TdF comes to God's Own County

lotus49

Many of you will have seen the news that the 2014 Tour de France is going to start in Yorkshire.

Naturally, I'm absolutely delighted but I'm curious to know how many of you will be making the trip to Yorkshire. Leeds (where it will actually start) is not the most exciting place on earth but much of Yorkshire is beautiful and well worth a visit for those of you who rarely get any further North than Watford.

Gazspurs

I have a couple of friends around the Batley area, already booked his spare room for a long weekend!

Remember many years ago when the Tour came through Basingstoke & my Dad let me have a day off school to watch it, although young at the time I remember the atmosphere, build up being great

fevmeister

.

thefd

I'm gutted - I'm in Edinburgh so would have liked it to come here. But - it is good that it is in this country!! (I'm not a nationalist)

TakeTurns

It will start from Yorkshire and head down to London, so it'll be on my doorstep.

Raffles

wonder will they all start in flat caps rather than helmets.

lotus49

Raffles wrote:

wonder will they all start in flat caps rather than helmets.

We shall need to develop a UCI accredited flat cap and the riders can have musettes full of parkin. It will be grand, lad.

ilm_zero7

Raffles wrote:

wonder will they all start in flat caps rather than helmets.

aye, but not much room for a ferret down your lycra bib shorts!

Raffles

Riders on granvilles shopping bikes
Flat cap on head
Whippet on a lead beside each rider
Trundling along saying "aye up " whilst a brass band plays the music from Hovis ads
Leaden skies p!ssing down rain

Raffles

BRADLEY WIGGINS STARTS THE TOUR DE FRANCE 2014 IN YORKSHIRE

Rigga

I'll be there, I live in wakey just down road! Can't wait!

Paul 8v

Raffles wrote:

Riders on granvilles shopping bikes
Flat cap on head
Whippet on a lead beside each rider
Trundling along saying "aye up " whilst a brass band plays the music from Hovis ads
Leaden skies p!ssing down

You forgot live time split updates by racing pigeon ;-)

Rigga

And they are flying in via Yorkshire airlines...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLYpKG ... ata_player

yorkshiretri

cant wait for 2014 now!!!!

CambsNewbie

How you can call anywhere that has Leeds and Bradford in it 'God's own county' is beyond me!

rolf_f

Raffles wrote:

BRADLEY WIGGINS STARTS THE TOUR DE FRANCE 2014 IN YORKSHIRE

To be fair, Leeds doesn't have a high rainfall! Annual average rainfall about 660mm - less than 40mm more than London.

PS I'm taking bookings for my spare rooms - for BR members, a 20% discount so call it £1200 a night

Camus

Really great, any news on a route, or much too early for that? I live practically in W Yorkshire (so much so people sometimes swap the 'you are now entering' style county sign from Lancs to Yorkshire) about 20 mins cycle from the Calderdale area, hope they come this way as there are lots of good roads, but will definitely make the trip further east if need be.

Blancmange

Brilliant news!

I'm as excited as child on Christmas Eve. It's going to be a mental weekend.

July 2014 seems sooo far away.

thefog

Routes are rumoured as
Stage 1 - Leeds, north to dales, greenhow, Pateley to ripon to boroughbridge to Sutton bank to east coast. This may change though.

Stage 2 - York to Sheffield via Harrogate, west over to west side of Bradford then south.

Route will be announced 17th Jan

lotus49

CambsNewbie wrote:

How you can call anywhere that has Leeds and Bradford in it 'God's own county' is beyond me!

That is because, unlike your tidgy little county, Yorkshire is big.

When the BBC ran a survey last year to see which county was the most beautiful, can you guess which one won? I'll give you a clue, it wasn't Cambridgeshire.

I don't like Leeds or Bradford much either, but they are a tiny part of Yorkshire and we have York and England's most beautiful countryside to make up for it.

lotus49

Camus wrote:

Really great, any news on a route, or much too early for that? I live practically in W Yorkshire (so much so people sometimes swap the 'you are now entering' style county sign from Lancs to Yorkshire) about 20 mins cycle from the Calderdale area, hope they come this way as there are lots of good roads, but will definitely make the trip further east if need be.

A friend of mine has seen the full route but at the moment, all I know is that it will start in Leeds, go through Ilkley and end in Harrogate. I shall try to get hold of the full route and post it here.

Camus

lotus49 wrote:

Camus wrote:

Really great, any news on a route, or much too early for that? I live practically in W Yorkshire (so much so people sometimes swap the 'you are now entering' style county sign from Lancs to Yorkshire) about 20 mins cycle from the Calderdale area, hope they come this way as there are lots of good roads, but will definitely make the trip further east if need be.

A friend of mine has seen the full route but at the moment, all I know is that it will start in Leeds, go through Ilkley and end in Harrogate. I shall try to get hold of the full route and post it here.

That would be much appreciated, think a trip to Harrogate will be in order then.

verylonglegs

lotus49 wrote:

CambsNewbie wrote:

How you can call anywhere that has Leeds and Bradford in it 'God's own county' is beyond me!

That is because, unlike your tidgy little county, Yorkshire is big.

When the BBC ran a survey last year to see which county was the most beautiful, can you guess which one won? I'll give you a clue, it wasn't Cambridgeshire.

I don't like Leeds or Bradford much either, but they are a tiny part of Yorkshire and we have York and England's most beautiful countryside to make up for it.

Why do you get so defensive over an area you happen to live in? It's a trait of many people that I find rather odd!

CambsNewbie

lotus49 wrote:

CambsNewbie wrote:

How you can call anywhere that has Leeds and Bradford in it 'God's own county' is beyond me!

That is because, unlike your tidgy little county, Yorkshire is big.

When the BBC ran a survey last year to see which county was the most beautiful, can you guess which one won? I'll give you a clue, it wasn't Cambridgeshire.

I don't like Leeds or Bradford much either, but they are a tiny part of Yorkshire and we have York and England's most beautiful countryside to make up for it.

I'm sorry, I didn't realise size mattered when it came to how nice a county is! Rutland must be a complete shithole by your definition!

I don't suppose this survey you mention was carried out by BBC Yorkshire was it?

rolf_f

lotus49 wrote:

I don't like Leeds or Bradford much either, but they are a tiny part of Yorkshire and we have York and England's most beautiful countryside to make up for it.

What's wrong with Leeds? I'll concede that Bradford is a dump of it's own making (it really ought to have been very nice but the planners just keep getting it wrong) but Leeds is really quite nice - a pretty well preserved Victorian Northern industrial city with a lot of rather nice architecture (if not so much really outstanding) and a bit of feel good without the horrific destruction that poor old Manchester has had inflicted on it in the last 15 years.

I'm certainly glad I ended up living in Leeds rather than York!

nunowoolmez

Yep, I'll be there. I live in London but my brother lives in Sheffield & will hopefully put me up, if i do the washing up or something. I'l then follow it back down to London. Best news I've had in a while!!!
I spent a time living up in Sheffield & Leeds & have only good things to say about them. I wonder how much this is due to Wiggo winning?? Who cares??? Anyone know the exact dates, i'm gonna want to book the leave well in advance!

fevmeister

Leeds is good Bradford is a shit hole!

smidsy

Rolf F wrote:

lotus49 wrote:

I don't like Leeds or Bradford much either, but they are a tiny part of Yorkshire and we have York and England's most beautiful countryside to make up for it.

What's wrong with Leeds?

Well the road system is bloomin shocking and the shopping areas are too spread out and a lot of it is outside which is no good when its raining.

I used to live in Horsforth and work in the City so yes I do know what I am talking about. I do seem to remember a lot of grey wet days too.

Stedman

I would love to see it follow the Rydale Rumble route including the Rosedale Chimney, however I suspect that they will avoid any of the real climbs which Yorkshire has to offer as this would seriously break up the field from day one!

DF33

The routes are all our local weekend rides

Let's put all this willy waving into perspective.

Leeds is a dirty, as in litter strewn city. It has plenty of chavs. It has some large council estates, many chain stores / coffee shops etc. I sometimes find all that a bit depressing. But what other large city in the UK doesn't?

Conversely it has a compact shopping area, some fantastic proper pubs, top restaurants, plenty of night life etc. Good connetions, some of the most costly real estate in the country.

I was born in Leeds, have lived in Chelsea, Kensington, Sutton, The Alps in France and Switzerland amongst others. I am back in Leeds because my parents are getting old so need to be around. Do I miss the Alps?
When it comes to cycling, no. It's great to visit and do the big climbs in the Alps but for day to day riding you can't beat the north of England. Finish work in Leeds, on the bike, an hour later your on the edge of the Dales. Take your pick of brilliant routes. Or go west towards Bronte country. The North York moors are only 20 miles away for day rides. An hour and a half to the Lakes. Peak district down the road. Maybe a Bradford curry and a pint in Leeds after.

It's not all flat caps but I'll be wearing mine. (ps, my grandparents lived in Sutton on Forrest near York, apparently it was good enough for Samantha Cameron to grow up in...)

rolf_f

smidsy wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

lotus49 wrote:

I don't like Leeds or Bradford much either, but they are a tiny part of Yorkshire and we have York and England's most beautiful countryside to make up for it.

What's wrong with Leeds?

Well the road system is bloomin shocking and the shopping areas are too spread out and a lot of it is outside which is no good when its raining.

I used to live in Horsforth and work in the City so yes I do know what I am talking about. I do seem to remember a lot of grey wet days too.

TBH, the road network mostly works OK as long as a) you know how it works and b) no body does anything stupid like crashing. Then it all hopelessly gridlocks. Mind you, what would I know - I cycle round it so how bunged up the cars get is no bother to me. I used to drive into town from Horsforth and it was OK as long as you knew which route to take and what time to leave.

Confused about the shopping area comment - it's all pretty compact. Boar Lane, Park Row, Headrow and Briggate pretty much enclose the lot. Not many cities that compact. And as for the rain, you must have been unlucky - as I said, normally it doesn't rain much here though there can be a lot of grey, damp (rather than wet) days in winter. That can be a bit grim but the climates pretty good really.

True, most of the shops are outside but covered malls are vile. I'd rather get wet than go into a shopping centre (though the new one looks like it might not be too bad - more open than most). You should have bought an umbrella. Now stop being a girly wuss and MTFU