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Gavin Feldt, David Parker & David Wickham recently took on the Tour De Yorkshire Sportive which saw them ride the same roads as the pros.
They departed from Fox Valley in Sheffield and before they had chance to get any heat in the legs they had to take in their first climb (which had an average gradient of 11%) which certainly got the heart and lungs going. The riders were aware before they set off that this was going to be 60 hard miles and would be testing their stamina, this was to prove way more accurate than they expected.
They had a bit of a rest before the next big climb and then they travelled north through Holmfirth which was stunning.
After Holmfirth they turned East towards Emley Moor and the famous UHF concrete tower which has been operational since 1956, The climb up Emley Moor wasn’t too difficult up until the last section which had a bit of a sting in the tail, then it was south bound for quite a number of miles before the guys hit the last three climbs, all of which were a test on the legs as they were beginning to get weary.
The crowds lining the route did a great job of boosting the riders’ morale and the closer to the finish they were, the less the pain seemed to hurt. Then as they wound their way through Stocksbridge it became apparent that the end was in sight. As they turned the final corner the whole team spread out in a line and passed through the finishing chute together, complete with boards being avidly banged by eager spectators, and then onto the finishing line where a medal and a cold pint of alcohol free lager was waiting.
The riders have done the previous versions of the Tour De Yorkshire and they will all confirm this was by far the hardest edition yet with an extremely challenging elevation of over 8000ft in total.
The organisers of the Sportive must have been impressed with their efforts as they have chosen to use their finish photo on the website for next year’s event!
