The Ride of the Roses - Logistics?

andy_from_embsay

Quite like the idea of this ride from Lancaster (Yay!!) to York (boo!!) but there's precious few details on the British Heart Foundation website about whether there's any transport from one end to the other. Logistically leaving cars etc would be about a three day job, and having had fun with train guards not letting bikes on from York to Leeds I'm not sure how doable it is by public transport, certainly not "on the day".

Anyone do this last year? An are there any more details anywhere other than "start at Lancaster Uni, ride over the Trough, go near Ripon, end up in York" that there is on the BHF website?

Anonymous

There is a charity Manchester to Blackpool ride every year and they sort out coaches, you drive to blackpool, leave your car and get the coach back to the start...

andy_from_embsay

Yeah - I know about that one, organised by bike events, I think - this one is a BHF event but there's no details on how/wether there's return transport available. I did read somewhere that they said there would be last year then withdrew it - which is a bit poor if true.

davelakers

As far as I remember they do lay on coaches back to Lancaster. First come first serve I think though.........

andy_from_embsay

As far as I remember they do lay on coaches back to Lancaster. First come first serve I think though.........

If it's literally that it's an incentive to get a wiggle on, isn't it!!

I've emailed BHF so I'll post when I get a response.

geocycle

I did it last year. About 150 riders of all abilities took part. The first 50 miles are quite tough with major climbs up to Jubilee tower (right at the start), Trough of Bowland, Slaidburn and then past stump cross caverns. JT is the longest and on cold legs but SCC involved digging deep. The last 50 are along quiet flattish roads into York. there were about 4/5 water points. The route was on bikely but I can't access bikely at the moment. It started about 8am at Lancaster uni and ended at a fitness club carpark on the york bypass (Audax way, Clifton Moor trading estates). There was transport offerred but I have relatives at both ends.It was a fun event and I may do it again.

andy_from_embsay

I've had a look on Bikely and had a look - all fairly familiar territory up until Ripon, as we ride all those hills from home - the transport thing's the main issue as it'd be a pain having to leave cars at either end.

geocycle

Last year there was a bus that left York very early for lancaster. There were also at least a couple of time slots given in the blurb for return journeys from York but I don't know how widely used these were since the numbers were quite small. The event was organised through BHF warrington (NW region) so an email or call to them might be useful.

andy_from_embsay

have now had an email from BHF - because of cost they can't offer transport, so they emailed a link to "liftshare.co.uk" or suggested a support driver. Problem with "support driver" is there's a danger they all drive along the route! Said thanks but no thanks.