Rides – Epic & Touring Tales
Hi there. This section of our website is in the process of being recreated, so you can get an idea of how it will develop. Do return sometime soon to view the results. 🙂
From the inception of the club, there have been cycling trips and tours well beyond the boundaries of Rochdale. Those in the 1990’s were organised by Kath Fox (now residing down south in Devon, somewhere) and details have been lost in the mists of time (and the now obsolete, original Geocities website we had) but included a LEJOG, C2C, trips to France and Spain, even to Yorkshire! To the CTC’s York Rally weekend. Then in the Noughties, we kept on the tradition and there are enough of us still in the club to recall those epics below.
UK epics
The Cape Wrath Challenge
Barry Bate had undergone heart surgery and in appreciation of thanks to Christies Hospital, set about a fund-raising charity challenge to ride his tricycle from Rochdale to Cape Wrath and back. Several other members of the club agreed to accompany Barry throughout his quest, thus in 2002 The League Of Gentlemen assembled and set off. You will be able to read more about this extraordinary tale (VIA A LINK, once we’ve found the original story) …
Digital cameras were new-fangled toys back then, so we relied on good old 35mm film cameras. Fortunately, Colin created a montage and thanks to digital scanners, we have the photo summary here…
Lands End – John o’ Groats
Having survived the Cape Wrath experience, the next adventure was to help Phil and Nicole celebrate significant birthdays in 2003 by riding the classic end-to-end route. Around a dozen folks were crammed into a mini-bus, their bikes/trikes and panniers crammed into a Transit van, to be shuttled down to the tip of Cornwall, set loose out onto the highways and byeways of England, Wales and Scotland.
There are dozens of photos: those and a full write up are compiled here: 2003 LEJOG TOUR
A Wet Weekend in Wales
In mid 2006, several members drove out to Conway for a weekend around Snowdonia. Gallery and short write up to follow…
Eire
The Ring Of Kerry
A bit of Irish Jiggery-Pokery to be installed here… Date = ???
European escapades
Tourcoing
French frolics to add here… (pre 2003?)
Provence & Le Tour
More French frolics from 2005 to add here…
Alpe d’Huez #1
Even more French frolics: This was the 2005 trip for La Marmotte and the infamous Galibier Audax. Grizzly details to appear here… Plus Le Tour stage to Briancon…
We flew to Geneva, cycle-camped our way to Bourg d’Oisons, watched La Marmotte, rode an Audax TdF stage over the Col de Galibier, defrosted from that, then rode back to Geneva…
PUT IN PHOTO GALLERY HERE >>>
Alpe d’Huez #2
A return to Bourg d’Oisons in 2010 to watch friends (and our clubmates) participating in the Alpe d’Huez Triathlon, as if merely riding up it at leisurely pace isn’t tough enough! At least the swim was flat 🙂
The Camino Frances
Martin’s epic tale of illness and endurance with his three amigos.
Put a brief description of the ride here. 2006 again.
Put a LINK to a separate webpage here where the full tale can be told.
The Reisling Route
This need not go to a full separate webpage, but an expanding “more here” feature may suffice…2004.
Mallorca
Over the years, there have been a number of club trips out to the sunny roads of Mallorca.
Follow the photo link for more information… 🙂