descent.

We all agreed though that riding in the spectacular scenery of the Dales is a joy.

The Tour and the Dales deserved each other and following in the wake of the peloton with the echoes of that million-strong crowd still there however faint added an extra something to a great day's riding. 

The route of the 2014 Tour de France.

0 Comments