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  • Any Leeds-ists and Leeds trainspotters in? (Stage 1 content)
  • iamsporticus
    Free Member

    Hi

    I hope to ride stage 1 of Le Tour with 3-4 pals sometime in the next few weeks

    We really dont know Leeds and would be happy to be advised on the first bit of the route
    It looks a bit scary TBH with dual carriageways and multiple complex junctions for a fair few miles out of town up the A61

    For safety we have wondered about parking a bit out of town up Scott Hall Road or possibly Headingley which brings me on to the next question…..

    The best option seems to be getting on a train to return from Harrogate back to the car – probably around Headingley station

    What type of train is likely to be on this route?
    It would be nice if it was a small commuter type thing where you can sneak in with our bikes rather than leave 4 of our best bikes in an unattended guards van whilst we get send to the other end of a 23 carriage train

    Any ideas please?

    Many thanks 🙂

    russianbob
    Free Member

    Train back from Harrogate to Leeds is generally a commuter so fine with bikes. Would personally not bother with the bit out of Leeds myself and perhaps look to start around Harewood, although that would make getting the train back from Harrogate more difficult. You could easily make it into a loop though.

    tomj
    Free Member

    The train line from Harrogate to Leeds is generally a poor service. Old trains. Busy, prone to delays and cancellations. Mostly the trains are two or occassionally four coach units. No guards van. Limited provision for bikes. The trains are overcrowded on a normal day

    For the weekend of the Tour I believe they are laying on extra and longer trains (with more trains terminating at Harrogate and so less on the Harrogate to York section).

    BUT

    I have heard that they will be banning bikes for this period – due to the huge overcrowding that will occur. The trains between Leeds and Harrogate are likely to be rammed – even without bikes

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    iamsporticus
    Free Member

    cheers – good advice so far

    Not too worried about it being busy on t’trains 🙂
    We would be probably coming back at 6-8pm on a Saturday night waaaay before the Tour proper

    Ta

    tomj
    Free Member

    Just realised you were talking about riding the route – not viewing it on the weekend! So ignore what I said. Should be fine on a Saturday evening. There is a maximum of two bikes per train – and that is at the guards discresion. So you might have to split the journey between two trains.
    Or how about one or two of you get the train back to Headingley without the bikes and collect the cars for the others? Its only a 20min or so ride

    AndrewBF
    Free Member

    If you are doing it to complete the whole stage then park up anywhere around the city centre and off you go, with the option of getting the train back from Harrogate to Leeds (not Headingley).

    Personally I wouldn’t bother with the train and would add the Harrogate to Leeds ride to the end of the stage. It’s easy riding, and has that ‘downhill’ feel to it as you ride back to Leeds.

    If you only want to do the ‘scenic’ parts of the rides then miss out the Leeds exit and start at Harewood as suggested above, and complete the loop with a Harrogate to Harewood ride. You would be missing out on perhaps 7-8 miles of getting out of Leeds on a section that doesn’t have many redeeming features, and make the miles up with the Harrogate to Harewood ride.

    As for the ride out of Leeds up the A61. It’s fine. Urban dual carriageway with a few roundabouts. Just the usual traffic to be aware of – no really high speed motoring or HGVs of note to worry about.

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